Picard – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com The best place on earth for nerds. Tue, 07 Apr 2020 11:47:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-nerds_head_thumb2-100x100.png Picard – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com 32 32 All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, under one umbrella. We create short run podcasts for nerds, covering D&D, Marvel, Starfinder, and more! You vote for your favorite shows and they just might get a second season. Picard – Nerds on Earth false episodic Picard – Nerds on Earth jason.sansbury@nerdsonearth.com podcast All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, the best place on Earth for nerds. Picard – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/noe-podcast-logo.png https://nerdsonearth.com/blog/ How I Learned To Love (Or At Least Tolerate) The Quarantine https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/04/nerdy-things-to-do-under-quarantine/ Tue, 07 Apr 2020 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=30076

Read, watch, play, listen, and build your way through the COVID-19 shelter in place mandates with this list of nerdy hobbies and distractions.

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The coronavirus has hit the world like a ton of bricks. It brings with it a bevy of social distancing guidelines, nationwide school shutdowns, and a burgeoning load on healthcare systems around the world. We don’t even have baseball to distract us

But never fear. I’ve thought about a conversation between Gandalf and Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring almost every day since the quarantine began. Frodo, wishing that the One Ring had never come to him, says,

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. 

To which the wise wizard Gandalf replies,

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

We can’t change the facts of the coronavirus or the dismaying impacts it has had on us all. This pandemic has removed a lot of freedom and choices from our lives. But not all freedoms, and not all choices. 

In the face of all this, what should we do while using best practices (hand washing, social distancing, avoiding unnecessary travel, etc.) to flatten the curve? Like Gandalf says, we have the power to choose what to do with our time. There are all kinds of ways to spend your time at home. 

Like reading! 

It might be time to crack open that book you’ve been meaning to get to, or power up your favorite reading app to devour some rad comics. I just polished off a story on Marvel Unlimited called The Superior Foes of Spider-Man written by Nick Young and drawn by Steve Lieber. It was a dang delight—hilarious, with just a smidge of heart, and plenty of action. Plus it ran for just 17 issues; for a relative newbie like me, that helped me from being overwhelmed by tie-ins, crossover events, and series reboots. Other ideas:

  • If you want more comics, ComiXology is running a 60-day free trial right now. Hop on and start binging!
  • Consider an audiobook service. Now you can say you’ve read the entire Wheel of Time series without having to gorge yourself on the approximately 273,000 pages of the books.
  • What about regular old books? I’m reading an amazing science fiction novel called Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie that’s bending my brain in all kinds of intriguing ways.
  • Other great comics to check out: The Immortal Hulk, Adventure Time, or Unbeatable Squirrel Girl!
  • I’ve written a lot about books for Nerds On Earth—Shadows of the Empire, E.K. Johnston’s amazing Ahsoka, Rebecca Kuang’s The Poppy War—and many, many, many, many, many, many more. Take a peep! 
  • Why not take a deep dive into the Nerds On Earth archives? We’ve got literally thousands of incredible articles across the spectrum of a nerdery.

Or watching cool stuff!

We live in the golden age of streaming services, which means you can watch just about anything you want. I’ve been using Disney+ to catch up on Star Wars Rebels and Netflix to recreate NBC’s loaded Thursday night comedy block from 2012 (Community, Parks and Rec, and The Office). But those are just tips of the iceberg! 

  • Try The Americans for a shot of adrenaline, spycraft, and history in one tasty package. It’s about two Russian spies operating deep undercover in the Washington suburbs during the Reagan years.
  • Moana might just be the best Disney film of the last decade, and its historical roots—the great Polynesian migrations that took place almost two thousand years ago—are just as interesting.
  • Great TV shows in which to immerse yourself: The Mandalorian, The Witcher, Downton Abbey, and Star Trek: Picard.

Or playing!

The quarantine is a great excuse to play things you usually don’t have time for, or to try something new. One of my favorite hobbies is building LEGO sets, but I usually don’t have the time (or money) to indulge myself.

But when my partner (who never got into LEGO, even as a kid) said it’d be fun to build one, we decided to treat ourselves to the LEGO Ideas Dinosaur Fossils and the Central Perk sets and have had a blast putting them together. My point is that you don’t have to sit around staring at your phone all day (but if that’s what you like to do, go nuts!).

More than anything, take care of yourself and your loved ones. Everything we can do to follow best practices (hand washing, social distancing, avoiding unnecessary travel, etc.) helps to flatten the curve. If you need something fun and nerdy to do, just bookmark this list and get to nerdin’!

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Recap & Review of Picard S1.E10: “Et in Arcadia Ego: Part 2” https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/03/recap-review-picard-s1-e10/ Sun, 29 Mar 2020 16:46:13 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=29936 Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Nerds on Earth recaps and reviews Picard S1E10, the season finale: "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2."

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Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

We’ve come to the first season finale of Star Trek: Picard and there are certainly a great number of story threads to resolve:

  • What is going to happen to Jean-Luc and his failing health?
  • Are these futurized synthetics going to answer the beacon and come rescue the colony that Picard and crew have encountered?
  • What, if any, hooks are we going to get set up for season 2?

Recap of Picard, S1.E10: “Et in Arcadia Ego: Part 2”

Narek has escaped his cell, leaving behind a dead synthetic. He makes his way back to the Reclamation Project, crashed on this world and finds his sister. Here, as he outlines using some sort of futuristic grenades to take out all the space orchid defenses of the planet, we hear for the first time that Narek is a wash-out and reject of the deepest conspiracy group of the Romulans.

He convinces Narissa to stay and activate the Reclamation Project weapons while he sneaks out and heads to use the grenades. Little does he know Elnor is on his trail and follows him as he exits the cube.

Narek heads to the ship and debriefs Rios and Raffi about how Picard was taken captive and how they are building a beacon to signal the ultime synthetics that they have found exist in the universe and that fights off all organic life to defend the synthetic.

In short, it seems the prophecy about the Destroyer may be true, albeit not in the way originally thought. Elnor nearly kills Narek before the others get him to give Narek a chance to explain.

Meanwhile, in the colony, we see as Dr. Agnes Jurati is working alongside Data’s “brother” in flesh,  Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, who wants to move his consciousness to the empty synthetic that has been created. Her expertise, along with the notes from her former lover, Dr. Maddox, seems to make her more than capable of the task. But why she has the skills, she seems to be focusing on a different outcome.

Soji visits the house arrested Picard and they have an interesting discussion, as she has put the beacon and its coming force into the one category that allows the synthetics to choose their future versus having to live by whatever options the organics and Starfleet choose for them.

Dr. Soong makes a shocking discovery when he sees that the slain synthetic from last episode was not killed by Narek but instead by Astra, who used the death to convince everyone else to ignore Picard and call on the greater synthetics that the beacon will call. But this is only after Dr. Jurati remove Saga’s other eye to use to get around security protocols that require an eye scanner.

The crew then uses a rouse of returning a captive Narek to the synthetics to deal with the death of Saga but they are smuggling grenades and intending to use them to take down the tower and the foreboding mythology attached to it. And Dr. Soong joins their side after seeing the death video.

