Star Trek: Picard 3.06
Mar. 24th, 2023 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakWhile I loved last week's episode, this week I'm back to "on the one hand, on the other hand" in my feelings about this season. Unless something rapidly changes, that makes season 2 of Picard the best one imo, and definitely the one I emotionally connected to most.
But onto this particular episode: .
To start with the end, you know, I think Data rapidly is becoming ST's Gallifrey - with diminishing emotional impact every time they bring him back, whether or not this time will stick. Though yes, I did notice the episode is careful to establish this isn't Original Data, it's a new being based on Data, Lore, Lal and B4 all. (Presumably to give Brent Spiner the chance to do a multiple personality thing?) And of course I was moved by Geordi's "Data?" moment, and can understand the show wanting to give Levar Burton and Brent Spiner the chance to interact, and NOT by Spiner playing another Dr. Soong.
Speaking of whom, according to his holorecorded goodybe, he died off screen post s1, having attempted as a legacy to bring all the android children of his late father (and Data's daughter) back in one form but not finished the work. Which was then repurposed by Starfleet as an AI security system for the Daystrom Institute. Never mind Starfleet inflitration by the Changelings, this right here is a very serious breach in ethics going completely against anything established since Measure of a Man in TNG's s2, which is that Soong type Androids (with Data being the one in question in the episode) are sentient beings with full rights as sentient beings who cannot just be used like toasters to do something against their will. With all the emphasis on Starfleet's importance not just to Picard but various other main characters and how this makes choosing between job and family hard this season, it's ironic that ST: Picard in three seasons does not really manage to sell Starfleet as an organisation you'd want to belong to, as opposed to one which has a few good members but otherwise has gone rotten.
Sidenote: See, my much maligned and much beloved by me Discovery, otoh, does a great job of selling Starfleet the Organisation as something worth belonging to, especially in the later two seasons; throughout s3 and s4, we see a Starfleet that's constantly at work helping people in the background to our hero's adventures, with medical relief in the transport-hindered galaxy as Michael finds it a big priority.
And while I'm complaining: the Jack and Beverly scene at the end of last episode did sell their mother and son relationship to me, but this week we're back to the father and son awkwardness, and this just does not work for me, and no, the Iromadic Syndrome narrative comeback doesn't do the trick, either. And not because I'm principally against father and son relationships. I mean, Angel and Connor break my heart through s4 of AtS. And on a less literal level, there are Patrick Stewart scenes as old and mentally damaged Xavier with our titular guy in Logan, which are positively gutwrenching in the best way. But this season's Picard and Jack Crusher stuff? Crickets.
On the bright side, Worf reuniting with his old crewmates was lovely, and the scene where Seven goes through the various old ships in the museum only to end up with Voyager and saying what the ship and its crew meant to her was amazingly played by Jeri Ryan. Awwww. (Not sure how to interpret the Seven and Raffi reunion, but then it was in public in front of everyone.) Using the cloaking device from the Klingon ship Kirk's crew took at the end of ST III and used throughout ST IV (aka The One With The Whales) was an inspired move, though don't tell Starfleet in all those decades still hasn't found a way to track an old fashioned Klingon cloaking device? But okay, that's why Geordi is modifying it. Oh, and Liam Shaw fanboying Geordi when he's been hostile towards every other TNG Crew member at first because he's an engineer and therefore thinks Geordi is the coolest was a neat touch.
Vadic having stolen Picard's original body.... Okay, coupled with all the repeated mention his current one is synthetic and that Jack has inherited the Iromadric Syndrome and we want to do right by our children and what not, plus the fact that whatever is going on in Jack's mind is clearly not jiust Iromadric Syndrome but something planted by the Changelings, I think we're steering towards a situation where Picard will sacrifice himself for Jack (and presumably the Federation) by providing him with the synthetic and healthy body and returning to his own original one to die for good this time. Just how Vadic/The Changelings want to use the original body to revenge themselves on the Federation I have no idea, but I bet that's the endgame.
But onto this particular episode: .
To start with the end, you know, I think Data rapidly is becoming ST's Gallifrey - with diminishing emotional impact every time they bring him back, whether or not this time will stick. Though yes, I did notice the episode is careful to establish this isn't Original Data, it's a new being based on Data, Lore, Lal and B4 all. (Presumably to give Brent Spiner the chance to do a multiple personality thing?) And of course I was moved by Geordi's "Data?" moment, and can understand the show wanting to give Levar Burton and Brent Spiner the chance to interact, and NOT by Spiner playing another Dr. Soong.
Speaking of whom, according to his holorecorded goodybe, he died off screen post s1, having attempted as a legacy to bring all the android children of his late father (and Data's daughter) back in one form but not finished the work. Which was then repurposed by Starfleet as an AI security system for the Daystrom Institute. Never mind Starfleet inflitration by the Changelings, this right here is a very serious breach in ethics going completely against anything established since Measure of a Man in TNG's s2, which is that Soong type Androids (with Data being the one in question in the episode) are sentient beings with full rights as sentient beings who cannot just be used like toasters to do something against their will. With all the emphasis on Starfleet's importance not just to Picard but various other main characters and how this makes choosing between job and family hard this season, it's ironic that ST: Picard in three seasons does not really manage to sell Starfleet as an organisation you'd want to belong to, as opposed to one which has a few good members but otherwise has gone rotten.
Sidenote: See, my much maligned and much beloved by me Discovery, otoh, does a great job of selling Starfleet the Organisation as something worth belonging to, especially in the later two seasons; throughout s3 and s4, we see a Starfleet that's constantly at work helping people in the background to our hero's adventures, with medical relief in the transport-hindered galaxy as Michael finds it a big priority.
