star trek picard monsters

Monsters (episode)

1.2 Act One
1.3 Act Two
1.4 Act Three
1.5 Act Four
2 Memorable quotes
3.1 Production
3.2 Continuity
4.1 Starring
4.2 Guest starring
4.3 Co-starring
4.4 Uncredited co-stars
4.5 Stunt doubles
4.6 Stand-ins
4.7.1 Starship references
4.7.2 Console references
4.7.3 Los Angeles locations
4.7.4 Meta references
4.8 External links

Summary [ ]

Picard is wearing a tuxedo and is seated across from a Starfleet psychiatrist ; he appears to be undergoing a routine psychological evaluation. The psychiatrist recalls that Picard was "humoring" him, and that the last thing Picard had said was that he had a fear of enclosed spaces. Picard tells him that he does not mean to do his job for him, to which the psychiatrist replies that naming Picard's fear was indeed not his job. Picard points out that analysis was his job, and returns to it. " The man who hates enclosed spaces spends his life in the infinite cosmos, " Picard says, chuckling a bit, before dismissing it as "too obvious". But when the man spends his life on a vessel, he adds, his only access to the outside is holographic , and now he becomes more interesting. The psychiatrist asks him if that concerned or bothered him at all, that he was not very interesting. Picard does not think it his job to be interesting, but the psychiatrist goes on to ask if they weren't more than their jobs – though in Picard's case, perhaps not, as even his friends call him " Captain ", and asks who "Jean-Luc" really is. Picard thinks the line of questioning absurd, and that he had been humoring the psychiatrist for the past forty minutes. The psychiatrist assures him it was just routine, and they had only been going on for twenty minutes. Trying to coax Picard into speaking, he suggests telling a story. When Picard says he wouldn't know where to begin, the psychiatrist hands him the hologram of the Sun that had been floating next to him, and suggests he start with that.

Picard begins his tale, about a queen with fiery red hair… before trailing off. The psychiatrist notes he was not good at telling stories, and Picard agrees… but "the queen with the red hair" was. His mind conjures up a fantasy version of Château Picard , as his mother Yvette dressed as the queen in the tale, as she tells a story to the young Jean-Luc, who is dressed as a prince. She is painting the scenes of the story on the windows on the cupola of the house, about a sorcerer who lost his powers when he was about to slay a noble prince, and melted away; though the sorcerer would be forgotten, the lesson would not: " There is no better teacher than one's enemy. " Picard narrates the story, saying that the queen was most unusual, spending her time telling tales, because perhaps she knew her time with her son was borrowed. The queen hands the young prince a paintbrush, saying that he was like his father , expressing himself more with his hands rather than his mouth. The prince protests that he doesn't want to be like his father, but more like her. The queen tells him that as a prince, he would be expected to lift people up, and lead them with inspiring speech. He doesn't think he can, but she assures him he will, because she can see the future. And in a way, Picard's narration continues, she could; like an animal, she could sense danger. Perhaps it was magic, or perhaps it was because she lived in a world where monsters were real. The paintings in the windows seem to come to life, and the queen takes the prince back into the house just as the windows explode, hurling shards of glass into the doors just seconds after she closed them. As they reach the basement tunnels under the house, the queen is pulled away by a monster lurking in the shadows.

The entire scenario is taking place inside Picard's subconscious mind, as his body begins to shake, like someone experiencing a nightmare.

Act One [ ]

Inside Clinica Las Mariposas in Los Angeles , Musiker wonders what is going on inside Picard's mind. Seven , however, is concerned that Jurati is missing, and plans to return to the CSS La Sirena to scan for her combadge , given her "slightly alarming behavior" the previous day, like her spontaneous singing at the gala, and Rios pointing out that she had kissed him, which intrigues Musiker. Rios remains with Picard while Musiker and Seven return to the ship, asking Tallinn if she was sure her "jury-rigged mind meld " would work. " Not in the slightest, " Tallinn admits.

Returning to La Sirena , Musiker expresses her distaste at the idea of Jurati and Rios getting back together, saying she would quit "the gang" if that happened. Seven looks amused, and Musiker clarifies that their relationship was totally different, referring to her and Seven as "the main event" and Jurati and Rios as "the side story". Musiker says the premonition she has is being old with Seven together, sitting on park benches, tripping "teenagers on floaty things" with their canes. Seven jokes she would be better at it, as she attempts to initiate the scan for Jurati's combadge. But her controls go blank beneath her hands; the ship's optical data network kicks her out, and then shows an encryption on the controls, completely locking her out. She instantly recognizes the encryption as being Borg in origin, which meant the Borg Queen had taken control before Jurati killed her . If they can't get access to the computer, they would never be able to locate Jurati, and as Musiker points out, the ship was also their only way home.

Back at the clinic, Tallinn attaches a device to Picard's head to allow her access to his mind. Rios asks what she had meant about letting Picard "take the lead", how he would help her help him out. Tallinn confesses it was a "leap of faith", and that was how she rolled; she hoped it would make sense once she was inside. She sits down next to him and activates the device, her eyes going milky white. Inside Picard's subconscious, she appears in the tunnels underneath the fantasy Château Picard. In the psychiatrist's office, Picard senses something amiss, but says to the psychiatrist that he was fine. He admits he didn't think Starfleet employed such people anymore, to which the psychiatrist sarcastically calls Starfleet "judge and jury of all things meritorious". He concedes the Human model of psychiatry is a "lesser model", but there are those who have built up walls around their wounds that even a Betazoid couldn't get through. Picard recognizes the implication, and the psychiatrist mentions that he never finished the story. Picard says only that sometimes the story merely ends with a boy lost in a dungeon. The psychiatrist notes on his PADD that Picard was "hopelessly bleak" and recommends he be relieved of command, lest he take the crew on a suicide mission just to feel something, and remarks there were "a thousand ways to die" in space. This seems to get Picard's attention, as the psychiatrist urges him to "dig deeper". Picard picks up the story, realizing that the boy was not in fact alone.

Tallinn explores the dungeons in Picard's subconscious, hearing his voice echoing from moments of his life (including identifying himself as Locutus of Borg ), while also hearing the growls of the monster in the shadows. Tallinn comments aloud on how Picard's mind looked sober, thinking that it would be a "blast" had he been drunk. Through the bars of one door, she spots the prince, the younger Jean-Luc, and approaches him, saying that she was here to help someone, and asking why he was alone. He replies that he couldn't leave, because his mother had told him to stay put if they were ever separated. Tallinn points out that he was the only one down here, and offers to help him get "unstuck". He insists he couldn't leave without his mother, and that Tallinn couldn't just find her – she would have to save her. He goes on to say that a monster had taken his mother, and everything in the dungeons was on the monster's side. Just then, the doors shut, trapping them; the prince takes Tallinn and leads her into the dungeons.

Picard's mind shifts back to the psychiatrist's office, with the psychiatrist telling him their hour-long session was up and he could leave at any time, to go back to wherever it was he was hiding from himself. He admits he had been warned that Picard was stubborn. Picard is incensed that other people had been telling this psychiatrist things about him, and begins to realize the situation wasn't real. The psychiatrist challenges him to "say something real", and asks why he thought they were there. Picard finally admits that he is stuck, and the psychiatrist agrees that they both were. Picard becomes increasingly agitated, demanding to know who the psychiatrist actually is. He replies he is a studier of the Human condition, while Picard was a starship captain, "ethical, diplomatic, cultured", with an affinity for the arts and intellectual thought, yet "perpetually untethered in the ways of the heart". When Picard asks why that was relevant to the session, the psychiatrist replies with a question of his own: " Why do you find it so difficult to be open, Jean-Luc? To let people in? " He goes on to say that Picard held people at arm's length, and questions why, speculating that perhaps there was a version of himself Picard didn't want people to see, a darker version. Picard turns at the sound of banging on the doors, asking what it was. The psychiatrist replies they both knew what it was: "the ever-righteous Jean-Luc", something he likes to hear other people say, because it let him push the truth away for longer. The psychiatrist accuses Picard of being obsessed with virtue, so much so that his story involved good triumphing over evil. Picard, enraged, shouts at him to stop; as he does, the banging also stops. He had never said anything of the kind, and that the psychiatrist didn't know how the story ended.

Inside the dungeons, Tallinn and the prince continue to flee the monster, hiding as a knight in heavy armor enters. The prince whispers that they had to find the white door, which was never in the same place for long, but behind it they could find his mother. As the knight leaves, a cloud of smoke approaches the prince, followed by echoing laughter as a horned monster grabs the prince by the arm. Behind her, a wasted-looking creature wraps chains around Tallinn's throat.

Act Two [ ]

Teresa returns to the clinic with her son Ricardo , who is wearing a space helmet and carrying around a toy rocket; his babysitter was a no-show. As they are greeted by Rios, Teresa inquires on Picard's condition, and he assures her Picard is fine. As she moves to go inside, however, she finds the door locked. She says angrily in Spanish that she has held back from asking questions, but it was still her clinic, and did not appreciate Rios locking the doors in her clinic, before demanding the keys. Rios reluctantly hands them over, before telling Teresa to "keep an open mind". She enters to find Picard twitching in the throes of his mind, and Tallinn seated next to him with milky eyes. Teresa is frightened, especially with Rios walking slowly towards her "like a serial killer". Rios says he needs to try and explain the situation to her without breaking time.

Tallinn begins to convulse, as the creature inside Picard's mind is strangling her, saying it was not her journey and that she did not belong there. She headbutts the creature and removes the chains, before turning to the monster and demanding it release the prince. The monster, whose face is blurred, laughs in reply.

Picard is not responding to medication, and so Teresa says he has to be brought to a hospital, as she was not equipped for it. Throwing caution completely to the wind, Rios pulls out his combadge and calls Musiker on La Sirena , telling her he needs a neural stabilizer for Picard. Teresa watches in shock as the device, a neural oscillator , is beamed right into his hands. She is completely confused, wondering how it was real, and asking who he was. Rios urges her to focus. Teresa asks if she was about to kill Picard, but Rios, though not a doctor, trusts her completely. She holds the device next to Picard's head and activates it.

Inside, Tallinn asks the prince if he was "doing this on purpose", that he doesn't want to be unstuck. The prince thinks it might not be different, that it would be like all the other times. Tallinn points out that he would never know until he got there, but if he didn't leave now, he could be stuck there forever… and this time, he was not alone. She pulls the shackle loose from around the prince's ankle.

Picard is stabilized, much to Rios' relief. Teresa asks if he was from outer space. Rios replies that he was from Chile , but that he worked in outer space , which seems to be more of a surprise to her.

Inside the dungeon, Tallinn and the prince find the door back into the house. She kicks the door open, then takes his hand as they proceed together.

Act Three [ ]

Back on La Sirena , Musiker expresses relief that the replicators still work, as she produces two cups of coffee for herself and Seven. Meanwhile, Seven is making progress with the encryption, remembering it being based on a code used while she was part of the Borg Collective . Seven had thought Jurati had purged all the Borg code from the ship after they crashed, and so checked the security logs to see when the last introduction of Borg code had taken place. The image shows Jurati, still dressed for the gala, introducing Borg code from her fingertips into the ship's console. Both realize that they had to find her immediately.

Inside his subconscious, Picard looks around to see the office melt away into his own house, just as Tallinn and the prince enter. Picard is confused to see her, before the banging starts again. They turn to see the white door and the Starfleet psychiatrist, who the prince calls a "monster". Picard accuses the psychiatrist of keeping the queen locked away this whole time. The psychiatrist remarks on how Picard lived longer than he did, but at least he got to keep all his hair. " Not exactly a fair trade, is it… son? " he asks, as Picard finally realizes that the psychiatrist is in the image of his father, Maurice. Picard accuses his father of cruelty, of ruining his mother. The prince, the younger Jean-Luc, again calls him a monster. " Am I? " Maurice asks. " Perhaps. But not in the way you think. " He reminds his son that he had thought he couldn't save his mother from a monster, and tells him to look again, as he opens the book in his hands. Picard remembers the tunnels beneath Château Picard, how his father had told him not to go into them, as there were a "thousand ways to die down there".

He recalls a memory from childhood, when Yvette had told him to "take what he loved" and head down into the tunnels with her. Jean-Luc had said he was afraid of the dark, but Yvette had replied she couldn't breathe in the house, and told him it was just a game of hide-and-seek. Jean-Luc had dropped his notepad on the floor as he had run with his mother into the tunnels, but then his foot broke through the ancient wood floor, and he became stuck while his mother continued to run. Maurice recalls it had been hours before he found Jean-Luc down there and freed his foot before carrying him to safety, and would never have known if he hadn't dropped the notepad. He knew that Yvette suffered from "cycles of terrible darkness" and "irrational exhilaration", as he tries to restrain her, clearly manic, and bring her back into the house. She had needed help, but she would not accept it. Maurice was forced to lock her away for her own safety. He turns to the adult Jean-Luc, saying that with no light, in a winding labyrinth, and rain about to come, he would never have made it out of the tunnels. Yvette, however, would have kept on going. Tallinn realizes that there was no monster actually chasing Yvette, but Maurice says there was, and always had been… but he couldn't save her, either, not from her own mind. The elder Jean-Luc is forced to admit that perhaps he never really knew his father.

Suddenly, the two elder Picards are gone, leaving Tallinn and the young Jean-Luc. She kneels next to him and says that he would do so much with his pain – he would eventually save worlds with it. As Jean-Luc removes the key from his shirt pocket, hearing his mother's pleas behind the door, Tallinn realizes there was more to it than that. At that moment, in Teresa's clinic, Picard regains consciousness, and Tallinn also returns to her own mind.

Outside Picard's room, Rios and Ricardo are drawing on the wall with chalk; Ricardo has drawn a rocket, while Rios has drawn La Sirena . Ricardo calls Rios a "spaceman alien" who can make things appear out of thin air. Rios jokingly scolds him for letting slip he had told Ricardo what happened, and emphasizing that he was in fact Human . Teresa thinks that someone who has to convince people of that should not be allowed around her child, but Rios knows she has good instincts about him. Teresa asks if he knew how often she'd been wrong, but he stresses she wasn't this time. Teresa also notes his loyalty to Picard, and Rios admits that, not having known his own father, he tended to seek out father figures, and had found one in Picard, even if he wasn't really like a son to him. Teresa thinks it to be Picard's loss, "whoever you are". Rios asks who she wants him to be. " A good guy, " is her answer. Rios says that he is indeed a "good guy", and if he wasn't, he would become one. Teresa, not entirely joking, says that if he was lying and she had allowed him around her son, they would never find his body. Deciding to take a chance, he asks Ricardo in Spanish if he wants to "see something cool", and tells Teresa he wants to show her something. He beams them along with him to La Sirena , Teresa and Ricardo dropping what was in their hands (her coffee cup and his toy rocket) on the ship's transporter platform in shock. Ricardo runs off to "go touch everything", while Teresa is struck dumb by the fact that she was indeed aboard a spaceship.

In the streets of Los Angeles, Seven and Musiker are still trying to locate Jurati, Seven worried about a Borg Queen being on the loose. Musiker begins to insist that it was Jurati, but Seven can see she is unsure whether it's Jurati with a hint of the Queen, or perhaps the other way around. Checking in with the security cameras around town, they spot Jurati the previous evening entering a cocktail bar, Deacon's . Musiker wonders if she's still there, and Seven is sure a lot of people's lives will depend on their finding out. That evening, Jurati hears a live band performing inside, and makes her way in, attracting the attention of several men at the nearby pool table. She then approaches the window and shatters it, her eyes darkening and Borg nanoprobes visible moving through her body as the Queen asserts her control.

Act Four [ ]

Musiker appraises Picard on the situation with Jurati, knowing it was not what he expected to wake up to, but assures him that she and Seven were on it. Picard tells her to keep safe and keep him informed, as he had something to attend to there first. Tallinn enters the room, assuring him that Renée was fine, and that there was no sign of either Q or Adam Soong , at least for now. She tells him that he had saved Renée from being run over by Soong. Picard thinks that they have moved beyond personal boundaries at that point, or at least he had. Tallinn decides to offer something in return, showing that her Human ears were in fact a disguise; she was actually Romulan , leading Picard to think that she could indeed be an ancestor of Laris . Tallinn explains that normally, supervisors were tasked to look after their own, but on occasion they looked after similar-looking species. That technology is useful, but it had its limitations; she couldn't reactivate it for another eight hours, which meant she had to "hide her truth" by covering her ears with her hair. She asks him if he was alright, and he says he was, but that they were losing time, the mission, Renée. Tallinn, however, is not so sure; she wonders if this was all part of Q's plan, to make him relive those memories, and if Picard knows that's not all there was to the story. Picard thinks it's irrelevant to what they're trying to fix, but Tallinn disagrees, not if Q wants him to know it. He remembers what his mother had said, how "there is no better teacher than one's enemy". He realizes he's been letting Q control the lessons, and that Q wanted him to know himself… but what if the lesson was to actually know Q? He had always considered Q "unknowable", yet he returns so late in Picard's life, and is still fixated on him. Q needs the trial to happen, but while it's fixated on Picard, it's deeply personal and urgent to Q himself. Tallinn thinks he wants to summon Q, which is beyond her capability. But Picard knows there's someone else…

Picard goes to 10 Forward Avenue to meet with Guinan , who is somewhat put out that there was no "hello" to his "new old friend" or a "thank you" for staying a few extra days. He has asked her to summon Q, although she points out that asking usually involves it sounding like a question. She explains that after a long cold war, the El-Aurians and the Q Continuum struck a truce; as El-Aurians associate unity with food and drink, they made the truce over a bottle – specifically, the bottle Guinan now holds in her hands. To her people, every action vibrates, every word has resonance, and that metal and liquid could capture the half-life of a moment. She emphasizes that she was speaking literally about the truce being made over the bottle, that the moment was still kept inside. El-Aurians hear the world like music, she says: if one finds the right note, the right memory, "pluck the right chord" as she puts it, they could get the attention of the player: in their case, their "friendly neighborhood Q". The bar begins to vibrate violently after she opens the bottle and pours its contents into a glass, and Guinan begins to shriek, the bottles on the bar beginning to shatter and chairs and tables move and fall over. Then after a moment, it stops. Picard asks what happened, and Guinan looks confused – it didn't seem to work.

