Star Trek: Picard 2.06.

[selenak]

Imo, this one and the previous one should have been a single episode. Each had good scenes but also filler scenes.



As opposed to poor Kore, I don't think there are many viewers surprised that this particular member of the Soong family also was into artificial creation; like his descendant (?) from ST: Enterprise, in his case, via genetic manipulation, it appears. (BTW: the use of the term "Eugenics" as to what Dr. Soong's been accused of works both as a nod to the Eugenics War, which in the classic ST timeline has already happened at this point, and should work if you're less familiar with TOS as well.) However, Kore seems to lack education when it comes to Greek myths, since after finding the first of her precedessors she asks "who the hell is Persephone"? (Persephone and Kore are the same person; both are Demeter's daughter, Hades' wife, the Queen of the Underworld.) If her discovery wasn't surprising to the viewer - especially after Soong referred to her as "my life's work" - it was skillfully executed as a sequence. I still think the reason why all the previous girls died young and why Kore herself has a dangerous genetic illness is that Soong tried to clone an "original" (whether the original was a wife or a biological daughter, I don't know) who died but also tried eliminate the reason for the death via genetic manipulation, using the forbidden research from the Eugenic War era to do it. But even if I'm wrong, there was no cloning involved and it was a straightforward attempt to create a genetic superbeing, at this point one has to wonder whether the male (human) Soongs themselves aren't clones. I mean. Wouldn't we have met one who decided to research literature instead if not? And where are the non-artificial female Soongs?

Aaaanyway. The Picard-Picard talk between Jean-Luc and Renee was lovely, and the Agnes Jurati/Borg Queen storyline continues to be great. Given some episode's earlier Picard told her that the assimilation state feels like an endorphine rush, the Queen's (ultimately successful) attempt to make her feel relaxed and joyful, which allows her dominance by the time the episode wraps up, makes complete sense. It's not lost on me that Agnes basically now lives with the equivalant of Angel's (from BTVS) curse, condemned to a life of angst and guilt if she doesn't want Angelus the Queen to take over via complete happiness endorphines. Though I still suspect we'll get an amalgan of both personalities in the Borg Queen 2.0. from the season opener. For now, Queen!Agnes walking away in her red dress makes for a great visual (and equivalent of Angelus smoking at the end of Innocence). Incidentally, one detail that iimpressed me was that the earlier Agnes & Queen talk showed Agnes deliberately allowed the dying Queen to touch her (and thus to transfer to her), in order to to be able to accomplish the time travel back once they've saved the universe. (Whether or not the Queen's taunt that she also did it in order to be with her is true as well.)

Raffi seeing Temporary Dead Elnor everywhere and Rios crushing on the doctor at this point feels redundant since what it tells us we've seen before. (That's what I mean by filler material and that this episode and the previous one should have been a single ep.) Ditto for Picard's flashbacks, though I appreciate we and Jean-Luc will finally get out of that particular loop now that Tallinn is mind-melding with him, err, artificially going inside his mind. (Seriously, they should have just let her be Romulan or Vulcan, though I guess they didn't to make it clear this really isn't Laris.)

On to next week!

P.S. Jurati's ability to sing should have clued in at least Seven what was up, since Seven's own ability to sing was according to herself in the Voyager episode Someone to watch over me a gift from the Collective.

Comments

[lightofdaye]

Yeah this episode was short and padded.

That's interesting about the singing J didn't remember Seven saying that about her singing abillity I wonder if it's an intentional subtle Voyager reference. They still seem to avoid direct ones like acknowledging Seven's met Q before. Obviously she doesn't know him anything like as well as Picard and they still need him back but they could at least mention it. I guess there's an element of conservation of detail.

Seven seems very underutilised in both seasons of the show.

[chelseagirl]

Marty's been complaining that too much is obvious; I've been enjoying it.

I just feel worried for Agnes; I suspect you're right, but I was hoping against hope this would be more a situation like the Harvey neural clone in Farscape. But between Rios moving on, an incipient drinking problem, and now this . . . .

I have to confess it's been years since I've actually watched City on the Edge of Forever, and mostly what I hear about is how much Harlan hated it as aired (Marty knew him and was close friends with his wife during her final years), but can someone ever stay in the past if they fall for someone? Could Rios stay behind? Or am I just tainted by years of Doctor Who and how they never seem to worry all that much about preserving the timelines.

