Star Trek:Picard 2.02.
Mar. 12th, 2022 03:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAs it turns out, Q's casual referencing of Yesterday's Enterprise (the TNG episode) in last week's tag scene was key, ad it seems this parallel universe isn't, like the Mirrorverse, a parallel timeline from the get go, but a divergence from a very specific point in the more recent past. (In Yesterday's Enterprise, the difference aws the Enterprise-C saving/not saving the Klingons at the expense of their own lives, with with the saving leading to the Primeverse timeline in which the Federation and the Klingons are allies, and the other to a timeline in which they're still at war, and the Federation is losing. TNG never did a Mirrorverse episode, but Yesterday's Enterprise presents a far more militarisitic Starfleet as the result of a decades long non stop war. It's an interesting case because unlike the Mirrorverse, the characters are still recognizably their Primeverse selfves, albeit under constant stress; no one has gone evil. TNG also in later seasons had an episode where Worf is pushed from one parallel universe to another throughout the episode, none of which is the Mirrorverse. Just in case someone tries to tell ou this is the first time Trek presented a non-Mirrorverse, non-Reboot Kelvin timeline canon AU.)
Now, at first, I wasn't too keen on yet another fascist universe, but then I thought about real life and global developments in the last decades, and, well. Maybe there's a point in Trek showing how easily a democratic society can turn fascist (and how to prevent it). (This is another difference the Mirrorverse, seems to have been stuck of the Empire model of governing forever.) Mind you, that's hardly Qs reason for all of this on a Watsonial level, so, curent guess work:
- Picard is correct when saying Q is not well
- this is the result of preventing Picard & Co.'s death at the end of 2.01, leading to the timeline split
- which in turn will however produce branch of Borg (and Queen) we see arriving in 2.01. (and that Queen will not be the Queen from 2.02., otherwise hiding her face in 2.01. would be pointless
- once Picard & Co. manage to figure out what to do in order to restore the original timeline, this will also deal with whatever is up with Q, though this might actuallly cause some final transformation - not death a la Q2 in Voyager, but transformation into something else
So much for speculation. On to the episode proper. I do need a Seven episode. I absolutely loved the way the show had her react to being stranded in an alternate timeline. Because last season, they let her do mostly action stuff, it's good here we see Seven's logical, scientic side, quickly coming up with tests to verify whether she's dreaming/hallucinating, correctly deducing the logical alternative, and finding possible allies in this new universe. The rest of our lot is doing pretty well in this regard, too - no one tries to convince their Alternate Universe People that they're really someone else, and they're careful to check when encountering each other whether or not this person is from the Primeverse before revealing themselves.
The Borg Queen (traditional style) showing up in this episode I did not expext - I was unspoiled - and the reactions from Seven and Picard to her, and hers to them, were perfect. Also, while I doubt you need a Vulcan or a Borg in order to calculate time travel (okay, Sisko and friends did it with an Orb and the Prophets helping on DS9, so that doesn't count, and I think Picard & Co. just used the momentum of the Borg vessel in "First Contact", but it still feels like I'm overlooking something), this as an excuse as to why our heroes have to team up with her in order to save/restore the timeline works for me. At least from their angle. The Queen being bereft of any connections to a collective being horrible for her I can buy, but: she could create a new collective if you give her enough access to tech, so I'd guess she's just avoiding getting executed and on board with our lot for as long as she needs them for transport.
Seven's husband in this universe: giving her one wasn't strictly necessary by plot (some close underling could have played the same role), and he's not eye candy, either, so I assume we'll see a younger version of the Magister in Los Angeles a few decades back once our heroes get there, and the character won't be evil (yet), but will ironically end up helping our heroes, some of whom will first have to face the "if you know this kid will turn into an evil bastard, do you kill him?" dilemma.
Lastly: I forgot to add last week that Agnes Jurati drinking a lot presumably is an aftereffect of having committed murder - yes, she was somewhat under the influence, but no, that doesn't make it less her action, In this episode, she gets to show off her tech skills - and lie inventing skills - under pressure, and it's both hilarious and endearing. Complete with Spot the virtual cat.
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Date: 2022-03-12 11:13 pm (UTC)Agree about Jurati, she was hilarious this episode. It was really refreshing.
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Date: 2022-03-12 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-13 02:33 am (UTC)Borg Queen kept alarming me with her smirk, like she's about five steps ahead of everyone else....
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Date: 2022-03-13 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-13 04:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-13 04:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-13 07:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-14 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-14 09:28 pm (UTC)I really don't like this concept but when the episode got going, especially switching to the non-Picard characters, it was engaging. I did enjoy Seven figuring out her situation and her tests as well.
eta: The references to DS9 and TOS were quite good. (Though, poor Martok :( )There still seems to be a lack of Seven referencing Voyager though which is odd, she's [i]met[/i] Q before and plenty of time travel adventures as well yet they go unsaid.
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Date: 2022-03-15 11:44 am (UTC)Well, Seven hasn't had much chance to bring up that she met Q, since Picard only just told them Q was involved in a briefing where there were other matters to discuss as well. And you could count the Queen (2.02. version, not mystery woman from 2.01.) herself as a Voyager reference, since other than the movie "First Contact" that's where she appeared. But I agree that there haven't been Voyager-specific references other than that. (Otoh: ST: Discovery established last season there's still a Voyager in the 30th century, so there was that. :)
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Date: 2022-03-15 01:42 pm (UTC)Tbf, I think the only Q episode during 7's tenure on Voyager was the one with his son, which is not exactly the most relevant experience to bring up. It was just odd no one seemed familiar with Q even say from Enterprise-D's mission logs.
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Date: 2022-03-16 05:12 pm (UTC)Re: the Borg Queen... there were a lot of significant looks between Agnes and the Borg Queen, as well as pointed references to Agnes feeling "mind-bendingly lonely" and "unbelonging"... I wondered aloud to my gf while watching if she would end up joining the Collective by the end of the season, and my gf said, "No, she'll be the Borg Queen." !!!
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Date: 2022-03-17 10:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-18 11:08 am (UTC)