Jurati and Picard bust out and make it out to the ship, only to determine the crew is gone. But Picard makes an excellent speech that the synthetics, though advanced, are all child-like. They have a form of life but they do not have the whole understanding of it. Instead they need to learn by example, and he and Jurati take the ship to stand against the incoming Romulan warbird fleet, at least until the distress call that Picard sent brings the needed help of Starfleet.

So, we have the two battles. On the planet side, Soji is rapidly coding the beacon and pauses only when Narek cries out to her. When that happens, Rios deploys the first grenade. Soji intercepts it, throwing it deep and harmlessly into the sky only becoming more driven to finish the beacon.

Picard and Jurati are targeted by Narissa, who has at least some of the weapons systems on at the Reclamation Project. But she and Seven of Nine have their own hand to hand combat that ends when Seven kicks Narissa into a deep, deep hole in the Reclamation Project declaring “That was for Hugh.”

The Orchids are deployed when the Romulan Warbirds arrive, led by Commander Oh. As they fight on, Jurati is going to use the device that they repaired the ship with to create a bunch of illusion ships. And Picard reaches out to offer Soji one last thing that he hopes may help her understand, as he offers his own life as a sacrifice.

The battle ensues, with Soji watching from afar. The faked duplicates works for a bit until the ship is hit and Picard nearly loses control of it. And the effort to keep it in line has clearly taken a toll on his mental condition. But Soji activates the beacon anyways. And just as the beacon seems to open some red wormhole, Starfleet arrives under the command of Riker!

After giving Commander Oh the chance to surrender, she instead chooses to fight. Picard, knowing that he is running out of time, both personally and in this encounter, has Jurati help him medically and he is able to give one last speech to Soji, helping her see that the choice is in her hands, that Starfleet doesn’t have a prescribed ending. She eventually responds, closing the portal, just as scary red tentacle looking things were about to come through.

The Romulans stand down and all is well!

Except for Picard, whose medical conditions worsens. He is beamed down to the planet’s surface and his crew surrounds him as he dies!

Picard and Data then have a conversation in a virtual world, a quantum simulation. Picard remembers his death and Picard is able to give the simulation Data the understanding of how he died sacrificially. And they compared their deaths.

At the end of the conversation, Picard confesses to loving Data, who asks Picard to make sure that they let Data’s consciousness and pieces “die,” by removing them from the simulation. He wants his life to have meaning in the same way that a human life does, by its finiteness.

And Picard comes back, restored in the body of the golem that Dr. Soong had been preparing for himself, with modifications to make him as normal a human body as possible. The crew them reconvenes and heads into the next adventure.

Review of Picard, S1.E10: “Et in Arcadia Ego: Part 2”

As far as a closer to a season, this one is pretty excellent. There are so many parts and pieces that resolve but also set up what we knew was coming, as other seasons had already been announced. And to be honest, if you didn’t know that announcement, this episode probably had even greater impact.

Let’s talk about the butterfly symbolism that ran throughout this entire episode in particular. The not subtle introduction comes when Picard encounters one in his house arrest and watches it change color. When he comments on it, it just further reminds us of the imagery of transformation.

Butterflies were once caterpillars. And if you were paying any attention at all, I think you had to see the body reboot coming for Picard ever since they introduced the golem idea in the previous episode. But it also serves as a reminder that subtle and impactful do not have to be the same thing.

Even as I was fairly sure I understood what was coming for Picard and his shiny new body, his death and the impact it had on his crew mattered to them and, by their proxy, to the audience.

And, from the practical standpoint of you cannot have Patrick Stewart running around doing his own stunts, I understand that they powered down his synthetic body. And maybe there will be some moments where it malfunctions and we see some of the superpowers Data and other synthetics have demonstrated. But to hard reset it in the manner they did does leave me somewhat disappointed.

And as much as this episode does in terms of closing some plot points, it does leave some ideas ripe to pick up in season 2. Here are some of the ideas that I have:

  • The redemption of Narek. Maybe he is too far gone but it would be interesting to see what and how things happen for him. Also, a little convenient in a space show that we didn’t see Narissa body.
  • What about the xBs and the Reclamation Project. Seven of Nine and Soji would seem to be drawn towards that cause in some way and Elnor as well. That they didn’t address it at the end means something likely happens in season 2.
  • The Ultimate Synthetica. You cannot just show us the red lighted tentacles. We need more about this Destroyer and what it means. Enemy? Friend? Uncertainty?

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Recap & Review of Picard S1.E9: “Et in Arcadia Ego: Part 1” https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/03/recap-review-of-picard-s1-e9-et-in-arcadia-ego-part-1/ Fri, 20 Mar 2020 12:33:37 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=29719 Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Nerds on Earth recaps and reviews Picard S1E9: "Et in Arcadia Ego."

The post Recap & Review of Picard S1.E9: “Et in Arcadia Ego: Part 1” appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Nothing will get the conspiracy theories flowing like a cryptic episode title, a week long encampment in our homes to avoid a virus, and knowing that the end of the season is next week! What does this week’s episode of Star Trek: Picard set up for next week’s finale?

Recap of Picard, S1.E9: “Et in Arcadia Ego: Part 1”

For the first time, we don’t get a flashback to start up what the showrunners see as a two part finale, with the Latin title “Et in Arcadia Ego” (more on that title later). Instead, we jump right in as the crew, using Soji’s knowledge of wormholes and space, manage to go 25 light years in a few minutes, much to everyone’s surprise. They arrive at Soji’s home world, which they call Coppelius (Let’s all give a shout out to the closed captioning folks on your favorite science fiction shows, so we aren’t guessing on some of the spelling of these names!).

But Narek comes through right behind them and a dog fight ensues. At one point, the crew think that they have Narek basically dead in the water and there is an interesting discussion about what to do with him. They choose mercy but it turns out it was just a rouse by him, using his cloaking device in a weird way to send a different signal.

But they had already hailed Coppelius, who it seems sent up these giant orchid like creatures/structures which swallowed the ship and put it safely on the surface of the planet, though draining the all of its power it seems. And Picard has an incident and loses consciousness, much to the crew’s dismay. But even more alarming is that the Reclamation Project Borg Cube comes through the same wormhole and heads for the surface. Though several of the “Orchids” try to help it, its size means it has a much more severe landing.

When Picard wakes, he is under the care of Dr. Jurati, and Agnes, using a very old medical scanner, has discovered the head issue that he has long known about but not told the crew. Picard reveals it to Jurati and then to the rest of the crew, insisting that they not treat him as a dying old man.

They get the status of the ship (lacks all power), what they know of the planet, (Raffi calls it an M Class, smaller and denser than Earth) and what Soji remembers, that the Coppelius Station, her likely birth location, is nearby. They need proceed to warn the planet of the coming Romulans, who had a head start and could arrive at any point.

Once outside the ship, they see the crash site of the Borg Cube and head over and rather quickly connect with Seven of Nine and Elnor. Picard asks Elnor to stay with the xBs as they need him more, expressing pride at who Elnor has become, even as Elnor mourns the new knowledge that Picard is dying. And the crew is able to use some of the Borg technology to learn how many Romulans are coming. 218 Warbirds are coming and they are headed towards the synthetics’ colony.