[selenak]

I don't think in any ST time travel story someone remained behind, and of course in City on the Edge of Forever the whole point is that Kirk has to let Edith Keeler die. However, in ST: The Voyage Home, present day whale specialist Gillian goes with Kirk to the future in order to care for her whales there, and no one objects. (I guess they could have checked whether she did something in her original timeline that she needed doing, but of course it could be that she was always meant to mysteriously disappear one day, and them taking her along was in fact the explanation for it.) So in theory, and by precedent, Rios could take the lady with him into the future, but I don't think she would go - after all, she's committed to helping the people in 2024.

I suspect you're right, but I was hoping against hope this would be more a situation like the Harvey neural clone in Farscape

Also still possible! After all, things looked very dark for John Crichton near the end of s2, and yet...

[chelseagirl]

I know Kirk has to let Edith Keeler die, but I can't remember if at any point in the episode he thinks of staying behind with her. Because, if I'm not mistaken, he doesn't know right away. But again, it's been a very long time since I've watched.

I watched all of TOS again and again in reruns but so many years ago. I've seen bits of some of the other series, but I didn't own a TV when TNG first aired so I've seen it in bits and pieces. I watched a season of DS9, but kept forgetting to set my VHS to record it, and then really didn't keep up again until Discovery and Picard. So my Trek knowledge is pretty scattered. Thinking of watching all of the series all the way through since we're paying for Paramount+ anyway. It's mostly finding the time to do that.

[kore]

I think in the original screenplay, he steps off the curb to save her and Spock holds him back? But I think they changed it to the other guy running to save her, and them not doing something, because it was more sympathetic or something, IDK, it's been a long time since I saw that ep (obviously!).

I am even less knowledgeable about Trek -- I saw TOS many times in reruns as a kid, but not much after that, TNG was big when I was in college and didn't have a TV and while T was a fan, I think I only saw half or less of those episodes, I sat through all of Voyager for Captain Janeway (and then Seven) and that was about it. I think part of it was we started seeing Babylon 5 shortly after it started airing, and then there were some other scifi shows to watch (Farscape, X-Files sorta, Sliders, other shows that got quickly killed off). But mostly we just got really into B5.

[selenak]

I never read the original script, but I think it was Kirk trying to save her and Spock holding him back, vs in the broadcast version McCoy trying to save her and Kirk holding him back. (I rewatched the episode two years ago for my Disco/TOS crossover featuring Uhura and Michael.) With the imo actual valid argument that this makes it that much more harder for our protagonist (since he has to do it himself).

[kore]

I was getting increasingly meh on the whole "we have to find the Watcher!" storyline when it turned out to be Not!Laris instead of young Guinan (and if this is Not!Laris was the subtitle saying she was speaking Romulan a mistake? I don't trust her, she seemed like an awful guardian angel). I also just kind of....don't like....Brent Spiner (heresy, I know) so I'm not thrilled about him having a bigger role, and I hate creepy Dr Frankenstein types creating young nubile vulnerable women. Especially while John de Lancie is still too much of an enigma (why is he trying to stop Renee specifically? Why are his powers gone? &c &c). I still love Raffi and Seven and I like Rios a lot better this season.

But AGNES AND THE BORG QUEEN, OMG, OMG. SHARING YOUR BODY WITH A FRIEND. THE EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL (CHEMICAL) SEDUCTION. LOVE. IT. Love Alison Pill's total owning of her role now and Annie Wersching owning her role and how she doesn't seem to care about getting back with other Borg or whatever, just Agnes. It's fantastic.

I never was a big TNG fan and saw most of Voyager once and DS9 and Enterprise not at all, so I'm sure I'm missing all the little callbacks, like Seven and singing.

All of Kore's (heh) predecessors had female Greek names -- I didn't catch all of them but there seemed to be at least a dozen, maybe more, ugh.

[selenak]

Dr. Victor Frankenstein would like to point out that while he was a jerk towards his (male) creature, he actually did not create any vulnerable young nubile women, having destroyed his one and only attempt before completion in a strange attack of responsibility. :) He also would like to point you towards Dr. Coppelius who was a middleaged creep creating a young female nubile automaton, Olympia, although, not being sentient and unable to do anything but sing, she was not vulnerable. For his part, Dr. Coppelius very much resents that Frankenstein is hogging all the name recognition when he ended up dead in the Arctis with his one and only successful creation, whereas Dr. Coppelius emerged from the tale he's in, The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffmann, alive, well, and still automaton-producing. He clearly is the superior creepy mad scientist!( Whether E.T.A. Hoffmann read Mary Shelley or vice versa, I do not know. They were contemporaries.)

I caught "Artemis" as the name of one of the predecessors, and as I mentioned in the review "Persephone" as the very first. As for Brent Spiner, I thought that other than Data, the one part I really enjoyed him in was the recording of 1776 where he plays/sings John Adams, but his various Doctors Soong are all awfully same-y.