Picard’ brought back Hugh in Episode 3. Who is he?

We’re only a little bit closer to understanding the mystery of Dahj and Soji after Star Trek: Picard‘s third episode, but there was one big surprise: Hugh.

You probably didn’t recognize him if you never followed Star Trek: The Next Generation — or maybe even if you did, given how different he looks. His name was only mentioned once in an easy-to-miss moment. But the executive director of the Romulans’ “reclamation project” is a former Borg who has quite the history with Star Trek.

First, a quick recap of what we know about Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco) after Episode 3. He runs a research program aboard the repurposed Borg cube and he wields enough power to get Soji into the holding cell where formerly assimilated Romulans are held. It seems that he doesn’t entirely trust his Romulan benefactors, but whatever he’s getting out of the deal is sufficient to keep him playing ball.

We’ll surely learn more about Hugh’s more recent history in coming episodes of Picard as we learn about this mysterious reclamation project. There’s nothing in his more distant past that provides immediate answer, but you might be surprised to learn how much Hugh’s history with Picard and the U.S.S. Enterprise links up with the story that’s currently unfolding.

Borg, bye

Hugh’s first and most notable appearance came in a fifth season The Next Generation episode called “I, Borg.” It opens with the pre-credits discovery of a crashed ship that apparently carried a small group of Borg drones. 

Only one of them survived, but barely. So the Enterprise’s doctor, Beverly Crusher, convinced Picard to beam the Borg drone aboard for treatment. We were a couple seasons removed at this point from the time Picard spent assimilated by the Borg, but his lingering (and totally understandable!) distrust prompted some security measures – which included cutting off the captive being’s ability to communicate with the Borg Collective.

It’s important to understand that the Collective functions as a hivemind. They grow their ranks by assimilating the various beings they encounter throughout the galaxy, and the process strips the assimilated of their individuality. Becoming part of the Collective means you’re constantly linked with a vast network of fellow Borg.

We quickly learn that Picard’s very sensible security measure had an unintended side effect: The Borg captive, cut off from the Collective for the first time, started to experience a feeling akin to loneliness. The dawning realization that Borg are capable of emotion and free thought is a surprise to Dr. Crusher and Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge, who gives him the name “Hugh.”

As the episode unfolds, Hugh’s increasingly human behavior wins over more of the crew, eventually including Picard himself. This growing sense of affection for the captive Borg ultimately comes to disrupt a plan that would’ve used him to carry a virus back home that would’ve wiped out the Collective once and for all. 

Instead, Hugh is simply treated for his injuries and returned to the site of the crash, where he’s eventually collected by his fellow Borg. It’s clear his time aboard aboard the Enterprise had an impact, but it’s a full season before we find out just how much.

Lore dive

Hugh didn’t return to The Next Generation until the two-part episode “The Descent,” which spanned the Season 6 finale and the Season 7 premiere. It starts on a mysterious note: The Borg are back, seemingly preparing to strike the Federation once again. But there’s something…different about them.

During a shootout with an Enterprise away team, the Borg attackers do something they haven’t done before: They show emotion. When a member of their group is killed, one expresses grief over the loss and another vows revenge. They also all seem to have given names, unlike any other member of the Collective we’ve met before.

Except for Hugh, that is. Hugh doesn’t actually appear in this first of two episodes, but his legacy plays a key role in how the story develops. As the Federation prepares for a new Borg offensive, Picard gets chewed out by a senior officer for not taking the chance to wipe out this enemy of the Federation when he had the chance.

We come to understand that it’s a decision Picard continued to wrestle with after Hugh’s release. On the one hand, Hugh’s dawning self-awareness meant that using him as an agent of death amounted to a violation of the Federation’s commitment to not interfering in the development of a species. But the Borg Collective as a whole was the greatest threat the Federation had ever faced. Wiping them out for good would’ve been a major victory.

Picard’s inner struggle isn’t necessarily relevant to Hugh as a character now on the CBS All Access series, but we don’t know for sure. I just think it’s worth understanding the connection between the two since it seems almost inevitable that Picard and Hugh will eventually meet again.

Anyway. The events of “The Descent: Part 1” eventually send the Enterprise hurtling off to a distant point in space in pursuit of Data, who was captured by the Borg. The episode ends with the revelation that this apparent Borg splinter group is led by none other than Lore, Data’s evil twin android.

Part 2 clears up a lot of questions. The Borg splinter group emerged after Hugh returned to the Collective. His newfound sense of individuality caused chaos among the Borg, and eventually led to the Collective cutting them off from the hivemind. That’s the state Lore found them in, and he quickly established himself as a sort of cult leader by giving the Borg a new center, and a sense of purpose.

Of course, Lore sucks. His seemingly beneficent treatment of the unmoored Borg was all a ruse. In truth, he wanted to use them as test subjects in an effort to develop a superior race. This didn’t sit well with Hugh, who eventually established himself as a sort of resistance leader working to undermine Lore’s efforts.

It all ends on a positive note, obviously. After much conflict, Lore and his Borg allies find themselves face-to-face with the Enterprise crew and Hugh’s resistance fighters. Hugh saves Data from certain destruction at his brother’s hands and Data subsequently deactivates Lore. Before the Enterprise departs, Hugh is installed as the leader of this unique Borg faction.

What does it all mean?

I don’t have any answers to that question yet. But Hugh’s return on Picard raises all sorts of new questions. What happened to the Borg individuals after the Enterprise left? How did Hugh link up with the Romulans? And perhaps most importantly for the forward momentum of Picard, what does Hugh stand to gain from lending his expertise to this reclamation project?

Answers are presumably coming as Picard and his newly formed crew speed their way toward Soji. But we surely haven’t seen the last of Hugh.