Star Trek Picard S2

Star Trek: Picard - Season 2

By Scott Collura

Be careful what you wish for. What other lesson can we take away from this second (and also penultimate) season of Star Trek: Picard, which – let’s just say it up front here – might just be the worst season of Star Trek ever produced. Next Gen Year 1, take the party outside.

Look, when Patrick Stewart was announced to be returning to his iconic role of Jean-Luc Picard a few years back, it was more than any Trekkie could’ve hoped for. Captain Picard would finally get the ending he deserved! But now we’re two seasons into that ending, and it sure doesn’t feel like Jean-Luc, or any of us, have deserved this.

Season 1 of Picard was a mixed bag to be sure, as the series (and Stewart himself) sought to put a parsec’s distance between the title character and his Next Generation days. No uniforms, no starships, no Enterprise crew – these were more or less the mandates that enabled Stewart to return to space. Sure, there was some good stuff here and there, but the result was often a dour, dark, and just kind of confused affair.

And so Season 2 seemed to be attempting a course correction right out of the gate, with the opening scene of Episode 1 set on a starship in the midst of a battle. The first season’s cast – the Picard Squad – were mostly reconfigured into more likable, familiarly Star Trek-ian versions of themselves, even while Jean-Luc himself seemed to have a new lease on life. He’d accepted a role back at Starfleet Academy as Chancellor and was even circling a potential romance with Orla Brady’s Laris, a fan-favorite character from the prior season.

Oh, and TNG staples Q (John De Lancie) and Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) were back in recurring roles. But again, and Q would know this better than anyone, be careful what you wish for…

After that fun Season 2 premiere, things began to take a turn for the tropey, if still enjoyable. Q’s meddling sends the Picard Squad to a dark, alternate universe? Check. The crew slingshots around the sun to travel back in time in an attempt to fix the timeline? Got it. Fish out of water hijinks ensue? Mmhmm. The Borg Queen is back… again? Yeah, that too. Uh, punk rocker with a boombox on the bus…? Checkkkkkk.

It’s as if the production, in reaction to Season 1’s distancing from the Treks that have come before, slingshotted too far around the storytelling sun to accommodate all the things we’ve loved about the franchise in the past. Unfortunately, as it unfolded, Picard Season 2 began to feel like nothing but a greatest hits album, and not just that, but one of those albums where it’s all covers of your favorite songs.

It seemed clear from the start that the writers wanted to undo a lot of what they were stuck with after the prior season. Core characters like Isa Briones’ Soji and Evan Evagora’s Elnor were effectively written out of the proceedings (though Briones would get yet another new character to play eventually, her fifth at this point). Brent Spiner’s fairly unremarkable Dr. Altan Soong was replaced with yet another Soong, this time the kind of screechy, hysterical, and sloppy Adam Soong (played by Spiner again). And even the budding relationship between Raffi (Michelle Hurd) and Seven (Jeri Ryan) that was hinted at in the Season 1 finale is in the post break-up stage when we rejoin them here.

That said, it was nice to see the gang again as the new season began, with characters like Santiago Cabrera’s Captain Rios and Alison Pill’s Agnes Jurati coming across as more likable versions of their Season 1 selves. But as the characters landed in the past, and it became clear that they were not heading back to the future, as it were, anytime soon (in an apparently budget-saving move), a sense of running in place overtook things. This included some characters heading out on multi-episode missions that, in the end, accomplished nothing. The heist-style infiltration of the big NASA ball comes to mind, where there’s a whole rigamarole about sneaking into this event. But ultimately the mission seemed to accomplish very little (and certainly didn’t require the whole Squad). But hey, at least everyone got to wear tuxes and fancy dresses.

As for Picard himself, I take no pleasure in saying that at times this season, Stewart seemed frail and perhaps over-taxed. Who knows what’s really going on behind the scenes, but the man is 81 years old. When we hit mid-season and got two episodes in a row where Picard was unconscious for most of one hour and then spent much of the next sitting in a chair, one had to wonder whether or not the legendary actor just needed a break.

Picard’s arc this season certainly had promise, and it works to a degree as the show digs into his childhood and the mental health struggles of his mother. Are these difficult memories, locked away so tightly that even he doesn’t fully remember them, the reason why Picard grew into the guarded, emotionally distant man that he was often portrayed as? The show seeks to tie his budding romance with Laris, and apparent inability to commit to that relationship, to the mysterious past that is slowly revealed over the course of Season 2’s 10 episodes. But it hits a wall in part because Laris herself is given such a short shrift, introduced in the premiere as she is and then basically shoved aside until the final moments of the finale.

Instead, Brady spends most of her expanded role this season as Tallinn, a Romulan “supervisor” charged with guarding Renée Picard, a family member of Jean-Luc’s from the 21st century. In a very TV-ish “identical twin from Texas” scenario, Tallinn inexplicably looks exactly like Laris, and is also a callback to the Gary Seven character from the Original Series episode “Assignment: Earth” (which itself is basically recreated in the Picard Season 2 finale). It’s a lot, and as the season wore on it increasingly seemed like the disparate story threads just couldn’t be tied together in any kind of satisfying way in the end.

As far as Guinan and Q go, the younger Guinan of the past, played by Ito Aghayere, brought a spark to the season whenever she’d show up, but she also never really felt like Guinan. And De Lancie’s Q is just adrift throughout with no clear direction, alternately devilish and funny, and sometimes, I dunno, faux scary? It is Q’s overarching story, which is supposed to be the entire reason why the events of this season take place, that seems to make the least sense. And hence, the season itself ends with a big shoulder shrug. And yeah, we’re talking Next Gen Season 3, late '80s shoulder pads.

In the end, it’s as if the stage has been cleared for the promised reunion of the Next Generation cast in the third and final season. How far things have come from Season 1 in that regard, eh? Rios stays in the past to be with his new love and her son. Jurati is now a Borg Queen who has lived for centuries, but also a nice Borg Queen. Briones’ latest character just leaves for the byways and highways of the galaxy with… Wesley Crusher, in a wasted and puzzling cameo. Presumably Elnor will be shipped out on the Excelsior in Season 3 to make way for Riker, Worf, Troi, and the rest. None of these character arcs feel particularly earned, alas, and more just an “ends justifying the means” situation.

So what was this all for? What did this extended trip to the year 2024 really give us in the Picard lexicon? Has it really been worth it to bring back Stewart for this? I truly hope Season 3 is amazing and we get one last Trek from Stewart and the TNG gang that makes this all a distant memory. But as this season has proven, you can’t just snap your fingers like Q and make good TV…

Questions and Notes from the Q Continuum:I got nothing.

Verdict

Season 2 started off in a good place, looking to amend some of the missteps of the show’s freshman year. But in attempting to embrace and celebrate the things that fans love about Star Trek, the show fell into the trap of regurgitating old concepts. Picard’s central arc focused on him unlocking the dark memories of his childhood and how those mysterious events of his past helped make him the emotionally guarded man he is today, and while this is an interesting development in the character’s story, it never quite gels. Meanwhile, the majority of the Picard Squad were seemingly doomed to run in place throughout the season, biding their time until they were written off the show entirely.

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

Star Trek Picard S2 Ep 5:
Fly Me To The Moon

Despite Paramount pouring many millions into "Star Trek," it seems "Halo" has been the recent draw as the new sci-fi show's premiere broke the streaming channel's records(opens in new tab) this week on Paramount Plus(opens in new tab). And while recent episodes of "Picard" have been some of the best "Star Trek" we've seen since the first season of "Discovery" back in September 2017, there are early indications that Season 2 of Jean-Luc's ongoing adventures is beginning to slip. But more on that later.

The tribute to "Star Trek: The Voyage Home" was evidently limited to just one episode and we've moved on, way past that now, with episode 5, entitled "Fly Me To The Moon." That said, there are still a lot of exciting plot threads to continue with and we pick up more or less straightaway from last week's episode with Picard (Patrick Stewart) talking to Laris Tallinn (Orla Brady). He concludes that she's a sort of "Supervisor," similar in principal to a one-time character called Gary Seven who appeared in an episode of "The Original Series" entitled "Assignment: Earth" (S02, E26), which was actually an attempt to jump-start a potential spin-off series.

According to Memory Alpha(opens in new tab), Gary Seven (played by Robert Lansing) was a human-looking male whose ancestors were abducted from Earth around 4000BC and taken to another planet. He was a Class 1 "Supervisor" sent to Earth in 1968 to discover why his superiors lost contact with Agent 201 and Agent 347. When he discovered they were killed in an car accident, he assumed their mission. Using advanced alien technology, he continued their mission to make sure mankind did not destroy itself with nuclear weapons.

