Trailer for Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard

I just saw the second trailer for Star Trek: Picard and I have one question:  What’s with the communicator that Cristobal Rios is wearing?

It looks like many of the major characters are back from the first season.  Picard is shown wearing an admiral’s uniform.  7 of 9 is shown without her implants.  We even see Agnes Jurati, although it’s not clear what her fate is.  And then, there’s the addition of Q.  Of course, we knew that from the first trailer.

The one scene that I’m talking about is Rios standing on his ship.  He has a Starfleet communicator, but one thing sticks out for me.  It has what appears to be the hilt of a sword or dagger.  We know that there’s supposed to be some aspect of time travel.  Q even says something about “the very end of the road not taken.”

Now, this might be a callback to Tapestry, in which Picard saw what his life was like without his artificial heart.  Of course, Picard was only a lieutenant in that episode and here, he would seem to be in charge of Starfleet.  (I count four pips inside the rectangle.)

However, the dagger would imply that the second season might be visiting The Mirror Universe, even if briefly.  There’s also the voiceover saying that time is broken.  Maybe elements of several timelines have converged, but I haven’t seen anyone else comment on the dagger.  I just wanted to put that out there for anyone who might have picked up on it.

 

 

Star Trek: Picard -- Season 1 Episode 10 (Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2)

It occurred to me while watching Star Trek: Picard how easy it would have been for it not to have happened.  The details vary, but it would seem that Patrick Stewart didn’t want to return for a fourth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  If he had left the show, Picard would have remained assimilated or would have been killed.  If this happened, I might be reviewing an episode of Star Trek: Riker right now.  Of course, I’m not sure how accurate the details are.  I suppose it would make for a great alternative history cameo or something.

Anyway, this review is about the final episode of the first season of Star Trek: Picard.  The androids are facing the threat of being annihilated by Romulans.  Rather than listen to Picard’s grand speech or hope that Starfleet will arrive in time, the androids are building an antenna to call the super AI interdimensional beings for help.  What’s scary is that this help will come in the form of killing all organic life in the galaxy.

There’s a lot of deception and trickery on both sides, but Picard is eventually able to stop the annihilators from crossing over into our universe.  Of course, it is at the last second.  (You know, I’m not really even sure what it would look like not to have it at the last second.)  But the universe is saved and we’ll get a second season.

This isn’t to say that the episode doesn’t pull at the heart strings.  Picard gets to meet Data one last time and Data has a rather emotional request for Picard.  You might be wondering how this is possible.  To be accurate, it’s the copy of Data’s memories that were copied from B4.  Either way, it’s a more appropriate sendoff for the character.

One thing I find curious is that the Romulans really did have a huge fleet.  This raises several points.  First, why send so many ships to wipe out one planet?  I guess they may have been expecting the galaxy-destroying AI to already be there.  Of course, had the AI already been there, it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

Also, where did all those ships come from?  If the Romulans had those ships before their sun went nova, couldn’t those ships have been used in the evacuation?  If not, it would mean that they were built after the evacuation.  It would be a testament to the Romulans that they could find the resources to make that many ships.  (For that matter, the Federation also has a lot of ships.)

This isn’t to say I dislike the episode.  There was some personal growth for many of the characters.  And there is going to be a second season.  I would hope the major characters will return.  My only question is if this will include Dr. Jurati.

She was supposed to turn herself in for the murder of Bruce Maddox.  That got sidetracked, but she still did it.  She still has to answer for that.  Maybe the second season will start with Jurati in an orange jump suit.  The entire season could be breaking her out of jail for a special mission.  I am looking forward to seeing what happens.

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Star Trek: Picard -- Season 1 Episode 9 (Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1)

There were a lot of questions for the first season of Star Trek: Picard.  What is this impending AI apocalypse?  Will Soji be the one to end all organic life in the galaxy?  Where was this Zhat Vash when Control was taking over on Star Trek: Discovery?  At least some of these questions are answered in the two-part finale.

We don’t get a flashback here.  The story starts with Picard, Soji and the rest of the crew trying to land on Soji’s home planet.  Right behind them is Narek, the shady Romulan who was playing Soji for information.  Oh, and Seven of Nine actually brought the Borg Cube to help out, which is a nice touch.

Unfortunately, the androids have an impressive defensive system.  Giant flowers come up and disable the ships.  All three of them crash on the planet’s surface, including the Borg Cube.  It’s not a long walk, but they do have to walk and the Borg cube lands in the opposite direction from the android city.

First, Picard makes sure everyone is safe on the Cube.  I suppose it’s the decent thing to do and it gives him one more chance to be called Locutus.  Then, it’s off to Android City, where nearly everyone is dressed like something out of The Original Series.  The only notable exception is Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, son of Noonian Soong.  It was he who made the androids from Data.

