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Star Trek: Picard Reveals Jack’s True Identity and Brings Back an Old Friend

Dave nemetz, west coast bureau chief.

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Warning: This post contains spoilers for Thursday’s Star Trek: Picard .

The Star Trek: Picard crew is gearing up for next week’s series finale … and they have a nice ride to get them there.

Star Trek Picard Season 3 Episode 9 Jack Troi

Jack reaches the Queen and is prepared to hit her with a phaser, but she simply welcomes her prodigal son home before assimilating him into her collective. Meanwhile, Geordi and Data figure out that the Borg altered Jean-Luc’s DNA and used the Changelings to code that altered DNA into Starfleet transporters… so everyone who’s been through a transporter now has Borg in them. Yikes! Luckily, it only affects cadets under the age of 25, since their brains are still developing, but it’s enough for the Borg to assimilate all of the Titan ‘s young crew… including Geordi’s daughter. The Borgified youngsters take over every Starfleet ship, including the Titan , while the oldsters flee to a repair shuttle with Shaw giving them cover — and taking a fatal phaser blast. His dying words are to hand command over to Seven, calling her “Seven of Nine” for the first time. Awww… given how he started out, we can’t believe we’re actually going to miss that guy.

Star Trek Picard Season 3 Episode 9 Enterprise D

How much did you love seeing the TNG gang back on the Enterprise ? And what are you hoping to see in next week’s series finale? Beam down to the comments to share your thoughts.

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52 comments.

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I love that they used Majel Barrett voice for the computer!

Yes, that was a nice surprise.

Are the showrunners ignoring the second season of their own show? Beverley said the Borg hadn’t been heard from for ten years — was there a ten-year jump between seasons I missed? Aren’t the Borg kinda-sorta allies (or at least, at truce) with the Federation now? . I mean, if Borg!Jack shows up with a new Borg Queen consort and a fleet of cubes to stop the Changelings’ plan in the finale, cool. It’d be kind of a deus ex machina to end this fantastic nostalgia-bomb of a season, but at least they wouldn’t be ignoring their own show.

There was that whole time travel thing going on in season 2. I think the timeline was altered in the past skewing exactly when or how that encounter unfolded.

Agnes’s Borg and the regular Borg aren’t the same thing. Their time traveling created a secondary type of Borg.

I was initially confused as well, but this makes sense now. How cool would it be if Agnes’s borg showed up to fight the regular borg in the finale.

Thank you for explaining that! I was so confused.

Have to admit I got the warm and fuzzies when I saw the old Enterprise. The way the crew showed such reverence for her. Job well done.

I hate that they killed Elnor off camera. Worse than Icheb’s death last season.

Was the voice for the borg queen Allison Pill or the Late Annie Wersching? If it was Pill they better have a good explanation for her sudden turn back to being a heel. If it was Wersching that would explain not showing her face and probably means Pill’s Queen will swoop in to save the day in the finale.

It was Alice Krige. I believe like a bee colony, Borg Cubes have different Borg Queens & collectives.

The end credits list Alice Krige as the voice of the Born Queen, which makes sense. She has a history with Picard/Locutus.

When did they say Elnor was dead?

The ship Elnor was serving on was the one that was destroyed by the infected ships.

It would be very easy to write around that if Trek ever wants Elnor to return. He was on holiday or on secondment or had been transferred .and so on.

As there is no mention of him dying and Matals tweeted, that he wasn’t on the Excelsior, he should be fine. A Borg, but other than that fine.

Honestly, this is the best Star Trek stuff in years…I have been blown away by how good this has been especially given how awful last season was…I did not realize how much I missed all these guys together and on the bridge of Enterprise D, I had goosebumps.

I’ve never enjoyed the last ten minutes of a tv episode in my life more than this. There is really no other instance of a classic tv show getting the gang back together like this ever.

Well done to all.

Wow… how can they properly resolve everything with just one more episode. Two unexpected things happened: 1. Shaw dying – I thought there was a spinoff there. 2. Elizabeth Dennehy when they said the Admiral’s name commanding the 1701-F, my ears perked up. It looks like she met the same fate as Ro Lauren a couple of weeks back. 3. Do we know who is playing the Borg Queen? It didn’t sound like Allison Pill who borg’d out at the end of season 2. 4. I suspect Jack may be more than the Borg bargained for and is able to use his ability to control them.

Excellent episode. It was great to have Elizabeth Dennehy back, even if it was for a short time. I’m not embarrassed to say I got all the feels when Enterprise-D came into view. The best season of Picard, which is really just TNG Season 8.

As someone who watched TNG when it originally aired, I loved the ‘get off my lawn’ implication that the Borg code affects only those under 25. Across the centuries, young’uns will always be the worst.

Perfection!

Seeing the Enterprise D again was like getting an old friend back. I’ve always loved the Enterprise A along with the Enterprise E. While the e is down for the count, I hope the fleet museum and the older ships survive to see another day.

Best episode in the series!!!

Ridiculous. Not planning on watching the last episode now. Been a fan for years. This is the most disappointing direction they could have gone in… 5 minute star trek ending anyone? There was so much possibility SO MUCH and all of this just to see the Enterprise D.

Not worth the time. thanks for wasting my last 9 thursdays.

How exhausting it must be to be you

Crazy is apparently exhausting, so yeah.

Yeah…..right

You have literally never been more wrong about any internet comment you have left in your life.

Time to get your diaper changed.

This show is on a streaming site and can do away with some of the conventions of ad based time constraints of usual tv.

Hopefully they will have an extended version of the upcoming battle to save Star Fleet and the galaxy. To try and do a rescue, battle the Borg and celebrate their victory within the allotted 45 minutes of broadcast tv would be a disservice to the excellent third season and closing of a phenomenal chapter in the Star Trek series.

it’s written so as to add in commercials on Paramount+ (in the future if not now) but I’m guessing also for airing overseas on international broadcast tv or wherever else with ads eventually

I refuse to believe that Shaw is DEAD dead. 🙉

I hate the trope of killing off Shaw. I thought they got past that and he was clear sailing and part of the Star Trek future, but no, they had to give Seven her captainship this way. Uggg! I now understand why they didn’t kill him off in the first episodes. The captainship would have gone, permanently to Riker or Picard so when this episode happened handing over the ship to Seven would have been an asshat move just so they could be with their “old” crew, instead of staying on the Titan.

I don’t think that either Picard or Riker would have been a good move. I think, although it’s sad, this was the way it had to be. Besides, they let Shaw die “with honour” like a Klingon.

Slight correction. I believe the Borg have assimilated both of LaForge’s daughters.

Man if Voyager and Defiant make a last second appearance I will lose it!! And if Janeway shows up…..oh. my. God.

Both of those ships are at the spaceship museum. Even if those ships went back into use, I think it would be unlikely that any of the familiar characters from Voyager or DS9 would be among the crew.

If Janeway doesn’t come back curious if John Delance somehow wipes them out. Doubt Wesley crusher will. 1hour will not do it justice. Maybe 3hr finale lol.

This is all very bittersweet. I was just eleven years old when the original Star Trek made its debut. My hubby and I have been died in the wool Trekkers and watching Picard is a mixture of emotions to see it all come to an end, full circle. Job well done 👍

This season of “Picard” has been the best “Star Trek” television since “Voyager” left the airwaves! Each episode topped the previous week, which I didn’t think could be done. There were so many wonderful moments and Easter eggs throughout this season, but this episode, “Vox,” was the best so far! Finally revealing Jack’s true identity, returning the Borg to their Uber-villain status within Trek lore (though they better explain the big contradiction from the season 2 finale), to the return of Shelby, that glorious reveal with the Enterprise-F, and then of course the climax ending aboard the Enterprise-D! I got choked up and was almost in tears! TNG has always been my favorite incarnation of “Star Trek,” so to have this moment was priceless! And when Picard said “now that you’re all here together, I realize what I’ve missed the most…..the carpet!” My word, I fell out of bed laughing! And right after Worf’s own humorous line that he liked the Enterprise-E better. This episode was just superb “Star Trek” on every level! Promote Terry Matalas to Grand Bird of the Galaxy already, and at the very least, Paramount/CBS must give the green light to #StarTrekLegacy! Make it so!

Loved the USS Pulaski ship name…

Also spotted the USS Hikaru Sulu!

“Let’s make sure history never forgets the name… Enterprise.”

And man – did that “Engage” hit you in the feels, or what?

Since most of the command staff at Star Fleet over 25 years old have been killed by the under 25 year old Borg the new Star Fleet officers will be the youngest ones in the history of the Federation.

Talk about a really new next generation Star Trek.

Its a shame that the big reveal of the Borg plan did not live up to its expectations. It just feels somewhat contrived and un-Borg-like. Not to mention it has a serious case of megalomania oneupsmanship, like most sequels these days. Its a good thing Matales got almost everything else right so this misstep blunders the joy somewhat but it doesnt completely ruin it.

If you didn’t go a little nuts seeing the Enterprise-D at the end, you shouldn’t have been watching this show. I’ve loved watching this group get together again and while I was sorry to see Shaw go, this has been a fantastic season. I’ve heard some rumors that this might not actually be the last season; if season 4 would be up to this quality, I’d be very happy with that.

I thought the dr jarati was now the borg queen (last season). I am confused

As Shaw said, real Borg were still out there. Yurati’s Borg Queen is the product of an alternate time line and doesn’t effect the other Borg.

what alternate timeline ? they all time travelled and then returned to same point in time … didn’t they ? and Jarati took the long way back (ie. just living for a few hundred years to eventually catch up with them) I think ???

not an alt timeline – it’s still the same timeline I thought

Episode 9 was a shock but I sort of expected it was to do with the Borg . But wow what a twist . Sorry episode 10 has come around so quick .

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Star Trek: Picard episode 9 recap: The first part of the season finale has a major revelation

Our spoiler-filled Star Trek: Picard episode 9 review

- Episode 9 (of 10), 'Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 ' - Written by Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman - Directed by Akiva Goldsman ★★★½

Spoilers follow .

After a bumpy ride, the La Sirena emerges from the Borg transwarp conduit and arrives at Soji's homeworld, Coppelius. Picard notes that by using the conduit, the ship has travelled 25 light years in just 15 minutes. Narek appears, opening fire, but Seven of Nine and her newly-acquired Borg Cube, the Artifact, intervenes. Then, suddenly, giant orchid-like flowers rise from the planet and grab hold of the La Sirena, the Cube, and Narek's Snakehead, dragging them down to the surface of Coppelius.

Everyone survives, but the La Sirena is out of action. Before they leave on foot to find a nearby settlement, Picard tells the crew about the terminal brain condition he learned about in episode 2. He says there's no effective treatment, but he doesn't want to be treated like a dying man. They exit the ship and find themselves in a desert, and later enter the wreckage of the crashed Artifact. Elnor and Seven of Nine are alive, and both say their goodbyes to Picard. He says Elnor must stay there and protect the ex-Borg. Raffi accesses a Borg computer and is troubled by the discovery that a fleet of 218 Romulan Warbirds is on its way to Coppelius.

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Picard and the others finally arrive at the settlement where Soji was created. The place is populated almost entirely with matching pairs of organic synths. Some of them – likely earlier models than Dahj and Soji – are closer to Data in appearance, with a golden shimmer on their skin and yellow eyes. A man introduces himself as Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, the son of Noonian Soong, the cyberneticist who built Data. A woman called Sutra who looks remarkably like Soji, but with Data's eyes, has learned how to perform a Vulcan Mind-Meld and uses it on Jurati to see the Admonition that Commodore Oh forced her to watch at the beginning of episode 7.

It seems the Admonition, on which the Zhat Vash based its entire anti-synth philosophy, was never meant for organic life. Sutra, a synth, sees the vision much more clearly. It's revealed to be a message left by a mysterious race of higher synthetic beings, as a warning for other synths. They say that eventually organics will turn on their creations, seeing them as a threat, and if that happens, these beings can be summoned to intervene. "Your evolution will be their extinction." Later, Sutra tries to convince Soji that summoning these powerful beings is the only way they can save themselves, even if it means wiping out all organic life in the galaxy.

Narek is captured by the synths, but is secretly released by Sutra, and he kills one of them in the escape. The last we see of him, he's running towards the Artifact. At a funeral for the murdered synth, Sutra reveals her plan to summon these higher beings. Picard is horrified and pleads with her to reconsider. He says he can keep them safe, make a deal with the Federation, but Soong laughs it off. Soong says they haven't listened to Picard since the attack on Mars. Picard is imprisoned by the synths as the massive Romulan fleet, led by Commodore Oh, approaches Coppelius.

Verdict: This episode sets the board for the season finale, feeling like the calm before an inevitable storm. The truth about the Admonition is a big moment, even if an advanced synthetic race wiping all organic life from the galaxy is hardly an original sci-fi concept. The highlight of this episode is Sutra, the Data-eyed Soji lookalike who has a real evil streak in her. And it's great seeing Brent Spiner again, playing another member of the Soong clan. This is a solid episode, but I really hope they stick the landing.

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• On the crashed Borg Cube, a former drone seems to recognise Picard and calls him Locutus. In the classic Next Generation episode The Best of Both Worlds (S3E26), Picard is captured and assimilated by the Borg and given this name, which is Latin for "the one who speaks."

• Altan Inigo Soong is the son of Noonian Soong, the brilliant Federation cyberneticist who created Data in his own image. Noonian Soong (played by Brent Spiner) has appeared in Star Trek several times, most notably the TNG episode Brothers (S4E03), where Data meets his maker.

• Altan Soong tells Picard about Sutra's fascination with Vulcan culture, and notes that she can play the ka'athyra. In the original 1960s Star Trek series, Spock could often be found playing this lute-like instrument, which was designed by legendary prop maker Wah Ming Chang.

Star Trek: Picard is available to watch on CBS All Access every Thursday in the US, and every Friday on Amazon Prime Video internationally.

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‘Star Trek: Picard’ Review: Brent Spiner Returns as Data’s ‘Brother,’ but Which One?

Christian blauvelt.

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Consider this writer impressed.

“Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1” does a spectacular job of synthesizing the style of “The Next Generation” with that of “The Original Series” — and the result is something new altogether.

What does that mean? Well, think about this: we’ve got a race of higher life forms that look somewhat human, but in manner are clearly not. Their women are scantily clad, unnaturally hued, and a tad spacey. Their men, shirtless, leave no impression at all. And they all live in a kind of Eden where any disruption to their utopian ways could result in an apocalyptic, deus ex machina solution. They also use giant space flowers as weapons!

This could be the setup of any number of “Original Series” episodes. But then you throw Brent Spiner in the mix as a self-described “mad scientist” and Jean-Luc Picard ’s speechifying and you’ve got a dash of “Next Gen” added to the mix. The combination of the two results in a synthesis that could be the defining aesthetic of “Star Trek: Picard.”

Other than “Nepenthe,” this is surely the best episode of this uneven series to date, and it began with a bang: a space battle between La Sirena and Narek’s Romulan craft upon emerging from the transwarp corridor. They’d traveled 25 light years in 15 minutes and emerged above the world Coppelius — a name that has its origin in a strange E.T.A. Hoffmann story. More on that later.

Seven of Nine pilots what was once “The Artifact” over Coppelius herself, the Borg cube emerging from its own transwarp tunnel with a satisfying thwang (spectacular sound editing in this episode). All of this reminds one of the classic real-time strategy games “Star Trek: Armada” and “Star Trek: Armada II” which depicted transwarp corridors very much the same way. (Those games were the best.)

Giant flowers from the surface of the planet suddenly appear, each enveloping these ships in orbit and causing them to crash down onto the surface — including the Cube.

Our heroes venture over to the cube to see who survived, and, reuniting with Seven of Nine and Elnor, Picard learns that Hugh sacrificed himself trying to expel the Romulans once and for all.

Raffi uses the cube’s sensors to search for the Romulan fleet following in their wake: it’s 218 warbirds. Let’s hope the denizens of this planet have quite the greenhouse to grow more of those deadly flowers!

It turns out they do not. After bidding farewell to Elnor and Seven — a lovely exchange in which Seven says “Keep saving the galaxy, Picard” and the captain replies, passing the torch, “That’s all on you now” — they visit the settlement where the synths have been growing their community. This is where we’re to believe the rest of Data’s “children” were either made or settled. And they’re living life like it’s a hippie commune, doing public calisthenics and tai chi in the town square.

Les bergers d'Arcadie (shepherds of Arcadia), also called Et in Arcadia Ego (Nicolas Poussin)Art (Paintings) - various Artist: POUSSIN, Nicolas (1594-1665, French ) Location: Musée du Louvre Paris

This is where the title comes into play. “Et in Arcadia Ego” is the name of a Nicolas Poussin painting in which shepherds read the inscription on a tomb. Arcadia is the central region of the Peloponnese. It was a quiet rural area sparsely populated during the time of ancient Greece, when most Greeks lived in cities along the coast. The Greeks considered Arcadia to be a pastoral paradise away from the strife of urban life — and yet death is found even here, as exemplified by this tomb. “And in Arcadia, I am” is the literal Latin translation, though most interpret it as “Even in Arcadia, I am,” meaning that you can never escape death no matter where you travel.

This whole time we’d thought Bruce Maddox had been the one to get this community off the ground, but it turns out a silver fox walks forward with a jaunty greeting: it’s Brent Spiner as Dr. Alton Inigo Soong! He looks exactly like Data would’ve looked if he were a “real” human who “got old and soft,” as Soong puts it.

How odd. Now, of course, “Star Trek” has always suddenly sprung never-before-seen family members on us, from Spock’s never-previously-mentioned brother Sybok in “The Final Frontier” and Spock’s never-previously-mentioned sister Michael Burnham on “Discovery.” So it’s possible that Dr. Noonien Soong, the robotics prodigy who created Data and his evil brother Lore, could have had a flesh and blood son. Even though a previous episode of “Next Gen” established Soong had no children.

It’s possible.

But something seems off about this Dr. Alton Inigo Soong. “Alton Inigo?” Could that be any closer to “alter ego”? And the way he describes his father — “he had me but he created Data… a fact he never let me forget” — suggests not just a little bit of resentment toward Data. That account conveniently elides the fact that his father created Lore first, a robot who was a little too human — whose personality was driven by emotion more than logic. He could fit in much better than Data could. What made Data a better “person” was that he constantly strove to be human, even though he found it so difficult — he could never even use contractions in speaking, something that came naturally to Lore. That Lore didn’t have to strive to be human meant he lacked a moral center. Lore was driven by his jealousy, his greed, his lust for power.

Lore also had a connection to Hugh, Jonathan Del Arco’s late, dearly missed ex-Borg, when he came to control a group of ex-Borg in the two-part “Next Gen” episode “Descent.”

Calling it now: Dr. Alton Inigo Soong is Lore, and he sent Soji to Hugh’s Borg Cube, possibly hoping that she’d learn more about the Admonition from Narissa’s crazy aunt who saw it. She’d have to fit in completely with the other doctors on the cube, so “Soong” wiped all memory from Soji that she’s an android — eventually she’d come into contact with her and learn what that Admonition was all about.

One of Soong’s other Soji lookalikes, Sutra (whose skin looks like it’s covered in bullion flakes, as if she’s a victim of Auric Goldfinger) has a theory: the Admonition was not a warning for organics to destroy all synthetics, lest the Apocalypse should happen. It was a message for synthetics about how to summon an even more advanced, eternal alliance of synthetics that spans galaxies. When they arrive they’ll wipe out all organic life in the galaxy to protect and preserve the synths who felt they were under threat. And in this Admonition is a frequency synths can use to make first contact.

Who are these all-powerful synths from far away? We know from the episode “I, Mudd” in “The Original Series” that an advanced civilization once resided in the Andromeda galaxy until a supernova destroyed them, leaving only their sentient androids behind. Sounds a lot like what happened to the Romulans. Could these higher level androids have already arranged the Romulan supernova as a preemptive strike?

Turns out, Soji didn’t need to get this glimpse of the Admonition from Narissa’s aunt at all. Because coming right to this settlement on Coppelius is Agnes Jurati, who saw it herself: Sutra performs a mind-meld with her and gets the frequency to contact these higher-level robots. Now the stakes are this: to protect themselves from the Romulan invasion fleet, will the androids of Coppelius become the very thing the Romulans want to destroy them for in the first place? Is it worth saving yourself if you become a monster in the process?

