Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 4 - "No Win Scenario"Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 4, "No Win Scenario," surprisingly revealed that Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer) answers to another. Apparently, the rogue Changelings who are Picard season 3's villains have a boss, who is billed as The Face and voiced by Garth Kemp. This swerve upends what was previously known about the Changelings and their culture from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Captain Vadic's mission in Star Trek: Picard season 3 is to capture Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), the son of Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) and Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). What the Changelings want with Jack isn't clear, but he seems to be crucial to their greater scheme of attacking Starfleet, which is tied to the 250th anniversary Frontier Day celebration. As part of their plot, the Changelings performed a heist and stole experimental weapons from Daystrom Station, including a portal-making weapon. How all of these events interlock with Jack Crusher isn't clear yet, and Picard season 3, episode 4 adds a new wrinkle by introducing Vadic's boss, The Face.
Picard Season 3's New Villain Upends Vadic & DS9's Changelings
After maneuvering the Shrike out of the Ryton Nebula so that its sensors and long-range communications became operable again, Vadic confirmed she is also a Changeling by using what appears to be a Klingon knife to slice off her left hand. Vadic's hand then morphed into the striking visage of The Face, a ruthless, skull-shaped entity who ordered Vadic to continue her pursuit of Jack Crusher. When Vadic objected due to the danger the nebula's gravity well posed to the heavily-armed Shrike's payload, especially the portal weapon, The Face coldly told her she and her ship were expendable. Vadic had no choice but to comply, jettisoning the portal weapon and flying the Shrike back into the Ryton Nebula.
The Face is an about-face from much of what Star Trek: Deep Space Nine established about the Changelings. The Founders of the Dominion are a unified people; even Odo (Rene Auberjonois), who sided with "the solids" in DS9, was treated with equality and respect by the Female Changeling (Salome Jens), who urged him to join the Great Link. The Founders also used the Jem'Hadar and the Vorta to do their dirty work. But this rogue Changeling faction that broke from the Great Link seems to operate under a new set of rules, including having a leader in The Face. Further, Changelings are forbidden to harm one another, but The Face threatening Vadic is another fundamental change by these outcast shape-shifters.
Picard Season 3's Change To Vadic Is Disappointing
Captain Vadic was introduced as a confident, cackling marauder who was many steps ahead of Picard and the Titan, and seemingly in control. Vadic was a villain cut from the operatic mold of Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán), with stylistic flourishes of General Chang, played by Amanda's father Christopher Plummer. But the Vadic in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 4 was a surprising 180 from the menacing big bad of episodes 2 and 3; Vadic was fearful and compliant of The Face. When Captain William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) used her own tractor beam attack against Vadic to disable the Shrike, Vadic was forlorn that she failed to capture Jack Crusher and what retribution she'd face from The Face.
Making Vadic a minion of someone else is an interesting turn of events, but it's also disappointing, especially because The Face and Vadic's interplay has echoes of Snoke (Andy Serkis) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) from the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Vadic's manic swagger was instantly reduced, and she was stripped of a good deal of her menace. The Face also placed Vadic in a no-win scenario of her own, which was an interesting play on the episode's title. Of course, there's much more about Vadic, The Face, and the Changelings to be revealed in Star Trek: Picard season 3, and, no doubt, further surprises to come.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.