Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Lays A Trap In ‘Dominion’

“Dominion”

Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 7 – Debuted Thursday, March 30, 2023
Written by Jane Maggs
Directed by Deborah Kampmeier

Buoyed by strong performances, Picard slows things down a bit to explore some moral issues in what feels like a good first half of a two-part episode.

Okay then, tell me how much fun you had hanging out with Neelix.

WARNING: Spoilers below!

RECAP

“He is asking me for my help.”

The Titan hides in a space scrapyard as Seven checks in with an old friend: Captain Tuvok! Although he seems trustworthy at first, telling her Starfleet doesn’t have Riker, Seven susses out this isn’t the OG Vulcan from her Voyager days, so he switches to villain monologuing about how “death will come as a relief” to the real Tuvok and all the other solids the Changelings are keeping captive. With just 36 hours until Frontier Day, the gang realizes they are on their own. They’re also struggling to sort out exactly why the bad guys want Picard’s original dead body and Jack, worrying it has something to do with making a fake Admiral Picard as part of their Frontier Day attack. As Beverly weighs the morality of using targeted biotech that sounds a bit Section 31-y, Jean-Luc seeks answers from the Data(ish) android. The problem is, Lore is in the mix too, and he is more interested in dropping sick burns than delivering useful info. Seeing what’s left of Data trapped inside this android turmoil is too much for Picard and Geordi, so they shut it all down.

Vadic has problems too. She receives a very angry call from her boss, who makes it clear if she doesn’t squeeze the location of Jack and the Titan out of Riker then her next performance review will be her last. The threats appear to work as the Titan gets a message from Will, but it is a “compromised code” meaning he gave it up under duress. As the grown-ups deal with weighty issues, Jack and Sidney busy themselves with some flustered flirting, but when he starts hearing voices, including hers, it gets sort of creepy. Young Crusher turns to his dad, trying to explain how he has always felt different and he is hearing voices again. He is also wracked with guilt that all the terrible events happening are become of him and wants to trade himself for Riker. But Jean-Luc is starting to get the hang of this fatherhood thing, so he assures his son he isn’t giving up on him—and he may have a cunning plan to get them out of their current predicament.

This Tuvok guy seems cool…

“You created the perfect monster.”

The Shrike finds the Titan powered down, floating alongside an equally dead Vulcan warship. Ignoring warnings of an obvious trap, Vadic leads a boarding party and is soon greeted by her quarry. She tells Jack she is there to take him to a better place, but he legs it anyway. She dispatches her goons to follow. Jack meets up with Sidney and the pair starts firing at the Changelings and coordinating with the folks on the bridge to trap the bird-mask guys with forcefields around the ship, eventually nabbing Vadic herself in sickbay. The kids also end up trapped between a couple of the force-field-surrounded goons. When Geordi and Alandra try to beam them out, the transporters fail. Turns out the android with the evil personality inside who’s still  plugged into the ship decided to turn itself on and start f—king with them. Rookie mistake, La Forges.

As for Vadic, she seems fine just hanging out and whistling in her little forcefield. This calmness unnerves Beverly, who is looking at her oath to do no harm as more of a suggestion at this point. Jean-Luc shows up for what Vadic guesses is some good cop/bad cop tag teaming, declaring herself “bored already.” When pushed for details on why they are pursuing Jack, Vadic reveals she isn’t the one who really wants him, curiously telling Beverly that Jack was never hers either. The baddie then lays out her whole backstory as a prisoner inside of Daystrom, where Changelings were tortured with tests to turn them into weapons that could mimic any being, fake blood and all. And it worked, but she turned on her tormenter, killing her and taking her face, to remind herself of the “eternal pain.” The Changeling dismisses their claims of not knowing about this “Project Proteus” as well as their defense that the Federation did create the cure that eventually saved The Great Link, (rightfully) pointing out the Federation voted against giving them the cure and it had to come from one of their own (Odo). So yeah, maybe she has her reasons, but still totally evil.

No boys, we are on the clock, there is no time to go to the bar.

“He loves the chaos.”

With force fields buckling and the kids trapped, Geordi tries to get through to Data. His raw emotion is heartbreaking, but Lore doesn’t have a heart. In sickbay, Beverly and Jean-Luc are convinced the Changeling won’t give them any info and is too dangerous to let loose. Determined to protect their child, they set their coveted Federation ideals aside as they gird themselves to kill their prisoner, but they don’t get their chance, thanks to Lore. He sympathizes with the Changelings. Like them, he just wants to survive, so he decides to “level the playing field,” dropping the force fields around the ship to set Vadic and her goons loose. And just to be extra cruel, Lore puts up a forcefield between Jack and Sidney as both face Changeling soldiers. Gulp.

Jack quickly dispatches his foe, but Sidney is a pilot, not a fighter dammit, so the hulking shapeshifter starts tossing her around like a toy. Watching on the monitor, a grief-stricken Geordi implores Lore, Data, or anyone who will listen inside that android shell to stop this. Stuck on the wrong side of the force field, Jack tries to use his ability to connect to Sidney to help her fight, and she lets him in, glowing red eyes and all. Together they take down the goon with some impressive, mind-sharing synchronized choreography. Geordi’s imploring finally gets through as Data’s personality emerges, dropping the force field just in time for Jack and Sidney to escape from Vadic as she whistles her way down the hall. Back in sickbay, Bev has been busy, using Project Proteus data to work out a way to track the shifters, who are headed bridge-ward. Unfortunately, they easily get past Shaw’s security team, then toss the bleeding captain out of the lift as they swarm the bridge. Vadic sashays to the chair, declaring herself the new captain of the USS Titan, but she is reasonable: All she wants is “to bring Jack Crusher where he most belongs.” Wherever that is.

Are the voices in my head disturbing you?

ANALYSIS

It’s a trap!

After all the action and nostalgia last week, Picard changes things up again for a solid episode highlighted by character exploration, moral quandaries, and excellent performances. Narrowing the scope to focus on just the characters remaining on the Titan allowed each to get more attention; however, not picking up on last week’s cliffhanger with Marina Sirtis finally (but briefly) appearing together with Jonathan Frakes was frustrating. The season’s plot took some welcome steps forward, although the core issue of Jack’s true nature continues to be elusive. This pause before the storm was an opportunity to delve more into the Dominion War, including the actions of the Federation during this conflict that hangs over this season. While this season is all about giving the Next Generation crew their “proper sendoff,” this episode is another fine example of how this show is also picking up on the best of Deep Space Nine and how that show opened the door to testing the limits of Star Trek’s ideals.

Finally bringing the season’s primary antagonist onto the USS Titan offered an opportunity to add some depth as Amanda Plummer stepped up for the daunting task of creating empathy for Vadic. As a counterpoint, this exploration of the dark side of Federation history allowed an exploration of the ethical gray areas for both Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard;  Gates McFadden particularly rose to the occasion as Dr. Crusher struggled with her moral compass. LeVar Burton and Brent Spiner were also given the chance to shine with Burton giving his most emotional Star Trek performance yet and Spiner not skipping a beat when challenged to switch between the diametric characters of Data and Lore with apparent ease. This brought back all the weight of their Next Generation friendship and built on it, which is what Picard does best this season.

Rock, paper, scissors for which one of us gives up our ideals first?

“Dominion” also gave Jeri Ryan something to do, kicking things off with the surprise and delight of a little Voyager reunion as Seven put Tuvok to the test. It was wonderful to see Tim Russ again, who didn’t skip a beat playing the stoic Vulcan and then deftly flipped to smirking villainous Changeling. We got a little taste of Seven as leader for the hoped-for Star Trek: Legacy show, however the season seems to have pushed exploring her character’s struggle to integrate into Starfleet and her apparent breakup with Raffi off to the side. The characters that got the most development this week were Jack and Sidney as their romance ran up against his emerging psychic abilities, which still raise more questions. The playful chemistry between Ed Speleers and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut sells this little rom-com in the middle of all the chaos.

The season continues to show each of our characters acting smartly, mostly avoiding tropes to keep the story moving. Picard’s trap may have been obvious, but they knew Vadic wouldn’t be able to resist it, and the tag team forcefields gambit was something new and clever. Although it wasn’t clear what the next step of the plan was as they debated simply killing Vadic instead of using her as leverage to find out more about the attack or get Riker back. Lore finding common cause with the Changelings appears to just be their good luck and not an indication they have been working together all along, although why Vadic was so unnervingly calm is curious. It’s frustrating when characters forget to vaporize the Changelings completely (something Beverly showed us in the first scene of the season), like when Captain Shaw conveniently allows them to get the jump on him, leading to their takeover of the bridge.

Yes, I am reading your mind, and thank you, I do work out.

Tick, tick, tick

Progression on the season plot took a few big steps, but dangling the truth of what really is going on with Jack is starting to overstay its welcome. Where things have come into focus is Vadic’s motivation, as it turns out her master (“The Face”) isn’t a Changeling and she is terrified of him. He is the one who wants Jack, not her. None of what has transpired this season is personal, so this isn’t just another revenge plot like in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; Vadic seeks retribution for the mistreatment of her family at the hands of the Federation. As for Jack, it’s now clear he is not completely human, and Vadic even hinted he may not even be entirely Beverly’s son, saying “he was never really for you either” and she is there to take Jack “where he most belongs.” Jack is now coming to understand his feelings about being different are more than young angst and he is starting to harness what appears to be some kind of power within him.

As for what The Face has planned for Frontier Day, we still don’t know, but the team has accepeted they’re completely on their own to stop it. There was some speculation the plan will involve creating a fake Picard, although it’s unclear how duplicating a retired admiral is going to help when it’s pretty clear Starfleet is already severely compromised. Jack’s part was also unclear: They have Picard’s body and DNA, so why do they need Jack to make a double?  All of this just felt like the episode was just filling time telling us mostly what we already knew, including another Admiral Janeway namedrop. The only hint came from Data, who mentioned Picard’s diagnosis of Irumodic Syndrome (which he passed on to Jack) was “in question.” It was also confirmed the Changelings are keeping some of those they have replicated prisoner, so is freeing Tuvok and the others going to be part of the Titan’s mission this season? One thing that hopefully will come in handy is Beverly’s new Changeling detector.

There is that disapproving inspection face.

