Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 7 - "Monsters"
The latest homage to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in Star Trek: Picard season 2 could break the timeline due to the actions of Captain Cristobal Rios (Santiago Cabrera). Star Trek: Picard season 2's time travel hijinks have been liberally referencing Star Trek IV, including bringing back the original punk on the bus Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) encountered in 1986 who crossed paths with Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) in 2024 Los Angeles. But Rios has been the biggest nexus of The Voyage Home homages and considering the potential damage he's causing to the timeline, it's difficult to grasp just what Cristobal thinking.
Rios has had the toughest time since Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his motley crew time-traveled to the 21st century. Chris was seriously injured by a transporter accident immediately upon arriving in Los Angeles and he was taken to a local clinic run by Dr. Teresa Ramirez (Sol Rodriguez). Rios needing hospitalization from his transporter accident echoed how Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) was also hurt in Star Trek IV and had to be sprung from the hospital by Captain Kirk before anyone realized he was from the future. Rios was already badly concussed when he was arrested by ICE, which necessitated Seven and Raffi rescuing him just like Kirk did for Chekov. But Cristobal obviously forged a romantic connection with Dr. Teresa and he recruited her help when Picard was nearly killed by Dr. Adam Soong (Brent Spiner). Yet Rios was obviously itching to tell Teresa the truth about who and what he is and he did just that in Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 7, "Monsters."
When Teresa asked Rios if he was from outer space, Chris replied, "I'm from Chile. I just work in outer space." This is a direct lift of Kirk's famous Star Trek IV line to Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks): "I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space." But what Rios did next is simply insane: He beamed Teresa and her young son, Ricardo (Steve Guiterrez), to La Sirena to show them his spaceship. It's hard to reconcile how this doesn't trample all over the timeline. True, Gillian also beamed aboard Kirk's stolen Bird-of-Prey in Star Trek IV, but that was because the marine biologist was prepared to go on a one-way trip to the future. Further, Dr. Taylor was needed in the 23rd century since she was the only one who knew how to care for the humpback whales Kirk brought back to the future. But what, exactly, does Rios think he's doing by showing Teresa and Ricardo his 25th-century starship?
There are a few ways this Star Trek time travel scenario can play out and none of them are ideal. First, Teresa and Ricardo could go with Rios to the future, but that can't really work. They have lives in 2024 Los Angeles and their disappearance would definitely be noticed. Or, Teresa and Ricardo stay with full knowledge that Rios is from the future, but can they really keep quiet about it for the rest of their lives? Another possibility is that Rios decides not to go back to the future and stays with Teresa since he's probably in love with her. This is also a bad idea; in just a few days, Rios has already committed critical timeline violations and who knows how much damage he could do if he stayed? Cristobal is obviously not prioritizing the preservation of the timeline, to begin with.
However, Teresa seeing La Sirena could be indeed crucial to either the Prime or Confederation timeline. It's worth noting that the medical supplies in La Sirena bear a butterfly-like logo that's similar to the logo of Dr. Ramirez's clinic. Perhaps Teresa pioneers important medical breakthroughs that carry over into the future. Still, the way Rios has behaved in Star Trek: Picard season 2 has been grossly irresponsible to the timeline in spite of the fun nods to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Star Trek: Picard Season 2 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.