Star Trek Picard Season 1 - Discussion Thread - *SPOILERS*

[Kheren]

Well... so far we had:

Episode 01: a crapfest

Episode 02: a cringefest

Episode 03: a parody

And now we have episode 04: rip off galore.

Case in point: in this episode alone we have:

A reminder of the synth revolt: ripping off the Replicants of Blade Runner
The small odd ship with the rag tag crew: ripping off the Serenity of Firefly
The Romulan warrior-assassin nuns: ripping off the Bene Gesserit of Dune
Elnor the blue and grey robed Romulan swordman: ripping off Elrond of The Lord of The Rings
Fearless swordmaster in a world of energy weapons and shields: ripping off the Jedi of Star Wars 
The Borg sleeper agent: ripping off the Cylons of Battlestar Galactica
The suggestive, odd brother/sister relationship: ripping off Jaime and Cersei of Game of Thrones


Never mind the laughable pretense at sci-fi (they don't even know the number of stars in the galaxy); the incredibly bad 21st century millenial dialog (make sure no episode goes without it's F bomb); the so slow and jumpy storytelling (more flashbacks please and little worthless snipets of Sochi and her millenial Romulan-looking lover), the truly amateurish editing (jumping to Sochi for barely a minute), the STD/Abrams aesthetics and style (yes more lense flares please), the obvious cheapness of the show (from costumes to sets and up to re-using the Chateau Picard set as a holodeck scene); the totally uninspiring characters (Picard now endlessly apologizing) when not utterly absurd (A fencing Romulan senator making no more sense than Nero in Trek 09); or the awful dystopian universe (The cruel, inept Federation and the decrepit, defeated Romulan Empire with Borg and Synths and so many secret organisations lurking about).

It really looks like this show wants to be everything BUT Star Trek.

And worse sin of all; this is all soooo boring. Four episodes and still setting all this up. I'm not invested in this unbeleivable, unoriginal story, I'm not interested at all in those characters and what they are doing or what is happening to them. Even with this show beeing free for me, I only watch it because I still hope against all odds that this might turn around for the better.

But we are already nearing half the season.

Jonathan Frakes directed this one. Good thing his name was in the credits because, aside from the opening shot reminescent of the one in Insurrection, nothing looked, sounded or felt like Star Trek to me. Least of all this old, broken, battered, humiliated, child-loving grandfather on his last space adventure they call J. L.

Oh, and now Seven of Nine, the most successful reclaimed Borg ever, a brilliant scientist with a unique and rich experience, the protege of Admiral Janeway, is now a Lone Space Ranger in Romulan Space.

Go figure.

[Athos]

                                     ** RED ALERT **
Spoilers are in this post and thread.  If you have not watched the latest episode of Star Trek Picard and wish to be surprised, do not read any further.

Episode 5: Stardust City Rag

The last moments of episode 4 have Seven of Nine beaming aboard Rios’ ship, the La Sirena.  Episode 5 kicks off with a flashback to Seven’s past, 13 years ago.  We see Icheb, a former Borg drone that Voyager liberated, being essentially tortured (disassembled) alive.  This is just dark.  We saw someone be decapitated previously, but this reaches a new level.  On Voyager, Seven took Icheb and the other 3 Borg children under her wing and was essentially a mother to them.  By the time Voyager reached Earth, only Icheb remained on board.  This is reinforced by what Seven said right before pulling the trigger in a mercy kill, “I’m so sorry, my child”.  In Voyager, it is established that Icheb wanted to attend Starfleet Academy.  In this episode, we see that Icheb is a lieutenant in a command red uniform.  We later learn that he was serving on board the USS Coleman.  It’s nice to know that Icheb achieved his goal, though sad that his life ended in this way.  It also did not escape me that the woman who was harvesting Borg parts from Icheb states, “Where is your cordical node buddy?  It’s gotta be in there somewhere.”  Ironically, Icheb no longer had a cordical node as he gave his up to save Seven while on Voyager.  Kudos to the writers for continuing to tie into what I define as the Prime Universe of Star Trek.  (Prime Universe = TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, and the first 10 movies).