The androids are advised of the impending attack by the Romulans.  Picard has already informed the Federation of this, as well, but there’s no promise that Starfleet will get there first.  There’s also not much that anyone can do.  Yes, the flowers took down a Cube, but there are two dozen of them.  The Romulan fleet is going to have 218 ships.  It’s not exactly a fair fight.

Also, one of the androids, Sutra, is able to do a mind meld with Dr. Jurati.  Jurati was shown the Admonition, which apparently didn’t drive her totally insane.  Sutra is able to view the Admonition and determine that it was meant for artificial life.  It’s not a warning to organic life, but rather a promise to artificial life.  The advanced AI race will protect artificial life by wiping out all organic life.

This sets the stage for Soji to build an antenna, as per the Admonition’s instructions, to call the advanced AI.  And we’re left with a more proper cliffhanger.  Picard is held prisoner in the house.  The Romulan fleet is coming.  Also, it’s not entirely clear if Starfleet got Picard’s message telling them where to go.

There were a few questions, like how Sutra was able to do a mind meld.   Before you get all giggly thinking of the Kama Sutra, it’s worth noting that Sutra is a Sanskrit word meaning discourse.  It would make sense that she’s the one to do the mind meld.  I suppose if we accept that Vulcans can do it, so could androids.  It’s also probably an issue of convenience.  The alternative would be having an android go get the Admonition directly.  It does make for a cleaner narrative.

One thing that always gets me is how fathers always look like their children.  It’s never the mothers.  At least here, I get that it’s a chance for Brent Spiner to have a decent role in the series.  He’s also stated reservations about playing Data, noting that years have passed since the movies.  Who am I to complain?  It is nice to see him again.

Something I noticed was that Irumodic Syndrome was never mentioned by name in the entire season.  Picard finally comes clean to the crew in this episode, but it’s always danced around.  Someone mentions something in his brain, but never what it is or could be.  I suppose there could be some copyright issue with whoever wrote the finale to The Next Generation.  I don’t know.  Anyway, Part II should be just interesting.

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Star Trek: Picard -- Season 1 Episode 8 (Broken Pieces)

Once again, we start with a flashback.  Commodore Oh is leading a group of Romulans in The Admonition.  They get to see exactly what happened to an unnamed ancient civilization that fell victim to artificial intelligence.  Most of the Romulans go crazy.  Not Narissa or Rhamda, though.  Rhamda is affected, but not to the point of killing herself.  Narissa seems to make it through unscathed.

As for the story’s present, Jurati has to face up to the fact that she killed Bruce Maddox.  Granted, it was on orders from Commodore Oh, but she still killed someone.  Oh’s involvement might not be enough to keep her out of prison.

We also learn why Rios’s captain killed himself.  It had to do with the fact that the captain was ordered to kill two synthetics, one of which happened to look like Soji.  It’s a bit of a coincidence that Rios was on the ship to make first contact, but it is an interesting one.

Meanwhile, all of Raffi’s conspiracy theories are proven correct.  There was a plot behind the Mars attacks.  For this reason, she contrasts really well with Picard.  Picard wants to see the best in everyone.  He’s come to expect it.  Meanwhile, Raffi tends to see the worst.  It doesn’t help that she’s proven correct, but it also doesn’t deter Picard from trying.

He’s the only one on the ship that doesn’t take a pessimistic view of the Federation, even though Starfleet let him down in a big way.  He’s coming to realize that that’s no excuse not to try.  In a way, he also gave up.  Instead of going out to make things better, he retreated in to a vineyard.  (He basically made alcohol rather than just drink it.)

I have to wonder if the ancient race mentioned in this episode is the Tkon Empire.  It’s said that they lived thousands of centuries ago.  (Picard says 200,000 years ago, but I’m not sure where he got this number.)  The Tkon Empire existed over 600,000 years ago and had the ability to move stars.  It’s said that a race would have had to have moved stars to have an eight-star system, as the most stars to occur naturally would seem to be seven.

Elnor is still on the Borg cube, but he now has Seven helping him.  It’s not clear if they’ll meet up with Picard and crew.  I guess I’ll be finding out soon enough.  As soon as I finish writing this, I’m off to watch the two-part finale.  It should be an interesting one.

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Star Trek: Picard -- Season 1 Episode 5 (Stardust City Rag)

AbsoluteCandor was an episode of Truth.  Now, we have Stardust City Rag, an episode about lies.  Or, rather, the truth being concealed.  Admiral Picard has the location of Bruce Maddox.  He has his hired sword.  Now, he just has to talk his way into a meeting with the woman holding Maddox.