On the streets, Musiker and Seven continue the search, asking how they could track something they didn't understand, as they arrive outside Deacon's, glass shattered on the sidewalk. Seven finds a glass bottle in a nearby trash can and throws it to the ground, explaining that she was "understanding". She asks to see the footage of Jurati breaking the glass again, and realizes that the action gave her a rush of endorphins , which allowed the Queen's nanoprobes to circulate faster to complete her takeover of Jurati's body. Musiker asks how long before she's strong enough to begin assimilating people, but Seven is unsure, as they were looking at an entirely new kind of Borg Queen, one who would want to begin a new Borg empire… starting with Earth , long before Humanity was able to defend itself from them. Instead of saving the future, Seven realizes, they may have just doomed it, and they would need Picard's help.

Back at 10 Forward Avenue, Guinan cleans up the mess, explaining that normally when an El-Aurian summons a Q, a Q appears. Just then, they hear the bells over the front door ring, as someone enters and starts walking down the bar's stairs. Picard wonders if it was Q, but Guinan can sense it's not. A man in a brown suit and gray-white hair enters, and Guinan says the bar was closed. The man is confused, saying the sign said it was open, but Guinan replies the owner trumps the sign. He insists that he was "celebrating" and asked for just one drink, and Guinan relents. Her instincts tell her that he's the kind of person who would order bourbon when in fact he wanted a white wine and "to cozy up with some boring-ass nonfiction". The man chuckles and says she has him figured out, and she answers that she's been tending bar for a long time. Leaving him to his drink, Guinan begins to explain that there was no reason the summoning should not have worked unless something was really wrong. The man begins to chatter, saying that the "nonfiction" part was wrong, that he enjoyed science fiction and found science itself to be aspirational. He then pulls his cell phone from his pocket, showing video of Picard beaming to that very location some days before. Guinan tries to chalk it up to a glitchy camera. The man doesn't seem to be buying it, however, as he pulls out his identification: he is an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation . Other FBI agents enter, guns drawn. Picard's combadge drops to the floor as he and Guinan are handcuffed and taken into custody.

Memorable quotes [ ]

" So, this is your mind, sober. I bet five-drink Picard is a blast. "

" Cool EVA suit! Hope you're up on your zero-gravity combat training . " " He's nine. "

" Are you from outer space? " " No. I'm from Chile . I just… I work in outer space. "

" You'll do so much with this pain. You'll save worlds with it. "

" Welcome to La Sirena . My ship. My… spaceship. " " I'm gonna go touch everything! "

" Do you understand what this could mean? A Borg Queen loose in Los Angeles. " " She's not the Borg Queen. Don't say that. She's Jurati. Or she's… " " Exactly. Is it Jurati with a side of Borg Queen or vice versa? "

" Boy, you really got me pegged. Heh, except the non-fiction part. Me, I'm more of a sci-fi guy myself. You? Not really the spacey types? " " Most definitely not. "

Background information [ ]

Production [ ].

11 April 2022 : Title publicly revealed via Paramount Press Express . [1]
The theme of a seemingly abusive father figure, resonated strongly on a real world personal level with Picard performer Patrick Stewart as he too had to contend in his youth with a father who had been abusive towards his mother – but not towards himself or his siblings. It was only after his participation in a 2012 episode of the British genealogical documentary series Who Do You Think You Are? , that Stewart, like his onscreen persona, discovered that there had been more to his father's abusive behavior than had met the eye; father Alfred turned out to be a victim of a case of undiagnosed, and thus untreated, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that he had contracted during his World War II service in the British Army – which included his evacuation from Dunkirk one month before Stewart's birth, already alluded to by Picard in the first season episode " Remembrance ". As a direct result of his discovery, Stewart supports the British charity "Combat Stress" which helps veterans deal with PTSD. [2]

Continuity [ ]

After Dr. Ramirez asks if he is from space, Rios replies, "No. I'm from Chile . I just… I work in outer space." In San Francisco in 1986 , Gillian Taylor asked James T. Kirk the same question, with Kirk replying in nearly the same way as Rios, " No, I'm from Iowa . I only work in outer space. " He later beams her aboard La Sirena , much as Kirk beams Taylor aboard the HMS Bounty ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )
Tallinn reveals herself to be Romulan , with Picard suggesting she may be an ancestor of Laris .
When Tallinn first enters Picard's mind, she hears echoes of things Picard has said throughout his life. This includes him saying " I am Locutus of Borg " shortly after being assimilated by the Borg Collective in 2366 ( TNG : " The Best of Both Worlds "), excerpts of his speech to Angosian Prime Minister Nayrok ( TNG : " The Hunted "), and telling Q he'd rather die as captain of the Enterprise than live as an unambitious junior officer . ( TNG : " Tapestry ")
When Guinan suspects a Q is entering her bar on Earth , she puts her hands up in the same claw gesture she showed when Q entered Ten Forward on the Enterprise . ( TNG : " Q Who ")

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

Jean-Luc Picard
Locutus of Borg (voice only; archive audio)
Alison Pill as Agnes Jurati
Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
Michelle Hurd as Raffaela Musiker
Orla Brady as Tallinn
Santiago Cabrera as Cristóbal Rios

Guest starring [ ]

Maurice Picard ( illusion / flashback )
Psychiatrist (illusion)
Yvette Picard (illusion/flashback)
Queen (illusion)
Sol Rodriguez as Dr. Teresa Ramirez
Ito Aghayere as Guinan
Jay Karnes as Agent Wells
Ivo Nandi (credit only)

Co-starring [ ]

Steve Gutierrez as Ricardo
Dylan Von Halle as Young Picard/ Prince (flashback)/(illusion)
Marti Matulis as Prisoner (illusion)
Oscar Torre as Bartender
Travis Walck as Jester (illusion)
Cyrus Zoghi as Red Bearded Guy

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

Jonathan Flaugher as Bass player
Philip Krohnengold as Keyboard player
Sunny Ozell as Singer
Mark Stepro as Drummer
Mason Stoops as Guitar player
Jailer (illusion)

Stunt doubles [ ]

Vanessa Cater as stunt double for Madeline Wise
Sierra Hawkins as stunt double for Dylan Von Halle
Sonja Wajih as stunt double for Orla Brady

Stand-ins [ ]

Margot Muraszkiewicz as stand-in for Jeri Ryan
Thadeus Welch as stand-in for Patrick Stewart

References [ ]

2015 ; access ; amplitude ; ancestor ; analysis ; animal ; arm ; arrest ; babysitter ; bad words (aka swear words ); Baileys Irish Cream ; banging ; bar ; behavior ; Betazoid ; body ; Bombay Sapphire ; bones ; Borg ; Borg code ; Borg Collective ; Borg program ; Borg Queen ; bottle ; bourbon ; boy ; brain ; brain wave ; burger ; butterflies ; camera system ; Campari ; canes ; cannula ; captain ; Captain Morgan ; cattle ; Cheetos ; child (aka kid ); Chile ; clinic ; Clinica Las Mariposas ; cocktail ; coffee ; cold war ; combadge ; commander ; computer ; computer core ; Cool Ranch Doritos ; Corner Sub ; cornfields ; cosmos ; cryptographic algorithm ; " damn "; day ; Deacon's ; denizens ; door ; drinking fountain ; dungeon ; dust ; El-Aurian ; empire ; encryption ; endorphins ; EVA suit ; fairy ; father ; father figure ; FBI ; fear ; federal agent ; floaty things ; French language ; frequency ; friend ; Fritos ; Fritos Flavor Twists Honey BBQ ; future ; gamma waves ; ghost ; gods ; hair ; hand ; handcuff ; heart ; " hell "; Hershey's ; holographic ; Homer ; hospital ; hour ; Human ; Illiad ; influenza ; J. Darby ; Jack Daniel's ; Jameson Irish Whiskey ; Jim Beam ; job ; " John Hancocks "; Johnnie Walker ; joke ; key ; kissing ; Kit Kat ; La Sirena , CSS ; labyrinth ; laughter ; law enforcement ; Lay's ; life ; light ; light switch ; liquid ; lorazepam ; lying ; magic ; Malibu Rum ; man (aka guy ); Martell ; memory ; metal ; Metal Fest ; MIA ; mind ; minutes ; Miss Vickies ; moment ; monster ; mother ; mouth ; music ; nanoprobes ; nature ; neural oscillator ; Noco Clear Rum ; Noco Distillery ; Noco Tokilya ; nonfiction ; Odyssey ; Olmeca Altos Plata ; optical data network ; outer space ; outside ; Pabst Blue Ribbon ; pain ; parental controls ; park benches ; patient ; phase ; Picard, Renée ; premonition ; prince ; psych evaluation ; psychologist ; Q (individual); Q (species); Q Continuum ; queen ; questioning ; rain ; ready room ; red ; Reese's Peanut Butter Cups ; replicator ; Rios' father ; Romulan ; room ; science fact ; science fiction (aka sci-fi ); sensor ; serial killer ; shadowy creature ; ship (aka vessel ); " shit "; singing ; Skittles ; sky ; son ; Soong, Adam ; sorcerer ; sovereign ; spaceman ; spaceship ; Spanish language ; speech ; Spring 44 Vodka ; stabilizer ; Starfleet ; Starfleet insignia ; Starfleet uniform ; story ; suicide mission ; sun ; Sun Chips ; " Take You Down "; teacher ; teenagers ; time ; Tito's Handmade Vodka ; transporter ; trial ; truce ; trump ; truth ; tunnel ; Twizzlers ; UFOs ; victim ; Voodoo Ranger Captain Dynamite IPA ; wall ; Wells Fargo ; white ; white wine ; window ; wound ; zero-gravity combat training

Starship references [ ]

Constitution -class ; D7-class ; Deep Space Station K-7 ; Excelsior -class ; NX-class ; Regula I

Console references [ ]

backup link ; computer core ( main computer core ); emitter array ; encryption ( encrypted data ); life support ; optical data network ; security footage ; security log ; sensor ; subprocessor

Los Angeles locations [ ]

1 Cal Plaza ; 2Cal ; 3rd Street ; City Hall East ; Higgins Building ; La Costena Bar ; Ronald Reagan State Building ; Stoa ; Vibiana ; Wells Fargo Center

Meta references [ ]

External links [ ].

" Monsters " at the Internet Movie Database
" Monsters " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
" "Discovering Monsters" " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
1 Daniels (Crewman)

Star Trek: Picard Gets Lost in Its Hero's Head

"monsters" slams the brakes on the already subdued pace of picard season 2's back end, to half-grasp at the character behind picard's heroic persona..

Jean-Luc Picard, wearing an unbuttoned dress shirt and an untied bow tie, sits in a futuristic office.

The past few episodes of Star Trek: Picard have been a bit chaotic, but in a largely fun way — a little dash of the absurd to make the strange ideas it was hastily setting up in the background go down smoothly, so you could have a bit of a chuckle when that setup came crashing down in similarly absurd fashion. This week, however, got into a much messier kind of chaos.

‘Star Trek: Picard’ Recap: Of Monsters and Men

This week’s episode takes a deep detour inside the mind of our protagonist.

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By Sopan Deb

Season 2, Episode 7: ‘Monsters’

Jean-Luc Picard’s subconscious is a largely unexplored subject in “Trek” lore, despite Jean-Luc being such an oft-discussed character. “Monsters” shows us that our friendly neighborhood captain has demons in his head that he is literally running from.

Those demons come to the forefront as a result of a therapy session he has with a Starfleet therapist. This is telling as well: Even in his coma — even in his own mind — the best way for Picard to interrogate his own past is to do it with someone wearing a Starfleet uniform. Even then, the conversation is mostly about trying to get back to work. It’s Jean-Luc Picard in a nutshell: Trying to keep duty at the forefront. (This isn’t too different from the Picard we see in “Star Trek: Generations” appearing in the Nexus . He is in his paradise, spending Christmas with his family. And even then, he’s wearing his Starfleet uniform.)

“You are a captain. Ethical. Diplomatic. Cultured. An affinity for the arts. Intellectual thought,” the psychologist offers in her stinging diagnosis. “And yet, perpetually untethered in the ways of the heart.”

When Jean-Luc opens the door to discussing his upbringing, it’s revealed that he has undergone a significant amount of trauma deriving from, he thinks, his abusive father. The trauma is presented in the form of terrifying monsters that attack a young Jean-Luc and his mother.

What’s interesting here is that this is all playing out in Jean-Luc’s mind. The therapist’s diagnosis isn’t actually coming from the therapist; it’s coming from Jean-Luc himself, meaning there’s some self awareness about why he keeps people at arm’s length and why he fears true intimacy.

But as is often the case with childhood memories, the true meaning is more complicated than it seems. And there’s a plot twist: The psychologist is Picard’s father! All this time, Jean-Luc thought his father was abusive toward his mother, even locking her away at one point. The young Jean-Luc calls him “a monster,” when the real monster, according to Jean-Luc’s father, was the depression that overtook Jean-Luc’s mother. (He was unable to manage it, with some regret it seems.)

The implication is that Jean-Luc’s mother struggled with bipolar disorder, and it affected the relationship between Jean-Luc and his father.

Interestingly, there’s no mention of Robert Picard, Jean-Luc’s older brother, whom we met in “The Next Generation” episode “Family.” You might remember they rolled around in the mud for awhile and then laughed about it. In that episode, Jean-Luc called his older brother “a bully,” and it’s implied that their father was an authoritarian whose rules Jean-Luc always broke. Robert accuses Jean-Luc of thinking he’s too good for the rest of the Picard family.

Given what we learn in this episode of “Picard,” it’s more likely that Jean-Luc poured everything he could into his career because he didn’t know how to make meaningful connections with his family.

It’s a fascinating glimpse inside Jean-Luc psyche. Maybe, as he notes later in the episode, this is what Q wanted to teach him all along. We saw Q as a therapist earlier in the season, and maybe that’s what Q sees himself as toward anyone named Picard.

The Watcher is a Romulan? She’s Laris’s ancestor? This felt like an unnecessary plot twist. If Romulans were on Earth well before first contact, which was with a Vulcan, that would be problematic for generations of “Trek” lore.

The Watcher is, however, able to do her thing and help Picard out of his coma. And then Picard is up and totally fine to go save the universe, despite being hit by a car hours earlier.

It’s a nice touch when Rios calls Jean-Luc a father figure. In an episode where we examine one potentially toxic father, it shows that Jean-Luc himself plays a paternal role with some of those who are close to him.

I wrote last week that I thought Rios was going to end up staying behind in 2024. I was wrong. Instead, he brought Teresa and her son onboard his ship, which is an insane decision that will surely have major implications going forward. But we do get the childlike wonder of being beamed aboard a ship from Teresa’s kid!

Not a nice touch: Rios handing Teresa a medical device from the future and her being able to operate it with absolutely no training whatsoever.

Young Guinan gives us some insight into why El-Aurians have beef with the Q Continuum. Then Guinan drinks a potion to try to summon Q and destroys her bar in the process — this after not wanting to take part at all with Picard’s shenanigans. Young Guinan seems to exist in order to do whatever the plot needs her to do.

Picard and Guinan are arrested at the end of the episode, although it’s unclear what they were arrested for. I’m assuming law enforcement had been surveilling Picard for sometime, or something. We’ll probably find out in the next episode. But why would Guinan get arrested with him? She was just minding her own business as a bartender until Picard showed up!

Sopan Deb is a basketball writer and a contributor to the Culture section. Before joining The Times, he covered Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign for CBS News. He is also a New York-based comedian. More about Sopan Deb

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Review: Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7 “Monsters”

Patrick Stewart and a special guest star shine in an episode that not only intensely moves the season’s plot forward, but helps inform our understanding of a hero we’ve known and loved since 1987.

The end of the last episode saw Admiral Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) in a coma following him saving Renee Picard ( Penelope Mitchell ) from Adam Soong ( Brent Spiner ). Now trapped in his own mind, it’s up to the older man, with a little help from Tallinn ( Orla Brady ), to pull himself back to the present, even if that means looking back at his distant past and confronting his most personal demons.

James Callis as the Starfleet psychologist

Picard’s mind invokes a peculiar scene: him talking to a Starfleet psychologist (guest star James Callis, of Battlestar Galactica fame) onboard a nameless Federation starship. The younger man is trying to gain some insight, via a “routine psych evaluation,” into Picard’s mind and why he always keeps relationships at arm’s length, a key question that this season first introduced in “ The Star Gazer .” To help open his mind to self-analysis, Picard is encouraged to tell a story, and the story he conjures is based on his childhood. Set against a theme of knights, princesses, and medieval times, young Jean-Luc ( Dylan Von Halle ) and his mother, Yvette ( Madeline Wise ), try to escape Picard’s abusive father. But is that really what’s going on?

As Picard weaves this tale to the doctor, Laris has entered his mind, playing the part of someone helping a young Jean-Luc as he escapes into the basement of Chateau Picard. The imagery that permeates Picard’s recollections of his childhood are certainly not pleasant; clearly, Picard as a young boy was deeply scarred by the hostility and ill feelings his father’s personality and actions impacted on his family. In this way, this episode plays much like a horror movie, complete with a dark and muted color palette and horrific imagery to accompany the places and people in Picard’s mind.

Ultimately, Picard is able to meet up with Laris, his younger self, and the doctor in the same room, and this is where a major revelation occurs that will have lasting ramifications for Picard’s past, present, and future: the doctor is actually a manifestation of Picard’s father, Maurice, and the violence Picard remembers from his childhood came not because his father was an abusive, aggressive fiend, but because his mother was experiencing major mental issues. No matter what he did, Maurice couldn’t help her fight the “circles of terrible darkness” she was experiencing. Jean-Luc admits he might have never actually known his father, after all. But before these sequences in Picard’s mind ends, Tallinn sees the young Jean-Luc take out a key and seemingly go to let his mother out of the room his protective father locked her in.

Finally, awakening from his coma, Picard, focusing on the mission to stop Q, doesn’t take too much time to digest this revelation, which is too bad. But let’s consider how complicated Picard’s childhood was. His mother, who until now is remembered as a loving, comforting force in his life, was actually someone haunted by intense demons. The young Picard did not have the awareness to understand how his father tried to protect Jean-Luc from his mother’s deep depression. In one of the most touching moments in the episode, Laris comforts the young Picard and asserts that it is (or will be?) incredible he will go on to be such an inspiring leader despite this traumatic childhood. It’s a wonderful message for those who may have also experienced trauma. Interestingly, this episode asserts there is more to this story than Picard and Tallinn illuminated, but that’ll have to wait.