Final thoughts

Even within the constraints of a mid-season bottle show, smart editing and an active score highlighted the personal stakes to maintain the tension at a high level, making “Dominion” an entertaining hour of Star Trek. Thanks to outstanding character performances, the episode is a solid first of a two-part episode, but perhaps one that doesn’t fully stand on its own. Frustrating cliffhanger aside, season 3 of Picard continues to be can’t-miss TV and the best of the new era of Star Trek.

No T’Veen, I don’t see the logic in another cliffhanger.

BITS

  • Vadic was whistling the nursery rhyme “Three Blind Mice.”
  • The Chin’toka Scrapyard is what was left over from the two Battles of Chin’toka from Deep Space Nine.
  • One of Seven’s tests for Tuvok was remembering playing the Vulcan game of Kal-toh. Seven also recalled the time Tuvok helped stabilize her neural pattern with a mind meld in the episode “Infinite Regress.”
  • The fake Tuvok was also unaware of the anti-Kolinahr demonstrations on Aklion VII, although why anyone would protest the Vulcan ritual is unclear.
  • Tuvok is the only character we know who has served in Starfleet in three different centuries—and yet he’s still just a captain.
  • This is the first episode of the season that doesn’t use the 10 Forward set
  • When Data was first powered up, he addressed Admiral Picard as “Captain” and asked about the Scimitar because he is based on a download the original Data put into his brother B-4 during the events of Star Trek Nemesis 22 years prior.
  • Even though it was previously mentioned there was a bit of Lal in the new Data, Geordi only mentioned Lore, Data, Altan Soong, and B-4.
  • Project Proteus is named for the Greek sea god Proteus, who could take many liquid shapes.

We look old? Have you looked in a mirror Lore?

More to come

We will discuss the episode in detail on Friday’s episode of All Access Star Trek. every Friday, the TrekMovie.com All Access Star Trek podcast covers the latest news in the Star Trek Universe. The podcast is available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPocket CastsStitcher and is part of the TrekMovie Podcast Network.

Picard streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the Americas, Europe, the Caribbean and South Korea. It also streams internationally on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.


Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.

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Just amazing. This is finally the series it should have been from the start. Give Terry Matalas the keys for the next phase. He has earned them.

Agree!

This is better than the rest of Secret Hideout, that’s for darn sure. But the only way I would be willing to hand Matalas the keys would be if he replaces Kurtzman and his SH company. Otherwise I’m in a “wait and see” mode. The rest of nu-Trek has forced that attitude on me.

He can’t “replace” Secret Hideout company. That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.

They actively are resisting understanding.

We can keep saying that

– Kurtzman / SH hired Matalas to be a showrunner when Goldsman moved to focus on SNW

– Matalas had to get Kurtzman’s approval for the concept, hiring, casting and much of the detail of the season

– Kurtzman’s contract still has years to run

– Kurtzman’s still the one proposing strategy for the franchise to Paramount.

They just want to believe what they want.

The announcements for new stuff can’t come soon enough, including the lead creators for the various projects. The communication strategy of announcing the show that’s concluding, then renewals, and last new green light decisions each a few weeks apart is generally a sound one. But with this divided fandom, it just sets things off again.

I mean, look, anything could happen. They could terminate their deal with Secret Hideout. Contracts can be broken, as long as they pay up. But it’s not how this sort of thing works in Hollywood, especially when Kurtzman and his company have CLEARLY been having a TON of success with Trek.

As far as announcements, they just made one: Starfleet Academy, and it sounds like it’s set in the 32nd century.

Let us not forget that Kurtzman had to come in and make something out of the crap that Fuller left behind. And we’ll always remember that the bizarro series Discovery that arose from that, gave rise to Strange New Worlds directly, and set up Paramount taking a chance on Picard, Prodigy, and Lower Decks.
.
Kurtzman drew enough return on investment from Discovery such that it can finally be put out of our misery. He’s not going anywhere.

Very good points. Picard was also what it was because that’s what it took to get Stewart to do it: the actor himself basically co-wrote the first season and set the tone with what he wanted it to be. It wasn’t until S3 that they were able to convince him to make the show what i’m sure they always wanted it to be: a TNG reunion.

Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Picard S3 are more what Kurtzman is capable of, and those are all good to excellent.

Kurtzman HIRED Fuller. Believe me, I remember the sequence of events, because I was practically sobbing over K’s involvement, and figured Fuller was going to be a step back in the right direction (I’d probably have thought the same of anyone save Goldsman, to be honest.) So in terms of making something from the crap Fuller left behind, that fell to the s1 showrunners, more folks that K hired and later fired (though not soon enough by far, these are the folks who presumably just stuck Nick Meyer in a corner to count the weeks till he could go back home again.

Yes, K, it was a mess and partly Kurtz’ fault, but he wasn’t the one who fired Fuller – the studio came in halfway through with all kinds of demands and he quit, and Kurtzman had to clean it up. I’m still mad that we never got to see Fuller’s unobstructed vision. Better or worse, I wanted to see what he was going to do, not a haphazardly slapped together fix due to studio mandates.

Yeah, I mean Kurtzman hired Matalas, HA Myers, McMahan and the Hagemen brothers, so it’s all working? And the first two seasons of Picard you really can hang on Stewart’s influence, not AK. And if you don’t like DSC, well that originated with Fuller.

So what is the issue?

Lol.

That can’t happen unless they are willing to eat a ton of cash.

Unfortunately you may be correct. The deal likely has a buy out on Paramount’s end. But of course, we don’t know for sure. All we can do is hope.

“All we can do is hope” as if everyone is hoping that. lol. I’m not. All deals have buy-outs and early termination clauses, but c’mon, this is a sad low for you, my man.

So Kurtzman realizes Fuller has created a dog’s breakfast called Discovery and gets rid of him, he starts making major changes which eventually spawns SNW. He convinces Patrick Stewart to comeback by promising a non-TNG reunion show, which is exactly what we have now and today we have 4 shows that are what I would call good, if not great Star Trek, with a glacially slowly improving Discovery, which is ending next year.
I fail to see any problem with Kurtzman, in fact IMHO he should be commended on what we have today in the Star Trek universe. Remember, without promising a non-TNG reunion show, there would be no S3 of Picard.

It’s the nature of every fandom. They need someone to blame for their dissatisfaction. Even if Kurtzman resigned tomorrow his successor would be facing the same crap.

God no

“Give Terry Matalas the keys for the next phase.”

Yeah, I wouldn’t mind seeing a remake of the episode in which Ro and Geordi were “cloaked.”

Agree 100%! Let’s have Star Trek Legacy instead of Starfleet Academy.

It’s very likely we’ll get both, at this point. Academy is replacing Discovery, and Legacy will replace Picard.

Nope 👎

BTW, I think the face may be the Picard body itself or something to do with it.

I think I was spoiled on who it is. They’ve had some issues with the closed captioning revealng the speaking party, and in this case it’s the crazy head communication….. Someone posted a picture of a screenshot of said caption on twitter last week, griping to Terry that it was happening again. Seriously. But now that I think I know, I can’t unsee the resemblance in the face. I never would’ve seen it otherwise…

Do you have a link to that tweet?

No. It wasn’t someone I follow, and I presume it was taken down. As soon as I saw it I tried to forget it. No luck. I’m happy to come back here and tell you if they were right or not later.

Based on what you saw, is the voice heard completely a misdirect?

I’d say more of a cover. I don’t know how much they’re trying to misdirect, as much as just not be recognizable.

I never saw or heard that. I was just using “writer plot twist logic”. I wish I hadn’t read that from you now! ;) I also think it will have something to do with the Borg and Locutus as well. Maybe Picard’s brain defect was not natural, but rather a genetic change that was made by the Borg. Jack’s ability to “link” with people like he did with Sydney makes me think that it might be some sort of Borg evolution thing. Hmmm. We shall see. But I think Locutus 2.0 attacking the fleet on Frontier Day with zombie Picard is just too poetic a wrap up for the character to finally have to face his demons. I think its been foreshadowed with teh Shaw thing in 10 Forward as well.

I’m not telling! I wish I hadn’t seen that. I stay off of twitter and here until after I see the episode, but this was completely unexpected, and only showed up because I follow Matalas. I presume he had them take it down.

If Picard’s Irumodic Syndrome was misdiagnosed, and if it’s a condition relevant to Jack’s importance to Vadic and the Floating Head, that raises some interesting questions.

The easy answer is “the Borg” are involved, but I think it’s something else, and maybe the trip down memory lane at Daystrom in 3.06 might offer some clues. Maybe Section 31 studied the Kataan probe’s nucleonic beam (which penetrated the Enterprise’s shields) and realized it caused some change in Picard’s brain too. Who knows?! This is a fun mystery, and in Matalas I trust.

From the start, I thought all this was probably tied to some genetic mutation caused to Picard’s cells while he was Locutus and therefore, passed on to Jack yeArs later. I began to think there is no way that’s the case, but now I’m kind of back around to that. We’ll see.

Hmmm… the Kataan link is interesting. And, next to Locutus, his “life” on Kataan was something they might want to circle back to as they close out the character.

A decent enough episode, but it feels like it’s starting to drag, the split villains was a bit too much. Some of it felt a tad contrived, and overall it’s just cementing that, as much as I still love this season, Strange New Worlds is far and away the best Trek going right.

SNW is a very different show. I think it is OK, but overrated.

Different and better than Picard Season 3. It had a stellar first season. Not perfect mind you, but A+ from start to finish.

I’m with you on this. It has some pretty deep flaws, Pike is a little too chummy with this staff. Not that I mind building bonds with your staff, but it feels too informal at key times. The canon issues are pretty glaring as well. I just want them to figure out how to use nostalgia properly, or don’t do it. It needs to push forward and tread new ground a lot more than it does.

My thoughts as well. Kind of “meh” for me. On the plus side, Spiner and Burton really work well together. Jack, on the other hand isn’t as interesting to me as the producers want him to be.

“Jack, on the other hand isn’t as interesting to me as the producers want him to be.”

I understand this. Jack’s been growing a bit on me over the past two episodes.

However, using him as a plot device, the macguffin for the entire season is getting in the way of his becoming a character we can connect with.

‘What’s important about Jack?’ is the central question being put constantly while at same time asking the audience to care about him, to connect emotionally based on his importance as the child of legacy characters and as a vulnerable young man.

I can understand why they felt they needed a strong actor for Jack to carry this. I don’t think it’s really working for enough of the audience to propel Jack into being a principal character in a new show, or even second or third on the call sheet.