We then jump to the present to the woman who is responsible for Icheb’s disassembly, and as it turns out, Bruce Maddox’s funding to make his lab to which he made the twins (Soji and Dahj) and who is now holding Bruce Maddox.  Bjayzl offers Bruce Maddox (who was not played by the original actor in TNG) Tranya, a drink first introduced in TOS (another tie-in reference), which must have been poisoned or containing some agent to weaken him.  This episode also establishes that the Tal Shiar found Maddox’s lab and destroyed it, hence why Maddox was on the run.

We learn a bit of Seven’s past.  She asks for burbon, straight up which is interesting considering how bland and basic her tastes were on Voyager.  It shows that she has grown as an individual and apparently has had a rough life after Voyager returned.  We learn that Seven is a Fenris Ranger which apparently means that they are like the Texas Rangers back in the day; one riot, one ranger.  The difference is that the Fenris Rangers are more like vigilantes and not any kind of recognized law enforcement.  Apparently Seven is a famous ranger by the way Rios talks about her.  We get a reminder that Picard used to be Borg.  As the episode plays out, we learn that Seven is really using Picard and crew to get to Bjayzl.  At the end of the episode, Seven ends up vaporizing Bjayzl as retribution for killing Icheb (fitting) and then goes all ‘Kill Bill’ on the remainder of Bjayzl’s security forces.  One riot, one ranger indeed!

Dr. Agnes Juratti; we learn that she not only used to work with Maddox, but had a romantic relationship with him.  We see Juratti watching old videos and then a tear rolls down her cheek.  Apparently, she was heartbroken when that relationship ended.  It makes her later betrayal all the more shocking.  It’s interesting that 1) Agnes was so nervous about operating the transporter, like she had never done that before, and 2) that the crew wanted her to do so given that apparently, she never did so previously.  Overall, Juratti doesn’t play a big role in this episode, until the very end.  After retrieving Maddox, putting him in sickbay, and Picard asking him some questions, Maddox and Juratti get a reunion which ends with Juratti turning off the life-sustaining systems and Maddox dying.  WTF!?  Where did that come from?  It’s obvious from Juratti’s facial expressions that she is torn about killing Maddox.  She’s crying about it, but also furious.  She also says, “I wish you knew what I know.  I wish that I didn’t know what I know.  I wish they hadn’t shown me.  I’m sorry.”  My thought…Commodore Oh showed Juratti something that led her to believe that Maddox was responsible for the Utopia Planetia attack.  That evidence is likely fabricated, but obviously that conversation with Commodore Oh was much more than Oh just asking questions.  Additionally, why didn’t the EMH intervene or notify the rest of the crew?  The EMH has autonomous activation protocols as we saw in the episode. 

We also learned more about Raffi’s past.  Apparently, after being kicked out of Starfleet, Raffi took to substance abuse (which ties in with what we saw when Picard first visited her), and that she left her husband and son in pursuit of the truth about the Utopia Planetia attack.  In the process, Raffi alienated them and in this episode, Raffi is trying to re-connect with her son who has a pregnant wife, Pel (who is apparently Vulcan).  That reunion did not go so well and Raffi remained with Picard.  Raffi’s son, Gabriel, mentions something about the Enclave of Eight; no further explanation was forthcoming but in context, it is one of Raffi’s theories about what happened with Mars.

The main thrust of this episode is infiltrating Bjayzl’s hideout and extracting Maddox.  You can tell that Sir Patrick is having an absolute blast (fun) making this show.  LOL  His “sinister Frenchmen” persona is hilarious and according to Wil Wheaton, something he used to do on the TNG set.  When Rios beams down to Free Cloud, we see two important signs; one read’s “Quark’s Bar” which obviously tie’s into DS9.  Quark must be doing good for himself as he appears to have expanded his business.  Additionally, as part of Rios’ cover, he lists that he aided Quark from Ferenginar out with some business issue with the Breen.  The second sign reads “Mr. Mot’s Hair Emporium”.  Mr. Mot was a barber on the Enterprise-D and is a tie-in to TNG.  The episode ends with Picard learning about Soji and that she is located on The Artifact, setting up the next episode.  We also learn from Maddox that “Mother” is an AI program installed within Soji and Dahj, confirming my original theory that “Mother” was not really a person.