Sutra clearly thinks so, and she’s going a long way toward proving the Romulans right. But she has to convince the rest of the androids that such a drastic step is merited. She needs to murder one of their own first and pin it on the Romulans: she sends one of them, a very open-hearted and naïve android named Saga, to check in on Narek, who they’ve imprisoned after their flowers brought his ship to the ground. And Sutra arranges it that Saga is killed and Narek freed so that it looks like he was the one to kill her. Passions will run high and the androids will turn to the most extreme measures.

And goading them on this whole time? Dr. Alton Inigo Soong, who apparently feels unconcerned about being destroyed along with the rest of the organics in the galaxy. When Picard tries to give a rousing speech about how they will all find a safe harbor in the Federation, he mockingly shuts him down, noting that the Federation didn’t listen to him before about saving the Romulans — why would they now? This seems exactly like something Lore would do. We also see that he’s been working on a “mind transfer” project to place the consciousness of people whose bodies are failing them into fresh android bodies.

So now Picard and his makeshift crew stand between two warring factions, with both sides hostile to them: the Romulans, who want nothing but to destroy all synthetic life, and the androids who are going out of their way under Sutra’s leadership to prove the Romulans right. What side will Soji ultimately take in this whole showdown?

Oh, about “Coppelius”: That was the name of a character in Hoffmann’s short story “The Sandman” from 1816. Hoffmann loved tales about inanimate objects granted sentience (he also wrote “The Nutcracker”). Coppelius is the villain of the piece: a lawyer obsessed with the alchemical arts who “begins taking ‘shining masses’ out of the fire and hammering them into face-like shapes without eyes.” A rival alchemist actually does succeed in creating a lifelike automaton (one who succeeds in “passing” as human), and this rival calls the android “his daughter.” But Coppelius comes into possession of the automaton/android and uses it for his own nefarious purposes. Coppelius and his rival have a knockdown, drag-out fight about the purpose of the android and which one of them “created its eyes” and “which created its clockwork”: Is the thing that makes it appear human as important as its underlying programming? Sounds a bit like whatever “Dr. Soong” here was saying about how Bruce Maddox was the expert when it came to “mind transfer” while his own skills lay elsewhere.

Will Dr. Soong ultimately be revealed as Lore? Who knows. But his villainy seems pretty much assured no matter what.

And with that we only have one episode of “Star Trek: Picard” Season 1 to go. How will this wrap up?

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'Picard’ Season 3 Showrunner Terry Matalas Breaks Down Episode 9, The Borg, and Recreating the Enterprise

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Star Trek: Picard is sadly coming to an end with its third and final season, but the action hasn't slowed down, especially not where the penultimate episode is concerned. This week, "Võx" delivered some shocking truths about Jack Crusher ( Ed Speleers ) and what the Changelings—and ultimately the Borg—are really up to. In addition to revelations, Episode 9 also brought with it the tragic death of Captain Shaw ( Todd Stashwick ) which puts Seven ( Jeri Ryan ) into the unique position of becoming the captain of the U.S.S. Titan , after its shocking assimilation by the Borg. With Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) and the rest of The Next Generation crew returning to the U.S.S. Enterprise , the finale is posed to become the last great adventure for a cast that means the world to Star Trek fans.

Ahead of the Episode 9 premiere, Collider had the opportunity to chat with Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas to unpack the Borg revelation, why the Borg is targeting the younger demographic, bringing back Admiral Shelby, killing off Captain Shaw and how he could return for Star Trek: Legacy , recreating the Enterprise D, and where things are headed for the final episode of the series.

COLLIDER: So I feel like with this episode, we almost have to invert the questions a little bit and start at the end because those final 10 minutes are just everything I want to hear. What was it like that first day on the set of the bridge of Enterprise D?

TERRY MATALAS: Because this season was really ambitious, we didn't have a lot of time and money. So, to build that Enterprise bridge, and we did, every square inch of it as exact as it was, meant that we had to build it from the second we pulled the trigger on Season 3. But it also meant we only had two days to shoot on it.

MATALAS: So that meant the second we walked on the bridge, we didn't have a lot of time to look around and smell the roses. So, it was, “Alright, everybody, let's have our quick moment.” And then, me as a director had to wrangle these cats who, wonderfully, wanted to lament about the time somebody fell and ran into the wall, and broke this and that, and they want to sing and dance and tell jokes, and all the things that you've heard about as fans throughout the years when you yell cut. And you think it's delightful as a fan, but as a director, it's hard, especially when you only have two hours.

So, I was mostly terrified because I knew that if we didn't get this right, the fans were gonna revolt. But it was undeniably incredible, this legendary moment to have them on. But it didn't really hit me until we cut it all together and added the music and everything that we had accomplished, what we had set out to do.

Obviously, you have this really long history, professionally, with Star Trek , but you're also a fan of the franchise. So what was it like for you when you realized that you were going to be the man to put this crew back on that bridge?

MATALAS: It hits me at different moments all the time. It was daunting. I just didn't want to screw it up. Even now it hasn't aired yet, it airs tonight, and I'm so nervous about it. I don't think I will sleep tonight, I think I will probably mostly be looking at the returns on Twitter to see how people are reacting. So, you know, it's a hell of a thing. And I wanted to do it for them too. I mean, they all had an emotional response walking out of that terminal lift and seeing it again. But it felt like the right Enterprise to be on. You know, we have many options. We could have rebuilt the E, we could have made it one of Kirk's ships, but it felt like we wanted to end at the beginning here. And so that's where we went with it.

In building that, is that the original voice of the computer, Majel Barrett?

MATALAS: Yeah, it is archival clips of Majel.

What was that like getting to bring that in and really add all the nostalgia for it? It feels like the ship again.

MATALAS: It had to be her. And then we went back and forth as to whether or not we use AI, but at the time we were doing it, it wasn't quite there. So we used clips from [ Star Trek: The New Generation ] to make it even more authentic, but it had to be her on that ship or else it wasn't right.

What was it like for you to direct so much of the emotional stakes in this particular episode? You know, we have this really powerful moment with Jack and Picard when they're talking about the truth of everything, you have a death sequence, you have so many big moments. What was it like for you building those out, and were there any visuals that you knew you wanted to incorporate into this episode?

MATALAS: Yeah, the moment with Jack and Picard in the crew quarters, I knew I wanted to have this sense of isolation between the two, the sense of darkness between them. This quiet moment of dread between them was very important. The sense of fear from Picard, when he looked at his son, was very important. It was the culmination of that storyline that, this is Picard's worst nightmare, to face this threat again in the form of his son, that he had passed on the very worst part of him. And he's inadvertently rejecting his son in the worst way possible, and his son is seeing that.

We always knew that was the crux of the season. We were building to this moment, and that rejection would propel Jack to try and prove himself, in every way, that he was not Borg, that he would go find the queen and kill her himself and prove that he's not this cybernetic monster. And unfortunately, it did not work out that way.

I really love Jack's moxie for thinking he could take on the Borg Queen with just a phaser.

MATALAS: Well, kids today, am I right?

Exactly. I was like, “Your parents are so smart, and you're showing that you did not inherit all of that intelligence.”

MATALAS: It's that James Kirk rushing-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread spirit, the kids-always-know-better-than-their-parents thing. And again, he gets that from his old man, that sense of rage that the young Picard had, that we knew about back in TNG . We heard about that.

Honestly, I'm just excited that we can finally talk about the Borg because I love the Borg, and the revelation that this whole time it has been Borg-related, there have been clues. Can you talk a little bit about some of the foreshadowing that has been incorporated throughout the season, and what it's been like seeing fans slowly pick up on some of those moments, mostly some of the most recent episodes as well?

MATALAS: It's certainly been hidden in plain sight. The very first words you hear in the season are the words, “The Borg,” from Jack listening to his father's logs on the Eleos to Shaw's experience with Wolf 359. I think that this season possibly works better as a binge than it does in the week-to-week hivemind of Star Trek fans.

The Collective?

MATALAS: The Trek Collective certainly picks up on Borg and screams Borg with each other easier. So much so that they start to look for alternatives, like Pah Wraiths being one? Which is, you know, certainly not one that we ever would have thought people would go to. So that's a little bit trickier. There's certainly going to be fans that are disappointed we didn't go with Pah Wraiths, but that wasn't a red herring we ever suggested. We always thought they would air towards some kind of Changeling alternative. So that's a new revelation for us as we watch this unfold.

I was laughing that they want everybody under 25, essentially. What was the decision of 25? I was personally offended because I was like, “I'm 30! You mean I won't be assimilated by the Borg?” Is there a purpose behind that cut-off?

MATALAS: Well, it was based on real biology about when portions of the brain actually stop forming. But we always knew we wanted the last generation to save the next. That was always the storyline. But there is a moment in biology in which the cerebral cortex stops its formation, and so that was when we figured that Borg biology would be key.

Jumping back to the reveal at the top of the episode, I'm a sucker for music, so I really appreciated the song choice, but what factored into that song choice? I also found it funny because at the last 10 minutes, I'm crying, so the fact that the opening song is “I’m So Happy I Can't Stop Crying” was perfect begin-at-the-end vibes there.

MATALAS: I think we heard it for the first time, actually, in the Eleos , when Riker and Picard board the Eleos , when he says, “It's part of a compilation of classics I played,” so I believe it's part of the Picard mix.

Oh, interesting, I missed that the first time around. I'll have to rewatch that episode. I think that the moment when Deanna realizes what she's dealing with, and she just books it is unironically hilarious because she's like, “You won't be alone, Jack,” and then she's like, “Sike! I'm heading out of here.” What factored into that decision in the writing? I think it's so perfect, but I'm really curious to know when playing with that scene, how that came about.

MATALAS: Well, it was, “What is the thing that would make her so terrified that she couldn't stop and have an explanation for Jack, that she'd immediately have to go talk to the parents about?” And her seeing a Borg Cube was definitely, “I gotta go talk to your parents about this first because they're gonna need to explain this to you.” It definitely felt reasonable.

We don't see the Borg Queen’s face in this, but we do get in the credits that the voice is Alice Krige. Is that who it is, or is it somebody else? Is it another one of the Borg Queens? Because there’ve been several.

MATALAS: It is Alice Krige as the Borg Queen. You will see in the finale, though, it is voiced by Alice Krige, but the Borg Queen does not look good when you see her. Janeway did a number on them the last time we saw them, and there's a reason she needs Jack.

Interesting. You know, I think at least two of these postmortems I am on the record saying, “I really thought this episode was where Shaw was going to bite it,” and he finally, unfortunately, tragically dies in this episode. What went into the decision to kill him off?

MATALAS: It was always part of Shaw's arc to die at the hands of the Borg. It was always going to be, from the beginning, how he went out.

I mean, it really is his worst nightmare.

MATALAS: It's his worst nightmare, but one he faces heroically, and he gets to be the one who sends them on the escape pod. They are the lucky ones this time. You know, the story was always about the brave lieutenant who sent them off. He gets to be the one who does that, and I think he'd probably have it no other way. And in his last moments, he gets to show Seven of Nine the respect that he always knew she was due. That was always his story, for sure.

There's some beautiful irony in the fact that the Borg have taken over the ship at that point, and so he's essentially turning over his ship to somebody who was formerly Borg. There's just so much beauty in how his death is constructed and played out. How hard has it been for you to see how much fans love Shaw, knowing that this was coming? Are you prepared for the waterworks?

MATALAS: Look, I love that people have loved him because the journey has been from hate to love with him, you know? So, that has been gratifying. I will say that we're not done with Shaw yet, in some ways, [and] that Todd Stashwick appears in all 10 episodes this season. But he is dead.

I guess that kind of plays into my next question; is there a way to work him into a future legacy storyline? Like, “He may be dead, but… ”?

MATALAS: I will say this, because I have to say this, there is currently no Star Trek: Legacy in development at Paramount+. But from the very beginning of this season, there has always been a plan for this character to be part of the spin-off, and it is absolutely amazing how. And should we be so lucky to ever have a discussion, it would be very cool, and Todd Stashwick would absolutely be a part of it.

I feel like the fans definitely want that, and they definitely want it to be in conversation at some point. I feel like the fan interest in that is only growing by the episode. Going back to the Borg, which is a great segue from Shaw's worst fears, I guess now we know why like Jack and Seven hit it off so quickly because there's that Borg connection there that we see. Are we going to see any more of the way that he connects with other Borg as we careen toward the last episode?

MATALAS: Well, he certainly has been fully seduced by the Collective. So, you will learn more about why, and how he feels about it, but he's in trouble, and there's probably only one person who can relate to him at this point.

This is true. I feel like people will probably be asking this tomorrow when the episode airs, but is there a connection between the Borg plot in Season 2 at all with the Borg plot in Season 3, or are those two very different?

MATALAS: I could say that the Borg Conduit, from Season 2, was a bit of a distraction so that they could open the real one where they are, which you'll discover in the finale.

There's a really fun cameo in this episode with Admiral Shelby. Can you talk a little bit about bringing that character back in?

MATALAS: Who better in an episode about the Borg taking over and assimilating Starfleet, and to see again then Admiral Shelby? It just seemed perfect, and she's so good.

She’s fantastic, it was very fun.

MATALAS: It was so great to see her again, and she just was phenomenal coming onto the bridge. She had that monologue down so tight, I think she did that whole thing in an hour. It was so great.

Oh, wow, that's really impressive. Are there any Easter eggs in this episode that you're really excited for fans to see, or ones that maybe you geeked out about having in this episode… aside from the giant Easter egg of seeing the bridge again, and all the fun little bits of that?

MATALAS: Nolan North is the voice of the captain of the Excelsior . He's a great, amazing voiceover artist from many video games that he does. That's a nice cameo. Some of the ship names have quite a bit of significance. The Hikaru Sulu , and whatnot are really cool in Frontier Day.

So what can you tease for the finale?

MATALAS: It's big. It's definitely the biggest episode of the series. It definitely will feel like a movie, and definitely will be a passing of the torch to the next generation.

Which I think we all want. Mentioning that it feels like a movie is a perfect segue for my last question, which is, why was it so important to bring these last two episodes to cinemas? Is it to have that final Next Generation movie?

MATALAS: I think everybody just saw these two and were like, “They should be in a movie theater.” They always felt as cinematic as we could make television. And so, when the studio and the network saw them, they were like, “How do we get these on the big screen?” Which is amazing for us to do. It's pretty great, and they really hold up. When they said they were going to do it in IMAX I was like, “Whoa, I wish I had known that when we were shooting it.” But when we tested it and brought it in, it really holds up. It really feels like a movie. So, it'll be really exciting to see that next week with a crowd and see how it plays.

So, will it play like two episodes with the opening sequence and all of that, or will it be re-cut so it's just straight through?

MATALAS: It will play like two episodes, but having watched it, even though it has the second title, it just feels like a movie. Especially since the second episode is a little bit longer, and has quite a few codas to wrap things up, you feel the cinema of it?

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 is streaming now on Paramount+.

Den of Geek

Picard Season 3 Episode 9 Easter Eggs Deliver the True Return of ’90s Star Trek

Star Trek: Picard season 3 can't go more '90s than it has in its penultimate episode!

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This Star Trek: Picard article contains spoilers.

As Picard season 3 heads toward its conclusion, Star Trek fans are simply not prepared for how hard these episodes go in the nostalgia department. More than any other science fiction franchise, Star Trek ’s history is so rich and varied, that it’s always possible to do something new with old material. For this reason, Picard ’s penultimate episode, “Vox,” is still pretty shocking, even if you predicted some of these twists.

The easter eggs and callbacks here are there for the fan service, of course. But these are also storytelling moments, payoffs that are decades in the making. Here are all the biggest and most and best references and easter eggs in “Vox,” the next-to-last episode of Picard ever.

The Crimson Arboretum on Raritan IV

As Jack and Deanna try to get that red door opened, Jack remembers visiting the “crimson arboretum” on Raritan IV. We actually saw Raritan IV at the start of Picard season 2, and it appeared to be populated by Deltans. Raritan itself is a real city in New Jersey, and in SyFy’s 12 Monkeys — produced by Picard showrunner Terry Matalas — it was the site of Project Splinter, a time machine. On top of that, the crimson arboretum is probably a reference to the “red forest,” a time-altering concept from 12 Monkeys .

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We Are the Borg

Turns out behind the red door is a giant Borg cube. Jack has dormant genetic Borg DNA and that’s what’s been causing trouble all this time. Later in the episode, Data and Geordi figure out that Jean-Luc had similar Borg DNA, too, which is why the Changelings stole his human body. Their plan was to harvest that genetic code.

The Borg references in this episode are numerous. Early in the episode, we actually hear dialogue from the TNG episode “The Best of Both Worlds.” Also, the revelations about Picard’s ability to “hear” the Borg even after he was assimilated references the opening of First Contact , when Picard told Troi he could “hear” the Borg when they tried to attack Earth at the start of that movie.

Deanna Troi’s “Gifts”

This is a small one, but when Jean-Luc and Beverly question what Troi saw in Jack’s mind, she says “My gifts aren’t perfect, but I have never mistaken Borg.” This may go without saying, but Deanna Troi is not a full telepath like other Betazoids, she’s mostly an empath. Trek canon has played fast-and-loose with her ability to speak exclusively inside of other people’s minds, but there’s always been a limitation, which is why Deanna doesn’t have straight-up mind-reading skills. This small line of dialogue actually helps with some of these decades-long canon inconsistencies. Troi can speak to Riker and her mom via what seems like telepathy directly in their minds, but she can’t always get thought patterns 100 percent correct. Her gifts aren’t perfect!

Which Borg again?

Beverly says, “No one has seen from or heard from the Borg in over a decade.” For those who watched Picard season 2 this might be a bit confusing. But, as Shaw pointed out in episode 4 of this season, the Jurati-led Borg were from an alternate timeline and had nothing to do with the Borg in the Prime Universe. Over a decade means that the last time the “regular” Borg appeared would have been sometime before 2391. This would be roughly around the time the Borg Cube known as the “artifact” went offline before the events of Picard season 1.

Picard and the Borg Queen

Jean-Luc tells Jack, he “came close to killing everyone I knew, everyone I loved,” referencing the events of “The Best of Both Worlds.” He also references the Borg Queen, saying that Jack can’t know “what she can make you do.” This foreshadows the arrival of the true Borg Queen, as played by Alice Krige, later in this episode!

Voice of Alice Krige

As the credits reveal, the Borg Queen is once again played by the voice of Alice Krige. She first played the character in First Contact , and later, in the Voyager finale. Krige also voiced the Borg Queen in Lower Decks Season 2.

The Changeling-Borg Alliance

In two scenes full of a lot of new information, Data, Geordi, and Worf lay out what’s been going on all this time. The Borg and the rogue Changelings made a pact to destroy the Federation. Vadic discovered the genetic Borg code in Picard’s body when she broke out of Daystrom Station. The Borg, as still controlled by the Borg Queen, accepted the Changelings’ help for reasons that will likely become clearer in the finale. The Borg introduced Picard’s genetic code into all the Starfleet transporters, which embedded the Borg juice into anybody who uses the transporter.

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The Borg were unable to put this code in the transporters on their own, because, as we were told in season 2, the Prime Universe Borg were hobbled by Janeway’s actions in the finale of Voyager .

A Huge Amount of Starship Easter Eggs

Throughout the episode, we see countless Starfleet ships and many of those names are easter eggs and references. Here’s a list of the biggest ones:

USS Okuda : This references Michael and Denise Okuda, longtime designers and artists who have worked on the Star Trek franchise since The Next Generation .
USS Sutherland : This was the name of the ship Data took command of in the TNG episode “Redemption.”
USS Drexler: This references Doug Drexler, a longtime and influential Star Trek artist.
USS Akira : The Akira-class starship was first glimpsed in First Contact and is named after the anime sci-fi classic Akira .
USS Luna: Riker’s Titan from Lower Decks was a Luna-class ship, and we do see at least a few Luna-class ships in fleet formation.
USS Excelsior: Obviously, a reference to the Excelsior from the classic Trek films, although a new Excelsior was introduced in the Picard season 2 premiere.
USS Ross: Likely a reference to Admiral Ross from Deep Space Nine .
USS Relian t: The ship Khan stole in The Wrath of Khan . But another Reliant was the first ship Picard served in deep space, which was established in Picard season 1 and TNG .
USS Castillo: This references Richard Castillo, the first officer of the USS Enterprise-C , from the TNG episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise.”
USS Zheng-He: An Inquiry-class ship we saw in the finale of Picard season 1. This was Riker’s ship at that time, and it’s named for an ancient Chinese naval explorer. All the Inquiry-class ships are named for ancient explorers or scientists
USS Ibn al-Haytham: Named for an Arab astronomer who was born in the year 956. Likely another Inquiry-class ship.
USS Harlan: Probably named for Harlan Ellison, the science fiction writer who penned The Original Series classic “City on the Edge of Forever.”
USS Forrest : This references Admiral Forrest from Star Trek: Enterprise .
USS Hikaru Sulu: Obviously a reference to Sulu from TOS and all the classic films.
USS Intrepid: We’ve actually seen this new Intrepid earlier this season. This was the ship that tried to trap the Titan in episode 5 .
USS Cochrane: Named for Zefram Cochrane, the inventor of the warp drive, introduced in the TOS episode “Metamorphosis” and made famous by the film First Contact .

