The bulk of the episode is taken up by the whole Yvette Picard subplot. So... I will be the first person to say that bringing attention to untreated mental illness is very important. However, why here? Don't we have enough subplots already? Did we really need this?
Also, Robert continues to be conspicuously absent from any flashbacks. Yvette tries to run off with Jean-Luc... and leaves Robert behind?
Also, James Callis as a younger Maurice Picard? I'm down with that.
Seven finally becomes remotely important to the plot as she and Raffi track down Jurati/Borg Queen.
Rios continues to do his Kirk impression. "I'm from Chile; I only work in outer space." And then beams Teresa and Ricardo onto La Sirena. I guess we've just thrown the Temporal Prime Directive out the window.
No Elnor. *Crickets*
No Adam Soong. *Crickets*
No Kore Soong. *Crickets*
Tallinn is actually Romulan. (No, really?)
Picard finally decides to take the initiative and try to find out what's going on with Q. We get a little more on the relationship between Guinan and Q, or more specifically between the El-Aurians and the Q Continuum. Seems there was some kind of conflict between the two in the past. On the surface, the Q vs. anybody seems like it would be a curbstomp, but given Q's reactions to Guinan over the years, I'm not so sure. Anyway, Guinan tries to summon a Q, but fails. We also get the return of the hand gestures Guinan made so long ago when confronting Q.
Instead of Q, who shows up but Ducane himself! And before anybody says to me "That's not Ducane, it's just Jay Karnes in a different role.", I'm not so convinced. I've seen the preview for the next episode. Agent Wells? Sure, Ducane, sure. Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
I spent a lot of time checking how long until it was done. Someone on a FB film group made a good point: 70% of the way through & NOTHING HAPPENED. NOTHING.
The Picard domestic violence/depression thing is like such bullshit. Comes out of nowhere, derails anything even remotely approaching moving the story forward, adds nothing.
That's not Ducane, that's "Dutch" Wagenbach from "The Shield"!
Posted by Dukhat (Member # 341) on :
My $0.02 so far:
DS9’s “Past Tense” and the Bell Riots have absolutely nothing to do with this story. Why they chose that date and showed some sanctuary districts but didn’t actually develop a story around them eludes me. Guess they were just Easter eggs like that guy on the bus.
Seven episodes in and I still have no idea why Adam Soong would be the father of the Confederacy and make future humans want to conquer all other alien races. I also have no idea what the significance is of Renee Picard’s Europa mission, or why Q was trying to dissuade her from going. And I certainly still have no idea what any of Q’s meddling has to do with Picard. Obviously they want to take that character down the road of family abuse and mental illness survivor (which of course we never knew about before), but what Soong, the Confederacy, or Q have to do with any of that is still a mystery that I have a suspicion will not be answered in three more episodes.
At this point I'm kind of done with these characters. The first few episodes had promise, but now my interest is waning. I like Rios, but that's about it. I'm ready to see the TNG cast have their big farewell in season 3, and then have the show end.
Oh well. At least Matalas is spoiling info about new ships for season 3. Hopefully we'll see the Enterprise-F, but I have a very bad suspicion that it's going to be that horrid thing from STO.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
This whole show has felt like someone filmed their shitty self-insert fanfic.
You know who I feel bad for? Wil Wheaton, having to shill this shit & make it seems exciting.
Posted by Zipacna (Member # 1881) on :
That's definitely Ducane...and if there aren't three versions of Braxton in the next episode and a guest shot by an evil version of Admiral Janeway, then the series has officially jumped the shark. Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Wheaton is probably thinking “It could be worse, I could be IN this.”
Yeah, “Agent Wells.” The FBI turning up to investigate a weird thing seen in a video… that could be mocked up by someone on a 2022 smartphone never mind a 2024 one. Sure…
It’s got to be a fake-out. We’ve already done the “member of the team falls afoul of contemporary law enforcement” storyline.
There was almost a tantalising glimpse of what Q might be up to here. Or maybe it’s just that they’re 70% through and now they’re finally having the “What exactly is Q up to here anyway? This isn’t like him” conversation.