At the colony, Soji is welcomed by Arcana, another synth but also many more. And the crew is welcomed briefly until Soji shares the news of the coming Romulans in two days. And the colony reveals that they only have another 10 space orchids and not enough time to make more.

Dr. Altan Inigo Soong then appears, the physical reminder of Data, though as a older, human form. Soong is the son of Data’s “father” or creator and has been living among the synths in their colony. As they discuss things, we see a new synth that Rios calls “Jana”, a golden skinned, golden eyed visage of Soji. Only we learn that it isn’t Jana at all but her twin sister Sutra. Upon learning that Jurati has had the vision, Sutra is able to Vulcan mindmeld and see the Admonition, and unpacks how it will always in some ways be a self fulfilling prophecy.

We then see two side discussions. One, Dr. Soong reveals that he can do the work of creating a synthetics physical body but not the work of mind transfer as he is discussing things with Dr. Jurati. There is an implication that he would like to cheat death and move his own mind into the new form. Dr. Jurati seems to be his best chance, as her mentor and lover Dr. Bruce Madoox handled that part before.

In the other side discussion, we see Sutra and Soji argue about the solution to their problems. Soji is wanting to avoid the incoming battle, to get the ship up, which is large enough to flee. Sutra seems to want to take a different approach but their conversation is cut short when Narek is brought in as a prisoner. Soji and he eventually have a conversation where it is clear that Soji wants nothing to do with him and Narek, in his pain, promises to rain down fire and revenge on the whole planet to destroy everything.

The crew is then at work repairing the ship with the help of some synth tech. But before they go, Raffi breaks the rules, giving Picard a hug and expressing her love for him. There is an awkward moment before he confesses as well that he loves her. It is a touching moment of expression of care; it almost made Picard seem synth-like for a moment.

And during a conversation with Picard, as Soji is discussing weighing the value of sacrifice and life or death, it is determined that Narek has escaped, killing one of the synths. But before it, we see that he had an accomplice in the synth Sutra.

The discovery of the death triggers a debate among the synth, where they think it is time to ask the help of an even stronger, ancient forms of synthetics. And this new alliance would then go about to exterminate the organics of the universe and the synthetic worlds will thrive, becoming the Destroyer of prophecy. When Picard attempts diplomacy and the chance to start over, he is quickly shut down by Dr. Soong and Sutra, who put him under house arrest.

And the end of the episode, the Romulan Warbirds are coming in full speed, and being told they are 24 hours from arriving.

Review of Picard, S1.E9: “Et in Arcadia Ego: Part 1”

So let’s start with the title of this episode itself: “Et in Arcadia Ego.” Now, I am no lover of paintings from the 1600s, so the information that I needed to gain from this came from my Google-Fu. And the piece(s) are also known as “The Arcadian Shepherds” and it is actually the name for two pieces by Nicolas Poussin. The translation of the Latin is something along the lines of “Even in Arcadia, there I am.” and is largely interpreted to be taken from the perspective of Death. The gist is that even in a utopian area, I exist. And there are some clear things to draw from this episode.

First, the two pieces of art makes me think about Sutra/Jana in the same way that we think about Soji/Dajh. The duality of creations doesn’t necessarily mean that the created things, especially ones with the ability to learn and grow, will end up in the same place.

Scene of the week is the scene with Agnes and Picard, when he reveals what she saw in the tricorder isn’t a glitch but the truth: he has a brain abnormality and it is killing him. Alison Pill has been excellent all season as the intellectual but at times passionate Agnes Jurati but watching the emotion wash over her face as she hears it was stellarly acted. And it sequenced beautifully into the next scene where we slowly get to see the same emotions hit each crew member. By reputation, history, or even short term impact, Jean Luc-Picard means something to this motley crew.

And here comes my crazy theory: Jean-Luc is winding up with the new synthetic body. Now, part of me thinks this is the easy solution; I mean, the man portraying Charles Xavier does a mind-body swap, again? But hear me out. Soji and her sister were clearly meant to be on the Reclamation Project to learn something. I doubt that learning would be of anything from the Romulans. Instead, the Borg technology holds a piece that is somehow important to Bruce Maddox. What was the thing they were trying to learn?

At the same time, Picard is having mental health issues and dealing with an old frail, aging body. But what if the mental issue is a product of Borg technology left in his body. Need a reminder of what Locutus of Borg looked like?

See the tech? Would it be far too easy for him to have a USB drive boot-up location that he can plug into for both a new body and a new adventure in season 2? I could be way off but that is my theory. And poor Agnes is going to be the one to have to figure out how to do it.

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Recap & Review of Picard S1.E8: “Broken Pieces” https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/03/recap-review-of-picard-s1-e8-broken-pieces/ Fri, 13 Mar 2020 11:42:28 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=29660 Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Nerds on Earth recaps and reviews Picard S1E8: "Broken Pieces."

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Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

This week has revelations, interesting twists, hard decisions and more as we move towards what has to feel like a great ending to this first season of Star Trek: Picard, which is good as we only have two more episodes after this!

Recap of Picard, S1.E8: “Broken Pieces”

This week’s flashback goes way back and takes us even further back. We see Romulan women all gathered around a circle. We discover the circle is there to give a warning, evidently by an ancient group, who had their lives ruined by synthetics after they created them. After a vision is shared with all of them, there really are just three of them left, as the others take their own lives in various ways. The three left are Commodore Oh, Narissa and an Unborg-like Ramdha, who we learn is Narissa’s aunt. They seem to feel like they are called to their mission and using the Mars attack as a way to get synths banned works for them.

Elnor is meanwhile hiding on the Reclaimed Borg Cube, awaiting his rescue from the Fenris Rangers. Eventually, he is discovered but Seven of Nine arrives at just the right time and they are able to fight off the Romulans long enough for her to essentially reboot the Cube. While it won’t go all the way live and reconnect with the Borg, she is able to create a localized network version.

This move triggers Narissa to go genocidal. She then goes and kills all the xBs that she can find and then she and a Centurion work a plot to evacuate all the remaining Borg into space via the airlocks. When Seven of Nine hardwires in, after expressing major misgivings about taking over the right of the Borg to Elnor, she cries out when the Borg are launched into space.

Meanwhile, Raffi has been working on a couple of puzzles and conspiracy theories. At the end of last episode, we saw her studying a series of circles that this week we learn symbolizes an 8 starred solar system; while they seem to have existed in myth, especially Romulan myth, the only one in real life is the one Soji is from.

And Soji, upon landing, has had a bit of a sequence. Raffi reveals to Picard that they are pretty sure Jurati is a spy and how they only lost Narek after Jurati took a harmful chemical to disable her tracking device. Rios says very little, but clearly recognizes Soji, but calls her by a different name: Janna. Raffi is eventually able to unearth what happened to Rios with the woman over the course of the episode, first meeting with the “5 Broken Pieces of Rios” that are the emergency holograms and then Rios himself.