We also want to praise James Callis here for his portrayal of Picard’s father. Callis clearly carefully considered how to play such a vital figure, and thus we can see where Jean-Luc got his gravitas and analytical mind. Callis owns every scene he is in, and when he and Patrick Stewart are head-to-head, you can’t help but watch intently. Considering there is more to tell of Picard’s childhood story, we’ll likely see Callis again; as far as guest spots go, he will likely be remembered as one of Picard ’s best.

“You hold everyone at arm’s length. Lest… what? Perhaps there’s a version of yourself that you are hiding. Something you’re afraid others will see. A darker version, perhaps? A secret shame. A guilt.” Maurice to Jean-Luc.

Realizing that the way to beat Q at this game may be to understand him and his motivations better, Picard suggests to Laris that they summon Q to get a better read on the situation. Of course, Laris doesn’t have that ability, but Picard knows who does: Guinan ( Ito Aghayere ). So, we are soon back in the bar on 10 Forward Avenue, and Picard urges Guinan to summon Q, which the El-Aurian is actually able to do, in theory.

It’s in this scene that we get some brief but noteworthy backstory about the Q and Guinan’s species. Ever since “Q Who,” we knew there was some bad blood between those two species, but no details were ever given… until now. Apparently, there was a long “cold war” between the Q Continuum and the El-Aurians, and the war eventually ended with the two sides imbuing a fancy bottle with the essence of the war and its resolution. As Guinan explains, El-Aurians place great importance on food and drink, so this symbolism seemed appropriate. Somewhat inexplicably, Guinan happens to have in her possession the exact bottle that holds the essence of this cold war, so if she were to take the top off the bottle, the spirit of the Q-El-Aurian conflict will escape, and that should be enough to summon Q.

Sol Rodriguez as Dr. Teresa Ramirez and Santiago Cabrera as Rios

Forgetting for a moment how wildly convenient it is that Guinan keeps this important bottle in her bar (where it is surely at risk of theft, breakage, or any other kind of harm) this scene marks a remarkable moment for Star Trek canon. For years, fans have wondered why Guinan had such a visceral reaction to seeing Q in “Q Who,” and now we have a few details about this long-simmering conflict. That’s pretty cool! We’ll likely learn much more in the coming episodes, but for now, we’re appreciative that Picard is helping shine light on some unexplored corners of Star Trek lore.

Alas, Q is not summoned (most likely because he has lost his powers, something Picard and Guinan don’t know), but before they can ponder too much about why the bottle didn’t work, a man enters the bar. After some unassuming and cheeky banter with Guinan and Picard, the man whips out a law enforcement badge and arrests them. Apparently, a security camera caught Picard beaming into L.A. back in “ Watcher ,” and clearly such suspicious technology caught someone’s interest. If you ask us, we’re thrilled such glaringly poor decision-making on Picard’s part caught up with him.

Outside of Picard’s intensely personal storyline, other things are happening in 2024 Los Angeles. Doctor Agnes Jurati ( Alison Pill ), now mostly out of control of her body as the Borg Queen ( Annie Wersching ) gains greater and greater influence, is rogue in the city and trying to absorb as many endorphins as possible; such a chemical reaction grows the Queen’s power over Jurati. Raffaela Musiker ( Michelle Hurd ) and Seven of Nine ( Jeri Ryan ) try to catch up to Jurati, now realizing that the Queen has indeed infiltrated the scientist’s body. Seven asserts enough endorphins would give the Queen the ability to assimilate others, L.A., and even the entire world.

Cristóbal Rios ( Santiago Cabrera ), meanwhile, tries to handle Teresa Ramirez ( Sol Rodriguez ) as she learns that Rios, Picard, and the others are not from 2024. In fact, Rios, in a bit of tongue-in-cheek reference to a similar line in The Voyage Home , admits to the doctor that he is indeed from Earth, but that he “works in outer space.” To seal the deal and help prove to Teresa he has good intentions, Rios takes her and her son to La Sirena . Clearly, Rios is way past being careful not to “step on butterflies,” as Jurati cautioned him against when they first landed in 2024. What impact will having Teresa be “in the know” have on this mission?

Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine and Michelle Hurd as Raffi

Taken together, “Monsters” turns out to be an unmissable episode of Star Trek: Picard . It’s a powerful portrayal of Jean-Luc Picard’s mind and history, a portrayal led strongly by the magnetic Patrick Stewart and James Callis to remarkable effect. The fact that there is more to Picard’s childhood story leaves us on the edge of our seats. And consider this: what better reason is there for Star Trek: Picard ’s existence than to illuminate more of this hero who we thought we knew everything about?

We’re looking forward to when Picard has a moment to slow down and reflect on the major revelation he experienced in this episode, but that’s just one thread “Monsters” leaves us anticipating. Will Jurati fully succumb to the Borg Queen’s manifestation? What will happen now that Picard and Guinan are in police custody? And how will Renee’s mission play out? There are three episodes left in this season and plenty of questions to answer, including how all this relates back to the premiere and what happens on the Stargazer ’s bridge. This season has been a wild journey so far, and we’re super excited about what we are going to see in the final episodes.

Stray Thoughts:

It’s somewhat hard to make out, but there is a model of an Excelsior -class ship on Picard’s father’s desk, as well as models of a Regula I -type station and a K-7 -type station. Why? Your guess is as good as ours. This, combined with the father’s seeming resentment toward Starfleet, may indicate he was at one time a Starfleet officer. Although, nothing we know about Maurice Picard from The Next Generation would suggest he was in Starfleet.
Laris hears audio bits from Picard’s life when she first arrives in his mind, including Locutus saying “I am Locutus of Borg” from “The Best of Both Worlds.”
Is it perpetually nighttime where La Sirena is parked just outside Chateau Picard? Moreover, it’s so hard to believe no one has found the ship yet. It isn’t even cloaked when we see it in this episode! At this point, however, we wouldn’t be surprised if the producers of this season purposefully always had it be nighttime during scenes near Chateau Picard, considering the familial angst Jean-Luc experiences this season.
How exactly did Raffi know to beam the neural stabilizer onto Rios’ hands, and not, say, onto the medical tray six inches below?
Rios is a Starfleet captain, with all the training that entails, and has years of real-world experience traveling the galaxy. Wouldn’t he know how to apply a neural stabilizer? Why does he need a 21st-century doctor to do this?
When Rios says to Teresa that he tends to seek out father figures, remember he isn’t just talking about Picard, but his former captain, Alonzo Vandermeer, who Rios talks about at length in the season one episode “ Broken Pieces .”
How convenient was it that Seven and Raffi pulled up the exact security camera that caught Jurati going into Deacon’s?
The woman singing in Deacon’s is Patrick Stewart’s wife, Sunny Ozell.
To see if it was Q who entered the bar after uncorking the bottle, Guinan reaches out with that same claw-handed gesture that the character so memorably (and awkwardly) did in “Q Who.” So, can we assume that gesture is meant to sense if a person is a Q or not, and therefore prepare a defense?
There’s no way Tallinn’s disguise technology and its strange eight-hour cooldown won’t come into play again.
The fact that Tallinn ended up being Romulan has been hinted at in the last couple of episodes. Romulan designs were on the display she used to spy on Renee in “Watcher,” and in this episode, her neurotransmitter earpiece looks like a pointy ear.

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Lower Decks , Star Trek: Prodigy , and more.

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Kyle Hadyniak has been a lifelong Star Trek fan, and isn't ashamed to admit that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Nemesis are his favorite Star Trek movies. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @khady93 .

April 14, 2022 at 8:52 pm

I agree with all of this.

The pivotal point for me was when Picard acknowledged that there is something urgent and personal in Q’s actions and that they have to find out what that is.

As I mentioned before…this whole mystery may hinge on what Q is held hostage to.

Notice the recurring motif of the importance of the parent/child relationship?

I fully expected the guy in the bar at the end to be another member of the Continuum.

That being said, are the El Aurians really on such equal or close footing with the Continuum that a cold war would really mean anything? In two centuries, the El Aurians will be nearly wiped out by the Borg, after all.

Rios and Teresa are either heading to the 24th century with her boy or they’re all staying behind. All the call outs to “Star Trek IV” this season (I literally blurted out, “No, I’m from Chile. I only work in outer space” seconds before Rios said it) lead me to believe that Gillian Taylor won’t be the only human jumping forward in time by virtue of a transporter beam.

The cacophony of voices as Talinn/Laris explored Picard’s psyche included Picard screaming in pain from “Chain of Command” and “I’d rather die the man I was…” from “Tapestry”.

Speaking of which, Picard’s memories from “Tapestry” was of a father who warned him not to go off to the Academy. His conversation with his brother in “Family” was about Robert’s resentment that Jean Luc broke all of their father’s rules and got away with it.

Of course, memory is a funny thing as this episode proves.

Which makes me wonder if Picard ever read Captain Janeway’s logs from Voyager or if he’s just forgotten about them?

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Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7 Review – Monsters

Star Trek: Picard takes a literal deep dive into Jean-Luc's subconscious and undoes much of the season's forward progress in the process.

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The following contains Star Trek: Picard spoilers

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7

After two fairly exhilarating and propulsive episodes, Star Trek: Picard pumps the brakes on almost all forward narrative momentum in an hour that, unfortunately, goes back to some of Season 2’s weakest elements (and even the great cliffhanger at the end, which sees Guinan and Picard get arrested by the FBI thanks to some unfortunate security camera footage, can’t entirely save it).

Part of the problem is much of “Monsters” revolves around a trope that’s kind of lame even when it’s executed well, which involves one character being forced to enter the mind of another in order to help them subconsciously fight the demons that plague them. And perhaps there’s a way Picard could have pulled this off—a better set-up for Jean-Luc suddenly finding himself trapped in his own mind besides randomly getting hit by a car might have helped, or having someone like Seven or the Borg-controlled Jurati have to be the one to basically mind-meld with the admiral in order to save him, rather than a character we’ve essentially only just met.

As it stands, sending Tallinn into Picard’s childhood nightmare feels like nothing so much as a set-up for her to reveal to him that she’s secretly Romulan, and allow the show to continue pushing the supposed romantic connection between Jean-Luc and Laris. Which I assume someone, somewhere must find interesting, it’s just that I am not one of those people.

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And the thing is, it’s not like I’m averse to an episode that’s essentially a deep dive into what makes Picard tick, subconsciously speaking. There’s something painfully poetic about the idea that the reason child Jean-Luc went on to become an adult who was willing to fight so hard to save others is that he couldn’t save his mother from the darker parts of her own mind. That’s practically Shakespearean, in many ways.

Of course, he carries emotional scars from those experiences, likely of the sort that he’s probably never really wanted to look too closely at. Again, all of this is completely understandable and deeply human. Where the story loses me is the bit where his grief over his mother’s madness literally rewrites his entire understanding of his own father and his role in his life. (Well, that, and the fact that Picard had a brother that none of these flashbacks ever mentioned in any way. How does he—and that relationship—fit into all this?)

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To be fair, Picard’s dungeon of emotional sorrows is both beautifully and creepily rendered, a dark fairytale where his mother is somehow simultaneously the storyteller, the damsel that needs rescuing, and the monster threatening to destroy her. It’s a fascinating snapshot of how Picard thinks or, perhaps most importantly, of how Picard has become the storyteller of this particular piece of his own history. Though “Monsters” does raise the uncomfortable question of exactly how reliable a narrator Picard is in this instance, given the lifelong lies he seems to have told himself about both his mother’s behavior and his father’s intentions.

In any event, this isn’t exactly uninteresting character work, and “Monsters” certainly hints that we’ve still yet to see the full story of everything that went on between Picard and his mother. But I think we have to question the wisdom of inserting this particular interlude here, in a way that basically nearly brings every other plot to a screeching halt. How does this serve the story of saving the future and getting the La Sirena back to their own time? Why is it necessary to tell this part of the story right now, when Picard Season 2 finally felt like it was gaining some momentum?

The episode’s B plots are almost entirely forgettable, save for the fact that Seven figures out pretty much immediately that Agnes has been body-snatched by the Borg Queen, who’s now plotting to assimilate all of humanity. There’s zero development of Q’s nefarious plan now that Renee Picard is safely out of his clutches, nor do we learn anything further about the fallout from Kore’s discovery that she’s some sort of clone and her dad is basically a comic book supervillain. We don’t even see much of Agnes and the Borg Queen, save for a dramatic moment where she breaks a window in a dive bar for the high of the endorphin rush.

And, look, I’m sure that there are people watching who truly enjoy Rios’s flirtation with the nice 21st-century clinic doctor, and if that is you, please take a second and explain the point of this to me like I’m five, because other than potentially risking the very future Rios wants to go back to, what exactly is his character arc here? Simply that he wants to impress a girl by showing her his time-traveling spaceship? That he likes real, non-replicator-produced food? Forget causing butterfly ripples, these people are basically opening Jurassic Park at this point. (And that’s before we get to the whole the FBI now have video evidence of transporters thing.)

But, the episode’s last ten minutes is almost enough to paper over many of its other flaws, as Picard returns to see Guinan in the hopes that she can help him figure out what Q’s epic trial is really all about. And, in doing so, Picard answers another long-standing Star Trek: The Next Generation Mystery , namely—why Q seemed afraid of the El-Aurian in that series. And it turns out that part of the reason is because of the truce struck between their races long ago, Guinan’s people apparently have the ability to vaguely control him, or at least enough to summon him whether he is willing to be called or not. But her attempt in “Monsters” fails, but her confusion about it is so genuine that it seems obvious that something bigger is more likely at play. (More evidence that Q’s powers are waning or broken? Food for thought.)

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But since we certainly aren’t getting answers to any of this until next week–let’s take a second just to appreciate Ito Aghayere’s performance—her younger version of Guinan is just so spot-on, from her warm chemistry with Patrick Stewart to her effortless snark and the physical mannerisms she’s clearly copied from watching Whoopi Goldberg’s Next Generation work. At this point, if we don’t get to see her face-off with John de Lancie properly before Picard and friends go back to their own time, it’ll be a real shame.

3.5 out of 5

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Header Preview – Star Trek: Picard – “Monsters” – Photos & Trailer

Preview – Star Trek: Picard – “Monsters” – Photos, Trailer & More!

We now only have a handful of episodes left of Star Trek: Picard season 2 and this week things heat up with episode 7 titled “Monsters”

Last week we left our crew dealing with the aftermath of Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) being run down by Adam Soong (Brent Spiner) and the realisation that something is very wrong with Jurati (Alison Pill)…

(Paramount+) Adam Soong (Brent Spiner) after he mowed down Picard

This week with the help of Tallinn (Orlay Brady) who decides to venture into Picard’s subconscious to find out the reason why he will not wake from his coma.

Meanwhile, Seven (Jeri Ryan) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) go in search of Jurati whom they fear has succumbed to the monster inside.

And Rios (Santiago Cabrera) struggles to hide the truth of who he really is from Teresa (Sol Rodriguez) as they grow ever closer.

Monsters Promo Images

here are this week’s promo images and the reveal that James Callis (BSG) has joined the show as an unknown character.

(Paramount+)

Monsters – Tallinn ventures inside Picard’s subconscious mind to help wake him from a coma and face both his darkest secrets and deepest fears. Seven and Raffi go in search of Jurati whom they fear has succumbed to the monster inside. Rios struggles to hide the truth of who he really is from Teresa. Written by Jane Maggs Directed by Joe Menendez

Watch the trailer and sneak peek for this week’s episode

The Ready Room

Wil Wheaton welcomes Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner to The Ready Room to discuss how they pulled off that Europa Mission gala in Star Trek: Picard, the many Soongs in Star Trek, an exclusive clip, and more!

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Picard airs on Paramount+ in the United States, and on CTV Sci-Fi Channel and Crave in Canada. Outside of North America, the series is available on Amazon Prime Video

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REVIEW – Star Trek: Picard ‘Monsters’

Last week I criticized “Two of One” for veering too far off the trajectory of the season’s story. In many ways, Star Trek: Picard ‘Monsters’ does not course correct, but instead of wandering somewhat aimlessly, it sets up and establishes a wonderful character study of Picard that has been teased for most of this season. As you keep reading, you’ll find that I’m quite positive on Picard’s journey in this episode, although I’m far more mixed on the B and C stories. Star Trek: Picard ‘Monsters’ is truly about Picard as a character, and when that occurs in this series, it tends to soar. So let’s dive in.

Picard’s Backstory

Given that the character of Jean-Luc Picard has been with us through nearly nine seasons of television and four films, we know surprisingly little about his family life. The most we get is from the excellent fourth season episode of The Next Generation , “Family”, in which Picard returns home to the Chateau to see his brother and his family following his assimilation by the Borg.

There we learn of the tumultuous relationship that existed between the two Picard brothers, and likewise, deduce that Robert followed much more in their father’s footsteps than Jean-Luc. We know little of their parents. Little bits of information are provided throughout The Next Generation ’s run, and this season of Picard has promised to build upon that established lore.

So here we are, starting Star Trek: Picard ‘Monsters’ in Picard’s subconscious. The result of last week’s accident. The setting is unsettling. It’s a room similar to one of his Enterprise-ready rooms but isn’t a replica. There are decorative elements there that are familiar. And he is not alone. He is joined by a Starfleet counselor, in a uniform that again contains many familiar pieces but is not one of Starfleet’s actual uniforms.

A Familiar Face

Picard’s therapist is played by James Callis, and he and Patrick Stewart spar in a match for how much information Picard is willing to divulge about his life. Picard is immediately defensive, unwilling to participate in the session. The therapist calls him out, “even your closest friends call you ‘Captain’”. Picard acknowledges some of what the therapist vocalizes. Picard is indeed afraid, particular of feeling trapped. And that is part of his motivation for exploring the stars.

Picard tells a story of his mother, the “queen with red hair”, and quickly the ready room dissipates and evolves into Chateau Picard. We witness Picard as a child and with his mother, a mother who he refuses to leave as she is threatened by a monster. There’s some fun harkening to horror movie tropes going on, but what is riveting is the Picard storyline at play. His mother evokes an important line, “there’s no better teacher than one’s enemy”.

There’s a reality that enters Picard’s subconscious. He’s not alone. Tallinn is able to enter his mind using some of her “supervisor” abilities. She is disoriented as she enters. She hears echoes of Picard’s cries for help during his missions (his assimilation by the Borg, his torture at the hands of Gul Madred). As Tallinn ventures further into the recesses of Picard’s mind, she moves backward in time to meet him as a child, where Picard’s deepest trauma awaits. She’s there to help navigate Picard out of his current state. And she too will need to process what she sees.

