Star Trek: Picard
- Thread starter glenimp617
- Start date
Soldato
Episode 10 - "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2"
1) Before we start - only the eleventh episode in all of Trek to get an episode title in Latin. TNG had one ("Sub Rosa"), DS9 two ("Dramatis Personae", "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"), Voyager had three ("Ex Post Facto", "Non Sequitur", "Alter Ego"). Enterprise had a couple ("Terra Nova" and "Vox Sola"). STD had the one ("Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum"). And of course last week we had "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1".
2) The title translates to "Even in Arcadia, there am I." 'Arcadia' is usually interpreted as meaning a utopia, and 'I' as being Death. Thus, even in a utopian land, Death is there. YMMV there on where you think the title lands on the sliding scale between Clever and Pretentious
3) One thing that we already know because the script writers couldn't do plot twists if their lives depended on it - Picard is going to die and end up with his katra...sorry, wrong species...his mind transferred to the android body that Soong was working on and Jurati was heading off to help with. Because modern sci-fi writers are all lazy hacks, and this way they can kill two birds (the need to heal Picard, the need to redeem Jurati) with one stone. Or perhaps after two seasons of STD's stupidity I'm not giving them enough credit, and Jurati is still going to be on the hook for Maddox's murder. Let us see.
4) Oh dear. My copy of the episode starts with a little thing about how STD S3 is coming "soon". Last I heard, post-production was in the middle of a COVID-19 delay!
5) "Previously on..." *sigh*
6) Narek's made it back to the Borg cube.
7) Elnor musing about what will become of the xBs, wondering if they're better off dead instead of homeless and hated. Seven musing about her own fate. Narek sneaking around.
8) Huh. So, Narissa is on the cube. In fairness, when she beamed out from under that pile of xBs they never did show where she beamed to.
9) A vaguely tender moment between the two of them.
10) Tender moment stomped on by Narissa going back to hammy card-carrying villain status.
11) The syths left Picard in a room that isn't empty. If this was Kirk, he'd currently be MacGyvering something with which to escape and take over the settlement. If Spock was with Kirk, they'd have already done it!
12) Jurati watching on as Soji goes to see Picard.
13) Soji making good points. Or they would be good, if it didn't lead to the synths wanting to wipe out organic life.
14) Picard going with a quieter version of the Picard Speed™ this time.
15) "To say you have no choice...is a failure of imagination." Kinda in love with that line.
16) Hey guys, remind me again how this isn't Jean-Luc Picard? Sure looks like Jean-Luc Picard. Sounds like him, too
17) Back with Narek and Narissa. Packing grenades into a bag.
18) Narek sets off with his bag of explosives. And a long-haired figure in a knee-length jacket follows. Gee, I wonder who that could be...
19) The La Sirena still where we left it last week, bellied onto the desert floor.
20) Amusing interplay between Raffi and Rios over the purple sex toy-looking tool that one of the synths gave the team last time out.
21) Catch-22 of sorts. No power means no replicator, no replicator means no part to fix the power.
22) Clarke's Third Law firmly in action there. Presumably the tool takes the user's brainwave patterns (them imagining the fix) and uses replication and nanotechnology to implement it. Bet the batteries aren't easy to come by.
23) Ship back on-line. Seemed a bit too easy. Either the writers finally got bored and are just letting our heroes get one easy win, or we've got Yet Another Plot Twist™ on the horizon.
24) *clang* *clang* "I know that sound." Yes, Rios. We all do. It's called The Plot
25) Jurati and Soong. Spiner really does do 'creepy fake benevolence' incredibly well.
26) And yes, Jurati is indeed still in a state of panic. Same as she has been since before leaving Earth.
27) Narek throwing rocks at the La Sirena's windscreen.
28) He ran all the way from the settlement to the cube without removing his shirt. Carrying the bag of space grenades he's only made it as far as the La Sirena and he's down to his vest. Either that bag is quite heavy, or the weather warmed up some.
29) Place your bets now on if this is a heel -> face turn, or if he's planning something else.
30) Narek explaining the Romulan/Zhat Vash side of things.
31) And the meeting is interrupted by a Dramatic Entrance™ from Elnor. He and Seven truly are kindred spirits.
32) Back with Jurati and Soong. The script briefly heading for Treknobabble.
33) Jurati still going with flattery, this week on Soong.
34) Which gets him out of the room long enough for her to do something involving squishy sounds and Saga's head.
35) Night-time at the La Sirena.
36) Absolute candor from Elnor in full-effect.
37) Narek still relating the Romulan end-of-times myth.
38) Reminds me of the bit between Winston and Ray in Ecto-1 in "Ghostbusters". "Every ancient religion has its own myth about the end of the world."
39) Yeah, keep hamming it up Narek.
40) "The fascinating thing about history is it always repeats itself." Trek As Social Commentary, part ∞+2.
41) Romulan ship designers appeared to lose their sense of style sometime after the D'deridex (the Warbird we see in TNG, DS9 and at least one episode of Voyager).
42) Oh talking to herself, presumably.
43) The La Sirena crew being told by Narek what a space grenade is. Because the writers figured the audience needed telling (NARRATOR: the audience, in fact, didn't), and the story only had two former Starfleet officers on hand to work with.
44) Narek's plan has a touch of the stupid about it.
45) So, what was the point in the camera not showing Jurati removing Saga's eyeball if they're just going to show said eyeball right up in front of the camera in an attempt at shock value now? Must be an age-rating thing.
46) Jurati busting Picard out.
47) Okay, I'm confused. So, Soong is now back to replaying Saga's memories and has seen how she died. But has he not seen that she's missing her 'good' eye (the one Jurati plucked out to get around the security scanner on the door)? Did I miss a step or did the story do so?
48) Yeah, the story really is missing out little bits. So somehow now Narek is free and sneaking around Synthville™. Did the guards just let them all in with him playing possum and simply trust that the La Sirena crew were delivering him back to his jail cell?
