The surprise wasn't Picard's past, which I wish they'd done all at once in the previous episode instead of parcing it out into several. As it turns out, Picard has spent his entire life submerging his guilt that he let his mother out of the room his father locked her in to keep her from self-harm, and she hung herself. Yvette compared herself to a dying star whose light took years to reach Picard's eye. A lovely metaphor, and quite poignant.
The surprise also wasn't the long gun battle between the Picard crew and the Borged mercenaries plus Adam Soong, although it was enjoyable. After so many episodes with the crew separated into pairs, it was great to see our guys all together kicking butt. Even Elnor got in on the fun as the Emergency Combat Hologram, making mincemeat of the mercs. Although sadly, I'm starting to get the feeling that we're not getting the real Elnor back. At least Raffi and Elnor had a moment to say a goodbye of sorts.
Okay. For me, the big surprise was the next evolution of the Borg. They've been the bad guys for so long, all the while managing to be horrifyingly sympathetic since the entire collective is made up of maimed and abused victims. It makes absolute sense that brilliant Agnes Jurati would find an entirely new direction for the Borg: cooperation.
I genuinely loved that the impetus for all this was saving Seven. Jurati said, quite accurately, that Seven is the best that the Borg can be. "Let's build a universe of Sevens. Let's start with this one." It is very Star Trek for the Borg to finally become reachable and human. It fits with the message of infinite diversity in infinite combinations. And it resolves Jurati's obsession with cyborgs and constant struggle with loneliness. Perfect.
It was a nice resolution for Seven, too. This time, her Borg implants saved her life. She can accept that part of herself now.
The Rios/Ramirez romance feels like there is no way it can end well. She can't go into the future with him; she has a son and an important job. And how can he stay in the 21st with her and give up being a starship captain? Okay, La Sirena is gone with the Borg, but we still haven't resolved what happened on the Stargazer. Although it seems obvious now that the Borg with the mask must be Jurati.
What else is left for the finale? I'm still confused about what exactly Renée Picard is supposed to do or not do and how it will affect Adam Soong. Will Kore stop her evil dad from messing things up? And we still have to resolve the entire Q plot. That's not small.
Bits:
— There were a couple of very cool Borg bits: Jurati literally sucking up the Borg Queen's outfit, and the Borg-like laser sights that the mercs were using.
— I also thought Seven materializing mercs inside the walls of the chateau was hard core.
— I'm still bummed that Picard has faced down his major childhood trauma with Tallinn, not Laris.
— Patrick Stewart looked exhausted in this episode. Maybe that was acting, though, because Picard would have been worn out, too.
— Seven said that she tried to join Starfleet and Janeway even went to bat for her, but they wouldn't take her. Did we know that? Because she would have indeed made a great captain. How about we make that happen in season three?
— While I was writing this review, Annie Wersching, who played the Borg Queen, died of cancer way too young. Like Chadwick Boseman, she chose to spend her final days working. I enjoyed her work in Star Trek: Picard, as well as in Bosch and 24. She will be missed.
Quotes:
Jurati: "You know that signal you used to puppet around your Borg? Well, I used it to slap a fractal lock on this ship's systems. Welcome to the world's biggest paperweight."
Seven: "A dozen Borg between us and the ship. Fifty yard sprint across open terrain. And all we have is a knife and a corkscrew."
Raffi: "And an ice pick."
Adam Soong: "I know a future worth fighting for."
Picard: "So do I."
Raffi: "You really would make a great captain. When we get out of this..."
Seven: "We're not getting out of this."
Raffi: "No, probably not."
Yvette: "You won. And I'm lost."
Jurati: "Think about it. A Borg collective that embraces the uniqueness of its members."
Borg Queen: "You ask us to embrace weakness."
Jurati: "I'm positing that what you've written off as weakness is actually strength."
Jurati: "Let's build a universe of Sevens. Let's start with this one."
Borg Queen:" What is this?"
Jurati: "The history of the Borg. Or the only history that matters, the ending. How it always ends for you. A lone Borg-slayer, a united Federation, and they come for you. For your top-shelf, over-reaching, Icarus-worthy arrogance."
Picard: "I used to imagine seeing her older, offering me a cup of tea and asking for a chat."
That was a beautiful retcon of a scene in Next Gen's first season episode, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," where Picard sees exactly that.
Rios: "This isn't my timeline. The future's yours. It's his. I'm just trying to protect it."
Teresa: "What if your future is here, and it was always supposed to be?"
I liked this one, and am looking forward to the finale. Three out of four knives, corkscrews and ice picks,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
Samantha M. Quinn reviewed the finale when it aired, so my reviews are now caught up. We're definitely going to review season three.
ReplyDeleteDreadPirate, your comments are always welcome. I'm sorry I had to remove this one because it contained spoilers for the finale and season three. A lot of our readers have told us that they read along when trying a show, so we try pretty hard to keep comments spoiler free for future episodes.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Rios will pull an Outlander, getting stuck in the past, fighting to get back to his present, and then ultimately choosing to stay because he fell in love?
ReplyDelete