WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 2, "Disengage."Star Trek: Picard season 3's second episode "Disengage" ends with a shocking revelation and the return of an old friend as things begin looking dire for the crew of the USS Titan-A. In the previous episode, "The Next Generation," Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Captain William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) managed to track down Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) after she sent Picard a distress call from the SS Eleos. By hitching an unauthorized ride on the Titan, Riker's old command, Picard found an injured Beverly in a stasis pod and a young man named Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), Beverly's son.
After escaping the damaged Eleos with the help of a well-timed intervention from the Titan, Picard and his friends come face to face with Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer), commander of the Shrike, a menacing ship loaded to the gills with advanced weaponry that has been hunting the Crushers for unknown reasons. Picard and the Titan's commanding officer Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick) are faced with an ultimatum - hand over Jack Crusher or face destructive consequences. Meanwhile, Commander Raffi Musiker's (Michelle Hurd) mission on M'talas Prime nearly comes to a disastrous end until she's rescued by a Star Trek icon.
Beverly Confirms Jack Crusher Is Picard's Son - What This Means
"Disengage" confirms what many already guessed - Jack Crusher is Picard's son. Jean-Luc spends most of the episode dancing around the issue of Jack's parentage, much to the chagrin of Riker. Picard comes close to acknowledging the truth while interrogating Jack in the Titan's brig; whereas it's not clear what Jack knows, other than that he resents growing up without a father. But it's the moment Picard sees the look in Beverly Crusher's eyes after she wakes from her injuries that confirms the truth for him. It's a great bit of world-class acting from Patrick Stewart, who wordlessly expresses a bevy of emotions over just a few seconds as the realization sets in.
Even before confirming Jack was his son, Picard was strongly against turning Jack over to Vadic. Jack has something of a checkered past, which leads Captain Shaw to lean toward handing him over, as he doesn't want to risk the safety of the Titan's crew. To Shaw, Jack is just a petty criminal who has conned Picard and Riker into saving him. It makes a certain amount of sense from Shaw's perspective but it still feels cowardly. Ever the beacon of Starfleet idealism, Picard demands Jack get a fair Federation trial for his crimes and not be handed over to a malevolent bounty hunter like Vadic.
Worf Is Raffi's Handler & What The Klingon Saving Her Means
After being forced to take drugs by the Ferengi Sneed (Aaron Stanford) in an undercover operation, Raffi is saved by her mysterious handler, who is revealed to be the Klingon warrior Worf (Micheal Dorn). Worf brutally dispatched Sneed's men and even decapitated the duplicitous Ferengi himself with a quick swipe of his very cool new sword. Worf was understandably annoyed at the situation, as he had ordered Raffi not to engage with Sneed since he knew her plan was doomed to failure. That said, the situation probably could have been more easily resolved had Worf been less evasive with Raffi earlier.
The often troubled Raffi was in a dark place as she confronted Sneed, having been forced to choose important intel over a chance to reconcile with her estranged son in a heated encounter with her ex-husband Jay. Once a deeply troubled man himself who ultimately found some peace on the USS Enterprise-D and Deep Space Nine, perhaps Worf can help Raffi not only to complete her mission but to recalibrate her fragmented personal life. It's not immediately clear why Worf is now working as a covert operative for Starfleet Intelligence, but he figures to be a valuable ally for Raffi in several different ways.
What Vadic Could Want With Jack Crusher
It's established that while Jack Crusher has been helping his mother supply medical assistance to worlds outside the protection of the Federation, he's often used less than noble tactics in that mission. Jack notably bribed a group of Fenris Rangers, Seven of Nine's (Jeri Ryan) ex-allies, with Romulan Ale and weapons so that he could help cure a planet of a pandemic. Crusher is no stranger to lies, theft, and violence, and the bounty on his head is probably legitimate. Picard is repelled by Jack's actions, though the young man claims he learned it all from Beverly, to Jean-Luc's bewilderment.
While Jack's transgressions are not really in question, Vadic's attempts to retrieve him suggest there's something else at play here. The Shrike seems massively overpowered for a simple bounty hunter vessel, and Vadic is vague, at best, about why she's zeroed in on Jack as her target. Vadic herself appears to be more or less human, though she comes across quite alien and is surrounded by creepy henchmen in cloaks and masks. It's not immediately clear what else Vadic could want from Jack, but threatening a Federation starship like the Titan-A over a mere conman suggests that she's after something more than a bounty.
Picard Chose To Run, But Can The Titan Escape The Shrike?
After Picard belays Shaw's order to turn Jack over to Vadic, he announces to the Titan's bridge crew that Jack is his son. A reluctant Captain Shaw agrees not to turn him over and attempts to evade the Shrike. After lobbing torpedoes at the Shrike, the Titan disappears into the haze of the Ryton system nebula. An oddly giddy Vadic orders the Shrike to follow them as the episode ends.
As noted early in Star Trek: Picard episode 2, the Shrike has an impressive array of traditional weaponry, as well as some sort of mysterious device that the Titan crew can't immediately identify. The mystery weapon could potentially be a version of the portal weapon that destroyed the Starfleet recruitment center on M'talas Prime, linking Worf and Raffi's story with what's happening on the Titan. Star Trek: Picard has set the stage for a chase, and the heroes seem decidedly outgunned at this point.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.