Given the way that the episode left Seven, it’s apparent that Seven will not be a recurring character, though I doubt that this will be the last we see of her, given that Seven gives Picard a beacon of some kind in case Picard needs to call her for help.  This patter suggests that while we may see Riker, Troi, or other TNG, DS9, or VOY cast, they will not be a recurring main character on the show. 

Next episode will be interesting.  In the previews of the next episode, we see what appears to be Locutus.  When I paused and really looked at the image, while the Borg was bald and shared similarities with Locutus, the implants were not the same.  I guess we'll find out next week!

[Kheren]

Here we are mid-way through the first season of Star Trek Picard. And what do we have? A monumental disappointment, hopes dashed like meteors on a class D planetoid.

Episode 01: a crap fest

Episode 02; a cringe fest

Episode 03: a Trek parody

Episode 04: a rip-off fest

Episode 05: Star Wreck

At this point with this fifth episode, it is now obvious that this is STD all over again, but much more insidious than ever; this series is using actual canon elements like Sir Patrick Jean-Luc Picard (now J.L.), Spinner's Data (now a fat plastified vision), Ryan's Seven of Nine (now a rogue murderous lesbian), Icheb (as a prop for a pointless anti-trek horror gore scene) and giddy-fan bits like a holo of the ENT D, pieces of B4 and of Picard's old ready room, Hugh and a bottle of tranya.

The now obvious goal; destroy everything that is Canon universe, all that is Roddenberry's vision, or even Berman's take, in favor of Kurtzmantrek and Abrams licence of Prime/Kelvin universe.

I could go on in detail but instead of boring everyone with a long written analysis, here is instead one made in an entertaining video from someone else here I completely agree with:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbuzhdndZOM



Could not say it better myself.

[Kheren]

Episode 06: Maximum Kurtsmantrek; ENGAGE!

This is the first episode (the sixth!) where something interesting finally happens.

Unfortunately, everything wrong with this show is also encapsulated in it.

Example of each previous failure found in this episode:

A crapfest; once again, characters act like morons. Not only the Romulans have no sensors to locate them and beam guards in (but Picard does), Picard, Hugh and Soji run all panicky inside the Borg cube to escape... when nothing prevents them to beam out (case in point: Elnor beams in right next to them).

A cringefest; In Canon Trek, we have Jean-Luc Picard; a man of courage, conviction, strength of will, intelligence, who takes no crap even from Starfleet. In Prime Trek, we have J.L; a weak, confused, defeated, traumatized man, scorned, chastized, insulted, humiliated by every woman he meets. And to see him plead with Soji like a feeble old man to get a kitty down a tree... It was more unbearable than the gratuitous gory eye-ripping torture scene of episode 05.

A parody; Picard has drug-addicted, drunkard failed mom call her suggested-former-lover/diversity-postergirl officer of the corrupt, incompetent Starfleet matriarchy, openly humiliating him to get official permit for an illegal mission... through the lamest blackmail imaginable. And when this absurd scheme succeeds, we have a big clapping with the soaring music of Canon Trek to top it off.

Rip-off galore; to Blade Runner (Soji), Lord of the Rings (Elnor), Star Wars (sword vs disruptors), Firefly (La Sirena) and Game of Thrones rip-offs (Remomulan and horny sister), we add Stargate (Borg Queen portal) as an out-of-the-blue (and totally needless) deus-ex-machina.

Star Wreck; in Canon Trek, we had Jean-Luc Picard who successfully (First Contact) and completely (TNG the Drumhead) recovered from being assimilated to pursue many years (4 seasons and 4 films) of exemplary Starfleet captaincy. Now in Prime Trek we have J.L; a dying admiral who ended his career in failure and disgrace, held in contempt by Starfleet and suffering from crippling Borg PTSD.

Not convincing enough? What about the crapfest of Soji hulking out through the bulkheads of a Borg cube with mere human hands? Or the cringefest of soap opera failed mom Raffy? Or the parody of a Star Trek show with not even one Starfleet starship after 6 episodes? Or ripping off the Hellraiser box? Or wrecking Star Trek with the Queen stargate's implications of unstoppable, instant universal assimilation?