There were subtle indications(opens in new tab) that this connection was coming and even if you missed those, lest we forget how "Discovery" tapped into "The Original Series" back in the Season 3 two-part episode "Terra Firma" with the Guardian of Forever. And while there's nothing wrong with this, it would be nice to see these throwbacks developed further, rather than appearing to be casually-regarded, short-lived references used when new ideas seem to be thin on the ground. Perhaps we'll learn more about the backstory of Laris Tallinn later, but given the rapid turnaround of guest-star characters in this show so far, it feels unlikely. And we'll come to that too, a little later.


We see the same young girl that Q (John de Lancie) was obsessing over during his lunch break last week only now she's in a kind of spacecraft cockpit simulator and not doing a very good job with an orbital debris evasion practice run. A French flag patch can be seen on her arm before a head and shoulders close reveals her name badge, Renée Picard (played by Penelope Mitchell).

Picard provides some helpful exposition, "The Europa Mission was a pioneering space flight in my history," so you'd think he'd remember that a Picard was on it. In "Star Trek: Generations," he says to Deanna Troi, "From being a small child, I can remember being told about the family line. The Picard who fought at Trafalgar. The Picard who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. The Picards who settled the first Martian colonies…" Confirming the family's importance through history, but he'd surely remember this. (Then again, it didn't even occur to him that an "alien living in Los Angeles in the 21st century" might be Guinan.)

Turns out she's supposed to be on the prime crew for Expedition Europa, which was an early interplanetary mission to the Jovian moon of Europa. We've even seen big billboard posters promoting — for some reason — this mission when Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) were causing havoc in downtown Los Angeles.

All that's known about Renée is that she "discovered a microorganism on Io that she believed was sentient and convinced the mission commander to bring it back to Earth." Given all the twisty-turny timey-wimey nonsense that's been going on of late, especially with whether or not Guinan would've known Picard, it's probably best to just not think about it too much, a bit like how the writers haven't.

Following the opening credits we're back on the crashed La Sirena and the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) is up to some clever mischief. Tapping into the nearby cellphone towers, she calls the local constabulary and reports, "There are screams coming from the Picard vineyard!" This has the desired effect and a poor policier from little La Barre comes to pay a visit. Raffi and Seven meanwhile have managed to rescue Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera). So, you know, phew.

Upon watching some video footage of a therapy session with young Renée that Laris Tallinn has managed to get hold of, they can see that Q, who's gone full Freud, is the one who is surreptitiously trying to talk the young astronaut out of going on the mission, which suggests a whole new level of intervention from Picard's omnipotent adversary. In the past, Q's been satisfied with purely observing the various outcomes in his experiments in alternative history, but this is active interference. And then we get the biggest surprise of this episode, a Soong (Brent Spiner) and Soji character cameo.

This is a brand new incarnation of Dr. Soong, bookending his appearance in the first season of "Picard" as that was the oldest Soong we've seen, in the 24th century and now this one, in the 21st century marks the earliest. And since it's the modus operandi of this show to incorporate as many of the much-loved former cast members of "The Next Generation," it feels apt. The problem is, as we've mentioned, so far, it's been a rather rapid in the turnaround of potentially interesting reinvented characters.

And that's a shame, because as we see, Q versus Dr. Soong — with two exceptional, heavyweight classically trained actors playing the roles — could arguably be the greatest single match up in "Star Trek" since…well, Captain Kirk took on Trelane in "The Original Series" episode "The Squire of Gothos" (S01, E18). Who knows, maybe he'll turn up next week.

This episode isn't directed by Lea Thompson — although she makes a brief appearance as the chairman of the board that revokes Dr. Soong's license for breaking the Shenzhen Convention and running genetic experiments on soldiers with a privatized military organization, Spearhead Operations. This episode is once again in the hands of Jonathan Frakes and evidence of that will become obvious later in the episode.

Soong is struggling to find a cure for his daughter Kore's (Isa Briones) rare and unusual condition and Q introduces himself by way a cryptic business card, which incidentally has a number on it that you can actually call to hear a prerecorded message from the irksome entity. He gives Soong a test sample, which works, for a short period. But now Q has his claws well and truly sunk into the dodgy doctor so he'll naturally do anything for the promise of a permanent sure.

Meanwhile, on La Sirena, the poor policeman has totally failed to detect either Dr. Jurati (Alison Pill) fast asleep on the sofa, or the smell of the fire that they lit earlier. He's instead drawn to the voice of the Borg Queen who's imitating the sound of someone in distress. Jurati finally wakes up, grabs an antique shotgun and goes back into the crashed ship herself to see what's going on. She finds the Queen holding the policeman hostage and give her both barrels. Go Agnes.

Not long after, everyone regroups at the ship and Jurati explains what happens. Out intrepid time travelling team hatch a plan to crash a fancy gala where young Renée will be in attendance. This new plot thread has distinct a "Stardust City Rag" vibe from last season along with an element of "Mission: Impossible," as even the accompanying music helps set the tone in a trademark Frakes set piece. Jurati cleverly, deliberately lets herself get caught by security guards so that she's held in the security surveillance room, where through the power of flashback, we see how the Borg Queen was able to get two assimilation tubules(opens in new tab) into her neck before she "died" from her shotgun wounds.

Roll closing credits on what is an interesting episode that gets better the more you watch it. The worry is where it goes from here. Guinan was undoubtedly underused and let's hope that next week's story isn't just a format to introduce yet more cameo characters for just the space of one episode. The Brent Spiner versus John de Lancie match up is worth half the season alone and it's great to have yet another ancestor of the legendary father of eugenics appear in "Star Trek."

Rating: 7½/10

Star Trek Picard S2 Ep 4: Watcher

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from Den of Geek: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-trek-picard-season-2-episode-4-review-watcher/

by Lacy Baugher|March 24, 2022

After several episodes of what was essentially a very complicated set-up, it finally feels as though Star Trek: Picard’s second season is ready to kick into high gear with “Watcher”. The crew of the La Sirena has made it back in time to 2024 and they have a task to complete with demonstrable results. Find the mysterious Watcher who supposedly will be able to help them identify whatever has gone wrong with the timeline and therefore prevent it, preventing Earth’s descent into an authoritarian hellscape where the Federation morphs into an organization that’s down with conquest and genocide.

Despite its more clearly defined narrative goals, there’s still an aspect of this episode that feels a bit like watching three different series fighting under a blanket. In one corner, there’s Raffi and Seven’s Excellent Adventure, in which the two women try to track down a missing Rios, who has been taken into ICE custody and is apparently in the process of being deported. (But without anyone, say, running a check on his identity or noticing how incredibly awkward he’s being about literally everything.) Elsewhere, Picard, realizing the rest of his team are failing utterly at the one job which they were given, heads off to track down the Watcher by himself. This leaves Agnes stuck on the ship with the Borg Queen, trying to hold on to some shred of her self-esteem while bargaining for help repairing the La Sirena’s transporter.

And the thing is—-that all sounds like an insult, but it’s not really meant as one. “Watcher” is a surprisingly fast-paced and entertaining hour, largely because things actually start happening in it. (It’s also the shortest installment of the season to date by quite a bit, which cuts down a lot on the exposition that was so prevalent in the season’s initial installments.)

The episode is full of Easter eggs and throwback references for dedicated franchise fans, and it even solves a longstanding Star Trek: The Next Generation mystery (why a French Starfleet captain has such a strong British accent). In true Star Trek fashion, there’s plenty of social commentary about everything from modern-day immigration issues and climate change to California’s homeless crisis. And though we don’t get definitive answers to any of the season’s major mysteries, it at least feels, for once, like there’s significant forward progress on almost all of them.

The search for the titular Watcher is this episode’s primary focus, as this mysterious, unidentified being is apparently our team’s only hope of figuring out what precisely Q changed that caused such a drastic shift in the timeline. And, since Agnes manages to figure out that the gang has three days before the future is changed irrevocably, everyone has their work cut out for them. But nothing about this story goes quite the way we probably expected. For example, though many viewers (read: me) probably expected some version of Guinan to show up, the El-Aurian is not actually the Watcher, and also somehow doesn’t seem to remember or know Picard (despite the fact that she ostensibly met him during the set-in-the-1890s The Next Generation episode “Time’s Arrow”).

The Guinan of “Watcher” is much younger and seemingly much more jaded than the version we’re familiar with, and seems exhausted by humanity’s repeated failures and cruelties. In fact, she seems pretty ready to peace out and leave Earth behind entirely, which Picard immediately assumes is the event he’s arrived to correct. That he’s wrong is not just a satisfying twist, but one that eventually hints at that something much larger and more complex is at work.

