ST: Picard 2.05

[selenak]

Well, that was possibly the most streaming-format affected episode of the series so far. It felt like half an episode, the first half of a two parter, not something that stands on its own.



Raffi and Seven rescueing Rios (and the other about to be deported people) was a neat sequence emphasizing their teamwork and the way they balance each other. Mind you, it's not precisely logical that on the one hand, Seven objects to mucking up the timeline even further by using transporter technology to save Rios in front of everyone and figures out a low tech way to do it, and on the other, it doesn't seem to occur to anyone that while Rios is an intruder into this timeline and thus his rescue is straightening things out, the other about to be deported people would, in fact, have been deported in the "proper" timeline and allowing them to escape this fate was massive interference. I mean, I sympathize, and after two episodes full of anger at the ICE and the way immigrants are handled (literally), it would have felt weird for Our Heroes to say, no, off with you across the Mexican border, the timeline wills it. But it's definitely a plot hole.

Meanwhile, elsewhere: we meet yet another scientist from the Soong family (this is beyond a running gag by now). This one has a daughter with a rare genetic condition played by the same actress who played Daj and Soj, whom he desperately wants to help, which makes him open to blackmail by Q. (Apparantly not completely without his powers, hence the temporary cure, but not able to do what he wants, either, at least not when it comes to another character.) Q's statement that if you love anyone, you're open to blackmail, and thus the only way not to be would be not to love anyone at all, but then existence would be pointless does not sound as if he's only talking about the latest Dr. Soong played by Brent Spiner. Add "gets blackmailed by the Continuum? Others?" to the "what is Q up to? speculation, say I.

Though I also think Picard is wrong to assume Q wants to create the Confederationverse by manipulating his ancestress, because I'm pretty that whatever needs fixing will turn out to be more complicated than "ensure Renee Picard is on the Europa. If the sole thing known of her by the 24th century is that she found something on Io which she thought was sentient life and wanted to bring back to Earth (but didn't?; that's not said, but since First Contact in the Prime timeline is with the Vulcans, she can't have), in fact, I would venture the guess that maybe in the Confederation timeline she does bring the lifeform back from Io, but it's not a happy encounter, things go terribly wrong (either because the lifeform is malevolent or because humans are), humanity gets the ability to travel to the stars far too soon and with their worse instincts still dominant, and presto, a xenophobic Humanity First future is born.

So the woman Picard encountered at the end of the last episode is not Laris but a member of same organisation that Gary Seven (of TOS fame) belonged to. This actually makes this "Watcher" thing a neat nod to continuity, though I bet it will turn out she is connected to Laris somehow. We are also introduced to another member of the Picard family, Renée the brilliant astronaut (aka the young woman Q was observing in the last episode's tag scene), struggling with depression. (BTW: Jean-Luc's description of depression rang very true and gets extra points for including it doesn't just go away but involves a daily struggle.) Might I just say: in TNG days, this ancestor would have been automatically male, and that she's a woman instead is excellent. Though we have only seen glimpses of her so far, not enough to say what she's like as a character not described by others.

The most intriguing plot thread, though, remains Agnes Jurati's. I had not expected her to solve the Queen's hostage taking by shooting her, and I was a bit bewildered why the Queen didn't just assimilate the French officer (in previous Borg outings, injecting him with some nanoprobes would have done the trick), but of course I should have taken note of her explicitly waking Agnes up. The cop as a ploy to get Agnes Jurati to come close enough for another physical contact, now that makes sense, as does the Queen not dying when her physical body does but using the established connection with Jurati to slip into her mind. (Update of the "Agnes is the masked Borg Queen in the first episode" theory to: "she's an amalgan of Jurati and the Queen who as of 2.05 are still two entities in the same body but will become one personality by the end".) The earlier mindmessing via "you're alone in every timeline" was also great, and in general the season so far justifies bringing back the Borg by this plotline.