There she learns that Janna and a male named “Beautiful Flower” boarded the ship where he was number 1, and his beloved captain, who he thought of as a father executed them. When pushed the Captain reveals it was because of a dark order from Star Fleet, but then, seemingly racked with guilt as Rios pushes him, the Captain takes his own life. Rios is left to cover it all up and then is out of Star Fleet in 6 months.

After Picard has a conversation with Jurati and learns about how she was both mindmelded the horrors of the vision that turned Commodore Oh and others against all the synthetics, we also learn that she had a block up in place to guard against her speaking of it. He still seems to hold the death of Bruce Maddox against her. She and Soji come to have a heart to heart and end in the place where Jurati pledges to not try and hurt Soji, finding her a marvelous piece of science but Soji also pledging and letting Jurati know that she would never have a chance to harm her.

While on the Cube, Seven of Nine is able to disconnect from the localized Borg again, maybe even because of the Borg’s request, as it tells Elnor that “Annika has more work to do.” What exactly that may be is to be determined. But we do see Narissa slowly get overwhelmed and at the bottom of a large pile of the xBs, so seem to be moving with almost Borg-like connection.

The crew then seems to be at a peace with one another. Soji finds it odd that Rios knows she loves fries and peppermint ice cream but it is something he picked up from Janna, in the brief time he knew her. Raffi lays out the whole conspiracy, about how the Romulans are/were behind the plot and the fear they have of the synthetics life forms mean that they will do anything to come against the synths. Soji then freaks out, demonstrating a lot of strength but then knowledge of how the Borg travel, moving and preparing a course to her home world, which the others all agree to go with her. But the closing frames of the episode reveal: another ship is tailing them!

Review of Picard, S1.E8: “Broken Pieces”

Again, a great episode and it was full of some great moments, even though we really only bounced between two scenes after the flashback opening!

Scene of the week is the Los Cincos Rios, as I am dubbing the 5 Emergency Holograms of Captain Rios. Raffi is trying to work out what happened to him and why he knows Soji as Janna, but none of the holograms seems to know quite enough information. It was by far the best comedy of the season but it played well with the seriousness of the revelation that comes later. And, of course, Rios would erase that information from all the holograms memories.

If Beautiful Flower isn’t a full on hippie version of Data, I am going to be incredibly disappointed. I’m even okay with it being the last reveal of this season but they are laying the hints there, especially the drawing Rios has of him and Soji that “the other one” made. It feels really obvious but I almost want that really obvious pay-off.

Third, and this one is a deeper cut: I think more of the crew than just Soji are synthetics. The way Raffi was “tingling” as she tracked down her theories and ideas made me pause. But on a serious note, I was thankful that they showed Raffi trying to make an effort to sober up. Addiction is a powerful force that lots of us struggle to overcome. It broadened her out as a character and made that struggle a little more realistic.

And I am still on board with Elnor being the champion of the lost cause of the Xbs. Now, it would get him in trouble as well. While he currently doesn’t have all the parts and pieces to mainline into the Cube like Seven of Nine can, if he did, is he wise enough to know how to deal with that? Or would the Borg, even the remote box Borg overwhelm him?

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Recap & Review of Picard S1.E7: “Nepenthe” https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/03/recap-review-of-picard-s1-e7-nepenthe/ Fri, 06 Mar 2020 12:31:14 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=29557 Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Nerds on Earth recaps and reviews Picard S1E7: "Nepenthe."

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Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Last week’s ending definitely moved up the pace of the show, as we have first contacts, fights, duels, trapped ships and more all happening, both onboard the Reclamation Project and outside it. But you know it is never good when they split the party, and it definitely looked like that is what was happening at the end of last episode!

Recap of Picard, S1.E7: “Nepenthe”

For the first time, we get a flashback that isn’t that long ago, as Dr. Jurati remembers 3 weeks ago, when she is approached at her work by Commander O of Star Fleet, who basically enlists her as a spy on Picard. But she does it through a Vulcan mind meld, that both makes Jurati sick but that also makes her resolved against their being synthetic life again. The sequence happens very fast the images of doom and apocalypse definitely stand out. But as she agrees to spy, she takes some kind of blue pill that has to be chewed, that will allow the Star Fleet to track her.

On the ship, we watch as Rios and Raffi try to battle control back from the Borg Reclamation Projects tractor beam. As the two of them banter back and forward, Jurati ultimately pipes up, declaring that they just need to tell the Cube that they want to go home, even she realizes that means abandoning Picard and Soji.

But on the Cube itself, Hugh and Elnor are trying to deal with the circumstance of being captured by Narissa. As she tries to make Hugh give her information, she also is having him watch as they execute former Borg, one by one. Hugh seems fairly stubborn and does not break. At the same time, we see Narek board a ship and start trailing the La Sirena, once the tractor beam releases them. But the crew is aware that they didn’t get themselves free and are a bit suspicious. Ultimately, they leave Elnor at his request, as he cannot allow what happened on the xBs that he finds with Hugh to happen to others.

Picard and Soji land at their location on the planet Nepenthe, which we fairly soon learn is the home of the Rikers, crew from Picard’s time on the Enterprise. But the first one they meet is the Rikers’ daughter, Kestra, who is playing a game in the woods based on the world her brother made up and imagined. They are welcomed but Kestra figures out pretty quickly that Soji is an android and let’s that out, which freaks Soji out. The other Rikers deduce it fairly quickly as well, especially when Soji has a tell, a head nod just like Data used to have when he was curious.

Soji winds up in the garden with Deanna Troi, and while talking about life, Soji learns that the Rikers’ older son died because of an illness that could have been treated by a piece that was banned when synthetic creations were banned. Soji opens up about the trauma that has happened to her and she starts to work through who she can trust and what she can do.

Hugh and Elnor head back towards the central station of the Cube, because Hugh has remembered the immense power within and that he is now ready to unleash it to defend the xBs. On their way, they are ambushed but put up a good fight that ends when Elnor, distracted by Narissa, watches as Hugh takes a knife to the throat. Narissa beams away and Hugh’s dying words declare that he is grateful to Elnor, for letting him be a hopeful fool again, even if it was just a short time.

The crew is dealing with Agnes having major issues. While they think it is just her being a coward, not realizing that is is much more about being a traitor. They try and chase it away with cake and chocolate milk. Rios winds up in the sick bay and confesses to Agnes that he thinks they are being tracked, only it is due to something being on Raffi. Just as Agnes is ready to confess, he has to run away and Jurati creates a device and injects herself, presumably to disable their tracking. She immediate has a medical issue and winds up in a coma.

Soji ultimately trusts the Rikers and Picard, explains what she saw in her guided meditation and they are able to figure out what her home world may be. It is a powerful moment of trust and hope, as they all work together to discover what could come next.

After that, the crew is able to break free of Narek’s tail but at that high cost. Elnor, who had been running around the Reclamation Project, finds a necklace with a beacon to summon the Fenris Rangers, which is the group that Seven of Nine has associated with earlier. He presses it, seemingly waiting for help and back up.

The next morning, as Picard waits for the arrival of the ship. Kestra gives over a broken compass that she explains was a gift to her and now she passes it to Soji. As the compass spins wildly, she adds the line that you just have to believe it works.

