Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Raffi Musiker
From down-and-out and struggling to the bridge of the Enterprise-G, who is Raffaela Musiker?
Star Trek: Picard was a tight, three-season story that didn't offer much chance for character exploration. At least, not to the same degree that its inspiration - The Next Generation - managed to get away with. How, then, to discuss Raffaela Musiker?
She was brought to vivid life by Michelle Hurd, playing the antithesis of the type of officer an audience had come to expect. She bristled, she struggled, and she called Jean-Luc 'JL'. Surely not!
Over three years, Hurd and indeed Raffi, solidified their positions as critical members of Starfleet, and the Star Trek family. Raffi was not an officer at the top of their game when we were introduced to her. What does a Starfleet officer look like when they're not neat and polished, with shining shoes and starched uniforms?
For Raffi, there was humanity, there was pain, and there was a fierce determination to vindicate herself, protect those around her, and remind us all that this discharged intelligence officer could so clearly become the greatest First Officer of them all.
10. Humble Beginnings
When the audience is first introduced to Raffi, she lives isolated in a small house beside the Vasquez Rocks. This was the first time the rocks appeared as themselves in Star Trek, though for Raffi, it was the second appearance.
The prequel comic series Countdown is set in the 2380s, though it was released in 2019 before the streaming series debuted. It focused on the Romulan evacuation effort. Raffi served as Admiral Picard's first officer aboard the USS Verity.
This, along with Dr Una McCormack's novel The Last Best Hope establishes Raffi as a highly skilled, but challenged, officer. Her home life is crumbling as both her husband and son feel neglected by her. Raffi is presented as an officer who will sacrifice all personal comforts in the name of the mission, and especially in the name of truth.
When the Synths attack Mars, and Picard resigns following Starfleet's refusal to commit more resources to help the Romulans, she quickly finds herself alone in the service, reassigned and ignored, sinking into addiction and paranoia. The Raffi that the audience meets at those rocks is one still burning with the shame of a dishonourable discharge from Starfleet, estranged from her family, and abandoned by her former commanding officer.
9. 10 Million Families Worldwide
Though Michelle Hurd and Jonathan Frakes wouldn't share scenes until Star Trek: Picard's third season episode The Bounty, they had already shared touching behind-the-scenes moments. Hurd credits Frakes with helping understand the breadth of the Trek world.
As she was embarking on her Picard journey in the show's debut year, Frakes advised Hurd that she was now going to be part of '10 million families worldwide,' something that became clear when she began attending conventions. Though the land-based conventions were an experience of their own, it was the Star Trek Cruise that inspired early, powerful memories.
On her first trip, she hosted an edition of Star Trek Trivial Pursuit. Hurd, who is dyslexic, was given little preparation time to master some of the more challenging Trek names, dates, and places - something she warned the crowd of as she spoke. This admission - of a person with dyslexia thriving in Star Trek's sphere - encouraged many fans to approach her and thank her for helping them feel represented in the world.
8. Decorated Officer (Eventually)
Raffi went through the wringer. After she was discharged from Starfleet, she was at a loss, struggling to stay upright. This is how the audience finds her in Maps And Legends. Though it would take her vindication and extreme self-sacrifice, she would end up a highly decorated, re-instated officer.
She earned the Starfleet Medal Of Honour. This was for 'her commitment to the truth in the face of great opposition.' She maintained that the Synth attack on Mars had been orchestrated by the Romulans, though at the time she was lost amongst planetary politicising of the incident. When the Zhat Vash were revealed, and thus her theory was proven correct, she was rewarded and, presumably, the recipient of a long and heartfelt apology.
This wasn't her only accolade. She was also awarded the Starfleet Command Decoration for Valor and Gallantry, an award given to an officer who has displayed extreme bravery and courage in their service. which she received in 2385 - presumably in the aftermath of the Synth attacks, but before the fallout became clear.
7. The Changing Of The Guard
Michelle Hurd joined Star Trek in Picard's first season, appearing alongside fellow newcomers Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, Allison Pill, and Santiago Cabrera. For the first and second seasons, this new crew, along with Sir Patrick Stewart, crafted Star Trek: Picard's tone and shape.
This changed when, as the second season began to wind down production (although there was only a one-week gap between the second and third seasons' productions), Hurd discovered that she would be the only one returning for the final adventure.
On Conner Trinneer and Dominic Keating's D-Con Chamber podcast, she described the experience as challenging and heartbreaking, despite her elation at continuing to work on Star Trek. She also bemoaned the lack of communication, to a point.
As the plans for the third season were being drawn up, she recalled hearing rumours along the grapevine that people wouldn't be coming back for the last year. She knew that she would be back, as showrunner Terry Matalas had called her into a meeting about her character.
Despite her excitement to explore new aspects of Raffi, she confessed that the entire experience was emotional and challenging.
6. Not Above A Spot Of Blackmail
When JL plans to board the Artefact, he's stuck between a rock and an assimilation tubule. Who is the only person who can help? Why, it's Raffi, of course - despite the cost to herself and her friends. While en route to the Cube, Picard asks her to help get them diplomatic immunity. To be fair, she manages it.
Captain Emmy Bosch is an old friend of Raffi but this doesn't spare her from a bit of dark dealing. With a joking reminder that Raffi 'know where all her bodies are buried,' the tone of the conversation quickly changes when Raffi's goal is revealed.