The USS Enterprise-F

Since the first episode, we’ve known that the Enterprise-F has been scheduled for decommissioning. In the game Star Trek Online , the Enterprise-F is an Odyssey-class ship, and it appears here much as it does in that game.

Admiral Shelby (Elizabeth Dennehy)

Elizabeth Dennehy reprises her role as Shelby, who first appeared in “The Best of Both Worlds.” At the time, she was Starfleet’s leading Borg expert, which is why Picard cracks wise about “the irony of her endorsing something so Borg-like.”

The Anniversary of the NX-01

We learn here that Frontier Day celebrates the voyage of the Enterprise NX-01 from the series Enterprise . We hear cues from the Dennis McCarthy score from that series as Shelby explains the voyages of the NX-01 “would lead to…the birth of what we know as Starfleet.” To be clear, Starfleet existed in Enterprise . But the Federation did not. This is a small distinction, but the Federation version of Starfleet and the Enterprise version of Starfleet are a bit different. Basically, Frontier Day draws a line at the NX-01 as the end of the old Starfleet and the beginning of the new. The first version of Starfleet clearly existed before 2151, but now, it appears Starfleet thinks of those days as different from the Starfleet we know. This makes a decent amount of sense. Everything in Enterprise indicates that Starfleet wasn’t doing much boldly going before the NX-01.

Shaw Gives Seven Command

After Shaw is tragically blasted by the newly assimilated Titan crew, he gives command to Seven, and poignantly calls her “Seven of Nine,” instead of Commander Hansen. Shaw had previously refused to call Seven by her name, and instead, had used her pre-assimilation name.

The Fleet Museum and Docking Bay 12

When Geordi takes the crew back to the Fleet Museum, we finally get to see what’s inside Docking Bay 12. Back in episode 6, “The Bounty,” Geordi’s daughter Alandra, suggested they try to use something in Docking Bay 12. Now we know what it is.

The ENTERPRISE-D!!!

The biggest plot point in this episode of Picard is the return of the Enterprise-D . When Picard questions how the half-destroyed ship can even be here, Geordi says, “Thanks to the good old Prime Directive, the saucer was retrieved from Veridian III so as to not influence the system. I’ve been restoring it bit-by-bit over the last 20 years, the engines and nacelles come from the USS Syracuse .”

This quick bit of dialogue tells you everything: The saucer section, which crashed on Veridian III in Generations , was retrieved, and Geordi rebuilt the rest of the ship by salvaging other ships!

What Happened to the Enterprise-E?

Geordi quips that “we obviously can’t use the Enterprise-,” and everybody gives Worf the stink eye. He replies, “That was not my fault.” This references the fact that at some point after Nemesis , Worf was the captain of the Enterprise-E . We don’t know what happened to it, but clearly, it’s in no shape to get restored! We wrote way more about Worf and the Enterprise-E here .

The Enterprise-D Bridge and Majel Barrett

When the crew boards the Enterprise , the easter eggs mostly speak for themselves. The style of the bridge is exactly as it was on TNG , emulating the look of the ship from the series rather than from Generations . We see the classic dedication plaque, and Jean-Luc even makes a joke about the carpet. (A lot of contemporary Trek bridges don’t have carpet.)

When Picard takes command of the ship, we hear the voice of Majel Barrett, the late wife of Gene Roddenberry, who played the voice of the computer throughout TOS and TNG . This is the first time we’ve heard her voice in a new Star Trek show or movie since 2009 when she was the voice of the computer in the first J.J. Abrams reboot.

The computer recognizes Picard as “Captain” not as “Admiral,” and Jean-Luc says that he accepts the “field demotion.” Data’s been calling him “captain” since episode 6. Riker called him “captain” in episode 1, and now, everyone’s calling him “captain.” Clearly, Captain Picard is back, and as Riker says, “We are the crew of the USS Enterprise .”

As the Enterprise-D makes its way out of Spacedock, we can see the NX-01 parked behind her in the Fleet Museum. And just before the ship goes to warp, the ship looks just as it does in Picard’s famous painting in his ready room. The Next Generation has returned and fans are not ready for this finale.

Ryan Britt is a longtime contributor to Den of Geek! He is also the author of three non-fiction books: the Star Trek pop history book PHASERS…

Star Trek: Picard season 2 episode 9 review: "How do you solve a problem like the Borg Queen?"

GamesRadar+ Verdict

With no Q, no Renée Picard, and no Europa mission, ‘Hide and Seek’ is an unnecessary detour from the season’s core arc. It has enough entertaining moments to pass the time, but next week’s finale needs to up its game.

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Warning: This Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 9 review contains major spoilers – many of them set to stun. Boldly go further at your own risk…

The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard season 2 is titled ‘Hide and Seek’, but a more accurate name might have been ‘How do you solve a problem like the Borg Queen?’ The figurehead of the cyborg Collective has been one of the standout characters of the season – whether she’s inhabiting Agnes Jurati’s body or not – but as the story arc gets closer to its conclusion, she’s turned into something of a distraction.

The Queen’s presence in the 21st century was always an entertaining narrative convenience, her mastery of the space-time continuum the means by which Picard and co. traveled back in order to save the future. But with her impressive arsenal of witty putdowns and knack for stirring things up, she’s been a welcome – if antagonistic – addition to the crew. Unfortunately, in ‘Hide and Seek’ she’s starting to get in the way.

It’s as if the writing team didn’t want to deal with the Q/Soong/Renée Picard conundrum until the Borg interloper was safely removed from the equation, and her over-involvement here makes the episode feel rather anticlimactic and flat. This is the TV equivalent of a holding pattern, when the story should be warping towards the finish line.

That’s not to say the episode is quiet or dull. In fact, this is the most action-packed outing of the season so far, as Queen Agnes’s army of insta-drones goes into full-on attack mode in a bid to take control of La Sirena. Nods to the likes of Aliens and Star Trek: First Contact are everywhere – the repeated use of very Borgy lasers, albeit green rather than red, is a neat touch – though it’s nowhere near as accomplished as the action classics it imitates.

As the crew of La Sirena reluctantly play soldiers, Picard uses his knowledge of the chateau and its numerous secret passages to marshal the fight back. Leading the opposition is Adam Soong, who has – rather unconvincingly – morphed from disgraced scientist to military leader in what seems like the blink of an eye. As with the Borg Queen, a promising character has become surplus to requirements as the story strains to keep him relevant.

While it makes sense that a man as ruthlessly ambitious as Soong would be desperate to ensure his legacy – especially now that the product of his life’s work, Kore, has rejected him – it doesn’t ring true that he’s betting everything on the word of a strange cyborg woman he’s only just met, however appealing the idea of being the ‘saviour’ of a dystopian future might be. Indeed, If Soong wasn’t played by Star Trek legend Brent Spiner, it’s unlikely he’d still have a part to play in the story.

And if you were expecting that big showdown between Q and his old sparring partner Jean-Luc, well, that’s going to have to wait. Instead, the legendary former captain of the Enterprise is distracted by further trips down memory lane, as the episode continues ‘ Monsters ’’ excessive flashbacks to his childhood. This is somewhat problematic.

Firstly, the idea that Picard would start to daydream in the midst of a heated battle is insulting to both the character and the audience. But more importantly, everything we learn about his past adds little to Trek mythology.

‘Monsters’ made it pretty clear that Picard lost his mother in tragic circumstances, so the revelation that she hanged herself – and that he feels responsible for her death – isn’t quite the bombshell the writers clearly think it is. It’s also questionable whether Jean-Luc Picard needed a tragic backstory – if this is the show’s way of explaining away his subsequent well-publicised attachment issues, it’s an over-simplistic and cheap move.

With Picard spending most of the episode indulging in painful nostalgia, it’s left to Raffi and Seven to save the day on La Sirena, where Queen Agnes is plotting to use the ship to establish a new Collective. Unexpected help comes in the form of a holographic Elnor, conjured up by Jurati (still lurking inside that shared mind) to keep the Queen from the ship’s security codes. Whether his return is the most ridiculous element of the episode is debatable – it’s a competitive field – but he does, at least, help Raffi confront her guilt over his death. That said, if La Sirena has the ability to recreate any crew member as an emergency hologram, you have to wonder why the 25th century isn’t packed with virtual avatars of resurrected dead people. And whether – after the ridiculous plot twists in the Discovery season 4 finale – it’s possible for a key Trek character to die and stay dead.

At least, in what would seem to be her final appearance, Queen Agnes manages to make a nuisance of herself. And after leaving Seven critically wounded with one of her tentacles, she seemingly has the upper hand, until Jurati employs a tactic that rarely works on the traditionally ruthless Borg – diplomacy.

Voyager’s numerous encounters with the Collective did plenty to neuter Star Trek’s greatest villains, but this week’s resolution is up there with the most contrived. Despite previous episodes’ efforts to establish the Queen’s constant desire for connection, there’s been little hint that she might actually listen to the owner of her host body. So Agnes persuades her to head into the galaxy to create a new, altruistic Collective, it feels we’ve crossed over into a bizarre parallel dimension.

How do you solve a problem like the Borg Queen? On the evidence of ‘Hide and Seek’, we’re still looking for an answer.

New episodes of Star Trek: Picard season 2 beam onto Paramount Plus (US) and Crave (Canada) on Thursdays. Viewers elsewhere can watch the show on Amazon Prime Video on Fridays. For more Trek action, check out our reviews of Star Trek: Discovery season 4 .

Richard is a freelancer journalist and editor, and was once a physicist. Rich is the former editor of SFX Magazine, but has since gone freelance, writing for websites and publications including GamesRadar+, SFX, Total Film, and more. He also co-hosts the podcast, Robby the Robot's Waiting, which is focused on sci-fi and fantasy.

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How ‘star trek picard’ showrunner terry matalas captured the series finale’s most important scenes.

The writer-director talks the high stakes of the finale, the emotions that flowed on set, and his dreams of continuing the story with a new series.

By Phil Pirrello

Phil Pirrello

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[This story contains spoilers for Picard season three’s final episode.]

Star Trek Picard ’s third season finale takes the Next Generation crew back to where it all began — though showrunner Terry Matalas was too busy capturing its key scenes to take in the wonder of being on the bridge of the Enterprise-D nearly 30 years after TNG went off the air.

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This week's 'Picard' is a reward for longtime 'Star Trek' fans

Forget about Logan Roy and the latest episode of “Succession.”

Despite “Succession” delivering the most shocking episode since “The Red Wedding” in “The Rains of Castamere” episode of “Game of Thrones" (Season 3, Episode 9) and the fact that Sarah Snook (aka Shiv) is a shoo-in for an Emmy win, while her onscreen sniffling, modern-day, Romulus and Remis brothers Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin (Kendell and Roman, respectively) are strong Emmy contenders, this week’s episode of “Star Trek: Picard,” (Season 3, Episode 9) which is the second to the last episode of the season, is the must-watch show that people you want to associate with will be talking about long after it is over.

For anyone who kicked off their Saturday night by watching first runs of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” on WCVB Channel 5 for seven memorable seasons, this episode is your big reward.

For anyone who know and love these characters and missed them dearly, this is what the heart and head has been yearning for.

In fact, this is the “Star Trek” episode than fans have been waiting for 30 years and it delivers on so many levels.

After watching a press screener of the yet-to-air “Star Trek: Picard” episode earlier this week, I have to say I have never been so proud to be a “Star Trek” fan, especially a “Star Trek: The Next Generation” fan, as I am now. And I can’t get it out of my mind all the awe and wonders that unfolded in front of my eyes.

The third season of “Star Trek: Picard” has been consistently great and it has gotten better with every episode. And, Episode 9 is the pièce de résistance of this spectacular, game-changing season. But nothing you have seen yet on the small screen could adequately prepare you for what’s in store for you as the clock strikes 3 a.m. Thursday.

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Remember how cool Daystrom Station, Starfleet Intelligence’s highly guarded, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”-inspired storage unit of “experimental weapons” and “alien contraband” floating in outer space was in Season 3, Episode 6? Well, what you witness and what unfolds in Episode 9 is 100 times cooler.

Quite simply, “Star Trek: Picard” Season 3, Episode 9, is out of this world. Every scene, every nuance, every Easter Egg, is amazing, so much that there is no good way to talk about any of the specifics, even a minor one that flickers on the screen for an instant, without ruining precious morsels of the plot. Unless you give me a Vulcan mind melt, I am going to say absolutely nothing that transpires in the pivotal episode (and best episode so far), no matter how important or consequential it is to the overall plot.

But I will say this.

“Star Trek: Picard” Season 3, Episode 9 is, by far, the best “Star Trek” hour in the last 30 years. And the season’s storyline, is the best “Star Trek” story arc since the one that unfolded in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock,” “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” and “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.”

With “Star Trek: Picard” Season 3, faithful “Trekkies” have been rewarded at every turn. But, even in their wildest dream, a diehard “Trek” fan could not have hoped or wished for an episode bigger and better than this. By the end of the episode, I was a pool of emotion, caused by a steady flow of tears, not forged out of sorrow but from joy.

I would love to discuss it in great lengths . Believe me, I would. But even in a roundabout way it would reveal too much. I went into the episode a clean slate. I came out an enlightened being. I want you all to do the same.

What I can say without saying anything is saying something that, if you have been watching “Star Trek: Picard” this season, you already know.

The old “Star Trek: The Next Generation” crew has been great. Jonathan Frakes has never been better. Brent Spiner deserves at least three paychecks for playing three distinct characters, all of which are believable, delicate, complex and beautiful. Michael Dorn’s Worf has been an irresistible scene-stealer (and had the funniest scene in the history of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” although Riker delivers the winning punchline). Once again, LeVar Burton proves that he’s the most underrated accomplished actor to ever put on a Starfleet uniform. And Gates McFadden and Marina Sirtis deliver their best work in years.

Then you have Patrick Stewart, the best actor who has ever put on a Starfleet uniform. While he has been better (I still attest the “Family” episode after “The Best of Both Worlds” two-parter is Stewart’s most emotionally powerful “Star Trek” performance to date, and it’s an episode that very little happens others than two feuding brothers wrestle in the mud), Stewart always delivers the goods.

We have a deep connection with these people and the connection is about to grow deeper.

And Jeri Ryan’s “Seven Of Nine” has been a godsend and Captain Liam Shaw (played by Todd Stashwick) is my new favorite captain. Never heard or seen this guy before “Star Trek: Picard.” Now I’m a lifelong fan.

Not to pat myself on the back (because I'm sure there are countless others who did the same thing) but, in a tweet 10 days ago, I reached out to Paramount Plus about any chances of them celebrating this achievement of stellar storytelling by showing the last episode on the big screen, followed by a livestream cast reunion, on Wednesday night, April 19.

Not only did Paramount announce Tuesday that they are in fact going to do just that in 10 major cities (unfortunately, none in New England), they're going to show it on IMAX.

Also, the same day, I tweeted about a dream I had the night before about the "Star Trek: Picard" finale and I came up with the what I considered to be the only thing that could make a great, game-changing season of Picard even greater. And, without telling you what it is, it happens in Episode 9.

Other than that, all I can say is rest up, watch "Star Trek: Picard" Season 3, Episode 9 as soon as you can, avoid all potential spoilers (note anything that talks about the episode is a potential spoiler), sit back and enjoy the ride.

Finally, anyone who sets out to spoils any little morsel of this gem-packed episode is a complete and other (expletive)!!! And I don’t say this lightly. If you see the show before someone else and you reveal anything — and I mean anything _ you’re not being funny. You’re not being cool. You are just being spiteful and mean and don’t deserve to be in the company of others.

If you truly like “Star Trek,” treat revealing spoilers is like violating the Prime Directive. And, remember, you’re not Kirk, so don’t break the Prime Directive.

'Star Trek: Picard' Season 2 episode 9 leaves a lot to be concluded in the finale

A well-paced penultimate episode that, despite quite a few plot holes, is still so much better than this point in Season 1

Jean-Luc comes to terms with past memories in the

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Star Trek: Picard" season 2, episode 9

You may recall that only a couple of weeks ago, we wrote "[Picard] will be the only new ' Star Trek ' series to be written with a two-season story arc" since it was assumed this was the case given the back-to-back shooting of principal photography, complexity of the plot, pace of the story and just about everything else.

As such, we — just like you — believed we'd be given an impressive end-of-Season-2 cliffhanger to segue nicely into the third and final season that will probably air next year. But no. This is not the case.

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Last week, "Star Trek" showrunner Terry Matalas responded to a simple but all-important question on Twitter and shattered what we didn't even realize was an illusion.

"Is this a self contained season?? Or does it carry over to S3?" Asked @MiphasGrace21.

"Self contained," replied Matalas.

Self contained. https://t.co/PgJbFUNSYR April 29, 2022

So there you have it. And that means after this jam-packed penultimate episode nine that's called "Hide and Seek" there is going to be a monster of a season finale. Or of course, it could be a half-baked pile of Pyrithian bat poop. Either way, if you need to get caught up before reading the rest of this review, check out our guide on how to stream Star Trek: Picard .

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Now, on to "Hide and Seek."

We pick up exactly where we left off last week, with the now ¾ assimilated Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) leading her band of Budget Borg to attack the La Sirena. They even have wandering laser rifle sights that mimic the instantly recognizable laser eyepieces of more conventional Borg drones. It's a clever way of mirroring the more traditional, threatening Borg that we've seen in "Star Trek: First Contact" and such like and that's clearly very deliberate so we shall come back to this shortly. However, as nice as this touch is, we're still unconvinced about the need for Discount Borg drones, so the subtlety is sadly wasted.

That's a new look for Jurati (Alison Pill) that would work in some of the club's in London's East End

In all likelihood, the semi-assimilated Spearhead Operations soldiers were used quite literally for cannon fodder, so that when they get killed in a creative manner, the producers can sleep soundly, safe in the knowledge that only Bad Guys bite the dust. And in fact, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) manages to beam a few of them from La Sirena into a solid brick wall in one of the many catacombs under Château Picard and as far as Terrifying Tales of Teleportation go, that's up there. (Something similar happened in an early episode of NBC's short-lived sci-fi " Debris .") That said, simply scattering their atoms across the fields of La Barre would've been a far better idea. The more action that takes place in 2024, the greater the chance that a piece of physical evidence is left behind and the future is changed irrevocably.

Seven and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) create a hologram of Elnor (Evan Evagora) to help defend La Sirena as Jurati now takes on the physical form of the Brog Queen (Annie Wersching). And while there's some debate over why he needs to wear a mobile hologram emitter while onboard the ship or why the hologram contains many of Elnor's memories, that's second to the fact that as a hologram, he should be impervious to bullets..? There's even a fun, very discrete homage (so, not like " Discovery " then) to "Pulp Fiction" as he looks for his weapon of choice, à la Butch Coolidge.

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We also mentioned last week that each "guest" director has taken on two consecutive episodes: Douglas Aarniokoski E01, E02, Lea Thompson E03, E04, Jonathan Frakes E05, E06 and finally, Joe Menendez E07 and E08. The individual responsible for this penultimate episode and the season finale is Michael Weaver, a seasoned dramatic television cinematographer and director with this marking his first foray into science fiction.

The gang's all here, almost. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up, like where's FBI Agent Wells in all of this?

Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera) takes a hit as our intrepid time-travelling team advance on La Sirena and he's beamed back to Tallinn's (Orla Brady) apartment with Dr. Ramirez (Sol Rodriguez). Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his ancestral Romulan love interest meanwhile continue both a physical journey through the tunnels under the vineyard and a metaphoric journey through Jean-Luc's mind as we see exactly what happened to his mother, Yvette (Madeline Wise) and father, Maurice, played once again by the legendary James Callis. It's beautifully filmed and a really rather tragic story. ( Nerd Note: eagle-eyed Jörg Hillebrand spotted that young Picard is playing with a model of Doug Drexler's NX-01 refit , thus making it canon in yet another nice "Enterprise" reference.)

Dr. Soong (Brent Spiner) is wrecking mischief and gives chase through the maze of underground passages, leading the Budget Borg Army. Honestly, if they'd been equipped with night vision instead of some silly laser sight that gives away their position, this would all be over by now.

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The fight on La Sirena reaches a climax as Borg Queen Agnes takes out the Elnor hologram and badly injures Raffi and really badly injures Seven. Rios beams back into the fight just in time to save Jean-Luc but the sinister Soong escapes. And then, in this episode's weakest moment, to save Seven, Queen Agnes puts Borg nanobites into her, thus — er, somehow — returning her implants that were missing in this alt-history. And then ... Agnes steals La Sirena and flies off, presumably to make contact with the Collective currently living in the Delta Quadrant and leaving everyone stranded, in the middle of a deserted vineyard, in Eastern France in 2024.

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There's an undeniable hint in this episode of some " Star Trek: First Contact " influence, as the story is now taking on a plot to save the Europa mission launch, which in turn saves the future, much like it was necessary to save the launch of Zefram Cochrane's first warp-capable ship, the Phoenix, in order to also save the future.

For the most part, this is not terrible. The pacing is good and the dialogue of each of the character confrontations is well written. A lot of depth is added to the existing story as the viewer is walloped by one plot twist, then another and then another. While the first season had some unquestionable highlights — " Stardust City Rag " (S01, E05) and " The Impossible Box" (S01, E06) were two such memorable moments — this second season has been consistently better. Yes, it dipped a little in the middle when there was clearly some indecision about how to spread the story evenly across the season structure, but Season 2 will probably fare much better in a rewatch.

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However, this all leaves quite a lot to be resolved if none of the events of this series are carrying forth into the next. Personally, I hope to see another La Sirena land and for another Picard and Rios to step out, greeting the existing group with, "How's it hanging dudes?" and then they have to guess how many fingers New Rios is holding up behind his back to prove their legit. But, we'll see.

In other "Star Trek" news, the premiere of the very latest live action, spin-off series, "Strange New Worlds" is this week, coincidentally on the same night as the "Picard" season finale, so Wednesday evening might be a late one for sci-fi fans.

Rating: 7/10

The first nine episodes of "Star Trek: Picard" are now available to watch on Paramount Plus and the premiere season of "Strange New Worlds" begins on May 5. Season 4 of "Star Trek: Discovery" is available to watch now on Paramount Plus in the US and CTV Sci-Fi or Crave TV in Canada. Countries outside of North America can watch on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel.

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When Scott's application to the NASA astronaut training program was turned down, he was naturally upset...as any 6-year-old boy would be. He chose instead to write as much as he possibly could about science, technology and space exploration. He graduated from The University of Coventry and received his training on Fleet Street in London. He still hopes to be the first journalist in space.

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The Ending Of Picard Season 2 Episode 9 Explained

Patrick Steward looks stern as Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek Picard

Contains extensive spoilers for "Star Trek: Picard" Season 2 Episode 9

As "Star Trek: Picard" Season 2 rockets toward its conclusion, the penultimate episode sets up the final stakes for the fate of multiple timelines as the crew of the La Sirena fights on all fronts. Under the influence of Q (John DeLancie) and in pursuit of personal glory, Dr. Adam Soong (Brent Spiner) is determined to stop Renee Picard (Penelope Mitchell) from taking flight to Europa. Meanwhile, Jurati (Allison Pill) is possessed by the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching), who is determined to get a 400-year jump-start on assimilating the galaxy. With both closing in on them, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his remaining crew must find a way to restore the primary timeline and ensure that the totalitarian alternate future Q created does not come to pass.

It seems as if Picard himself holds the key to salvation, as the season has repeatedly returned to a dark memory from his childhood that it seems he will have to reckon with. The Watcher (Orla Brady) is helping him retrieve those memories, but the clock is running out. Q has enlisted the help of disgraced scientist Doctor Adam Soong to eliminate Jean-Luc, and the Borg Queen has assimilated a team of mercenaries for him to command. The ending of Episode 9 deals with these various plot threads in a much-needed narrative jolt. Multiple plot points that have been slowly brewing are resolved in a packed episode that sends the show hurtling at warp speed toward the season finale.

A new kind of Borg set sail among the stars

The Borg Queen pins Seven (Jeri Ryan) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) down on the La Sirena and is on the verge of killing Seven when Jurati manages to take back some control of her body. In an impassioned speech, Jurati urges the Borg Queen to reevaluate what the Borg can be. Instead of assimilating people who don't want to be part of the collective, she tells the Queen to incorporate people who need a second chance at life. Jurati's vision of a Borg collective where the "collective" is emphasized, where the collective is not constantly at war, speaks to the Queen. She heals Seven — adding back the Borg implants that disappeared when the crew traveled to this new timeline —and resolves to create a new kind of Borg. As payment for saving Seven, Jurati takes the La Sirena, jumping to warp and leaving the rest of the crew behind on an Earth that will not see them born for 400 years. The Queen leaves with a cryptic message: "There must be two Renee Picards. One who lives and one who dies."

If we look back to the end of this season's first episode , the mysterious Borg that came through a wormhole might finally make sense. Assuming the Jurati-Queen hybrid spent 400 years reshaping the galaxy and creating a peaceful new kind of Borg collective, that may be the version of the Borg who hailed Admiral Picard, perhaps wishing to cross over into the main timeline all those years later. One possibility is that they sought refuge from the xenophobic Confederation and crossed into the main timeline in search of such asylum, only to be blown to bits when Picard initiated the fleet-wide self-destruct sequence.

With only one more episode to go, hopefully those answers will be made clear in the finale.

Jean-Luc unlocks the tragic secret of his childhood

This season, "Star Trek: Picard" has repeatedly returned to the idea of Jean-Luc's inability to form intimate connections. We still don't know why Q decided to inflict this "trial" on Picard and his friends, but the show has repeatedly implied that part of the solution for fixing the timeline involves the Admiral recalling a repressed traumatic memory from his childhood. Now, in the season's 11th hour, Picard has finally pieced together the great tragedy of his mother's death.

While trapped by Doctor Soong and his newly acquired Borg henchmen in the atrium of Chateau Picard, Jean-Luc finds a large metal skeleton key. The object triggers him to recall the final fragment of his repressed memory. After Yvette Picard (Madeline Wise) suffered from a mental health episode during which she nearly got Jean-Luc killed, Maurice Picard (James Callis) locked her in the bedroom. Yvette begged the young Jean-Luc to open the door, and so he did. But while he was asleep in her bed, Yvette walked to the atrium, climbed onto a chair, and hung herself with a length of rope. "If only I had left that door closed," Picard tells the Watcher, "she might have become an old woman."

Again, we can look to the season premiere, "The Star Gazer," for the missing puzzle pieces. When the Borg emerge through a wormhole in that episode and beam their Queen onto the Stargazer's bridge, she repeats Yvette's words, "Picard, look up." If the Jurati-Queen hybrid began building their new Borg collective in 2022, it's possible they rescued Yvette before she could take her life and assimilated her. That would mean the Borg Queen in Episode 1 has Yvette's memories integrated into the collective, explaining why she said that line to Jean-Luc.

Dr. Soong and Q are a formidable pair of antagonists for the season finale

Q took advantage of disgraced geneticist Doctor Adam Soong over the past few episodes, recruiting him to put a stop to Picard. By the end of Episode 8 , it looked like the Borg Queen was teaming up with them. She assimilated mercenaries and placed them under Soong's command. While those soldiers do prove formidable foes in Episode 9, they're dealt with by the end of the hour. The Borg Queen heads off to start her new collective, leaving Soong in the wind and Q somewhere in the shadows.

Brent Spiner seems to be having the time of his life playing against type as an egomaniacal antagonist , and it shows during his face-off against Admiral Picard. Q has told Soong that if he prevents the Europa mission from succeeding, he will become the savior of humanity. Picard explains that will lead to the creation of the xenophobic Confederation in Q's timeline and tells Soong he won't be loved, but rather feared. Soong smugly retorts, "We have to create our own destiny. Captains of ships and captains of industry. To men like us, love and fear are the same thing: a means to an end."

Rios transports into the room , taking out the henchmen and saving Picard and The Watcher. Soong tries to shoot them with a phaser, but triggers the DNA-lock, causing it to explode. He tosses it away at the last second and by the time the dust clears, he's gone.

With Soong and the Borg Queen gone, the crew finally has a moment to regroup. Seven passes on the Queen's message that there must be two Renee Picards. The Admiral responds that he refuses to accept an outcome that has not yet occurred, and with that, the crew heads off to prepare for a final showdown.

Picard has a lot of questions to answer in the season finale

With only one episode left in the season, "Star Trek: Picard" has plenty of plot threads to tidy up. Can they outmaneuver Soong and Q to make sure that Renee Picard goes to Europa, setting the world on track to the future "Star Trek" fans know and love, or will the planet careen toward Q's dystopian future in which humanity has become the scourge of the galaxy? And even if they manage to do so, will they be able to return to their own time without the La Sirena or the Borg Queen?

While there are various methods of time travel documented throughout the "Star Trek" canon, the most obvious — using the La Sirena to slingshot around the Sun at high warp — is now out of the question. Of course, Q traditionally has time travel powers, but he's currently dying and his powers are vastly diminished. Other pathways through time — such as wormholes — aren't accessible, either.

Moreover, even if everything goes as planned and the crew manages to get back to their own future, there's still the fact that Picard triggered the self-destruct of the Starfleet ships during their last moments in the main timeline. Will Picard get a chance to make a different choice in that scenario, or will the crew return to find themselves engulfed in a blinding explosion?

Anything is possible , so it will be fascinating to see how the show navigates the maze of complexity it has built up over the course of Season 2. The season finale is sure to be one for the history books, but which history that will be remains a tantalizing mystery.

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‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 1 Episode 9 Spoiler Discussion

| March 19, 2020 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 213 comments so far

We’ll have a review up later on, but for now this is a spot to discuss the episode with your fellow Trekkies.

La Sirena makes its approach to Soji’s homeworld.

For people have haven’t seen the episode yet… stay away from the comments of this article.

Episode title: “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1”

Synopsis: Following an unconventional and dangerous transit, Picard and the crew finally arrive at Soji’s home world, Coppelius. However, with Romulan warbirds on their tail, their arrival brings only greater danger as the crew discovers more than expected about the planet’s inhabitants.

The new episode of Star Trek: Picard premieres today at 12:01 AM PT/3:01 AM ET on CBS All Access in the USA and on Crave in Canada, and then it will air later today on CTV Sci-Fi Channel at 6PM PT /9PM ET. It will be made available on Amazon Prime Video for the rest of the world on Friday morning.

Keep up with all the Star Trek: Picard news at TrekMovie.

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Nice twist with Soong’s son and Spiner!

What I am confused about is when did Soong have a son, if this is actually his biological son. I think “Inheritance” established Juliana (the real one) and Noonien didn’t have biological children. Was it someone before Juliana? Or was he really always secluded on that planet all those years after the Juliana Android left him.

I strongly suspect that our new Soong exists more to avoid having to (expensively) digitally de-age a certain ”new” regular (or frequently recurring) cast member for season two than to serve some important narrative purpose…

I just hope the coronavirus doesn’t delay season two too much. Season one hasn’t been perfect, but I’ve enjoyed it more than I’d expected. (I suspect that this season will end on something like a cliffhanger, given that the show’s premise screams “limited series” — the story’s continuation will need some strong motivation, I think…)

Personally this has been the best Secret Hideout Trek so far although that’s an awfully low bar to set. It still has some pretty big problems but so far they haven’t been Discovery sized ones. Although we still have the finale next week so I’m not holding my breath.

The industry media outlets have some good analyses raising the challenges ahead in rescheduling production and the availability of actors.

However, I’m not convinced that Trek production will be severely impacted.

Picard may be in good shape though as Patrick Stewart doesn’t have other major commitments. As well, it has California production grants that will need to be expended once production resumes. Of all the Trek series, I expect it is the least likely to be impacted by the virus.

Mike McMahan is posting that the Lower Decks writers room has gone virtual – which is apparently a fairly experimental approach according to the media reports.

If Secret Hideout can make the virtual writers rooms work, they may get the writing further ahead of production for all the series. This might be a good thing for more coherent seasonal arcs, although it depends on whether the casting and vfx can meet the writers expectations. Chabon has commented that flexibility was key for Picard as a new series, as they adapted some of the storyline and roles once they had the early table reads.

Discovery season 4 production might be pushed back, but they have dedicated space at Pinewood Studios Toronto, so it seems the rate limiting factor may be Sonequa Martin-Green’s recently announced pregnancy.

The S31 series might be most vulnerable as there have been reports that it was already be pushed back to accommodate Michelle Yeoh’s availability.

Other new live action series may benefit from development and writing time, but casting could be an issue. It depends how much the executive producers developing the series are willing to rely on video reads.

This was truly an amazing episode. Mortality ,death, dying and rebirth ‘The calculus of lfe and death’. What I loved about this episode ,and the show in general, was that it was not a very big action piece like say ‘The Best Of Both Worlds Part I’. Rather it begins with not just the realization of Picard’s mortality but his ability to keep living on in its face. At the beginning of the show we saw Picard hiding from life , at the beginning of this episode we see him facing life head on and in the process be an inspiration to the rest of the crew. In the beginning I got the sense he had to convince the crew, and himself, that he could really do this.

1) When I saw Brent Spinner’s name I worried that Data would be on the planet. Instead we saw a slight homage to Enterprise Season 4 where we met Soong’s ancestors. Now we meet one of his descendants. Plus I love the little joke of how he was and older and fatter version of Data.

2) The androids being gold like Data’s original makeup was marvelous.

3) The idea that the Admonition was meant for synthetic life rather than human life was nice. It seemed to be a true example of a kind of post biological type of intelligence. Plus it was neat that post biological intelligence can learn things like the mind meld that other types of organics cannot do. In many ways this is a reflection of the fear we have of AI’s (singularity theories)

4) I wonder if the reason why Starfleet command was not reachable was because any alternative should work for them. If the synths were destroyed one potential threat was gone and if the Romulans were wiped out another threat is gone. Maybe in the post-Dominion War and Borg invasions this is all Starfleet can do, play one enemy off each other

5) This confederation of artificial life sounds really neat. I want to learn more

6) Is Jurati really with the synths?

Cant wait for next week.

I agree on all these, except #4…which I think is just a plot device to have Captain Geordi and Chancellor Worf show up with their fleets. “Hey sorry we didn’t call you back, we wanted it to be a surprise!”…I’m all for it by the way!

I was thinking the exact same!

I think you mean Captain Worf lol

I think you mean Captain Worf of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

more likely ambassador worf, considering the title he adopted at the end of ds9 despite his appearances with the defiant in the later tng-era movies. he’s older & fatter too, having been targ hunting with martok all this time.

Ricker did it before

Spoiler intuition

The new android that need a mind transfert will be Picard’s mind before he died. The new Picard will end the war and Starfleet will come defend the synthetics at the end new Picard will be the captain of Enterprise F

I think Soong is building a replica of himself so as to become a synth via mind transfer and live forever. But Jurati will atone for killing Maddox by ultimately putting the reconstituted mind (from that single positronic neutron mentioned before) of another Brent Spiner character in there instead…

*neuron (autocorrect gone wrong)

I am pretty sure Soong, is actually Lore.

i had a similar thought watching this episode, considering they seemed to intentionally not mention lore or data’s other siblings, lal, & other androids known to have existed within that universe (think stella mudd androids from tos). lore, however, was supposedly disassembled following the events of tng’s double episode “decent”, so i kinda expected there to at least have been mention of his disposal or storage like we saw with b4.

Well, consider in Discovery season 2 they intentionally ignored Sybok.

On #4, I suspect the problem was intentional, some kind of interference from eith Sudra or Soong.

that was another good episode, although they didn’t really investigate the escape of Narek (Odo would not have dropped that). Looking forward to next week.

Pretty good episode overall, although plenty to nitpick. It got kinda convoluted there towards the end, but I can’t wait to see how it all ends next week!

Prediction: Picard will sacrifice himself to save everyone, synthetic and organic alike. But Soong’s newest invention will allow Picard’s mind to live on in synthetic form, Picard 2.

And Elnor will finally get to see a cat. A synthetic one, at least.

When does the Enterprise arrive to save the day? You know, captained by Wesley Crusher.

I’m hearing Lore’s voice in Spiner. Maddox made Soji indistinguishable from a human and “humanified” Lore, perhaps? But that’s a lot to wrap up in one episode…

That’s what i am thinking the way Brent delivered that line ” My father had me, but he created Data, A fact he never let me forget.” really sounds like Lore. I think Maddox made Alton based on Noonien, using Lore’s nuerons and wound up transfering Lore’s program into the body.

When he got all uppity with Picard he reminded me more of Arik Soong from Enterprise, another Soong willing to have blood on his hands to protect his “children”.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Sudra ends up being patterned from Lore’s neurons.

So you think it inconceivable that Lore could have been built with elements of Soong’s actual son personality in him?

I really think he is Lore. Same evil actions and thinking.

I got a Lore vibe too.

Frankly, my suspicion is that Sudra/Sutra’s positronic brain was cloned from Lore, not Data.

She doesn’t have Data’s posture or movements the way Soji does.

In fact, I suspect that body posture is the way to distinguish the origin of an android.

Season 2: USS Enterprise, the Borg Cube

Season 3: Picard joins the Q Continuum as a new member.

End of series.

wow, don’t know what to make of this. need to watch it a couple more times. definitely not what I was expecting. i’m torn as to whether i love or hate the fact that this show/season is culminating in an avengers: endgame type of ultimate battle

not sure I understood why Sudra (sp?) Gianna’s sister seemed to release Narek on purpose. Was it on purpose so that he would kill someone so they could use it as a justification to kill all organics?

It was for the justification and to bring Soong on to her side too.

Yes, it was for persuasive purposes. Although I don’t know why she just doesn’t reprogram the others to buy what she says. Or “mind meld” with them to make them think like she does. Further, it makes no sense Maddox would program these things to have multiple opinions. What is the point of that?

I don’t think she needed to bring Alton to her side, i am pretty sure both Alton and Sutra are working together to. Brent is just playing this really sinister, and not that dissimilar to how he played Lore.

It’s really more like how he played Soong on Enterprise. Let’s not talk about Lore. The less said about that the better. Data’s evil twin was a low point in Trek history.

Agreed, ML31.

Although if Lore has been planted in a more human-seeming body, it might possibly be interesting, based on Levi’s comment, above.

Yeah… My eyes rolled when they introduced Lore. It really made me question if TNG was going to survive that they felt they had to stoop to a tired soap opera cliche. It feels like Georgeau was cut from the same cloth that brought us Lore.

Not liking where this is going-it’s the old “androids will take over everything and keep the organics in check” story, like Harry Mudds TOS androids and later the Roger Korby androids. Looks like Sutra is taking on Lores role – like when Lore had the Borg working for him. Lets see what happens, but things seem to be replaying themselves in a Star Treky kinda way.

It could tie into V’ger or the AI from Discovery’s last season, i’m Looking forward to seeing where this all goes.

It could tie into control but that is far too much to tell in one episode, V’Ger aswell be Interesting to see that return but sadly again all too much for one episode, my theory is for next weeks episode, Soji will talk the Romulans down, shows them that they aint going to destroy all organic life, that they can co exsist to which seems to be star trek picards theme, not using red alert all hands battle stations if you catch my meaning but by helping each other discover other ways without using violence & war all the frigging time, other theory is, the romulans, due to there paranoia won’t back down and starfleet will intervene showing synthetics that they aint here to destroy them that they let there fear get the best of them and starfleet, the federation will be redeemed, don’t be suprised if producers lied to us and we will see Michael Dorn, Levar Burton back, hell they kept Brent Spiner quiet as Soongs apprent son, so wouldnt suprise me that we may see the eneterprise and the verity come to picards aid

you’re forgetting the premise of discovery season 3, which picard is supposed to tie in with. remember, hundreds of years in the future the federation has all but collapsed & the discovery crew are trying to figure out what happened & when the turning point in history was. synth war could feasibly be that catalyst event, considering the work the romulans have already put into eroding the foundations of the federation through subterfuge & the attack on mars.