Maddox is being held on a planet called Freecloud by a woman named Bjayzl.  As others have pointed out, she bears an eerie resemblance to Deanna Troi.  She and Maddox apparently had some sort of loan going.  Since Maddox is no longer in a position to repay that debt, Bjayzl is going to sell him to the Tal Shiar.

It’s up to Picard and crew to save him.  With him is Seven of Nine, former Borg drone.  She and Bjayzl seem to have a history.  The truth of their relationship doesn’t fully come out, but it’s clear by the end of the episode that Seven wanted revenge.  Why?  Our flashback this episode is of Icheb being tortured.  Fans of Voyager will remember Icheb as another former drone that Seven cared for.

Maddox is saved only to meet an untimely death by the end of the episode.  It’s a shame.  As much as I didn’t like Bruce Maddox, I don’t think he deserved what he got.  It does seem to set up a future episode, hopefully.  Apparently Bruce and Agnes had a thing going.  I would hope we find out what it’s all about.

While the show could be enjoyed by anyone, Star Trek: Picard is shaping up to be a series throwing out Easter eggs to long-time fans of the show.  On Freecloud, we see signs for Mott’s Hair Emporium and Quark’s Bar.  While neither is seen onscreen, it’s nice to see that both had a career after their respective shows ended.  There’s also a mention to Icheb’s missing cortical implant, which Seven of Nine now has.

Freecloud does seem to be a cesspool, although it does provide for some fun scenes.  Almost everyone on the ship gets their own holospam.  The captain gets an ad for ship maintenance.  Agnes gets an ad that she has to punch to get rid of.  Poor Elnor doesn’t get anything.  Of course, I would imagine little is known of him, so that’s to be expected.

It’s nice to see Seven of Nine let her hair down.  She seems a little more human than when we last saw her.  She doesn’t have her jumpsuit, looking more like an Indiana Jones disciple.  I suppose that wouldn’t be far off, as she’s working to help protect the former Neutral Zone.

I have to say I’m quickly becoming a fan of the show.  This is definitely what I might have expected from Discovery.  That’s not to speak ill of it, but there is a definite cohesion that Discovery was lacking.  I’m definitely going to continue binging.

Absolute Candor was an episode of Truth.  Now, we have Stardust City Rag, an episode about lies.  Or, rather, the truth being concealed.  Admiral Picard has the location of Bruce Maddox.  He has his hired sword.  Now, he just has to talk his way into a meeting with the woman holding Maddox.

Maddox is being held on a planet called Freecloud by a woman named Bjayzl.  As others have pointed out, she bears an eerie resemblance to Deanna Troi.  She and Maddox apparently had some sort of loan going.  Since Maddox is no longer in a position to repay that debt, Bjayzl is going to sell him to the Tal Shiar.

It’s up to Picard and crew to save him.  With him is Seven of Nine, former Borg drone.  She and Bjayzl seem to have a history.  The truth of their relationship doesn’t fully come out, but it’s clear by the end of the episode that Seven wanted revenge.  Why?  Our flashback this episode is of Icheb being tortured.  Fans of Voyager will remember Icheb as another former drone that Seven cared for.

Maddox is saved only to meet an untimely death by the end of the episode.  It’s a shame.  As much as I didn’t like Bruce Maddox, I don’t think he deserved what he got.  It does seem to set up a future episode, hopefully.  Apparently Bruce and Agnes had a thing going.  I would hope we find out what it’s all about.

While the show could be enjoyed by anyone, Star Trek: Picard is shaping up to be a series throwing out Easter eggs to long-time fans of the show.  On Freecloud, we see signs for Mott’s Hair Emporium and Quark’s Bar.  While neither is seen onscreen, it’s nice to see that both had a career after their respective shows ended.  There’s also a mention to Icheb’s missing cortical implant, which Seven of Nine now has.

Freecloud does seem to be a cesspool, although it does provide for some fun scenes.  Almost everyone on the ship gets their own holospam.  The captain gets an ad for ship maintenance.  Agnes gets an ad that she has to punch to get rid of.  Poor Elnor doesn’t get anything.  Of course, I would imagine little is known of him, so that’s to be expected.

It’s nice to see Seven of Nine let her hair down.  She seems a little more human than when we last saw her.  She doesn’t have her jumpsuit, looking more like an Indiana Jones disciple.  I suppose that wouldn’t be far off, as she’s working to help protect the former Neutral Zone.

I have to say I’m quickly becoming a fan of the show.  This is definitely what I might have expected from Discovery.  That’s not to speak ill of it, but there is a definite cohesion that Discovery was lacking.  I’m definitely going to continue binging.

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