I can’t get past his accent. And I’m a Brit

Wow, and you were so positive about this season back when it premiered?

I loved the first 5 episodes. Episode 6 was always the weakest of them. This one is starting to lose me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a solid episode, but because of how strong the season started, this one didn’t grab me. Felt like the whole episode could’ve been act 1 in a single-hour story.

Believe me, i’m not down on the season. It’s genuinely GREAT. But it still doesn’t beat SNW (and I felt that way before this one too).

I posted that part of the comment because people calling this the best Trek of the modern era are just ridiculous to me. It’s really good. REALLY good. But not THAT good.

Bilbo here thinks SNW is overrated. I think this season of Picard is overrated. Again, not that it’s bad, it’s just not the best thing ever.

Got it!

I agree that Eps 1 through 4 was like a great 3+ hour movie and that the series has been sort of average since then.

Still better than average. I still like it far more than Disco, LDS, and even Prodigy (which as good as it is, is still a kids show with silly characters that I don’t give two ****s about).

But the over-the-top fangasms people are having, with even this review declaring how it’s definitively the best new Trek since… since what, Enterprise? C’mon.

First of all, even ’90s Trek wasnt the greatest thing on TV, let’s be honest with ourselves. Even Trek at its best was just great sci-fi.

It’s the best Star Trek since DS9 for me. Enterprise was pretty average, TNG and DS9 were superb, the pinnacle of Star Trek for me. SNW is ok but still another prequel series and we have had 3 now since Voyager finished. Hopefully we we get to see more in Picard’s timeline.

SNW is far and away better than this season of Picard, every single episode ranks as an A-,A, or A+ for me. It even has at least one episode that’s now in my top 10 of all-time favorite Trek episodes.

There’s also not a single element of the show that doesn’t work, including the prequel premise, and frankly, people who dismiss it because it’s a prequel need to get over it.

Picard by contrast is excellent but not nearly as consistent. And while has one truly all-time classic, that episode’s place in Trek history will depend largely on how the rest of the season plays out.

Personally I find SNW being a bit too old school Trek and having it’s same flaws, it feel a little bit wooden to me. The characters are not on the same level as TNG or DS9. It is going backward again like Enterprise and Discovery. It is trying too hard be old school Star Trek while Picard feels like a step forward for the franchise. I want to see all the great universe that those 3 series has built over 100’s of episodes, not another f’ing prequel ffs, it’s poor forward thinking when TNG is the spark of Star Trek.

Also think about it, the whole stupid theory of going backward in Star Trek has brought us 2 very average and one above average series. Also 3 very average movies and I am being a bit kind there. Matalas is the breath of fresh air as it seem we are finally going forward at f’ing last. To me Star Trek has seriously stagnated until season 3 of Picard.

Frankly, my biggest knock on Picard is how unoriginal it is. Even though it “moves the story forward” it’s really just more of the same, and uncreative.

I am loving SNW, and don’t care about its prequel setting, it’s an absolutely phenomenal show: every episode is superbly written, with a strong cast giving top-notch performances, the story’s are solid, and it’s everything I want out a Trek series.

It’s also not old school to me, because I have absolutely no connection to TOS at all. I’m not even really a fan of the original series.

Star Trek for me has never stagnated, I don’t know how anyone can say that even if you hate JJ’s films or Discovery, or even SNW. They’ve been bold and envelope-pushing, they’ve done new things, they’ve shaken up the franchise.

I don’t like Discovery, but I can hardly call it stagnating… the opposite in fact. Again, you may hate it all, but it’s ANYTHING but stagnant. That’s just a downright silly thing to say.

SNW isn’t hardly original, it is nostalgia also. But it isn’t going into the unknown as it is another prequal series. 2 episodes were just awful Star Trek in my opinion, I liked the first season but no way do I think it’s phenomenal. I am still dumfounded why they killed off one of the best characters, was it for narrative or other reasons?
They built such a great world with TNG and DS9 and Picard is the only series that has actually gone forward from 3 series and 3 films.
My highlight of the week is Fridays and the next episode of Picard, not since DS9 have I felt that way. I am loving it.
We prefer different Star Trek which is cool. Stagnated is probably the wrong work, probably what I mean is stuck in Star Trek past .

I felt the direction was much better than for the last block of two.

I don’t believe I’ve seen anything directed by Deborah Kampmeir before.

She seemed to draw out a good balance in performances between the natural and more theatrical Trek styles. Beverly was very credible. Vadic was more balanced between her insanity and her capability.

Felt closer in tone to the episodes Frakes directed. Look forward to seeing her do more in the franchise.

100% agree. I’m surprised to read this episode wasn’t as well received. I loved seeing Picard and Crusher in sickbay discovering the means to track the changelings. Small moment but seeing them work together to solve the problem felt like TNG. The moments with Data and Geordi. Vadic’s character is starting to develop. And btw, the score in this episode… on point. Goosebumps.

Yes. A bunch of really good little moments. But a bunch of good moments does not a great episode make.

I don’t believe anyone who claims to say the direction on any given episode is better or worse than any other episode. These are TV directors being told to direct in a specific style. If you’ve heard Frakes talk, even he has spoken about how TV direction is just about taking orders.

This was an episode that was less than the sum of its parts, though. The performances were good, the story was fine, the elements were all there, they just didn’t combine into a cohesive whole for me. It felt like two episodes smashed into one, but each episode was just 5 minutes of actual story…

Again, it’s not a bad episode.

Wow, I really thought the direction sucked, esp w/ respect to the way Vadic caromed around like a weasel toon. There were two fairly long shots that just looked like takes that didn’t deserve to have even been printed, let alone used. And of course I hated all the pointless, motivation-free camera lens aberrations, which have gone from being stupid and annoying to a serious impairment to my viewing.

As Alpha Predator said, the DPs work is pretty baked-in.

I was speaking to the performances.

They were much better overall than in the last block. Although there were some great Ro-Picard, Jack-Picard and Geordi moments, the last two episodes seem to be a compilation of not quite adequate takes. Editing didn’t in any way cover that up.

“The only hint came from Data, who mentioned Picard’s diagnosis of Irumodic Syndrome (which he passed on to Jack) was “in question.”

hold on. I can’t believe this never occurred to me before. As a former Borg, should Picard not have perfect health? Or, at the very least, whatever illness he had prior to being a Borg should have been corrected, no?

Logic would suggest that the defect would have been corrected by the Borg in their attempt to make Locutus perfect.

There were theories for a while that the defect was in fact caused by the removal of the Borg implants or by the shock of Picard being disconnected from the Collective violently in BoBW2

Fascinating.

Irumodic Syndrome was never part of his health history anyways. It was part of an alternate reality disease used to diagnose why older Picard was having issues that ended up being visions from Q.

It is what killed him in season one, though. And Jack has it too.

Or so we thought.

Indeed.

Yes and no? The Borg routinely don’t respond to things that are not threats. It is possible that simply being assimilated meant the syndrome was irrelevant, so they paid it no mind.

The Borg seek biological and technological perfection, though. Their mouthpiece, Locutus, was deficient in both departments. Biologically he suffered from this syndrome, and technologically he had an artificial heart that, as seen in Tapestry, exploded.

They should have upgraded both.

This episode while i found it good it wasn’t a great one as i felt it was a big step down from last week’s episode which was really good and imo the the best of the season.

I see where they wanted to go with the story for this episode but it was the first episode of the season that didn’t really work for me.
I felt it was rushed, too contrived and way too melodramatic for me especially the ending with Vadic taking the ship and also Vadic imo is just not a good villain.

It was good seeing Tim Russ again even if he was playing a changeling version of Tuvok and not the real one i hope we see the real him at the end of the season.

I really liked the scene with Geordi and Lore/Data. The one thing i didn’t like about S1 is that when Picard was saying goodbye to Data that Geordi wasn’t there too. But this scene made up for it.

I feel we the audience was suppose to feel sympathy for the Changelings but with all the horrible actions that the Dominion/The Founders are responsible for (Destruction & enslavement of countless worlds, forced genetic enslavement of the Vorta and with the Jem’Hadar by making them addicted to Ketracel-white and using bio weapons like The Quickening on innocent people) It’s hard to feel any kind of sympathy for them.

I’m not saying the Federation/S31 is in the clear here. To torture changeling prisoners and use bio weapons themselves (like S31 did in DS9) is wrong and inexcusable imo. Both sides have done bad things.

You were fooled by the nostalgia last week. It was a good episode, but not great.

You’re right that the distractions of the museum and lab successfully diverted many longtime fans (including my spouse who really loved it).

I wonder how well the middle of the season is holding newer fans though.

The direction of episode 6 was the worst of the season so far, and the face-off between Ro and Picard is what saves episode 5.

Episode 7 seems to still struggle with wanting us to feel engagement with emotional scenes with Jack while still holding him at a distance as a plot device.

With only ten episodes, you’d think they could avoid the mid season falloff.

Still waiting till the end for my final view, but I’m also definitely still leaning to feeling SNW season 1 is better.

I think you’d be surprised how well nostalgia plays for newcomers who don’t have the emotional connection. They get the meaning, and they share the feeling by proxy. They want to feel as connected as longtime fans do. It may not be as purely enveloping, but it doesn’t make the episode drag, like you might think.

To each their own, of course. I’m enjoying this season of Picard, not complaining, but I do feel the overall tone is one of paranoia and impending doom, and so I feel that last week’s episode, filled with nostalgia, or fan service, or whatever others might call it, served as perfectly timed and needed respite from all the darkness. At least for me, I thought it was a nice to have a little mid-season emotional break before returning to the dark seriousness of episode 7. Good seasonal pacing, in my view.

Totally agree with you there. It’s why I sort of give that episode a pass. It wasn’t as good as the first batch, but it was a necessary breather.

I agree. While I did love it, I still wonder how the Bird of Prey is so much larger than it seems it should be.

To be fair the shot of the disabled Enterprise facing off against the Bird of Prey in TSFS makes the Bird look WAY bigger than it supposedly is. But the shot looks cool…

Visual effects frequently get the scale wrong. That is not a new thing.

Yeah, they’ve never been consistent with the BoP in particular. Remember in TNG it was the same size as the ENT-D, and they had to retcon it as an entirely different class of ship?

