[pseudoreality]

The latest episode wasn't as good as the previous two.

Spoiler!

It is pretty in keeping with Star Trek to have Data go evil and take over the ship. He seems to do that every year or two, and then it is all forgiven by the time the next episode rolls around.

They really tried to pivot with Amanda Plumber's character there. She went from a cartoon-crazy villain to an emotionally damaged person with a backstory and motivation.

I'm going to backtrack on my Pah Wraiths theory now that Jack can control others. Sounds more like he is an engineered weapon here. Maybe the Cardassians tried to do something to Picard when he was seeing four/five lights. It didn't take but got passed on to Jack.

The fun thing about Star Trek is there is so much lore that it is easily to come up with all sorts of theories/call-backs.