49) Soong joins up with the crew.
50) Picard and Jurati made it all the way back to the ship. So now all Picard has to work with as a crew is one nervous scientist. And presumably a bunch of holograms, if that system is up and running.
51) Ticking clock has moved forward to seven minutes. Though one wonders why the Romulan fleet needs to make planetfall. Just blasting nine bells o' **** out of the place from high orbit would do the trick.
52) Jurati fiddling with the purple sex toy/ship-fixing tool is clearly going to be plot-relevant.
53) "But fear is an incompetent teacher." Jean-Luc Picard, ladies, gentlemen and non-binary folk.
54) "They have life, but no-one is teaching them what it's for." Soundtrack goes Goldsmith
55) Jurati wondering how they teach them in less than seven minutes. Picard has A Plan™. A plan that sees him back in the centre seat, about to lead by example. Hopefully he's watched Rios enough by now to figure out the control interface on the ship.
56) You know what, I'm fine with that 'make it so' from Jurati. Yeah, it's a bit cutesy. But I'm okay with it.
57) Sutra talking the synths through the plan. Soong, Elnor and Raffi arrive.
58) Might that have been a quick look from Soji to Soong there?
59) Soong trying for a Picard Speech™ here.
60) Well, it was only a distraction anyway before he turned Sutra's lights out.
61) Rumble!
62) The La Sirena is back in space. And Jurati is wondering how they hold off 218 Warbirds.
63) Picard really doesn't need bothering right now, Agnes.
64) Narek probably the last person who should be trying to convince Soji of anything.
65) Well, that's the bomb plan kiboshed. What else have they got?
66) Back on the cube, and Narissa has the weapons systems up and running. Wondered when the story was going to get back to that.
67) Enter Seven.
68) Aaaaaaand it's a chick fight.
69)
70) That's a whole lotta Warbirds.
71) Oh, okay. So they really are going to fire from orbit and not actually make planetfall.
72) There go the orchids.
73) VFX team earning their corn.
74) Back to Narissa and Seven. Narissa attempting a breaking speech.
75) "This is for Hugh." And over the gantry Narissa goes. Somehow, that feels...unsatisfying. Like she should have had a knife in her neck. Hey ho.
76) Picard threading the La Sirena through the beam spam and what's left of the orchids.
77) "Now might be a good time to reveal the secret plan." What, in the short time you've known him, leads you to think that Picard is doing anything other than winging it Jurati?
78) A little 'hooray for continuity' moment in Jurati's babbling. The 'Picard Maneuver' refers of course to two things. In-universe, it's the act of doing a short jump at high warp close to an enemy vessel so you appear on their sensors in two different places. In fandom, it's that tug that Patrick Stewart used to do on his uniform to smooth it out.
79) And the little Magic Tool™ deus ex machinas them a solution.
80) Picard still going to try and get through to Soji.
81) Not "planetary sterilisation pattern number five"!
Can certainly see where Narissa gets/got the whole cartoonishly evil bit from.
82) Though of all the races in the Trek universe, the Romulans are definitely going to be the ones who you'd expect to have multiple plans regarding planetary sterilisation.
83) Honestly Oh, this whole 'fire on my command' shtick really is pointless. Your tactical officer knows what he's aiming at. Just let the guy fire at will.
84) Because when you don't let him fire at will, you get Will.
85) Soundtrack back in Goldsmith territory. Frakes in a Starfleet uniform.
86) A badass boast from Riker that boils down to "I'm on a starship that Starfleet built specifically to wreck your ****, feel free to make my day." Also reference made to the Treaty Of Algeron. Hooray for continuity!
87) Oh apparently going to oblige him. The lady just ain't too bright.
88) Pausing a moment to talk about the new Starfleet ship classes. They appear to be a cross between the compact, blocky nature of the Defiant and the Starfleet aesthetic introduced with the Sovereign class. Large impulse engines relative to the hull hint at good sublight maneuverability. I'd need to look at stills to work out the dimensions from the windows and other features - what we see of the bridge indicates that it might be quite large, but recent experience with Trek (STD or JJTrek) makes me wary of using interiors to work out ship sizes. There's a couple of different types of vessel in this fleet, with the only apparent difference at first glance between the two being with the warp nacelles (which are slightly altered and mounted at a different angle on some of the ships). None of the ships appear to have registry numbers or names painted on them, even the ones we see quite close up. A choice by Starfleet? An indication that these ships are new enough to have not been formally commissioned into the fleet yet? The VFX team simply running out of time/patience/time and patience? YMMV
Riker calls the Zheng He the "toughest, fastest, most powerful ship Starfleet has ever put into service". And every time Starfleet has taken the gloves off and gone all-out on a ship design (Constitution, Defiant, Sovereign) it's resulted in something that comfortably outclasses anything in a similar weight class (or, as in the case of the Defiant, anything several weight classes up).
89) Picard running out of time.
90) Ordering Jurati to medically prop him up long enough to see this through.
91) Picard Speech™.
92) Riker enjoying it.
93) Soji may want to get a shift on, looks like the eldritch abominations are nearly at the gate.
94) Shutdown. Buh-bye, eldritch abominations.
95) Those of us wanting to see Oh get her comeuppance are going to have to wait, as she and the Romulan fleet are simply allowed to depart. Hmm.
96) Touching moment between Picard and Riker.
97) "Adieu." Oh, the feels.
98) More feels, though somewhat undercut by already knowing how they fix this.
99) "I gave you a choice."
100) There's another fifteen or so minutes of this episode left yet to finish off the remaining plot threads. Namely: stuffing Picard's essence into that android body; lifting the synth ban; resolving the final mysteries behind Maddox's work; deciding what to do about Jurati and what she did.
101) Rios and Seven. "It's what passes for alcohol here. I really don't recommend it." On the plus side, it is green.