“I feel we the audience was suppose to feel sympathy for the Changelings but with all the horrible actions that the Dominion/The Founders are responsible for (Destruction & enslavement of countless worlds, forced genetic enslavement of the Vorta and with the Jem’Hadar by making them addicted to Ketracel-white and using bio weapons like The Quickening on innocent people) It’s hard to feel any kind of sympathy for them.”

Exactly this! Yes both sides did bad things here but you can’t pay me to feel sorry for the Changelings there. I know that’s rich when my favorite species are the Vorta but I really just can’t feel any sympathy for the Changelings. The Federation had a lot of good reasons to fight the war that they tricked them into in the first place.

You act like sympathy for the Changelings is a new thing. DS9 had multiple episodes that were based around the idea that the Changelings, the Vorta, and even the Jem Hadar were sympathetic figures.

The Changelings origins are steeped in a sympathetic situation, as are the Vorta, while Hippocratic Oath was based around finding sympathy for the Jem Hadar.

That’s not to say they weren’t still evil, but the writers of that show went out of their way to give more context for the audience, and draw a little bit of “oh, I kind of see where they’re coming from.” That’s how good storytelling works, and it was one of the best elements of this episode.

Bro. You’re talking to me. The one person who has been repeatedly like what if the Dominion and the Federation became friends. The Vorta lover. I know this. Treachery, Faith and the Great River was one of my favorite Trek episodes ever. Of course it’s not new! I’m just agreeing with the original commenter by saying that here I don’t feel sorry for the Changelings at all.

Dude bro, I know. You’re still agreeing with a sentiment that is largely ridiculous.

One: Fandoms aren’t a hive mind. There should be a bunch of different opinions on an individual basis.

Two: I never at any point said that others aren’t allowed to feel sympathy for Vadic or the Changelings. I just said that I don’t. One thing I absolutely hate is when people put words in my mouth.

Sorry, bro, the sentiment is invalid.

I don’t give one iota of a 💩 if you think it is or not. It’s my opinion and my feelings and no telling me that it’s invalid or not is going to change it.

I was bullied throughout my life. I was abused by my own parents. If I turned around and started an galactic empire that enslaved others because of that? That’s on me. I wouldn’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me.

If they tried to give the changelings not named Odo a redemption arc? I’m there for it. But if they’re not in the least bit remorseful for their actions then nah! Keep it.

Yes what the Federation did was awful. Nobody is denying that. However if you’re looking at what side did more worse things? It’s hands down the Dominion. I love the Dominion very much but they are not the good guys in any way, shape or form. So again, neither side was great but the Federation was right to fight them.

Yes yes storytelling but as a fan, it’s still my right not to feel any sympathy for her. What was done to her was awful and those two feelings can in fact co-exist.

Shrug/

I think it is less about garnering sympathy for the Founders and more about being bothered by what the Federation was doing to the Founders they had. And about Vadic’s motivation. I get it but blaming an entire organization as a whole for the actions of a few still doesn’t fly with me as good motivation. I can see wanting to get back at those doing the experiments. Perhaps even those involved. But bringing down EVERYTHING? That kind of thing never really worked for me. Example: Khan wasn’t interested in bringing down Star Fleet because of Kirk’s actions. He was solely focused on Kirk and only Kirk. Sure, he didn’t care what damage was done in his vengeance quest. But that is not the same thing at all.

That said it is very much looking like the Changlings are being used by something else. This being/organization possibly fed the affected Changlings a line and worked with the atrocities committed by the Federation scientists to get them on its side…?

In war nothing matters more than victory. DS9 did explore that.

Tuvok is the only character we know who has served in Starfleet in three different centuries—and yet he’s still just a captain.

Like Kirk told Picard, “no matter what, don’t let them promote you”.

He also took a half century off, which probably didn’t help.

True.

One additional thought- Lal could be the key to resolving the Data/Lore schism. It would be a beautiful thing to have Data’s daughter be the peacemaker.

Agreed.

As soon as her name came up in ep6, I started thinking the same thing, though it might be a reach for non-diehard viewers and newer watchers.

That’s the best theory that I heard all day!

I was thinking exactly this during the episode.

What about Lal? Data took her consciousness into his own in the hope he could restore her in a more suitable positronic matrix one day.

I like how this season is taking some of the ideas from David Mack’s ‘Cold Equations’ trilogy in terms of Data taking on a more advanced Soong body and choosing to age. In that trilogy, he did bring Lal out of his mind and gave her a new body. It’s a fascinating storyline.

Even better, what if its Lal and Alandra working together. The daughters reuniting the fathers.

I enjoyed this quite a bit more than last week’s. Kudos to Maggs and Kampmeier. You brought me back from giving up on this season. Admittedly though, I’m always a sucker for a bottle show with running and gunning on a ship.

So, is Jack another experiment from the lab? It appears he can read minds now, which I don’t remember Changelings being able to do. He’s a hybrid of some kind, but a hybrid of what? I don’t know. Anyhow, I’m looking forward to seeing where this is headed.

By the way, was that the Borg theme from First Contact being played when Vadic was sitting down and taunting Jack? It sounded similar.

I always find it interesting to see what different people react to. For me, last week was a 10. This week 7.5 or 8 max. Doesn’t mean anything, just interesting to see. :)

Last week was a 4 for me.

The Jack stuff was really the only part of the episode I was not really on board with. But to be fair, the Jack situation has never engaged me at all. It still hasn’t.

For me, it’s the slow process of disseminating new information that is starting to drag. I was fine that it was the last big mystery, mostly because we were getting new info each week on other matters, and other mysteries were being resolved. But now it’s been four episodes with nothing about Jack revealed, other than the same suppositions i’ve had since Day 1.

They don’t need to give ALL the answers in one episode, but they do need to give SOME answers each week or advance the mystery in some way. None of that happened the last three episodes when it comes to Jack.

We’re being teased that next week Vadic will reveal what Jack is, but somehow I get the sense that’s a bait-and-switch, and it will wait one more week… I can see them making that revelation being the end of Ep.8 as the cliffhanger to the finale.

I heard a long time ago that Episode 7 was exposition-heavy and the weakest of the bunch.

That’s funny because it didn’t seem exposition-heavy at all. Unless you meant to say 8? Either way, a big expo-dump after a slow build is annoying, and part of what hurt Seasons 1 & 2.

I’ve seen a few people say online that episode 8 was their new favorite of the whole season, so I’m betting it’s not just a big exposition dump. Of course, maybe they just love it because I’m betting that’s when we find out what’s hidden in Hangar Bay 12….

You’re probably right about that last part. It’ll be the very end of the episode, leading into the two-part finale.

Episode 8 seems often to be the pivot episode in a 10 episode season where the writers attempt to resolve much of the mystery so they can race through an action-intense two part finale.

Guess we’ll see ;)

Looks to me like they’ve been using the last couple of episodes (and probably next week’s as well) to set up the two episode arc that concludes the series.

And boy, Troi sure is getting the short end of the stick here.

A lack of Troi isn’t bothering me because I never really liked her as a character. Just a poorly conceived character top to bottom.

I can take or leave her personally, but it’s pretty shitty the way she’s been used so far. Especially given the fact that Matalas kept saying the back half of the season was all about her and so far two episodes in and….she’s being held captive and cried for less than a minute. I guess we know why she was no where promoting the show and hasn’t participated in anything about it.

That being said, it sounds like the last three episodes have a lot for her, or that at least the next one does.

Matalas went out on Twitter this morning (or last night, I didn’t see the time stamp) pushing back on this sentiment, saying that the problem was Sirtis’ schedule, and they only had her for a very limited window of availability due to the fact that she’d recently relocated to London.

Someone had mentioned that before, but that’s the first direct comment I’d seen from him on the subject.

It also explains her lack of involvement in press tours.

I don’t think Matalas is poorly using Marina. I know that Marina has moved permanently back to England and has gone back to stage acting there, so I do believe it was Marina’s availability that has caused her to appear very infrequently so far. I don’t think this one is on Terry.

I’m sure the truth is somewhere in the middle like with most things but the Matalas stuff kind of reeks of damage control to me and trying to punt the issue off to someone else. That seems especially true since she’s been out at appearances saying she was disappointed to not be included earlier and that she was available and willing. Sure that explains why she wasn’t on the press tour in person but neither was Brent Spiner and they zoomed him in for the interviews. They didn’t do that with her which makes me assume there’s some truth to the hurt feelings stuff.

I think that character was just screwed the minute they decided on changeling story and didn’t have something good for her to do. I don’t think they anticipated there’d be backlash or whatever Twitter drama there is and then it kind of exploded.

The problem with the concept of having a ship’s counselor as a main character is there just aren’t a lot of ways to squeeze that job in on very many stories. It’s one of the reasons the character was far better suited to be a day player rather than a regular. As such I still say the counselor ought to have just been a member of Crusher’s staff brought in only when needed.

I was a bit frustrated that we finally saw a couple working together through some kind of telepathic connection but instead of it being Troi and Riker it was Jack and Sidney.

I’ll forgive them if it foreshadows some great use of the Imzadi bond between Will and Deanna. That’s something owed since Encounter at Farpoint.

We also saw it between Picard and Crusher in the episode Attached, before we have ever seen it with Troi and Riker. It’s not worth getting worked up about.

Even though the character does little for me, Jack as a plot device I’ve found mildly interesting. I do share the frustrations of others, though, with the mystery box teasing out to all this. In the words of Monty Python, “Get on with it!”

I’m with you. The whole “son he never knew he had” is such a cliche that it’s hard for me to get onboard. The main reason the Jack storyline doesn’t resonate w/me is that the producers seem to feel the need to string his storyline out as long as possible before they resolve any part of it. Kind of reminds me of the Bad Robot “mystery box” nonsense, where the answer to every question is another question.

Jack is the Maguffin. As you said part of why I’m just not caring is the fact that he is Picard’s long lost cliche. I’m not caring about Picard’s son or Crusher’s son. Or really any of the families of any of the characters save Worf. But again, that is because I’ve made no bones about the fact that I don’t find any of the TNG characters who aren’t named Worf to be even the slightest bit interesting. So I might be handicapping myself regarding Jack going into this. I might like it better if it was Vash’s kid or some other character we saw way back on TNG. Or maybe not. I don’t know. But I do know that what we have I’m just not that curious about. Adding the mind reading thing hasn’t caused me to take interest in him either. Obviously he ties things together but I’m thinking when it gets revealed my reaction may end up being… “OK. Whatever.”