Review of Picard, S1.E7: “Nepenthe”

So splitting the party may have put our crew in some dangerous places and circumstances, it did make for a great episode.

The line they dance between nostalgia and new is really evident in Troi’s and Riker’s appearance. The genuine love that they have for Picard is really evident. Deanna especially has a moment when Picard first arrives at their house, where she as an empath reads him and wordlessly acts out learning of his medical condition that will end him. And his reaction to it is really well done. It was just a 30 second scene but it spoke volumes and without the nostalgia and love for Star Trek: The Next Generation, they couldn’t have pulled it off.

And they seem to be dropping some bits of information that you have to think will come back around. For instance, Kestra talks about another Star Fleet captain who lives nearby on her planet, albeit with a busted ship. While her dad waves him off as an codger, it wouldn’t stun me to see that old codger and the Rikers to come flying in the finale, especially since the old codger was the one to identify the planet.

And Elnor. If Picard’s days are numbered, he is going to need another cause to attach himself to. Could he become the new Hugh, protector of the xBs? Is he going to join up with Seven of Nine when the Rangers answer this distress call that he as sent?

And what is going to happen to the traitor Agnes Jurati? While it feels like we are clearly seeing her regret and remorse, others might not see it, and her other actions, in quite the same way.

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Recap & Review of Picard S1.E6: “The Impossible Box” https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/02/recap-review-of-picard-s1-e6-the-impossible-box/ Fri, 28 Feb 2020 12:45:38 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=29482 Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Nerds on Earth recaps and reviews Picard S1E6: "The Impossible Box."

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Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

If the slower pace of the most recent episodes have been a drag for you, then this week should definitely bring some redemption as we start to really move the plot forward, as the crew finally reaches the Reclamation Project.

Recap of Picard, S1.E6: “The Impossible Box”

The opening flashback is a dream that Soji has, where she is awakened by a storm and then when she sneaks into her father’s lab, she cannot quite make out what is happening, as her view is blocked by the famous hybrid orchids her dad has made. When she awakens, Narek quizzes her and pushes her, with it ultimately leading to a fight.

Back on the ship, we see Jurati deceive the crew about how Bruce Maddux died, with no one seeming to distrust her account. But that is likely because there are some things on their minds. Elnor seems ready for a fight. Rios is just Rios. But Picard, he has major issues, as he has some stress about returning to a Borg ship and all that entails. As he studies a picture of what he once was as a Borg.

Jurati and Rios though find a way to waste some time, as they connect in a conjugal way, even as she expresses her concern that this hook-up isn’t a good idea.

But on the Reclamation Project, Narek and his sister have a debate. The title prop for the episode is introduced, a cube that one has to open but it takes skill, cunning and patience, which he demonstrates when she shows a lack of it. The main idea is that his way of wooing her to answers is running out and soon they will have to take a different approach.

In order to not violate all the Federation’s rules and treatises in regards to space, the ship needs a legitimate reason to be there. They rouse a drunk Raffi who is able to reach out to an old connection and sweet talk their excuse: Jean-Luc is on a science mission to meet the director of the Reclamation Project, Hugh, who we have seen is Soji’s boss.

But Soji is falling apart. After Narek revealed that her calls to her mom are always exactly 70 seconds, she finds she cannot extend a call past that time, even when harming herself to keep herself awake. After that, she begins to date all of her items and over and over again she finds that nothing she has is older than 37 months old, even things supposedly from her childhood.

Picard beams aboard the Reclamation Project and has major issues until Hugh finds him and walks him through the way things work. Picard is ultimately stunned to see the progress that Hugh has made in helping get some of the former Borg to a state of a new life, albeit disturbingly so in some case, with skin covering what were eye sockets and worse.

Soji is then engaged in a Romulan prayer walk and meditation exercise by Narek. She works her way through the process and relives the dream she has been having. But at the climatic end, when Narek should be offering her help, she instead gets ambushed. He has some information about what she remembers as her “home” world, with the assumption being that the Romulans will be able to kill all of her kind. And he leaves the Impossible Cube as they lock her in a cell, and when it opens, it sends out some kind of radiation. But Soji activates and punches her way through the floor.

This is the point where Hugh and Picard connect with her. Having nowhere left to turn, she runs with them and Hugh reveals a way to transport them off the Cube and a very long distance away. Elnor shows up to defend them, even though he had pledged to stay on the crew’s ship. Ultimately, Picard tells Rios to meet him and Soji on Nepenthe, as Hugh and Elnor stay to cover their retreat.

Review of Picard, S1.E6: “The Impossible Box”

I have to admit, the show had been starting to drag to a crawl by the end of last episode, so the speed of this episode came at just the right time. It felt right to get the show moving forward, especially with only 5 episodes remaining in season 1 after this one.

Picard being so throughly impacted by the Borg caught me off guard. For him, it has been years, maybe even 20 years since he was assimilated, so I assumed that he would have worked his way through that trauma. It was a nice way to add the humanity to Picard that this show has shown. He is an old man with issues that he hasn’t worked through yet.

Hugh is a nice call back to older shows. He is like Seven of Nine but has leaned into saving others. Picard’s approval of what he is doing seems to deeply touch him and he is willing to do what he can.

Next episode feels like it could be an interesting one, as you have divided the group into Picard and Soji, and spoilers seem to indicate that they may encounter Picard’s Number One fan, Hugh and Elnor, fighting the Romulans on the Cube and the rest of the crew working out their issues. How will Rios, Jurati and Raffi deal with it being the three of them to make hard decisions and rendezvous with Picard?

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Recap & Review of Picard S1.E5: “Stardust City Rag” https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/02/recap-review-of-picard-s1-e5-stardust-city-rag/ Fri, 21 Feb 2020 12:39:32 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=29404 Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Nerds on Earth recaps and reviews Picard S1E5: "Stardust City Rag."

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Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

This week’s episode of Picard proved to be a unique one as the focus wasn’t split between Picard and crew and the Romulan Reclamation Project. Instead, as we near the midpoints of the first season of the series, we dive deep into the crew and what is happening with them.

Recap of Picard, S1.E5: “Stardust City Rag”

This week’s opening flashback features the newest person to get on the ship, 7 of 9, as we see her find a fellow former Borg being mercilessly ripped apart for parts. She hoped to arrive in time to save him but instead realizes that the only merciful thing would be to put him to death with her phaser. But we can see the anger and it comes back around when we see her on the ship in the modern era.

While she had collapsed, we get some exposition as the remaining crew talk some about her, Picard, the Borg, and their history, as some of the only ones to ever be let go from the Borg. When Seven comes back around, they talk about needing to get into Freecloud to save Bruce Maddox, the creator of the twins, who Raffi has tracked to this location.

Freecloud gives us a little bit of a chance to be silly and free (think of it as a Space Las Vegas), and when they discover that Maddox is being sold to the Romulan Secret Service, they want to make a move. So they costume up in some silly and ridiculous costumes and head there, leaving Dr. Jurati to man the transport to beam them up when the time comes.