102) Both lamenting their repeating of old patterns of behaviour.
103) Elnor's lost what little stoicism he had. Raffi attempting to comfort him as a mother would while dealing with her own grief over it all.
104) "Another damned dream." "No, captain. It is a massively complex quantum simulation." Hello Data
105) "You don't remember your death; I can't forget it."
106) "Captain, do you regret sacrificing your life for Soji and her people?" "Not for an instant." "Then why would you imagine I regret sacrificing mine for yours?" Game, set and match to Data.
107) Picard still not worked out that he's being saved.
108) "When you leave, I would be profoundly grateful if you terminated my consciousness." Data wants to live. To live means your life having an end.
109) "Mortality gives meaning to human life." Oof...
110) At least they gave the golem some underpants.
111) "Am I real?" "Of course you are."
112) Well, there we clearly have Picard's main concern - can he still drink tea. And the answer is in the affirmative.
113) They didn't give him superpowers, apparently. So, no superstrength or fighting skills like the Ashas. That's a relief.
114) Time to make good on his promise to Data.
115) Side note - I hope someone told the rest of the crew by now to stop blubbering, that Picard is alive and well. Otherwise Rios and Seven will have drank even more of that bloody awful green stuff.
116) Blue Skies
117) "We are such stuff/ As dreams are made on". Boy am I glad the writers didn't mangle that line (because it is indeed 'made on' not 'made of'). Not that Patrick Stewart would have let them, of course.
118) And Data is no more. A much more fitting send off than "Nemesis" was IMO.
119) Funeral over. The crew of the La Sirena is assembled.
120) Synth ban is lifted (at least that's one dangling plot thread sewn up), so Soji can travel with them. Picard noting of course that he can travel as well now that he's a synth. Lord alone knows what Zhaban and particularly Laris are going to say when they find out.
121) "Ready Admiral?" The Courage fanfare swells. The finger points. "Engage!"
122) And the La Sirena goes to warp. Credits roll over space.
2) The title translates to "Even in Arcadia, there am I." 'Arcadia' is usually interpreted as meaning a utopia, and 'I' as being Death. Thus, even in a utopian land, Death is there. YMMV there on where you think the title lands on the sliding scale between Clever and Pretentious
3) One thing that we already know because the script writers couldn't do plot twists if their lives depended on it - Picard is going to die and end up with his katra...sorry, wrong species...his mind transferred to the android body that Soong was working on and Jurati was heading off to help with. Because modern sci-fi writers are all lazy hacks, and this way they can kill two birds (the need to heal Picard, the need to redeem Jurati) with one stone. Or perhaps after two seasons of STD's stupidity I'm not giving them enough credit, and Jurati is still going to be on the hook for Maddox's murder. Let us see.
4) Oh dear. My copy of the episode starts with a little thing about how STD S3 is coming "soon". Last I heard, post-production was in the middle of a COVID-19 delay!
5) "Previously on..." *sigh*
6) Narek's made it back to the Borg cube.
7) Elnor musing about what will become of the xBs, wondering if they're better off dead instead of homeless and hated. Seven musing about her own fate. Narek sneaking around.
8) Huh. So, Narissa is on the cube. In fairness, when she beamed out from under that pile of xBs they never did show where she beamed to.
9) A vaguely tender moment between the two of them.
10) Tender moment stomped on by Narissa going back to hammy card-carrying villain status.
11) The syths left Picard in a room that isn't empty. If this was Kirk, he'd currently be MacGyvering something with which to escape and take over the settlement. If Spock was with Kirk, they'd have already done it!
12) Jurati watching on as Soji goes to see Picard.
13) Soji making good points. Or they would be good, if it didn't lead to the synths wanting to wipe out organic life.
14) Picard going with a quieter version of the Picard Speed™ this time.
15) "To say you have no choice...is a failure of imagination." Kinda in love with that line.
16) Hey guys, remind me again how this isn't Jean-Luc Picard? Sure looks like Jean-Luc Picard. Sounds like him, too
17) Back with Narek and Narissa. Packing grenades into a bag.
18) Narek sets off with his bag of explosives. And a long-haired figure in a knee-length jacket follows. Gee, I wonder who that could be...
19) The La Sirena still where we left it last week, bellied onto the desert floor.
20) Amusing interplay between Raffi and Rios over the purple sex toy-looking tool that one of the synths gave the team last time out.
21) Catch-22 of sorts. No power means no replicator, no replicator means no part to fix the power.
22) Clarke's Third Law firmly in action there. Presumably the tool takes the user's brainwave patterns (them imagining the fix) and uses replication and nanotechnology to implement it. Bet the batteries aren't easy to come by.
23) Ship back on-line. Seemed a bit too easy. Either the writers finally got bored and are just letting our heroes get one easy win, or we've got Yet Another Plot Twist™ on the horizon.
24) *clang* *clang* "I know that sound." Yes, Rios. We all do. It's called The Plot
25) Jurati and Soong. Spiner really does do 'creepy fake benevolence' incredibly well.
26) And yes, Jurati is indeed still in a state of panic. Same as she has been since before leaving Earth.
27) Narek throwing rocks at the La Sirena's windscreen.
28) He ran all the way from the settlement to the cube without removing his shirt. Carrying the bag of space grenades he's only made it as far as the La Sirena and he's down to his vest. Either that bag is quite heavy, or the weather warmed up some.
29) Place your bets now on if this is a heel -> face turn, or if he's planning something else.
30) Narek explaining the Romulan/Zhat Vash side of things.
31) And the meeting is interrupted by a Dramatic Entrance™ from Elnor. He and Seven truly are kindred spirits.
32) Back with Jurati and Soong. The script briefly heading for Treknobabble.
33) Jurati still going with flattery, this week on Soong.
34) Which gets him out of the room long enough for her to do something involving squishy sounds and Saga's head.