Doubt it. V’ger had to merge with organic life to gain the ability gain human qualities (i.e. “imagination”); similar to the Borg needing to assimilate organic life to expand (different motives though). Picard seems to argue that you can just electronically engineer all that, completely ignoring TMP / Ultimate Computer / Best of Both Worlds.

Honestly I hope they do something outside of V’ger and definitely CONTROL. But sure they might. I always liked that we didn’t know much about the machine robots who made V’ger, some things can just stay a mystery. That said I wouldn’t be completely surprised there is a connection since this show is ALL about connections lol. But yeah looking forward to seeing where its heading.

I tend to agree. I like that machine planet remaining a mystery. The narrative works better I think.

Yeah like the Borg origin, its just better we don’t know EVERYTHING. Just keep that a mystery.

And I’m thankful it looks like once AGAIN, people assuming the season was going to be about how the Borg was created was torpedoed out of the water. ;)

I’m calling it now. Picard will have a synthetic brain by the end of the next episode or the beginning of season 2.

I think so, or the whole body. This really will be “where no one has gone before.”

Wow, and for sure, Picard won’t end up in Starfleet!

Dr. Juliana Tainer would really have been the the first

there was also data’s “grandpa”, who took over data’s body for a time before finally transferring his consciousness into the enterprise main computer & so losing his essence to mere information storage.

…which would give Stewart the opportunity to provide voice-over work from home for the rest of the series, good point. If they even use his voice in the new synth body.

Q told Picard his destiny was “charting the unknown possibilities of existence”. This would certainly fall within that realm.

And would be the perfect reason to bring Q back.

I can see him being cured (we have at least 2 more seasons so no one is dying that soon ;)) but a whole new body would suggest someone else would be playing the role and I don’t see that happening at all.

Not necessarily, they can have the body look to be like 80 year old Patrick Stewart, or even younger if they had the budget for deaging him for 10 episodes.

But what’s the point??? Why put him in a new body at all? And Soong isn’t in a new body, he is just aging normally and you would think if anyone would do it would be him since he literally designed all of it.

I can seeing curing his illness because you’re not going to kill off the character whose name is in the title card lol. So we already know that’s not happening, its only a question of how. But everything that is wrong with him is in his brain, so I don’t understand why he would need a new body.

I see him getting cured as well. Possibly as a result of saving the AI’s. Maybe even next season.

Wouldn’t be surprised if that does indeed happen, I mean after all, they keep hinting at a major character death and Picard’s terminal illness keeps getting mentioned and thanks to this episode it looks like picard aint got much time so quite possible, they save the day but picard dies in the proccess but the synthetics along with Agnes and Soong, decide hes done all this to protect them, they save him by giving him a artifical brain, kind of like how hes got an artifical heart that, would probably be the ending, im curious as to what happens, do they convince the romulans that synthetics are no danger or will starfleet come to one of their greatest hero’s aid when he needs it the most

For some time, I’ve thought future seasons of this show would be called Picard: Legacy

Picard gets what he always wanted in my opinion; the order, perfection and immortality of an electronic life. No more worrying about kids he never liked, friends he really only really tolerated and given the chance would rather not hang out with at the winery. My question on this is will be want the synthetic brain because at the end of the day he has Stockholm syndrome and actually misses being Locutus?

I don’t think that Picard misses Locutus.

He certainly wasn’t pleased to be recognized as Locutus by one of the XBs.

But you do raise the question of where the XBs fit in all of this. Sentient biological lifeforms that had been enslaved into a cybernetic hivemind would be a conundrum for transcendent synthetic beings.

I really like the space flowers! Very Roddenberry esque! That was a neat mini battle at the beginning that ended with the flowers.

I don’t get why Elnor didn’t leave the cube for Picard, but then I realized it was to help the plot: he could have taken out a bunch of androids to save Picard. That’s weak writing, but whatevs.

It’s interesting to have another villain with the Lore-like Soji. Next week looks very good!

Oh, I also don’t get why Raffi said to Picard that he saved her. How? He didn’t talk to her for 14 years and just continued to use her this entire journey! Rios is the one that’s really helping Raffi, and she him. Picard should help her reconcile with her son and get her off the drugs.

I hope that that Soong’s son is also an Android.

VZX, I’m not sure what’s up with Elnor as a character.

A major part of the fourth episode was devoted to establishing the character, and the actor did well in that episode. Since then his role has been pretty thin. I get the idea that the writers changed their thinking midway.

My speculation is that they decided to have Elnor follow the XBs and Seven for a reason deeper than just plot mechanics based on who he should be able to defeat. Frankly, even the best humanoid fighter should be unable to take on an activated synth.

Which makes Narek apparent murder of his guard all the more questionable, and therefore Soong’s agenda all the more suspect.

VZX Oh, I also don’t get why Raffi said to Picard that he saved her. How? He didn’t talk to her for 14 years and just continued to use her this entire journey!

I think maybe it was because he gave her something to DO other than feel sad and smoke snakeweed at the old Vasquez Rocks. But I feel ya. That was my initial reaction too.

My thought it was for the kick in the ass to get up and stop sulking/self medicating.

If Rio’s captain killed Big Flower, Big Flower has a twin. So which Data-child is he? Wouldn’t Rios want to meet Big Flower and perhaps apologize for his captain’s actions?

Moreover, wouldn’t it be tonally wild if Big Flower was really a hippie-Data, and not just Krishna-like android in monk-wear? Would Big Flower remind us of the TOS Space Hippies? We might learn more about why Soong’s Son has hoped that Big Flower and Sutra were good ways to present themselves to the world. And perhaps we would better understand why Big Flower seemed like a threat to Oh.

Based on a rumor I regret reading elsewhere, but which now perhaps could be true, I predict a twist. Right now, we are lead to believe that Picard might get a new brain or body – but what if that body goes to Rios? And that this decision is Picard’s sacrifice, and his struggle continues in Season 2?

Rios could become a human mind in an Android body, flying away in a spaceship with his holo-selves. He faces existentialism outright! And his capability to engineer versions of himself. Remember, he programmed all the Holos to forget what happened. But arguably Rios has the most guilt feelings of anyone there, except Jurati.

Then Picard still has his own fate to deal with, and that of completely compelling Star Fleet to Engage!

I loved this episode. A great way to begin a quarantine day.

The Artifact coming through the conduit is one of the coolest effects I have seen in Star Trek in a while.

Agreed. The special effects are excellant. In about 5 years we can all probably do it on our smart phones…thats scary!

After three great episodes, this was a let down. I didn’t like the direction by Goldsman (I think he’s a lousy director overall) and the writing was all over the place.

Agreed. The editing and direction was terrible. It felt like scenes were missing, one example being when the dragged Narek in and then hes in a holding cell. And tell me…what was the point of them going to the Cube?

I find it odd that a Borg cube has crash landed on their planet and no one seems remotely concerned about it lol. I mean its a BORG CUBE, even if its damaged technically it could still send out its location to other cubes. At the very least you would think they would send people to assess the situation. Maybe I missed a line somewhere but its odd no one cares about that at all.

I was thinking that out of 6 possibilities it landed on the one side that kept everything right side up. Yes, I know it’s cheaper that way but I was thinking about it,

LOL true but yeah that happens all the time in stories. And I can believe Seven piloted it well enough to crash it that way. But yes it would be fun to see one of these ships turned upside down in a crash once in awhile.

You didn’t miss anything. Your mistake was, you watched Star Trek the Next Generation and applied logic to the show, that ignores both.

LOL, harsh!

But yeah its weird, they are freaking over the Romulans, which I get of course, but you have just as much of a potential threat sitting on your planet RIGHT now that can possibly send out a beacon to other ships.

I thought if they at least covered it with a line of Picard assuring them its OK, that would at least explain it but my guess is anyone would be freaking out about it. Last time Borg crash landed on a populated planet was on Earth in the 20th century and they were still able to live for another 200 years and went on to assimilate others. You don’t just don’t shrug them off, damaged or not.

They have explained ad nauseum,its not connected to the collective at all, even after 7 restarted the regeneration process on the cube and activated it reopened the transwarp conduit.

I thought the close up shots of the characters one at a time when they see the Android settlement was very cheesey. And it took too much time. And it there was some other weird shots that seemed out of place. Yes, this one was poorly directed.

I have to agree, the direction felt really bad at times. Not enough to not like the episode but its not nearly as good as others seem to like it because something felt really ‘off’ about it. And man a lot of the dialogue just sounded bad, especially the synth speech discussing the admonition in the mind meld scene.

Has Goldsman directed any other Star Trek episodes? I know he’s written a few but I can’t remember what else he directed of them.

I believe he directed the final episode of Discovery S2.

Yeah, didn’t love that one either. ;)

No, Osunsumi directed the 2 part finale for Discovery season 2.

But Goldsman directed 2 episodes in S1 of Discovery.

It’s a bit odd that Doug Aarniokoski only got one episode (Nepenthe) to direct given that he is the supervising director for Picard, and responsible to set and maintain the overall tone etc.

My personal ranking of the directors for this season of Picard is:

1) Maja Vrvilo 2) Doug Aarniokoski 3-4 tie). Hanalee Culpepper & Jonathan Frakes 5) Avila Goldsman

This isn’t actually how I’d expected it to turn out. I wasn’t as impressed by Vrvilo’s work on Discovery and Short Treks. However, her two episodes were the most consistently great for this season of Picard.

My mistake. I knew he did one of them. Thought it was S2 but S1’s finale was just as pathetic.

i have to admit, ive loved every episode more than the last and just could not wait to see the next one. after this episode i was kind of let down. i thought “THIS is what they were building up to?“ it kind of made the previous episodes not make a lot of sense, like the previous episodes were just a lot of odes to tng and did not contribute much to this finale. dont get me wrong, i love star trek and ill take what i can get and just happy this is back on the air, but still the show had a lot of momentum going and now i feel it has slowed down

Based on how the “syns” are reacting now (genocidal toward “organics”) to the potential Romulan assault,I side with the Romulan’s. Turns out that they were correct all along.

If they would just put the 3 Laws into the synthetics none of this would happen. Not liking where this is going.

Rather a shame Hugh was not saved.

Well… Not exactly sure what to make of this. It jumped around a bit… Could be a good thing? But one thing I do know is the mind meld thing was monumentally dumb. It made it so the Vukcan mind meld isn’t something that Vulcans have in their DNA but something just ANYONE can learn. I get perhaps trying to teach the nerve pinch. But the sharing of minds? Sorry, I cannot buy that. It’s like saying that the Vulcan superior hearing and strength can be taught, too.

I wondered why they would create a lesser life form like a cat or a butterfly. Seems like a waste for those trying to study AI. It almost makes me think Soong likes to feel like he’s a God. And speaking of Soong… He sure did behave a lot like his ancestor who appeared on Enterprise.

Anyway, the androids may not need to be exterminated if something could be worked out where they leave and never return or something. But even then I’m not sure they could be trusted. God only knows what Maddux and Soong programmed into them regarding survival instincts that may kick in at any time. Also… What exactly was Soji’s mission? It was never explained one bit and she said she succeeded. that’s scary as well.

Maybe the Androids can be sent 8,000 years into the future? Guided by a Red Angel of somesort…I know it sounds like something out of Japanese Manga and a little convoluted, but its just crazy enough for it to work provided the Androids weren’t all destroyed moments before they travelled into the future and therefore negating any need to do so…but they did it anyway to escape canon and….oh my god, what came over me? sorry.

LOL, naw, send them 825 years ahead, so they can catch up with the Discovery crew and there’ll be another AI vs Human plot to follow, cripes ….

I loved S1 of Discovery, S2, not so much.

The mind meld thing bugged me a lot. And I thought, well, maybe the positronic brains can do it. And then I remembered Deanna couldn’t read Soji. Though in fairness, she’s read emotions from Data in the past. Because 90’s sci-fi writing.

Thoughts and emotions are just chemical and electrical impulses, and maybe she could have sensors that could interpret that. Maybe the sensors are in the fingers, and the “mind meld” chant of “my mind to your mind” is only an affectation to put the subject in the right state of mind.

Have to do a lot of explaining here; the scene would have been better if they’d found some other way, like Soong’s full-brain-download system or some protoype of it, or a friggin’ Klingon Mind Probe circa 2350 to get that info.

Isn’t that great, we can electronically engineer life to have the mind mind, making even Vulcan’s redundant. What can go wrong there?

ML31, It made it so the Vukcan mind meld isn’t something that Vulcans have in their DNA but something just ANYONE can learn.

AGREED. I could not believe that. How can you make a synth telepathic? It makes no sense. Accepting that premise, however, I had a thought: what if Sutra were putting those “movies” into Jurati’s mind? I saw new scenes I had not seen previously.

According to one professional reviewer, Data performed a mind meld once.

So, it’s a callback of a sort.

What. A. Mess. Where to begin?

1. Why go to the Borg cube? – poke around a bit, remind us that Picard is dying for the third time in 3 mins and then leave everyone there 2. Once again, the most effective fighter (Elnor) is left behind to… “help bring the defenses back online” – he’s a Borg engineer now? 3. Describing Hughs final moments “how could a gentle soul turn to violence” …Hugh ran through a corridor, hid and then got stabbed by…something…who writes this stuff? 4. General comment about incredibly poor editing and directing throughout. It felt like scenes were mashed together with bits missing. I know the show went through re-shoots but it really feels like it here. 5. Jurati is a cold blooded murderer and we spend all episode characters feel sorry for her and justify what she did. “The mind meld made me do it” would not hold up in a court of law… 6. And after all of this, we have the same plot from Discovery. Evil artificial life from the future…sorry, i mean from a distant galaxy…will come to wipe out the organics…I mean was Kurtzman traumatised by his experiences of trying to install DirectX 12 to Windows ME back in the 2000s like the rest of us?

I have to say though that I loved the Space Flowers…that had a genuinely immaginative and original feel to it. That must have been the scene they actually let Chabon write. Also, I actually liked the 1st scene with the Soong character but everything he did and said after was just…off….again, like there were scenes missing.

“I mean was Kurtzman traumatised by his experiences of trying to install DirectX 12 to Windows ME back in the 2000s like the rest of us?” LMAO!!!! This is the best explanation I’ve heard yet!! (and I can’t stop chuckling)

Too soon, man. Too soon. The emotional wounds still get triggered every time I hear a 56k modem trilling.

I just remember parents. Them: “GET OFF THE PHONE LINE!!” Me and friends: “NOOO!!! OUR C&C GAME WE’VE PLAYED FOR HOURS WILL NEVER BE RESOLVED!!”

Well perhaps the charges against Agnes could be brought down to manslaughter?

You can’t have a “man”prefix in any word in Nu-Trek… so it’ll need to be Peopleslaughter

Excellent call! Forgive me for my crime. I meant to say ONEslaughter.

Starfleet crew have done plenty of weird-ass things when they were under the influence of other intelligences. If Jurati was “programmed” as I suspect she was, she was brainwashed into disabling the healing equipment to kill Maddox. It horrified her because she *had no volition.* She’d been “mind raped.”

E.g., Picard was not tried for war crimes because he was assimilated/under the influence of the Borg.

I also suspect that anything good is by Chabon and anything bad is by Goldsman or Kurtzman.

I would second that hypothesis.

Third! And speaking of dark portents on the horizon, Chabon’s leaving after season 1. Maybe he was pissed at what Kurtzman and Goldsman did to his baby for the finale.

No offense guys but we really don’t know who was responsible for what. And of course everyone here seems to like Chabon so he had the ‘good’ ideas while many don’t seem to like Kutzman and Goldsman (and I understand why) but we assume they came up with all the ‘bad’ ones. Sorry but I don’t think its that simple at all. It was the same argument people made with Discovery first season when we thought Nic Meyer had real influence on the show at the time (and apparently had very little if any) and people assumed all the stuff was ‘good’ was due to him too.

I been reading up on his posts and what he says in the podcast and clearly they all thought this through but it sounded like he was the on that Hugh should die for instance which I felt was just unnecessary. I’m sure he is coming up with the better ideas but its unfair to just assume the stuff you hate is done by the people you hate. I don’t think its that black and white.

No offence taken. I can seperate this show from the people that like it. Maybe you’re right and its not as simple as Chabon (good) and Kurtzman (bad). But lets say it was Chabon’s idea that Hugh should die….With my GCSE-C grade in England I can come up with better ways it could have happened…instead of a flick of the wrist and a blade hitting his chest…

…he does everything Seven of Nine did but died in the attempt …he does everything Dahj did and died …he does everything Icheb did but survives in the attempt only to die 10mins later by a blade to the chest….wait. …he could of even did a ‘last stand’ thing with a phasor in both hands while his pregnant wife is giving birth on a shuttle craft fleeing the starrr…wait…no …he could have been the red angel!!!

Oh I don’t know. I honestly would have liked to see him end his run happy, with a family, maybe on a nice planet surrounded by rehabilitated Borg…but no. We need “emotion”.

I’m still peeved about Hugh’s unnecessary death. What did they accomplish by it? Lessee, Elnor stayed to help Hugh, then Hugh died, and Seven “adopted” Elnor, now suddenly he’s an engineer.

Maybe Hugh could have gone to urgently save his XB friends [that was the gentle soul in him], and quietly continued the Reclamation project.

I know this is probably a dim question on my part, but WHY were the Romulans heading up the Artifact research and allowing the Reclamation Project? To lower the threat of synthetic lifeforms? To discover the secrets of the Borg?

I was somewhat underwhelmed by this one as well. But I can offer in fairness:

1. They went to the cube to look for survivors; namely Elnor and Hugh, and any of the other XB’s, because they’re people and victims and Picard has seen this.

2. Just a plot device to keep Elnor and Seven together for reasons only the writers know. Elnor is potentially a great character but hasn’t had an opportunity to bond or have a friggin’ conversation with anyone in this cast other than Picard, whom he resented for 75% of his first episode.

3. Hugh was fixing to turn on the cube and Borg the hell out of the Romulans for revenge. Hugh had reached his “fuck it” threshold. Picard was probably shocked that Hugh grew some balls after being fairly passive for his whole life. And Picard would not approve.

4. At the end of this one, rather than saying “that’s it??” and wanting more, I said to myself “welp, I guess they’re going to end it here”, and the “next time on Picard’ logo showed up practically on cue. Really felt like everything had been spinning out of control for a half hour at least.

5. I actually think the “mind meld made me do it” would work in a court of law. Commodore Oh was an authority figure in Starfleet. She did the mind meld, ordered Jurati to kill Maddox and Soji. “I was only following orders given to me as a civilian contractor by a superior officer in Starfleet Security”. You’re damn right that would work in a court of law.

6. I think a lot of the theories I’ve seen on here sounded like better stories that the one we were apparently given. Granted, the last hole card has to be flipped, but they have a lot of wrapping up to do in maybe an hour if we’re lucky, and this thing felt like they’re setting up a resolution that I don’t care about seeing. I hope I’m wrong.

“3. Describing Hughs final moments “how could a gentle soul turn to violence” …Hugh ran through a corridor, hid and then got stabbed by…something…who writes this stuff?”

To be fair, I think the idea behind this was the willingness of Hugh to try to get back at the Romulans for killing the XBs. His comment to that point made Narissa feel the treaty no longer applied to him, thus allowing her to kill him.

That fact that this “gentle soul” was considering revenge means he must have witnessed something terrible. Not saying the line was great, just providing context.

I appreciate the effort made here to this up. But the fact that they need well meaning fans to explain things to the rest of us its further evidence of poor writing. – I mean, why have the Borg Cube in the show at all? What exactly has the Bog done other than get sucked out the airlock and their ship crashes on a planet…. but wait…its the BOOOORRRG!!! They are from Star Trek!!! Like Data!!!!! *groan*

Yeah that line was just AWFUL. I can see Picard saying it but how it was worded just felt forced.