Another great episode. I’m loving the slow reveal of what’s going on. Wonderful surprise to open the show, and I love that our expectations and emotions about it were subverted a bit to reveal it’s important to the story, and not just fan service. Very well done!

Great episode, despite some spinning in place. Given the revelation about Picard (and thus Jack) possibly having been misdiagnosed, I’m starting to wonder something… could this ultimately be about the Changelings’ missing 100 infants?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Fascinating.

Tuvok wasn’t in Starfleet continuously.

Between 2298 and 2349 he had left Starfleet. When he came back he was still an Ensign, spent some time at Starfleet Academy, did some undercover work, got lost in the Delta Quadrant, and was still a LtCdr when they returned from their walkabout.

We don’t know what happened in the interim.

This season has been fantastic. Leaps and bounds better than season 1 and 2. But I did not enjoy this episode as much as the others this season. The story for this episode was mostly great. But I found myself going, “Really? Poking and prodding changelings with 21st century needles?” I found myself going, “Ugh. More about Jack.” And finally, I found myself going, “Are we ever getting off the Titan?”

These three things really brought down my excitement for the story, which if you push those elements to the side is a great story. But sadly those parts remain, so my ability to suspend disbelief, tiredness surrounding Jack’s story and constant staying on the Titan, hampered the episode, which otherwise was quite thrilling.

Performances were great. The opening scene reveal was incredible. I think I’m mostly just burnt out on Jack and the Titan.

If they only had a few more sets on the Titan to redress.

When the forcefield holding cell for Vadic was once again the transporter room, it was distracting.

That is why I personally prefer the story of the week model better.

Okay, episode 7. I’m devided. After weeks of top-notch episodes this one was hit and miss. It had really good tension-filled scenes, but in other places is dragged, like the whole sickback scene with Vadic explaining her motivation. That could’ve been cut in half.

The other thing is: so far I understood why Troi wasn’t in it so much yet. It fitted the flow of the story. But now she’s in the story, they chose not to use her in an episode that had ample room for it. I mean, it was only 46 minutes long. This was a bad call (strike 1).

Also for my taste they’ve dragged out the “who is Jack” mystery too much. That cliff-hanger didn’t feel thrilling, it felt annoying. Not a good feeling to end an episode on (strike 2).

But to end my review on some highs: It was so great to see Tuvok again. Those kind of cameos make the whole Trek universe feel more connected and he played it perfectly. The scenes between Geordi and Data were beautiful (and needed) as well. And I really felt some of the characters were about to die, so that made those fighting scenes really powerful.

All in all I’m not sure how I would rate this episode, because of the mixed feelings. Probably somewhere between 7.5-8/10.

Final question: is Vadic supposed to be the female Changeling from DS9? Is that what they were implying?

I didn’t get the implication that Vadic is the Founder from DS9 that was on Cardassia at the end, simply one of several changlings that were captured during the war.

This was my impression as well.

Which makes me wonder where the female founder is during all of this. Still in a Federation prison? I’m surprised Vadic’s changelings haven’t helped the founder escape.

Anyone else puzzled by Picard saying that he would be verified by genetic scan to speak at Frontier Day a little odd? Does his synth body still somehow have his bio body DNA or was this just a writer’s oversight that will have to be retconned at some point?

It was said throughout season 1 that the synth bodies were indistinguishable from humans. I think it‘s fair to assume that the more advanced “golem” bodies work the same way. If it wasn’t verifiable as Jean-Luc Picard, what would be the point?

Don’t think the golems have DNA. Starfleet would have updated Picard’s profile to reflect his new synthetic body, but his old profile might still be in the records.

OK.

This has not only been the best episode of the season but the best 42 minutes of Trek Secret Hideout has ever had its name on. In fact, it’s, dare I say, pretty good! Therefore, the skiing must be pretty good in Hell today.

I can’t comment on individual bits that were good because when things work it works as a whole. So I cannot say, it was great when X happened. Unlike when something is bad it’s rather easy to point to specific things that led to the badness. But if one wants some negativity here it is. I’m not a huge fan of the Changelings being the Big Bad. Using a foe that has already been dealt with feels a bit like a cop out and while it’s kinda fun to see them again I’d rather they be up against a new foil. That said, this episode was still quite good. I know they all can’t be at this level. There need to be lulls in a story for the audience. And this show is following that. Started out with promise. Had a good start. A lull in the middle, and if this episode is symbolic of how the final act will go then we just might have a decently made Trek. And all it took was 5 years of wading through mostly crap and some mediocrity.

Pigs flew! ML31 finally liked an episode of Star Trek after nearly 60 years! Sorry, just throwing back your own rude insult, it’s all good, my friend.

My theory is Picard’s dead body and Jack are both host to a Pah-wraith. Not like Dukat, more like they’re horcruxes. Jack’s abilities are probably because he’s been a host since birth.

I don’t like to speculate, because ultimately it’s pointless, but I definitely get the sense that a “perfect clone of Picard” is not really what’s going on.

To be true, if this DS9 Gods thing continues with him, then i begin to think they wanted Sisko in this seat not Picard.

Ok, I hadn’t considered that.

However, Sisko’s romantic partner was pregnant (at least in the books) at the end of DS9. There were a lot of questions about the child shall we say.

For as much as this season relies on DS9, I am surprised we haven’t actually gotten any DS9 characters. With all this emphasis on the Dominion War and the Changelings, it’s like they’re teasing us with everything they can from DS9 except an actual character from the show. Sadly Odo would make sense, but alas, we lost Rene far too soon.

I know nobody should replace Odo as we know. But the Great Link could born some “child” version or look alike like him. But he must sound and look a bit different, not an perfect Clone and we are all good

Wasn’t he 79? I will grant maybe a few years early, but hardly “far too soon”. Not everyone can be Shatner, who surely has a pact with some diabolical entity.

I still say they could have someone sent there to represent him and his interests in this conflict beyond Worf. Earlier in the season I would have pushed for a new character but now I’m annoyed and a little angry so yeah not anymore. Make it a Vorta. Like maybe Eris. Or Keevan. Or a certain one played by Jeffrey Combs.

Rene’s son Remy is also an actor and looks very much like his father. It could work for a brief appearance.

This Vulcan Ship next to the Titan, is surly not 100% wrecked. I think they want to play the “Ships outside of Starfleet to not talks to each other” that was used in Prodigy (ups…), to avoid the same fate. So i bet the Vulcan Ship come back Online to help fight the enemy

But yes, Section 31 is more and more like Cerberus from Mass Effect…sadly. So i have my thoughts how Dark they want to make their Section 31 Spinoff. When the Morality Anchor of Burham is far in the Future or Past, depend in what Timeline she went.

I’m going to be really disappointed if we don’t see Admiral Janeway with this many name drops in a season, she seems to be a pivotal ally they are trying to reach! But it also stands to reason she doesn’t appear because Kate Mulgrew keeps advocating for a live action appearance, even after production wrapped on this show. Anyway, another good episode full of amazing character beats, although I’m starting to wonder if people are who they say the are based on their unexpected behavior. Chiefly, Picard and Crusher rationalizing the execution of Vadic (right in-front of her no less), which is so odd to me. The torturous Starfleet scientist reminds me of Dr. Mora and Odo, but this is far darker, Federation isn’t suppose to be so cruel The flashback sequences probably could have used a more stylish production, this is where things are starting to feel a little too economical, but it was still moving. The mystery of Jack just keeps building which I appreciate, I expect most things to be revealed in the next episode just ahead of the final two. Tuvok’s appearance warmed my heart, very unexpected, love the Voyager stuff in this show, very unexpected. I’m surprised we haven’t seen any DS9 cameos really, I was expecting more based on the early hype.

Overall this episode doesn’t stand alone as well as the others and seems to stray toward the more nihilistic tendencies of Season 1 and 2, but it’s full of great moving scenes and some great tension to boot! And of course, Amanda Plummer just nails it, born to play this part! Only other observation is that Patrick Stewart seemed noticeably frailer in this episode, while Gates McFadden found the Crusher voice I remember.

I really hope for an appereance of Admiral Janeway. Even it’s only an Monitor Picture of her.

But i think copyright things is the bad guy here

Copyright things? What are you talking about?

“To boldy go where no other has gone!”

Star Trek is more then “Pew Pew, Peng peng”. Picard Season 3 is building up on the Past. Did you saw anything from Season 1 so far here? Okay, except his Android Body. Some results of his actions from Season 1 or 2? No Soong Androids, no XBorgs, no Jurati’s Borgs and so on. If they plan to use this format for the future, then it’s not any better then Lower Decks. Reusing stuff from the past

We need SNW, Prodigy (at the current point), they forge their Future. Lucky SNW is playing in an big Empty time bubble. But they can not find “new Lifeforms”, well or they did not appeared yet. Prodigy has nearly all freedom they wanted. except for Admiral Janeway, aka when it comes to the connection with Voyager. But until so far i am impressed with this Series

So, i hope they find out how important a new Show is with going onto new discoveries. Section 31 would jump back in time to play the “Section 31 Time Police” i assume.

So let’s hope ST: Legacy gets Greenlight, because they stepping forward an let the “Picard, Janeway, Sisko” Timeline behind and they forge their own

Sorry, for my English and stuff. But i hope you can understand my gist here. i do not mean any harm or ill means. I just want to discuss with you all in normal friendly tune. That’s all. live long and prosper

So, it turns out that Starfleet had employed a Dr. Mengele figure who not only was willing to commit genocide, but would torture captured aliens to pursue that goal? And that this was the most creative backstory the Picard Season 3 writer’s room could come up with to motive their villain? Kodos the Executioner was a model of subtlety by comparison.

Individual character moments are still often really solid. But after seven episodes drenched in cold war paranoia I’m still not as sold on the stakes as I was, say, at the height of DS9’s Dominion War arc. It might just be at the end of the day that Trek’s format isn’t built to tell stories spread out over a relatively short season of ten or so episodes. There just isn’t sufficient time to do the necessarily worldbuilding to make the scope of the story believable, even as the plot seems to drag. TOS was originally sold as “an anthology featuring continuing characters,” which is pretty much what made it work during its first, and best, season. Maybe that’s why “Strange New Worlds,” in spite of its own issues, feels like such a breath of fresh air.

Are you making a big joke? Because that kind of thing was done in Trek before. Many times. And it also makes perfectly logical sense in-universe.

Was the evil scientist Starfleet or Section 31? I got the sense she was working for the latter, using the captured Changelings to make the virus, but I could be wrong.