35) Night-time at the La Sirena.
36) Absolute candor from Elnor in full-effect.
37) Narek still relating the Romulan end-of-times myth.
38) Reminds me of the bit between Winston and Ray in Ecto-1 in "Ghostbusters". "Every ancient religion has its own myth about the end of the world."
39) Yeah, keep hamming it up Narek.
40) "The fascinating thing about history is it always repeats itself." Trek As Social Commentary, part ∞+2.
41) Romulan ship designers appeared to lose their sense of style sometime after the D'deridex (the Warbird we see in TNG, DS9 and at least one episode of Voyager).
42) Oh talking to herself, presumably.
43) The La Sirena crew being told by Narek what a space grenade is. Because the writers figured the audience needed telling (NARRATOR: the audience, in fact, didn't), and the story only had two former Starfleet officers on hand to work with.
44) Narek's plan has a touch of the stupid about it.
45) So, what was the point in the camera not showing Jurati removing Saga's eyeball if they're just going to show said eyeball right up in front of the camera in an attempt at shock value now?
Must be an age-rating thing.46) Jurati busting Picard out.
47) Okay, I'm confused. So, Soong is now back to replaying Saga's memories and has seen how she died. But has he not seen that she's missing her 'good' eye (the one Jurati plucked out to get around the security scanner on the door)? Did I miss a step or did the story do so?
48) Yeah, the story really is missing out little bits. So somehow now Narek is free and sneaking around Synthville™. Did the guards just let them all in with him playing possum and simply trust that the La Sirena crew were delivering him back to his jail cell?
49) Soong joins up with the crew.
50) Picard and Jurati made it all the way back to the ship. So now all Picard has to work with as a crew is one nervous scientist. And presumably a bunch of holograms, if that system is up and running.
51) Ticking clock has moved forward to seven minutes. Though one wonders why the Romulan fleet needs to make planetfall. Just blasting nine bells o' **** out of the place from high orbit would do the trick.
52) Jurati fiddling with the purple sex toy/ship-fixing tool is clearly going to be plot-relevant.
53) "But fear is an incompetent teacher." Jean-Luc Picard, ladies, gentlemen and non-binary folk.
54) "They have life, but no-one is teaching them what it's for." Soundtrack goes Goldsmith
55) Jurati wondering how they teach them in less than seven minutes. Picard has A Plan™. A plan that sees him back in the centre seat, about to lead by example. Hopefully he's watched Rios enough by now to figure out the control interface on the ship.
56) You know what, I'm fine with that 'make it so' from Jurati. Yeah, it's a bit cutesy. But I'm okay with it.
57) Sutra talking the synths through the plan. Soong, Elnor and Raffi arrive.
58) Might that have been a quick look from Soji to Soong there?
59) Soong trying for a Picard Speech™ here.
60) Well, it was only a distraction anyway before he turned Sutra's lights out.
61) Rumble!
62) The La Sirena is back in space. And Jurati is wondering how they hold off 218 Warbirds.
63) Picard really doesn't need bothering right now, Agnes.
64) Narek probably the last person who should be trying to convince Soji of anything.
65) Well, that's the bomb plan kiboshed. What else have they got?
66) Back on the cube, and Narissa has the weapons systems up and running. Wondered when the story was going to get back to that.
67) Enter Seven.
68) Aaaaaaand it's a chick fight.
69)
70) That's a whole lotta Warbirds.
71) Oh, okay. So they really are going to fire from orbit and not actually make planetfall.
72) There go the orchids.
73) VFX team earning their corn.
74) Back to Narissa and Seven. Narissa attempting a breaking speech.
75) "This is for Hugh." And over the gantry Narissa goes. Somehow, that feels...unsatisfying. Like she should have had a knife in her neck. Hey ho.
76) Picard threading the La Sirena through the beam spam and what's left of the orchids.
77) "Now might be a good time to reveal the secret plan." What, in the short time you've known him, leads you to think that Picard is doing anything other than winging it Jurati?
78) A little 'hooray for continuity' moment in Jurati's babbling. The 'Picard Maneuver' refers of course to two things. In-universe, it's the act of doing a short jump at high warp close to an enemy vessel so you appear on their sensors in two different places. In fandom, it's that tug that Patrick Stewart used to do on his uniform to smooth it out.
79) And the little Magic Tool™ deus ex machinas them a solution.
80) Picard still going to try and get through to Soji.
81) Not "planetary sterilisation pattern number five"!
Can certainly see where Narissa gets/got the whole cartoonishly evil bit from.82) Though of all the races in the Trek universe, the Romulans are definitely going to be the ones who you'd expect to have multiple plans regarding planetary sterilisation.
83) Honestly Oh, this whole 'fire on my command' shtick really is pointless. Your tactical officer knows what he's aiming at. Just let the guy fire at will.
84) Because when you don't let him fire at will, you get Will.
85) Soundtrack back in Goldsmith territory. Frakes in a Starfleet uniform.
86) A badass boast from Riker that boils down to "I'm on a starship that Starfleet built specifically to wreck your ****, feel free to make my day." Also reference made to the Treaty Of Algeron. Hooray for continuity!
87) Oh apparently going to oblige him. The lady just ain't too bright.
88) Pausing a moment to talk about the new Starfleet ship classes. They appear to be a cross between the compact, blocky nature of the Defiant and the Starfleet aesthetic introduced with the Sovereign class. Large impulse engines relative to the hull hint at good sublight maneuverability. I'd need to look at stills to work out the dimensions from the windows and other features - what we see of the bridge indicates that it might be quite large, but recent experience with Trek (STD or JJTrek) makes me wary of using interiors to work out ship sizes. There's a couple of different types of vessel in this fleet, with the only apparent difference at first glance between the two being with the warp nacelles (which are slightly altered and mounted at a different angle on some of the ships). None of the ships appear to have registry numbers or names painted on them, even the ones we see quite close up. A choice by Starfleet? An indication that these ships are new enough to have not been formally commissioned into the fleet yet? The VFX team simply running out of time/patience/time and patience? YMMV
Riker calls the Zheng He the "toughest, fastest, most powerful ship Starfleet has ever put into service". And every time Starfleet has taken the gloves off and gone all-out on a ship design (Constitution, Defiant, Sovereign) it's resulted in something that comfortably outclasses anything in a similar weight class (or, as in the case of the Defiant, anything several weight classes up).