Last thought: given we now have two characters with the last name of "Picard", are we even sure the Picard the masked Borg Queen at the start of the season is asking for was Jean-Luc?

Comments

[kore]

I appreciated that her name was Kore. :-) Did NOT appreciate that her dad shot her up with some magic juice and she was instantly magically healed except surprise!NOPE Boo, ableism. However, Hurrah for Picard's very good description of anxiety and depression, and the emphasis that a depressed person can still do things -- even neat things -- and be a valuable person even though they're struggling. (That came out wrong, speaking of ableism. Valuable? Worthy? No, no. But the typical viewpoint so often is that when someone is depressed that's all they are, and the point was, she's still an actual person just going through some rough shit.)

It was a great blend of queer action film with social justice in (Raffi/Seven), time travel hijinks (Picard and not!Laris), goth horror (Agnes and her Queen), and then surprise Ocean's 11 "let's glam up and do a heist" which is now going terribly wrong. Apparently Frakes directed it, and he's developed a really nice style over the years. Still annoyed we didn't get to see Raffi and Seven really get together (it's like the "they've fooled around before but nothing like this" dodge in fics), but the way they're growing toward each other again is very sweet, and the actresses are really selling it.

I loved Raffi and Seven and Picard and Soj last year, but damn, this season Alison Pill is really killing it. Love her, love how she also has extreme anxiety and loneliness but is also super competent and smart, LOVE her and the Borg Queen. Annie Wersching is also amazing. She just hangs there and watches everyone with that self-satisfied little smirk like they're all falling into her web exactly like she planned, and I want to hide behind the sofa.

Elnor and Rios seem a little sidelined right now, but they did get a lot to do last season. And have Ito Aghayere come back please! She was fantastic. There has been less Q than I expected, but we're about halfway through the season now so maybe there will be more focus on what he's doing and why. I may be wrong, but I keep feeling all the time travel business isn't the real conflict and that's going to be them vs. Queen Agnes. Could be wrong, though!

[wembley]

What is Kore's name in reference to?

[wembley]

Oh, Jesus, I didn't even see your username when I posted that, I'm such a moron, ignore me, lolsob.

[selenak]

Let me add a geeky footnote from someone whose username is something else: Kore is a fitting name for Ms. Soong on a mythological basis, too - it's the other name of Persephone, and since the character is living in a kind of underworld which a parent who seeks to return her to the daylight...

(In fact, the name is so mythologically fitting that I'm tending to agree iwth bimo that Kore could be an artificial creation. Not an android, though, since this Dr. Soong is a geneticist. My money is on her being some kind of clone, and that's why he reacted so oddly when she asked about her mother.)

[selenak]

Instant!Healing (as opposed to days or at least hours for the medicine to do its work) is such a tv convenience, but in this particular case, I'll handwave it because it's of Q origin, which means it doesn't have to abide by the rules of physics. Also, I don't see it as ableism from presenting this particular genetic condition as something that is awful for Kore and that she wants to get rid of. Who wouldn't? I'm familiar with people who do hospice work and have also met some families where a child is suffering from a rare genetic illness condemning them to a severely limited life expectancy and/or severe physical limitations, and while all of them have found a way to live with it, I've yet to meet someone who wouldn't immediately get rid of this condition of they could.

Still annoyed we didn't get to see Raffi and Seven really get together

Maybe we'll get a webisode? *hopes against hope*

this season Alison Pill is really killing it

Absolutely, and it's so good to watch. I agree about Annie Wersching as the Borg Queen, too. Of the three actresses who played her so far, and the writing of her in two shows and a movie, this one is definitely my favourite.

[lightofdaye]

I was over new Soongs in Enterprise let along Picard season 1, this is one I suppose is less egregious than a previously unheard of son and fits with Ent Continuity (Did Arik Soong mention any ancestors he had that were also geneticists?)

They seem allergic to directly acknowledging either the Eugenics War or WWIII by name and it's really weird.