What ST Fans said to ST writers: -> Please do not fall victim to hollow bad buy tropes. We have seen sexy, strutting bad guy Cylons that want to kill humanity. We have seen manipulative bad guys who use emotional abuse to ensnare victims. Don’t write Sutra to be Lore… or 6. Innovate the bad guy in a new and unpredictable way. -> Please do not copy BSG. Be original.

What ST Writers said to ST Fans: -> Resistance is futile. All of that which the BSG writers wrote before… ST writers will write it again. -> We want predictable bad guy tropes. -> We want homicidal, illogical Cylons in our Star Trek. -> We want a Trek version of Cylon resurrection chamber, where minds can be downloaded into blank bodies. -> We want to have an ST Synth home world where you see multiple copies of each synth model just like on a Cylon base cruiser.

My opinion is that Ep 7 & 8 were both really good.

My opinion is that Ep 9 was a let down. A big let down.

Maybe Ep 10 will provide a flourishing and unexpected finish to redeem things. Or do you think Ep 10 will end up with a Human – Synth détente… like BSG?

Good points BG35.

I’m reserving my finale view on this episode until I see part II.

However, I feel I can fairly say that the way villains are written has been a recurrent flaw in this series, and Discovery as well.

And it doesn’t have to be that way. Una McCormack’s tie-in novel for Picard does a great job of presenting the different perspectives of all the characters. In the novel, even Clancy is comprehensible, worn down by the effort to keep the members of the Federation Council on side with the rescue efforts.

In a recent interview, McCormack described her approach as writing as if every character was the hero of their own story (except perhaps the venal Romulan leaders who abandoned responsibility for others).

Picard would have been so much better if Narissa and Narek were shown as sincerely committed to a desperate agenda from the start. Sutra is pretty one-dimensional, but she could be more. Imagine how much better this would be if we saw instead the sincere differences in perspectives that we saw in Saints of Imperfection in Discovery S2.

And even when a truly amoral character is needed, it would be more powerful if it wasn’t the norm.

Bjayzl’s complete psychopatic greed would be more credible, and a better rationale for Seven’s actions, were she an outlier among the villains. Instead, both these series have repeatedly put villains beyond the moral pale (e.g. through cannibalism) for what seems to be shock value.

The weirdest thing about this is that it seems un-Treklike as an approach. Trek is often about coming to understand and accept diverse perspectives. It’s hard to do that when the go-to approach for creating antagonists is to make them irredeemable.

Sorry folks, but that was pretty dreadful. I guess everyone’s okay with Jurati murdering Maddox and the show is actually asking us to feel sorry for her. Just to clarify: Maddox was her significant other who she murdered, like what, four or five days ago? But now her and Rios are already a thing. Rios is clearly damaged goods in that he’s attracted to her, knowing what she did. Ludicrous characterisations. Poor Alison Pill – a stellar actress – must have wondered what she let herself in for once the scripts started arriving. (I was watching her pull double-duty on FX’s DEVS last night to remind myself what she can do with well-written scripts instead.) Glad some of you are getting something out of this show but I’m finding myself finishing it purely out of duty. It’s hard to believe there are writers on the show who have even watched Trek before, let alone claim to be fans of it. Ten year-old me playing with action figures had better stories to tell.

Star Trek: Pike NOW!

Nothing is happening “now” and most likely not for the rest of the year.

Virtual writers rooms can be developing series and pilot scripts.

Here, here!!

Ick. No more prequels. I loved the character of Pike. But we know how his story ends, and so does HE. Anson Mount could have played the exact same character with a different name, and he would have had room to grow and evolve. All Star Trek: Pike would be is a lead-up to TOS, and him wondering in every episode if THIS is the one where he gets his face melted. I don’t want to sit through three seasons of that.

I don’t want anymore prequels either but a Pike show would be crazy NOT to do at this point. If the Section 31 show actually happens (well if we don’t all die off in a year either ;)) I hope that stays in the 32nd century or a new era altogether although I’m prepared for it to be in the 23rd century.

I still want a post TUC set show. Perhaps 30-50 years later or something. But part of me is thinking that is never going to happen.

No thanks, I have no desire to have Goldsman, Kurtzmann and their band of hacks hash out yet another mediocre show.

I could not have said it better. I remember spending Christmas money on five Klingon action figures to go with the one I had. That’s because my Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu, Scotty, and Chekov had tagged teemed my one Klingon to the point it was unrecognizable.

There was a very “Descent,” parts I & II feel to this, from the look of the planet to Sudra(Lore) convincing Soji(Data) that the evil-destructo plan was necessary and good. I was never very fond of “Descent” part II however. It was a little too by-the-numbers predictable by that point in the series and the plot was telegraphed a mile off.

I am interested to see if they have more to reveal with the Song character… seems too convenient to just “oh yeah, didn’t we tell you? Dr. Soong had a REAL boy,” at this point. It may be a deep dive for “new to Trek” audiences, but I still feel Lore at work here (and I never really cared for Lore either, too “mustache twirly,” but it was TV in the 90’s and there was still a good amount of cardboard to the characters, even recurring ones.)

I’m also feeling Sudra is a bit too Mustache-twirly now and there’s, hopefully, a bit more backstory to her. She’s too radically different from the other android folks there for there not to be something more going on. I am also pretty certain that she killed the other android girl with her brooch, not what’s his face Romulan dude. Interesting that he shows up to the cube all “I wanna help!” in the preview for next week. Maybe the Romulans, Federation, & XB’s on the Artifact all have to team up to defeat the evil synth army from beyond space next week ala all of Discovery season 2’s folks fro the Klingons to the Kelpians showing up to defeat Control.

Interesting also that space battles in Star Trek have always been sub-warfare analogues until recently when they have turned space opera/Star Wars-y with hundreds of ships swarming around each other. The only indication of anything like that in the past was the peek at Wolf 359 that we got in the opening of DS9 and the battle at the start of ST: First Contact. I wonder if it’s playing to “modern sensibilities,” bringing in new audiences that expect that in sci-fi, or is it that when you build a season around “the universe is ending” it seems too underwhelming to have only 2 ships bobbing and weaving. I feel like we need to bring the stakes down on these short seasons. Eventually we will get tired of the universe always in danger. In the 80’s – 90’s it seemed it was always the destruction of the earth at stake, and that got tired.

Instead of stepping back to character development (Amok Time, Family), interesting space anomalies that serve as social metaphor (Immunity Syndrome, The Most Toys), or high stakes, but small scale conflict (Corbomite Maneuver, Kahn, The Battle), we get only a long 7 episode ramp up to a three episode explosion of a super high stakes, galaxy ending potential, high tension ending where things feel wrapped up far too quickly and neatly. It’s amazing that the story can seem too rushed when carried out over 10 episodes when these were supposed to be a solution to the old episodic format of having only one episode to introduce, complicate, and solve a problem that began to feel too formulaic and too low stakes since it seemed guaranteed that all your main characters would be mostly unchanged at the end of the episode. We need to find an in-between somehow, but maybe that’s just me.

It’s not just you.

Said it before but this was a 5 episode arc stretched into 10…which is really the problem with just about all pay-TV at this point.

It’s true. The Marvel shows on Netflix wrestled with this too; thirteen episodes when ten would have been more effective. Nonetheless, as more shows are made, you’d think writers would avoid those traps. Picard’s overall story is pretty lightweight.

I never really get this. Dune for instance would be a PERFECT miniseries but instead we are going to get a movie. This would probably be a better made for TV movie but instead we get a miniseries. So strange!

I was having a similar conversation with a friend last night.

There’s a lot of issues with modern TV that seem to be overlooked. I think it’s largely because people “binge” a product, and then move along to the next product without giving the stuff they binge a lot of thought.

Sure there are some dedicated groups of people that discuss shows, but there’s no longer that “water cooler” aspect. It’s all “hey, did you watch show X?”, “Yes, but I’m not finished”, “Oh, I watched all the episodes 2 weeks ago.” And it’s never mentioned by either of them again.

They’ve stretched what should be a 2-hour movies into 8-10 episodes. They’ve stretched what should be 8-10 episodes into 12-13.

Loud, vocal people online complain about how much “filler” is in old 22/26 episode seasons of shows. Personally I’d take 20-24 episode seasons with 5-6 *self-contained* bad episodes over 5-6 meandering stories and 3-4 “great” stories that are only great because they’re better than the meandering, mediocre *filler* stories in the rest of the season.

The best X-Files stories were non-arc, stand alone stories. The revival’s arc stories were absolute trash, and they made up almost half of their short series. It was so sad to watch when they were also able to produce great episodes like “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster” and “The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat”, but then they have to spend half the show’s run on a convoluted, terrible mythology stories.

I’d like to mention that I don’t think that modern Doctor Who’s best stories are the arc stories. Individually, almost none of them stand up to some of the best stand-alone (or two-part) stories, and they’re often only good because of a 5-10 minute emotional impact at the end of their stories, even if the preceding 80 minutes were just “okay.”

I have serious worries about DUNE. I was really hoping that with the success of Game of Thrones (before the final season), that someone with the rights to that would wise up and try to emulate what they did with The Song of Ice and Fire. Instead, they’re going to do something like half the book, without possibly ever completing the second half if the first half isn’t a success.

See I liked Game of Thrones when basing off the novels forced the writers/directors/producers to pre-plan everything in advance with an epic multi-year always changing arc. Same with the Marvel movies how they all tied in together. Even the X-Files arcs I thought were awesome until the end when you realized that the writers actually had no plan whatsoever to tie the black oil, bee release, alien civil war/take over and Mulders kid together and got the feeling in the end they really were just throwing darts at the wall hoping in the end it would all make sense. Each series convinces me more and more they should just reboot Star Trek and start from the beginning with the old canon being the “pre-planning” but done right (i.e. Enterprise starting with Zehrame Cochrane lost post WW3, Earth needing rebuild with help from colonies, Vulcan ship in distress captured by Tyranny falling apart that once ruled our part of the galaxy, no subspace comms, armed only with nuclear weapons, no transporters, no phasers on stun, etc). And yes, I know, why not just make a whole new series which is what someone should do. Look at Netflix Lost in Space, it’s more TOS than Picard by far!!!

I’m kinda out of enthusiasm with reboots. I just wish they’d cut the cord completely, hurl us another hundred years into the future with a new ship and a new crew and head on out there. Space is supposed to be so vast so it’s frustrating that the more shows/movies we get (with all these franchises, not just Star Trek), the smaller these universes seems to get.

So wish they would have cut the cord fully with the Kelvin movies.

The problem with going further out into the future comes from Roddenbery’s own “Star Trek” writers guide. You go too far and the characters and situations are non relatable. For instance with Picard the future Starfleet now should be engineered androids/holograms who you can’t kill, live forever, can mind meld (don’t need Vulcans anymore), have no faults, fly/breath in space, everything. Now you say “cool!” but then for every situation they win in like 10 seconds. It’s like if there was “Q” the TV show, he doesn’t have to work hard at anything, has no threats, everything is a holodeck. The problem is that the stories, regardless of what galaxy you are in, become boring. That’s why you see these flawed characters in Picard, as they made it where the situation has no hardships (energy free, Federation has nothing to learn from anyone) they need to turn to internal conflict. Ironically TOS given lots of external conflict (out of dilithium crystals, hit by Klingon missiles) you didn’t need all these flawed characters to keep the story moving. When I was a kid I used to think it was fun to design the Enterprise-J which had 10000 quantum torpedoes, 50000 photon torpedo launchers and 100000 phaser banks and could reach Andromeda at warp 9.9999999. Become an adult, try to write a story or show that on a movie and you realize how ultimately lame and unwatchable that would be.

Yes, but the problems you mention here are all down to bad writing and a lack of vision. Of course it’s difficult to write these characters when they’re supposedly stripped of all the human frailties that make any compelling drama but TOS and TNG (after the first two seasons anyway) solved that problem weekly by pitting them against everything they’re not. The Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, the Borg, the Jem Hadar. Perfect contrasts to the moral high ground these characters stand on. Hell, it took til Best of Both Worlds before we saw Riker really get his feathers ruffled and it wasn’t the Borg who did it first, it was Shelby, vying for his job. (DS9 took a different tack by setting the show in a non-Starfleet environment and Voyager had the best opportunity to delve into conflict between the main crew but wimped out by the end of the pilot) Only lazy storytelling and a lack of imagination insists because it’s the same show set in the future that you must make everything bigger and better than the last one. That the characters have to be even more evolved than the last one. No they don’t. Just because Enterprise-D was larger than the TOS one doesn’t mean that’s how this evolution has to proceed. Once you can create danger and drama, you can do it with anything. Every writer worth his salt who worked on Trek over the years has said how hard a show it is to write because of Roddenberry’s decrees but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. It just means you have to work harder, is all. And before someone says “it’s not that simple!”, yes it is: Work. Harder. If you can’t cut it, get someone who can.

I hear you blackmocco, I want a show to go farther in the future as well and why I’m excited about Discovery third season. But I understand what you mean, you want a more back to basics feel with a new crew and all of that. It will probably come in time.

I like what they did with Picard but I don’t want that to be all of Star Trek either.

Tiger2, Have you watched Netflix Lost in Space (with tech even more primitive than TOS)? I’m curious if you feel that sucks because it isn’t enough in the future and it needs more quantum torpedoes, holodecks, etc.

I saw the first season of Lost in Space Cmd. Bremmon and liked it, but I admit it hasn’t been enough to get me to watch second season yet. I still plan to do it, but obviously in no rush lol.

And dude, that’s not the reason why I want to go farther in the future. You read most of my posts since this show started, how many times did I mention I want to see more holodecks and quantum torpedoes lol.

I don’t care about that stuff (but I don’t mind it either though). I simply want to see the universe EXPAND and not just play on nostalgia all the time or fill in to stuff we already know. That’s why while part of me really like the idea of a Pike show I’m not AS excited about it as others because I feel end of the day it will feel more like a nostalgia romp or just fill in to stuff to TOS. And I’m not saying thats a BAD thing in itself, I like nostalgia like everyone else here (and I loved seeing Pike and Spock in Discovery) and why I’m enjoying Picard obviously.

But for me, if we ONLY had one show and it came down to doing something like a Pike or a Picard show versus something TOTALLY new, different with a new setting and characters, etc I would take that show over those in a heartbeat. And when you do a prequel, let’s be honest, you can’t get away with doing something TOTALLY new because most of the prequels are designed to set up events, aliens and characters we already know. Enterprise for the most part DIDN’T do that because it was so early in the timeline compared to the others but then fourth season it was clearly going the direction of TOS more and setting up the Romulan war, etc. And it was GOOD, but it still wouldn’t be my first preference as a whole.

Fortunately we don’t have to decide between one or the other with the 30 shows they have planned lol and why I’m happy with a Pike show if it comes. But for me, I would always prefer Trek to go forward and push for new ideas and concepts, which is why I loved TNG so much. You don’t, I understand why, we ALLLL know lol. But as fans people just want different things but as a fan I will support anything they make AS LONG AS ITS GOOD first and foremost, prequel or not! ;)

If Discovery had been set a hundred years after TNG, think people would have given it an easier ride? Hell yes. Imagine this forum without any complaints about canon violation for starters. It’s too little, too late for Discovery now, methinks. It has all the baggage of the previous two seasons. The comparisons to TNG’s first two seasons are moot, in my opinion, because TNG kept trying to tell the same kind of stories within the same framework until they got it right. Discovery has hit the reset button each season trying to forget what came before. To me, it hasn’t earned the chance (although obviously, I’ll end up watching it because it’s Trek but that’s hardly the glowing recommendation CBS executives would like to hear, I’m sure…)

I’d argue had Discovery had a war with Klingons deploying D-7 battle crusiers, fighting Pike and the 1701 from the start and had a similar Discovery powered by something other than magic mushrooms it would have had a lot more fans (something could have easily been done). That being said its clear what they have to do for future Trek and that is destroy the TNG Federation that they can do some “new” Wagon Train to the Stars. Had they continued the motion picture era as the next generation we would all be on the same page.

Sigh, they don’t have to ‘destroy’ future Trek, that’s just ridiculous lol. Yes I know you hate the 24th century, but again you don’t speak for the majority, just yourself dude.

“If Discovery had been set a hundred years after TNG, think people would have given it an easier ride?”

Oh I agree completely! I think that was the biggest misstep and NOT putting the show in a post-Voyager setting on day one by fifty years or so. They obviously know most fans weren’t happy with it but I get it made sense for marketing purposes (hence Spock now has a sister); and I truly believe it was really only set there because Fuller wanted to reset Star Trek in his own image the way Abrams tried it with the Kelvin universe, so you start at the beginning.

But I also think they realize what a mistake it was, not the timeline itself, but how much they tried to change everything in this era and it blew up in their faces. That was the biggest head scratcher, why put it in such a known era but then CHANGE practically everything??? Oddly the show would’ve gotten way less resentment if it was actually in a post-Voyager setting. That’s the crazy thing, it looks like it would fit in a 25th century timeline than it would the 23rd. And its even more funny since we seen WAY more advance stuff on Discovery than we seen in Picard lol. There are no spore drives, hologram communication or time travel suits to be found in Picard but 150 years ago this stuff was on the cutting edge ;).

But its clear they learned their lesson because of how well Picard feels. Nothing on the show feels misplaced for its era. The technology feels just right and in some ways its under-played, but that’s partly because the show doesn’t take place on any advance starships. But how they treated the TNG era SHOULD’VE been given the same treatment with the TOS era with Discovery…and it wasn’t at all sadly IMO.

So off to a thousand years later instead. ;)

Actually I realize I was wrong about hologram communication in Picard. We have seen it twice now, the first time Narrisa talked to her brother on the Borg cube and when Picard talked to the Admiral f-bomb lady on the La Sirena. So it’s there, but not used at the level of Discovery for some reason.

TNG season 1 & 2 relied heavily on reworked stories that were supposed to be for TOS and ultimately rewritten/reworked for TNG. It showed once season 3 kicked in with new stuff.

Oh, you tease!! I love it!

Is this Re: Ent done right?

“The best X-Files stories were non-arc, stand alone stories. The revival’s arc stories were absolute trash, and they made up almost half of their short series. It was so sad to watch when they were also able to produce great episodes like “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster” and “The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat”, but then they have to spend half the show’s run on a convoluted, terrible mythology stories.”

100% agreed. The X-Files revival was really let down by the insanely dumb mythology stories that bookended Season 10 and 11. They had so much to cram in, they shot it like an action movie on crack with dumb dialogue aplenty, it was ridiculous. Thank god Gillian Anderson said she was done with it.

I’ve been rewatching the X-Files on Amazon. Just starting on Season 3. The HD widescreen version is better than expected. The effects (upscaled) are okay. A shame it didn’t get the TNG treatment, but alright.

Yeah sadly I agree with the X Files revival. I was just as excited for that as the Picard show and naturally most people wanted the alien mythology stuff but it was the weakest part of the sow. The last episode was so bad it felt like it was a fan fic story written by a college student.

Yes, the monster of the week episodes in the X-Files revival were mostly good, but the main conspiracy storyline was truly awful. It was like watching two different shows.

It really was too bad they introduced the Conspiracy/Mythology episodes into X-Files in the first place. After the first few seasons, I was just, “WHY. WHY? This is not going ANYWHERE except up its own a$$”

Really a waste, considering the great acting and chemistry of the cast.

I watched the first 2 episodes of the X-Files Sequel series and gave it up. More Mythology junk? Phooey!

There all ready is a Dune Mini Series… two actually, that sci-fi channel did… I felt they far exceeded the original movie… though they still don’t do the text full justice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Herbert%27s_Dune

Agreed. All about the $ub$.

“Said it before but this was a 5 episode arc stretched into 10…which is really the problem with just about all pay-TV at this point.”

This is exactly what I thought about Mandalorian: a perfectly fine movie stretched out across several episodes. A very simple plot dragged across a lot of filler episodes.

Descent as a whole isn’t good, but especially not the second half.

It’s a lot more watchable if you treat Picard as having been compromised by the Borg / secretly on the Borg’s side / PTSD from being Locutus and striving for the non human order of the Borg.

@Hutch$, I’m a little irritated by your mention of the glimpse of Wolf 359 we got in DS9 + the “First Contact” battle being the only big space battles from the past. DS9 had it’s fair share of big, epic space battles, and for what it’s worth it felt great to see all these familiar ships finally in a big fleet battle.

But I also have to say that nowadays the space battles they do (like on Discovery) leave me kind of cold. Perhaps because it’s nothing previously unseen anymore, maybe because it’s not a battle featuring “classic” ship designs, and maybe (and probably) because the plots surrounding the space battles hardly make any sense.