And what about just this but one other example of Star Trek discontinuity?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuGdT6VWUqs


Even if you forget that this is supposed to be Star Trek, it's hard to find  a TV show that bad... except STD... and the current iteration of Dr Who.

No, actually, Batwoman is the worst by far; but when you can put Star Trek in the same discussion as Batwoman, nothing is more disheartening.And let's not forget that STP is directly linked to STD, says Kurtzman himself. 

Yet, Star Trek Picard was supposed to save the franchise for everyone.

Will the few episodes left manage this miracle?

[Athos]

                                            ** RED ALERT **
Spoilers are in this post and thread.  If you have not watched the latest episode of Star Trek Picard and wish to be surprised, do not read any further.

Episode 6: The Impossible Box


Apologies for the late review; I was a bit busy re-writing the Code of Conduct.  I'm going to attempt a shorter version review for this episode. 

In a nutshell:

• Soji realizes who she is (activates), then Narek tries to kill her; she escapes by punching through wood and deck plating
• Narek (Zhat Vash) get enough of a clue as to where Soji comes from to start looking for her place of origin
• Rios and Dr. Agnes Jurati get it on (and Rios likes soccer)
• The La Sirena makes it to the Artifact (Borg Cube)
• Raffi turns back to alcohol and drugs after her failed reunion with her son; but still manages to sweet-talk a Starfleet captain to get diplomatic credentials for Picard to board the Artifact which is in Romulan space
• Picard confronts his feelings towards the Borg; confronts his past self as Locutus, realizes that the Borg are all victims
• When Picard first steps foot on the Borg cube, he begins having flashbacks of his memories of being Locutus and confronting the Borg (including when the Borg invaded the Enterprise E).  These flashbacks are nearly debilitating; the ExBs (ex-Borg) help Picard to prevent him from falling; Hugh shows up
• Picard reunites with Hugh; big hugs and Picard sees what the reclamation project is really about...saving victims of the Borg
• Elnor beams aboard the Cube and kills 3 Romulans prior to Picard and Soji's escape, and stays behind to cover their escape while Hugh hides the Queen's chamber again.
• Hugh and Picard find Soji, then Picard and Soji escape through a spacial trajector in the Queen's chamber which takes them to some planet (Picard tells Rios to rendezvous with him there before going through the spacial trajector.

Visually, one of the coolest scenes was when Picard was looking up data and came across an image as himself as Locutus as seen from the Enterprise D bridge viewscreen.  Picard is looking at the holographic screen from the front, but the camera was filming from behind so that the image of Locutus was super-imposed over Picard.  You can see Picard place his hand where the Borg implant was on the right side of his head, remembering.  This was a VERY cool scene from a filming standpoint and conveys a powerful message about Picard's state of mind.

Before the La Sirena gets to the Cube, Rios states that soon they will be crossing out of the "old Neutral Zone" and into Romulan space.  So there is no longer a Neutral Zone between Romulan and Federation space. 

We get a great look at the modern Starfleet Uniform during Raffi's call.  Division color shoulders like the DS9/Voyager uniform, but the outer garment has a high, partial collar (open V neck).  Underneath we see a black shirt.  Pips are located on the right chest area, within the divisional color, just above the black.  Comm badge is on the left breast, standard location.  This is very STOish. 

"Picard is SO Federation that his face is probably still on the damn brochures." ~Raffi -----  Buhahahaha!  Love that line.

The spacial trajector was technology assimilated by the Borg from the Sikarians in the Delta quadrant.  The USS Voyager met the Sikarians and attempted to use the spacial trajector technology to make a massive jump closer to home; it didn't work.  The spacial trajector had a theoretical range of 40,000 light years.

In the previews of next week's episode, Picard talks to Riker.  Apparently the spacial trajector took Picard and Soji to the planet where Riker and Troi are living.  We also see the La Sirena in a green tractor beam.  Apparently the Romulans have some control of the Borg cube OR a Romulan ship puts a tractor beam on the ship.  Either way, Picard's new crew is going to have a difficult time getting back out of Romulan space and meeting up with Picard. 

