Another point from this latest ep of Picard that I forgot to mention earlier: We now know almost exactly what and why happened to the Borg cube. That, at least, was one plot point closed out, and answers the questions about the crazy Romulan ex-Borg woman and what she knew.
I just don't understand how these memories of this ancient civilization could be so horrible that it would cause people to go mad and kill themselves? Seems a bit much. It sounds like the Romulans never had any first hand knowledge or experience of this synth disaster... all their fears basically were just stemming from this device. Maybe this planet was somewhere in Romulan space. And were these memories what caused the Cube to malfunction when the Romulan lady was assimilated? That seems like a crazy coincidence. She absorbs information about a destructive synthetic race and is then assimilated by another destructive synthetic race? Although I'm enjoying the show overall, some of these coincidences are hard to believe. Of all the starship captains Picard could have joined up with, he gets the one who actually had a previous encounter with the synths? And the Romulans cause an attack on Mars while at the same time there is an evacuation of Romulus going on. But the two events had nothing to do with each other apparently. In real world coincidences, I found out that Jonathan Del Arco is actually married to or in a relationship with Jeri Ryan's manager. And they worked together before on Star Trek Voyager. He played the Fantome character in the season 7 episode 'The Void'.
Watching Wil Wheaton’s The Ready Room recap and he’s interviewing Johnathan DelArco & Jeri Ryan. I really like Johnathan. I hope he gets recasted at some point
Oh yeah, Picard beams down to the Synth homeworld and there's at least one Data waiting for him. I kinda wish it was going to be a chilled out and redeemed Lore instead, but I doubt they'll be that creative.
How can each episode be better than the previous? There's a lot in this episode to take in. If Rios met emissaries then is there really a whole planet of synths? And is Soji a sort of scout that was meant to see if the galaxy is ready for synths? And damn!! Seeing Seven go full Borg was creepy and really makes the Borg even more menacing than ever before. Ma, then ybe a little creepy on TNG, more so in FC and Voyager. But when Seven hooked into the Borg cube, it actually gave me a chill. And she was even hotter in a weird sort of way. And "Are you going to assimilate me?"
SPOILERS, YE FOOLS! There were so many great moments in this episode. We started off with a visit to "The Planet of Grief" in the past, where the Zhat Vash (including Commodore Oh, thereby establishing she's not who she seems), and they're taking part in the "admonition," a ritual with a device that was left behind by a long dead advanced alien race warning of universal apocalypse if artificial life were to ever reach a threshold of full sentience. Most of the people at the ritual go insane and attempt to kill themselves, except for two Romulans: Ramdha, our friend we see later on in the Borg cube (so something must have happened to her before then), and Narissa, sister of Narek. We also find out that Agnes' intent was to disable the tracking device, but now everyone knows what she did. She agrees with Picard that she'll turn herself in, but that aside, we learn more about Commodore Oh, who is actually a half Romulan, half Vulcan who joined Starfleet decades prior in order to carry out her mission, which was to prevent the development of "synth" life. So the Zhat Vash was behind the attack on Mars, and the Federation response wasn't to examine the details closely, but to close down out of fear, banning synth life outright, which is a very relevant lesson for those of us living in a post 9/11/2001 United States. Once Agnes meets Soji, though, you can see she can't bring herself to want to destroy her. She's too curious, too enamored, too excited to finally see someone like Soji. It leads to a rather cute moment where Agnes returns to the ship's dining area and tells her fellow crewmates that she's done murdering people now. My heart goes out to Agnes, because it's clear she was used as a weapon, and I'm hoping whatever happens to her, that detail is kept in mind. We also find out about Rios' past. He had served about the U.S.S. ibn Majid, with Captain Vandermeer, whom he considered almost like a father to him. It seems they came into contact with two life forms and initiated first contact procedures, except under Commodore Oh's direction in a black flag operation, Vandermeer was ordered to kill the two visitors. Why? It turns out they were synths, and one of them looked like Soji. Her name was Jana (sp?), and as a result, and unable to live with the guilt, Vandermeer committed suicide. On the Borg ship, Elnor is about to be taken down by Romulans when