Star Trek: Why Raffi Musiker Hates Picard Is His Biggest Weakness
Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 1, Episode 3.
In Star Trek: Picard, the reason Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) hates Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) highlights the Starfleet legend's biggest weakness: his inability to see that Starfleet has been comprised and are now the villains. Picard is certainly disappointed in the United Federation of Planet's military and exploratory armada; in fact, the ex-Admiral raged on galactic television that "It was no longer Starfleet!" in Star Trek: Picard's premiere episode. But Picard can't seem to accept that the insidious Romulan cabal called the Zhat Vash has taken hold of Starfleet at the highest levels and this only feeds Raffi's resentment towards her former commanding officer.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view. Start nowPicard and Musiker's history goes back to the Federation's aborted mission to rescue the Romulans from their sun going supernova. When Admiral Picard left the U.S.S. Enterprise-E to take command of the Federation's rescue fleet, Raffi, who is Starfleet's foremost expert on Romulan affairs, became Picard's First Officer aboard the rescue fleet's command ship, the U.S.S. Verity. The canonical prequel comics Star Trek: Picard Countdown detailed their close relationship and their fateful mission to the Romulan colony of Yuyat Beta. However, the attack on Mars by rogue androids in 2385 spelled disaster for the rescue mission and to Picard and Musiker's friendship. After the rescue armada was destroyed on Mars and synthetics were subsequently banned, the Federation abandoned the Romulan mission - a decision that led Picard to quit Starfleet in protest. But Jean-Luc's rash decision also ruined Raffi's career; Starfleet kicked her out due to her proximity to Picard and Musiker has nursed her bitterness for the next 14 years.
Even though he knows Raffi Musiker hates him, she was the first person Picard called upon to help him secure an unregistered ship and pilot so he could pursue his mission to find Dr. Bruce Maddox, the creator of the late Commander Data's synthetic 'daughters', Dahj and Soji Asha (Isa Briones). But when Picard showed up at the door of her hovel in Vasquez Rocks, California, Raffi pointed a gun at her mentor - a reception she feels the ex-Admiral deserves because he never once checked up her in 14 years, only to have "the nerve" to ask her to find him a rogue starship. Raffi especially resents that Picard was able to retire to his "fine Chateau" and live in comfort while she was disgraced, forced to survive in the desert, and developed a substance abuse problem. Most frustrating for Raffi is that, after all this time, Picard still refuses to believe her discovery that Starfleet's top brass have been infiltrated by enemy agents and that Starfleet itself could very well be complicit in the Mars attack.
Picard has always deeply believed in Starfleet's principles, perhaps to a fault. Therefore, despite his own issues with Starfleet, Picard can't seem to accept Raffi's conspiracy theory - which is actually correct, though she doesn't know the culprit is Starfleet Chief of Security Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita) and her subordinate Lieutenant Rizzo (Peyton List), who secretly a Romulan mole and Zhat Vash member named Narissa. But in his defense, Jean-Luc dedicated almost his entire adult life to Starfleet and his distinguished career lasted over 50 years, including decades commanding the Federation's flagship, the Enterprise. As an Admiral, Picard also held the highest security clearances and he personally knew every flag officer in Starfleet so it's understandable that he'd have trouble accepting that one of them is a traitor who conspired with the Romulans to destroy their own rescue fleet. That just doesn't make sense from Picard's point of view.
However, Picard's blindspot about the villains in Starfleet is now his biggest weakness, which, understandably, is a major source of frustration for Raffi. Musiker is also wary of the undeniable fact that Jean-Luc is now older and has been making questionable judgment calls, like making the huge mistake of informing Starfleet's CNC what his plan was. While Trekkers naturally side with Picard implicitly, it's hard not to see that Raffi's trust issues towards Picard have a degree of merit. Hopefully, Musiker can put her animosity towards Picard aside and help him see past his blindspot if they're going to successfully complete their mission to find Bruce Maddox and Soji Asha in Star Trek: Picard.
Star Trek: Picard streams Thursdays on CBS All-Access and Fridays internationally on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: screenrant.com