Apparently, the Watcher Picard is searching for is a being also known as a Supervisor who, as Guinan puts it, is part of a group “assigned to protect the destinies of certain individuals”. Now, whether these are the same beings referenced in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Assignment Earth” is unclear, but, until proven wrong, it seems as good an assumption as any. (And, let’s face it, that kind of deep-cut callback would be cool as heck.) But the scene in which the Watcher essentially possesses a handful of Los Angeles residents in an attempt to discover whether Picard is being tailed is both an impressive visual and a neat way to convey their seemingly immense power. That its final form appears to be some sort of doppelganger for Laris is an interesting twist. (And one that, once again, hints that all of this is somehow connected to Picard’s supposed lack of love/emotional connection.)

With just three days for the La Sirena crew to find the Watcher and fix the timeline, it feels a bit strange to devote so much of this episode to several elaborate car chase set pieces, but here we are. Sure, they’re very well done and there’s something entertaining about Seven turning out to be as skilled a pilot of 21st-century vehicles as she is everything else, but, truly, the Rios subplot feels like a colossal waste of time. (Or, probably more accurately, like the show just wanted the chance to make a political statement about ICE, which is admittedly very on-brand. But surely there was a better way to do that than…all of this?) At least Agnes’s growing mental entanglement with the Borg Queen feels like it’s a story that both matters and will impact the larger arc of the season.

Perhaps “Watcher’s” most interesting twist comes in its final scene, which reveals that Q is not only also in 2024 and seeming ironically reading a newspaper article about whether this will be the year that revives space exploration, but his powers aren’t working. Picard noticed back in “Penance” that his old frenemy seemed unwell, but now it seems very obvious that something is deeply wrong. (Can Q die? We may be about to find out.)


Why, exactly, he’s stalking a young blonde woman outside Jackson Roykirk Plaza is unknown—though his droning intonation about the oppression of fear sounds very familiar to the same sorts of things he’s told Picard—-but whatever the reason, it looks as though he might be as stuck in the past as the rest of our faves. And that certainly sounds like one of those “butterflies” Agnes told everyone to avoid.

from Den of Geek: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-trek-picard-season-2-episode-3-review-assimilation/

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

Star Trek Picard S2 Ep 3: Assimilation

By Lacy Baugher

March 17, 2022

With a little help from the Borg Queen, the Star Trek: Picard crew rockets back into the past for an hour of what is essentially table-setting for the rest of the season. But “Assimilation” is an enjoyable enough episode in its own right, dropping our faves in 2024 and allowing the show to comment a bit on the state of our world even as they work toward fixing the one they left behind.

It less outright fun than last week’s installment which forced our faves to pretend to be the absolute worst possible versions of themselves in order to survive, but its decision to divide the team into groups to tackle different problems—reviving the unconscious Borg Queen, finding the mysterious “Watcher” who is meant to help the crew fix the as-yet-unidentified thing Q changed that so drastically altered the timeline—is smart, giving everyone something to do in the sort of side quests that will all inevitably come back together down the road (most likely whenever we determine who or what the Watcher is, though I suspect if it’s not some version of Guinan we’ll all be very surprised).

My colleague Ryan Britt wrote after Season 1 that Picard is a series that works best as a binge, and this episode feels like nothing so much as an argument that he is probably correct. Picking up at the end of “Penance,” the hour rockets through to end on a different cliffhanger, in which Rios is arrested by the police in 2024 and seems set to cause the sort of devastating ripples in time that could well significantly alter the world they’ve all come back in time to fix. It’s all a propulsive enough plot, but it also sort of feels that the episode stops just as things are finally getting going.

On the plus side, after what was essentially two episodes of set-up, it looks like we’re finally ready to dive into the meat of this season, namely figuring out what the heck is going on and why Q wanted to send Picard and his crew back to the past in the first place. The brief reappearance of Q himself—-though I’m not 100% clear on whether that was the real deal or a Picard hallucination—hints that this all has something to do with our faves confronting their fears, but since this Earth is several hundred years before their own times, the solution is not an entirely literal one. Or at least, not in the way we were maybe assuming.

Given that the episode is titled “Assimilation,” one has to assume that the Borg Queen plays a significant role in events, and that’s certainly true. And despite the fact that the character ostensibly “helps” Picard and friends here, the series repeatedly reminds us that the Borg are, quite frankly, terrifying and probably (possibly?) not to be trusted. The brief sequence in which the Borg Queen frees herself and then winds her body into the guts of the La Sirena has the look and feel of a horror film, complete with a constantly escalating sense of tension, ominous music, and a look of pure terror on Dr. Jurati’s face. Annie Wersching remains fantastic as the Borg Queen, even though she’s playing little more than a disembodied head.

But in the end, “Assimilation” largely belongs to Allison Pill, who gets the hour’s most intriguing subplot as Agnes (mentally) goes toe to toe with the Borg Queen in an attempt to both revive her and acquire the location of the mysterious Watcher—information she’s trying her best to withhold. As Agnes voluntarily connects herself to the Borg Queen’s mind, Pill deftly shifts between multiple personas—including Agnes’s shifting emotional subconscious and a near-assimilated version of herself—as Jurati and the Borg Queen fight for control.

In a season that will apparently come to be defined by pairs, the idea of establishing a sort of binary connection between these two is a fascinating one. After all, it’s Agnes’ timeline that changed the least. Well, in the sense that at least she didn’t become an authoritarian dictator, just a slightly sadder version of herself. Does that mean she has more or less to lose from this kind of connection—or a stronger sense of who she is, for good or ill?

As for the rest of the team, Rios’ subplot sees him separated from the rest of the team and taken to an underground doctor’s office that helps treat illegal immigrants and those who don’t want to—or can’t—trust institutions with centralized health and identity records. His decision to try and help the nice lady doctor and her son is admirable but largely feels as though it’s happening on a different show than everything else (or at least apart from the fact that his decisions could and likely will change the timeline in unknowable and probably dangerous ways).

Elnor’s death is tragic of course but it isn’t quite as emotionally affecting as it probably ought to be and feels a bit like Picard is struggling to give the La Sirena crew some personal stake in this mission they’re on that outside of their connections to Picard. Though one would hope preventing a genocidal authoritarian nightmare future would be enough on its own! But we’ve spent so little time with Elnor this season— and it’s so obvious that once the gang sets the timeline to rights he’ll be magically resurrected—that there seems to be little reason to mourn him but so much. (And his absence in 2024 is kind of convenient from a plot perspective: It means that the gang doesn’t have to try and compensate for the fact that one of their team looks distinctly non-human.)

Plus, while Raffi’s grief has given Michelle Hurd the chance to release some righteous anger (why aren’t more people that get pulled into Picard and Q’s seemingly eternal feud more pissed off about it?), her incredibly close relationship with Elnor essentially formed offscreen. I mean, I’m theoretically glad that the two have apparently formed a new little family together because both deserve a fresh start, but we haven’t seen much of that for ourselves so it kind of feels a bit like the show is just repeatedly telling us how much they care for one another rather than letting us watch that bond develop for ourselves.

Conversely, Picard allows viewers to draw their own conclusions about the state of Raffi and Seven of Nine’s relationship (prickly but seemingly solid enough), using everything from the way they fight together to the ease with which they play off of one another to con a building guard. I’d love to see the two have a more in-depth conversation about heavier topics like Raffi’s grief or the fact that Seven is clearly feeling some kind of way about seeing a version of herself whose face doesn’t sport tell-tale Borg implants, but hopefully, those will come in future installments.

from Collider: https://collider.com/picard-season-2-episode-2-review-star-trek-patrick-stewart-paramount-plus/#:~:text=Elnor%20(Evan%20Evagora)%20wakes%20up,the%20Confederation%20can%20kill%20him.

Star Trek Picard S1 Ep 2: Penance

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

BY MAGGIE LOVITT
PUBLISHED MAR 10, 2022


The crew of the U.S.S. Stargazer awakens in a world where the Confederation—not the Federation—reigns as merciless conquerors.

Following the cataclysmic events of the premiere, Picard (Patrick Stewart) goes toe-to-toe with Q (John de Lancie) to get to the bottom of what happened and, in typical Q fashion, Picard is left with more questions than answers. Though Q does shed a little light on why the second episode of Star Trek: Picard is entitled “Penance.” Picard isn’t being forced to learn a lesson, he’s being forced to pay penance for his actions and inactions at the behest of Q, or maybe something bigger than Q.

