Synopsis: The crew of the La Sirena arrive at Coppelius, with the Romulans not far behind them.
These episodes can be seen as additional illustrations of how the psyche is made more whole when the conscious ego acknowledges and integrates bits of unconscious material into itself.
In “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part I” the La Sirena travels through a transwarp conduit to arrive at the homeworld of the synthetics, Coppelius. The vessel is forced down on the planet by its defense systems in the shape of giant orchids. On board the ship Retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard collapses and is forced to tell the crew about his terminal brain condition. Meanwhile, Seven of Nine was able to open up a transwarp conduit of her own for the Artifact to reach Coppelius, and it is also forced down by the planet’s defenses. Also forced to land was Narek, the Romulan spy who had been trailing the La Sirena. On Coppelius, Dr. Soji Asha is welcomed home by her fellow synthetics and Dr. Altan Soong, Dr. Noonien Soong’s son. After one of the synthetics, Sutra, performs a mind meld on Dr. Agnes Jurati, she says that they need to build a large beacon so that super synthetic lifeforms can find them, and together they will destroy organic life. In Et, in Arcadia Ego, Part II” Picard is able to convince Asha that she does not have to be the Destroyer that the Romulans believe her to be, and she dismantles the beacon. Picard collapses again and his body died. However, Soong just happened to have been working on a golem, a synthetic humanoid body that needs a human psyche to complete it. Picard’s psyche is implanted in the golem and he wakes up to live once more, this time as a synthetic.
In these episodes, the synthetics can be seen as embodying the rational conscious ego and Picard and the La Sirena crew irrational feeling unconscious. Again, they have completely different motivations and ways of acting, and hold contempt for each other. But here, Picard is able to appeal to the humanity that Asha has gained in her time spent around humans, and she chooses a new course of action. This can be compared to how when the conscious ego incorporates bits of unconscious material into itself, it is able to respond differently to situations it finds itself in. Later in the episode, Picard’s own humanity is put into a synthetic body to bring it to life. Both occurrences indicate that a balance between these two opposites brings healing, just as it does in our psyches.
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