The faux therapy session becomes real when Picard admits he is “stuck”. Picard acknowledges that he holds people are arm’s length, hiding from his guilt and shame behind the veil of his virtuous position as a decorated officer.

Picard finally comes face to face with the real monster, and in a twist I frankly saw coming, the therapist is his Jean Luc’s father, Maurice. We learn quickly that Picard is an unreliable narrator, and his memories of his childhood are faulty. His father wasn’t the abusive man towards his mother. His mother was unwell, and his father had to protect Jean-Luc from some of his mother’s behaviors.

A Side Story

Back in Los Angeles, Seven and Raffi become alarmed that Jurati has disappeared. They return to La Sirena to track her last steps. In the mix of it, Raffi makes a quip that Jurati and Rios are a “side story”, and I find myself agreeing with that assessment for Star Trek: Picard ‘Monsters’. More on that bit later, but Seven and Raffi ultimately begin tracking down Jurati’s steps in Los Angeles, and are frightened to learn that the Borg Queen is slowly assimilating Jurati. Seven, with years of existential experience with the Borg states the obvious: Earth could be assimilated. It’ll be curious to see where this story goes. The Jurati-Queen storyline has been fantastic this season, and while it takes a backseat in this one, it continues to have my attention. I’ll admit that Seven’s concern that the Queen will assimilate 21st Century Earth sounds a little like Star Trek: First Contact , this plot has not let us down thus far, and the surprises continue to be compelling.

Rios, meanwhile, has a truly baffling storyline that I still can’t wrap my head around. He knows that Teresa is going to suspect more about him and the others, and is likely to encounter Tallinn using space tech to assist Picard. Rios starts off on track, realizing he will need to let Teresa into some of their secrets. And with Picard becoming unstable, Rios hands Teresa a 24th Century medical device to aid Picard. How Teresa is able to use this with very little instruction is beyond me. But more unreal is what Rios later does – beams her and her son to La Sirena for no explicable reason.

I’ve got to admit that I’m a bit disappointed in Rios’ story this season. He hasn’t shown a strong desire to return to a ship he commands. I get the feeling that Rios won’t be returning to the 25th Century, and that may be seeing the setup for the character’s exit, which in my view would be a loss for the show if that prediction comes to pass.

No Sign of Q

With Picard successfully awakened, he and Tallinn plan their next steps. Tallinn is wanting to pause, astutely realizing that Picard is not done processing his family trauma. But Picard is having none of it. There’s still a mission to embark on, and he will not be stopped. Tallinn states that Renee Picard is safe, and there’s no sign of Q. And oh yeah, Tallinn is a Romulan!

The main story has strayed a bit from whatever Q is up to, and with only three episodes remaining there’s a lot of explaining to be done. But we are not left empty-handed. With Tallinn’s help, Picard embodies his mother’s advice that there might not be a better teacher than his enemy — in this case, Q. Whereas in the past, Q has put Picard on trial. But Q’s return to Picard in this late stage of his life is peculiar. Q is different. Picard deduces that perhaps it is Q himself that is on trial, and Picard is the one to help.

Let’s Have a Drink

Picard has an ally in Los Angeles, and one he asked to stay put. Guinan is back in the picture, as Picard asks for her help in getting Q’s attention. Guinan is reluctant to get Q to the bar, and in doing so, tells the history of the El Aurians and the Q. There’s a longstanding truce to war between the two species. That truce is stored in a drink bottle that has been corked for ages. Guinan uncorks the bottle, which brings tremors into the bar. She expects a Q to appear. But it doesn’t happen.

When I first heard that both Guinan and Q would be featured in this season of Picard , I feared that the writers would try to explain the mysterious relationship that was established in the early seasons of The Next Generation . And they did. I can’t say I’m satisfied with the explanation that has been provided. But I’m not sure if I would have been satisfied with any explanation.

I’m a firm believer that not everything needs explaining. Some things are best left as a mystery, and I think that is the case for the Guinan-Q dynamic. Thankfully the backstory given still leaves much to the imagination. Nevertheless, I did appreciate that the writers subverted what they set up, that Guinan thought that she could get Q’s attention. And instead, she gets an FBI agent.

Actor Jay Karnes was featured in the season trailers, and speculation ran rampant that he might be reprising this Voyager role as Ducane, one of the “Time Agents”. I wasn’t getting my hopes up that this would be the case, as it would be a lovely continuity thread between series. And perhaps I still shouldn’t have my hopes up. But everything about his entrance seemed off. I don’t think he is a mere FBI agent. I think he’s Ducane, and we’ll find that out next week as he has apprehended both Picard and Guinan after footage of Picard’s beam-in was captured. I’ll own up to this next week if I’m wrong.

Subspace Monitoring

During the subconscious sequence, Picard’s voiceover from “The Best of Both Worlds” and “Chain of Command” could be heard as Tallinn enters.
Jay Karnes’ character is named Agent Wells. Wells is the class of starship of the Relativity in the Voyager episode of the same name. And yes, I think this adds more evidence that he is Ducane
Rios evokes Kirk’s line from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , though changing his residence to Chile from Iowa
Patrick Stewart’s wife, Sunny Ozell, plays the bandleader in the bar where Jurati enters.
Several objects from Picard’s various ready rooms appear in his subconscious sequence, including his family album and the decorative shell
Star Trek: Picard ‘Monsters’ is now airing!
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Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Faces Its Fear In “Monsters”

| April 14, 2022 | By: Anthony Pascale 225 comments so far

Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 7 – Debuted Thursday, April 14, 2022 Written by: Jane Maggs Directed by Joe Menendez

Picard takes a personal journey to reveal more about the titular character, with mixed results.

WARNING: Spoilers below!

“Once upon a time”

Still in his gala tux, Picard finds himself in a 24th-century Starfleet psych evaluation, but there is nothing “routine” about this session with a confrontational therapist – let’s call him Dr. Baltar for now – pushing to find out who Jean-Luc actually is. After being told he is not that interesting Picard starts to catch on, calling this coma-induced ordeal “highly unorthodox”… you tell ‘em JL. Pushed to tell a story to reveal his true nature, Picard takes us back to a version of his childhood with mom as a loving queen, and himself as a prince. She inspires and teaches him life lessons like “There is no better teacher than one’s enemy,” but their castle is under attack from monsters, who drag her away, leaving him lost in a labyrinth. But thanks to Tallinn doing an Inception from the clinic where he lies comatose, he isn’t exactly alone in his 1950s monster movie memory.

Picard starts to question this reality, including how something is off with Dr. Baltar who tries to end the session. The shrink diagnoses his angry patient as the perfect Starfleet captain, but lacking that one thing, “perpetually untethered in the way of the heart” due to his fear. Deeper in, kid Picard is stuck, refusing to leave without saving his mother from “the monster.” Tallinn is able to fight off the shadowy beast, breaking the boy out of his shackles and together they reenter the chateau… where they find Tux Picard and Baltar, who guards the door holding mom. The boy calls him “monster” but Picard sees who he really is… snarling “father”…Twist!

“First off, I am human”

Back in the real world, Rios tries to run interference to keep Dr. Teresa from seeing the weirdness going on with the white-eyed Watcher jacked into the old guy. And lines like “I need to explain something to you without breaking time,” aren’t helping. But once Picard starts convulsing, she pushes to send him to a hospital. Instead, Rios gets a 25th-century neural oscillator beamed in and hands it to the 21 st doctor. Amazingly with a little pep talk, she sorts out the admiraldroid’s brain. But she has questions, many questions. Rios finally comes clean, using some classic Kirk smooth taking. She takes it well, and her son Ricardo is especially excited to meet a real spaceman.

“We have to find her now”

Noticing the “slightly alarming behavior” of their friend Agnes, Seven and Raffi head to La Sirena to use the tech to track down the elusive singing doctor. In between some fun banter about their “tragic” romance and imagining themselves in their dotage, they discover the ship is being controlled by the Borg Queen who is supposed to be dead but is now clearly inside their friend. Heading back to LA and debating if it is “Jurati with a side of Borg Queen or vice versa” they are terrified to imagine what she could do in the Earth of the past. They track her trail down to her last known location, a dive bar Queen Agnes visited the night before, where she didn’t order a drink, but she did break a big window, which somehow Borged her out even more. Seven warns, “We are witnessing the birth of a new Queen.” Ruh-roh.

“You can’t really want me to summon a Q?”

Back in Picard’s mind, he replays how things happened with his mom, dropping the fantasy trappings and now remembering getting stuck on a broken board in the tunnels beneath the chateau as his mother ran off. It was his father who saved him, as rain was coming and he could have drowned. Mom had some major issues and his father had to take her away to protect his son, “there was no monster chasing your mother.” Picard comes to realize he had it all wrong and perhaps he never truly understood his father, now seen as he was in civilian clothes. Tallinn is still there and notices there still may be more to this before they both awaken back in the clinic. With that sorted, Rios decides to take Teresa and Ricardo on a transporter field trip to La Sirena… screw those butterflies, he’s in love.

Picard gets briefed on Jurati and is told all is well with Renée… remember her? And with Picard’s inner demons exposed, Tallinn brings him into the circle of trust. Yep, she’s a Romulan. The whole episode has put a bit of pep into Picard’s step, he is ready to turn the tables and confront Q over all this memories mishegoss . And he knows just where to go… back to Gunian’s bar. The El-Aurian stuck around on his advice and while still a bit ornery, Guinan has mellowed a bit and she has a magical lamp old booze bottle that can summon a Q. After going through the whole ritual full of sound and fury, they find nothing. But some human guy does show up ominously striking up a conversation about sci-fi. The 25th-century Starfleet officer and alien bartender act all innocent when asked if they are “spacy types.” They realize the jig is up when he shows them a video of Picard beaming right into the alley… this guy has a sense of the dramatic as his FBI windbreaker colleagues swarm in and arrest the two new/old friends.

Daddy issues

As we wade deep into the mid-season the show continues to spin its wheels with a mixed bag of an episode that promises more answers than it delivers. Even elevated by impactful performances, including a slate of strong guest stars, “Monsters” is dragged down by cliché and dubious character logic. There are some welcome additions to Trek lore, however, it’s unclear how much progress, if any, has been made towards the main season arc.

Journeys into the mind of a character have been done before, in and out of Trek, but the big twist with dad not being a monster kept it somewhat fresh. Teased with flashes of these memories all season it was good to finally dig in to give us a better understanding of the character, although the absence of Picard’s overbearing brother Robert, a powerful figure in his life, is a curious omission. What gave all this even more emotional weight was the performances by Sir Patrick Stewart, Madeline Wise as his troubled mother, and James Callis as the psychologist/father Maurice. But it’s surprising that 24th-century science doesn’t have a better solution than locking someone away from their family, and leaving the final answer to where she is behind that door — to drag this storyline out — is starting to feel a bit self-indulgent.

Speaking of dads, Rios gets a bit more character development, revealing how Picard fills in a gap left behind by his own distant father. And Cristobal finally allowed himself to show his feelings for Dr. Teresa as their budding romance flourishes. However, does his passion for her explain why he seems to have brushed off his traumatic experience being detained by ICE, his apparent lack of interest in saving the USS Stargazer (his actual real ship) and crew, and his butterfly-crushing revelation of La Sirena to Teresa and son?

Things made more sense with Raffi and Seven who do a good job of juggling their relationship issues and staying on mission, as they search for Jurati, whose (apparent) journey to becoming a Borg Queen remains the most interesting part of the season.

Filling in some blanks

We finally got some answers regarding Tallinn and why she looks like Laris. Yes, after dropping all the clues (and that ear-thing she wore this episode was a bit on the nose) she is a Romulan. Apparently another distant relative with a strong resemblance. She explains how this fits in with Supervisor lore, by revealing sometimes they are assigned to watch over “similar species.” Fair enough, one mystery solved.

An unexpected bit of lore was the digging into the curious relationship between the Q Continuum and El-Aurians. Turns out their mutual distaste is the result of a long cold war, so presumably, the El-Aurians must have some kind of defense against the god-like beings. Young Guinan also did that thing she does with her hands when facing Q, here as a way to detect a Q. The whole ritual with the bottle was a bit goofy, but kind of fun, so we will ignore the question about why she is the one that keeps this obviously powerful important cultural artifact in a dive bar in LA. Q not showing up is another clue that something is wrong with him. But like with the mom mystery, they are needlessly dragging out how this journey into the past and into Picard’s fear all ties together.

Final thoughts

After spending five episodes in 2024, there seems to be no end in sight as Star Trek: Picard inches forward, but also throws up new barriers and diversions. “Monsters” attempted to distract from all that by indulging in a horror movie vibe, but never really delivered on any true scares. It’s starting to feel like there wasn’t enough of the main story for this highly-serialized show to fill ten episodes, which now makes the first two (and still the best) episodes of the season feel needlessly rushed to get us to the LA of the past. Hopefully next week things get back on track as we head to the final three episodes of the season.

Random bits

This is the second writing credit in a row for Jane Maggs, who joined the series as a supervising producer for season two.
This is the first Star Trek credit for director Joe Menendez, who is a 30-year veteran including two episodes of 12 Monkeys , working for co-showrunner Terry Matalas.
James Callis also previously worked with Matalas in a recurring role on 12 Monkeys.
Jay Karnes who played FBI agent Martin Welles previously appeared in Star Trek: Voyager as the 29th-century time traveling Starfleet officer Ducane , but he also worked with Matalas on 12 Monkeys … as an FBI agent .
For the second episode of the season, John de Lancie’s Q does not appear.
In Picard’s vision, Callis’ therapist wore what looked like a Starfleet uniform from the late 2370s , with the rank of Commander.
As Tallinn tours Picard’s subconscious she can hear moments from the Next Generation episodes “Best of Both Worlds,” “The Hunted,” “Tapestry,” and “Chain of Command.”
Rios telling Dr. Teresa Ramirez “I’m from Chile. I just work in outer space” was an homage to the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home exchange with Kirk telling Dr. Gillian Taylor “I’m from Iowa. I only work in outer space.”
Raffi reveals Seven is very fond of coffee, a habit she likely picked up from her former captain, and famed java junkie , Kathryn Janeway.
Ivo Nandi, who played the spleen-losing French cop Leclerc in episode 205 is credited but it’s unclear what role he played, but possibly one of the dungeon monsters.
Patrick Stewart’s wife Sunny Ozell played the singer at the LA dive bar but is uncredited.

More to come

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New episodes of Star Trek: Picard premiere on Thursdays on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Fridays where Paramount+ is available around the world. In Canada, it airs on CTV Sci-Fi Channel on streams on Crave on Thursdays. Picard is also available on Fridays on Amazon Prime Video around the world.

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The scenes between Picard and the ‘therapist’ i liked and the same with the ‘flashbacks’ to picard’s past and the audio flashbacks were neat.

So he was Picard’s father interesting as we never really got any major insight to picard’s past in TNG/Movies.

Heck we got 7 seasons of TNG and 4 movies yet we never really got any good past character development of the crew except for some things here and there.

One of the things i like about DS9 and Discovery is we get a lot more past character development of the cast then we did in the other Trek shows.

So Picard’s mother suffered from some type of mental illness and his father wasn’t who picard thought he was. It was sad to see all that and Picard’s mind covered it up with a ‘monster’ chasing him and his mother.

I liked the Rafi and 7 scenes they have great chemistry on screen and they totally act like a married couple (Wedding for them in S3 please).

Glad they found out the Borg Queen is still ‘alive’ and trying to track her down and then 7 realizing that the Queen is trying to speed up her take over of Jurati is again interesting. They seem to be causing more damage to the past then there already was before their arrival lol.

I really like the character of Tallinn and her helping kid picard was nice to see and we got confirmation that she is in fact Romulan.

The scenes with Rios and the doctor were nice as well as saying what Kirk said to 454 in THV that ‘No, I’m from Chile. I work in outer space. was a neat callback with a Rios twist.

But telling her about him and the others and showing her and her son the ship isn’t that dangerous as that could cause a big ‘butterfly’ event?

If 1 single change can cause the prime timeline to cease to exist and create the confederation timeline wouldn’t her knowing Rios and the others also cause changes too? Unless they take the doctor and her son with them to the future or they die some how.

Also having a Borg Queen controlled Jurati is also a big ‘butterfly’ event too. It seems to me that Picard and crew are causing more damage to the timeline then there was.

So Picard thinks that the lesson that Q is trying to teach him is about Q himself? Interesting and it’s nice to see Guinan again so her people and the Q had a cold war event but eventually had a truce.

The scene summoning a Q was strange but ok and the fact it didn’t work was interesting. So is this confirmation that something is up with Q and maybe the continuum?

So the police officer was played by the same actor who played Lt. Ducane in the Voyager episode Relativity. I wonder if he is playing the same character here under the guise of a local police officer? If it is him did the failed summoning of Q some how show up on the 29th century temporal sensors?

If it is him does that mean the future has been fixed but now again in danger because of the Borg Queen? Could he be the confederation version of Ducane? Or maybe like Tallinn he is just an ancestor of some sort of Ducane? I guess we will find out next episode.

Overall i thought this episode was good. The season started so strong but decreased in quality over the last couple of episodes but this episode was better and the ending was a bit of a shock. I would give this episode a B-.

Presuming Jay Karnes is still playing Duncane, then we can presume he can just wipe their memories of their experiences. He said he would have done the same to Janeway and Seven but she didn’t see anything that would disrupt the time line.

The future time ship relativity probably has temporal shielding that protect it from changes in the time line. This is technology that Voyager could develope in the 24th century so it a certainly they have access to such things.

On Reddit, someone mentioned Jay Karnes character’s name Welles which is (or will be?) the class name of the Relativity. It could just be an easter egg for fans or he could in fact be Duncane. It is weird to have the same actor for something like this type of story and not connect to his original character, but we’ll see. It would be a wasted opportunity if they didn’t go that direction, but sadly this season is all about wasted opportunities.

The sneak peek for next week has Guinan questioning him and telling him that this is personal for him. I think he is Duncane.

NOPE! Sadly just a random FBI guy.

This season has turned into a huge disappointment…again.

As soon as I heard his voice I knew it was Karnes and wondered if it was Ducane. I really hope Ducane is back. Would be a smart connection to have a timecop from the future return to help correct the timeline. But I’m afraid it won’t be him because that would be awesome, and the last few episodes certinally haven’t been that.

Such a rambling incoherent mess.