Picard is horrified to discover that the cruel version of himself that exists in this timeline not only has a room full of trophies from the victims that he has conquered, but he owns Vulcans as slaves who fear him. In this reality, the Federation never set out to peacefully explore space, the Confederation sought out to conquer, enslave, and control anyone they saw as their lessers—which unfortunately is anyone who isn’t human. There is a lot of very blatant Third Reich imagery used throughout the episode, not just in Picard’s very authoritarian garb, but also in the starkly brutalist architecture in San Francisco.


Picard is not the only one to wake up in a strange new world. Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) wakes up to discover that in this reality the Borg never assimilated her and she is President Annika Hansen, a ruthless leader within the Confederation’s cruel rule. More alarmingly, she also discovers she is married to another official in the Confederation who is quite suspicious of her odd behavior.

Seven—or rather Annika—requests a private com channel to be opened up between her and Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera) who has awoken in the midst of a heated battle with the Vulcans. He cautiously accepts the hail from the president and they both carefully broach the topic of their current predicament. It’s truly remarkable how quickly everyone is on their feet—few people could jump straight into a discombobulating firefight.

Elnor (Evan Evagora) wakes up in the middle of Okinawa where he and several other resistance fighters have staged a fruitless attack against the Confederation, aiming to find vengeance for their attacks against Romulans. Fortunately for Elnor, Raffi (Michelle Hurd) finds him before the Confederation can kill him.

Back in San Francisco, Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) wakes up in an unfamiliar laboratory with a digital feline companion, and before she can get her bearings the president and her husband arrive to check on the prisoner they plan to execute. While Seven and Rios may be quick on their feet, Agnes is not and her fumbling causes Seven’s husband to grow a little more suspicious about the situation. The prisoner is revealed to be the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) who explains that the time has been broken. The Borg have the innate ability to feel echoes of themselves across all timelines, which gives Seven and Agnes a clue as to what might be going on.

The crew of the Stargazer converges at the Confederation campus in San Francisco with Picard arriving right as Raffi and Elnor get into a bit of trouble. The trio heads off to meet with Seven, though her pesky Confederation husband poses a challenge for them. They are able to get the magistrate to leave them alone long enough for them to exchange what information they have gleaned from their new situation, though they still don’t have much of a plan for what they can do to fix it.

In Agnes’ lab, Picard questions the Borg Mother about what Q did to the past to create the converging timeline. She reveals that Los Angeles, 2024 is the when and where Q made a change and implores them to find “The Watcher.” They attempt to have Rios beam them aboard La Sirena, but security protocols prevent them from leaving San Francisco.

The final act of the episode is a race against time as the crew has to find a way to prevent the Borg Queen from being killed on stage during the Eradication Day event. While Agnes, Raffi, Elnor, and Rios try to concoct a plan to get all of them out of the Confederation safely, Seven and Picard have to go on stage to follow through with bringing an end to the Borg in front of a jubilant crowd of onlookers, anxious to watch the Confederation bring an end to yet another race of people.

Just when they think they’re going to be able to escape, Seven’s Confederation husband shows up, shoots Elnor in the chest, and holds the crew at blaster-point in a heart-racing cliffhanger.

Grade: A+

Star Trek: Picard S2 Ep 1:
The Star Gazer

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from Den of Geek: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-trek-picard-season-2-episode-1-review-the-star-gazer/

By Lacy Baugher

March 3, 2022|

For all the bluster and bleakness of its initial trailers and promos surrounding the Star Trek: Picard Season 2 premiere, the actual episode itself is a fairly low-key return for the show. To be clear: “The Star Gazer” is largely excellent, offering us rich and rewarding character moments and the return of several old faces from our collective Star Trek: The Next Generation days, even as it sets up what are ostensibly the main arcs of the season. But it does very much take its time getting going, and if you were waiting on the edge of your seat for things the Season 2 trailers promised (what appears to be time travel, the return of John de Lancie’s famous badass god-being Q), well, you were waiting a while.

Instead, “The Star Gazer” is an episode that looks inward before it ever begins to plot outward, and Picard as a whole remains a show that is much more concerned with themes and ideas than it is specific story beats or narrative explanations. (This isn’t a bad thing, by any stretch, but having this show and Star Trek: Discovery on at the same time is definitely something of a study in contrasts.) For example, the multiple meanings of the episode’s title—which references Picard’s childhood longing to go to the stars, his first Starfleet command, and the ship Rios captains now—works great thematically throughout the hour, and there’s a certain sense that Picard’s arc will follow a similar pattern of looking backward and forward at the same time.

There’s a certain Shakespearean aspect to the Picard character we meet in the Season 2 premiere, a man who—though Picard itself almost plays down many of the biggest game-changing elements from the Season 1 finale—doesn’t know quite who this new version of himself is. The idea that becoming a synth has changed him in some significant way is implied but never directly stated, and if, for whatever reason, you only started watching this show at this particular moment, you might not even catch that there’s anything, well, let’s just say not entirely human about him. (To be fair, the show was incredibly vague about how that would all play out anyway. But still.)

Admittedly, I’m not entirely sure that I buy the idea that Picard has spent his life so obsessed with the allure of exploring the stars that he’s closed off his heart to love and emotional connection. Even if you ignore his handful of Next Generation flings or the literal years of shared sexual tension with Beverly Crusher, there are still many other multiple worthwhile kinds of love and intimacy that matter just as much as romance or sexual attraction. So the idea that Picard’s life has somehow been an empty one because he doesn’t have a wife or girlfriend in it when he was surrounded by so many of these other kinds of deeply important connections is…well, let’s just say not entirely something I agree with.

But, thankfully, Patrick Stewart can honestly sell me anything, and if he wants me to believe that Jean-Luc Picard is having some sort of existential romantic crisis because reasons, well, I guess I’m here for it. Plus, I 100% support the idea that even though he is pushing 100 years old at this point, people everywhere just still want to mack on Picard. (Even Lahris the apparently recently widowed Romulan who wants to honor her dead husband Zhaban by romancing her boss/business partner/however this whole Chateau Picard situation works.) And the idea that he still deals with these sorts of problems by heading to a bar to get drunk with Guinan. For what it’s worth, Whoopi Goldberg’s return is pitch-perfect, and if this whole episode had just been the two of them getting sloppy and gossiping that would have been totally fine.

Of course, the Picard premiere has bigger issues to wrestle with than the question of Jean-Luc’s love life and subsequent mental state. After a rapid-fire catch up with our La Sirena faves—Raffi and Seven of Nine’s relationship is still very firmly in the “it’s complicated” category, Dahj is some sort of synth diplomat, Elnor (still hot) is joining Starfleet, and Rios is a captain in his own right—everyone is suddenly brought together thanks to the appearance of a strange space anomaly (very different from the one wreaking havoc over on Discovery, thank goodness.) This is caused by something that can apparently rip holes in the very fabric of space-time and between the incredibly advanced technology and the very obvious bright green glow, I truly have no idea how it took everybody so long to figure out the Borg were involved.

Many of the best moments of Picard Season 1 were centered around the Borg in some way—Picard’s still-lingering trauma from his assimilation, Seven’s struggle to make a life for herself outside of the shadow of her Borg status, the Artifact that Hugh and his team excavating—so the fact that so much of this season feels like it will also involve the Borg is very exciting. Particularly because “The Star Gazer” is already asking the best kinds of Star Trek questions: At what point, if any, do these beings that I have long considered my worst enemies deserve a second chance?

After all, Klingons and Romulans now both play a key role in the world of the Federation and Starfleet, and both were once humanity’s deadliest adversaries. Of course, this is the Borg we’re talking about, and the idea that this species, who have done such harm to characters we care so deeply about, could ever be part of the Federation is on its face fairly repulsive. But…isn’t that exactly the kind of lesson Picard the man and Picard the show have repeatedly asked us to wrestle with? Plus, the fact that the (admittedly extremely awesome looking) faceless Borg Queen manages to drop Picard’s lifelong “look up” mantra just before the Stargazer blows up is certainly a hint that something bigger than we understand is going on.

Which, of course, brings us to the Q of it all. Look, John de Lancie’s return is everything we could have possibly wanted it to be in the scant minutes of screentime we’re given this week. He is basically the very definition of “still got it”. And truly, the nod to the fact that we’re all a bit older now and therefore even the immortal Q needed to be aged up a little bit to “match” his nemesis Picard was absolutely perfect.

Given the changes at Chateau Picard during the episode’s final moments, it’s clear that we’re in some sort of alternate timeline or alternate universe, but what exactly has happened, why Q has chosen this moment to involve himself in his old nemesis’ life (or death, depending on how you view the Stargazer’s explosion) or what Picard’s meant to do in this legitimately alien new world are all unclear. But I can’t wait to find out some of the answers.