With Rios acting as the go between, he arranges a meeting with the woman Bjayzi, who, it turns out was also the woman who was harvesting the organs off of Seven’s friend 14 years ago.

In the meantime, Raffi has left the crew and headed for her own adventure, as she has discovered that her estranged son is on Freecloud and having a check-up done on her yet-to-be-born grandchild. She approaches her son carefully, coming to confess her failings and issues, but he cannot seem to overcome the wounds of the past and the way that Raffi holds to some crazy conspiracy theories, even as we as the audience know them to be true. They depart after Raffi gets a chance to meet the son’s spouse.

But in the bar, things take a twist. The crew does get to meet Maddox but Seven flips, nearly killing the seller and they seem to work out a deal where Picard and the crew can go free in exchange for her life. For it to work, they need help from Dr. Jurati, who is having issues that are being diagnosed by the onboard holograph doctor, who interrupts her vision of her past romance with…Maddox himself.

Everyone does ultimately make it back to the ship. Maddox is quickly ushered into the medical bay, but only after revealing the living twin is on the Romulan Borg cube and Seven asks just for two phasers, proclaiming the rest of her vigilante group is coming for her, but leaving Picard a way to contact her as needed. When she leaves it seems like it should be to anywhere but the bar, but, instead, she does use the weapons to exact her revenge, killing the tormentor of her friend after all these years.

And onboard, Picard is given the information that Raffi, having previously declared herself done with their mission, has returned and stowed away on the ship.

But Jurati and Maddox are talking about things and in the midst of the questions about what all has happened, Maddox thanks Abby for her part of the creation of the “perfectly imperfect” sisters, with him being their “father” and someone else as their “mother,” who he says had the ability to trigger their latent abilities to save them when and if needed. But, despite the holographic doctor’s attempt to intervene in psychological break for Jurati, she basically removes life support in an effort to kill him.

Review of Picard, S1.E5: “Stardust City Rag”

This one felt great to dig in a little bit more with the crew and what we have seen as their motivations. By pushing at the edges, we learn of Raffi and her sadness of feeling like a failed mother, of Seven’s unrelenting quest to avenge those that hurt her and those like her. It really is a good episode for building depth. But the twist at the end was incredible.

Up until her pulling the proverbial plug on Maddox and seeming to allow him to die, my assumption had been that this series was ultimately going to come down to the Romulans and their distrust/hatred of all synthetics and Picard’s steadfast refusal to do so, in memory of his friend Data. But her breakdown and declaring that he would understand if he saw the same things “they” showed her makes Dr. Jurati a swing person in the story.

Whatever they have that makes others believe in what they see as the evil of the synthetics has to be pretty powerful; think about that this was a woman that was dedicated to their creation and study before “they” got to her.

Quick hits from “Stardust City Rag:”

  • This was another Frakes directed episode and, again, he is an excellent director.
  • Bravo for the silliness of the costumes and accents. It is proof that you can have a serious show that isn’t too serious to poke fun at itself.
  • The scene where Maddox is making cookies by replicating all the ingredients but not the cookies themselves is good writing. We can all imagine if you’ve had the real deal, a close proximation on something like that just isn’t the same thing. Kudos to the writer’s room on that part, and using it for the big relationship reveal.
  • So it is easy to assume that “they” are the Romulans who revealed everything to Dr. Jurati but what if it isn’t them? Who else could it be that seems so deadset against the return of the synthetics?
  • I get the feeling that as they approach this Borg Cube, it is going to be hard for Seven of Nine not to show up again.
  • With the focus on the crew this week, are we headed for a Cube focused episode next week? I hope not! This episode ended with some momentum heading into episode 6, which is a major potential pivot in an 11 episode season!

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Recap & Review of Picard S1.E4: “Absolute Candor” https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/02/recap-review-of-picard-s1-e4-absolute-candor/ Fri, 14 Feb 2020 13:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=29132 Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Nerds on Earth recaps and reviews Picard S1E4: "Absolute Candor."

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Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Episode 3 of Picard ended with the new motley crew all together and headed out into space. But where are they headed first? And what will happen with Soji, who has now been called “the Destroyer”?

Recap of Picard, S1.E4: “Absolute Candor”

This week’s opening flashback is on the planet Vashti, where Picard was working to settle Romulans as they were looking for a new home. While there, we see that Picard has a friendship with a group of monastic Romulan women, who are dedicated to the rule of absolute candor.

It is a little unnerving to watch as they share what they think and feel immediately with one another. Most intriguingly, there is a young boy who is stranded with them that Picard has a fondness for; it seems that them welcoming a male trainee isn’t the usual course of action. He brings him a copy of The Three Musketeers, and while reading it to Elnor, the young boy, he gets the news of the synthetics destruction of Mars and has to leave.

On the ship, Dr. Jurati is bothering Rios, as he is reading a book about “the existential pain of living with the consciousness of death, and how it defines us as human beings.” Thankfully they are interrupted when Raffi discovers there has been a change to the course of their first mission. Picard is confronted in his hospitality suite that looks just like his Chateau in France. The crew then debates it.

Picard is desperate but he thinks that having watched the death of Dahj that he needs some support and help, so they are headed to Vashti. It turns out the monastic order of nuns is named the Qowat Milat, and they bind themselves to the right kind of causes to support and honor others, using their skills as single combat fighters.

Picard thinks that they – or at least one of them – should be able to support them, as Picard is sure they will choose his cause. Or tell him to piss off as a part of their “absolute candor” vows. The Captain has chosen – to Vashti they head. They are able to bribe an opening in the planet’s defenses with a cash gift, as the Captain’s reputation did nothing.

Once on the planet, Picard discovers it is not what he would have hoped. There is a Romulan rebirth movement, hoping to restore their reign, complete with speciesist “Romulans Only” signs. Picard makes his way to the monastery, where he is greeted by his friends; most notably an all grown up warrior version of the boy Elnor that he left behind.

While on the Romulan Reclamation Ship of the former Borg, we see Soji studying old tapes of Ramdha trying to explain the Romulan myth and about the Destroyer in particular. Narek tries to talk Soji out of her fascination with Ramdha and challenges Soji’s claims of who she is and how she got to the Reclamation Ship.

They have a rather frank conversation where the two of them seem to be sizing each other up, that ends in them playing a game, sliding down part of the Borg hallway with their shoes off as it freezes over as part of the ventilation return. They then make out until Narek pushes her harder about when she came to the ship.

While Picard is hanging out on Vashti, the ship crew monitors social media and discover people know he is there. Also, people on the planet and the rebel warlord that has a ship, are barreling down on them as well.

Elnor (and the nuns) give Picard some grief about his lack of effort as things came apart. He admits to shame and guilt but then requests that he may need one of them to bind to his cause, as he is taking on the Tal Shiar alone, and they are enemies. They then discuss that Elnor is ready to go out in the worlds, as the nuns want to make sure that before he dies he truly lives.

Picard and Elnor then discuss Data, Dahj, and Soji and how they need someone to protect Soji when they eventually find her. Elnor refuses initially but then later comes to Picard’s rescue, killing a Romulan leader who was going to hurt Picard in a duel, after Picard pulled down a “Romulans Only” sign.

