Picard, ep. 5:
W
T
F
?
Yeah, didn’t see that coming.
Spoiler
…but I got a weird feeling when she was standing so far away while Picard was talking to Maddox. When Picard left and she stood next to Maddox, hands behind her back, I thought she was going to pull a phaser on him.
Also, I like this version of Seven.
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Picard, ep. 9:
I feel like they just crammed 3 episodes into that last 1
This is why I was a little bummed to hear that Picard would only be 10 episodes. Discovery could have benefited from stretching out some stories too (like Airiam).
Also, I’m kind of disappointed that they keep acting like they are on regular TV. They keep breaking up the episodes into minutes-long acts and leaving space for commercial breaks. I was hoping that they would follow the lead of other shows developed exclusively for streaming platforms and just tell a continuous story. The Expanse did this when they left regular TV for Amazon.
Picard, Episode 10:
Summary
I’m so torn on this. They finally gave Data a proper send-off - that’s great! But they did it by pulling the same cheap stunt on Picard’s “death” that they did with Data’s. Not great!
Picard’s speeches - great! Seven mourning that she’d killed someone - why, exactly? Not great!
Raffi and Elnor mourning - great! Soji’s actions having no discernible motivations - not great!”
All in all, a very mixed bag that I liked more than not, but like the rest of the season, could have been more. They tried to do too much.
My guess is for potential as a network TV in some foreign markets. However, I am aware that Star Trek: Discovery streams on Netflix in Portugal and Canada (I think in Latin America too), so no need for commercial breaks there. Also if they make it available for regular TV in the future, it is formatted. CBS did that with The Good Fight (which I’m sure was highly edited) for their broadcast network.
My final analysis is that Pickard was a good show that was great to watch.
After re-watching Rick and Morty on Hulu, started watching Devs and it’s the usual Alex Garland stuff, but Nick Offerman is really good in a serious role.
I have nothing but praise for Nick Offerman. I’ll have to check it out.
Tales From the Loop, on Amazon, looks interesting.
Future Man, on Hulu, just released their final season (3rd). Fun show.
Agreed. It had its ups and downs like every other Star Trek series/season, but it’s another good entry for the franchise and the Discovery-era shows.
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Sign up for a CBS All-Access account, enter the promo code GIFT for a free 30-day trial. After your account is created, go to https://www.cbs.com/all-access/account/ and, under “Subscription & Billing” info, enter another coupon code, ENJOY , to get 30 more days for free. After the trial, fees start at $5.99 a month.
hbonow.com has a bunch of shows and movies for free, no signup, no nothing. I’m watching Succession right now.
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“This rapist face gets eights. Consensually, I might add.”
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I wonder if the “Jonad Files” were actually the writers’ stash of left-over insults and they just wanted to find a way to get them into the show.
“12 years a slave to jerking off”
“Benedict Cuminhishand”
This series finished this week and it was pretty good overall. I can’t think of a science fiction show that took this approach to things.
Binged “Picard” last night and this morning. Agree with the comments above. Ep 10 was for sure doing a lot of heavy lifting; I was ok with giving Data a send-off, but I’m not sure what purpose it served the plot, the show or the franchise as a whole. It did seem a little like piling on having just put us through Picard’s death. This was exacerbated when they “Phil Coulsoned” Picard, completely ignoring Data’s speech about being mortal and so the only character to die was the only one who isn’t mortal! If they already had Data’s consciousness, just put him a new body!
I was hoping they were going to do more with the Artifact. Crashing it, rather than having it engage the Romulans and going out in a blaze of glory, was a shame. Having it fall in battle would’ve been better (IMHO) and made much more sense as a way to buy time than suddenly Deus ex Machining a multi-ship projection capability out of the magic purple knuckleduster. Have Picard plug in as Locutus and take the cube into action, which would allow him to close the circle on the fact that last time he took a cube into a fight it was against the Federation. The stress could’ve blown up his brain and there’s the sacrifice - because Picard would never have taken Jurati into battle with him knowing he expected to die.