[selenak]

WWW3 was alluded to at least with the "not yet" line in 2.03, but the Eugenics really are the Voldemort of modern Trek.

[wembley]

Excellent recap, as usual. Also, thanks for pointing out that it was Renee that Q was focusing on last episode, I couldn't figure out who that was and had wondered if it was Amanda!Q. This makes a lot more sense.

I love all the mysteries set up in this episode! Why is Q doing what he's doing? I hope, like you theorize, that he's being blackmailed by the Continuum into doing something he doesn't want to do (but maybe that's just because Q's my fave). It would be of a piece with his arc from TNG to VOY, where he rebels by being a jackass, is punished, is chastened by this into agreeing to some truly dark shit in TNG's "True Q", as well as being the voice of the prosecution in VOY's "Death Wish", where that arc is made explicit by Gerrit Graham's character. (WOW I REMEMBER THOSE EPISODE TITLES BY NAME, MY GOD I'M SUCH A NERD.)

More mysteries: why does the Watcher look like Laris? What's the deal with what will happen on Europa? (I like your theories!) More things I'm forgetting!

Agnes and the Borg Queen becoming a hybrid entity, which is the Masked Borg Queen (coming this Sunday on Fox: The Masked Borg Queen!) we see in 2x01, makes sense, especially with her both assimilating all the ships yet stunning the crew instead of killing them.

I am so glad you're still here recapping and analyzing Trek and other media, it's really great to read your stuff, as always.

[selenak]

Thank you. I love having new Trek canon to analyze! We've waited for so long, and now it's an abundance of riches!

[bimo]

Just dropping by to let you know how much I enjoyed reading both your review and the ensuing discussion in the comments! :-)

I'm afraid, though, that I don't have very much to add at this moment, well perhaps except one minor obsevation. Did anyone else notice Q's utter lack of playfulness while interacting with both Renee and Soong? Completely different from and far more tense than the "it's all just a big game" attitude that he usually displays when dealing with humanoid sentients.

ETA: Oh, and one other thing: What on Earth is the *in universe* deal with all those doubles? Laris/watcher is something that could be easily explained. But Elnor/random nameless Hispanic deportee and Soj/Soong's daughter?

[lightofdaye]

The Hispanc deportee at least was just Raffi hallucinating. It's a different actor to Elnor who only has a slight resemblance. Soj/Kore Soong is more difficult maybe Kore's appearence was based down to Data subconsciously?

My question is is Kore really natural daughter or an artificial creation somehow? Soong hesitated when asked about her mother.

[bimo]

It's a different actor to Elnor who only has a slight resemblance.

Lots of thanks for pointing this out! Because of the other doubles I was totally convinced it was actually Evan Evagora, just with different and decidedly non-Romulan make-up.

As for Kore: Since the entire Soong family, in pretty much every incarnation we've seen so far, seems so strongly centered around family ties and the creation of some form of offspring, I'm personally betting on artificially-scientifically created biological lifeform.

[selenak]

Did anyone else notice Q's utter lack of playfulness while interacting with both Renee and Soong?

Yes, and it does further my suspicion he's on some kind of personal clock; he doesn't have time to play around before getting to the point. I mean, even in two episodes where he was ready to do really dark things (killing Amanda in "True Q", and the "Death Wish" episode on Voyager - aka the only good Q episode on Voy, imho), he did take the time for some quipping and game playing.

I see the doppelganger question has already been answered re: Elnor, and let me add that I currently suspect Soong's daughter is some kind of clone (hence his behavior when she asks about her mother), and that something went very wrong with the cloning due to experimental technology which resulted in her genetic condition. I mean, the name "Kore" - which is the other name of Persephone - is mythologically fitting (she's in the underworld of sorts, has a parent who wants to bring her back to the light), and I suspect it's "Kore" rather than "Eurydice" because Soong sees himself as her father, not her lover. (Thankfully.)