The show has gone out of its way to retcon the virus as being, as Worf says, “a Starfleet made virus.”

Agree that the revenge plot is straight out of the writer’s shortcut tool box, but it’s of a kind with the nastiness that’s permeated all three seasons of Star Trek: Picard. The people who make this show really don’t like other people and have an extremely pessimistic view of today and the future. I can’t say I blame them, but at the same time, it’s just easier to make the show this way, and so I ding them for being lazy and boring.

Is it really a retcon though? I’d have to watch the episodes again, but didn’t Starfleet look the other way when it came to S31’s necessary evils during the war? I vaguely remember Bashir confronting admiral what’s his face about this.

That’s not the same as being officially Starfleet, of course, but I can see the Changelings not seeing a difference. I don’t know about Worf’s view, though.

It’s just weird because Worf and Raffi mention Section 31 separately. I agree that from the Changeling’s perspective, it’s a distinction without a difference and since DS9 is the least popular Star Trek (or maybe it’s tied with Enterprise), most fans and certainly all newcomers have no clue about the history of S31 in terms of the Dominion War or Changelings, etc., and so the show just probably figured handwaving all this makes the most sense.

Canonically, it’s a Section 31 virus. Search morphogenic virus on Memory Alpha.

Regardless of whom ordered whom to put the needles into the Changelings, I like that Picard is picking up this thread from DS9.

I agree that modern Trek has gone to the dark and cynical well far too often, but I also find it admirable to acknowledge that wars never end as neat and clean as we like to think. There’s a legacy of hatred and bitterness involved.

I wish they would’ve figured out a way to tie the Enterprise-E into the war, though. We get random stories about a Borg virus during TNG and then a post-Nemesis anecdote about encountering the Hirogen; Picard & co.’s tie in to the war feels surfacey to the point of irrelevant and so that depth you suggest has to be filled in by audience imagination rather than the text of the show. Seriously, I like your “wars never end as neat and clean as we like to think” but that’s not an idea that the show presents through it’s characters — and Picard himself is/was a moral man who could be a perfect vessel for expressing that very idea in text.

Without judging too much, this story feels like what ISIS was to the War on Terror. Blowback. I just wish it was less over the top from Vadic and less associated with whether Picard feels like he needs to have a son. I would have been very happy with a Vadic who seemed into meditation and bringing the Great Link back into her life.

I think they’re presenting it pretty well through Vadic in this episode. She’s the reminder of the cracks in the Federation’s armor during the war. Though this particular story would make much more sense for Sisko and Bashir than Picard and Crusher. Like you said, we have no idea what they were up to during the conflict.

Crusher seems to have strong feelings about the Changelings. That’s probably due to their trying to get her son, but it would be nice to have something of her prior experience with them. Maybe we’ll get that…?

They talk about S31 as a standalone division, but emphasize it was clearly “Starfleet Intelligence”

Section 31 has always been Starfleet, just the less pretty part

Yeah, fair enough. I thought Matalas’ comments on this were interesting and tie into my other point about how they should’ve figured out a way to bring in some Dominion War history to Picard’s time as captain. From Collider today:

Initially, there was an idea in the writers’ room; was Picard part of that vote, and which way did he vote? Was he one of the holdouts, or did he vote for it? Because at what point did they need to end the war? Obviously, it felt like Picard would never vote for genocide. But again, it doesn’t quite hold up because Section 31 seemed to be working independently. However, it seems like they had some authorization within Starfleet. It’s sort of murky as to how much they were able to operate. Are they like Blackwater? How do they operate? So anyway, it was a really interesting discussion in the writers’ room for us to explore that.

I wonder if they ever considered having Vadic say something, like, point blank, “Once you learned they gave us a virus you didn’t protest. Why did the most moral man in the history of Starfleet deem us unworthy of his aid?” After all, Picard didn’t give the computer virus to the Borg when he had the chance and later on he’d fight Starfleet tooth and nail to safeguard the Romulans and beyond that, this show is about Picard and so here would’ve been another opportunity to directly tie him into the larger story. Oh well.

S31 is technically Starfleet, so in that sense it is correct, not a retcon. But Wiley is also right in that it wasn’t Starfleet proper that was torturing Changelings, but S31, the rogue, covert faction who doesn’t play by moral rules.

Both are consistent with what we’ve seen in DS9.

Section 31 is Starfleet.

To be fair the future will probably blow.

I agree. I’m not into new Star Trek where the future blows, though. Good thing I have the Blu-rays!

Definitely diminishing returns since episode 4, but I liked this one a lot more than last week, even though that one had the trip to the fleet museum (which I liked very much), and even though this one had several moments of dialogue cruft/chuffah to setup a lot of the story beats. Once they got into those beats, there’s good to great stuff (Tuvok scene; Lore giving Picard the business had me laughing along with Alandra’s “So, has Lore always been this arch?”; Crusher-Picard-Vadic’s tragic backstory scene is truly great; I even liked the *idea* behind the Jack-Sidney stuff).

I’m not sure the story justified itself, though. Seems like if Jack is so important to the Frontier Day plot then all Picard needs to do is hide Jack somewhere in the vast galaxy — or just stay cloaked (lol RIP cloaking device)! They give a nod to the idea that hiding Jack is causing suffering to people they care about, but that part of the story feels underdeveloped — at least, to me it does. I like hiding out in old Dominion War battlefields, but Picard’s plan to lure her in just doesn’t feel like it meets the moment. Just from a strategy standpoint, you’re risking Jack when it is absolutely crucial to *not* risk Jack.

And maybe they’re hiding the ball in terms of why Soong would put Data and Lore together (as in, there must be some reason we’ll come to learn), but whether or not they are, the big ol’ shrug at “Why would they put Data and Lore in the same brain?” was kinda silly. Picard had an answer to Beverly’s “Why would she take her captor’s face?” right away — and he at least *knew* Alton Soong a little bit.

Anyway, onward!

God damn, Levar Burton is a great actor! Makes it all the dumber, neither the show nor the movies ever utilised him.

I’ve never seen him better. Frakes too.

He was really sensational in this episode. I felt Geordi and Crusher were the most poorly developed characters on TNG so to see Burton really get to let go with his emotions in this was just wonderful. We feel his love for his daughter and his heartbreak for his lost friend. I think we take Spiner for granted because he’s so consistently good but he was exceptional in this episode.

After the sugar rush of episode 6, this one was snooze inducing. It’s time for them to reveal what is at stake and start preparing for the big battle. Growing tired of the slow drip and this episode felt like they were running in place. If the plan was to get the audience to feel empathy for Vadic, it didn’t work on me and made the episode feel like wasted time. I also didn’t like that there was still no Troi.

What I did like was Geordi revealing how Data’s death affected him. That scene was long overdue since they were best friends.

It was also good to see Tuvok again even if it really wasn’t him and with so many mentions of Admiral Janeway this season, I am beginning to wonder if she has a secret cameo at the end.

I am enjoying the inclusion of Voyager characters and references, but why is there barely any inclusion of DS9 characters in this? It doesn’t make any sense since the whole dominion war was DS9’s thing.

Don’t torch me for saying so, but for me, this was the weakest episode because nothing much happened to push the story forward. I don’t really care about the changelings or the Vadic stuff. Only the floating head interests me. Time to reveal what the endgame is and show the heroes getting prepared for it.

“I am enjoying the inclusion of Voyager characters and references, but why is there barely any inclusion of DS9 characters in this? It doesn’t make any sense since the whole dominion war was DS9’s thing.”

Yes the more this drags on (because yes it’s dragging by this point), the more this bothers me. Seeing Tuvok is great! I love Tuvok. But damn where is anyone besides Worf from DS9.

I know they’ve been setting it up and hyping up Deanna being the key to all this and saving the day in the last three episodes, but the lack of her so far is just a big disappointment. They’ve done right by everyone else so I’m hoping she finally gets a moment.

Also I’m just not feeling Jack as a character. Sure, it’s well acted sure but this character and story just don’t do it for me.

Other than that, this has really been working for me the past few episodes. This was a little below the last two for me but still excellent.

It was nice to see Tuvok again.

So Vadic is a changeling that was experimented on to make a perfect spy by Section 31 ,.Apparently, and she can pass any test . She can pass on her power to other changelings but in a diminished effect {the Bird Masks }If she can pass any test ,Picard’s theory of them wanting his body and Jack to make a perfect Picard copy to infiltrate the Frontier Day celebration is wrong ,she can already can pass any test . We Know her “brother” got on the Titan and replace the Transporter ensign {Still don’t know what’s the deal with them avoiding transporters }pass the genetic test . By the way why would Picard have that theory ? He is in a robot body and Star Fleet knows it seems everyone does . Vladic said there were 9 others like her so 10 in all. But 5 are dead {transporter dude and the 4 Jack took out } and Tuvok is one so there are only 3 outstanding . Why would Section 31 think they could control them anyway?

If they’ve taken over Starfleet? There has to be hundreds…. They must all be able to divide and replicate.

After 30 years we still know very little about Changeling DNA. We’ve seen how a small amount of Changeling liquid can become a full sized humanoid. For all we know, those 7 vials could have separated and become 50 new changelings, and then — as you say — replicated or spawned offspring.

There may even have been more captives they released afterwards, or recruited others from the Gamma Quadrant in the last decade-plus.

Obviously some did come from the Gamma Quadrant because otherwise how would Odo have known

Fair point. They did in fact say that there was a “schism in the Great Link.” This does indeed imply that changelings left the homeworld at some point, likely headed to the Alpha Quadrant.

So my guess is that Jack is an augment because his eyes glow like Dal’s on Prodigy. Dal also has Betazoid DNA, and Jack was certainly displaying full-on Betazoid telepathy. But his DNA could have been augmented with Ulian DNA (Also telepaths). As far as Vadic’s story: I feel empathy for what she’s gone through, but I obviously want Starfleet to win over the changelings.

He’s Troi’s son not Beverly’s?

I actually found this to be the strongest episode of Season 3. Legitimately suspenseful, strong acting from all parties, great VFX, and the most cinematic to date. I liked last week’s episode by the fan service overwhelmed me.

I hope that Tuvok isn’t killed…

Tim Russ said he was in two episodes, this being one.

My guess we’ll see the real Tuvok in the remaining three episodes

Oh wow great to hear!!!! We need to see the real Tuvok.