Here’s hoping that the “FBI Agent” is actually Ducane (same actor) from the timeship Relativity there to help fix everything

If only. Unfortunately Trek has a tradition of reusing the same talent in multiple roles.

Doubtful as that would be good/fun.

Really confused as to how I feel about this season. I feel there’s a really good story in here, but just not enough for 10 episodes, and so we’ve had a protracted and overlong 2nd act where the story just hasn’t moved forward much at all. Hopefully the last three episodes can pick it up.

Yes, I’ve heard legends of when they would place two hours worth of story into two hours of television. I think they were called… TV movies?, and somehow they didn’t last ten hours. I’m not sure how they did it…

There have been elements that have been enjoyable, others a rambling, incoherent mess (to borrow from Luke Montgomery). There is just no other way to describe it.

Same. It’s feeling a lot like Discovery last season and could’ve told the story in half the episodes easily. So much of the season has felt really tedious to me. There are definitely some good moments and yes it’s still better than season one, but not by a lot.

I don’t think you need a huge story to fill 10 episodes (look at Mandalorian), it’s just the way it’s done. They should’ve made episode 1 and 2 into more, and sped up the middle of the season. Also they could’ve made better choices imo about where to focus on and where to eleborate on. It all feels a bit incoherent. And to me that has to do with (leadership of) the writers room.

I much prefer individual episodes (and the occasional 2 or 3 parter) rather than a season long story arc.

I agree…. there’s 4 episodes worth of story in this 10-episode season. This past season of Discovery had the same issue.

A magical bottle, huh? Did Barbara Eden show up?

Guinan should’ve just blinked with both eyes.

Yeah… That’s…. Just… God I don’t know what. It just left me speechless at the absurdity of it.

What a treat to see two of the best actors (Patrick Stewart and James Callis) from television sci-fi in the last 30 years on screen at the same time.

I second that. Although from the way he was teased/introduced I was sure it was going to be Bashir. Heck, for the first couple of minutes I though it was. LOL

I knew I recognized that guy from somewhere! Baltor!

Ashamed to say I didn’t recognize Callis until the credits, but even so, yeah, I thought those scenes were fantastic.

More depressing since it was endless babble.

There’s a lot to enjoy about PICARD, but after two strong episodes the season has largely just spun its wheels without ever advancing the lot. Meanwhile, Raffi and Seven are being completely wasted this season, Rios’s story with the doctor is dull, and Picard’s background involving his mother is dragging beyond belief. What the heck happened?

Akiva Goldsman writing happened.

There are a LOT of poor writers this season!

Michael Chabon. I wonder the way the second half of the season is going is due to Terry Matalas leaving to prep for season 3.

I suspect very much this is correct. Terry has posted on social media that Akiva took the laboring oar after the lead-off episodes, and I think that’s lead to some unevenness. Don’t get me wrong, however. I’ve enjoyed all of Season 2 quite a bit, and it is a marked improvement over Season 1.

I think Rios’ scenes are some of the strongest, but I’m partial to the actor. I think it would be cool if he took her to the future with him like Kirk did with Gillian. Though it would be uncool if she ghosted him like Gillian did with Kirk.

I’m thinking he should stay behind with her. But that would dash my hopes of a Rios spinoff show of just him on the LaSerena and his holograms.

I think a part of Rios would want to stay, because I don’t think Dr. Ramirez would leave when so many people need her help, but given that World War III starts in two years, another part of him would want to take her and Ricardo away.

If Kirk and Spock had traveled to 1930 by ship rather than the Guardian of Forever, I think Kirk would probably have been in the same dilemma with Edith Keeler.

Of course, Dr. Taylor wanted to leave 1986, because she was the only person who knew anything about George and Gracie.

Two strong episodes? Try .9 strong episodes.

This was just okay. There was nothing much to love about it save James Callis and Patrick Stewart together, which was always one of the pairings that the sci-fi fan in me wanted to see, and I very much enjoyed that.

One of the problems with the modern take on Trek that’s dominant now is that all the plot threads are the same length. There’s no plot thread that starts in episode 1 and fully resolves in episode 6. There’s no incentive to watch, like, in this season, two episodes of setup and then KEEP watching. You can effectively watch 1 and 2, then go to 8 thru 10 and not miss all that much.

I don’t see any reason to not have resolved the questions about his mother behind the white door and her mental illness and all that. Now, those answers could reverberate going forward, but it’s hard to find the motivation to keep watching if there’s going to be no honest payoff until literally the end. They could have ended the episode with at least that explanation, but, no, the whole thread of his childhood is now jumbled with the rest of every OTHER thread that has barely moved at all, so it can all be haphazardly tied off in the final 50 minutes.

It is that way to the point where I audibly groaned when everything stalled yet again with Guinan and Picard’s arrest. So we’re going to do another jailbreak?

Sigh. Okay.

I don’t hate what’s on the screen and S2 is an infinite improvement over S1, so, okay, but these writers have a serious problem when it comes to the ability to block out a season. It feels like they write for a series meant to be binged in one or two shots, not dropped weekly. This is kind of unsatisfying being dropped a piece at a time.

Look at DS9’s “Tacking into the Wind.” That episode is just full of character movement, plot movement, and arc movement to move everyone and the arc ahead, but it has a sense of finality at the end of 43 minutes. The main questions the ep poses are answered and other elements are moved along enough to get you to want to see what happens next week.

With these shows, after the first two weeks, you only really need the last two.

So you’re complaining that you can’t watch a 2 hour story told in a 10 hour binge? Sorry, homeboy, THAT is not logical! : D

Whoever said television was logical? LOL.

All well stated, and (sadly) I agree with every point!

Good episode. Not great. Everything just feels like it’s happening. Picard and team used to think up how to find solutions to problems. Laris did nothing but tour Picard’s mind. He then woke up on his own. And then he just manifested an idea…oh I need to do this… thing. Um ok. That came out of nowhere.

Speaking of “oh I need this”… How does the 21st century doctor know how to operate a 25th century device? Just telling her what it does won’t help. That was just crazy. Was there an exposition scene where Rios shows her but it was cut for pacing or something? And why can’t Rio’s just do it? Doesn’t look like one needs MD skills to use the thing…

Hah thought the same thing, she pushed a button and held it over his head 🤷‍♂️

After enjoying season 1 and loving the first 3 episodes of season 2, I think this show has completely lost me. I think this episode may be my least favorite of all the Star Trek episodes of the Kurtzman era. It’s made worse and more disappointing by this season starting so strong and then completely changing into whatever it is now. I enjoy every episode of Discovery and the new animated shows and have never had a really hard time getting through an episode until today.

12 Monkeys is great, as were the first few episodes this season, so I don’t know if it’s Terry Matalas, Akiva, the individual writers, but this season has just turned into a complete mess from a very great start.

It seems like they’re setting up to shed a couple of cast members for season 3. My guess is Rios stays in the past and Jurati sacrifices herself somehow as they try to get… back to the future. Clearing up space for next year’s full on TNG reunion.

I hope they keep 7 and Raffi, restore Elnor, and let Picard and Laris get some quality tim…

Jurati seems to be the Black Queen from Episode 1, so I imagine that’s her sacrifice.

Rios’s beaming himself, the doctor, and her son onto the ship didn’t seem to make sense. Rios may have decided that it’s OK to do the butterfly thing, but I doubt Seven and Raffi — who had to do the actual transporting, right? — would have gone along.

Why keep Elnor?

What has he contributed to this show, as a character, that makes him a desirable return for Season 3?

He had that one episode in S1 where they introduced him, and then he just stood around and flexed like a samurai for the rest of the season.

In S2 he’s been more useful as a corpse, giving Raffi a reason to get intensely overemotional.

I’m sure the timey-wimey-Qness of the story will have him back by the end of the season, but at that point it’s best to just to part ways. :P

This season started off strong but has really kind of fallen off the rails for me. And they have long overstayed their welcome for me in 2024 Los Angeles.

Star Trek needs… ya know… stars. Space. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh dear… One can only logically assume that the somewhat early TNG reunion trailer was released to try and hook fans yet again with nostalgia bait (are these the only tricks they have left now, with SNW as another example), as they’re well aware S2 is even more of a plotting & script-writing mess than the equally variable, downwards trend Season 1 was. All this incredible talent in front and behind the camera, but they forgot THE most important one: the writers… Will they never learn? Look at the writers of the most memorable Star Trek episodes over the past 5 decades. Now compare any of those with Picard. It’s very sad.

The timing of the TNG cast announcement was very strange. I wondered if viewing figures had plummeted for PIC and they decided to give it a boost.

They know their fan base well. Nonsensical story where Picard built an evacuation fleet out of synth-slaves (or are they just robots??) and then ditched his friends …. “oh look over there. It’s RIKER on the USS GENERIC!!!! OH MAN THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!”

Anthony P. has been very diplomatic in past reviews but I see that even he is running out of patience (I gave up after 2 and a half episodes; it seems I haven’t missed much). What surprises me is that Patrick Stewart didn’t put his foot down before this season began production to demand story / script changes (I assume he has script approval in his contract?).

An even scarier thought, maybe these are the script changes!

I am hoping against hope that none of these writers end up on SNW!!! Saying that, I realize that Goldsman has written the kickoff ep).

Goldsman is responsible for the second half of Picard season 2 as showrunner and is co showrunner of strange new worlds. Based on these latest few Picard episodes my faith in SNW has gone way down.

Batman and Robin wasn’t a clue? ;)

Well to be fair Akiva had concerns with Batman and robin that were ignored by the director and WB is known to interfere with scripts, so his script may have been heavily rewritten.

Yeah but he was also responsible for that atrocious adaptation of Childhood’s End and that really uninspired, neutered version of The Dark Tower. There’s a pattern there.

On the flip side, he was involved in Titans and that wasn’t that bad at all. Certainly better put together than anything Secret Hideout has produced so far…

Yes, I have my doubts too but the episodic format should at least force the writers to tell a complete story in an hour.

Yea but that story still has to make sense and be good. Just having bad episodic episodes isn’t going to be good. And if someone writes bad scripts for other shows and movies how much faith (of the heart) can we still have at this point.

I agree wholeheartedly. I’m holding my breath (like everyone else).

Unfortunately, I think you may be right. It has been mentioned that the childhood trauma story is something that’s very close to Patrick Stewart’s heart. So far, it just seems to be a distraction from the main story, and we still don’t know (after 7 episodes) where the main story is actually going.

The actor who played Young Picard did a very good impression of Adult Picard’s accent.

There’s a reason why one of the oldest rules in TV and film is “Do not let the actors into the writer’s room.”

Or perhaps he’s just doing it for the paycheck and doesn’t really care that much?

I’m beginning to wonder? Why else would he become involved in such tripe?

Sir Pat was already mega rich before he did Picard. He likes to work. We don’t have to like it. It is what it is.

Regardless… When actors speak about not returning to old roles because of things like “I didn’t want to redo the same thing” or “I was waiting for the right story or script” more often than not that is code for “I was finally offered my asking price.”

I don’t blame them. If I were in a position where I could ask for a high price I’d do it too.

I think in this case his price was full creative control, and we’re being treated to yet another unfortunate demonstration that a brilliant actor can be a really lousy storyteller.

“I want to get really deep into the childhood trauma that shaped my character” is exactly the sort of thing you expect from an actor once they get control of a show. Backstory like that often informs a great performance, when it’s inside the actor’s head. When you have to find a way to FILM it, bringing the plot to a crashing halt — hoo boy.

The writing is just so incredibly bad. To have such an excellent cast, headed up by probably the greatest TV actor ever to do it, and to have given them these scripts — the producers should be ashamed of themselves. Such a waste.

I actually somewhat enjoyed that one. I’d say it’s the best episode after the premier so far.

The scenes between Callis and Steward are fun to watch, if you ignore the nonsense backstory they’re trying to give Picard. Just tow actors on to of their game talking always works for me. But what’s with the terrible editing in this scene? It was almost disorienting. It feels like the director tried to channel Kubrick but didn’t really know how. 🤨

The other part that worked for me were the scenes between Rios, the Doctor and her Son. Again, you have to ignore the nonsense dialogue, like Rios seeing Picard as a father figure after barely knowing him or just flat out staying his character motivation (tell, don’t show, good writing!); or him handing her a futuristic medical device and expecting her to know what to do, because she’s a doctor — that’s like leading a 1950s Doctor into a room with an MRI Machine and saying “you know what to do!” 😁 — BUT … it was sooooo nice to see some Characters in Star Trek again, who are actually excited about the Future and seeing a Spaceship.

In the end it didn’t really advance the story – and I could have done without the nonsense El-Aurian Backstory – but maybe that’s why it’s a very very tolerable episode. 🤷🏻‍♂️

The writers keep doing this thing where it feels like scenes are missing from the end of the episode. Not cliffhangers as there isn’t much suspense, just plot lines that feel abandoned until next week. We find Agnes broke a window. What happens? No idea. Rios takes the doctor on the ship. What happens? No idea. Why didn’t Q show up? No idea. Etc etc. It feels like the plot is spread too thin or badly distributed between the episodes. I’ve given up on the plot making sense but I still want the characters to actually do something.

My new prediction for Rios is that he wants to stay but the doctor isn’t that into him. They maybe don’t wipe her mind and she helps contribute to making the future better.

Now I’m wondering if Anges as the Borg Queen kills the doctor and her son.

That was very weak. And I nodded off a few times as well. I kinda have lost ineterest now and want to jump ahead to season 3.

I’ll just say I think Patrick Stewart – in this episode – did some poor acting, never thought I’d say that but their you go. He’s looking frail and confused here, it’s heartbreaking. Because of his age he just hasn’t got it anymore. He’s not the mighty captain he once was. Just my opinion.

I think he looks more frail than he did last season. Occasionally he even drags down scenes he’s in.

The year long filming delay and shutdowns they had once they started probably didn’t help.

Yeah, we really have to take COVID 19 inspired delays into account. They have have had more of an impact on a lot TV & Film productions, more than we realize.

If you’re an Orville fan, you would realize.

I hate to say it but Stewart has lost his charisma. He had it in droves on the show and in the features. But now? It’s gone. He is no longer capable of making sub par scripts watchable. He literally carried at least 80% of TNG on his personal shoulders. Now, that skill has eluded him. It happens to all of us as we age I suppose.

Brian Drew mentioned that Stewart isn’t playing Picard anymore, he is playing himself. Just like Shatner stopped playing Kirk and ended up playing himself by Generations. Totally accurate.

Stewart has admitted that himself in the past. I just read an interview he gave to Deadline about the show a few days ago where he said he and Picard has essentially became one.

And Shatner basically played himself from TVH through Generations IMO.

Maybe it’s something actors do when they are burned out. Convince themselves it’s okay to “play” themselves. I hate to say, but is that even acting?

He was saying “I don’t know where Picard ends and Patrick Stewart begins” since the last few seasons of TNG. He backed off of that a few years after TNG ended, but it’s not surprising that it’s returned now.

I don’t think it’s that Stewart has lost it. I think it’s his voice, mainly.obviously that’s nothing he can help. In TNG he had this gloriously strong voice, and it carried so much weight and authority and nuance. Now he has a hoarse kind of whisper , making it very hard to convey the same gravitas.

He seemed to be slurring his words in a few scenes too. Concerned me to hear it so really hope he’s doing OK :/

That is a possibility. But I’ve seen his acting degrade over the last couple of decades.

Just finished watching this over lunch, it was kick ass! That is all for now, will re-watch tonight and maybe have something more interesting to say.

Oh, and thanks for the re-cap, always a pleasure to read! :)

I think the reviewer is way too harsh about the series IMHO. Season 1 started about trying to gain access to Picard’s character but it went off the rails even though I did like the Data story line. Season 2 has focused more on the layers that Picard wears and tries to get to the heart of the character. This episode brings that concept to a payoff. The layers of family relationships is really explored very well,we learn that the person we see many times comes from places of turmoil. The first half hour of this episode show the complexity of humans of how ,when young, we don’t realize what things are going on in our family. That lack of info can lead to both extraordinary character coexisting with hidden ongoing pain. This is what I like about Picard,less pew pew space battles and more complexity.

I agree. For some fans, if the episode isn’t “The Best of Both Worlds” or “Yesterday’s Enterprise” every single week, it’s guilty of “spinning wheels” and “bad writing.” This episode reminded me of Troi’s story in “Dark Page,” where you learn something surprising and tragic about a character’s background, and I think this episode worked very similarly and effectively. It also presented a twist that Picard’s family trauma was due to a young boy misunderstanding the roles of each of his parents. His father wasn’t the “bad guy,” as we were teased to believe. Instead, both Picard’s father and mother were deeply flawed individuals with both nurturing and destructive sides that impacted Picard’s development. Honestly, I saw a lot of my own family history in that, and it felt both real and earned.

The season started out establishing that Picard has difficulty opening himself up to deeply intimate connections, and this episode was a payoff to that setup. With this new emotional foundation, the larger plot will now have greater resonance because it is more rooted in Picard’s personal story, not just the Federation values in which he believes or the historical individuals to whom he is related. And the fact that it’s happening to a man in an artificial body adds another interesting layer.

I will agree that the “magic bottle” bit was rather nonsensical, and I’d like to know why the doctor and her son were beamed aboard ship, but I’m sure we’ll get an answer to that in the next episode or two.

Stewart is doing his best to make this a contribution. He is putting his two cents in, as it were. And for that, kudos.

I actually liked this one! Not saying a lot, but hey.

I have been pretty disappointed with the last four episodes but we finally got to some real character development with Picard and his demons and pushing the story (a little) forward with the Borg Queen quest to to assimilate downtown L.A. And finally the interesting reveal about El Aurians and the Q.

I wasn’t really looking forward to the ‘explore characters mind through crazy imagery’ trope but it worked. And it worked because it did a great job turning Picard’s psychosis on its head and his father wasn’t the monster after all. It felt a bit simple but fine. I know there will be more, but I did like how it was revealed at least.

The ending was good. I kind of thought that the guy might be a Q. I got excited when he pulled out his badge thinking he was going to reveal he was a Temporal Agent but not quite lol. But I think there is more going on there.

The episode still wasn’t perfect. The reveal that Tallinn is indeed a Romulan felt pretty anti-climatic since they spent every episode hinting at it. Was it really suppose to be some mystery? Why exactly when you used the same actor?? And I think it’s been made clear that group has seen a Romulan before, so what’s the point of hiding it from them? But maybe more will come from it. The Rios and the doctor stuff was fine but we knew where all of that was going. And showing her your SHIP Rios? Seriously? What’s the point of the Temporal Prime Directive if you’re going to just blatantly ignore every rule in it? And I still don’t care about this subplot but at least it’s going somewhere now.