It’s almost as if they wanted to have the Borg in the show for fan service, but then wanted them out as quickly as possible. Open the sides and jettisoning them all into space, quick. Considering they’re all part organic, part synthetic - and the whole series was about the differences and similarities between the two - they could’ve done so much more with this.
Also, they f-bombed quite a bit, which was interesting given that this is Star Trek and Disney. Didn’t bother me, except until I watched one of the behind the scenes shows hosted by Will Wheaton, and no one said “Shut the fuck up, Wesley!” Of course, if they fully embrace their new found family unfriendly content, I want to see some 7 of 9 lesbo action next season.
I am excited to see where they go with this crew. The multiple holograms of Rios are hilarious, and the new characters are all pretty interesting (except Trekolas). Are the uber-synths going to be the new big bad? I hope that, at least one time, Dr Jurati rudely interrupts everyone by banging two sticks together and screaming “WE ARE SEX B’ BOMB!”
Overall, they got a lot more right than they did wrong (as usual). Really interested in the new season of Discovery, to see where they ended up. Also, I understood there was to be a series based around a Pike-helmed Enterprise.
Just to expand on my Borg cube finale amendments…
They had two days before the Romulan fleet showed up, so that’s time enough for:
- the self-repairing cube to fix itself for battle (or just don’t have it crash so hard);
- Seven to go through the arc of wanting to fight but not wanting to kill anything (her new moral code, it seems, after booting the bitch into the abyss) and not trusting herself to let go of the cube (because she almost didn’t last time); and
- Picard to go through the same fear arc, but realizing that he has to do it because Seven won’t, he’s dying anyway and it has to be done
They put Borg implants into Picard so that he can plug in to the cube. Obviously this would be an emotional wrench for Picard, culminating in the dramatic reveal of him seeing himself as Locutus again. Everything else happens pretty much the same, except he takes off alone in the cube and jumps into the fight with the Romulans.
Picard targets the lead warbird, and Oh orders all the others to engage the cube in order to protect her (keeping them from destroying the colony). The cube is a beast, but it’s no match for so many warbirds and it eventually succumbs to battle damage while Picard’s brain cloud finally busts from the strain. In those last moments, he disconnects and there is a visual hint to him regaining his full humanity before the cube crashes to the ground in an obviously unsurvivable cataclysm.
The Federation fleet shows up in time to see the cube fall. The stand off plays out as written, only now Riker’s trigger finger is infinitely more itchy knowing that the Romulans killed his Captain, so there is real tension on both sides. This adds weight to the Federation’s position with the synths because they see Riker do the right thing, mirroring Soji’s decision to kill the beacon, despite his clear and devastating personal loss.
The aftermath plays out. Data and Picard have their conversation, confirming Picard is dead, but then actually he’s not. Sneakily, after they’d put the Borg implants into Picard, they used his connection to the hive - through Seven - to download his consciousness into the new avatar. Soong Jr., who’d been somewhat of a dick, gets his redemption, as does Jurati without her having to ride along on Picard’s suicide mission for no logical reason (Picard would never have taken her if he meant never to come back).
Why I like this:
- Closes the loop on Picard’s Borg nightmare
- Uses the cube properly, because it’s Checkov’s gun if the gun was a nuke, but they just set it aside which is, by definition, bad writing
- Doesn’t require Jurati suddenly to become a combination of Jason Bourne, Jordi and Sulu at the end
- Gives Seven the opportunity to show her new ideals and the internal conflicts that creates
- Ramps up the emotion of Riker’s participation
- Keeps the Soong/Jurati redemption under wraps much longer
- There’s a better reason for them having Picard’s consciousness on tape without him knowing
- There’s opportunity for there to have been some Borg corruption in Picard’s consciousness, which could be a sub-plot down the road
- I thought of it
Thoughts/comments/critiques welcome. Clearly I have nothing better to do.
They announced a Pike/Spock/Number One series today. Hooooooooooly shit I’m excited.