Star Trek: Picard 2.05
Well, that was possibly the most streaming-format affected episode of the series so far. It felt like half an episode, the first half of a two parter, not something that stands on its own.
Raffi and Seven rescueing Rios (and the other about to be deported people) was a neat sequence emphasizing their teamwork and the way they balance each other. Mind you, it's not precisely logical that on the one hand, Seven objects to mucking up the timeline even further by using transporter technology to save Rios in front of everyone and figures out a low tech way to do it, and on the other, it doesn't seem to occur to anyone that while Rios is an intruder into this timeline and thus his rescue is straightening things out, the other about to be deported people would, in fact, have been deported in the "proper" timeline and allowing them to escape this fate was massive interference. I mean, I sympathize, and after two episodes full of anger at the ICE and the way immigrants are handled (literally), it would have felt weird for Our Heroes to say, no, off with you across the Mexican border, the timeline wills it. But it's definitely a plot hole.
Meanwhile, elsewhere: we meet yet another scientist from the Soong family (this is beyond a running gag by now). This one has a daughter with a rare genetic condition played by the same actress who played Daj and Soj, whom he desperately wants to help, which makes him open to blackmail by Q. (Apparantly not completely without his powers, hence the temporary cure, but not able to do what he wants, either, at least not when it comes to another character.) Q's statement that if you love anyone, you're open to blackmail, and thus the only way not to be would be not to love anyone at all, but then existence would be pointless does not sound as if he's only talking about the latest Dr. Soong played by Brent Spiner. Add "gets blackmailed by the Continuum? Others?" to the "what is Q up to? speculation, say I.
Though I also think Picard is wrong to assume Q wants to create the Confederationverse by manipulating his ancestress, because I'm pretty that whatever needs fixing will turn out to be more complicated than "ensure Renee Picard is on the Europa. If the sole thing known of her by the 24th century is that she found something on Io which she thought was sentient life and wanted to bring back to Earth (but didn't?; that's not said, but since First Contact in the Prime timeline is with the Vulcans, she can't have), in fact, I would venture the guess that maybe in the Confederation timeline she does bring the lifeform back from Io, but it's not a happy encounter, things go terribly wrong (either because the lifeform is malevolent or because humans are), humanity gets the ability to travel to the stars far too soon and with their worse instincts still dominant, and presto, a xenophobic Humanity First future is born.
So the woman Picard encountered at the end of the last episode is not Laris but a member of same organisation that Gary Seven (of TOS fame) belonged to. This actually makes this "Watcher" thing a neat nod to continuity, though I bet it will turn out she is connected to Laris somehow. We are also introduced to another member of the Picard family, Renée the brilliant astronaut (aka the young woman Q was observing in the last episode's tag scene), struggling with depression. (BTW: Jean-Luc's description of depression rang very true and gets extra points for including it doesn't just go away but involves a daily struggle.) Might I just say: in TNG days, this ancestor would have been automatically male, and that she's a woman instead is excellent. Though we have only seen glimpses of her so far, not enough to say what she's like as a character not described by others.
The most intriguing plot thread, though, remains Agnes Jurati's. I had not expected her to solve the Queen's hostage taking by shooting her, and I was a bit bewildered why the Queen didn't just assimilate the French officer (in previous Borg outings, injecting him with some nanoprobes would have done the trick), but of course I should have taken note of her explicitly waking Agnes up. The cop as a ploy to get Agnes Jurati to come close enough for another physical contact, now that makes sense, as does the Queen not dying when her physical body does but using the established connection with Jurati to slip into her mind. (Update of the "Agnes is the masked Borg Queen in the first episode" theory to: "she's an amalgan of Jurati and the Queen who as of 2.05 are still two entities in the same body but will become one personality by the end".) The earlier mindmessing via "you're alone in every timeline" was also great, and in general the season so far justifies bringing back the Borg by this plotline.