I’m so happy for Tim Russ. He’s been a wonderful ambassador for Trek and it’s good to see him and “Tuvok” again. His guest appearance in The Ready Room this week was a lot of fun. Wheaton can be over the top with his gushing but he asked some really great questions and observations of Russ particularly how Tuvok’s eyes give him away and then there’s that smirk. Russ plays it perfectly.

Is it just me or did Tuvok’s ears look weird? Maybe too King Charles like? Perhaps a problem with the changeling, like Odo’s problem with noses?

They looked awful, and Tim didn’t look so hot either.

Boy you’re awfully mean. People age, their faces change, and that includes ears, nose, and everything. Be kind, rewind.

I’m putting this one on the makeup people, not Russ. The pics, along with a vid or two I’ve seen of him in recent years, had him in a far more favorable light than this bunch did (then again, you all know how much I hate the light or lack thereof in this season of PICARD.)

Too big and too sticky-outy

I’m looking at this as one big story as opposed to judging each episode. I like the slow-dripping plot and have a feeling that this was the “take a breathe” episode/moment before going full speed with the last three. A few of questions/thoughts…

  1. I like the Jack/Sidney thing but why use Sidney as bait with Jack? I know they are on a skeleton crew but using the pilot as the bait when you have someone like Worf on-board (BTW, why was everyone but Worf & Raffi here?) it just kinda took me out of the moment. Same way with using Shaw going to get the goons. Shouldn’t the Captain stay and instead send Seven?
  2. This is the first time the score took me out of a moment as well. The scene with Lore/Data and Gordi pleading for Data to return had a really over the top musical cue IMO that didn’t sound like anything we’ve heard before. It just seemed too much and out of place.
  3. I really liked that Jack could read Sidney’s mind, as I picked up on some Betazoid crumbs in E6. Seeing what Jack did in E7 along with Matalas mentioning Troi has a huge part to play makes me really excited about the possibilities with Jack.
  4. I don’t understand why Vadic had to tell her crew to use a shuttle and not the transporter. Why wouldn’t they be able to use it?

Overall, still a big fan of this storytelling and can’t wait for all to be revealed!

Worf and Raffi are off the Titan during this episode doing their investigation thing; that’s why Worf wasn’t there.

Can someone please explain to me why Picard just doesn’t make a Starfleet-wide announcement that it’s been compromised by changelings? They need to sound the alarm and they don’t, it’s infuriating.

Mm-hmm. “Gatekeepers.”

Since the actual changelings can pass medical examinations, who’s going to believe him?

All the people who grew up reading of the -D’s exploits perhaps?

And so all those cadets are going to mount a military coup, while all their CO’s tell them that Picard has lost his marbles at the age of 97?

Look, i’m not saying it couldn’t work, but there’s plenty of justification for why it might not, and that’s enough for me, because this is the story they wanted to tell.

Literally generations have grown up and then gone up the chain of command while Picard was in (and out and back in) Starfleet, so it wouldn’t just be a child’s campaign. I’m finding more and more to gripe about now, probably because I’ve had too much time to think about some of this. Plus the show doesn’t have a look that lets me get engaged. I watched this ep and the newest MANDALORIAN back-to-back last night and my wife and I realized that even on mediocre MANDOs, at least it looks nice (amazingly nice given how much is done against the LED wall.) And the space scenes actually look both pretty and in the ballpark for being right, neither of which seems possible for the wags at trek who are telling their vendors to make it so ‘oh no.’

Mando isn’t very good though, Picard is. If you all want is pretty pictures, feel free to enjoy it though, nobody will stop you.

Mando is solid entertainment, probably the only time SW has approached this since EMPIRE. It’s very much like watching HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL but with blasters, though I wish they’d limit the fanwank in favor of some ethical quandries.

All though this season has been fantastic, this episode did not do any favors for Shaw. Seems like he was not involved in any of the decision making process for using the ship as bait which is an odd omission.

Clearly they wanted to have this character in the series, did not want to kill him off, but really did not have a ton for him to do in some of the stories which shows awkwardly.

I’d d a mostly spoiler-free version of this in the preview thread, but figured that here it’s free game to name names:

What an episode… I loved it! 😃👍

Though I was really hoping for a DS9 character to be the mystery guest, the choice of Tuvok was a good one, in order to give Seven, a slightly underused character of the Titan crew, something to do that felt organic in their established connection. Wonder if we’ll see Tim Russ again before it’s over, and the real Tuvok, liberated. 🖖

Surprised we didn’t get to see Will or Deanna captured on the Shrike, but I assume we could see their parallel story unfold over there in the next episode; with Worf and Raffi taking care of rescue business, as Vadic is too busy holding Shaw’s ship hostage, while revealing Jack’s “condition.”

And finally some resolution as to how Vadic came to be! Good, compelling backstory 🧫 — I just REALLY wish that Bashir was involved! (But maybe he still will be? There’s just not much time left… ⏳️😬)

Damn you, cliffhangers! 😅

“It’s a trap!”

I find it highly unlikely that Lal, would be a separate Lal in this body as Data incorporated her into his own matrix. I would think she’d only be present as Data’s memories.

Data integrated the sum experiences of Lal into his own, while her positronic matrix collapsed. There is no separate Lal in existence for Soong to have added her in. She exists within Data, so yeah, DataLore is mostly Data and Lore with a bit of B4 and Soong mixed in.

why do people keep mentioning Seven as the leader for a spinoff series? are we assuming Captain Shaw will be killed off before the end of Picard?

Some are assuming she might get her own ship. I’ve even seen people on other boards she could captain the next Enterprise. Of course all of this is just fanboy wish fulfillment but the fact Seven is now even a high ranking officer in Starfleet would’ve sounded like fanboy wish fulfillment a few years ago. ;)

It’s bugging me that a lot of people who complained about Burnham or Tilly’s advancements are giving this idea of Seven getting her own ship after 3 whole months of being a commissioned Starfleet officer a complete pass.

I’ve always been consistent in saying I think it’s a really dumb idea too just even being a first officer. However, if they at least sent her back to Starfleet or something then I can buy it a little more. Seven basically was a full time crew member on Voyager, but yeah to jump that high even with her experience and intelligence feels a bit far fetched to be captain so fast. NOT as bad as giving Kirk the keys to the Federation flagship at 25 years old and the guy was on academic probation…but still pretty bad.

And a lot of people just don’t like Burnham or Tilly much. ;)

The 3 months between seasons comes, by the way, from Matalas’ twitter responses to fans who were trying to figure out the timing once it was clarified that it’s set in 2401.

Season 2 began after harvest 2400. This season is earlier in the agricultural season the following year.

I don’t know if placing Seven’s insubordination to Shaw (taking the ship to Ryton while he slept) is better or worse for knowing she’s only been in Starfleet as a commissioned commander for 8-10 weeks.

At least her actions haven’t actually killed Shaw yet, so she’s slightly less egregious than Burnham in The Vulcan Hello. I guess Picard is there to shoulder the negative narrative about ‘starting a war’ in this case.

What I do know is that her venting to Picard about Shaw in the premiere seems a bit much if she’s only had to put up with him a couple of months. Why would he not be expected to ride her hard in the context of an accelerated command development program?

Overall, this just seems to be another incongruity arising from the season being reset earlier in time during post.

Jack’s age is 20-21, not the 23-24 stated in dialogue. Picard saying in episode 7 that he’d been asked by Data to terminate his program ‘years ago’ is hyperbole when in-universe when it’s been less than two full years since the late summer of 2399 in the opening scenes of season one.

etc. It’s all a super unexpected time-tracking fumble with 3 writers from 12 Monkeys in the room.

Anyway, they’ve now decided what year it is, and thereby made Seven a commissioned officer with no additional training and a couple of months under Shaw. Whatever plan they had to show she’s earned the centre seat, they haven’t actually done it.

Why does anyone give a hoot what year it is lol. A year, a few weeks, a few months, whether Jack is 21 or 24, none of it matters. Is it a good story? Is it engaging and exciting? Is it well-paced, are the actors convincing?

This is why creators hate the fans these days, and why so many fans are so negative all the time.

I’d much prefer Shaw as Captain of a spin-off, and Seven his XO. Rushing Seven into the captain’s chair is not necessary. A spin-off could chronicle her ascension to the role over several seasons, and do what DSC tried with Burnham, but right.

It’s also a reason why I wish they hadn’t made Seven a first officer immediately. She should have been a Lieutenant, a chief of security, maybe, something a little lower in rank, to give her more room to grow.

Unless — and this is just as possible — her arc this season will see her leave starfleet.

Just a thought: what if the bridge at the end of the episode is actually a simulation and they trapped all the Changings on the holodeck?

It would be a neat way to trap them. But it would be similar to the end of Insurrection.

Overall I liked this episode, but I have to be honest, I think it was the weakest of the season so far. Not BAD (so please don’t turn into YouTube and get on my case about it lol), but far from great either. I was going to write out a lengthy review as I sometimes do but since I wasted many work hours discussing the other big news of the day I will keep it more simple and say what I liked and what I didn’t.

Liked:

-Yes, that scene with Tuvok gave me the biggest smile on my face. It wasn’t the real Tuvok but still great. And I have a feeling we may see the actual one again.

-Vadic’s backstory was interesting but still a bit vague. More on that later.

-The Data/Lore scenes were amazing. Again, none of these guys has missed a stepped. I know Spiner played Data a bit in season one but Lore was great. I was cracking up and a reminder why they powered down this guy 30 years ago. But loving where its going.

-Acting all around was great as usual. Yeah, that’s all the good stuff lol.

Didn’t like:

-Where was Riker, Troi, Worf and even Raffi? Word got out they weren’t going to be there but you really felt it, especially Riker and Troi given the last scene of the previous episode. There was line given why Worf and Raffi wasn’t there but it was obvious they needed to keep the budget down in this one and nothing more.

-The entire ‘take over’ of the ship just felt a little ridiculous and confusing. I couldn’t even keep track how many were on the ship or where they were on the ship. You saw a few fighting with Jack and Sidney but I didn’t realize it was so many more. Maybe I need to watch it again.

-Again the Vadic thing was interesting but confusing. I don’t understand was it just the Changelings trapped in the lab who are take the Federation down? But if so then how so many more to the level they manage to take over Starfleet? Maybe I’m missing something (and I didn’t read the review yet). And I wish they were more clearer of who the woman was. Was she Section 31 or something else? I assume S31 for now.