The two of them are then transported onto the ship, where Picard clarifies what it will mean for Elnor to be bound to him and that Elnor will only be able to attack when Picard says so. But they are, at the same time, in a fight with the warlord of the area as he is targeting their ship.

However, they wind up having help from another, unknown ship who is able to defeat the warlord but at the cost of their ship plummeting to the planet’s defense weapons. They ask to beam to the ship and we discover the pilot is Seven of Nine.

Review of Picard, S1.E4: “Absolute Candor”

This episode is the first that has made me realize that I have had a set end in goal for this season that we may not get to. As the first episodes have played out, personally, I was excited to move to resolution of these major stories and now, realizing there are only so many choices that can be made, we may not get much more past the crew meeting and rescuing Soji from the Romulans.

In some ways that feels aggravating, as there will be many, many dangling plot holes with the Borg, the Romulans, etc. But part of me is thankful as it means the show has some other places to explore in what we now know is a promised season 2.

Quick hits from “Absolute Candor:”

  • I didn’t talk much about the directing of the first three episodes of the series, which were all expertly handled by Hanelle M. Culpepper. She deserves a great deal of appreciation for establishing the tone and flow of the show that continues into the hand-off, as this week, our director is Jonathan Frakes, who we will see later in his cast role of Commander Riker, Picard’s Number One from their Enterprise days!
  • Having all the holographic crew of the ship look like Rios but have different accents is really quite amusing. Last week, I doubted if that is what they were doing but this week with both the hospitality guide and the weapons guide being the same, it was very fun. Humorous, especially given how much Rios seems to not like them.
  • Dr. Jurati’s concerns about how annoying “absolute candor” could be feels like a set-up for some tension between the doctor and boy bodyguard moving forward!
  • Picard’s relationship with Elnor is going to also prove interesting. He has never had children and yet now he has a warrior son, whose first instinct seems to be use the tools he has been given, which is a sword. For an old man who constantly lusted after peace, how Picard handles this could be very interesting.
  • Adding Seven of Nine at the end was great. As another clear tie to the Borg, it will be interesting to see how what she wraps into what the others do. While we have seen the Borg Cube in space, none of the Picard crew has yet. How will her showing up mesh those two things together?

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Recap & Review of Picard S1.E3: “The End is the Beginning” https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/02/recap-review-of-picard-s1-e3-the-end-is-the-beginning/ Fri, 07 Feb 2020 12:53:50 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=29080 Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Nerds on Earth recaps and reviews Picard S1E3: "The End is the Beginning."

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Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Episode 2 of Picard began to unravel a tangled mystery and one that now seems like it will fuel the rest of at least season 1 of the show. Why would the Romulans use the synthetics to sabotage Mars, and thus end their own hope of being helped by Starfleet? And what role does Soji play in that, as a “child” of Data?

Recap of Picard, S1.E3: “The End is the Beginning”

We open with a flashback, as we see Picard departing the Starfleet building in the days following the Mars attack. He had come to plead the case for the Federation to give him and Raffi the dredge, old ships of the fleet to continue the rescue efforts of the Romulans. When push came to shove, Jean-Luc played his one last hand: offering his resignation if they would not do as he asked. Instead, they took it. As he tells this all to Raffi, she gets called in, already assuming that she too is fired.

And the years have been rough on Raffi since, as she has wound up leaving a near hermit life out in the desert. She clearly blames Jean-Luc not just for what happened, but also for how he abandoned her and presumably others. But, Picard dangles the conspiracy theory of the Romulan secret squad at work on Earth, which he knows is her weak point. She doesn’t agree to help, but she does offer him the name of a pilot, Rios, who will be in touch with Picard.

When Picard finally does meet Rios, we discover a dapper gentleman with an amazing Spanish accent…with a giant piece of Titanium stuck in his shoulder. Clearly a recent mission has gone bad. But he and Picard volley back and forth, as they are feeling one another out. Picard seems to like Rios though, noticing the care that has gone into caring for his ship and the philosophy book that Rios is reading, they seem to come to an agreement.

Meanwhile on the reclaimed Borg cube, Soji is getting the chance to delve deeper into her studies. A former Borg supervisor sees her offer a word of kindness in its native tongue to a decommissioned Borg as it was taken apart. From there, she reveals more information that she knows, only later we learn that even she is not sure how she knows what she knows.

And how she leverages the new influence is that she wants to spend time with Ramdha, who we learn was a Romulan expert on myth before she was assimilated. After making some interesting, but empathetic approaches to Ramdha, Soji does manage to get a conversation going, as Ramdha plays with some cards.

But that meeting takes a sudden change. In discussing how the reclaimed Borg may be able to create this own mythological narrative, Soji also reveals that Ramdha was on the last ship encountered by this Cube and she was likely among the last assimilated. But Ramdha then starts to use the cards and her knowledge, asking Soji which sister is she, the one who lives or the one who dies?

The full freak out ends with Ramdha calling her Seb-Cheneg, the Destroyer, as she grabs a weapon from a guard. Soji saves her from suicide but all the of the Romulan former Borg are staring down Soji. Soji then contacts her mom and directly asks about her sister but seems to be put into some kind of sleepy trance, maybe by a trigger word or phrase.

But at Picard’s house, as they were preparing to send him away on his journey, his friends Laris and Zhaban instead have to save his life, as a Romulan group attacks him. When the fight seems to be over, Dr. Jurati walks in shooting one that they had not noticed, and revealing that Starfleet leadership had come and likely that is why they were here. The group is able to interrogate one of them before he does the suicide pact thing and spits the green goo.

The team then assembles on the new ship and after some time feeling each other out and trying to understand one another, Picard, Raffi, Rios, and Dr. Jurati head out and Raffi thinks she knows where they can find Dr. Bruce Maddox, who is the creator of the sisters. So with the order to “Engage” the crew heads to Freecloud, searching for Dr. Bruce Maddox.

Review of Picard, S1.E3: “The End is The Beginning”

One of the things that is starting to stand out to me about this series is that it is starting to feel like, at least in some part, redemptions. Part of what makes it stands out in this particular episode is the relationship with Raffi and Picard. From the opening of this episode, we realize something that stands out: they are failures.

Now, you could argue that being someone who makes a moral stand in the face of everyone telling you that you are wrong is hardly being a failure. But the consequences of those decisions have taken real hold with Picard. Now he is just the owner of a vineyard. Raffi didn’t chose her downfall, which came from standing with Picard; but her fall is even further as we see her descent into addiction.

But we see the hint of redemption in others. Knowing almost nothing about Rios, Picard deduces that he is former Starfleet, as his precision and cleanliness gives him away. Even in Dr. Jurati, we see someone who pledges to earn her way as a part of the crew, looking to make the science that she dedicated her life to studying meaningful again. And, in the search of Data’s daughter, all of them are looking to redeem Data and the other Synthetics themselves.