89) Picard running out of time.
90) Ordering Jurati to medically prop him up long enough to see this through.
91) Picard Speech™.
92) Riker enjoying it.
93) Soji may want to get a shift on, looks like the eldritch abominations are nearly at the gate.
94) Shutdown. Buh-bye, eldritch abominations.
95) Those of us wanting to see Oh get her comeuppance are going to have to wait, as she and the Romulan fleet are simply allowed to depart. Hmm.
96) Touching moment between Picard and Riker.
97) "Adieu." Oh, the feels.
98) More feels, though somewhat undercut by already knowing how they fix this.
99) "I gave you a choice."
100) There's another fifteen or so minutes of this episode left yet to finish off the remaining plot threads. Namely: stuffing Picard's essence into that android body; lifting the synth ban; resolving the final mysteries behind Maddox's work; deciding what to do about Jurati and what she did.
101) Rios and Seven. "It's what passes for alcohol here. I really don't recommend it." On the plus side, it is green.
102) Both lamenting their repeating of old patterns of behaviour.
103) Elnor's lost what little stoicism he had. Raffi attempting to comfort him as a mother would while dealing with her own grief over it all.
104) "Another damned dream." "No, captain. It is a massively complex quantum simulation." Hello Data
105) "You don't remember your death; I can't forget it."
106) "Captain, do you regret sacrificing your life for Soji and her people?" "Not for an instant." "Then why would you imagine I regret sacrificing mine for yours?" Game, set and match to Data.
107) Picard still not worked out that he's being saved.
108) "When you leave, I would be profoundly grateful if you terminated my consciousness." Data wants to live. To live means your life having an end.
109) "Mortality gives meaning to human life." Oof...
110) At least they gave the golem some underpants.
111) "Am I real?" "Of course you are."
112) Well, there we clearly have Picard's main concern - can he still drink tea. And the answer is in the affirmative.
113) They didn't give him superpowers, apparently. So, no superstrength or fighting skills like the Ashas. That's a relief.
114) Time to make good on his promise to Data.
115) Side note - I hope someone told the rest of the crew by now to stop blubbering, that Picard is alive and well. Otherwise Rios and Seven will have drank even more of that bloody awful green stuff.
116) Blue Skies
117) "We are such stuff/ As dreams are made on". Boy am I glad the writers didn't mangle that line (because it is indeed 'made on' not 'made of'). Not that Patrick Stewart would have let them, of course.
118) And Data is no more. A much more fitting send off than "Nemesis" was IMO.
119) Funeral over. The crew of the La Sirena is assembled.
120) Synth ban is lifted (at least that's one dangling plot thread sewn up), so Soji can travel with them. Picard noting of course that he can travel as well now that he's a synth. Lord alone knows what Zhaban and particularly Laris are going to say when they find out.
121) "Ready Admiral?" The Courage fanfare swells. The finger points. "Engage!"
122) And the La Sirena goes to warp. Credits roll over space.
The episode and season
This one had a lot to resolve and wrap up. That it managed to do as much right as it did is commendable. That it swung and missed on some stuff grates.
First, the good. Picard's character arc that began (in effect) all the way back in "Nemesis" set two decades previously is resolved in loving fashion. The last 20 years have been Picard bitter about the loss of Data and about how the Federation and Starfleet, despite all his best efforts, subsided into fear and insular small-mindedness. But Starfleet still has Picards and Rikers and the galaxy has people like Rios, Elnor and Seven (and, to an extent, Jurati and Raffi) around, ready to jump at the call to defend a better way to be. Once that's out of the way, he finally gets to make peace with the death of his friend and comrade. That one's been a long time coming, both for Picard and for the audience. On several occasions this season the story has taken the time to be almost a love letter to Data. And it does so again here, giving Brent Spiner the opportunity to give the character the send-off that he deserved.
Other good stuff. The main cast were once again excellent. Some wonderful speeches delivered with aplomb by Patrick. Seeing Jonathan Frakes in uniform again as Riker on the bridge of a starship was great. Even Harry Treadaway upped his game some for this one, at least enough to be halfway believable as a young man who knows that he's on a wrong path and needs to set things right. The VFX team went into overdrive and made the whole episode look beautiful. The music department were on point.
But with the good comes some bad. And first up - dangling threads. Commodore/General/Whatever Oh just gets to leave? No repercussions for having infiltrated Starfleet? The Romulan fleet just gets sent away with her?
What about the attack on Mars?
Where did Narek end up? What was his reaction to Narissa's death?
Are the xBs just going to live out their days on the crashed Borg cube down on the planet now?
What about Jurati murdering Bruce Maddox?
It's my own fault, I guess. I joked weeks ago that a part of me almost hoped that the season would end with nothing answered. Ah well. Hoist with my own petard and all that!
Elsewhere, the episode once again suffered thanks to some of the villains of the piece - Oh and Narissa. They just aren't (and apparently now in the case of Narissa weren't) particularly compelling. If only they'd been written as anything approaching sympathetic, rather than merely people who "might as well be wearing a leather bustier with "I AM EVIL" stitched across the boobs for all the subtlety in the way [they're] presented" as I put it before. After all, the Zhat Vash were bloody nearly right! The portal was opened up by the synths, and the eldritch horrors from beyond nearly made it through. Yeah, Soji stopped it in time once Picard got through to her. Good thing for the galaxy that he didn't collapse ten minutes earlier, hey?