my hero shows up, Seven of Nine has returned and is kicking ass. She rescues Elnor, who hugs her (which was so sweet!). She asks where Hugh is, and we don't find the answer to that. I'm pretty sure he is dead, but it's Star Trek, so no one really knows for sure. Anyway, they high tail it to the Queen's cell. Seven says she can take control of the entire ship by creating a mini collective, which Elnor thinks is a great idea, but Seven warns him that while that would mean taking over their lives and putting them into slavery again (which is enough to make her want to cry, you can tell) it would also make it tempting for her to stay inside the collective. I see it as former Borg fighting to be free, but also wanting that collective whispering in their ear again, it's fascinating. So just as she's taking over, Narissa orders the cube to jettison the borg still in their alcoves, and I honestly felt bad for the Borg. Once you see them as living beings needing to be free, seeing them just mercilessly murdered like that causes you to empathize with them. The Romulan attack squadron shows up to retrieve Narissa (who is attacked by Borg as she attempts to leave, but I think she made it out because you can see a transporter signature as the Borg are descending on her), and then Seven is able to let go of the attachment to the Borg collective. Oh, and Elnor's "are you going to assimilate me?" question in that moment was so sweet. Seriously, I love that guy. He's too pure for this universe. Back with the La Sirena, Soji takes over the ship and is about to head homeward but Rios manages to bypass her security systems by singing the lullaby taught to him that causes everything to revert the computer systems back to his control. Soji implores him to travel to her home, and Picard is the added emphasis. We get a GREAT moment where Picard sits in the command chair, and you hear the TNG music kick in, only for him to stop and say "actually, I don't know how to operate this thing." I laughed, because yeah, I would imagine getting out of the field for a few decades might just make you lose the ability to keep up with the technology of the day. Soji takes them to a nearby transwarp node left by the Borg, and they set off to her home star system. We see a small Romulan shuttle follow behind them, which means Narek has found them. Next week we see. This was terrific episode, a slow burner, but so full of backstory that the whole picture is now on display, and we're about to see the payoff. I'm looking forward to the coming episodes which will bring it to conclusion. So far, Picard has been a winner for me, and I'm hoping the payoff will make it a fantastic season for everyone. I gave this one a 9. It was almost a 10, but that still shows just how high these episodes are running for me. They are well written, well executed, and I can't wait for each week. I missed having that feeling! So, on to the next episode!
A few things. First, this show was renewed on January 12 ahead of a January 23 premiere. That means the show as totally in the bag with all post-production and such done before it was renewed. I also remember Patrick Stewart initially talking about this in the context of the show being only one season. A ten episode stand-alone story. I could be wrong, but I doubt we'll see a cliff-hanger end to the season because they were prepared for this to be the end of the show, not just the season. Secondly, something tells me that Commodore Oh would have showed up with, or even in command of, the "squadron" that was enroute to DS12. Part of me thinks we're going to see a fight over the Synth planet involving Romulans, Starfleet, and a Borg Cube before all is said and done. Of course, this also creates another question. Oh is going to have to be dealt with and all they have right now is circumstantial evidence. BUT, and it's a big BUT, if you recall their first meeting, Fleet Admiral Clancy referred to our protagonist as Jean Luc. But, in this episode she referred to him as Admiral Picard. I wonder if we're going to see a power play between Admiral Picard and Commodore Oh. Or, are we going to go the Dark Knight Rises route and have Picard and Company knock off Oh and then spend the next two years running from Gotham PD Starfleet while becoming the "P Team" (If you can find them, maybe they can help...)? I don't think I would find that entertaining. Oh, and apropos of nothing, I think Jurati is going to buy the farm before it's over. Likely in some semi-heroic fashion to try to atone for what she's done. Edit: Also, 200,000 years ago would be right around the time of the Iconians disappearance. Their homeworld was devastated by an orbital bombardment and the quick flashes of history showed us an orbital bombardment. So, I'm calling it now. The Iconians had synthetic servants. They became aware and sentient and then blew their masters to bits.