"Please my friends; choose to live." ~Elnor  (Way cool line to end the episode on.)

So now Picard and Soji are together; time to see how the story plays out in the next episode.  4 more to go this season; so far, so good in my opinion (though, i'm sorry, not as awesome as the Original Licensed Star Trek).

[Jeff T]

I have to admit that overall I've become quite disillusioned with numerous things in how this series has been unfurling. The main thing is how un-Picard-like they have Picard being portrayed in these episodes. I understand that his character is older, but should this translate to him becoming almost feeble-minded and weak in principle? Why? Effects of some terminal illness? If anything, I expected an even wiser Jean Luc Picard after all these years had passed. That seemed how his trajectory was headed based on what came before, like in the episode “Tapestry”. Unfortunately, the opposite seems to be the case thus far.

Yes, I enjoyed seeing Seven of Nine who I really liked in Voyager, and Hugh from I, Borg and Data of course… but those were glimmers of what was good about the writing and episodes back in the day. But even those moments are basically nullified when we are shown how un-Starfleet just about everyone and everything is in this series. One simple and obvious example (of many) is Raffi smoking and drinking on the bridge? Walking around with a bottle whining about her troubles. Really? Too much sappy soap opera drama that just doesn’t resonate as anything plausible in Star Trek!

Virtually, none of these events or characters that I am experiencing in these episodes even seem like they are any part of the actual Federation or Starfleet that was portrayed for 25 plus years. Instead, it feels like a space drama show with twinkling lens flares and sprinklings of some Trek things as a candy covering. Mostly Dystopian grit compared to Trek’s original Utopian aspirations.

Sorry to present this negativity but this feeling has been gnawing at me as this series continued. I really wanted to embrace it… really wanted this to finally be a new Trek series that brought back the integrity of Star Trek’s origins, especially after those JJ Abrams fiascos. Instead, this series seem to continue to gravitate more towards that dystopian direction rather than the integrity of classic Trek.

To clarify it’s not implied that everything in the future universe was expected to be all perfect. No, there would be injustice, inequity and such somewhere. The difference is that in classic Trek, you would have Starfleet/Federation representatives there to help address and strive to balance out those harrowing issues to some capacity. Since 2009, this has all reversed and the Federation and Starfleet now appear to be riddled with corruption among other flaws. This is very disappointing.

[Kheren]

Unfortunately, I share your pain.

Here is a short but good expose of the problem:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJEUCSguMAQ&list=PLxHtZqGWw0lO4QxCpKN2mzdkg23DrKk31&index=48


The problem of Abramstrek-Kurtzmantrek in a nutshell. The SOUL is gone.

[Athos]

I have to admit that overall I've become quite disillusioned with numerous things in how this series has been unfurling. The main thing is how un-Picard-like they have Picard being portrayed in these episodes. I understand that his character is older, but should this translate to him becoming almost feeble-minded and weak in principle? Why? Effects of some terminal illness? If anything, I expected an even wiser Jean Luc Picard after all these years had passed. That seemed how his trajectory was headed based on what came before, like in the episode “Tapestry”. Unfortunately, the opposite seems to be the case thus far.

Yes, I enjoyed seeing Seven of Nine who I really liked in Voyager, and Hugh from I, Borg and Data of course… but those were glimmers of what was good about the writing and episodes back in the day. But even those moments are basically nullified when we are shown how un-Starfleet just about everyone and everything is in this series. One simple and obvious example (of many) is Raffi smoking and drinking on the bridge? Walking around with a bottle whining about her troubles. Really? Too much sappy soap opera drama that just doesn’t resonate as anything plausible in Star Trek!

Virtually, none of these events or characters that I am experiencing in these episodes even seem like they are any part of the actual Federation or Starfleet that was portrayed for 25 plus years. Instead, it feels like a space drama show with twinkling lens flares and sprinklings of some Trek things as a candy covering. Mostly Dystopian grit compared to Trek’s original Utopian aspirations.

