Narrative Web
Location
Holodeck Bar

Rex's Bar

Rex's Bar plunges into a smoke-laced, dimly lit noir dive recreated on the Holodeck: low amber lamps pool over a worn counter, the air tastes of spent scotch and old stories, and shadowed booths cradle private confidences. The proprietor Rex moves with sardonic ease, trading ribald banter for thin comfort while patrons retreat into their dramas. The space functions as refuge and crucible — a place where Picard slips into a Dixon Hill persona to mask pain, where intimacy suddenly ruptures into physical threat, and where comic distractions and urgent duty collide, forcing characters back into the mission.
8 events
8 rich involvements

Detailed Involvements

Events with rich location context

S2E19 · Manhunt
Picard Slips Fully Into Dixon Hill to Mask a Wound

Rex's Bar functions as a smoky, dimly lit noir refuge where Picard slips into a Dixon Hill persona. The bar's small cast of background patrons and steady bartender allow this private performance to become a public ritual; it concentrates Picard's vulnerability into a theatrical, contained space that supports both concealment and revelation.

Atmosphere

Dim, smoke-laced, world-weary, with a mournful musical undercurrent.

Functional Role

Refuge and stage — a private place in public where a wounded man can hide and commit to action.

Symbolic Significance

Represents a liminal space between duty and private pain; the bar's noir tone externalizes Picard's internal masking.

Access Restrictions

Open to public patrons; informal social norms discourage interference.

Jukebox playing a mournful forties torch song Sparse patrons (sailor, bleached blond, two hard-drinkers) providing ambience Worn bar counter, dim amber lighting, smoke-tinged air
S2E19 · Manhunt
Noir Respite Cut Short

Rex's Bar, the holodeck's noir dive, serves as a temporary sanctuary where Picard slips into Dixon Hill's ritual comforts. Its familiarity is weaponized by the scene: the bar's intimacy makes Slade's intrusion feel more violating and converts private solace into a public confrontation that forces a return to real stakes.

Atmosphere

Initially quiet, warm, and ritualistic; quickly shifts to tense and charged once Slade appears and physical intimidation begins.

Functional Role

Sanctuary-turned-confrontation-stage: a refuge for emotional regrouping that doubles as the setting for an escalating, personal threat.

Symbolic Significance

Symbolizes fragile respite — the bar represents the small rituals that hold Picard together; its violation signals the collapse of private coping into unavoidable duty.

Access Restrictions

Public, open to patrons during this scene; no formal restrictions, making it vulnerable to intrusions by dangerous individuals.

Classic bartender/customer setup with a few patrons in the background. Bar counter with glasses and dim, intimate lighting implied by the 'bar' setting. Ambient noise of other patrons and the tactile detail of drying glasses as a signal of social withdrawal.
S2E19 · Manhunt
Nose-to-Nose: Slade's Paid Threat

Rex's Bar, the Dixon Hill holonovel setting, shifts from warm, confessional refuge to a pressure-cooker where private noir intimacy is pierced by real-world menace. The bar's physical layout funnels the confrontation into a public, claustrophobic exchange that exposes Picard to coercion in front of witnesses.

Atmosphere

Tension-filled and watchful: dimly lit and hushed as patrons sense danger, the convivial bar tone curdles into strained silence and menace.

Functional Role

Refuge-turned-battleground; a stage for public confrontation where private obligations become enforceable through violence.

Symbolic Significance

Symbolizes the collapse of escapism — the holonovel's sanctuary cannot protect Picard from real moral and physical obligations.

Access Restrictions

Open to the public within the holodeck scenario; no formal restrictions, though Slade's intimidating presence effectively restricts intervention by others.

Dim, smoke-laced noir lighting; amber lamp pools over the bar Patrons present and watchful, creating ambient pressure The sound of drying glasses and pouring scotch punctuates silence Close physical proximity at the bar (nose-to-nose confrontation)
S2E19 · Manhunt
Dixon Hill: Calm Hand on a Loaded Moment

Rex's Bar serves as the staged holodeck noir dive where role-play and real stakes collide: its intimate counter, bottles, and barroom banter create cover for Picard's persona while simultaneously providing the crucible for Slade's threat to surface and be defused.

Atmosphere

Smoke-laced, convivial yet taut; warm lamplight and cracked jokes overlay a tension that spikes when Slade rises.

Functional Role

Meeting place and staged refuge — a social arena where a physical confrontation is likely and can be mediated without immediate outside interference.

Symbolic Significance

Embodies the fiction-reality seam of the holodeck — a space where Picard's escapism collides with moral obligations.

Access Restrictions

Open to invited holodeck participants; informally public within the program but bounded by the simulation's social rules.

low amber lamps and shadowed booths bar counter with bottles and poured drinks smoke-laced air and sardonic, ribald banter
S2E19 · Manhunt
One Last Round — Confessions at Rex's

Rex's Bar provides the atmospheric holodeck refuge where Picard slips into Dixon's persona and the crew can lower their guard; it contains the bar ritual (pouring drinks, introductions) that permits private disclosures and diffuses immediate crisis tension.

Atmosphere

Convivial and smoky with an undercurrent of tension—warm banter punctuated by Slade's agitation and the ticking clock of the awakening passengers.

Functional Role

Sanctuary for private reflection and crew camaraderie; a neutral meeting place before the group returns to duty.

Symbolic Significance

A temporary shedding of command and formality—this holodeck bar symbolizes escapism and the human side of Starfleet officers.

Access Restrictions

Open to ship personnel participating in the holodeck program; informally public within the simulation but limited to invited attendees.