Young JLP obviously tried to “rescue” his mother and thus enabled her to top herself. Pretty obvious there’s more to that story which he is actively avoiding confronting in favour of going after Q… by *checks notes* trying to conjure a genie from a bottle.
I mean, that was so patently absurd. I can almost hear Q - any Q - saying “You’re so limited. That’s such four dimensional thinking. ‘Summon the nearest Q?’ What does ‘near’ even mean, to beings like us?” Though I would like to know more about what the El-Aurians are, to the Q or in general. “Don’t provoke the Borg!” Q told his son. Maybe the E-As did - a literal FA&FO - and became a cautionary tale. Though I’d sure like to know what the Borg OR the E-As could do to challenge the Q. Unless they’re nowhere near to being as godlike as they make out.
There’s a lot going on, and three eps left. There’s the timeline divergence and/or Soong’s part in it and/or his (latest) daughter’s; Jurati and the Borg Queen and whatever the heck was going on back on the Stargazer; Rios and his temporally-inconvenient love affair (what do we reckon? Will he stay, or will she and her son go?); Q’s loss of powers; Guinan rediscovering her faith in humanity; and now Picard and Ducane (yes Picard and Ducane, one once got fired… etc.). Have I missed anything?
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
So, Tallinn is Romulan. Makes sense since she used Romulan swear words last episode and was familiar with the Vulcan mind meld.
However, it's just yet another big coincidence that one of her descendants would be looking over another Picard almost 400 years later. Or is Laris also a watcher and her blood line is tasked to watch over the Picard blood line?
I couldn't really concentrate on the scenes with Callis. I kept thinking the whole time "What the frack is he wearing?". Did they run out of budget to make a proper FC uniform and had to buy one at a cheap Chinese cosplay shop?
The backdoor pilot scenes with Young Picard (coming 2024 on your TV screens) were tedious and Guinan trying to summon Q as if he were a Djin was ridiculous.
Meanwhile, lovesick Rios tries to impress his girlfriend and her son (who will turn out to be his great...great grand son).
I was relieved when it was finally over.
quote:“Don’t provoke the Borg!”
Perhaps the Borg obtained a fraction of the El-Aurians Anti-Q powers when they assimilated them? Maybe the Borg Queen's temporal sixth sense is also connected to the El-Aurians?
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Callis’s uniform was presumably meant to be confusing - like the set itsel I guess, it didn’t look like anywhere we’d seen before. Grey (?) shoulders, but unquilted; dark blue undershirt, like the colour of the FC uniform Sci/Med one (only darker? So a bit like the very dark undershirts in the 2390s/2400s uniform) but no zip I don’t think (so, more like the DS9/ VOY undershirt but definitely too dark); post-TNG commbadge. Basically dream logic, things that aren’t right but feel normal in the dream. Like Picard being in his tux.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
I'm not going to lie, for a few seconds I was like, "Is that Dr Bashir?" It took a minute to realize it was Baltar from BSG.
In the YouTube TrekCulture recap it pointed that her earpiece in the 'mindmeld' was shaped like a Vulcan/Romulan ear before the reveal... given the longer lifespan of Romulans, is she the mom or grandmother of Picard's Laris?
Still not getting this new assimulation process for Jurati. ST:FC, Borg nanoprobes assimulate in seconds. Maybe in making a queen it's a different process. Still not liking it.
At this point either Rios is staying in 2024 with the cute doctor or she's coming to the 25th century.
The weird flash back scenes felt like a major pump on the brakes near the end of the story. I know they did that with Picard making pizza with Riker and Troi... but that episode had Riker and Troi so you can't down it.
Posted by Zipacna (Member # 1881) on :
quote:Originally posted by Hobbes: In the YouTube TrekCulture recap it pointed that her earpiece in the 'mindmeld' was shaped like a Vulcan/Romulan ear before the reveal... given the longer lifespan of Romulans, is she the mom or grandmother of Picard's Laris?
Given that the Aegis (assuming that's what the people behind Gary Seven are even called in canon) operatives were "genetically-perfect", I'm half expecting them to fudge it so that Laris and Tallin are actually the same person due to advanced genetic engineering and/or convoluted plot devices.
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