Sorry to present this negativity but this feeling has been gnawing at me as this series continued. I really wanted to embrace it… really wanted this to finally be a new Trek series that brought back the integrity of Star Trek’s origins, especially after those JJ Abrams fiascos. Instead, this series seem to continue to gravitate more towards that dystopian direction rather than the integrity of classic Trek.

To clarify it’s not implied that everything in the future universe was expected to be all perfect. No, there would be injustice, inequity and such somewhere. The difference is that in classic Trek, you would have Starfleet/Federation representatives there to help address and strive to balance out those harrowing issues to some capacity. Since 2009, this has all reversed and the Federation and Starfleet now appear to be riddled with corruption among other flaws. This is very disappointing.

Well Jeff, I'm certainly not going to argue an opinion; your viewpoint is certainly your own.  One thing that Star Trek (TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, and the 10 movies) has always been, is positive; hopeful.  Even during the Dominion War, as dark as that was, we still had hope and positivity.  Discovery and Picard are just dark.  There isn't that positive, hopeful, bright-shining future that we are used to and that's a perfect way to describe the difference between the Original License Trek and the alternate License Trek. 

That said, I had to respond to parts of your post.  You said that virtually none of the characters you've seen seem like they are in Starfleet; that's because they are not in Starfleet.  None of the main cast is in Starfleet; they are civilians.  They do not play by the same rules as Starfleet; there are no regulations against drinking on the bridge or smoking.  All throughout Star Trek, starting with TOS, we've seen civilians and even Starfleet drinking and drunk.  That's not new.  Since TOS we've seen civilians smoking.  So why is it such a shock that we see a civilian, in deep emotional trauma, drinking and smoking?  Is it just that she is a main character?  Tom Paris, in an episode where he stayed on Earth instead of launching with Voyager, was drinking heavily in the pool hall; he's a main character.  Kirk and his entire bridge crew, save for Spock, were drunk after the meal with Gorkon.  Tons of civilians on TNG an DS9, drunk or using drugs. 

To be fair, Raffi was in her quarters and they drug her out to do a specific task before then being returned to her quarters.  The ship is not a Stafleet vessel; no regulations were broken.  My point is...take these events in proper context.  You can choose to still not like it or think that it doesn't feel like Star Trek.  In reality, it isn't like any other Star Trek...it's not meant to be.  Patrick Stewart wouldn't be on the show if it was just like what they had done before (like the old Star Treks).  The only reason he agreed to the show was that it was something entirely different. 

I personally think STP is a good view of what life is like outside of Starfleet in a Federation that went through the Dominion War and endured a massive terrorist attack that destroyed Utopia Planetia.  It is a dark time in the Federation, period.  Again, you may choose to not like that setup; I too would rather have my TNG/DS9/VOY happy feel, but in a real world, not everything is sunshine, unicorns, and rainbows. 

[Sorripto]

I am enjoying Picard, but not as much as I hoped I would. The simple fact is that I have always been a pessimist. Star Trek to me has been an escape since the day I first fell in love with the idea as a child. Star Trek, despite its wars and challenges, has always been a beacon of hope showing that no matter how bad things get the future is a brighter place with a better humanity. Picard is clearly written by people angry at Trump, Brexit and the 21st century as a whole. Star Trek has never been about a terrible future, or how dark and evil things will be. Sure there have been episodes with corrupt admirals, racism, etc, but they were always portrayed as the bad guy because that way of living was rare. Picard shows that for many of the people living within the borders of the Federation life never got better than it is now. There are still poor people, class warfare, racism, sexism and basic human evils just with more technology. Star Trek has never been about the future sucking, and it just feel wrong. 

[Athos]

                                          ** RED ALERT **
Spoilers are in this post and thread.  If you have not watched the latest episode of Star Trek Picard and wish to be surprised, do not read any further.

Episode 7: Nepenthe


Before I even started watching this episode, and after I found out that it would feature Riker and Troi, I thought, "Why would Riker and Troi retire to some alien planet instead of being on Earth (Alaska) or Betazed?"  That, of course, is answered in the episode; the soil has regenerative properties which they were hoping would save the life of their son.  When it didn't, I wonder why they chose to stay? 

