Star Trek Picard: 1x02 (Maps and Legends)
A bit of a step down from last week, but still excellent. I am a little worried that with all the pieces being put into play that the show will struggle to come up with a satisfying resolution for everything; that has, after all, been Discovery's constant weak spot.
We get a lot more backstory this week, but most of it just raises further questions. How advanced were the synths at Utopia Planitia? They didn't seem as sophisticated as Data, but that may just be due to poor treatment and a lack of opportunity to develop autonomously. It seems the sabotage of the Utopia shipyards wasn't a decision made by the synths, but the result of an outside force. The Romulan Zhat Vash seem like the logical culprits, looking to eliminate the Federation's artificial intelligences, but it seems just as likely that there's another player on the board we haven't seen yet, and this sort of sabotage is exactly why the Zhat Vash oppose artificial intelligences.
Picard's Romulan staff continue to delight, and it seems we have confirmation that they're ex-Tal Shiar. I'm growing increasingly disappointed they're not part of the main cast - it seems like they'd be the logical choice to assist Picard in getting to the bottom of all this. Then again, perhaps as ex-Tal Shiar, they'd draw too much attention if they returned to Romulan space.
I really appreciated that Picard's doctor is one of his old crew from the Stargazer; that part of his life gets glossed over a lot, so it's always nice to see it get mentioned.
I will say I was somewhat on the admiral's side in her confrontation with Picard; obviously, we know he's in the right, but it was pretty hubristic to stroll into Starfleet after ten years and expect to get a new ship and crew based on very little evidence. Still, it would be nice to see a more sympathetic side of 2390s Starfleet sooner or later.
As for Commodore Oh; I'm willing to bet that she is, in fact, a Vulcan and not a Romulan infiltrator - though now the makeup is once again all but identical, it's impossible to tell; which works well for creating a greater sense of paranoia. The fact that she's working with the Zhat Vash opens up the intriguing possibility that their campaign against artificial intelligence pre-dates the Romulan-Vulcan schism...
Incidentally, I believe this is our first Commodore since the original series!
We finally get to properly meet Soji, and it seems she's much like her sister, and we won't be dealing with a Data-Lore situation. It seems the Borg reclamation project is far more legitimate than I'd expected, even if darker forces have taken an interest in it. We also get conformation that there is still a Romulan nation, the “Romulan Free State” - though it seems the Tal Shiar have still survived the end of the Star Empire.
Oh, and of course, the Vasquez Rocks make their triumphant return to Star Trek, this time appearing as... themselves! Presumably someday we'll get the story of the ancient race of terraformers who ensured rock formations across the galaxy would all resemble each other...
We get a lot more backstory this week, but most of it just raises further questions. How advanced were the synths at Utopia Planitia? They didn't seem as sophisticated as Data, but that may just be due to poor treatment and a lack of opportunity to develop autonomously. It seems the sabotage of the Utopia shipyards wasn't a decision made by the synths, but the result of an outside force. The Romulan Zhat Vash seem like the logical culprits, looking to eliminate the Federation's artificial intelligences, but it seems just as likely that there's another player on the board we haven't seen yet, and this sort of sabotage is exactly why the Zhat Vash oppose artificial intelligences.
Picard's Romulan staff continue to delight, and it seems we have confirmation that they're ex-Tal Shiar. I'm growing increasingly disappointed they're not part of the main cast - it seems like they'd be the logical choice to assist Picard in getting to the bottom of all this. Then again, perhaps as ex-Tal Shiar, they'd draw too much attention if they returned to Romulan space.
I really appreciated that Picard's doctor is one of his old crew from the Stargazer; that part of his life gets glossed over a lot, so it's always nice to see it get mentioned.
I will say I was somewhat on the admiral's side in her confrontation with Picard; obviously, we know he's in the right, but it was pretty hubristic to stroll into Starfleet after ten years and expect to get a new ship and crew based on very little evidence. Still, it would be nice to see a more sympathetic side of 2390s Starfleet sooner or later.
As for Commodore Oh; I'm willing to bet that she is, in fact, a Vulcan and not a Romulan infiltrator - though now the makeup is once again all but identical, it's impossible to tell; which works well for creating a greater sense of paranoia. The fact that she's working with the Zhat Vash opens up the intriguing possibility that their campaign against artificial intelligence pre-dates the Romulan-Vulcan schism...
Incidentally, I believe this is our first Commodore since the original series!
We finally get to properly meet Soji, and it seems she's much like her sister, and we won't be dealing with a Data-Lore situation. It seems the Borg reclamation project is far more legitimate than I'd expected, even if darker forces have taken an interest in it. We also get conformation that there is still a Romulan nation, the “Romulan Free State” - though it seems the Tal Shiar have still survived the end of the Star Empire.
Oh, and of course, the Vasquez Rocks make their triumphant return to Star Trek, this time appearing as... themselves! Presumably someday we'll get the story of the ancient race of terraformers who ensured rock formations across the galaxy would all resemble each other...