Once you start with the premise that the Changeling were working for the Borg all along, not much of the beginning of the season made sense. All the different aliens who were firing on Jack were presumably Changeling-led. It makes no sense for them to try to take him by phaser fire when they could just like you said, imitate Picard, or even just be a nonhostile set of aliens who feign wanting him to transport medical supplies, clear any of the warrants that he has, etc. etc. Nor does it really make sense when they had the Shrike at their disposal to be sending the various weaker ships to take him by force. As to getting Picard's body, I imagine that Daystrom Institute utilizes a lot of anti-Changeling precautions, and would check/doublecheck the orders to transfer Picard's body.
I mean... Vadic and her fellow changelings managed to escape from Daystrom, and then Vadic herself beamed back on and impersonated a Starfleet officer effectively enough that she was able to kill the two officers that were beating the shit out of Riker before they realized who she really was.
It really does. I suspect that once the newness wears off and the fanbase comes down from it's collective orgasm from the fanwank hand job Matalas gave them this season, the luster will fade pretty damn quickly.
Hey, wait, I originally wanted a Captain Mariner cameo, but now she's either dead, or hiding in a Jeffries tube.
IMHO everything in the first season except the ridiculously massive Zhat Vash fleet makes sense in context once you realize that every single member of the Zhat Vash had been driven completely fucking insane after being exposed to the Admonition. You also have to accept that Picard and Riker are pieces of shit in different ways, but there's stuff from TNG to support that already.
Riker was always a self-righteous prick. But, to me, Picard never came off as anything other than someone trying to do his best in every situation in which he's involved. Thought it a bit odd to get all indignant with Q right off the bat, but .. as he's the only being to which Picard behaves that way (maybe he didn't like Frank Simmons), I overlooked that.
I'm pretty sure the Changlings could have infiltrated Daystrom quietly, taken a blood/tissue sample and tiptoed out of there. And I'm pretty sure the Borg could have built a transmitter to activate the drones in the last thirty years without Jack. So really none of this makes sense. And that's before I get to the underpowered Changlings working for/with (doesn't matter which) the Borg... Let's be clear - I didn't come into this hating it. I was talking it up a few weeks ago. Episodes 1-8 are a great argument for why we should get a Star Trek Legacy show. Episode 9 is a stark reminder that we're watching Star Trek Picard still and we should be careful what we wish for.
There's no way that was the entire fleet we saw at the Frontier day celebrations. I didn't see a single California class. And there's no way every ship was called back to Earth. It was a dumb premise to begin with, I'm willing to attribute everyone saying it as shorthand for "the entire A-list fleet," the big name ships with high profile captains.
This. Up until the big reveals in episode nine, I had really thought this season was going to redeem the show. Sadly, I think I'm wrong. Amazing to see how many Trek fanboys are jizzing their pants over the Enterprise-D and the return of the Borg Queen, without doing any critical thinking whatsoever.
"If you looked at it the RIGHT way, you'd agree with MEEEEE!!!!!!". Congratulations, you just turned into Federal Farmer. There is no more WAB. You died. You died. You. Died.
Oh, get a life. I'd say the majority of the folks in this thread seem to be of the view that Picard seriously dropped the ball with the latest episode.
*Patting WAB's tombstone* Don't worry, I'll avenge you. I'll pee in FF's cornflakes just like you would have wanted.
Also, the massive security issue. Baddie of the Week: "Hey, all the big shot Starfleet ships are around Earth for Fed Day... Let's fuck up Andor!" Pakleds: "You are smart! But we have bigger hat! Pakleds Clumpship Pakled attack Vulcan! We are smart!"
Season 1 we were curious how the ex was doing. Season 3, we're following their insta account, moved in next door, got a job in the same office and roofied them to surgically insert an AirTag to track them 24/7. Less Picard S3, more Ted Wolf III
That ep was this season in a nutshell, some good ideas, some shovelling things under the nearest rug and ignoring it now looks like a topological map of the Himalayas. I'm not going to rewatch all the Borg eps, but I'm sure they've mentioned Borg doing DNA thangs before, could have been in one of the novels though, and it ties into Picard being able to hear the Collective, and I very much like using the transporters as Trojan Horses. Not sure I like the idea that just injecting human DNA in all the different species work, maybe if they'd referenced that old TNG ep where they went after the ancestor DNA and trotted out a number of species it wouldn't have an effect on? Definitely don't like the idea that the Changelings just couldn't update the transporter code in Starfleet, twirl a moustache, then change into a Klingon and go do the same to them, rise and repeat across that bit of the galaxy. I mean, open with that, and we've got the playing field for Borgified Gen Z chasing down the Boomers! And it's been 10 years since we last saw the Borg? Other than last season? Or are they no longer considered Borg? Or just hiding under the rug with everything else? And when did the modified Changelings and Borg meet? Is there a bar? If we had more episodes might have been nice to Glass Onion back to the beginning where we see the Very Cunning Plan play out from their side, rather than see how much disbelief we can suspend.
It doesn't matter. What does matter is that you saw many things that were familiar, clapped your hands with joy and cried like Burnham on onion duty. To subject this pure, transcendent work to critical analysis is incredibly mean-spirited.
"Jeez... some of these plot points aren't making sense. There seems to be some pretty glaring inconsistencies and..." "HOLY SHIT IT'S THE ENTERPRISE-D!!!1!" "...what was I saying?"