This episode is 59 minutes long, thus far the longest ST Picard episode.  Okay, to the episode:

The episode opens with a flashback of when Commodore Oh met with Dr. Juratti at the Daystrom Institute.  We see the full conversation between Oh and Juratti, to include a mind meld between Oh and Juratti.  In the mind meld, we see death and destruction, to include a planet (presumably Earth) blowing up.  Oh said that those things would happen if synthetic life is allowed to exist.  So effectively, Oh recruited Juratti to go along with Picard and to do something that "required a terrible sacrifice".  This is apparently why Juratti killed Maddox; Juratti is now an agent for who she thinks is Starfleet Intelligence, but really is for the Tal Shiar/Zhat Vash.  This is only reinforced by the fact that Oh gave Juratti some form of chemical tracking device, allowing Narek to track the La Sirena up until the point that Juratti neutralized the chemical agent resulting in her lapsing into a coma.  Question: Who did Juratti know what to replicate to neutralize the chemical tracker?  These events also tell me that I think Commodore Oh is a Vulcan who is willingly and knowingly working with the Tal Shiar/Zhat Vash to prevent/exterminate synthetic life for the good of the Federation.  Remember, Romulans do not perform mind melds; only Vulcans. 

** NOTE: I hope this isn't true, but here it is.  IF the producers wanted to link Star Trek Discovery with Star Trek Picard, they could easily do it by way of synthetic life.  In Star Trek Discovery, Control was an AI that the Discovery crew was fighting in order to save the galaxy.  We saw a preview (by way of Red Angel) of what would happen if Control was allowed to dominate; death and destruction to include blowing up planets.  STD went into the future which could link them with STP.  This could also explain how Commodore Oh had images of what Control planned to do... those images were passed along throughout history.  I HOPE not...but it makes a lot of sense.


We don't see much of the La Sirena and the rest of that crew in this episode.  The Romulans used a Borg tractor beam to hold their ship.  Why would a tractor beam be pulling things inside the ship towards it!?  WTF!?  Nowhere in any Star Trek (until now) has a tractor beam affected anything inside a ship; only the ship itself.  Bad move/writing.  The shaking of the ship and power fluctuations are in line with what a tractor beam could do, especially if the ship were trying to break free.  Narek jumps into a small ship and the Romulans release the La Sirena...so that Narek could follow the tracking device (in Juratti) to where Picard and Soji are at.

As expected, the Romulans are pissed that Soji got away.  In typical bad guy form, the Romulans kill a bunch of ex-Borg; they only spare Hugh because of his status with the Federation...until Hugh vocalized his intent to take over the cube (which the Romulans overhear).  Elnor catches up to Hugh (no idea how they were separated to begin with) and Elnor elects to stay aboard the Cube.  We then get to see Elnor face off with Rizzo (we don't know her Romulan name), a face-off that I've been waiting to see.  Rizzo loves her throwing knives and sends one into Hugh's neck (artery) before beaming out.  Elnor is left evading Romulans on the Cube.  At last we saw him, he triggered the device to call for Seven's help.  That device was dangling from a Romulan console on the Cube.  How the hell did it wind up there?  Fall out of Picard's pocket and some Romulan just happened to find it?  But this does set up next week's episode for Seven to come in and take control of the cube.

Nepenthe from orbit looks A LOT like Earth; green and blue...beautiful.  Picard and Soji appear on the planet, near the Riker-Troi home and are intercepted by Kestra, Riker and Troi's daughter.  Note: Kestra is the name of Troi's older sister that died before Troi ever got to know her (TNG episode covered this), so given their daughter that name is very appropriate.  On the walk to the house, Kestra asks who Soji's father is; Picard responds by asking if Kestra had heard of Commander Data; Kestra immediately turns to Soji and asks "you're an android?"  Ooops; Soji did not take that very well...understandable given that in a roughly 2 hour time span, Soji went from thinking that she was fully human, to being betrayed by Narek (and almost killed), to now being told that she was an android, and being told that Dahj is dead.  Soji doesn't know what to believe at this point; she thinks it's all a mind game.