Plot contrivances continue to abound. The purple tool thing was a straight up deus ex machina device that bordered on magical. Several times there appeared to be a scene missing that would explain something. The 'twists' (like Picard having his consciousness transferred to the golem) were telegraphed way too far in advance. And pacing continued its flip-flopping around, not helped by having to cut between multiple places where the plot was trying to advance at the same time. I want that to be the first lesson that the showrunners embrace for season 2 - either three episodes less or five more, pick one!
Overall though...I've gone back and forth on this, but I think I have it all pretty set now.
Does the series have issues? Yes.
Is there stuff that I really want to see changed? Yes.
Did I, on balance, enjoy it? Yes.
Is it better than Discovery? A thousand times, yes IMO.
Which brings me to...
Trek fandom, and how I feel very out of step with it now
In my review for the first episode of this series, I noted the following:
I understand a lot of the moaning about Picard (the series as opposed to the character). I've found stuff to complain about myself. But I don't understand how anyone could find it as bad as (or even worse than) Discovery. And there are certainly plenty of people who will tell you that it is.
The series suffered a lot for having to fill in ~20 years of backstory, and choosing to do so with exposition upon exposition. But unlike Discovery, at least Picard had a pretty clear idea of where it was going and how it wanted to get there. Was the execution perfect? No. But at least it wasn't two episodes of setup, throw 90% of it away, start over, muck around a bit, head to a different universe for several episodes, come back and wrap everything up neat 'n' tidy! It also has a reverence for Trek canon that was very absent from Discovery. Because things like established backstory and characters and the look of things matter, dammit. And they especially matter in a franchise that has managed to depict 248 years of primary timeline on-screen without getting utterly tangled until very recently.
(An aside - chatting to someone on one of the Trek fan sites about this, and pointed out his own published reaction to George Lucas retconning stuff in the Star Wars universe was waaaaaaay beyond angry, particularly in regards to Han shooting first, but he was giving Discovery essentially a free pass. He did come around on that one in the end, after the S2 finale proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the Discovery writers didn't have a clue.)
Picard just about worked. The series has optimism. Yes, fear will drive people to do terrible/stupid/terribly stupid/stupidly terrible things. But there are those who can rise up above it and those people are the ones who make humanity great. Picard (the character) isn't the same man that we last saw in 2379 (and really isn't now!). How could he be? But he has been changed in ways that make sense, and is exactly the same as he always was in ways that make sense too. And so in the final episode of the season he rose to the occasion and gave Soji everything she needed to make the choice that would save the day. Hopefully season 2 can build on this finale and give us more of that optimistic look ahead to the future.
This one had a lot to resolve and wrap up. That it managed to do as much right as it did is commendable. That it swung and missed on some stuff grates.
First, the good. Picard's character arc that began (in effect) all the way back in "Nemesis" set two decades previously is resolved in loving fashion. The last 20 years have been Picard bitter about the loss of Data and about how the Federation and Starfleet, despite all his best efforts, subsided into fear and insular small-mindedness. But Starfleet still has Picards and Rikers and the galaxy has people like Rios, Elnor and Seven (and, to an extent, Jurati and Raffi
) around, ready to jump at the call to defend a better way to be. Once that's out of the way, he finally gets to make peace with the death of his friend and comrade. That one's been a long time coming, both for Picard and for the audience. On several occasions this season the story has taken the time to be almost a love letter to Data. And it does so again here, giving Brent Spiner the opportunity to give the character the send-off that he deserved.Other good stuff. The main cast were once again excellent. Some wonderful speeches delivered with aplomb by Patrick. Seeing Jonathan Frakes in uniform again as Riker on the bridge of a starship was great. Even Harry Treadaway upped his game some for this one, at least enough to be halfway believable as a young man who knows that he's on a wrong path and needs to set things right. The VFX team went into overdrive and made the whole episode look beautiful. The music department were on point.
But with the good comes some bad. And first up - dangling threads. Commodore/General/Whatever Oh just gets to leave? No repercussions for having infiltrated Starfleet? The Romulan fleet just gets sent away with her?
What about the attack on Mars?
Where did Narek end up? What was his reaction to Narissa's death?
Are the xBs just going to live out their days on the crashed Borg cube down on the planet now?
What about Jurati murdering Bruce Maddox?
It's my own fault, I guess. I joked weeks ago that a part of me almost hoped that the season would end with nothing answered. Ah well. Hoist with my own petard and all that!
Elsewhere, the episode once again suffered thanks to some of the villains of the piece - Oh and Narissa. They just aren't (and apparently now in the case of Narissa weren't) particularly compelling. If only they'd been written as anything approaching sympathetic, rather than merely people who "might as well be wearing a leather bustier with "I AM EVIL" stitched across the boobs for all the subtlety in the way [they're] presented" as I put it before. After all, the Zhat Vash were bloody nearly right! The portal was opened up by the synths, and the eldritch horrors from beyond nearly made it through. Yeah, Soji stopped it in time once Picard got through to her. Good thing for the galaxy that he didn't collapse ten minutes earlier, hey?
Plot contrivances continue to abound. The purple tool thing was a straight up deus ex machina device that bordered on magical. Several times there appeared to be a scene missing that would explain something. The 'twists' (like Picard having his consciousness transferred to the golem) were telegraphed way too far in advance. And pacing continued its flip-flopping around, not helped by having to cut between multiple places where the plot was trying to advance at the same time. I want that to be the first lesson that the showrunners embrace for season 2 - either three episodes less or five more, pick one!
Overall though...I've gone back and forth on this, but I think I have it all pretty set now.
Does the series have issues? Yes.
Is there stuff that I really want to see changed? Yes.
Did I, on balance, enjoy it? Yes.
Is it better than Discovery? A thousand times, yes IMO.
Which brings me to...