-Vadics goons are even more of a question mark. They’re changelings too right? Then why do they talk and sound so differently? I don’t get it? They explained why she looks that way but why did they take the form of those aliens? And why STAY that form once you are on the Titan? Why did they not change to outsmart the others?

-Jacks ‘powers’ are getting stranger by the episode lol. Now he can read mines and control other people’s bodies? His powers is getting crazier than a Jedi at this point who themselves can do practically everything. But I guess we’re going to learn next week!

Overall, It was OK. I wasn’t bored but it was confusing, not a lot really a lot happened and yeah half the cast was missing. Still loving the show but I would give it a 6/10. I loved last week, probably my favorite, so this one paled by comparison. This was a small dip but it was still better than nearly every episode of season 2 minus the first two episodes. ;)

Haha my only post was about Raffi, Worf, Troi and Riker! I will not be surprised to find out while Vadic was busy on the Titan, her ship is being taken taken over by the four forgotten crewmembers!

Sounds like a plan!

LOL I don’t even understand what happened to the Shrike after taking the Titan? Did they park it in the shuttle bay or something? Or maybe someone else is piloting it? It was very confusing to me. And I remember when people were saying they didn’t see any images of Riker or Troi in the previews I assured them they have to show up. How could they not if they are on the same ship??? Well they found a way and that was to just ignore it lol.

I’m wondering the same about La Sirena.

Did they abandon it wherever they picked up Raffi and Worf?

Since they boarded by transporter it doesn’t seem the ship’s in Titan’s bay. Or is that another sleight of hand to cover the lack of budget for a hanger, even a vfx one?

If Raffi and Worf left Titan, did they borrow a shuttle? Were they hanging out in the debris in environmental suits?

I’m betting that while the Titan went to lure the Shrike into a trap, Worf and Raffi took the La Sirena elsewhere and they’ll gloss over in a line where they’d parked it last episode.

Are the Pah Wraiths the enemy perhaps? Those burning eyes that Jack has is what comes foremost to my mind…

So, where are Worf and Raffi? Perhaps rescuing Wil and Diana?!

They got the week off

I think we’re going to see next week what happened on the Shrike vessel while Vadic and co were taking over Titan.

Then catch up to rescue the ship. This would seem to be Picard’s risky gambit that we heard about through the episode summary. Lots of planning offscreen, which actually reduces the sense of teamwork and problem solving together that was the hallmark of TNG.

Sigh.

The way Ed Speelers is playing Jack reminds me a lot of the way Chris Pine played Kirk in ST 2009.

Speleers would have been much employed as the new, young James T Kirk in SNW.

I totally disagree. He does not act anything like a young Kirk should. Or do you not remember all the complaints in 2009, from fans who hated Pine’s portrayal, and how the movie wrote him? I didn’t mind it because it was an alternate universe, but they were right when they said that making him a devil-may-care, cavalier Han Solo type was not who the character really was.

But the producers took the two or three iconic moments from TOS (he took a risk, he kissed an alien) and made them defining character traits, because that’s what people knew in pop culture.

In SNW, I rather like the portrayal of a young Kirk as a calm, cool, and collected commander, who maybe bends the rules a little.

As for Wesley, he’s fine. Just like Peck in DSC, I have faith he’ll grow into the role. By Season 3, you’ll be upset when they cast a new actor as the clone Kirk in the 25th century — “Why didn’t they just use Paul Wesley! He’s perfect as a young Kirk!”

(Honestly, the reason people like Speleers for young Kirk is likely because his face is more similarly shaped, and his steely gaze has a Shatner-esque quality to it. People are f****ing shallow like that).

Is that a compliment or an insult :P

Anyone else want a Star Trek with Captain Vadic show?

Touché!

This director really missed with Amanda Plummer, she was all over the place and nowhere she should have been emotionally. At times I thought her speech pattern was entering Christopher Walken territory, and that’s strictly one-man’s-land.

Not thrilled with the way the whole thing hangs on Jack, who could have just offed himself at the start of the series or any point since and spoiled the baddies’ plan.

Good point.

Giving himself up, or not, has been presented as a binary choice.

On the other hand, given the changelings literally stole Picard’s body, those on Titan may still believe the Changelings would value Jack’s dead one.

We wouldn’t know that Vadic needs to get Jack alive if we hadn’t overheard conversations with the hand. The fact that she attacked Titan in the nebula suggested rather that dead-or-alive was an option for her.

Has anybody taken frame grabs from the show that become ‘talk to the hand’ memes?

Wow this is a pretty low count for the comments this week. I wonder why? ;)

Until this week, I don’t think a single PIC thread this season has gotten lower than 300 posts. I think the last episode hit over 500 as well. No other modern show has gotten anything close to this number of comments week after week. It does tell you just how much more people are excited to talk about it…well usually lol.

But maybe it will still get over 300 this week?

Meanwhile, the Starfleet Academy thread is måssive at 500 plus posts and growing!

It’s like when Homer Simpson comes across his doppelganger and he is distracted by a dog with a fluffy tail!

That’s a wild analogy. Appropriate though.

I think this is specific to certain boards and social media though.

Over on Reddit, the episode 7 discussion thread on the r/picard sub has nearly 2k comments. So, about the usual. There are still masses of new theory posts and other Picard-related posts across the various Trek-related subs. Overall, I sense the amount of engagement per post is down but there are still thousands of people engaged over there.

There’s clearly some fatigue with the Jack-the-macguffin mystery being expressed. The most striking take I saw over on Reddit is a complaint that this season feels more like a bad version of Andromeda than Star Trek. Ok then.

On Twitter, the volume of new tweets promoting Star Trek: Legacy and Star Trek: Titan is falling off. Some of those are mentioning including Legacy or Titan along with or in opposition to the new Academy announcement.

TOR has about half the usual engagement on episode 7.

I have not girded myself to check out the YouTuber and the comment threads on their videos yet.

Given the nature of this website and its visual presentation too, comments usually die down once a new, bigger story supplants it as the lead. People here are older and more traditionally guided by visuals, and so the top story — if a major story worth commenting on — is always going to take over.

I don’t really have much to say about it. I’m tired and annoyed and starting to get a little angry with the season. So instead I’ve just been putting it off and instead starting a rewatch of DS9 (just finished the season 1 episode Vortex. Forgot how good that one was [in my opinion].) At this rate I’m so desperate to see DS9 characters other than Worf that I figured I’ll just give them to myself and do a rewatch.

Maybe I’ll be able to get my thoughts together over the weekend but for now, I’m just going to continue my rewatch and then give ENT another shot. (I watched Andorian Incident yesterday to take a break from DS9, that one was better than I remembered it from back when I was like 11.)

Tired and annoyed, sure, but angry?

Yes. Angry.

Seems a bit extreme. It’s a TV show. Chill, bro.

I’ve been off my mood stabilizers since July while I’m trying to find a new psychiatrist. So right now I either feel every emotion very extremely or I don’t feel anything at all. Right now I don’t feel anything at all anymore. Nothing like a tornado destroying parts of your city to swing you back that way.

I don’t know if anyone heard about the storm system that hit Arkansas but I’m checking in to say that I’m okay. It avoided my part of Little Rock but a tornado was on the ground about ten to fifteen minutes drive from where I live.

Probably gonna take me longer to get my thoughts together now. Part of me is like it doesn’t matter anymore, it’s just a show and a tornado tore up parts of my city today. It’s not hard to guess which is more important.

Very Glad That You Are Safe.
What angers you the most about Season 3?
And, how much of that anger stems from Disappointment?
Are you looking forward to ANYTHING Trek related?
What about Non Trek Sci Fi or Fantasy shows?
Even A Scifi/Fantasy Novel(Trek, or otherwise will Qualify.)

Thank you.

A lot of it is from disappointment. Like them being in the Chin’toka system. That really could have been anywhere so why chose that system if there’s going to not even be any recognizable traces of what happened there.

Also if they can name drop Kathryn Janeway this much, and don’t get me wrong I love Kathryn Janeway, then why can’t they also name drop anyone from DS9 this much. Like, hmmm, maybe Julian Bashir. I still feel like this season isn’t honoring DS9 in anyway, just taking a massive dump on it instead. But that’s just me. Maybe it stems from my lack of interest in TNG.

Also I feel like if I was a new fan there’s nothing there to interest me in the actual series so far in this season. I would end up watching VOY if anything. Because so far there’s nothing likeable about anything that’s from DS9 in this season except for Worf.

Also mind control and being able to read minds. Either cut the X-Men bs way down or take it to the MCU. In fact I hope this works as an audition for Disney. I hope Matalas and Stewart both get hired by Marvel Studios so they can just leave Trek alone.

I’m looking forward to most of Trek still though. Just not so much the rest of this season anymore but also I’ve been there since episode 5 and it just keeps making me feel this way.

No one mentions the easter egg sound effects from Regula 1? Vadic’s scanner sounded just like McCoy’s when searching for life signs.

I noticed that as well. I also noticed the transporter sound effect sound more like those from TOS than TNG, which is weird.

It seems there has been an Easter Egg from First Contact in every episode this season except this one, unless I missed it?

I’d like to see a list of that easter eggs. Apparently I’ve missed them all…☹️

Did anyone else notice that the Voyager theme was playing while Seven was having her conversation with Fake Tuvok? Maybe the TV was on in the captain’s ready room.

Also, before I knew that Fake Tuvok was fake, I noticed that his ears didn’t look right — they were kind of sticking out. I wonder if that was a subtle hint that this wasn’t Real Tuvok.

I’ve heard people say that, but unlikely. I suspect this is just the natural state of Russ’ ears as he’s aged. Humans change physically like that particularly areas of cartilage like noses and ears.

I like the series well enough and get a huge kick out of seeing all the old cast members from the 90’s era shows, but could they just turn the damn lights on so we can actually see some proper detail please? All this moody set lighting is irritating in the extreme: I get the action is on a starship with no natural light sources but does it always have to be so gloomy?

great episode…..i don’t know whey people complain when its a bottle show. to me what i love most about trek is the ships, interior and exterior and the titan sets and ship design are great. i’m no homer for trek and think anything produced is great, but i’m genuinely enjoying this season 8 of TNG

my guess is a changeling disguised as picard knocked up beverly and jack is a human/changeling hybrid

Yet he does seem to remember that night with her… I suspect it’s more complicated than that, and has to do with some form of experimentation.