Low amber lamps pooling over a worn counter Bottles and a newly opened bottle of Altairian brandy The bar's cackling laughter and dry banter The tactile action of introductions and examination of period coinage
S2E19 · Manhunt
Lwaxana Fixates on Rex — The Unreadable That Distracts Diplomacy

Rex's Bar — the holodeck's noir dive — provides the atmospheric frame for the encounter: a dim, smoke‑laced refuge where social roles can be tried on and comic disruptions land lightly. The bar stages the contrast between Lwaxana's flamboyance and the room's sunglasses-and-sardonic humor, making her fixation on an inscrutable proprietor both startling and theatrically apt.

Atmosphere

Dim, smoky, amused and voyeuristic — a place of low lamps, worn wood, and easy banter that softens intrusions into comic spectacle.

Functional Role

Stage for public diversion and private conversation; a social pressure valve that distracts key officers and provides comic relief.

Symbolic Significance

Represents a liminal social space where personas are enacted and hidden truths can surface; here it contrasts the Betazoid expectation of transparency with the erotic power of opacity.

Access Restrictions

Open to ship passengers in the holodeck recreation; socially public though quieter corners permit private exchange.

Low amber lamps pooling over a worn counter Smoke-laced air and the scent of old scotch Shadowed booths and a small private table with a lit candle A polished bar with an opened bottle and glassware in plain view
S2E19 · Manhunt
Duty Intrudes — Passengers Awake, a Promise of Danger

Rex's Bar serves as the social refuge and staging ground for the beat: a holodeck recreation that hosts private flirtation and comic respite, which is violently contrasted by the clinical comm. It frames the emotional stakes that must be surrendered for duty.

Atmosphere

Warm, dimly lit, convivial and intimate immediately before the comm, then abruptly undercut by an emergent sense of tension.

Functional Role

Neutral social ground and temporary refuge that becomes the locale of personal obligation and extraction.

Symbolic Significance

Represents temporary escape from command responsibilities — a private world forced to yield to institutional duty.

Access Restrictions

Holodeck environment: generally open to authorized users but privately occupied in this moment.

Low amber lamps and shadowed booths Smoke-laced air and the smell/taste of scotch A small candlelit table with wine and glasses
S2E19 · Manhunt
A Surprise Engagement and a Quiet Warning

Rex's Bar functions as the stage for a private/public collision—social levity, romantic impulse, and professional duty all meet here. The bar’s noir intimacy allows Troi’s declaration to feel both confessional and performative, while also serving as a place where Picard can exert quiet authority.

Atmosphere

Warm, convivial, slightly smoky and intimate, with undercurrents of tension when duty interrupts romance.

Functional Role

Meeting point for personal exchange and incidental diplomacy; a social pressure-cooker that tests boundaries between duty and desire.

Symbolic Significance

Represents a liminal space between civilian pleasure and Starfleet duty—a place where personal impulses can surface but must ultimately yield to institutional obligations.

Access Restrictions

Public enough for crew and visitors to enter, but socially regulated by the proprietor; no formal security barriers.

Low amber lighting and a lit candle on the table creating intimacy. Wine bottle and glasses emphasizing convivial mood. Ambient bar noise subdued enough for whispered warnings to matter.

Events at This Location

Everything that happens here

8
S2E19 · Manhunt
Picard Slips Fully Into Dixon Hill to Mask a Wound

Picard staggers into Rex's Bar on the Holodeck, ritualistically ordering scotch to hide a bleeding wound and the embarrassment of having been shot in simulation. Rex recognizes him as 'Dixon' …

S2E19 · Manhunt
Noir Respite Cut Short

Picard takes a desperate, humanizing moment in Rex's Holodeck bar — trading weary banter with the sardonic bartender who frames his work as equal parts pourer and psychologist. The exchange …

S2E19 · Manhunt
Nose-to-Nose: Slade's Paid Threat

Picard's fragile noir refuge is shattered when Slade Bender materializes behind him, spins him around and presses a brutal, personal interrogation about a missing sister, Alva. Slade's physical aggression — …

S2E19 · Manhunt
Dixon Hill: Calm Hand on a Loaded Moment

Inside the Dixon Hill holodeck dive, Picard — playing the private eye 'Dixon' — defuses a dangerously escalating confrontation when hulking gangster Slade angrily rises and reaches under his coat. …

S2E19 · Manhunt
One Last Round — Confessions at Rex's

Inside Rex's Holodeck bar, Picard briefly sheds command for a Dixon Hill persona, allowing a humanizing pause before duty. Data inspects period coinage as Picard is informed the Antedian 'passengers' …

S2E19 · Manhunt
Lwaxana Fixates on Rex — The Unreadable That Distracts Diplomacy

Lwaxana Troi bursts into Rex's Bar with Mister Homn and immediately upends the room: she derides Riker, then becomes hypnotically drawn to the bar's inscrutable proprietor, Rex. Discovering she cannot …

S2E19 · Manhunt
Duty Intrudes — Passengers Awake, a Promise of Danger

Picard's Holodeck refuge is abruptly severed when Dr. Pulaski reports the Antedian delegates have risen — tersely summarized as 'hungry' — a line that shifts the tone from comedy to …

S2E19 · Manhunt
A Surprise Engagement and a Quiet Warning

At Rex's table Mrs. Troi abruptly declares she will marry Rex, apologizing to Riker and upending the social equilibrium. Riker departs for duty; Picard—duty-bound—rebukes her naval obligation and insists they …