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

From TechRadar: https://www.techradar.com/news/star-trek-picard-episode-10-recap-review

Star Trek Picard S1 Ep 10:
Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2

Star Trek: Picard episode 10 recap: An incredible season finale

By Andy Kelly March 26, 2020


(
Image credit: CBS)


ABOUT THIS EPISODE


- Episode 10 (of 10), 'Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 '
- Written by Michael Chabon & Akiva Goldsman
- Directed by Akiva Goldsman
★★★★★

Spoilers follow.

Narek flees from his synth captors and meets with Rizzo, who has been hiding out in the ruins of the Artifact. Narek loads up on explosives and heads out, followed closely by Elnor. Meanwhile, Picard is still imprisoned in Coppelius Station, and tries to convince Soji to stop the beacon, which she's currently helping to build. In Soong's lab, we're reminded of his plan to download a human consciousness into a synthetic body. And on the grounded La Sirena, Rios repairs the ship's engines by simply imagining them being fixed, using a device given to him by Saga, the synth Sutra and Narek murdered. There's a lot going on in this episode.

Narek turns up at the La Sirena and tells Rios, Elnor, and Raffi about the synths and their beacon, and how allowing it to be completed will result in all organic life in the galaxy being eliminated. They reluctantly agree to help him. Elsewhere, Soong watches a recording of Saga's last moments, realising Sutra was involved in her murder. He confronts her, angered by her actions, then knocks her unconscious. Pretending Narek is their prisoner, Rios and the others gain access to Coppelius Station. Soong spots them, but after being stung by Sutra's betrayal, he's now on their side.

Rios tosses a bomb hidden in a soccer ball at the beacon, but Soji catches it and throws it to safety before it has a chance to destroy it. In orbit, the Romulan fleet finally arrives, led by Commodore Oh. She orders the fleet to sterilize the planet as Picard – who escaped captivity with a little help from Jurati – pilots the La Sirena. Just as the Romulans are about to scorch the planet, Jurati has a brainwave. She uses Saga's repair tool to create thousands of clones of the La Sirena. Oh orders the fleet to attack them instead, buying enough time for Starfleet to arrive with a fleet of its own.

On the crashed Artifact, Seven of Nine kills Rizzo before she has a chance to engage its weapons and help the Romulan fleet. Above, Will Riker, who has returned to Starfleet as an Acting Captain, orders the Romulans to stand down. On the planet below, Soji completes the beacon and giant centipede-like machines (presumably sent by the 'higher beings' who created the Admonition) begin to spill through a portal. But Picard manages to convince Soji to stop it, saying if she does she'll become the 'destroyer' the Romulans said she would be. The portal snaps shut as the beacon is shut down, taking the machines with it. The Romulans stand down and warp away. Picard thanks Riker for always having his back.

Picard collapses. The brain condition his doctor warned him about has become critical, and he dies. Or does he? He wakes up in a strange house, with Data sitting across from him. They're inside a quantum simulation, Data says, and he has a favour: he wants Picard to shut his consciousness down, because dying gives life meaning. Picard wakes up, his mind transferred to a synthetic body designed to look and age exactly like his old one. He removes the device keeping Data's consciousness active, and we see a vision of him aging like a human, and dying peacefully with Picard by his side. The crew of the La Sirena gathers on the bridge and heads off into space, ready for more adventures in season two.

Verdict: There have been some dips in quality throughout Picard, but they really nailed the finale. This is as thrilling, emotional, and visually spectacular the series has been. The scenes between Picard and Data were beautifully written, and seeing Riker leading a Federation fleet was a stirring moment. Picard's mind being transplanted into a near-identical synthetic body was a bit of a shock, but it does mean he's fit and healthy for another season – and we'll definitely be watching it whenever it arrives.
Extra data

• We see a riff on the famous Picard Maneuver in this episode. This risky battle tactic saved Picard's old ship, the USS Stargazer, from a Ferengi attack: an event recalled in the TNG episode The Battle (S1E9).


• Data says he downloaded his memories to B4, a prototype Soong-type android that looked exactly like him, but had none of his personality or individualism. He appeared in the movie Star Trek: Nemesis.

Star Trek: Picard is available to watch on CBS All Access every Thursday in the US, and every Friday on Amazon Prime Video internationally.

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

From EW.com: https://ew.com/tv/recaps/star-trek-picard-season-1-episode-9/

Star Trek Picard S1 Ep 9:
Et in Arcadia Ego pt 1

Star Trek: Picard recap: Making prophecies come true
By Nick Schager
March 19, 2020 at 09:00 AM EDT


CREDIT: AARON EPSTEIN/CBS


Soji learns that her long-sought synthetic family may not be ready to listen to reason in Star Trek: Picard’s penultimate season 1 installment, “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1.” And that puts Picard — and the rest of the galaxy — in grave danger.

Having traveled 25 light-years in 15 minutes via a transwarp conduit, La Sirena arrives at Soji’s homeworld: Coppelius. Narek’s ship follows in short order, and a ferocious dogfight ensues. When Narek’s craft suffers a catastrophic hit, and his vital signs begin to wane, Soji says it’s a trick and they should let him die. Picard objects, maintaining, “There’s a difference between killing an attacking enemy and watching a wounded one die.” Before Picard can beam Narek to their sickbay, the Artifact shows up along with five giant orchids — defense mechanisms of Coppelius — that knock out La Sirena and the Artifact’s power, causing them both to plummet to the planet below.

His eyes closed and his head titled backward, a seated Picard mutters, “Thank you for coming, everyone,” and then passes out. He awakens in the sickbay, where Jurati has used some old-school medical equipment on him. He confirms her results: he’s dying. He promptly informs the entire crew that he has a fatal and untreatable brain abnormality and that their mission will go on — just as all conversation about his condition will cease. “There will be no further discussion. Anyone who treats me like a dying man will run the risk of pissing me off. Is that clear?”

Soji has vague childhood recollections of nearby Coppelius Station. The crew arms itself for a trek across the desert to that outpost. First, though, everyone agrees to visit the Artifact to see if Hugh and Elnor are still alive.

As we know from last week’s episode, Hugh has already died. Picard and company do find Elnor and Seven, the latter of whom explains how they followed La Sirena through the transwarp conduit. Seven gets the Artifact’s long-range scanners operational, allowing Raffi to see that 218 Romulan warbirds are on their way.

Elnor wants to join Picard on his quest, but he says Elnor is needed on the Artifact to get its defense systems online and to help the XBs. “I’m very, very proud of you,” he tells the young warrior. Seven is less sentimental. “Keep saving the galaxy, Picard," she says with a smile. “That’s all on you now," he answers.

At idyllic Coppelius Station, Soji is greeted by synthetic twins Arcana (Jade Ramsey) and Saga (Nikita Ramsey), who know Soji as well as Picard. Soji informs them that a fleet of Romulan warbirds will be there soon, which is an especially big problem since there are only ten orchids left to defend the planet.

A stunned Picard is greeted by Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner), who knew his appearance would have this effect on the captain since he looks like “Data if he’d gotten old and gone soft.” Soong describes himself as a “mad scientist," explaining, "My father had me but he created Data. In fact, he never let me forget.”

Soji recounts her story to Soong, and then everyone is introduced to Sutra, who’s Jana's sister, and the golden-skinned spitting image of Soji. Sutra is happy about this encounter because she thinks Soji and her friends have brought her vital information — namely, the Admonition. Sutra believes the Admonition compelled Jurati to kill Maddox because it literally drove the doctor out of her mind. Sutra is convinced the Admonition is intended for synthetic, not organic, minds. And since she’s apparently (and, one might say, conveniently) a Vulcan culture aficionado, she knows how to perform the Vulcan mind-meld — which she does with Jurati, in order to experience the Admonition herself.

What she receives is a revelatory message: “The dance of division and replication. Imperfect. Finite. Organic life evolves. Yearns for perfection. That yearning bleeds to synthetic life. But organics perceive this perfection as a threat. When they realize their creations do not age or become sick or die, they will seek to destroy them. And in so doing, destroy themselves. Beyond the boundaries of time and space, we stand. An alliance of synthetic life. Watching you. Waiting for your signal. Summon us and we will come. You will have our protection. Your evolution will be their extinction.”

In his lab, Soong tells Jurati she owes a “great debt” for offing Maddox and grants her the opportunity to repay it by giving a life versus taking one. He’s working on perfecting mind-transfer, suggesting — along with the synthetic body he’s building — that he plans to techno-resurrect Maddox. Later, Rios finds Jurati, who’s staying behind to finish Maddox’s incomplete work. Rios assures her he won’t forget her before they leave.