And I’m also a bit tired of these “Vs the end of the universe”-plots. It was ok in the movies, because we had the TV shows which contained more interesting plots. But nowadays it’s all the same. Both Movie-; & TV-Star Trek is about the end of everything. Booooring.

I think what I meant was exactly what you are talking about, space battles that leave you cold. By the time DS9 got into those massive battles, they were an essential part of the story and character growth, not just spectacle without context, like jumping into a battle right off in First Contact. Wolf 359 at the start of Discovery is perhaps not the best example, because we were aware it had happened having seen the aftermath in TNG, and they leave the battle pretty quickly to give us some real character with Sisko and family.

@Hutch$, thanks for the clarification. Now I understand what you mean. I’d also agree with the “First Contact”-battle. While I remember it was super fun to watch back in the days, it didin’t put you in the edge of your seat or something. It was fun, but there was no thrill and yes, the space battles in DS9 were very different in that regard.

For me space battles that left me cold started with SW The Return of the Jedi. Lots of stuff going on, but not enough angles or something even for a gamer to make sense of.

Lots of fog of war, with a multi-ring circus that doesn’t provide viewers a sense of continuity in any ring. In the end, there’s not much sense of what counts to turn events (even when ships are crashing into one another).

And that’s the problem with most space battles: lots of busyness, but little information to follow the flow tactically.

I’d feel less unhappiness the loss of the tension of submarine style warfare if I could actually enter into the events with the various characters.

The thing is that it is possible to do. The Orville managed to provide one of the best choreographed and most complex battles with the Kaylons that I’ve seen. We’ve found The Orville pretty mixed, that battle was great.

I’ve said it before: starships should be elegant sailing vessels in Star Trek, not F-16s dogfighting.

As much as I’m down on Star Wars nowadays, at least it was just their fighter-scale ships buzzing around and not their capital ships.

Agreed. Compare Star Trek II finale, Master and Commander and/or Midway movies to any mass 1000 starships on 1000 starships battle and see which one is more fun to watch and allows the characters to influence the battle with relevant strategy.

Also the scene where Reliant and Enterprise are slowly drifting towards each other… unbelievably tense scene.

I wasn’t terribly impressed with this one. First half of the episode was better than the back end. As others have said, the writing seemed a jumble. This episode REALLY jumped the shark for me when Sudra taught herself how to mind-meld?? Just…no. It’s a Vulcan trait, it can’t be ‘self-taught.’ Rolled my eyes at that one. Other than that, Alison Pill’s character has really just wept a lot over the past few episodes, a disservice to the talented actress. Picard’s brief comment about Hugh’s death was off-base and did the character no justice. There was absolutely no reason to leave Elnor back on the cube other than set him up to rescue Picard again later. It was good seeing Stewart and Spiner share the screen again for those few moments. The sfx of Rio’s ship and the Borg cube cruising through the conduit was decent, but overall I remain totally unimpressed with the space shots in both this show and DSC. It does not feel in-universe and takes me out of the (rather bland) story. And how would a synth be ‘killed’ with a glass hummingbird to the eye?? Sadly, I’m not looking forward to the 2nd part of this finale as much as I would have liked. Mediocre. 6/10.

Sadly I have to agree with a lot of your points Danpaine, I felt a lot more let down by this episode too. There were things I liked but overall it just felt jumbled as you said and so many bizarre things like the mind meld and the entire Borg cube plot. I mean WHY is Elnor not there with the other guys??? OK, I bought he stayed behind to help Hugh the first time but not its obvious he’s not there because its simply in the script for him to not be there. I can understand Seven staying back but not him.

I like the idea of the planet a lot but I expected it to be much more story involved. It just felt like a lot of the set up for all of it hasn’t gone as far as it could’ve gone. We still have one more episode but based on this one my expectations are MUCH lower now.

I know I keep saying this but again: there is NO REASON for Elnor to be on this show. Not one! You could literally edit him out of every scene and still have the exact same show. Every week I think “Ok, they’ll bring him into play this time” and nada. Watch them kill him next week and think I should care.

It seems pretty clear that the writers had another idea for Elnor originally.

But how could they lean into Elnor as an adolescent child for Picard if they assigned that role to Soji from Nepenthe on?

It’s unfortunate, because the actor’s performance in Absolute Candour was solid, and credible. They could have found more for him to do than just be the vehicle for emotional expression.

This reminds me of how Tilly was pushed to deepen and show command character in the first half of Discovery’s S2, and then reverted to an annoying humour role after the showrunners changed.

Fortunately, the actor seems to have some chemistry with Jeri Ryan’s Seven. I could see him as a supporting character in a Seven series. His contrast of naivety and extreme competence ethos the XB children of Voyager.

Kinda sad we have to make up that show in our heads rather than having it done for us in the actual show.

As noted above, Data reportedly did a mind meld previously.

I also recall his doing a Vulcan neck pinch.

We may not like it, but it’s previously established.

Addendum – this may be a clue that Sudra/Sutra wasn’t closed from Data (but perhaps from Lore).

Given Data had the ability to mind meld, his clones should have the ability without study.

Citation needed. When did Data perform a mind meld?

I know that Spock melded with Nomad so organics have performed mind melds on machines. He also melded with V’ger but V’ger could be considered as more of an almost-person, Nomad was more machine like so that’s why I’m using Nomad as an example machine.

Nice touch using a little of the Voyager theme when Seven shows up.

Star Trek always feels the most Star Trekky when it’s cheesy, and. Akiva Goldman is such a bad director that he makes this expensive show look cheap (did he con the production into renting out his house as the set for an entire civilization?) It reminded me of his Discovery episode where an entire city was, I believe, an indoor set of a small strip of outdoor bazaar shops.

And he’s directing the next one too. Rod help us.

If you’re referring to the Orions on Qronos in the Discovery S1 finale “Will You Take My Hand?”, Avika Goldsman was the director for that as well.

I believe that body in the lab where consciousness of a human can be transferred to will be for Picard before he dies.

“All of this has happened before and all of this will happen again.”

So say we all-

Have to say as we near the end of the season, it’s clear that the story isn’t paying off for me in some key areas. The big issue for me is that the Borg really played no part in this story beyond window-dressing which is hugely disappointing to me. The fact that the Borg are an AI appears to be coincidental to this story? I do like the over arching theme of AI evolution however, and although not played with enough dramatic heft, the concept is fascinating and makes you feel the inevitability of AI’s evolution in our own society. This particular episode had many great ideas and moments, but it had some mechanical issues that didn’t seem to bring it all together in a taught coherent way. Editing in the last two episodes has been noticeably problematic, here it’s less about the time gaps and more about the poor pacing and missing information. I guess we have to wait for the last episode before I can really comment on the fact Elnor seems to have been lost in this story and is being separated from Picard for contrived reasons. Isa Briones is fantastic, embodying so many different characters so effortlessly, she has been consistently excellent throughout the series. And I agree with many that Agne’s betrayal and murder of Maddox is being played off way too conveniently with little consequence beyond her own internal torment. The Soong character also didn’t work for me, too contrived to the point of being dramatically deflating. Ultimately it really feels like the finale is telling a new story very loosely related to what the series was building.

Sadly the Borg is one of the biggest disappointments to me too. Why are they there if there is no direct involvement in the story? They aren’t some small subplot, every episode took place on that Borg cube minus one. I thought we were being prepped for something bigger.

And I was fine we didn’t see the traditional Borg. I understand they didn’t want to go down that path with them this season so I was on board to see a different angle. But they should still have a REASON to be there other than to just say the Borg is there to get more people to watch. It’s going to be really disappointing we learn the Borg was there to give the Romulans something to do I guess but little else.

And agreed about Agnes too. Its like they wanted her to kill Maddox to give us a shocking moment but then want to somehow play it off because my guess is they want to keep the character around next season and not in a jail cell somewhere. But maybe she will pay for her crime.

When Seven appeared and the Voyager theme began playing I lost it. I don’t care if it was a play on nostalgia or not, I loved hearing it one more time.

Came here to say the same thing, it was such a subtle touch and easy to miss but I was so glad to hear that theme, if only briefly.

LOL I completely missed that! Will definitely be listening for it when I rewatch it.

That was… wow. I was expecting a stronger episode leading to the finale. Nice to see Bill Theiss TOS-style costumes on all the androids. If they’ve known for years that Romulans have a thing against androids, and they knew that Starfleet killed Jana & her ‘brother’ Beautiful Flower… why do they only have 15 of the Super Star Destroyer Space Flowers around? Wouldn’t you have thousands available in case of a large attack? This would normally be considered a decent episode, but it has the weight of expectations of the whole series riding on it as the penultimate chapter – and it seems to come up short. Hopefully our socks will be knocked off next week.

Yeah, this one wasn’t too great for me either. There were things I really liked, the twist of seeing Spiner again but as another Soong was great (now played his third version of one) and it was great to see him and Stewart really on screen together. And I love the general idea that an entire machine species is out there that goes beyond Soji’s planet. THATS Star Trek for me and the kind of stuff I been wanting to see discussed for literally years now. Yes we have the machine people who built V’ger but it does no good when it’s completely dropped after the movie and never discussed again. ;) But hopefully we will learn something about those people since the entire story line essentially evolves around them when you think about it. They were basically the entire catalyst for it.

But this episode was just, weird. I don’t know, the writing just felt really bad to me. The monologue during the admonition felt so cheesy to me. It was suppose to be serious and deep but it sounded like something out of a bad 80’s sci fi movie. And the delivery felt like Burnham monologue bad.

The less said about Narek the better. I don’t hate the character but its sad how predictable he ended up being. But we still have one more episode I guess.

Someone else brought it up but what was the point of going to the Borg cube other than to just see Seven and Elnor again? And why is it being COMPLETELY ignored by the synths??? A Borg Cube just landed on your very secret planet. You are literally a race of perfect beings, something the Borg seems to have an interest in, why is there no panic at ALL about this?? Why is no one assessing the ship at least?? Yes, WE know this particular cube is not dangerous but there are still actual Borg on the ship that can be activated. And now knowing what we know about this planet, there really should be a bigger connection somewhere between the Artifact and this planet. I was hoping for some actual story connection somewhere. I mean we still don’t even know what the Romulans were doing with the cube. That part of the story line feels more and more irrelevant.

And yeah I didn’t like the mind meld thing either. Wait so now ANYONE can just learn to do it? It’s not some biological trait, it just takes lots of practice? I mean people were questioning it when Commodore Oh did it when we thought she was just a Romulan but I could’ve still bought it. But now apparently Androids can do it too.

I didn’t hate the episode, I haven’t hated any of them, but I did expect more considering this sets up the last one. While I do generally like the show the biggest issue is just not enough happened in it. And its so odd because they have set up MANY elements in it like the Borg, the attack on Mars, the destruction of Romulus and so on but none of it feels very strong to the story as a whole. We learned the attack on Mars was due to the Romulans (shocking lol). And they only did it because they were afraid of Synths being produced more by the Federation and wanted them banned? That’s it? That’s the big conspiracy? And apparently they weren’t bothered that it cost billions of Romulan lives in the process.

I’m hoping the last episode really goes out with a bang but sadly I’m starting to feel like we really been told the story and its now just waiting for the final battle. But hopefully something more will come of it but I’m not as excited for the finale now like I was a week ago.

It’s making me crazy, where have we seen the decaying fox clip that we see on the expanded vision? I’m assuming it was control related, but I can’t place it.

The decaying fox, I believe, is from the title sequence of “True Blood.”

the decomposing fox is one of the most widely used bits of stock footage in existence.

1. I’m worried that there won’t be enough time in the next episode to sufficiently wrap up the episode with all its loose threads. There will be a cliffhanger and we’d need to wait more than a year for resolution. 2. The Borg Cube is supposed to be a HUGE vessel. Approximately 27km wide. An object that size crash-landing onto a planet should have wiped out a continent. Yet, it seemed to have crashed approximately 12km away from the settlement and there was no consequences. 3. Where were the intense lightning storms (it was supposed to be a feature of this planet). 4. I believe it’s predictable that Soji will turn to the good side next week. If not, then this entire season to rescue Soji and the synths was a waste, the Romulans were right all along, and Picard was wrong.

We need to wrap up: 1. Purpose of this story – who was right, the Romulans or the synth? 2. What do the Borg have to do with this series> What happens to the artefact, ex-B, and the collective? 3. What happens to Commodore Oh, and what are the consequences for the attack on Mars? 4. Will the synth saviors pitch up, who are they, and what will they do? 5. What happens to Picard’s illness? Magic cure or does he transcend into another body? 6. Consequences for Agnes? It really looks like they don’t want her to end up in jail 7. Starfleet – out of the story?

Yeah I just don’t see them wrapping all that up in the span of an hour. Maybe they will but I feel it will be a ROTS situation where its just overstuffed and you are going 70 MPH to hit all the big plot resolutions.

I wouldn’t be too shocked if the season was left on a cliffhanger of some kind. We know the show is going at least 3 seasons, they can all be a continuation of the same story in theory.

I was thinking about the lightning storms, too, and thought, perhaps it’s a seasonal thing.

That was Kurtzman’s explanation for the blue Vulcan sky in Trek ’09! Seasonal.

If it’s seasonal, how can it be a constant characteristic, such that the location can be identified?

Well that was pretty bad. Goldsman has never been a particularly good storyteller, especially when it comes to sci-fi, so it’s hardly surprising that this episode feels like a hodge-podge of scenes lifted from prior Star Trek shows, half baked notions and scenes that look cool but go nowhere.

– The episode feels much like a retread of Descent I & II.

– Sudra and Soji are our new Lore and Data. And why do all these female villains have to have the vampy, sultry look and walk? Narissa was bad enough, now we have two of them.

– So synths can now do mind melds? How exactly does that work?

– Soong, Jr. is a chip of his old ancestor’s block from Enterprise, Arik Soong, right down to getting all uppity and willing to have genocide on his hands to protect his “children”. My memory of TNG is a bit hazy but didn’t Dr. Soong once tell Data that the reason he made Lore and Data was because he could not have children? If nothing else, you’d think he would have told Data about his organic cousin before he died, unless he was also a disappointment to him.

– How convenient that the orchids crash a gigantic Borg cube on their planet and then completely forget about it. It was also interesting that they crashed the La Sirena but didn’t feel compelled to check in on it. So much for their curiosity.

– Several people speculated that the synth overlords waiting to be called were reminiscent of the Reapers from Mass Effect and lo and behold, they pretty much are exactly that.

– I’m still not clear on why Maddox sent Dahj and Soji to the Daystrom institute and the artifact as it placed the synths in unnecessary peril. Nobody knew where their homeworld was and finding it would have been like finding a needle in a billion haystacks. Instead he gave the Romulans two giant signposts. And why were they given false memories? If Soji actually knew her purpose she might not have been fooled by Narek into trying to find what she really was. Kind of stupid and not well thought out if you think of it.

– Once again, the climax of another KurtzTrek show ends up involving AIs that want to destroy all organic life. How original.

As to my guess where this will end: Sudra will rally everybody to her cause, Soji will blindly go along with it. The synth overlords will come, wipe out the Romulan fleet and when all looks lost the restored Borg cube will come to the rescue and buy our heroes the precious minutes they need to turn defeat into victory. Picard, with a little help from Agnes will cleverly get Sudra to admit that she killed the android, not Narek. Soji and the rest of her people will turn on Sudra (synths shall not kill synths), Soji will tell the synth overlords that murder is noth the answer, the day will be saved and Picard gets a new brain or his consciousness transferred into the conveniently revealed synth body Soong was working on, just like that post-credits scene in X-Men 3 where Professor X transfers his consciousness into his husk twin.

Does no one see Soong as having a God complex? He calls the androids his “children”. He creates butterflies just because he misses them. He creates a cat. Is Spot II a sentient being? No? Then… Why? He probably should die for deciding he’s a God.

Well yeah obviously there is a screw loose somewhere lol. And I been seeing others point out he has nearly the same character development as Arik Soong on Enterprise, only his obsession was with augments. I lol when I read a post on another site that pointed out that Soong was also doing banned work on advance beings on a secret planet for over a decade. Didn’t Arik Soong also consider the augments his children as well?

He did but I would not classify that as much of self delusion as in this case. The augments were, augmented humans. The androids are his actual creation. If one classifies them as actual legitimate life forms, Soong is a God. He is doing more than AI research. He is creating life. Even animal life. And it appears he is doing so on a whim. As if he is creating his own ecosystem. I almost feel like all the Soongs have it in their DNA to be manically intelligent. Evil super geniuses. This sort of thing ought to at the very least be reigned in if not outright stopped.

Fan service galore in this episode and, as usual, not for the best interests of the story. That the actors are all excellent is sadly just lipstick on the pig. I think the mumblings about sacrifice in today’s episode should have been expanded to discuss the fact that the Zhat Vash Romulans knowingly sacrificed huge numbers of their own people, i.e., sabotaging their rescue-from-supernova by the Federation, by staging the Mars carnage. Unless it’s being saved for next episode’s all-but-assured chat between Picard and Commodore Oh.

Part 2 be like “The reign of biological life forms is coming to an end. You, Picard, and those like you are obsolete”; “I need to know I can count on you. As proof, I want you to kill Picard.”

Despite Lore being the mustache-twirly type, I actually like “Descent”. I really hope they don’t directly lift lines from those episodes though lol

“I can’t do it without you”, lol!

My heart breaks. Sloppy, rushed. It was as disappointing as grading papers. Part II will need to really step it up to live down this dud of an episode.

Well I was on Reddit and someone posted Chabon’s Instagram account and he answered questions about the episode:

https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/flhe9i/chabon_instagram_qa_transcript_for_picard_s1e09/

I haven’t had time to read them but just thought I post it here for others. Hopefully it makes the episode come off better…hopefully.

It doesn’t.

SPOILER THINKING

Picard will live forever and stop the war not as old Picard but as new Picard Android

I spoke to 4 other fans after last night’s episode and that came up as a big possibility. My cousin was saying the same thing about a month ago. Others think that it will be Data that gets a new body. We shall find out in 6 days. Oh btw has anyone heard when they plan to premiere S3 of Disco?

I’m intrigued by this episode. I can’t say I loved it though at this point.

More than for the others this season, I feel my rating of this episode will depend on the next one. It truly feels like the first part of a two parter.

A few offhand thoughts:

1). It’s truly a classic Trek story. While the plot has many TNG call-backs, there is definitely something that gives a TOS vibe. One can really sense that Chabon and Goldsman were TOS fans at a young age.

2). My ‘what’s up with the synthetic orchids in Dajh’s’ apartment question isn’t quite resolved. It’s pretty clear they were synthetic, but what was their purpose.

3). Maddox had another lab destroyed by the Tal Shiar, and had taken Dahj and Soji away years before. What was the dispute? How and under what circumstances did he leave such that he left his personal effects behind? (Sudra says they only had the one small ship that was destroyed by the in Magic.)

3) If Juliana’s mind was transferred into a positronic brain, why does Soon the younger not have that ability?

This feels like part nine of a 10 part show, to me. ;)

I find it odd that you got a TOS vibe here. I’m a huge TOS guy and I’m not seeing it. To me it has a huge Secret Hideout vibe. And that’s not really a complaint per se… In the sense that I don’t think ANY Trek will carry the TOS vibe anymore. There just doesn’t seem to be any way to recapture that. While disappointing I think that may be a good thing as it keeps TOS special forever.

I know this is a few episodes too late but in tng episode the defector the romulan admiral that defects says to data that he knows a whole load of romulan cybernetisists that would love to be that close to data. Surely the zhat vash wouldn’t have allowed that industry to develop? Also is it possible that OH didn’t share the entire admonition with jutarti, only enough to make her play ball? Which could explain why jurarti couldn’t understand it and that the synth took it to mean they do need to kill all organics? I do hope they don’t do some picard becomes synth to save his brain, would ruin star treks entire premise of the importance of being good in the moment and that time isn’t an enemy but a reminder that now is what is important.

Sutra said to Soji, Did you complete your mission, or something like that. What was her mission?

That was one of my questions as well. You are the only other person to mention it so far here.

I’ve been wondering that since this whole thing began.

Once all the episodes were filmed, it’s as if they went back and reshot earlier episodes…changing the story but they left the 2-part finale unchanged.