No, but now that you mention it, I want to see someone put together an A-Team style intro for Picard.
Covered in ep 2 - Laris tells Picard the Zhat Vash are effectively a cult using the Tal Shiar as a cover, hence the swapping of terms since mainly the mooks ARE Tal Shiar, just operating on Zhat Vash orders. Given the dropout rate at the initiation ceremony, I doubt they have more than a few actual operatives themselves, relying on suborning TS resources.
Actually, it was duranium hydride. Everything about that "memory" says to me "some sort of psychic propaganda virus" rather than "an actual memory someone had and then shared." From what I know about how brains work, and how psionics are supposed to work: If an implanted memory drove someone to suicide, it wouldn't be immediate; it would take years if it happened at all. "Just a memory" would take a long time of dwelling to affect overall brain function to that point. I think the overall psychic attack implants a memory, stimulates emotional responses directly to make the memory seem more horrible, fucks with neurotransmitter levels, and probably other things. It would have to affect multiple parts of the brain to have such an immediate, drastic effect. Anyway, there's some cult bullshit going on here and I think the Romulan Anti-AI Paladins have been duped.
Still massively enjoying all of this. So if I understand correctly, the warning does not say that Synths will evolve and turn into a threat so much as that when they do, someone else shows up who is really bad -- someone who monitors the Galaxy for signs of too advanced synthetic life. If so, this is essentially Mass Effect, indeed very close to the addendum fourth "bad" ending, picking up with the warning to future civilizations. But I am not complaining.
Well, it's the guy that Rafi found as she was investigating the Romulan conspiracy, which we now know did abuse and drive to suicide Rios' former Captain. Close enough for me. Yes, and this actually does make sense. It's mostly xenophobia against the Romulans and the synths that tied it together in the first place. Though I suppose you could argue it was the perfect opportunity for the anti-cyberneticists to strike Mars, when no-one would blame the Romulans who stood so much to lose from destroying their own evacuation fleet -- and/or that the same paranoid thinking among the Jhad vash also made them happy to stop the Federation-planned evacuation, which we have seen was suspect to many Romulans. Either way, with none of our characters knowing more about this, it's not a plot problem to me that we don't know either.
Perhaps. But synths aren't trusted in this society, and we have seen on VOY (or those of us unlucky enough to have seen it) that holograms are never quite trusted even decades ago. I don't have a lot of trouble believing that an EMH is programmed such that it can be totally overridden by a human, and a medical doctor would know how.
Thanks!! That helps a bit, but if you rewatch the scene where all the Zhat Vash are doing the admonition ceremony is that the nun who raised Elnor there... or at least someone who looks a bit like her? If it makes you feel any better, it was confirmed this episode that Oh joined Starfleet not long after Data did for the sole purpose of eliminating synthetic life from becoming a threat. We know that she was head of security at least 9 years ago during the events on the Ibn Majiid that Rios witnessed. Undoubtedly, she had encountered several instances where she had to have done immoral actions to this regard. Consider this one with Rios one of many if it makes you feel better.
Ex Astris Scientia does a segment examining some of the visual references in the show - they've picked up some fantastic stuff I never spotted, like the pictures in Picard's study (one is him with Mark Twain from Time's Arrow, for example). They noted that the Qowat Milat nuns wear headgear very similar to that of Guinan. Their philosophy of absolute candor is quite similar to Guinan's direct "say what's on your mind and don't spare people painful truths" approach... I wonder if our long-lived El-Aurian (or one of her race) might have had contact with ancient Romulus? Or modern Romulus - it's not said how old the order is, and its philosophy seems at odds with the regular Romulan culture of secrecy... they might be an offshoot of Spock's Reunificationists?
