Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 9, “Hide and Seek,” Recap & Spoilers

The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 8, "Hide and Seek," streaming now on Paramount+.

While Q may not be the major antagonist Star Trek: Picard Season 2 initially presented him to be, there are other enemies marshaling forces. The Borg Queen has taken control of Agnes Jurati’s body and embarked on a fiendish mission, allying herself with the unscrupulous scientist Adam Soong. And while the Queen intends to start the Borg Collective centuries earlier than anticipated and Soong reshapes the course of human history, Jean-Luc Picard and his associates are the only ones able to stop this duo from carrying out their plans.

Chris Rios is barely able to evacuate Teresa and her son from La Sirena in time as the Borg Queen and her drones teleport to Picard’s abandoned vineyard to take it over. The Queen attempts to gain full access to the ship’s systems, only to discover Jurati installed a fail-safe to prevent this. A hard light simulation of Elnor is activated, attacking the Borg drones while the Queen’s frustration visibly grows and her small army advances on Picard and his forces in the nearby château.

As the defenders face waves of Borg drones, Rios is wounded and teleported back to Tallinn’s home with Teresa and her child. Thus, Picard ensures that Rios stays out of the rest of the fight, much to his understandable chagrin. Soong appears on the battlefield and implores Picard to stand down and let him and the Queen secure his legacy, but Picard rejects this and takes cover in the château with Talliinn. As Picard and Tallinn hide in the network of tunnels underneath the château, more repressed memories from Picard’s childhood emerge of the young Picard going into the tunnels with his mother and releasing her from her room, only for her to commit suicide.

Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker go on a desperate charge to board La Sirena, battling through waves of drones in the vineyard before managing to make it back to the ship. Reuniting with the hologram of Elnor, Raffi and Seven realize Elnor possesses the code allowing access to the ship systems and work to keep him from the Borg’s grasp. With Elnor interfaced to the ship, Seven begins beaming drones away using La Sirena’s transporter.

With the Queen wearing a transport inhibitor, she evades Seven’s strategy to forcibly remove the Borg from the ship and confronts the trio herself. After deactivating the Elnor hologram, the Queen gravely injures Seven before assuming primary control of La Sirena. However, Jurati intervenes before the Queen can finish off Seven. Jurati proposes the Queen repurpose the Borg Collective to be a beacon for second chances, offering to maintain a sense of individuality to its members while growing and thriving. After a moment’s consideration, the Queen heals Seven, though she is partially assimilated once again.

As Picard and Tallinn emerge from Château Picard’s tunnels by the dawn’s early light, they are confronted by Soong and a detachment of drones under his command. Rios arrives on the scene just in time to take out the drones, and Soong runs after an energy weapon nearly detonates in his hand. As the merged Jurati-Queen takes command of La Sirena to lead it into a new future, Picard and the others realize they must rally to stop whatever Soong’s last-ditch effort may be to derail the Europa mission.

Created by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer and Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek: Picard releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.