While I liked it, I still have to agree with the review and overall this season has just been lacking. There is just not enough story overall and while I did like a lot of the reveals, a lot of this should’ve been done several episodes ago. This season as a whole has been widely disappointing. It can still end well but it’s a whole lot of nothing happening throughout most of it.

I really want to like Picard and Discovery more than I do but sadly they just keep letting me down season after season. Praying to Kahless SNW will be stronger out the gate at least.

Tiger, I too will pray to Kahless. And to The Great Bird of the Galaxy. Let’s hope for a great series!!!

Yeah I still hope SNW will be better at least being episodic.

If not, I still love the animated shows. I don’t understand why Lower Decks and Prodigy turned out so well but those can always turn bad too. I still want to love Picard, but with just one more season after this, not holding my breath anymore. Discovery I just accepted will never be a great show for me at this point.

I don’t think ‘Lower Decks’ will turn bad because it’s in the capable hands of a fan who ‘gets it’.

Yeah, very true thankfully!

And I hope McMahan just makes more shows in the future whenever LDS is done. It’s weird the silly animated comedy feels the most Star Trek to me since Enterprise went off the air, but here we are!

You know something similar happened with Dave Filoni and Star Wars. He created the Clone Wars animated series and now he is working on the Mandolorian series with Favreau. I can definitely see McMahan taking a more hands on approach to the live action shows in the future. In fact if it was me, I’d just replace Akiva Goldsman with McMahan and be done with it but it seems to me that Goldsman has a huge ego and kind of wants to be in charge of everything.

Yeah you’re right! McMahan really could shift into live action like Filoni did with Mandalorian. And of course, we already got a little of it with his Short Trek episode: The Escape Artist. That was the first time I ever heard his name and that was the best short on that show by a mile IMO!

Now that the TNG era is back in a big way, I would love to see more shows made by him with these characters again.

Dr. Gaius Baltar, licensed therapist. What could possible for wrong? ( I guess Jean Luc doesn’t get the SyFy channel.)

of course the original Baltar was played by John Colicos – Klingon Commander Kor

This has been such a slow burn that I am losing interest very fast. And, is this most episodes not in space in Treks history??

they should just release them all ten episodes at once. otherwise it’s torture and we cant possibly believe what a mess the supposedly good writers are doing. Happened with Chabon, now with Matalas. Reputed creators who seem to be making a mess of things. It should prove better binge watching it.

Maybe Chabon and Matalas aren’t the problem.

yup, thats what im implying, i refuse to believe that :'(

Agreed, I think this is the biggest problem with the show. If they insist on releasing it weekly then they should use 3-4 episode arcs, otherwise the best way to see the show would be all at the same time so it won’t feel like its spinning its wheels so much.

I’m still in shock at how bad this episode was compared to how good the premiere was. It’s one of the worst episodes of anything I’ve seen in a long time. Thank goodness there are so many other well written shows out there.

Agreed, sadly. At this point it’s only the efforts of the superb cast, plus the very high production standards, that keep this being just about watchable. They really need to start hiring solid sci-fi based writers imho. It’s turned into a shallow pop-culture impression of Star Trek, with the exception of Episode 1 that truly felt like the real deal to me. An incredible shame and waste of talent (and crazy amounts of money!).

I’ll keep watching but I’m so disappointed. This really looked like it was going to be a vast improvement on the abysmal S1 but has just fell in to lazy storytelling with so many little things that should have been picked up on and fixed again

Such a shame. Can be hyped all I want for S3 but it’s just surely going to do the same.

Trek needs to be put in the hands of McMahon and the Hagerman brothers. They get the franchise and how it should be.

I just feel the live action stuff is just awful Trek and even more awful US TV which is poor at best anyway.

Lots of great US TV shows in my opinion. Picard is not even close to being one of them.

I’m on the fence about this episode. I liked it. But is that because I decided some weeks ago to just let go of any expectation and try to enjoy it? It was exciting to watch. I’d give it 7.5 out of 10.

Yes all the things pointed out by the writer of the review are valid. But not thinking about things just makes it more fun to watch. Don’t misunderstand me, I have plenty of thoughts like I had with previous episodes. I was just tired of being so let down because I was expecting so much (based on the first to terrific episodes).

My only question has to do with the fact Terry Matalas revealed he ‘left’ mid season to work on season 3 prep. I’m thinking: are we seeing the result of that now? Because I wasn’t a big fan of Chabon’s work on season 1 and this season is going the same route.

One thing I am certain of: they need to stop telling the story mostly in episodes 1, 2, 9 and 10 and space it out more evenly. Don’t know what that is about, but the stringing us along with hardly any major developments is not a good look.

Well that’s my two cents.

I don’t know how involved Chabon still is. He had a story credit for the second episode this season I think, but hasn’t had any other story or writing credits this season. He’s still credit as Executive Producer. According to Terry Matalas, Akiva Goldsman is the one who took over in the latter half of season 2. Akiva was also heavily involved in Picard season 1.

I doubt Chabon did much of anything this season other than review or give notes on some of the episodes. He’s been completely absent with the show all season. I don’t have Instagram or twitter but I would be surprised he’s posted anything about it like he did last season.

I thought he at least wrote one of the scripts but it looks like that didn’t even happen. I think his time on Star Trek was much rockier than anyone will admit.

Why did the doctor have to use that device on Picard’s brain? Seems like Rios, as a Captain, should know how to use it – especially when operating it just amounts to pointing it at someone’s head.

I didn’t understand that either. The best I could come up with is that it works like the purple device in season 1 where you have to imagine it working and the doctor has a better understanding of the mind to do this.

Then they should have said so in the episode. That device in season 1 was also from a different reality and now Rios suddenly knows it’s on La Sirena? It conveniently couldn’t be used to save Elnor. The thing is that device thing didn’t even add anything to the plot – it just made things worse – from it instantly being beamed to Rios hands to the doctor knowing how to use it. Was it really just a device to add tension by making Picard shake?

I’m sure Rios could have used it, but he was trying to gain her trust, and allowing her handle medical tasks in her own clinic helped to do that.

A theory: the Q Guinan and Picard are trying to summon will end up being Q’s Son who wants to get revenge on his Dad.

That’s why Q senior’s powers are failing….in the Voyager episode ‘Q2’, he agreed he had to have ‘eternal custody of the boy’.

I reckon he has broken the agreement and losing his powers is the punishment.

I don’t see his son playing into this at all. That was a minor footnote most fans won’t even remember.

They’ve found and used a few things that were minor footnotes many fans don’t remember. I’m not a huge TNG fan and have only seen perhaps 95% of the episodes twice in nearly 30 years and even I recall the Q episode where he was tossed out of the continuum.

So they could beam the brain device precisely into Rios’ hands but a few episodes ago couldn’t beam Rios onto solid ground.

The ship has been on auto-repair. You would hope that they would fix the transporter after a few days since it is pretty important to their mission to be able to get around.

I’m sorry but James Callis looks too much like Alexander Siddig to me. I had to keep telling myself that this wasn’t a Dr. Bashir cameo.

Yeah, maybe if they had at least put him in a different looking uniform.

hmm. Callis is heavier-set with a squarer jaw and more prominent cheekbones. Siddig has a pointier chin and more delicate features. Callis’ family are Russian/Polish and Siddig is Sudanese/English, but granted, they do look like they might be cousins. (Sid’s uncle is Malcolm McDowell, aka Tolian Soran.)

Brief thoughts:

this episode has left me feeling very conflicted. Season 2 is miles better than Season 1, and is actually trying to fulfill the premise: a character study of Picard. We get just that in this episode, which in its pros and flaws, encapsulates this season perfectly.

We have an episode spent in someone’s head, laced with metaphors and symbolism (favorite example: TNG S7 E7 Dark Page). We learn about Picard’s childhood, under what appears to be an abusive father and battered mother (I STRONGLY suspect Sir Stewart’s writing here).

However, it just didn’t gel for me. Maybe I’m confused. The mother was mentally ill (and su*cide is implied??), and his dad was trying to protect them? I didn’t get it.

As for the rest of the crew, them splitting up felt like the season as a whole. Their stories in this episode didn’t gel for me either. It felt scattered (shattered?), with pieces of great stories with enough pieces missing to make it feel incoherent.

I’ve really enjoyed the two episodes before this — I felt the heist and party story was fun and campy and good for the show. This episode didn’t.

Final thoughts:

Picard is struggling with pacing issues, but thankfully less severe than Discovery. Dialogue also much more Human than Discovery. Only three episodes left and a lot to wrap up. I think stretching one storyline over ten episodes just isn’t working. That’s why I’ve enjoyed LD & Prodigy so much, and why I have high hopes for SNW. I think the sweet spot is mini arcs like Enterprise S4.

I would agree that the flashback resolution seemed a little incoherent and then, “there’s more to tell…” which we’ll discover who knows when? Just tell it!!! Now was the time. And that’s not even about a failure to handle delayed gratification, it’s just weird pacing and gimmicky serial storytelling.

Plus, what was coming from Maurice Picard felt like he was gaslighting Picard, but then I guess he wasn’t?

Digging into Picard was one of the few things this show finally did that I am good with. There had to be a reason why this guy was always so cold and distant to everyone. Being Captain is just not a good enough reason. It has always felt like his TNG crew were less friends and more collogues who respected him. There is a difference. It felt like they would have liked to develop a friendship with him but he never allowed it. And that aspect of this episode was one that I found interesting. But it’s just one aspect of a number of episodes that just don’t do very much. And even this bit was a long time coming.

After last week’s entry with its myriad lapses in logic I haven’t even been able to muster the interest to watch this one; reading this review doesn’t help. It seems the same problems from past seasons of Picard and Discovery have cropped up once again; namely trying to pad a 3-4 hour story into 10 episodes and inserting improbable mcguffins and events. These guys just won’t learn.

Unfortunately you’re right TonyD.

If I had better will power I probably would’ve stopped watching the season altogether and just binge watch it when it was over. The problem is I don’t want to be spoiled and its no way I can stay away from sites like these every week.But yeah these guys just can’t write a compelling 10-13 season arc to save their lives it seems like. Maybe they should’ve did what Enterprise did in its fourth season and just did mini arcs all season. This season could’ve been two mini-arcs of 5 episodes each. That probably would’ve been a better way to go.

Still I enjoyed the ep. I was hoping it would have been Ducane saying he was with Temporal Investigations.

Semi interesting episode but the show is still dragging. The idea that Laris is a Gary 7 like agent is feeling like it was forced. At this point there doesn’t seem to be a reason for the connection. And I hope they come up with more reasons why they don’t have a human doing the gig.

A bit tired of the cliché that weird stuff happens so some generic government agency “arrests” them. Not so sure that is how things would go down. But everything seems to be exaggerated in this world so, I guess… What the hell?

Gonna miss next weeks installment due to being on the road for business. No, I don’t watch TV on my phone or tablet of laptop. I like watching TV on my TV. I’m in no hurry to see how they get out of this current mess. So seems I’m going to end up seeing episodes 8&9 back to back.

You like watching TV on a big screen TV? How quaint and old fashioned! haha. I’m in your camp, brother!

I guess that ages me. My kid has no problem whatsoever watching things on his tablet. Or even phone! Same for my nieces. I’ve tried it. Clips or small videos, sure. TV shows or movies? No effing way.

It’s mentioned in passing that Tallinn is probably an ancestor of Laris. They specifically said “usually we only watch over our own race but sometimes we’re assigned to others.”

True. But it still felt forced and there doesn’t seem to be a reason yet for this amazing coincidence.

“ But like with the mom mystery, they are needlessly dragging out how this journey into the past and into Picard’s fear all ties together.”

I agree. As much as I like having new Star Trek to watch (“new Star Trek that isn’t Disco,” that is), I’m getting the sense that this story could have been a two-hour TV movie.

is it illegal to use a transporter in 2024 L.A.? I can understand the locals’ being puzzled by Picard’s beaming in and wanting more information about it, but sending in a squad of cops with guns drawn seemed a bit much.

I think they’re going too far with these Easter eggs. Was there anyone who upon hearing “Are you from outer space?” didn’t know what was coming next?

It would be kind of cool if the character Jay Karnes played turned out to be Ducane from the twenty-ninth century, here to help out in some way. Seven might recognize him.

The FBI agent said Picard and his guests snuck into the gala, but how did he know that? Last we saw their fake ids worked and as far as the gala was concerned Picard was run over. We knew Soong wanted Picard out, but we didn’t tell him say Picard and guests had fake ids and how would he know anyway.

And why was Guinan arrested?

Thanks, I didn’t remember “Ducane’s” saying that.

Soong could have assumed that Picard and his friends were at the gala under false pretenses, without knowing the details. Didn’t he tell one of the security guys that something (like he didn’t belong there) was up with Picard?

I don’t know why Guinan was arrested. Maybe her arrest and Picard’s are what effs up the timeline. They’d better hope that Guinan won’t need medical assistance while she’s in custody, because if they examine her they might find out that she’s not human. Even if by colossal coincidence El Aurians are mostly indistinguishable from humans, a close exam of, say, her telomeres might show that she’s at least 160 years old.

If they do an exam of Picard they’re in for an even bigger surprise.

Guilty by association? I guess they just took her in because she was talking to Picard when they came for him.

I think Guinan was arrested because of the earthquake she induced from her summoning of a Q.

There were parts of this episode that I really liked. The interaction between Patrick Stewart and James Callis was great. But I felt it was a case of their acting elevating the material.

This was another episode where I feel like the show has lost the thread of the plot to go on another side quest. The future and everything these people care about is on the line, and you wouldn’t get that sense of urgency from this episode. We got people working through their mommy issues, and worrying about their love lives.

I also thought there were moments that were borderline ridiculous, even with the suspension of disbelief this being a TV show, namely handing a 21st century doctor future medical equipment and Guinan breaking open an El-Aurian-Q genie bottle. Giving the doctor the medical device would be the equivalent of handing a 17th century doctor a defibrillator and hoping they would be able to know how to use it.

For the genie bottle, I thought it was about one of the stupidest plot devices I’ve seen in Star Trek . It’s compounded by the fact that I find the actress playing young Guinan to be really bad. She’s just way over the top in the way she’s playing the character.

Boy, that was a chore to watch. I’m sick of the sci-fi trope of projecting someone into a comatose person mind to try to wake him up, and this episode was one of the worst written examples ever. What a mess. An episode that didn’t nothing to advance the plot. The subplot about Picard’s mom apart of being very cliché is terrible written and horribly acted. And why suddenly it seems that Jean Luc was a only child? Where is Robert? I had some hopes after the premiere, but this is turning out to be another terrible season.

It has just been garbage TV after garbage TV since the first two episodes of the season. I desperately want to love or even like every episode I watch but it seems that Star Trek: Picard is a magnet for the mediocre. Just such trite drivel. I can’t believe how anyone who even proposed going into the mind of a person in a coma would not be laughed out of the writers’ room. How does this even make it to the screen?!?? Such an embarrassment.

It is garbage that they don’t show Robert, and the only reason to me that they don’t is that Picard’s blocking out his childhood trauma or what really happened to his mother wouldn’t work. Robert could explain what really happened or they would compare memories, unless Robert agreed to keep a family secret. I dunno. I’m feeling tired of the show.

I completely forgot JL had a brother, to be perfectly honest. But it’s not the first time a brother was ignored. Kirk completely forgot about Sam in TFF. And Sam was looped out in Star Trek ’09. The kid on the road was Sam as shown in a deleted scene and they looped “Johnny” in the scene that stayed in.

Yeah it is really really strange Picard’s brother is not even mentioned. Why pretend like he doesn’t exist? Especially given the fractured relationship he and Picard had. They could’ve added to that with his parents.

Totally! In Picard’s memory, his mom could have said, “Dad sent your brother away.” (like to a boarding school) This would have made the relationships even more sad — young Picard loses his peer-protector.

It would have also been a little more… developed if what we actually saw was how his mom frightened young Picard, but his love for his mother confused him about the choices he was being asked to make.

I wondered about Robert as well. Is the idea that he’s older and therefore away at school or something? Otherwise, it’s another ill-advised non-remembrance of the show’s established mythology.

This scene in better hands might have also been a great inventive way to also address Picard’s new body. Are all the ‘rooms’ in his head as they were before, re-ordered, anything missing etc. The fact they’ve hand waved it away and even Sir Patrick has indicated in interviews he’s reluctant to go there, it seems yet another example of shallow writing to get them through The Moment, with no thought or care given to future stories addressing this rather major life-changing or life-affirming experience for Picard!

The “queen” story Picard is telling is an allegory about him, his mother, and the ‘monster’ (aka his father). It’s clearly not a real memory, it’s an interpretation of his feelings about the situation, and Robert isn’t part of it.

“Mixed bag” is right. This episode did too much. I loved the ready room scenes. I loved being in Picard’s mind, but it didn’t really finish an idea before moving to the next idea. Consequently this episode tried to accomplish too many things and felt like the next episode began before the current one ended. I’m of the mind that season 2 of Picard is meant to be binged in order to appreciate the full story. With only three episodes left, I’m not sure how they’ll be able to deliver on the promise that the first two episodes set up but am anxious to see. Maybe it’s a cliffhanger ending.

I hope it’s not a cliffhanger! Please let it end, so maybe we’ll get one last chance at an actually good story for Season 3.

So far Discovery and Picard have always wrapped up their arcs by the end of the season. So I’m optimistic that they will be back in the early 25th century when the season is over. Probably not long before, though.

I agree. I think they’ll end this arc, but I’m pretty confident that John deLancie is back next season so the Q arc may actually continue in some form.

I remember reading an article that quoted John De Lancie as saying Q wasn’t gonna be in season 3 but maybe they can bring him back for a short appearance to tie everything together or just changed their mind and got De Lancie to appear in the third season too.

A somewhat confusing and disjointed episode! I liked the various layers of what was going on in Picard’s mind but one thing that continued to eat at me. Where was his brother throughout Picard’s younger childhood? As for Rios and the Doctor – what type of Starfleet captain has no sense of responsibility and duty to either the prime directive or the temporal prime directive? Pretty ridiculous!! As for Agnus and the Borg Queen plus Raffi and Seven – not much happened tonight. Overall grade – 5/10. The best part of Picard S2E7????? We are only 3 episodes away from the season finale and the premiere of SNW!