Not sure I got that, what happened? Also, great infodump but who the hell is the "someone who shows up"? I'm gonna need an answer to that.
The implication is that Rhamda's madness and the visions from the Admonition "broke" the cube when she was assimilated - the Collective cut it off to prevent the spread of damaging information (as was implied happened to the ship that recovered Hugh after I, Borg). Of course, that's only Narissa's spin on it, and she's arrogant enough that that could just be her projecting - "this big terrifying secret that drove the rest of my class insane also broke a Borg Cube but I survived it!". Or perhaps the fact that synthetic life can evolve past the Borg themselves gave them an existential crisis?
I still don't buy the idea that the Borg would cut off an entire cube because one drone had some thoughts or memories that were too spicy for the collective to handle. It was especially stupid that Hughs cube was disconnected because his brief flirtation with individuality was too much to process. That's a fundamental misunderstanding of the Borg right there, their whole thing is assimilating entire civilizations. Did no one really mind before Hugh? Considering the Enterprise only found Third of Five after his original survey cube crashed, it's far more likely that High was infected with one of those anti-Borg viruses like Icheb.
That was just to intimidate Seven and Janeway, though. Before that they were finding each individual drone and disconnecting/dissecting them. Either way, the Unimatrix Zero drones had a lot more than spicy memories or pro-individuality experiences going for them.
I don't think that's what happened. There was something algorithmic in the Admonition, along with whatever gives it such power among those afflicted with the vision. That destroyed the local network, and the Borg disconnected what was basically damaged tissue.
Can these idiots get anything right? Here’s a hint, if you’re going to follow up TNG and the previous movies, you probably should watch some of the pertinent shows and movies before writing your scripts.
I'd disagree with your post, too, but I generally agree with you on most things. I don't want to see Q. Ever again.
Clearly, this youtube video is a fake. It completely misuses the term 'calculus', even though that term was in broad use in 2020, when it was supposedly made, and it mistakes one scene from TNG season 2 that is in fact its own continuity mistake as to Data's age as corroboration for a coherent previous assessment of that age. Seriously, to assume that this video could have been made in 2020 would be tantamount to assuming Rafi might say "30, 40 years" when she should have said "60, 70". Preposterous! Or we could just rewatch the episode and see that Rafi isn't referring to "30, 40 years ago" from her current time, but from the moment that Oh was sent to infiltrate Starfleet. In which case she is precisely right, as all people in real settings of course always are when they make statements.
That’s not what Raffi said though. “Thirty, forty years ago Dr. Soong starts turning out synthetic life.” You’re making excuses for lazy writing.
Raffi's "thirty, forty years" carries a lot of imprecision. If the real number is, say, 55 years, it's not that far off if she's only spitballing. If she was reading a screen that said a number that was inconsistent with established facts, there could be a contradiction. Otherwise, chalk it up to her being mistaken. Anyway, Trek is already full of contradictions. Best to just go with it.
Trek is full of contradictions, yes, but these guys do it all of the time. They can’t even keep up with continuity in their own shows. I think there was a point in DSC where someone said something in one episode and like two episodes later completely contradicted themselves.
I can ignore some contradictions. Like getting the number of years wrong on some event... Trek has been doing that forever. What I find more problematic are the intentional retcons or the very obvious contradictions... like the Klingons in Discovery. Of all the Trek shows, I think TNG and DS9 had the best continuity and the least contradictions. I don’t know if you’d attribute that to Ron Moore or Michael Piller or someone else. VOY and ENT you could tell the writing team was starting to not give a shit (mainly Braga). The newer shows are more intentionally breaking continuity although they have surprised me in some instances... like the Sikarans reference. Someone must have gone back through the archives from Voyager Season 1 to pull out that reference. I give TOS a pass since it was the first one and they hadn’t established the universe yet. Still figuring things out.