And while I'm complaining: the Jack and Beverly scene at the end of last episode did sell their mother and son relationship to me, but this week we're back to the father and son awkwardness, and this just does not work for me, and no, the Iromadic Syndrome narrative comeback doesn't do the trick, either. And not because I'm principally against father and son relationships. I mean, Angel and Connor break my heart through s4 of AtS. And on a less literal level, there are Patrick Stewart scenes as old and mentally damaged Xavier with our titular guy in Logan, which are positively gutwrenching in the best way. But this season's Picard and Jack Crusher stuff? Crickets.
On the bright side, Worf reuniting with his old crewmates was lovely, and the scene where Seven goes through the various old ships in the museum only to end up with Voyager and saying what the ship and its crew meant to her was amazingly played by Jeri Ryan. Awwww. (Not sure how to interpret the Seven and Raffi reunion, but then it was in public in front of everyone.) Using the cloaking device from the Klingon ship Kirk's crew took at the end of ST III and used throughout ST IV (aka The One With The Whales) was an inspired move, though don't tell Starfleet in all those decades still hasn't found a way to track an old fashioned Klingon cloaking device? But okay, that's why Geordi is modifying it. Oh, and Liam Shaw fanboying Geordi when he's been hostile towards every other TNG Crew member at first because he's an engineer and therefore thinks Geordi is the coolest was a neat touch.
Vadic having stolen Picard's original body.... Okay, coupled with all the repeated mention his current one is synthetic and that Jack has inherited the Iromadric Syndrome and we want to do right by our children and what not, plus the fact that whatever is going on in Jack's mind is clearly not jiust Iromadric Syndrome but something planted by the Changelings, I think we're steering towards a situation where Picard will sacrifice himself for Jack (and presumably the Federation) by providing him with the synthetic and healthy body and returning to his own original one to die for good this time. Just how Vadic/The Changelings want to use the original body to revenge themselves on the Federation I have no idea, but I bet that's the endgame.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-24 07:06 pm (UTC)This is why I bounced off the whole show so hard. I like stuff like the Dominion war that shows flaws in Starfleet and that it has to be careful not to slide into complete militarism, but Picard feels like it's trying to sell me on "What if Starfleet sucked, actually?" which isn't what I want in a Star Trek show.
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Date: 2023-03-25 09:48 am (UTC)But no matter the intention, as a viewer you have to deal with the result...
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Date: 2023-03-24 08:27 pm (UTC)I like this idea and I would be very satisfied if the series ended this way. It would echo Soong giving up his synth prototype for Picard in S1 and help tie that together.
My other half speculated that the Changelings might use Picard's DNA to replicate Picard at the Frontier Day celebration. (I suspect that's how Changelings are able to impersonate others.) But since Picard's Irumodic syndrome is genetic, they'd also replicate the illness.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-25 09:52 am (UTC)That would be another good reason to bring back the illness on the part of the writers. Though I then still hope for a better reason as to why Picard's body - I mean, he's a respected Admiral, sure, but he's not in charge of any key operations, he's only recently been reinstated into Starfleet and doesn't have any special knowledge about inner current operations. I've seen the cloning speculation, but I doubt anyone wants to repeat ST: Nemesis.
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Date: 2023-11-27 11:56 am (UTC)How many references to old shows and episodes can we squeeze in - when we're in the middle of a crisis and have no time to spare.
Have you noticed how major emotional moments are always when there is no time left on the clock, and they take several minutes that characters don't have?
Brent Spiner is great, but they've used him too often in too many roles in Picard, and yet another one is too many.
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Date: 2023-11-27 11:59 am (UTC)This show is going downhill fast. I wish I'd stuck with my original decision to go with your review and skip it, but my daughter said she liked it....
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Date: 2023-11-27 04:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-27 05:58 pm (UTC)Seeing good actors wasted in a crap plot is really annoying.
The annoying thing with the second season (which did have some good stuff) is that Q is totally forgiven, but he came within a hair's breadth of destroying everything.
The only reason Rene's life was ever in danger was because of Q.
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Date: 2023-03-25 02:43 am (UTC)Yes!! One of the reasons I love that show.
I'm reminded of how out of step I am with most fandom on seeing all the squeeing about all the different types of ships....and I was just basically like, "Well, those sure are a bunch of different ships there, yep." But Seven talking about Voyager as her family! That was awesome.
If Raffi and Seven are still broken up at the end of the season, and/or Picard dies, that is going to be pretty hard to take.
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Date: 2023-03-26 01:40 pm (UTC)Same here. I mean, I like seeing the ships, sure, but it was her talking of the crewe that made the difference.
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Date: 2023-03-25 11:15 am (UTC)I'm with you. I'm just not invested in Jack and Picard and I'm also not buying that what we're seeing is Irumodic Syndrome anyway, so it falls flat.
I did enjoy Seven's scenes at the museum (eta: Gives renewed hopes that we'll see some VGR cameos and she reconnects with them at the end) but otherwise most of the attempt tugs on the heartstrings felt a little empty to me. I like Syndey but the scenes with Geordi are just eh, standard stuff.
Not enjoying Deanna as damsel in distress hope fully she gets to appear in person and do something in the next four episodes. And also hope they confirm what's happened to Kestra as well.
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Date: 2023-03-26 01:39 pm (UTC)It was awfully generic - reminded me a bit of Peter David's novel about Sulu and his daughter, but that one felt more personal while using the same trope.
Not enjoying Deanna as damsel in distress hope fully she gets to appear in person and do something in the next four episodes.
Same here, though I do think chances are good for that. I also suspect we'll see two Deannas, and Marina Sirtis will get to play her Changeling doppelganger as well - with all the nostalgia trading in this season, surely someone has rewatched her Romulan undercover episode and thus realised she's good at this kind fo thing...