A little bit of old school Trek magic returns to Star Trek: Picard, along with an old friend, in episode 5, titled "Stardust City Rag." Previously, Picard (Patrick Stewart) found out that his deceased comrade Data (Brent Spiner) might have offspring, of a sort, out there in the galaxy. After Dahj (Isa Briones), the first of the "daughters" of Data to be identified, was killed by a secret Romulan group called the Zhat Vash, Jean-Luc set off on a mission to rescue her identical twin. Having burned his bridges with Starfleet and many of his former associates, he called in every favor he had left and chartered a ship into deep space to find the twins' creator, Bruce Maddox (John Ales). Unfortunately, the Romulans were also on the trail of the missing daughter, and that meant Picard's journey wouldn't be so easy. Attacked at their first stop, Picard's crew barely escaped with their lives due to the timely intervention of fan-favorite character Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). Now, with the former Borg onboard, Jean-Luc and company must infiltrate the Vegas-meets-Mos Eisley Cantina, Freecloud, and save the long lost Bruce Maddox from the evil Bjayzl (Necar Zadegan).

If there's something this episode does right, it's bringing back a little bit of that old Star Trek vibe. There was always a random, themed planet (gangster planet, nazi planet, etc.)to be found in the original series, and this gambler's planet of Freecloud seems to be a shout out to that old tradition. True, the theme isn't so bold as those of the 1960s, but Freecloud definitely has some similarities to Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Throw in the fact that the crew has to dress up in garish costumes to sneak onto the planet, and it's enough to get your nostalgia meter twitching. Some will find this aspect of the episode a little cheesy for today's storytelling tastes, but it's a fun nod to the days of yore and should be viewed as only that.

Another winning element to this episode is the return of Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine. True, she isn't one of Patrick Stewart's original castmates, but she's of the same era, and is one of the most beloved characters to come out of Star Trek: Voyager, so she's a welcome addition to the show. Couple that with the idea that she and Picard are both survivors of Borg assimilation, and have somehow never shared a scene together, and you have a relationship just dying to be explored. The two play extremely well off each other, and every time they're on screen together, you can't help but want that to be the entire show.

Although this show got off to a slow start, the pace picks up a little more with each episode. This one, in particular, really feels like it's racing along quite speedily, between Seven of Nine coming aboard, and the eventful rescue mission. Just having Maddox actually even appear feels like a major feat after three opening episodes that barely got Picard off of planet Earth. It really felt like they might make you wait until the end of the season for Maddox, but not only do the showrunners deliver him in full, they also manage to throw in a couple of major surprises for the character by the end of the episode, too.

Overall, Star Trek: Picard looks to be course-correcting from its early mistakes and zooming towards an exciting conclusion. Still, only time will tell if all of the unopened mystery boxes will come together for a satisfying ending. This episode, however, and the inclusion of Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine, made for one of the best chapters of the story yet.

Grade: A