That’s my biggest complaint about the majority of NuTrek, the writers seem entirely oblivious to how officers are meant to act professionally within a chain of command. Are they even aware of the Prime Directive? Much of it – like Discovery – comes across as over-wrought dire fan-fic level EMO emotional characters. Or just plain stupid (the Seven and Raffi Police car chase scene still makes me utterly cringe!) actions by the characters who seem to exist to be unnaturally squeezed into each scene’s demands, rather than solid and largely consistant characterisations layered over the top of the story. It’s a hot mess, albeit a very good looking, sounding and acted (were the script allows!) one. Frankly, I wish they’d jettison the writing team on this and SNW, and get some proper sci-fi writers in that also understand solid characterisation and not pop-culture flavour of the month writing.

I always get Alexander Siddig and James Callis confused……for a bit.

Admittedly, this episode was my least favorite of the season. That doesn’t mean it was terrible, but it seems like they are trying to do too many things, and that weakens the main storyline. In a way, doing a highly serialized format makes it harder to have weaker episodes. When there were 26 episodes back in the day, there were clunkers to be sure. But they were pretty much stand-alone, so you just shrugged you shoulders and moved on. In this format, you notice whether a storyline is getting moved forward significantly, or not. I also don’t think it is an accident that the strongest characters of the season, Jurati and the Borg Queen, were pretty much absent from this episode. I’ve really appreciated the dynamic that Allison Pill and Annie Wersching have. I realize all of this is subjective. Oh well, hopefully next week will be better.

That is the big difference I think so many people are having with these new live action shows and that is if you hate the story overall even if you still get strong episodes in a season, the repeat value is almost at zero.

I can watch a repeat of TNG, TOS, ENT, VOY etc even in ‘bad’ seasons because the standalone episodes do just that and stands on their own. I have tried to rewatch certain episodes of Picard in season 1 and it really just doesn’t work outside of the first episode. And I have said this in the past, the longer we get away from these seasons, the harder it will be to watch most of them as standalone because people will start to forget all the specific elements of the season. Try watching a random episode of LOST today. If you haven’t watched or remember everything about the overall plots it doesn’t work at all. It’s been off the air for 12 years now and I forgot a lot of what happened because I never watched it since. It really just feels like a chapter in a book for that show.

I don’t think the serialization is a Star Trek problem, just the people making it today. I have rewatched ENT seasons 3 and 4 over and over again at this point because it’s just a much better written story arc and I don’t even love the Xindi story line. But I still feel satisfied with the overall story and like watching it. Nearly 6 seasons of DIS and PIC and I’m still not been satisfied with a single season as a whole. Something is wrong there.

Both Enterprise and DS9 had season long and multi season long story arcs, but the writers knew how to script character stories that would often finish at the end of each episode with very satisfying and positive conclusions.

For some reason, the show runners on Picard seem to think that each character’s (except poor Elnor) storyline must also continue when you only need the primary story to be serielized. Apparently S3 will have ONLY ONE SHOWRUNNER NEXT SEASON and hopefully that will make the show better!

Btw, earlier I said the only good thing about E7 was that only 3 episodes were left until the finale! I was mistaken. Having Baltar aka James Callis show up today was pretty cool! What a waste – considering who he represented, he should have been speaking with his natural English accent! Who was the directing genius who made that decision?

Yeah a lot of people are blaming the season being bad because apparently Akiva Goldsman took over the second half. That doesn’t exactly bold well for SNW lol. But I think it’s unfair to blame him completely and the season started going down for me well before then. I hate to say it, because I been praising Terry Matalas the day we learned he was taking over season 2 but this lays at his feet too. Maybe it is just an issue of too many cooks in the kitchen, I don’t know. But at this point we can only hope season 3 will go out with a bang; but can’t blame anyone who has doubts if they are not loving this season so far.

Yes I did like James Callis a lot in this episode and liked the scenes between him and Stewart. Ironically he also played a dad to one of the main characters in 12 Monkeys but in a much stranger way lol. I didn’t mind him being Picard’s father but it would’ve been nice he played a more straight forward role and could really appear on the show. Some were predicting he was a temporal agent from the future but I really didn’t see them going that far with it based on this season so far but could’ve been fun!

Correction, Callis played a son in 12 Monkeys.

I think one of the problems of the show could be that it has nearly 30 executive producers. One of these days I am really gonna count the number of producers in the opening credits, but the list seems to be endless. I mean it just feels unnatural to have that many producers.

I think this is partially due to a different way of crediting people than what was used in the past. Seems like a lot of the writers get some kind of producer credit now. The main VFX supervisor also has a producer title. Patrick Stewart in an executive producer on Picard, and I think Sonequa Martin Green is a producer on Discovery. In addition, they have two people from Roddenberry Entertainment as (I think) executive producers on the shows even though I can’t imagine they do more than maybe give notes on scripts, if even that. Something that has been suggested is that Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman had somewhat different ideas for the show during season 1 of Picard.

And in the Xindi arc they managed to have stand alone stories that also advanced the overall season story. They gave you enough that I was genuinely curious to see what we were going to get the next episode. I’m getting none of that with Secret Hideout.

I’ve always said some of the best episodes of Enterprise was the standalone episodes in that season. Just a lot of strong and fun stories and a few of them my favorite episodes in the entire franchise.

I really wish they could get some of the writers from seasons 3 and 4 of Enterprise to work on the new live action shows. It could be a major upgrade in quality IMO.

What’s really sad for me is that I was really looking forward to it like, okay, here we go … we’ll get into Picard’s brain and learn his trauma and “fear” and get some clarity. But the reveal was confounding and apparently some “half-truth” since there’s “more to tell.” I thought going into Picard’s psyche would be a slam dunk episode but the ball just clanged of the rim.

The first two episodes of Picard this season had me saying, “make it so.” Everything since then has had me begging, “make it stop.”

I actually enjoyed this episode more than I was expecting. I found the “diving into someone’s subconscious” trope really well done, with a bit flavor to it than past dives. A greater budget helped in this regard, as so often when you dove into someone’s subconscious, their subconscious looked shockingly like the hallways of a starship ;p. But beyond the look, the way the story was told was really interesting with the therapist session turning into a revelation about Picard’s father (and I can just point out how amazing it is that James Callis is canonically Picard’s father! Yes, he’s another English guy, but he’s perfectly cast.)

Rios’ story continues to be a bit, well, unnecessary. While it is possible something will change, his whole storyline/experience with ICE has been wasted, making the entire diversion completely unnecessary.

Seven and Jurati continue to have great banter, and while their story has been a bit unfocused, I like where it is going no with the revelation of Jurati.

Speaking of Jurati, she didn’t get a lot to do this episode, but I am so intrigued as to where they’re going to take this. All signs point to Jurati being the future Borg (as seen in the season premiere), and we know virtually nothing about that incarnation of the Queen.

Before the final scene with the FBI, I was really hoping that next week’s episode will FINALLY begin to explore what the hell is going on with Q. But with the FBI surprise, I fear we’re going to get another episode that just drags things out.

This whole season has been so frustrating. The first two episodes where great, and the third episode was a good setup for things to come, but these last four episodes have just dragged. I’m not actively disliking what is going, and I’m still optimistic that the story will finally get somewhere, but the pacing is just killing things. Discovery had a similar issue after it came back from its season 4 hiatus (though it very much recovered in its finally two episodes), it just feels like there isn’t enough story for the episode allotment, so things get unnecessarily stretched out. What I find incredibly frustrating though is that there seems to be enough story. Discovery could have easily combined at least two it’s episodes and then spent another episode focusing on communication with the 10-C. Picard seemingly has a bunch of different storylines it is weaving together, more than enough to fill out a 10 episode season, and yet we get random diversions and shockingly short episodes (last wasn’t even 40 min!)

Your reviews have been spot-on, especially this one! I love reading them.

The highlight? Sunny Ozell who CAN sing. What a remarkable, soulful voice. Sir Pat’s wife possesses great vocal talent.

Beyond that, Picard season two – and this specific episode – continue to muddle through poor writing. There is such potential here. There is also a tremendous dis-continuity between episodes, making viewers, like myself, wonder if anyone has a true vision for this second season. The writer’s homework assignment appears to have been “watch Star Trek IV” — but adopt CBS TV drama aesthetics and poor scripting.

Maybe this appeals to some. Good on you. Star Trek brand/franchise faded from glory with Enterprise, then Discovery. Both Prodigy and Lower Decks have roused the spirit of what Trek can be. Maybe Strange New Worlds will, too. Yet Picard keeps dying on the vine…

We know Picard season three is already complete. One only hopes it is a triumphant effort to carry Jean-Luc Picard over the finish line, courtesy of the announced TNG guest stars. Because Picard season two is a super-stinky garbage drama spread thick across multiple episodes with thin direction and poor execution.

Feels more like they said let’s throw in the nostalgia in the first episode that all the fans complained about lacking in s1, then how can we do this season on the cheap…set it in modern day LA, with lots and lots and lots of talking without really getting anywhere

I enjoyed it for the good bits, but on the whole I thought this was pretty lousy. The season as a whole is kind of turning into a meandering dud for me; maybe they’ll save it in these last three, but I’m not really feeling it lately.

Still twice as good as the first season, though, so at least there’s that.

Lingering trauma expressed in maudlin fashion (plus therapy) — the primary or secondary theme of every season of Secret Hideout Presents Some Kind of Star Trek, no matter the showrunner. Maybe Kurtzman should do a series about his family and his therapists and the secret hideout of his childhood and get it out of his system?

Did anybody else notice that Orla was holding Gary 7s servo pen? They sowed it a couple of times. These episodes are so uneven with highs and lows balancing them in to mediocrity. So much promise with so little delivery.

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Star trek: picard season 2 episode 7 review: monsters.

Let's get this straight. Despite the many tips of the hat to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine this season, that. is. not. Bashir.

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7 gets pretty in-depth and trippy as Tallinn forms a mechanically-assisted mind-meld with Picard in an effort to get him psychologically unstuck. It answers many questions but opens the door to some even trickier ones.

Meanwhile, on the outside, Rios makes a questionable decision around Dr. Teresa that culminate in flapping some ri-DONK-ulous butterfly wings when he takes her and her son on a field trip to La Sirena.

Yeah, so let's talk about that first.

Of the entire 24th century crew, Rios is the most enamored of 2024 Earth, with Seven living footloose and Borg implant-free as a close second.

He's in love with the food, the vibe, and the good doctor, Teresa Ramirez.

Rios: Who do you want me to be? Teresa: A good guy. Rios: I am, and if I wasn't, then I would become one right now. Permalink: I am, and if I wasn't, then I would become one right now.

So maybe 21st-century immigration policies and institutionalized racism take a little of the glamor off, but Rios is, for the most part, digging the old-school energy.

My theory is that his rough initial landing and shock-stick treatment by I.C.E. might've also scrambled his brains a bit.

Things escalate quickly at the clinic.

From borrowing some clothes out of the lost and found to providing her with future tech to stabilize Picard's neural network to transporting them all to La Sirena, it's an exponential increase in potential timeline implosion.

Dr. Ramirez: Are you from outer space? Rios: No, I'm from Chile. I just work in outer space. Permalink: No, I'm from Chile. I just work in outer space.

(Also, someone's going to have to explain to me how he managed a remote transport from Los Angeles to France with no com badge and no one at the controls.)

I'm also puzzled why Rios chose to take them away before knowing for certain if Picard and Tallinn survived their subconscious adventure.

And how did he know that he wasn't going to run into Seven and Raffi? This game of musical locations gets confusing at times.

Meanwhile, Seven and Raffi are looking for Jurati and finding the Borg queen instead.

I'm all for an endorphin rush, but I'm not sure breaking a window would've been my go-to in a seedy bar where music, alcohol, and unseemly company are easily accessible. But I've never been Borg, so what do I know?

I'll hand it to Alison Pill, though. She's getting to play with the full gamut of femme fatales this season. (And Jurati was a femme fatale in Star Trek: Picard Season 1 . Just ask Bruce Maddox. Oh, wait, you can't.)

From the start, her portrayal of the brilliant but neurotic and awkward Jurati has been so consistent and convincing that her transformation into Jurati-controlled-by-the-Borg-queen is remarkable.

Not sure if it's make-up and lighting magic, but I could swear the expression with which she susses out the dive bar is pure Annie Wersching.

(Also, did everyone know that the singer with the band is Sunny Ozell, Patrick Stewart's real-life wife? I sometimes wonder if Stewart and company don't view this series as their version of Clooney et al.'s Ocean's franchise -- an excuse to hang out with friends and get paid.)

And that brings us back to Picard's super-meta psych eval inside his own subconscious.

There's a lot of sci-fi Easter Egg value to having James Callis portray Picard's psychologist initially.

The true sovereign of nature. Giving life. Allowing life. And yet we know will be the thing that one day swallows us all. Therapist Permalink: The true sovereign of nature. Giving life. Allowing life. And yet we know will be the thing...

After all, when he played Gaius Baltar on Battlestar Galactica , he spent a lot of time talking to Caprica Six in his head.

Additionally, his relations with Six, a Cylon (which is essentially BSG's version of a synth), led to the near destruction of humanity, something Picard (now a synth himself) spent last season trying to prevent.

It's also established canon that Baltar had a troubled relationship with his father, so when Picard's psychologist turns out to be his father, it's all a bit on the nose.

You lived longer than I did, but I got to keep my hair. Not exactly a fair trade, is it? Son. Maurice Picard Permalink: You lived longer than I did, but I got to keep my hair. Not exactly a fair trade, is it? Son.

But if we're going to get to the heart of the matter of Picard and his mother, it's only logical that his father must be the guide.

There's a lot to unpack in the scenes we witness in Picard's "story" of the red-haired queen and the boy prince.

The scenes in the conservatory are rich in fantastical detail. It's a style of imagery I can't recall ever seeing in Trek shows before.

The animation of the shadows and creatures in the paintings and the dread they instill reminds me of films like The NeverEnding Story and The Last Unicorn, where the implication of danger is enough to adrenalize a scene.

In a way, she did [know the future]. Like an animal, she could feel danger in her bones before anyone else in the room. Perhaps she was magic. Or that's what happens when you live in a world where monsters are real. Picard Permalink: In a way, she did . Like an animal, she could feel danger in her bones...

Picard's description of the queen, his mother, borders on high fantasy as well. She is larger than life, more than human, drawn from a boy's love for his mother and a man's need to hear his mother's love expressed unequivocally, an emotional comfort blanket that can never grow old or fade.

I want you to understand how deeply I love you. No matter what your life brings, if I know you forever, or if I know you for moments, in every breath, who you are is why I am so proud of you for becoming. Yvette Picard/Red-Haired Queen Permalink: I want you to understand how deeply I love you. No matter what your life brings, if I know...

Tallinn's intrusion brings about the confrontation between Picard and his father, which is the catalyst for the truth.

By helping the boy prince Picard work past his "stuck"ness, she forces him to progress further, into territory that is even more traumatic than being trapped in a dungeon for hours by himself.

Her reassurance and support help him knock down doors he is afraid to open.

Like Picard's therapist/psychologist, Tallinn insists the younger self be honest about himself.

Therapist: Ironic, isn't it? We're all here for you, Picard. Only you can stop it. Say something real. One real thing. Why do you think we're here? Picard: Because I'm stuck. Permalink: Because I'm stuck.

And while she realizes that there's more to Picard's trauma, he deflects and redirects to Q and how they can put Maman Picard's words to work.

In time, they would forget he was ever there, but they would never forget the lesson. There is no better teacher than one's enemy. Yvette Picard/Red-Haired Queen Permalink: In time, they would forget he was ever there, but they would never forget the lesson. There...

Am I the only one surprised by the FBI raiding Guinan's bar? I hope not. It seems incredibly out of left field.

It's interesting to note that Guinan's summoning ritual works about as well as Q's snap. They must be connected.

Also, where's Tallinn? Why didn't Picard take her with him to see Guinan? If Renée is in quarantine, Tallinn's pretty much on vacation until launch.

As a Watcher, you'd think she'd be aware of a team of feds infiltrating the bar. Just saying, it might've been useful bringing her along.

With Picard and Guinan in custody (and his com badge left behind at the bar) and Rios out in France with Teresa and her son, Seven and Raffi are on their own to track down (and subdue?) Borg queen Jurati.

Tall order but nothing like stopping an interdimensional annihilation by an A.I. invasion squad, so no problem, right?

To be fair, they had a Starfleet armada backing them up that last time.

But Jurati's not even a fully-formed queen yet. How much trouble could she cause?

How do you see that showdown going off? Will there be butterfly collateral shrapnel blasting a hole through downtown LA?

As we careen towards the season's end, our team is geographically separated and targetting three different mission goals. How do you see this dove-tailing for the finale?

Can Jurati come back from assimilation? Will she stress hormone the queen into submission?

Will Raffi and Seven get to trip those young 'uns with their canes?

Raffi: Look, if that whole thing starts up again, I quit the gang. No, seriously, I don't think I have it in me. Seven: [scoffs] Raffi: You and me? Now, see we're totally different. Our pain is beautiful and tragic and everyone loves hearing about it. Permalink: You and me? Now, see we're totally different. Our pain is beautiful and tragic and everyone...

Does Rios get a happily-ever-after?

Hit our comments with your best thoughts and theories!

Monsters Review

Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X .

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7 Quotes

Picard: The man who hates enclosed spaces spends his life in the infinite cosmos. It's almost too obvious. Therapist: Isn't it. Picard: But then, the man chooses a life on a vessel where his only access to the outside is holographic. Now the man becomes more interesting. Therapist: Does that concern you at all? Does that bother you in any way? You're not very interesting. Picard: It's not my job to be interesting. Permalink: It's not my job to be interesting. Added: April 12, 2022

The true sovereign of nature. Giving life. Allowing life. And yet we know will be the thing that one day swallows us all. Therapist Permalink: The true sovereign of nature. Giving life. Allowing life. And yet we know will be the thing... Added: April 12, 2022

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7 Photos

4/14/22 Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7 Monsters

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And in case you haven’t seen it, here’s a preview clip from “Monsters” released during last week’s episode of The Ready Room, and the official Paramount+ trailer.

MONSTERS — Tallinn ventures inside Picard’s subconscious mind to help wake him from a coma and face both his darkest secrets and deepest fears. Seven and Raffi go in search of Jurati whom they fear has succumbed to the monster inside. Rios struggles to hide the truth of who he really is from Teresa. Written by Jane Maggs. Directed by Joe Menendez.