Quick hits from “The End is the Beginning”:

  • It is good to see a new ship at the end as Picard tells them to “Engage!”
  • The talk of myth and the creation of myth is very interesting, especially as Soji is pursuing it. As she works to see it as a construct, there is clearly something more mythical at work. I am sure there is much deeper meaning in the Tarot reading like nature that we saw in the “asylum” of the formerly assimilated Romulans.
  • What is so terrifying about Soji that it sets all the Romulans on edge? Is it just about her or her synthetic nature? If it was synthetic specific, that certainly explains the death squads after her and, previously, her sister.
  • We have now seen several combats and scenes involving Picard and I am grateful that they are showing him as an older man in a fight. He isn’t equipped for this part and he has to have others around him that are. It is a little thing but in a world where I am sure 75 year old Tom Cruise will be battling ninjas and talking about how great his hummus salad is, we are seeing that age changes us, both good and bad.

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Recap & Review of Picard S1.E2: “Maps and Legends” https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/01/recap-review-of-picard-s1-e2-maps-and-legends/ Fri, 31 Jan 2020 02:38:17 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=29032 Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

Nerds on Earth recaps and reviews Picard S1E2: "Maps and Legends."

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Star Trek Picard Review S1E1 overview

After last week’s tremendous first episode of Star Trek: Picard, can the story continue? What is the mystery that Picard has found his way into and who can help him unravel its pieces? Can he find Dahj’s sister and discover if she is the offspring of Data?

Recap of Picard, S1.E2: “Maps and Legends”

Last week in the interview, we heard the story of the rebellion of the Synthetics 14 years prior and we get to see that betrayal play out in a flashback, as we watch the celebration of First Contact Day through the eyes of a skeleton crew and their synthetic F8.

It ends as he betrays them, kills them, lowers the shields and shoots himself in the head. But it gives a real sense of the betrayal people must have felt and the damage that happened on the Mars Utopia ship yard.

But back at the vineyard, Picard gets a lesson in Romulan history, as his friends and caretakers Zhatan and Laris, refugees from Romulus who feel in love and settled here unpack the Tal Shiar and Zhat Vast. Whereas the Tal Shiar is considered the secret police of the Romulans, there was an even darker secret that the Zhat Vast covered, which turns out to be tied to a deep hatred of all things in the realms of Artificial Intelligence; and the roots of it aren’t known.

That alone may be the secret that the Zhat Vast are keeping. While the story seems to be just legends that are used to scare school children, when a search of the apartment when Dahj’s boyfriend was killed shows evidence of a cover up, they use some image mapping and un-erased data to discover that Dahj does appear to have a sister and that she is living off world.

Thus, we return the Borg cube that we saw at the end of last episode and hear as Soji and the Romulan Narek discuss it. Soji sees it as broken, vulnerable since it has been disconnected from the rest of the Borg whereas the Romulan seem to just be using it for technology and scraps. When Soji pushes to know more about Narek, she runs into a Romulan wall of secrets and half-truths.

Star Trek Picard S1E2 Episode Review

Picard, quick to chase this lead, meets with his doctor, as he was seeking to be cleared for interstellar travel. It turns out that he is in remarkable health except for a spot on his parietal lobe. There is some discussion but the doctor owes him and he gets his clearance.

When he arrives at Starfleet headquarters, his welcome is less than warm. He meets with Admiral Kirsten Clancy, asking for a demotion in order to get a ship, so that he can chase after the missing scientist Bruce Maddox, who he suspects is using neurons from the late Data to make new synthetics. The conversation goes sideways quickly, with the revelation of their great disagreement as Picard stood up for the Romulans when Starfleet removed their help and support of them following their planet’s destruction.

Back on the Cube, we see the entry procedure for a morning shift for the Borg Artifact Research Institute, through the eyes of Soji and a new recruit. After some speeches, they gain entrance and we see that Soji’s work is with the former Borg, working as a part of the Borg reclamation project. Later in the episode, we see Borg being taken apart, returned to what they would have been before assimilation; we see both the arm removal and a eye socket removal before Dohj quietly whispers words of freedom over the corpse.

Picard, fresh from his Starfleet rejection, he turns back to Dr. Jurati, who brings to him all the information she has on Dr. Maddox. She has started to piece together the story, as it turns out that Dahj is a recent creation, in terms of all her identity and information was created from scratch 3.5 years ago. Jurati expresses deep sadness for not ever having to meet Dahj but she pushes Picard quietly to wonder where is the twin and what is she after. Later that evening, he sends a note to Raffi, asking her not to hang up and that he needs a ship!

The next morning, Zhatan and Laris try to talk Picard out of his newfound quest but he ultimately knows that this quest is something that he has to do. And he asks Zhatan and Laris to stay over the vineyard. Zhatan says he needs a crew, and when he lists the usual suspects of the Next Generation crew, Picard dismisses it, as he doesn’t want anyone endangering themselves on his account.

Star Trek Picard S1E2 Episode Review

At Starfleet, there is a discussion where the Commodore Oh and and Lieutenant Rizzo. It is revealed that the two of them are in on a conspiracy. Rizzo was evidently the one in charge of the team that first failed to capture Dahj and then killed her in the second attempt. Rizzo assures Oh that she has her best man on the case, and that she would stake her life on it. Oh recommends reaching out to him directly and effectively so that they don’t miss the opportunity with the second twin.

Picard then lands in a desert landscape but he is held at gunpoint until he reveals the Romulan plot on Earth and gains access only when it is also revealed that he has brought the bottle from ’86.

But we close with a gamechanger of a scene, as we learn that Rizzo and Narek are siblings and working to gain access and intel on the remaining twin. The tone and setting definitely seems to lean towards it being ominous and contrary to what Picard and his developing crew would be seeking in trying to find Soji.

Star Trek Picard S1E2 Episode Review

Review of Picard, S1.E2: “Maps and Legends”

So, while I think this episode works well if you have more knowledge of the Star Trek universe(s), I am again pleasantly surprised that you don’t have to be a Trekkie to follow along and get what you can out of the show. It is well done.

And part of that needs to be expressed in thanks to the showrunners in terms of pacing. This show isn’t rushing, it isn’t dragging its feet but it seems to be moving at just the right amount of speed. Before the show’s premiere, if you had told me that it would likely be 4 episodes before we had a crew and a ship, I would have recoiled and thought about shows that take too long in the set-up. Instead, this show is giving us just enough through conversations and flashbacks to see and understand what is happening but want more.

Quick hits from “Maps and Legends”:

  • The opening scene with the Synthetic Rebellion was great. It shows us something that is such a pivotal moment for the show but also the story of Picard. While the Romulan issue clearly spoke to him, there seems to be a deeper piece underneath that is about how much he mourns Data, who, if he had been alive at this time would have been deactivated.
  • That spot in Picard’s head ain’t from nothing. I cannot wait to see what happens because at some point, we are going to be reminded, Picard had another name once: Locutus of Borg! It was no accident that we saw that orbital eye socket removal done on the Cube.
  • The ragtag outlaws on the edge of space is growing Starfleet is either contaminated with Romulan’s and is now echoing their hatred for all things AI or the two empires are working against the idea of synthetics while Picard and clan see destined to save and redeem it. I like that feel. It has echoes more of Firefly than Star Trek but it seems to work. The empires cannot always be right and someone has to misbehave.

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