Caution: Major spoilers ahead for Picard season 2.
Star Trek: Picard season 2 starts off with a bang—one that proves fatal for Elnor, as Picard and his crew attempt to undo the damage done by Q altering the timeline. The recently reunited crew of La Sirena have little time for grief, however, with the fate of billions resting on their success. While Jean-Luc has a lifetime of experience quashing his own emotions for the sake of the mission, Raffi Musiker seems unable to set her grief aside. This disconnect within the crew could easily cascade into crisis, as Raffi's relationship with both Jean-Luc and Seven have been called into question by the grieving commander.
Elnor, introduced in Star Trek: Picard season 1, was raised by Romulan warrior nuns called Qowat Milat. The young man had just become the first-ever fully-Romulan cadet at Starfleet Academy. He was assigned to the USS Excelsior with Raffi, who had grown very close to him over the nearly two years she had known him, often treating him like a son. The orphaned Elnor was also close to Jean-Luc Picard, who he had met years earlier when Jean-Luc was assisting with the resettlement of refugees after the Romulan supernova. During Picard season 1, the three became a pseudo-surrogate family, with Raffi's relationship with Elnor only strengthening between seasons. But with Elnor's tragic and seemingly avoidable death, a rift could easily open up between Raffi and Jean-Luc.
Star Trek: Picard season 1 examined Raffi's family history, explaining her estrangement with her own son, which likely contributed to her feelings of maternal love for Elnor. She described her life between her earlier Starfleet career and her reunion with Jean-Luc as "one long slide into humiliation and rage." Her obsession with the attack on Mars and the ban on synths had driven her husband and son away, based on what they saw as conspiracy theories. And though Raffi's beliefs about the attack on Mars were revealed to be true, it doesn't yet appear that she has reunited with her son. Instead, she took Elnor under her wing, training and guiding him as he began his Starfleet career. When the Magistrate of the Confederation, a man married to the alternate timeline's version of Raffi's girlfriend, Seven of Nine, shot Elnor, it started to unravel the healing she'd begun since reuniting with Picard.
This was only exaggerated by the fact that Picard's crew had to choose between using the limited power the ship had to save Elnor or the Borg Queen, who was the only means of traversing time to repair what Q had done. Pragmatic Jean-Luc, as well as Seven, Rios, and Agnes, believed that the only choice was to save the Borg Queen, while Raffi begged them to save Elnor. With the rest of the crew choosing to save the enemy over her beloved Elnor, Raffi entered a state of anger that will likely contribute to further conflict within the group. And as the crew split up to try to locate the "Watcher" in 2024, that rage is very close to the surface.
As Seven tries to balance her own awe at being free of her Borg implants for the first time, Raffi's angry grief threatens to damage that relationship, as well. And Jean-Luc, true to his emotionally detached character, has refused to grieve at all until the mission is complete and the timeline restored. With the clock ticking and Raffi's rage and grief building, the likelihood for infighting and conflict within the crew grows stronger by the episode. And if Raffi's history repeats, it is possible that the generally upbeat and loving commander could turn to addiction, isolation, and regret. Jean-Luc has said that he believes repairing the timeline could bring Elnor back, and he has set aside his grief while pinning his hopes on this outcome. But unless Picard learns to experience his emotions and acknowledge and share in Raffi's grief, Star Trek: Picard season 2 may prove explosive in a far more personal way than expected.
Star Trek: Picard airs on Thursdays on Paramount+.