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In the thrilling series Star Trek: Picard, Chad Lindberg takes on the role of Ensign Foster, a character with a deceptive secret. This article delves into Foster's true identity and his role in the unfolding drama of season three.
Jack Crusher confronts Foster, revealing his true Changeling form.
The Changeling Infiltration
Foster was an alias used by a Changeling who first appeared on The Next Generation episode of Star Trek: Picard. Some time before the USS Titan-A left space dock, the Changeling killed the real Foster and took on his appearance as a human. After the end of the Dominion War, Foster was one of a group of Changelings who refused to accept defeat, rejecting the Treaty of Bajor and Odo's attempts to reform the Dominion into a more benevolent society.
These renegade Changelings left the Great Link in order to take revenge on the Federation for their defeat. While fellow renegade Titus Rikka worked with the underworld on M'Talas Prime, Foster infiltrated Starfleet. Posing as an Ensign he managed to get himself posted to the USS Titan-A.
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Meanwhile Odo had informed Worf about these renegade Changelings and was assisting Starfleet with tracking these renegades down. However, Starfleet kept the news about the schism in the Dominion quiet as to not provoke armed conflict with the Dominion.
The USS Titan-A, unknowingly carrying a Changeling infiltrator.
Sabotage and Exposure
When the Titan was trying to escape from the alien vessel Shrike and her Captain Vadic, Foster sabotaged key systems on the Titan to keep her from escaping. Coming across Jack Crusher trying to repair the sabotage, Foster assaulted Jack, exposing himself as a Changeling in the process.
Seven of Nine went to Foster's quarters and found the original Foster's body. Knowing that Captain Shaw had some experience detecting Changelings she went to him for advice. He advised her to go to Foster's quarters and look for the Changeling's pot as it might have some residue from when Foster was regenerating. Shaw also told her that while a Changeling could assume the identity of another person, they could often be tripped up by asking them questions that the person should know the answer to.
Ro Laren's Death - Bomb In The Shuttle Put By Changelings • Star Trek Picard S03E05
Finding that pot the Changeling used Seven took it to the lab but was assaulted by the Changeling, who had assumed the form of another crewman. Later, as Seven of Nine and Shaw worked to disengage the nacelle covers so the Titan could ride one of the bio-electric waves within the Ryton Nebula to escape, the pair realized that where they were working would be the next target of the Changeling.
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Seven contacted Riker and asked him that no matter what not to send any crew to help them. A few moments later, the Changeling took the form of Sydney LaForge and went to engineering to stop Seven and Shaw from completing their task. The Changeling was stopped by Seven who revealed she had asked Riker not to send anyone to help them.
When the Changeling addressed Seven as Commander, Seven asked the Changeling "Commander What?" When the Changeling replied "Commander Hansen" Seven shot and killed the Changeling. Shaw asked how she knew and Seven told him that LaForge always called her Commander Seven out of respect for her preferences.
After the Changeling's death the Changeling retained the LaForge shape it had assumed just before dying, which Doctor Crusher considered odd as in her experience dead Changelings could not retain their shapes after death. During the autopsy Crusher and Doctor Ohk discovered that the renegades had refined their shapeshifting abilities considerably.
The renegades were able to duplicate major organs and replicate blood, rendering all the detection technology Starfleet had developed since the war useless.
Implications and Revelations
The return of the Changelings in Star Trek: Picard has significant implications for the Federation and the galaxy. This rogue group, led by Vadic, seeks revenge for their defeat in the Dominion War.
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The advanced shapeshifting abilities of these Changelings make them incredibly difficult to detect, posing a grave threat to Starfleet. The events surrounding Foster highlight the danger and deception that the crew of the USS Titan-A must confront.
The revelation of the Changelings was achieved so subtly in its execution that when you see it happen, it takes a minute to process what has occurred. In a fistfight between Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) and Ensign Foster (Chad Lindberg), the Titan crewman’s face briefly shimmers distortedly in a way that would likely only be familiar to a long-time fan of Star Trek.
The slight revelation of the Titan crewman’s face does not come with a proclamation of “Changelings!” by anyone in the room - we’ll leave that to Worf later - and is so brief and sly, it takes a moment to even understand what is happening. The reveal leaves the viewer alone in their thoughts for a minute with, “Wait, was that?!? I think that was … Holy crap!
It’s a fantastic moment, buoyed a few minutes later when we see Worf (Michael Dorn) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) interrogate a human named Titus Rikka (Thomas Dekker) who turns out to be very much not a human, but a Changeling that was involved in the theft of the “world-ending portal tech” seen throughout this season.
Rikka resists Worf’s questioning. When Worf, who faced off directly against the Founders in his time on Deep Space 9, knowingly announces, “How long have you been away from the Great Link?” and the Changeling spits out that the worlds of humans and solids are on the verge of destruction, we finally realize that this season is actually about to give us Next Gen vs. the Changelings - and who would have ever thought that would be a thing?
The set-up for this rogue group of Changelings is pitch perfect: a terrorist faction, apparently being led by Vadic, broke away from the Great Link when they were unwilling to accept defeat in the Dominion War. Worf was contacted by “a close friend…a man of honor” - Odo, of course, in a nice nod to the late René Auberjonois - who informed him about this schism in the Great Link, but Starfleet never acknowledged their existence for fear of reigniting the Dominion War.
Cast and Crew
The episode "Seventeen Seconds" was directed by Jonathan Frakes. Thomas Dekker appears as Titus Rikka, his third role in the Star Trek universe, having previously appeared as a child actor in Star Trek: Generations and in two episodes of Voyager (“Learning Curve” and “Persistence of Vision”).
Jonathan Frakes directed the episode "Seventeen Seconds"
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