Having heard Sutra’s (for now mysterious) plan, Soji contends that there must be a means of survival that doesn’t result in so many people dying. Sutra counters that hers is the only way, since “to them, we’re monsters. They call us abominations.” Narek is then dragged in and put in a containment cell overseen by Saga. He tries to trick Saga into dropping his cell’s defenses, but Soji thwarts that ruse. Narek justifies his former attempt on Soji’s life, claiming he still loves her. Soji replies, “I know. What a sad and twisted thing you are. You disgust me, Narek. But not as much as I disgust myself for pitying you.” He says he pities her since the approaching Romulan forces will kill her and everyone else on the planet.

Arcana gives Raffi and Rios a device that will repair La Sirena. Raffi ignores Picard’s prior warning about discussing his condition and, after hugging him, tells him she loves him. “I love you too, Raffi,” he confesses before leaving.

Soji finds Picard in Maddox’s old quarters and engages him in a chat about “the logic of sacrifice” — a topic that lets her obliquely address Sutra’s brewing plan, about which she seems more than a bit uncomfortable. Soji wonders if all killing is driven by fear. Meanwhile, Sutra frees Narek because her need for his services outweighs her desire to end his life. A scream brings Soji and Picard running to Narek’s cell, where they discover that he’s escaped and killed Saga in the process.

This murder is the pretext Sutra needs for her true scheme, which she reveals to a public audience. She argues that humans will always hurt synthetics and that the Admonition wasn’t a warning but a “promise” from “higher synthetic beings” that are watching them. Coded in the Admonition are subspace frequencies needed to contact these higher beings, and Sutra and Soong have designed a beacon to do just that. By using this beacon before the Romulans arrive, they can save the synthetics from extinction.

Sutra doesn’t intend to stop with the annihilation of the coming Romulan horde. She believes the higher beings will unite synthetics throughout the galaxy and help them wipe out the greatest threat to their existence: organic life. Picard naturally doesn’t like the sound of that, saying, “You will become mass murders … You will fulfill their [the Romulans’] prophesy. You will become the destroyer after all.”

Picard pleads with them to abandon this course and escape with him on La Sirena. He also pledges to advocate on their behalf before the Federation. Soong reminds his synthetic compatriots that the Federation didn’t listen to Picard the last time he tried to stop the ban, and it won’t listen to him now. He places Picard under house arrest. Going along with Sutra, Soji tells Picard, “We can’t be your means of redemption. We’re too busy trying to survive.”

Jurati begs to be allowed to stay on Coppelius. Given that Jurati is the figurative mother of the synthetics, Sutra asks her if, like a true mom, she’d die for her children. Jurati says yes, and Sutra believes her.

As Picard is taken away, Commodore Oh’s fleet continues racing toward Coppelius.


Captain’s Log:

Soji may be on board with Sutra’s plan for now, but her misgivings about organic-life genocide suggest she’s going to do the right thing in next week’s finale.
Picard’s legendary heroism notwithstanding, his promise to procure Starfleet protection for the synthetics is — in light of his past failure to do just that — pretty weak.
The biggest question regarding next week’s season finale: Will we ever understand what Rios sees in the weak, treacherous, murderous Jurati?

What did you miss? Check out the previous episode's review HERE

From Den of Geek:
https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-trek-picard-episode-8-review-broken-pieces/

Star Trek Picard S1 Ep 8: Broken Pieces
*******

Star Trek: Picard Episode 8 Review: Broken Pieces

Raffi puts her conspiracy theory pieces together in a particularly illuminating episode of Star Trek: Picard.
By Kayti Burt|March 12, 2020|
Photo: CBS All-Access


This STAR TREK: PICARD review contains major spoilers.

Hoo boy, Star Trek: Picard dumped a whole lot of information on us in its eighth installment, “Broken Pieces,” but writer/showrunner Michael Chabon does it with character-illuminating panache, setting most of the hour’s action on the La Sirena ship, and letting conspiracy theorist Raffi put the pieces together for us. The answers are less exciting than Picard perhaps wants them to be, but the process of finding them out, which exposes some important backstory for many of our recurring characters, makes this episode soar.

Is there anything more fun than watching a detective do her work? When it comes to Raffi, she already has the picture; it’s more about collecting all of the pieces so she can make the goddamn puzzle. This means diving into the fragmented psyches of Rios’ five hologram clones, all modeled after Rios truly.

They’ve all got fun accents (including an obviously Scottie-inspired one with an engineering specialty) and costumes, and Santiago Cabrera seems to be having a hoot diving into these different caricatures, but there’s a whole in their collective knowledge that only the real Rios can fill. When it comes down to it, Raffi’s hologram interrogation isn’t about finding the answer so much as coming up with the questions that will get her to the answer: Who is Jahna? What happened on the Ibn Majid? And what does it have to do with Soji?

Turns out Jahna was one of two synthetics the Ibn Majid took aboard nine years prior. Shortly after they were brought on board the ship, Rios’ mentor and father figure, Captain Alonso Vandermeer, murdered them in cold blood on orders from Starfleet Command. They had given the captain an ultimatum: kill the two emissaries and delete all record of their existence from your ship’s records or the Ibn Majid and everyone on it will be destroyed.

Vandermeer does it, but can’t live with himself after the fact. He shoots himself in front of Rios, who carries out the rest of the orders himself, erasing any record of Jahna and Beautiful Flower from the records. Now, he knows the truth about the two strangers: they were synths, from the same world Soji hails from. And they were killed by Commodore Oh, using Starfleet as her weapon.

How did Oh get involved in all of this? “Broken Pieces” has an answer for that, too, and it’s the final piece in Raffi’s conspiracy theory puzzle. Half-Romulan, Half-Vulcan Oh infiltrated Starfleet not long after Data’s creator, Dr. Noonien Soong, began popping out androids. Once in place, she orchestrated the Mars attack so that the Federation would stop work on synths altogether.

Why would Oh go to such extremes to keep synthetic life from developing further? As we have long assumed, she is part of the Zhat Vash. This episode, we get far more insight into the secret organization by flashing back—yes, 14 years—to one of their initiation ceremonies, which includes both Narissa and her aunt Ramdha (surprise! they’re related).

Known as The Admonition, the ceremony involves bringing recruits to a octonary system (i.e. a system with eight component stars) to expose them to the same apocalyptic vision of the future we saw Oh mind meld into Agnes’ brain last episode. The message is a warning, left by a species more than 200,000 years ago. This group constructed the octonary system just to get people’s attention—apparently, the Romulans were the only ones who were listening—to show others what happened when they let synthetic life develop past a certain point: “Somebody shows up.” “Somebody really bad.”

This prophecy, and the Romulans who follow it, know Soji as The Destroyer. Is she the bad person who shows up or is that someone else? These questions have yet to be answered.

Elsewhere in the episode, Agnes wakes up and, frankly, it feels like the crew of the La Sirena lets her off the hook a little easily. After Picard informs her they will be turning her over to the authorities for the murder of Bruce Maddox once they reach Deep Space 12, she’s all like: No, I shall turn myself over when we reach DS12. But I am pretty sure that’s not how it works.

Also, they all have a very easy time believing Agnes when she says she won’t murder Soji, even though she murdered her former lover and watched the life drain from his body just days before. Like, I know Soji is a lie detector and Agnes knows how to pop a crocodile tear and I am all for giving people a chance at redemption, but this all feels a little laissez faire, even for a ship as loose as the La Sirena.

In the end, Agnes doesn’t try to murder Soji. Instead, they all lay their cards on the table (well, sadly, not the holograms, Soji disabled them) and set a course for Soji’s homeworld after some minor power struggles on the bridge. Little do they know, Narissa’s Romulan fleet will be there waiting for them… as will Narek, who somehow didn’t completely lose the La Sirena, even as they enter a Borg transmat tube. Oy vey.

Elsewhere in the episode, Seven of Nine swoops in to save Elnor just when Narissa’s men may have gotten the best of him. Elnor gives him a big hug, endearing him further to at least this audience member. But Seven’s work is not yet done. When Narissa begins killing all of the Ex-Bs on the ship, Seven attaches herself into the system, waking up the dormant Borg onboard and “assimilating” them to do her bidding.

Before Seven can use them to save the Ex-Bs, however, Narissa vents all the Borg on the Artifact into space, which is just a straight-up massacre. Narissa gets what’s coming to her when some of the remaining ex-Bs take her out. She seemingly dies in the struggle, but I remain skeptical—though it would be a fitting end for her evil character.