Trek fandom, and how I feel very out of step with it now
In my review for the first episode of this series, I noted the following:
I said:
I understand a lot of the moaning about Picard (the series as opposed to the character). I've found stuff to complain about myself. But I don't understand how anyone could find it as bad as (or even worse than) Discovery. And there are certainly plenty of people who will tell you that it is.
The series suffered a lot for having to fill in ~20 years of backstory, and choosing to do so with exposition upon exposition. But unlike Discovery, at least Picard had a pretty clear idea of where it was going and how it wanted to get there. Was the execution perfect? No. But at least it wasn't two episodes of setup, throw 90% of it away, start over, muck around a bit, head to a different universe for several episodes, come back and wrap everything up neat 'n' tidy! It also has a reverence for Trek canon that was very absent from Discovery. Because things like established backstory and characters and the look of things matter, dammit. And they especially matter in a franchise that has managed to depict 248 years of primary timeline on-screen without getting utterly tangled until very recently.
(An aside - chatting to someone on one of the Trek fan sites about this, and pointed out his own published reaction to George Lucas retconning stuff in the Star Wars universe was waaaaaaay beyond angry, particularly in regards to Han shooting first, but he was giving Discovery essentially a free pass. He did come around on that one in the end, after the S2 finale proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the Discovery writers didn't have a clue.)
Picard just about worked. The series has optimism. Yes, fear will drive people to do terrible/stupid/terribly stupid/stupidly terrible things. But there are those who can rise up above it and those people are the ones who make humanity great. Picard (the character) isn't the same man that we last saw in 2379 (and really isn't now!). How could he be? But he has been changed in ways that make sense, and is exactly the same as he always was in ways that make sense too. And so in the final episode of the season he rose to the occasion and gave Soji everything she needed to make the choice that would save the day. Hopefully season 2 can build on this finale and give us more of that optimistic look ahead to the future.
Soldato
The synth aliens that came tho through the distortion, what a let down. Could they not have done something better like maybe cylons lol. Oh and i half expected q to show up and say this is the afterlife when he died or something. It would have been mint to get Q back on.
Soldato
Yes i think she has a nemesis style site to site transporter to get out of hopeless situations. Not sure how she can tell it where to beam her to tho.
Probably to the nearest romulan ship at a guess. Sheilds up or down be damned.
Soldato
They clearly left it vague just in case they wanted to being her back. But she was screaming a looooong way down!
It was a pity though, I was looking forward to her getting sliced up by Elnor in retribution for Hugh getting a knife in the neck.
It was a pity though, I was looking forward to her getting sliced up by Elnor in retribution for Hugh getting a knife in the neck.
Some things that bugged the **** out of me.
Did we REALLY need Starfleet to show up with nothing but a ctrl c-ctrl v fleet? They couldn't have had some variety with some familiar designs? No Enterprise, No Titan, no Excelsior or Defiant classes? The only thing even vaguely familiar about them was the front of the saucer looked a bit like nx-01 Pathetic. Also all that build up and no action?
"Reposition Disruptors"......wut?
Hearing people ramble on about waiting on "the Federation" arriving instead of Starfleet arriving got irritating. So you want a bunch of Planets, Aliens and Diplomats to show up? They seemed to have twigged on in the latter part of the episode they were saying the wrong thing so then it suddenly became Starfleet".
Weapons sounds are also crap, they seem to have been taken directly from Discovery and are like a childs toy. No classic phaser sound? Warp effect also seems taken from Discovery, an utterly crap slight blur effect and that's your lot.
The big bad evil ai is nothing but a set of metallic tentacles? **** right off. Apparently this ai is so advanced that simply shutting a door is enough to stop them.
Only thing this episode had going for it was the scenes between Picard and Data, everything else just failed miserably, 9 episodes of build up and not a lot really happens. Oh wait we got to see a "Warbird" inexplicably go upto to an "Orchid" only to get smashed, thats ignoring the fact the Warbird has weapons to take it out from thousands of KM away.....think someone was watching King Kong 1978 where we see gunships conveniently moving into arms reach for no apparent reason.
Seven and Raffi doing some scissoring later on despite absolutely nothing to even hint at that in prior episodes? LGBT-QRSTUVWXYZ nod confirmed.
The ending of the episode was badly telegraphed, this all just happens to occur when Picards condition just happens to worsen and he just happens to take to space again (after 20 years of doing sweet **** all), and just happens to get to an ai planet who just happen to have a body in the final stages for his consciousness to go into. I've seen better writing on the carpet after a dog has just dragged his dirty ass over it.
"Reposition Disruptors"......wut?
Hearing people ramble on about waiting on "the Federation" arriving instead of Starfleet arriving got irritating. So you want a bunch of Planets, Aliens and Diplomats to show up? They seemed to have twigged on in the latter part of the episode they were saying the wrong thing so then it suddenly became Starfleet".
Weapons sounds are also crap, they seem to have been taken directly from Discovery and are like a childs toy. No classic phaser sound? Warp effect also seems taken from Discovery, an utterly crap slight blur effect and that's your lot.
The big bad evil ai is nothing but a set of metallic tentacles? **** right off. Apparently this ai is so advanced that simply shutting a door is enough to stop them.
Only thing this episode had going for it was the scenes between Picard and Data, everything else just failed miserably, 9 episodes of build up and not a lot really happens. Oh wait we got to see a "Warbird" inexplicably go upto to an "Orchid" only to get smashed, thats ignoring the fact the Warbird has weapons to take it out from thousands of KM away.....think someone was watching King Kong 1978 where we see gunships conveniently moving into arms reach for no apparent reason.
Seven and Raffi doing some scissoring later on despite absolutely nothing to even hint at that in prior episodes? LGBT-QRSTUVWXYZ nod confirmed.