Last thought: given we now have two characters with the last name of "Picard", are we even sure the Picard the masked Borg Queen at the start of the season is asking for was Jean-Luc?
Raffi and Seven rescueing Rios (and the other about to be deported people) was a neat sequence emphasizing their teamwork and the way they balance each other. Mind you, it's not precisely logical that on the one hand, Seven objects to mucking up the timeline even further by using transporter technology to save Rios in front of everyone and figures out a low tech way to do it, and on the other, it doesn't seem to occur to anyone that while Rios is an intruder into this timeline and thus his rescue is straightening things out, the other about to be deported people would, in fact, have been deported in the "proper" timeline and allowing them to escape this fate was massive interference. I mean, I sympathize, and after two episodes full of anger at the ICE and the way immigrants are handled (literally), it would have felt weird for Our Heroes to say, no, off with you across the Mexican border, the timeline wills it. But it's definitely a plot hole.
Meanwhile, elsewhere: we meet yet another scientist from the Soong family (this is beyond a running gag by now). This one has a daughter with a rare genetic condition played by the same actress who played Daj and Soj, whom he desperately wants to help, which makes him open to blackmail by Q. (Apparantly not completely without his powers, hence the temporary cure, but not able to do what he wants, either, at least not when it comes to another character.) Q's statement that if you love anyone, you're open to blackmail, and thus the only way not to be would be not to love anyone at all, but then existence would be pointless does not sound as if he's only talking about the latest Dr. Soong played by Brent Spiner. Add "gets blackmailed by the Continuum? Others?" to the "what is Q up to? speculation, say I.
Though I also think Picard is wrong to assume Q wants to create the Confederationverse by manipulating his ancestress, because I'm pretty that whatever needs fixing will turn out to be more complicated than "ensure Renee Picard is on the Europa. If the sole thing known of her by the 24th century is that she found something on Io which she thought was sentient life and wanted to bring back to Earth (but didn't?; that's not said, but since First Contact in the Prime timeline is with the Vulcans, she can't have), in fact, I would venture the guess that maybe in the Confederation timeline she does bring the lifeform back from Io, but it's not a happy encounter, things go terribly wrong (either because the lifeform is malevolent or because humans are), humanity gets the ability to travel to the stars far too soon and with their worse instincts still dominant, and presto, a xenophobic Humanity First future is born.
So the woman Picard encountered at the end of the last episode is not Laris but a member of same organisation that Gary Seven (of TOS fame) belonged to. This actually makes this "Watcher" thing a neat nod to continuity, though I bet it will turn out she is connected to Laris somehow. We are also introduced to another member of the Picard family, Renée the brilliant astronaut (aka the young woman Q was observing in the last episode's tag scene), struggling with depression. (BTW: Jean-Luc's description of depression rang very true and gets extra points for including it doesn't just go away but involves a daily struggle.) Might I just say: in TNG days, this ancestor would have been automatically male, and that she's a woman instead is excellent. Though we have only seen glimpses of her so far, not enough to say what she's like as a character not described by others.
The most intriguing plot thread, though, remains Agnes Jurati's. I had not expected her to solve the Queen's hostage taking by shooting her, and I was a bit bewildered why the Queen didn't just assimilate the French officer (in previous Borg outings, injecting him with some nanoprobes would have done the trick), but of course I should have taken note of her explicitly waking Agnes up. The cop as a ploy to get Agnes Jurati to come close enough for another physical contact, now that makes sense, as does the Queen not dying when her physical body does but using the established connection with Jurati to slip into her mind. (Update of the "Agnes is the masked Borg Queen in the first episode" theory to: "she's an amalgan of Jurati and the Queen who as of 2.05 are still two entities in the same body but will become one personality by the end".) The earlier mindmessing via "you're alone in every timeline" was also great, and in general the season so far justifies bringing back the Borg by this plotline.
Last thought: given we now have two characters with the last name of "Picard", are we even sure the Picard the masked Borg Queen at the start of the season is asking for was Jean-Luc?