When we finally get to the Riker-Troi home, and the reunion that us TNG fans have wanted since STP was announced finally occurred.  Most of the rest of this episode is all about that reunion; old friends who are like family reuniting and talking through the situation, helping Picard to become refocused and figure out a new plan.  The big hugs, the smiles, the sitting around the dinner table (like the conference room) talking...ah, TNG.  You can tell that these people, both characters and the actors themselves, have a long-time friendship...that comes across quite apparently.  Troi immediately picks up that Picard has a medical condition, though this is never stated.  When we first see Riker, he is preparing for a meal in the kitchen and listening to Jazz...very Riker.

I personally love that house and the views, save for the lack of an indoor restroom apparently.  I suppose it's not impossible for a house has shields and scanners, but really!?  Riker just says "shields up" and perimeter scans to maximum (to include anti-cloaking scans), and it just happens?  Even Starfleet Command didn't have shields during the Dominion War, since when does a private house have shields?  Additionally, when the shields went up, we see this blue field emmanate outward.  Ummm...wtf?  If the blue field emmanated like that, anyone outside the house would be pushed away, yet it does nothing to Troi, Soji, and Kestra who are outside.  This is just random graphics that do not fit.  Also, I'm just not buying that a private house would have shields and anti-cloaking scanner abilities.  We then see Soji taking a shower in an outdoor stall.  Ummm, no.  Based on TNG and even ST: Insurrection, we know that Troi loves her bathtub.   There is no way in heck Riker would not install an indoor bathtub for his wife.  C'mon! 

I personally like Kestra...the actress did a great job in my opinion.  I LOVE the interplay between Soji and Kestra; very heartwarming.  We learn that Thadeus was Riker and Troi's son, first born, who passed away after contracting a very rare, silicon based virus.  Ironically, it could've been cured by an active positronic matrix, but the Federation banned synthetics, so no positronic matrix and no cure.  This is why Riker and Troi wen to Nepenthe; they hoped that the regenerative soil would cure Thadeus.

Kestra brings Soji outside and they are speaking Viveen (a language that Thaddeus makes up).  Kestra states that Soji read Thaddeus' dictionary on Viveen in 2 minutes (300 pages); for an android, this is actually quite slow.  10 seconds would have been more appropriate as we saw Data read a book that quickly in the TNG episode  The Royale.  When Soji sees pizza, she does the iconic Data head-tilt (SWEET!) which Riker picks up on immediately (but doesn't say anything).  When Riker introduces himself to Soji, Picard states that "Commander Riker and I served together on the USS Enterprise".  This seems to negate Riker's rank of Captain from Star Trek Nemesis, but then, later in the episode they say "Captain Picard" so I think they are just referring to the rank which was held when they all served together.  For example, instead of saying "A then Commander Riker was my first officer..." or "A then Captain Picard", they just say "Commander Riker" and "Captain Picard" to reference the rank held during that time. 

Troi and Soji have a girl-talk session in the garden.  Troi does her counselor thing which Soji tells her that that only makes Soji trust her less.  Soji thinks it is all just a mind-game, to which Picard overhears and comes back with a sarcastic response.  How un-Picard like!  How STUPID!  The writers ought to be shot for that stupidity.  Look...Picard knows that he doesn't have an established relationship with Soji, why the hell would he be sarcastic!?   Picard would be just like he was with Dahj.  Troi is right, Picard deserved to be shoved. 

So then we get to the dinner table; everybody talks which helps form Picard's new plan, to include identifying Soji's home planet.  Picard does what he shoudl have done from the get-go; talks about his encounter with Dahj, about Commander Data, and about his own motivations for helping.  The next day, Picard and riker are strolling through the woods to a pier with a bench.  Absolutely beautiful scenery; much like I've always dreamed of for my own retirement. 

Picard asks Riker if he ever considered "shipping out" again.  Riker confirms that he is on active reserve, but it would have to be a very good reason.  I personally think that this is setting it up for Riker to come sweeping in at some future point to save the day in a Starfleet ship.  Something big, like Control makes a move against Earth.  And if Riker is returing to active duty, then could we see the Enterprise F?  And/or an Odyssey class starship?

That's all for this episode.