Every time I come back to my yearly Star Trek: Picard fixation, I am more and more convinced Narek’s biggest sin was being an antagonist in this poorly written show. The hate he receives is strongly blown out of proportion. He is not the big bad evil people make him out to be. I would even go so far and claim that he isn’t even an asshole as many like to view him (more on that under the cut).
Most of the times, he starts being snappy when pushed into a corner. It is a defence mechanism for the most part to either create space for himself or be heard. If we look at his relationship with Narissa, we can clearly see this happening on more then one occasion. If he stays calm, she walks all over him. The moment he begins to unpack a bitchy attitude and fires back, she starts to listen and takes him more serious.
More hypothetically, the same could have happened all his life. If we look at Chabon’s notes, he was an outcast in his family from the very beginning and engaged in problematic behaviour to be seen since his efforts in fulfilling the role of the ideal Romulan got buried when Narissa always shone brighter than him. If you can’t be the best, be the worst.
Moreover, he got kicked out of the Zhat Vash, certainly not helping his social standing point either. Then, we can also ad the Tal Shiar’s brutal methods of brain washing and manipulation et voila, even worse now.
Funnily enough, Narek is defensive while not standing up for himself. He certainly is stubborn, has an attitude and (somewhat fragile) self confidence but doesn’t manage to brake free on his own. Even if a side of him is self aware enough to feel the wrongness of it all, a life in the cult and Tal Shiar is all he ever knew. So he bites the hands that feeds him, rebels but always comes back in the end. A burning house still brings warmth after all.
If we apply this to the plot of the first season, we can notice how he constantly is one of the first people to throw the punch but also the one easiest to settle for a situation and compromise. While first speaking to Raffi and Rios, their encounter was hostile from both sides but as each side realised they do not pose a threat to each other, they were able to have a respectful conversation. He mirrored their attitude but tried to negotiate and got himself together (he was the one who wanted their help to begin with so it was a necessity).
Now Elnor comes in at the campfire and starts rattling with his knives and instead of defusing the situation, Narek adds fuel to the fire which could have very well started an escalation if Raffi didn’t take the chance to intercept them with a question. Once this energy was gone, he started to behave again.
Next example and more of an interpretation, his time in the synth prison. If we look at his body language, he is very relaxed with Saga. He tries to manipulate her into opening the door and despite his gaze to the sharp brooch, I strongly believe he would have just knocked her out if he had to escape on his own (plus it was mostly to pin the murder on him despite us later knowing he didn’t do it). He clearly hesitates to harm her. He sees no purpose in harming her, she is not a threat. He is not being a manipulative little shit here but an agent on a mission.
Compare that to his reaction when he first saw Sutra. Oh he wanted to POUNCE the only reason he didn’t was because he probably realised fighting something superhuman would be a dumb idea. As soon as Sutra comes closer to him, you can see how he stops in his tracks, freezes. How he tenses and readies himself for a fight. His hands and arms are in front of him in a position that would allow him to react fast. With Saga they were clasped. The moment she extends a hand to him, you can see how his eyes widen as if expecting to be hit or choked out any moment, only slightly relaxing into caution again, as she strokes his cheek instead. He is not stupid, in that moment it was very clear Sutra wanted something from him.
His silence and tenseness can also be read as plotting something evil, especially after Soji told him to go fuck himself, but I would argue it was, again, defensiveness. Not only defensiveness, he was terrified in that moment. This is more of an interpretation and loosely connected because as an agent, of course he is always ready to fight. What struck me was how intensely his demeanour shifted. Unhappy with his situation and trying to coax out a favour versus ready to fight for his life. His extreme reaction and careful readings of the people in front of him speak of someone who has internalized this pattern beyond survival. He is ready to fight first, ask later and overly sensitive to social clues around him.
It reminds me of a mistreated cat that hisses and claws at everything remotely threatening. Hurt is before it hurts you. In return, if it starts to realise that nothing bad is about to happen, it stops and maybe allows some pets.
As already mentioned, we saw this best during the whole interactions with the la Sirena crew. Everywhere else has been constantly stressed and put under pressure. As soon as he decided "yeah fuck this" and deserted, he noticeably changed which enough people realised too. A lot said, that they enjoyed his character most in episode 10, where he started to show more of his true personality. Narek is a victim of don’t show, don’t tell, build something with the three scraps we throw at you and maybe a fourth one you can get when following interviews and show writers.
If we look at it from a story telling point of view, he is clearly set up to be a character further explored in the next season(s). We get an introduction in the first season where we are not meant to sympathise with him since he is one of the main antagonists. Then he helps the main cast and opens an opportunity to leave his old life and now we can get to know the true him, his backstory and gain understanding. This includes Narissa too. At least she would have been indirectly fleshed out when getting to know more about their background. She is a victim too. Probably taking on the role off the better sibling and trying her best to fulfil a guiding role she is clearly not fit for. It is easy to dislike Narek, since he wasn’t supposed to be liked yet.
The complexity and foundation was there, everything just ended up all over the place. Story points were dropped, build up that never paid off, concepts introduced but never explained, now there are plot holes so deep they could form a new galaxy, characters that feel incomplete and one dimensional… We quite unmetaphorically lost the plot somewhere. The show was clearly rewritten at some point. Definitely season 3 wasn’t planned as it was. Even season 2 feels… let’s kindly say questionable in characterisation choices. Maybe the newer concept for season 3 was already planned and now they needed to do something with the rest of the cast.
However, on a different note, it makes me a little sad how everyone cherishes Elnor who is arguably a direct parallel to Narek. Elnor choose to embrace kindness and handles his trauma in a more socially acceptable way. Not to forget, he had a working support system that was kind to him, even if it was clear he didn’t fit in, they still tried their best to raise him. Picard’s abandonment cut deep but he still had a home to call his.
Elnor tries to find his belonging while only knowing and embracing honesty, kindness and openness. He is naïve and didn’t learn to grow up. Narek tries to find his belonging while only knowing deception and manipulation, pain and secrecy. He is distrustful and grew up too fast. He is still extremely young too (by romulan standards), just acts extremely differently. They are the same but so very different. Both have a flawed perception of the world while embracing different extremes. In another world they could be friends and help each other grow.
In conclusion, Narek is the result of an unhealthy environment but instead of being visibly traumatised (* see below), he snaps and shows "assholeish" behaviour. If we would have gotten the time to actually observe some character development maybe we could have seen a different version of him. He would possibly be more witted and know the time and place to make snappy comebacks. Currently, a lot of his words and actions are intended to hurt.
I will even go and jump the gun to say, he is not even remotely a bad person and actually pretty caring and soft hearted. We just never got to see past his defensive side. The closest we got was during his team up with the crew where he acted more like an actual person and not a narrative device. Put this man outside this toxic environment, into therapy and give him a tight hug and he would start to shine.
*Visibly traumatised as in showing conventional traumatic behaviour patterns such as panic attacks, extreme friendliness, low self esteem, people pleasing all in all, more submissive and appeasing behaviour. Narek acts more inwards when he is confronted with something possibly triggering. We see many times were he looks far into space while talking (during the campfire, when talking to Narissa in many instances...). If we made a huge jump, it might be dissociation. Disconnect himself in situations he can only endure. He is silent and at the same time very expressive in seemingly standing up for himself.
Off topic: Ough I have so many fan fiction concept ideas. Maybe I should write about him again... Maybe just something little as some headcanons as a treat...