Am I the only one who preferred the old After Treks to Wheaton’s? Blech!

Wheaton is too over-the-top enamoured by the cast, etc. I guess he has to be a shill for the show, but geesh!

I’ve seen a couple of these new Ready Rooms and yes, Wheaton’s never ending, over the top “this episode was FIRE!!!” comments quickly become tiresome. I understand the need to promote the show. accentuate the positives and maintain interest but when it’s that excessive it becomes distracting and borderline off-putting. I think the show would benefit a lot by dialing that kind of stuff back a bit.

Sadly, I felt like this episode continued a bit of a downward trend in the show that started in episode 8.

Picard started out aping Mass Effect’s biggest plot point, and then pulled a character out of nowhere in a way that made no sense and that contradicts already established canon way back in TNG: Dr. Noonian Soong EXPLICITLY had no biological children! This made no sense. A better twist which would have fit with canon AND the sort of narrative Picard had would have been Lore or B4 being the leader of the synths!

Lore was dismantled in Descent, Part II, yes, but Bruce Maddox was pretty well established as going rogue through most this show so far. It would not have been a stretch for Maddox to have rebuilt Lore and worked with him, as opposed to the Picard writers creating a character who literally cannot exist if they respected continuity.

What’s worse is, their one potential fix for this (Soong being a synth.) is just plain stupid.

Picard was going great until episode 8, and this episode just brought it down further. The season finale better be amazing, but given how this is now Star Trek: Mass Effect and the writers have again decided continuity won’t work for them (A la Discovery.) I’m kinda let down by this.

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery’s commander rayner has a perfect jonathan frakes riker tribute.

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Jonathan Frakes On Directing His Final Episode Of Star Trek: Discovery

Star trek: discovery's commander rayner is the new riker, star trek: discovery’s ending introduces a new captain burnham.

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery, season 5, episode 9, "Lagrange Point."

Rayner takes command of Discovery, showing shades of Captain Riker in an intense battle with the Breen.
Burnham's heist on the Breen ship hits a snag, leading to a tense moment with Rayner giving orders.
Rayner's leadership style shines as he steps up to lead Discovery, proving to be a valuable addition to the crew.

Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) perfectly channels Captain William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) during the USS Discovery's battle with the Breen in Star Trek: Discovery . Discovery's fifth and final season is coming to a close, and its penultimate episode certainly doesn't skimp on the action. With Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) infiltrating the Breen Dreadnought, Commander Rayner steps up to take command of Discovery , proving that Burnham made the right choice for her Number One.

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 9 , "Lagrange Point," the USS Discovery finds the structure presumably containing the Progenitors' technology, only for it to be snatched from their grasp by the Breen. Captain Burnham and her crew then sneak aboard the Breen Dreadnought in an attempt to take the Progenitors' structure right from under the Breen's noses. Their heist, however, doesn't quite go according to plan, and Captain Burnham and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) are discovered on the Breen ship. With Rayner in command of Discovery, Burnham covertly clues him on plan B, which involves Discovery "firing everything [they've] got" at the Breen ship.

With a screenplay written by Sean Cochran and Ari Friedman, "Lagrange Point" is the eighth episode of Star Trek: Discovery to be directed by Jonathan Frakes, and his 31st Star Trek directing credit overall.

Screen Rant interviews Jonathan Frakes about directing the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Discovery and his own Star Trek future.

Commander Rayner In Star Trek: Discovery Homages Jonathan Frakes’ Captain Riker In Picard Season 3

"start firing with everything we’ve got".

After Moll realizes that something is amiss on the Breen Dreadnought, Commander Rayner uncloaks the USS Discovery, hoping to distract her. Moll, however, quickly shuts down Rayner's offer of Federation assistance, just before she unmasks Burnham and Booker. Still listening in, Rayner understands Burnham's plan and orders Discovery to "set course for the Breen shuttle bay. And start firing with everything we’ve got." Various commanding officers have shouted something similar to this throughout Star Trek's history, but this moment feels particularly reminiscent of a Captain Riker moment in Star Trek: Picard season 3 .

After Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick) is injured in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 3, "Seventeen Seconds," Riker takes command of the USS Titan in a battle against Vadic (Amanda Plummer) and her ship, the Shrike. As the Titan faces off against Vadic's more powerful ship, Riker gives the order to "Fire everything we've got!" Unfortunately, the Shirke has a portal weapon that redirects the Titan's full weapons' spread back at the Titan, which cripples the ship. Rayner fairs a bit better, as he is able to beam Booker back to Discovery safely. Burnham, however, had already entered the portal within the Progenitor structure and is now nowhere to be found.

Star Trek: Discovery's new Number One, Commander Rayner, shares many similarities with TNG's Commander William T Riker that go beyond the beard.

Rayner Is The Number One Star Trek: Discovery Always Needed

"failure… not an option.".

Introduced at the start of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Commander Rayner has been the perfect addition to the crew of the USS Discovery. With his gruff personality, Rayner serves as a nice contrast to the more upbeat personalities of many of Discovery's other crewmembers. "Lagrange Point" even calls itself out on this point. After Rayner takes command of Discovery, he asks Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) to act as his First Officer, but says that he doesn't need any more of her "warm and fuzzy encouragement. "

Rayner hesitates to fully accept being the Captain of Discovery, fearing his command style will not gel with the ship's crew. Tilly, however, reassures Rayner that she and the rest of the crew fully trust in his ability to lead. As the newest addition to the USS Discovery's crew, Rayner fills a similar role to Captain Shaw in Star Trek: Picard season 3. Both officers did things by the book and had little patience for niceties or unnecessary distractions. Rayner has become one of the best things about Star Trek: Discovery season 5, and if his Star Trek journey ends with Discovery, at least it was a fun ride.

The Star Trek: Discovery series finale streams Thursday, May 30th on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.

Star Trek: Picard

After starring in Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons and various other Star Trek projects, Patrick Stewart is back as Jean-Luc Picard. Star Trek: Picard focuses on a retired Picard who is living on his family vineyard as he struggles to cope with the death of Data and the destruction of Romulus. But before too long, Picard is pulled back into the action. The series also brings back fan-favorite characters from the Star Trek franchise, such as Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn), and William Riker (Jonathan Frakes).

Jonathan Frakes Explains Rayners Captains Chair & Picard Maneuver Moment In Star Trek: Discovery

Warning: This Article Has SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 9 - "Lagrange Point"

Commander Rayner's big moment in the Captain's chair on Star Trek: Discovery pays homage to the iconic Picard Maneuver.
Director Jonathan Frakes worked with actor Callum Keith Rennie to capture the essence of commanding a starship.
On the Breen shipt, Captain Burnham embarks on a mission to recover the Progenitors' treasure.

Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) finally sits in the Captain's chair in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 9, "Lagrange Point," and director Jonathan Frakes explains that significant moment - including Rayner's Picard Maneuver. With Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) leading an infiltration mission on the Breen dreadnought to recover the Progenitors' treasure, Commander Rayner takes command of the USS Discovery. But, as Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) pointed out, Rayner avoided sitting in the Captain's chair.

Appearing on The Ready Room with Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Frakes discusses working with Callum Keith Rennie to create Commander Rayner's Captain's chair moment in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 9 . After all, who better than the man who played Commander William Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation to guide Rennie on how his First Officer would sit in the USS Discovery's center seat . Check out Frakes' quote and watch The Ready Room episode below:

He was trying to wrap head around what it was to be on Star Trek. Because he came late to the game. Fabulous actor. And he sidebarred with me about the responsibility, the history And he said, What do you think about when I take the chair? And I said, I dunno. Theres a thousand ways to go. Maybe you want to give a little Picard maneuver.

The Picard Maneuver is when Patrick Stewart used to tug on his shirt as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

As Burnham seeks the universe's greatest treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, she'll need help from a host of new and returning characters.

Star Trek: Discovery Flies Toward Its Final Adventure

Commander rayner will be in command of the uss discovery's last mission.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 9, "Lagrange Point" sets the table for the series finale. Both Captain Burnham and Moll (Eve Harlow) entered the portal to the Progenitors' treasure and vanished into another dimension. Meanwhile, Primarch Tahal is on her way to Moll's Breen dreadnought with plans to take over and add those forces to her armada in her bid to become the new Breen Emperor. Only Ambassador Saru (Doug Jones) can stop Tahal, as the heroic Kelpien plans to intercept the incoming Breen on what could be a suicide mission.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 gradually built a genuine trust and respect between Rayner and Burnham.

Remarkably, Star Trek: Discovery 's endgame has Commander Rayner, not Captain Burnham, in command of the USS Discovery. Rayner's arc in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 saw him lose his command of the USS Antares and nearly get drummed out of Starfleet. Burnham gave Rayner a second chance as Discovery's new First Officer , and Star Trek: Discovery season 5 gradually built a genuine trust and respect between Rayner and Burnham. Now, it's up to Rayner to lead from the USS Discovery's center seat and bring both Captain Burnham and the Progenitors' treasure home in the final episode of Star Trek: Discovery .

Source: The Ready Room

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is streaming on Paramount+

Cast Blu del Barrio, Oded Fehr, Anthony Rapp, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Wilson Cruz, Eve Harlow, Mary Wiseman, Callum Keith Rennie

Streaming Service(s) Paramount+

Franchise(s) Star Trek

Writers Alex Kurtzman

Directors Jonathan Frakes, Olatunde Osunsanmi

Showrunner Alex Kurtzman

Where To Watch Paramount+

Jonathan Frakes Explains Rayners Captains Chair & Picard Maneuver Moment In Star Trek: Discovery

Discovery's Final Episode Breaks an Infamous Star Trek Curse

Stick the landing.

Sonequa Martin-Green as Captain Michael Burnham.

The finale of Star Trek: Discovery was given the impossible task of concluding Season 5’s 10-episode story while also serving as a capper for the entire show and wrapping up a handful of Short Treks anthology episodes. But while Trek series finales can be a mixed bag, Discovery fans can rest easy. Its series finale, “Life Itself,” manages to stick the landing. Here’s a spoiler-free look at why you can’t miss the Discovery finale, which makes for an impressive but concise balancing act that ends the show with confidence and class.

While the series finales of The Next Generation (“All Good Things...”) and Deep Space Nine (“What You Leave Behind”) were generally well-received, not all Star Trek series finales have been compelling. 2023’s Picard finale was a slam-dunk, but it was an extension of The Next Generation. The Original Series and The Animated Series didn’t have planned finales and just stopped on somewhat random episodes. Opinions are divided on the Voyager finale, “Endgame,” but Chakotay and Seven’s sudden romance is unrealistic, and Janeway’s time paradox story feels like a retread of “All Good Things...” Most infamously, the 2004 Enterprise series finale is considered a bad finale and perhaps one of the worst Trek episodes ever, as it focuses on guest stars dragged in from Next Gen instead of its own cast.

So making a good finale to wrap up a Star Trek series isn’t exactly a high bar to clear. The circumstances surrounding Discovery’s series finale are an odd combination of the planned finales for TNG, DS9, and Voyager, and the unexpected conclusions to TOS, The Animated Series, and Enterprise . Thankfully, that cocktail seems to be effective.

It’s no secret that the final episode of Discovery wasn’t planned to be the series finale. Nearly a year after Season 5 finished shooting, it was decided that Discovery would come to an end. And so, while the season was being edited, showrunner Michelle Paradise and Alex Kurtzman created an extended coda for Episode 10. As reported back in 2023 , Discovery was given “additional filming to help craft a conclusion for the series.” Discovery’s last episode was retroactively transformed into a series finale.

While hardcore fans might be able to see where the original season ending and new series ending were glued together, the finale is still extremely satisfying. Nothing about “Life Itself” overstays its welcome, nor does it feel like the story of Michael Burnham and the Discovery crew is being short-changed. It’s actually hard to imagine what certain characters would have done afterward had there been a Season 6. The final moments do hint at stories that could be explored in future Trek series, and the Final Frontier's distant future is still in flux. But when faced with the task of wrapping up an epic action-adventure series set inside a sprawling franchise, Discovery’s finale does it all with grace.

The Star Trek: Discovery finale, “Life Itself,” hits Paramount+ on Thursday, May 30 at 3:00 AM EST.

Science Fiction

Discovery: Why Doctor Kovich's Real Name Has Major Star Trek Implications

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Star Trek: Discovery revealed Dr. Kovich is Agent Daniels, which connects him to Star Trek: Enterprise.
Played by David Cronenberg, Dr. Kovich is a cultural historian, perfect for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
The inclusion of Agent Daniels ties Discovery to past Star Trek series, offering fun new connections.

The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, now streaming on Paramount+ .

The series finale of Star Trek: Discovery provides answers to the ongoing mission of Season 5, what happens to Captain Michael Burnham and even pays off an old Short Treks episode. However, one scene involving the mysterious Dr. Kovich reveals his "real name," which ties him back to the beginnings of Starfleet and, possibly, every other series. It's an interesting decision, raising questions about whether or not one Starfleet Time Agent is actually Star Trek 's first immortal.

Dr. Kovich is already a recognizable face, played by acclaimed director and actor David Cronenberg. When asked what brought him to Discovery , he told Star Trek Explorer magazine, "I like to say…I'm cheap and I'm available and I live in Toronto" where the series films. Producer Alex Kurtzman reached out to casting directors who also worked with him, asking if he'd like a role. Since Season 3, Cronenberg has appeared in 10 episodes, and he may possibly show up in the new series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy . Yet, in his final Discovery scene, Kovich reveals his real name is Agent Daniels, a key player in Star Trek 's past.

Who Is Doctor Kovich on Star Trek: Discovery?

Why michael burnham was right to violate star trek's most sacred rule.

In Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Captain Michael Burnham violates a major Federation rule, but was right to do so for a reason that's not so obvious.

Dr. Kovich first appeared in Star Trek: Discovery in Season 3, overseeing the interrogation of Philippa Georgiou, the former Terran Emperor . After she caused his holographic interrogators to glitch, he revealed he was fascinated by Star Trek 's Mirror Universe. He said that Terrans were revealed to have a genetic predisposition for violence and cruelty, but Georgiou seemed to believe he was lying. Later, he helped Dr. Hugh Culber figure out Georgiou was dying because of her presence in the Prime Timeline's future. He also casually revealed that the Kelvin Timeline was "canon" and known to the Prime Universe's Federation.

In Season 4, Dr. Kovich also showed up to talk Lieutenant Sylvia Tilly into joining Starfleet Academy . The institution was shut down when the Burn made warp travel almost impossible in the 32nd Century. After the USS Discovery crew solved that mystery and found a planet ostensibly made of dilithium, it was reopened. He was consulting with the Academy, but he also is a trained physician, specializing in "cognitive sciences." According to his TriCom Badge, he holds the rank of Commodore in Starfleet, though his actual job isn't so clear.

In the Season 5 Premiere, he issued the Red Directive that sent the USS Discovery on their hunt for the Progenitors' technology. He traveled with them on the ship in the first episode. When Michael Burnham failed to retrieve Dr. Vellek's journal, containing the location of the first clue, she convinced him to send the ship on their quest. It doesn't seem like Section 31 still exists in the 32nd Century. However, Dr. Kovich is privy to classified secrets, and he seems to be doing the job Stafleet's clandestine agency once did.

How Doctor Kovich Revealed He Was Agent Daniels

10 star trek time travel stories that changed canon.

After 60 years, Star Trek's timeline has become complex. From Yesterday's Enterprise to Past Tense to Future's End, these stories changed the canon.

After Michael Burnham made the choice to destroy the Progenitors' technology, she went back to Kovich's office to talk to him. She used the object he gave her when issuing the Red Directive, a transparent infinity symbol with a small sphere traveling through it. Burnham tried to give it back to him, but he told her to keep it. "I've lived many years, captain," he said, adding, "And many lives. I've met few who've impressed me and aggravated me as much as you." It's also revealed that he plans to give Moll the choice to work for him as one of his agents rather than spending her time in Starfleet prison .

Kovich mentioned the Temporal War from Enterprise when the USS Discovery arrived in the 32nd Century, accusing them of possibly being involved in that fight. While that seemed like a fun Easter egg at first, it turns out to be more personal for him. Burnham recognizes that "Kovich" is a code name, asking him what he's really called. He introduces himself as Agent Daniels, which fans of Star Trek: Enterprise will recognize as the name of the Time Agent who was stationed on the NX-01 Enterprise for a time .

He also identifies his ship as the USS Enterprise, which could suggest Cronenberg's Daniels, or a younger, recast version, might appear on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds at some point. However, the Star Trek Easter eggs in his office suggest he's been active throughout the canon. There is a shot of a baseball on a stand just like Captain Benjamin Sisko kept on his desk on Deep Space 9. There is a bottle of wine from Jean-Luc Picard's family vineyard on display. He also seems to have come into possession of the visor Geordi La Forge wore in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the first film.

Who Is Agent Daniels in Star Trek?

Star trek theory: picard retconned the divisive enterprise series finale.

One shot of the NX-01 in Star Trek: Picard suggests the Star Trek: Enterprise series finale didn't happen the way fans think - and that may be good.

Introduced during the first season of Enterprise , Crewman Daniels (Matt Winston) was revealed to be a Time Agent stationed on the NX-01 . The Temporal Cold War was underway during that series, and agents of the opposing side tried to stop the historic voyage of Starfleet's first Warp 5 vessel. He was embedded in the past to capture the Sulaban cabal leader Silik. Captain Archer and Daniels worked together to stop his plan, but Silik seemingly killed Daniels with a phaser. While this appeared to be the end of Agent Daniels, death in Star Trek is sometimes merely a flesh wound.

The rules of time travel in Star Trek aren't hard and fast, but how Agent Daniels survived remains unclear. He appeared in eight total episodes, including in Season 4 when Archer's actions seemingly helped end the Temporal War. In the two-part Enterprise Season 2 episode "Shockwave," Agent Daniels tries to rescue Archer from certain death by bringing him to the future. This causes other problems, but it also revealed that the young Agent Daniels was based in the 31st Century. Thus, it's not inconceivable that Agent Daniels would've lived into the late 32nd Century where Seasons 3, 4 and 5 of Star Trek: Discovery take place.

Despite dying more than once, Agent Daniels is not Star Trek 's first immortal . However, because of his status as a Time Agent, he's able to travel to the 22nd Century when Enterprise takes place, as well as the 23rd Century of Strange New Worlds or the 24th Century of the second-wave Star Trek series. In the 2021 Star Trek Explorer interview, Cronenberg revealed that Kovich is a kind of "cultural historian," which may mean his status as Time Agent Daniels was known (at least to producers) from his introduction.

What Does It Mean for Star Trek That Doctor Kovich Is Agent Daniels?

A 57-year-old star trek mystery has finally been solved.

The final season of Star Trek: Discovery just solved a franchise mystery that's been left open since a classic episode of The Original Series aired.

When the United Paramount Network failed , Enterprise was the first casualty canceled in Season 4. It's a series that, at the time, didn't get the respect it deserved. Since then, however, projects like Strange New Worlds , Star Trek Beyond and, now, Discovery have all made direct references to the show. By revealing that Dr. Kovich is really Agent Daniels, it marks the first time that a character from Enterprise has reappeared in the Star Trek canon, albeit with a different actor. It also means that since the end of the Temporal War, Daniels has kept watch over Starfleet in his present (and likely the past) ever since.

The inclusion of items from past Star Trek series, like Sisko's ball or Geordi's visor, suggests that Agent Daniels has traveled into other times and settings familiar to fans . Temporal Agents came to visit Benjamin Sisko after he traveled to 2024 and took Gabriel Bell's place in history in the two-part Deep Space Nine episode, "Past Tense." Temporal Agents also interacted with Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager . The inclusion of the elder Agent Daniels is just another way that Discovery weaves connections to the universe's past into its narrative.

Still, as Cronenberg said, he's cheap, available and on-site in Toronto. This means that Dr. Kovich, or Agent Daniels, could appear in a future series. Starfleet Academy will be set during the same timeframe as Discovery . However, Strange New Worlds is no stranger to time travel, either. Daniels could show up as a crewmember on the USS Enterprise and play a key role in averting some canon-destroying event. Still, even if he doesn't, Discovery 's nod to Enterprise 's Agent Daniels is a fun way to connect the two eras of Star Trek storytelling.

The complete Enterprise and Star Trek: Discovery series are streaming on Paramount+ .

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