Though placed in a difficult position by Picard, Raffi slips into the role of a gentle bully with ease. She gives Bosch no opportunity to deny them this 'favour', instead having to settle for granting their request, or face being pulled into, at best, a diplomatic incident or, at worst, a full-scale war with the Romulans.
Raffi achieves her goal, even if it's at the cost of a friendship.
5. What's In A Touch?
The hand holding that launched a thousand ships - Seven and Raffi (Saffi) shared a tender touch in Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 2, one that was inspired by an altogether less tender touch in Stardust City Rag. For the earlier episode, Raffi claps Seven in (stage) handcuffs, with both Hurd and Jeri Ryan feeling there was a spark there.
As the season came to a close, the actors discussed this at length with Michael Chabon, then-showrunner. They decided to add a touch in that scene to introduce the exploration of their romance. As the second season arrived (following the novel Second Self by Dr Una McCormack), Seven and Raffi were a couple.
Michelle Hurd and Jeri Ryan were keen to show a realistic depiction of the characters' relationship, which included the typical bickering that all couples face. Though, as the third season debuted, it was clear that their relationship had changed.
Hurd spoke at a panel at Calgary Expo about the ending of Picard, and her belief that despite their new roles as Captain and First Officer of the Enterprise-G, Seven and Raffi still love each other. In fact, as Hurd confirmed she told Ryan many times:
You do understand that Raffi loves Seven, period. End of discussion. She will love Seven [until] the end of time.
4. What Could Be More Than A Dream Come True?
In Picard's third season, the crew of the Enterprise-D (and E, though that wasn't Worf's fault) returned to the franchise. Though she shared scenes with all of them, Hurd admitted that they would have loved a little more time to play.
Raffi spends most of the season working with Worf, though as the episodes progressed, more and more of the originals began to appear. By the season's penultimate episode, they were all reunited aboard the Titan-A, just in time to jump into a firefight with Changelings.
It was here that Hurd shared scenes with Gates McFadden, though she lamented it was about the extent of their filming together. She was delighted to work with LeVar Burton (I mean, Levar Burton, Kunta Kinte, I mean can I just—) and had a line or two with some of the rest.
She credits this all to Terry Matalas, who she said fought for cameo appearances, often having to argue with the studio to make it happen. Hurd also admitted that there was one former Next Generation cast member she would love to work with:
At that Calgary Expo panel, she said to Collider's Maggie Lovitt:
...selfishly, Guinan would be nice to play with, I’m just saying!
3. Family Matters In The Final Frontier
Raffi's journey on-screen is one of harrowing loneliness that Star Trek rarely dived into. While many of the other series focused on their Starfleet characters' challenges and growth, most of them were shown with a fairly steady foundation. The same could not be said for Raffi.
In the years that followed the Mars attack, her family broke apart. The show doesn't deny that it was Raffi's obsession, combined with her addictions, that was responsible for this. Her marriage broke apart and her relationship with her son Gabriel grew stale.
The vindication that Raffi receives takes time, as does the path to reconciliation with her family. Although she is proven correct about the reasons behind the Synth attack, it takes a further two years before she, Jae Hwang and Gabriel can truly head toward putting the past behind them. Through Raffi, a difficult, often painful family journey offers viewers a realistic portrayal of trauma.
It may take a little nudge from the Son of Mogh to get the family speaking again, but there is no question that Raffi has earned every part of the forgiveness she seeks from her family by the closing scenes of The Last Generation. Where, then, does that leave her going forward?
2. Looking Back To The Future
Like so many people alive today, Hurd was inspired by the Star Trek of yesteryear. As a biracial child, see looked at Uhura in The Original Series and saw representation on television during one of the most turbulent times in the history of the Civil Rights Movement.
She credited her father with ensuring she and her siblings sat down to watch Star Trek and that, through Uhura, they knew that they had:
The permission to be bold and brave and say, ‘I'm supposed to be here. I'm allowed to be here.
To simply be a part of the future is, for Hurd, one of the things that she is most proud of. While she, as a child, saw Uhura on the bridge of the Enterprise and knew that she had a place there too, she now hopes that there are 'little black and brown kids' who will see her, exactly as she is, in the year 2400, existing with full equality and the right to be herself.
1. How Many Letters In A Legacy?
Now serving as the First Officer of the Enterprise-G, Raffi Musiker is in the perfect position to help lead the franchise forward. Both she and Michelle Hurd, are beacons behind which the Trek community can rally.
For her part. Hurd wants to see Raffi's backstory continue to appear on-screen, particularly to show the journey that former addicts must go on. In discussing her own dyslexia, she also hopes that Raffi can be a symbol for neurodivergent members of the audience to see themselves in the future.
Of course, her relationship with Captain Seven of Nine is open for exploration. As the first queer pair in command of a hero ship in the franchise, Hurd feels that this story is far from over. She still loves Seven, Hurd is certain. Whether that is romantic love or something else, the story of Raffi and Seven is just one of the many reasons why Commander Raffi Musiker's tale is far from finished.
With one of the most difficult journeys ever depicted in Star Trek, Raffi has earned her position as one of the most fascinating, engaging characters in the franchise - one who must return to our screens in the future.