While the action on the Artifact was exciting, it lacked the emotional weight of the La Sirena storyline, which is filled with characters we know getting some proper development (or illumination). The Artifact storyline wanted to belong to Seven, and she did have her moments of narrative triumph, but it really belonged to Narissa, who we never got to know past her cartoonishly villainous surface. It truly did peak at that Elnor hug.

Additional thoughts.


The many Rios-grams are reminiscent of the many versions of Wells Tom Cavanagh gets to play on The Flash.
The Zhat Vash all appear to be women? Or at least they do in the flashback Admonition scene.
Oh yeah, turns out the Artifact broke when the Borg on it tried to assimilate Ramdha, who had the power of the Admonition in her head. Borg can’t take those levels of feels.
Will we get flashbacks to Little Narek and Little Narissa being taken in by their Aunt Ramdha as kids? I hope so.
Was anyone else getting Firefly vibes on during the La Sirena-set action this episode? Well, Firefly with a healthy dose of Battlestar Galactica‘s “This has all happened before and it will all happen again” nonsense.
Speaking of which, Rios has a lullaby security protocol, which is a lovely detail.
Oh, hey, remember that time Picard yelled at Clancy until her got a squadron, then apparently ditched them in order to let Soji take her own path?
This was a great quote though: “And now the windmills have turned out to be giants.”
“Data’s capacity for expressing and processing emotion was limited… I suppose we had that in common.”
“You are a wonder. A technological masterpiece and a work of art.” “Am I a person? … Not in theory. To you, right now. Looking at me. Talking to me. Do you consider me to be a person, like you?”
A Black Flag Directive, huh?
Lot of talk of suicide in this episode.
Zefram Cochrane shout out!
Picard knows of Vandermeer because he served as First Officer under his academy classmate Marta Batanides, who was a main player in the excellent TNG episode “Tapestry.”
“Fear is the great destroyer.” – JL Picard

from ew.com
https://ew.com/tv/recaps/star-trek-picard-season-1-episode-7/

Star Trek Picard: S1 Ep 7

Star Trek: Picard recap: William Riker and Deanna Troi help out their old friend
By Nick Schager
March 05, 2020 at 06:14 PM EST

Star Trek: Picard delivers its longest episode to date with “Nepenthe,” all so it can spend as much time as possible on Picard’s long-awaited reunion with two of his closest Enterprise comrades.

Yet before that happy get-together can take place, this eighth installment flashes back to Jurati and Commander Oh’s chat at Okinawa’s Daystrom Institute. Oh knows Jurati has met with Picard, that Picard has revealed his belief that Maddox created a synthetic, and that Jurati gave him 300 GBs of material relevant to Maddox. Oh tells Jurati she wants her to accompany Picard on his off-world mission to find Maddox and the synthetic. Oh subsequently uses a Vulcan mind-meld to show Jurati the death and destruction — on a planetary scale — that will take place if synthetic life is allowed to exist. Shaken, Jurati agrees to Oh’s demands (which will require “a terrible sacrifice”) and ingests a tracking device.

On the Artifact, Rizzo demands that Hugh give up Picard and Soji’s destination (i.e. Nepenthe). She executes Hugh’s fellow XBs, but can’t kill Hugh himself because he’s protected by an “asinine” Starfleet treaty. At this point, La Sirena is released from the Artifact’s tractor beam. Although Rios knows they’re being followed by a Romulan ship (piloted by Narek), they nonetheless take off for Nepenthe — albeit not before first contacting Elnor, who’s staying behind on the Artifact because “my help is needed here.”

On Nepenthe, Picard and Soji are greeted by a young girl wearing an animal ear-decorated cloak and wielding a bow and arrow. Her name is Kestra (Lulu Wilson), and she knows Picard. On their way to the girl’s house, Kestra talks to Soji, who’s still plagued by confusion and distrust. Kestra shows her a compass but concedes it’s broken and admits that her arrows are real but that she’s a pacifist, and thus wouldn’t use them.

Kestra asks about Soji’s father, and upon hearing it’s Data, exclaims, “You’re an android?” This freaks out Soji. Trying to soothe her, Picard says that, though her memories and identity might not be real, her sister Dahj was. Then, he informs her that Dahj was murdered by the very people now hunting her. Having been repeatedly deceived, Soji is unwilling to believe anything.

At the house, Picard receives a giant hug from Kestra’s mom, Commander Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), who instinctively senses that he’s in trouble. Picard goes inside and receives a similar embrace from William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), who immediately recognizes that Picard needs a place to hideout. When Picard suggests not only raising the residence’s shields and activating its perimeter scans but also running anti-cloaking scans, Riker realizes that Picard’s problems involve Romulans. Picard states that his plan has fallen apart, he’s (temporarily) lost his crew, and Soji is still in danger, to which Riker says, “Sounds like you need a new plan.”

As Picard takes a nap and Riker continues making homemade tomato-and-basil pizzas, Kestra tells Soji about Data. She surmises that the reason Soji has mucus, blood, and saliva is that Data always wanted to be human (i.e. have dreams, tell jokes, learn how to ballroom dance).

Troi shows Picard the bedroom of her and Riker’s late son Thad, whose 18th birthday would have been a week ago. Troi tells Picard to stay as long as he likes, but she acknowledges, “I’m not as brave as I used to be, Jean-Luc.” Picard responds, “You’re getting wiser.”

Onboard La Sirena, Rios strives to lose the pursuing Narek. Jurati asks if Rios and Raffi really want to go to Nepenthe. Since Jurati was originally eager to embark on this intergalactic search-and-rescue mission, Raffi is surprised by the question. That prompts Jurati to yell, “I just want to go home! Picard can look after himself and somebody else can find that f---ing synth — why does it have to be me?” Raffi calms her down by giving her red velvet cake, which she promptly throws up.

In the medical bay, Rios says he suspects the reason he can’t shake Narek is that Raffi is being (unwittingly) tracked. Before Jurati can fully confess that she’s the one with the tracker, Rios heads back to the bridge. Upset and alone, Jurati creates a handheld device and injects herself in the neck, instigating a mouth-foaming seizure that puts her in a coma.

Picard tells Riker that his visit is “a desperate impulse. I regret it already.” Riker presses the former admiral for details, stating that ignorance of danger doesn’t keep it at bay. Not that Riker needs Picard to spell things out for him — he’s already intuited that Picard is being hunted by the Tal Shiar and that Soji is the android offspring of Data (her head-tilt gave away her lineage). “Not bad for a pizza chef,” Picard smiles.

Riker slams Picard for his classic “arrogance,” once again deciding everything for everyone, and cautions that dealing with a teenager isn’t the same as commanding a starship. Picard admits he may not be up to this challenge, which is the first “baby step” toward attaining the humility he needs.

Soji and Kestra have become fast friends, speaking to each other in a language called Viveen that Thad created. In a lush garden, Troi has Soji try a real tomato — the first food she’s ever eaten that didn’t come from a replicator. She hears about Thad’s desire for a home, which is what Nepenthe eventually became for him. Apparently, Thad died of a rare disease that could have been cured if not for the synthetic ban (which denied the family access to an active positronic matrix) — proving, according to Troi, that “real isn’t always better.” Soji is still intensely skeptical of everything, suspecting that this paradise and its kind inhabitants are part of an elaborate trap.

Picard tells Soji he understands her doubts, but she violently shoves him aside and storms off. Troi chastises Picard for not fully comprehending how shaken Soji has been by Narek’s subterfuge and attempt on her life.

While Picard struggles to forge a connection with Soji, Hugh tells Elnor he’s now going to lead an open revolt against the Romulans and seize control of the Artifact. Rizzo takes this as a violation of the treaty governing his service — thereby granting her permission to kill them both. Elnor dispatches Rizzo’s guards and directly engages her in combat. Using a dagger, Rizzo murders Hugh. She then beams away before Elnor can finish her off. With his final breath, Hugh tells Elnor that he needs an XB to activate the Queen Cell, and thanks the warrior for giving him hope. Shortly thereafter, Elnor finds a dog tag-like device that allows him to activate a Fenris Rangers SOS signal.

Over pizza dinner, Soji recounts Narek’s meditation-ritual ruse, and Kestra — with the aid of Captain Rupert Crandall, who also lives on Nepenthe — discovers the location of Soji’s homeworld, which doesn’t have a name but does have a number. Picard works hard to convince Soji that she can trust him, admitting he wants to help her because she’s the daughter of his dear friend Data. Moreover, before this undertaking, Picard was just wasting his life, whereas now, “I’m alive. And I have a mission, which means there’s not a hell of a chance that you or anyone else can stop me.”