The ending of the episode was badly telegraphed, this all just happens to occur when Picards condition just happens to worsen and he just happens to take to space again (after 20 years of doing sweet **** all), and just happens to get to an ai planet who just happen to have a body in the final stages for his consciousness to go into. I've seen better writing on the carpet after a dog has just dragged his dirty ass over it.
What an utter waste of a star trek series.
20 mins or so wasted on Picards death, yet everyone knew what was going to happen a few episodes back.
All this heads up display interaction on everything.
Constant swear bombs every so often that just doesn't fit with the dialog.
If anything the entire season could have been made into a feature length film in a similar mould to generations, where the past Star Trek guys Picard, ricker etc hand the rain's into the next generation. Perhaps a decade too late for that but that sort of thing might have worked.
All this heads up display interaction on everything.
Constant swear bombs every so often that just doesn't fit with the dialog.
If anything the entire season could have been made into a feature length film in a similar mould to generations, where the past Star Trek guys Picard, ricker etc hand the rain's into the next generation. Perhaps a decade too late for that but that sort of thing might have worked.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 28,905
So the romulans all warped to light speed at the end of episode 8.
Picard and crew used some form of Transwarp to overtake them and had a 48 hour head start?
Picard sent a message to Starfleet about 24 hours before the romulan fleet was due to arrive...
And somehow Riker had time to go from his planet, get re-instated , convince Starfleet to send every ship they have and manage to turn up about 5 minutes after the Romulans?
Hmmmm
Picard and crew used some form of Transwarp to overtake them and had a 48 hour head start?
Picard sent a message to Starfleet about 24 hours before the romulan fleet was due to arrive...
And somehow Riker had time to go from his planet, get re-instated , convince Starfleet to send every ship they have and manage to turn up about 5 minutes after the Romulans?
Hmmmm
Soldato
So I watched this last episode of Mass Effect: Picard last night. After this I also watched SW: Rise/Jedi. Suffice to say I didn’t have a good day yesterday in terms of viewing pleasure.
This was an absolute wasted episode overall. Mass Effect 3 was in full effect here as the Womulans and CTRL-V Starfleet arrived to face off. I was full on expecting a massive battle that would be interrupted by the emergence of a BIG BAD but seriously wtf was all that €$*#! I was honestly expecting at least one of them to squeeze through and teach the Womulans and Starfleet a lesson but no.
I have to agree with so many of the above points. I...ah sod it, I’m off to waste an hour to try and make sense of Rise or the Skywalker now.
This was an absolute wasted episode overall. Mass Effect 3 was in full effect here as the Womulans and CTRL-V Starfleet arrived to face off. I was full on expecting a massive battle that would be interrupted by the emergence of a BIG BAD but seriously wtf was all that €$*#! I was honestly expecting at least one of them to squeeze through and teach the Womulans and Starfleet a lesson but no.
I have to agree with so many of the above points. I...ah sod it, I’m off to waste an hour to try and make sense of Rise or the Skywalker now.
Soldato
Yes. Welcome to Star Trek, which has never managed to keep distances and travel times sensible right from the second TOS pilot (where the Enterprise is on a mission that involves leaving the galaxy).
***edit***
To the best of their knowledge, scientists figure that our sun is around 25,000 light years from the edge of the galaxy. The original Enterprise could do Warp 8 (TOS scale) on a good day with no alien interference, so that's 512 x C. Even with no refuelling stops, setting out from Starfleet Command and heading straight from launch to the galaxy edge, that's ~49 years.
And you want to pick at travel time to a planet tucked away in a region of the galaxy that's already been partially explored in-universe? Please
I'm all for criticising stuff, but at least make it something that it doesn't share with every single previous Trek series!
Last edited:
Soldato
Eurgh. Jesus, what a disappointment. I think Gerard's last paragraph summed it all up perfectly and like others i cant ignore the mass effect rip off plot points. Kurtzman strikes again.
Season 2, if there is a season 2, will probably see 'angels of death' (because they cant flat out call them reapers, can they)? appearing across the galaxy, using borg conduits (conveniently side-stepping the need to rip off the mass relays), wiping out colonies and indoctrinating entire species with Picard continuing to build his rag-tag crew of hereos to take the fight to the big-bad's home world instead. I mean lets face it, Picard already has the new body, right? Fair enough, Shepard was brought back from the dead and extensively rebuilt but Picard's consciousness being transferred in to a new synthetic body without his fatal ailments is just different enough lol.
Christ sci-fi is being systematically destroyed one franchise at a time.
Season 2, if there is a season 2, will probably see 'angels of death' (because they cant flat out call them reapers, can they)? appearing across the galaxy, using borg conduits (conveniently side-stepping the need to rip off the mass relays), wiping out colonies and indoctrinating entire species with Picard continuing to build his rag-tag crew of hereos to take the fight to the big-bad's home world instead. I mean lets face it, Picard already has the new body, right? Fair enough, Shepard was brought back from the dead and extensively rebuilt but Picard's consciousness being transferred in to a new synthetic body without his fatal ailments is just different enough lol.
Christ sci-fi is being systematically destroyed one franchise at a time.
Soldato
- Joined
- 6 Sep 2016
- Posts
- 9,514
Haven't seen.ep10 so ripping off mass effect now? Lol
As for Irish romulan, was waiting for "top of the morning to you". Maybe have cockney romulan next.
As for Irish romulan, was waiting for "top of the morning to you". Maybe have cockney romulan next.
Soldato
Didnt voyager blow up the transwarp hub in the delta quadrant and the only passage of that hub that led to the alpha quadrant?
Tho saying that i think 7 did say there was maybe a few more of them regions in the galaxy that the borg built hubs at so maybe my point is moot?
Tho saying that i think 7 did say there was maybe a few more of them regions in the galaxy that the borg built hubs at so maybe my point is moot?
Man of Honour
Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Nov 2005
- Posts
- 12,452
My review of EP 10 - I won't be watching season 2