The next morning, Picard and Riker take a walk to a forest-nestled lake. Picard has heard from Rios, and he talks to Riker about his “decidedly motley” new crew, who “seem to be carrying more baggage than all of you ever did.” Sitting on a pier bench, Riker lets Picard know that no one would think less of him if he gave up this quest. That said, Riker also says he never thought Picard had any business retiring, to which Picard replies, “And you were right.”

Picard thanks Riker for “so many things. But today, for not trying to talk me out of all this.” Riker says he knows better than to attempt that, since “that, my friend, was always a losing proposition.”

Kestra conveys to Soji that she understands what it’s like to experience something really awful (i.e. her brother’s death) and that what helped her get through it were her parents. She says Picard could be Soji’s new father figure and, in turn, Soji could be there for Picard. “I’ll think about it,” Soji responds.

After receiving Kestra’s compass as a gift, Soji and Picard say their farewells and beam back up to La Sirena.

Captain’s Log:

-Kestra is named after Deanna Troi’s late older sister, who died when Troi was an infant – events that were first recounted in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s season seven episode, “The Dark Page.”
-Elnor’s SOS call to the Fenris Rangers strongly suggests that we haven’t seen the last of Seven of Nine.
-Presumably, Narek will also get more to do in the coming weeks, since this episode relegated him to fiddling with a toy while flying his ship (minus any dialogue).

from EW.com
https://ew.com/recap/star-trek-picard-season-1-episode-6/

Star Trek Picard S1 Ep 6: 
The Impossible Box
*******

Star Trek: Picard recap: To thine own self be true
By Nick Schager
February 27, 2020 at 07:15 PM EST



CREDIT: MATT KENNEDY/CBS


It’s Picard to the rescue in this week’s episode of Star Trek: Picard (“The Impossible Box”), but only after Soji comes face-to-face with the traumatic memories haunting her — and, consequently, the truth about her inherent nature.

A shaken Soji awakens after suffering a recurring dream in which, as a child (Ella McKenzie) on a rainy night, she walks down a long, dark corridor toward her father’s workshop, where she sees him behind a row of orchids and, upon entering, is yelled at — thus ending the reverie.

Narek is beside Soji in bed, and under the covers, he kisses her and admits, “I want to know every little thing about you.” Soji thinks Narek suspects she’s an imposter because all Romulans love secrets. He says everyone is hiding something, whether they know it or not. Despite pressing him on the issue, however, he won’t reveal his actual name — the one that’s reserved for the individual to whom a Romulan gives his or her heart. Before leaving, he suggests she speak to her mother about her dream.

Chatting with Picard, Jurati says that Maddox’s death was “harder than I could have imagined” (but obviously not too hard, since she killed him!). Picard confirms that Soji is onboard the Artifact. Though he doesn’t know why she’s there, he’s not looking forward to joining her. “My last visit to a Borg cube was not voluntary … they coolly assimilate entire civilizations, entire systems — in a matter of hours!” he cries, still distressed by his assimilation ordeal years ago. “They don’t change; they metastasize.”

Much to Jurati’s chagrin, Elnor perceptively states about her and Picard, “He can’t see you’re also haunted by something you’d like to forget.”

Troubled as she might be, Jurati later encounters Rios on the deck, shirtless and kicking around a soccer ball (some Earth sports have apparently endured). Over swigs from his flask, she confesses, “I’ve never slept with the captain of anything before.” Jurati knows that having sex with Rios is a bad idea — she says her “superpower” is recognizing mistakes as she makes them — but does so anyway, to ease the fact that she feels “hollow, hopeless, alone, afraid.”

Narek finds Rizzo waiting for him in his room. He reports that he’s making progress with Soji, and she once again mocks him for having feelings for the female synth (which Rizzo refers to as “It. A program. A machine”). Narek is sure that, since every element of a synth is designed for a specific purpose, there must be a reason Soji is having dreams. He surmises that they’re manifestations of her subconscious, which has developed as a means of reconciling the synthetic and human parts of her mind. If he can get her to talk about her dreams, he can unlock her core secret: namely, the location of her homeworld, where the rest of her artificial kind can be found (and destroyed).

Rather than using subterfuge to gain access to the Artifact’s Borg Reclamation Project, Picard opts to do things the Qowat Milat way — “by being perfectly open.” He has Raffi, still on a smoking-and-boozing bender following her disastrous meeting with her son Gabriel, call up an old Federation buddy and ask for diplomatic credentials. That request doesn’t go over well. Yet since La Sirena is about to be in breach of galactic treaty by entering Romulan space (thereby threatening war), Raffi’s friend relents and grants Picard access. Afterward, Rios helps Raffi back to bed, and she opens up to him about her son before passing out in a haze of guilt and anguish.

Soji tells Narek that she had the dream again, but that when she talked to her mom about it, she fell asleep. He reveals to her that every call she’s had with her mom lasted only 70 seconds. Soji can’t believe this and later calls her mom again. She becomes immediately drowsy, such that stabbing herself in the hand can’t keep her awake. When she rises from her slumber at her desk, she scans her family photographs, childhood drawings, and necklace to verify their age, and learns that everything she owns is only 37 months old. Unsurprisingly, this revelation causes her to freak out.

Plagued by flashes of his Borg past, Picard orders Elnor to remain on La Sirena no matter what happens. Upon beaming to the Artifact, Picard is greeted by a friendly face — Hugh, who understands what the hero is going through. “Coming back is hard, I know. This is the last place any of us would want to see again.” Nonetheless, they’re not alone; there are plenty of XBs (i.e. “ex-Borgs”) on the Artifact. Picard informs Hugh about his search for Soji. Hugh says that he not only knows her, but he’s also had a hunch she might be in danger, especially because of the young Romulan spy (i.e. Narek) who showed up two weeks earlier pretending that he wasn’t asking questions about her.

Picard visits the Borg Reclamation Project, and is heartened to see that Hugh’s work is truly undoing the assimilation perpetrated by the Borg. This proves Picard’s fundamental belief that “They’re victims, not monsters.”

Soji recounts her (self-)discovery to Narek. He deceptively theorizes that someone may have implanted her with false memories, as a means of using her to find something on the Artifact. Although it’s traditionally only available to Romulans, he says Soji should partake in the ancient Romulan meditation practice of Zhal Makh in order to unlock the true meaning of her dreams.

In the Zhal Makh chamber, Soji follows Narek’s instructions and is transported back to the dark hallway we saw at the episode’s opening. He asks her questions and counsels her to push past the point at which her father yells at her and the dream ends. Soji does this, entering her father’s workshop. She sees that his face is blurred. Worse still, behind her father’s row of orchids is an operating table featuring a wooden doll-like Soji in unconnected pieces. Narek has her look up through the ceiling’s window, and she spots two red moons in an atmosphere wracked by lightning. “It means you found home,” Narek states about her vision.

Picard and Hugh find Soji’s room in disarray. A scan indicates that she’s nowhere to be found on the Artifact. “I believe she’s close to discovering who she really is,” Picard intuits.

Back in the Zhal Makh chamber, Narek explains to Soji why she imagined her father working on an artificial version of herself: “Because you’re not real. You never were.” He says farewell and locks her inside the room, leaving behind his toy puzzle box, which emits a deadly gas. This activates Soji, and she uses her super-android strength to punch and tear a hole in the floor and escapes. Freed from her confinement, she’s also now back online, so Hugh and Picard race to find her.

That doesn’t take long, since Soji plummets through the ceiling and lands right in front of them. Picard quickly convinces her that he not only knows her but is there to help; showing her Dahj’s necklace, which is identical to her own, does the trick. Soji races off with Picard and Hugh as Romulan guards follow in pursuit.

Hugh takes to them to the Artifact’s clandestine Queen Cell, which both he and Picard remember despite the fact that they’ve never visited it (a byproduct of their time spent as part of the Borg hive-mind collective). Hugh activates a spatial trajector that will beam them anywhere within a 40 light-years range. Picard contacts Rios and tells him to meet them at the distant planet to which they’re headed. However, their travel is momentarily delayed by the arrival of Elnor, who couldn’t resist helping Picard. While Picard is frustrated by Elnor’s heroism — and by his desire to stay and fend off more incoming adversaries — he’s forced to acquiesce to the warrior’s wishes.

As Elnor and Hugh cover their tracks by hiding the Queen Cell and prepare to fight more Romulan enemies, Picard and Soji travel through the spatial trajector.

Captain’s Log:

-We still don’t know why Jurati murdered the man she supposedly loved (Maddox), but her habit of offing men she cares about can’t bode well for Rios.

-Though the Artifact has served its narrative purpose well, it’ll be nice to see Soji — and the show — explore a somewhat different environment.

-That said, it’s hard to believe Elnor will be left behind for good, given that Picard has, regrettably, already abandoned him once before.