Star Trek: Picard returns April 14 with “Monsters” on Paramount+ in the United States, and on CTV Sci Fi Channel and Crave in Canada. Outside of North America, the series is available on Amazon’s Prime Video service in most international locations.

PIC Season 2
Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard review, Episode 207: “Monsters”

By michael east | apr 14, 2022.

After teasing a deep dive into Jean-Luc Picard’s psyche for a while, Star Trek : Picard finally gets there in Episode Seven, “Monsters.” Like last week, it’s a genre-busting episode, with much of the narrative set inside Picard’s unconscious mind. The episode focuses on the difficulties of mental illness and looks at the relationship between a mother and son. It all comes together in one of the most profound episodes of the show to date.

Beginning in a somewhat surreal fashion, we’re introduced to a new character we later learn to our surprise is Picard’s father. We also see the welcome return of the Deep Space Nine -era uniform, another fun Easter egg.

Based on the flashbacks we’ve seen throughout season 2 and the early part of this episode, we’re meant to believe that Picard’s father is a villain. As we learn, the truth is more complicated.

Star Trek takes a trip inside Picard’s mind

Picard blames himself for the death of his mother Yvette, which adds a new layer of tragedy to his character; he creates an idealized version of her in his mind, rather than seeing her as the loving but deeply unwell person she was. Yvette, like her son and her nephew René, are all brilliant, successful people, yet the darkness of depression and anxiety do not discriminate.

The tragedy at Chateau Picard means that the admiral is reluctant to let anyone inside and know his true self. Mental illness touches not only the life of the afflicted but also those around them; the show has explored that topic this season with great care, tact and realism. Patrick Stewart is, as always, magnificent.

With Picard finally able to address his demons, it remains to be seen whether he’ll eventually find happiness with Laris in his own time. Talinn’s future is also up in the air. It’s Tallinn who enters Picard’s mind and uncovers what’s holding him back. In turn, Tallinn reveals she is, in fact, Romulan.

The other characters on Star Trek: Picard again get little to do

Outside Picard’s brain, Raffi and Seven set out to find Agnes and quickly realize that she’s now under the influence of the Borg Queen. Meanwhile, Rios and Teresa get closer as he finally lets her in and tells the (partial) truth about who he is. In what will undoubtedly be an unwise move, Rios decides to show Teresa and her son La Sirena .

The closing few minutes of the episode feature the welcome return of Ito Aghayere as the younger Guinan; she performs a ritual that some may find uncomfortably close to magic for Star Trek . It doesn’t seem to work, and problems compound when the FBI bursts in and arrest both Picard and Guinan. It’s a surprising twist ending, although it might be a little too close to Rios being detained by ICE earlier in the season.

Episode Rating: 8

Overall, this is another good episode of Picard that feels weighty and important. While it’s not Star Trek in the traditional sense, it’s serious drama and an excellent study of the main character. We find that we never truly understood Picard, just like other characters around him. When Picard tells his father that perhaps he never really knew him, it could be the audience talking about Jean-Luc. We can now look at other incidents in his life with a new perspective.

Once again, however, there’s little for the other characters to do in the episode, and with season 3 said to be bringing back the entire Next Generation cast, it would be wise for the show to trim the number of regulars before then.

dark. Next. Star Trek: Picard review, Episode 206: “Two For One”

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Star Trek: Picard S2E07 "Monsters" » Recap

Seven and Raffi return to La Sirena to try and hunt down Dr. Jurati, who is not answering her combadge. However, when they try to run a scan, they find themselves locked out of the ship's systems. Seven recognizes the encryption as Borg, and is able to decode it; surveillance systems show Jurati, in her red dress from the gala, introducing the encryption. By using Los Angeles traffic cams, they find a place where Jurati smashed out a bar's window, and Seven identifies the endorphin rush that the Borg Queen is using to power herself up. "We need Picard," she pronounces.

Rios is assigned to run interference with Teresa and her son Ricardo, whom she could not find a babysitter for. She is a bit irked that these strangers are using her clinic to do... Whatever it is they're doing, and freaked out when Rios calls for a neural stabilizer for Teresa to use on Picard, and it's beamed directly into his hands. However, the Unresolved Sexual Tension between them is thick, and Rios makes a good impression on Ricardo (and an impression on Teresa) by beaming the three of them to La Sirena .

Picard is trapped in his own mind, remembering a Starfleet-mandated psychiatric evaluation run by a therapist (guest star James Callis ). The therapist questions why Picard is unwilling to open up, and Picard begins telling a story about a queen who loved to tell stories — his mother, Yvette Picard. Maman was scared of monsters, and would sometimes take young Jean-Luc to hide from them... including in the tunnels under the estate (established in a previous episode as dating back to World War II), against the strictures of her husband Maurice, who often took on the role of the monster. The implication is that Picard's father, whom Picard described in TNG as being distant at the best of times, physically abused his wife. Into this memory is inserted Tallinn, using her jury-rigged mind meld. She helps play out the scenario, and eventually it links with that of Picard and the psychiatrist — who, in Picard's uncontrolled subconscious, is "played" by Maurice. Maurice helps him understand the truth: that Yvette's bipolar disorder was largely uncontrolled, and that Maurice was forced to restrict her movements after she endangered their son one too many times. Picard is left with a better understanding of his father. Tallinn is left with an understanding that this is not the end of the story.

Returning to consciousness, Picard realizes that Q's investment in humanity's trial is far too strong to be anything but personal. He decides to find out what that investment is, and turns to the only person he knows who can summon a Q: Guinan the El-Aurian. Unfortunately for them, the ritual does not work. Even worse, it does seem to summon someone: an unassuming everyman who drops by the bar to drink. He reveals himself to be an FBI Agent and has Picard and Guinan taken into custody.

This isn't the first time James Callis played a figment of an android's imagination .
When Tallinn enters Picard's mind, she hears echoes of his dialogues from certain TNG episodes. "I am Locutus of Borg." "They're only victims." "I would rather die as the man I was..." "THERE! ARE! FOUR! LIGHTS!"
Rios tells Teresa that he didn't really know his dad, so he seeks out father figures. That's exactly how he felt about his former CO, Alonso Vandermeer.
When the FBI agent shows up right after Guinan performs the summoning ritual, she uses the hand gesture from " Q Who " to see if he's a Q.
Dramatic Drop : Teresa and Ricardo drop their coffee cup and toy ship respectively when Rios beams them aboard La Sirena .
"Eureka!" Moment : Picard realizes that whatever is going on is actually about Q.
Foreign Cuss Word : Teresa warns Ricardo that she's going to swear at Rios, but the worst she says is the Spanish equivalent of "Goddamn". Ricardo: You didn't even use the good swear words!
Identical Grandson : Tallinn reveals herself to actually be Romulan; Picard theorizes that she is indeed related to Laris in some way.
Jaw Drop : Rios finally decides to tell Teresa and Ricardo the whole truth and beams them onto his ship. Teresa's jaw practically drops to the floor along with her coffee mug in utter surprise.
Madwoman in the Attic : Picard's mother was apparently this, although Tallinn thinks there's more to the story before Picard wakes and breaks the mind link.
Mama Bear : Teresa warns Rios: Teresa: If you're lying, and I brought you around my son... they will never find the body.
Mythology Gag : Once again, someone from the future is from Earth, but only works in outer space . Teresa : Are you from outer space? Rios : No, I'm from Chile. I just work in outer space.
Guinan attempts to summon Q with much sturm und drang , Screen Shake , flickering lights, Dramatic Shattering of bottles, etc. And then it... completely fails to work. Guinan is flabbergasted and at a loss for words, in a way that communicates that this means something very strange is going on.
The bar patron who turns out to be an FBI Agent is having none of Guinan's and Picard's attempts at deflecting and laughing off the footage of Picard beaming onto the street in front of her bar.
Seven and Raffi find out that Jurati had locked down La Sirena 's computer system with Borg encryption.
Seven realizes that the Borg Queen is still creating endorphins in order to accelerate the process of turning Jurati into the new Borg Queen — which could lead to the Borg assimilating everyone on Earth.
Picard and Guinan realize, too late, that the unassuming guy in the bar is actually an FBI agent who promptly places them under arrest.
Picard's mother was suffering from mental illness.
The Q and the El-Aurians warred in the past, before hashing out a peace treaty. How exactly this worked isn't explained, though it does explain why Q reacted to Guinan the way he did back in TNG .
Shaped Like Itself : Picard (reluctantly telling the psychologist a story): Once upon a time, there was a queen, with fiery red hair. Psychologist : Like the sun. That's very good. Carry on. Picard: And she was... female. Psychologist: ...telling stories is not really your thing, is it?
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome : Angelinos didn't notice three people materialize out of thin air in plain view... but Big Brother did.
Undercover Cop Reveal : An intruding FBI agent shows up in Guinan's bar this way and places her and Picard under arrest.
You Monster! : Picard (both old Picard and young flashback Picard) call Maurice a monster for what he did to Yvette. Maurice reveals that the truth isn't what Picard remembered.
Star Trek: Picard S2E06 "Two of One"
Recap/Star Trek: Picard
Star Trek: Picard S2E08 "Mercy"

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‘Star Trek: Picard’ S2E7: A Stand-Out Guest Star Helps Jean-Luc Confront the Monsters in His Head

'battlestar galactica' fans will recognize picard's dream therapist..

This season of Star Trek: Picard has shown its ensemble cast a lot of love, giving each series regular some time in the spotlight. This week, however, we spend some quality time with the title character, digging deep into a defining moment of childhood trauma with the help of a fantastic guest star.

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Most of Picard’s story in “Monsters” takes place within his mind, in a pair of parallel coma dreams. In one, Picard is being taunted by a Starfleet analyst as part of a mandatory psych evaluation. The analyst, portrayed by James Callis of Battlestar Galactica fame, has a biting wit and no patience for Picard’s emotional obfuscation. In an effort to pierce Picard’s emotional defenses, the analyst challenges Picard to improvise a simple children’s story, and Picard begins spinning a yarn about a benevolent queen and her young son being threatened by a monster who resides in their home. The other dream is the story he’s spinning itself, in which the characters are represented by a young Jean-Luc (Dylan Von Halle) and his mother (Madeline Wise). (While not named at any point this season, TNG establishes her first name as Yvette.) The fairy tale unfolds in fits and starts as the analyst prods Picard to finish it, but it’s also interrupted by the arrival of Tallinn, who has psychically projected herself into Picard’s mind in an effort to wake him from his catatonic state.

The scenes between Picard and the analyst are among the best of the series so far, such that I almost wish that this episode (or at least, this subplot) had been a two-man play. Patrick Stewart and James Callis play off of each other beautifully. Callis’ character picks apart Picard such that he cannot sustain his practiced calm, and finds himself shaken and struggling for words. We’re seeing flashes of the fragile child who he used to be, not just in the fairy tale world, but in Stewart’s performance. The analyst, being born of Picard’s own psyche, knows his weaknesses and cuts through his repression, but his real edge is the form Picard’s subconscious has given him: that of his late father. (His name also goes unmentioned here, but it is Maurice.) Picard doesn’t recognize him until late in their confrontation, and I believe that this isn’t only a convenience of dream logic. Until the end of this story, Jean-Luc Picard hasn’t really seen either of his parents as human beings.

In the fairy-tale dream, Picard and Yvette are pursued through the catacombs of the family chateau by ghoulish creatures. Young Jean-Luc is left alone as his mother is dragged away by some unseen force, and he refuses to move out of fear that she won’t be able to find him again. When Tallinn arrives, she helps him face the darkness, which seems to stir up some courage in the older Picard in the parallel therapy dream. Eventually, the dreams combine, and Picard and Dream-Maurice unlock the true story that he’s been repressing for decades. While Jean-Luc’s memories of his parents’ fraught marriage are real, they have been absent some essential context: Yvette suffered from a mental illness which, though not named, is described very much like bipolar disorder. One day, Yvette rushed off in a panic to the dangerous catacombs beneath Chateau Picard, with a twelve-year-old Jean-Luc in tow. When Jean-Luc’s foot became caught in a broken floorboard, Yvette left him behind. Maurice found him three hours later, then confronted an unstable Yvette, which Jean-Luc has long remembered as an aggressive act rather than a protective one.

I’m pleased that the implication from this season’s premiere that Maurice was an abusive husband turned out to be more than it seemed. That Picard was actually the child of an unwell mother is no less cliché, but it does at least create some complicated new feelings for Picard who, having venerated one parent and vilified the other all his life, now has to see them both as real people. His mother loved him dearly, but her unwillingness to accept treatment for her mental illness is as responsible for his scarred childhood as was his father’s course, stubborn heart. The story doesn’t totally exonerate Maurice, either, as coping with an unstable spouse doesn’t excuse his cruel and dismissive attitude towards Jean-Luc and his Starfleet dreams. All it means is that Jean-Luc no longer needs to blame himself for failing to protect his mother from his father. It’s a relief to learn that Maurice isn’t a monster, he’s just kind of an asshole. For Jean-Luc, who has feared becoming his father his whole life, that could make a big difference to how he sees himself and the risks of becoming someone’s partner.

Meanwhile, the romance subplot between Chris Rios ( Santiago Cabrera ) and Dr. Teresa Ramirez ( Sol Rodriguez ) marches forward thanks to some refreshing, if potentially timeline-shattering honesty. Hoping to make up for his prior deception, Rios offers full transparency and even beams Teresa and her son Ricardo aboard La Sirena as a gesture of trust, though probably as much as a demonstration of how cool he is. This storyline continues to charm thanks to the chemistry between Rodriguez and Cabrera, but gets cringey just about any time Ricardo is involved. This is not a specific knock against the young actor who plays him; almost no story about grown-ups is improved by the presence of an excitable child, especially when we’re clearly meant to see him as just the cutest thing. We also see a bit of Seven and Raffi’s investigation into the missing Agnes Jurati, though only enough to catch them up with the audience. Love is definitely in the air, as their scenes together represent the only time all season that we’ve seen the couple acting at ease with each other.

Waking from his coma, Jean-Luc tries to make sense of why Q would set him on this path to begin with. He extrapolates that, since Q clearly wants him to know himself better, that perhaps he should be trying to know Q better. Usually, when Q comes around, Picard is preoccupied with trying to make him go away; he’s never really tried to learn what makes him tick. Now, he may have to reach out to him in order to put an end to the threat to the timeline. I’m generally of the opinion that Q is better off being mysterious and unpredictable, and that Q’s fascination with Picard or humanity has never required explanation. I have my doubts that any backstory for Q could be satisfying after 35 years of mystery, but given that this is likely John de Lancie’s final run with the character I’m game for a more intimate story as his swan song.

We’ll have to wait a bit for that, however, as Picard and Guinan’s (Ito Aghayere) attempt to summon Q using an ancient El Aurian wine decanter inexplicably fails. (Guinan’s call receiving no response is pretty ominous. It seems pretty clear that Q is on death’s door, but might the entire Continuum be ailing? Star Trek: Discovery sets the Federation’s last known contact with the Q somewhere in the 26th century, and this could be the beginning of their demise.) Instead, Guinan’s bar receives a visit from the FBI, who place her and Picard under arrest under suspicion of being space aliens. While I enjoy the dramatic entrance of the lead agent (Jay Karnes), who seems at first as if he might be another Q who’s come to mess with them, this is a plot complication I am not terribly excited about. Didn’t we just rescue a crew member from government custody two weeks ago? As has become standard for Picard , the stinger setting up the next chapter keeps this one from really sticking the landing, but otherwise, this one’s a winner.

‘Star Trek: Picard’ S2E7: A Stand-Out Guest Star Helps Jean-Luc Confront the Monsters in His Head

SEE ALSO : Will Keen On Playing Vladimir Putin On Broadway in ‘Patriots’

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Star Trek: Picard

“Monsters”

Air date: 4/14/2022 Written by Jane Maggs Directed by Joe Menendez

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

Review Text

Things happen on an all-new episode of Star Trek: Picard .

That seems to be the best synopsis for many episodes this season. Lots of things happen. I have no idea how they relate to one other or make a compelling or cohesive tapestry (weak laugh), but, yeah, sure — things happen. Some of those things are reasonable. Some of them seem like confounding already-dead-ends conjured from the sky.

In "Monsters" we go into Picard's mind, where he struggles with the troubling memories of his mother being dragged away that we've been seeing all season and possibly been making incorrect assumptions about. To facilitate this internal confrontation with the past, the comatose Picard has conversations with an ostensible Starfleet therapist (James Callis) who challenges Picard on his emotionally closed-off ways. There is some value here, and having two good actors just sitting in chairs in a somewhat adversarial face-off is at least worth something.

The long and the short of it is that Picard feels guilt and pain over what happened to his mother, who was imprisoned by "monsters." What actually had happened was his mother was mentally ill, his father locked her away for her own good, and Picard blamed his father for it. He also released his mother from the locked room, which is a missing piece to the story that's not finished here. Tallinn uses her mind-probing device to enter Picard's mind and help the child Picard face the demons in the story. The therapist is actually revealed to be Picard's father, and they have one of those deep-seated-pain conversations that straddles the line separating insightful and tedious.

I'm disinclined to do a deep dive into the pain, trauma, guilt, and so forth eating away at Picard and how they are represented by the extremely-low-rent Lord of the Rings -style quasi-fantasy sequences we see here. I'm also beyond trying to figure out why Picard is facing these things now that he's in his 90s, or just how much of this is Q's doing, since at one point Picard basically explains that Q wanted him to face this internal struggle so he could somehow learn from it. (Whose side is Q actually on here and why, and where the hell is he, and...?)

I'm struggling even more to understand what any of this has to do with the fact we're in 2024 or how it causes or doesn't cause the fascistic nightmare future seen in " Penance " — or for that matter what the "penance" is supposed to be that Picard is paying, and why. Maybe all this will be sorted out by the end of the season (certainly the whole thing with the Borg is going to connect somehow; more on that later), but there's an equal if not greater chance that it won't add up and won't matter.

In the meantime, we get some serviceable scenes alongside a healthy dose of meager ones in a meat grinder of a storyline that features loudly grinding gears. None of this makes any sense, and the show is all over the place.

We've got Rios lovestruck over Teresa, aka Cute Doctor, which feels obligatory. And we've got Seven and Raffi, who banter over this would-be relationship vis-a-vis their own nonexistent one. Nothing doing here. Seven makes the discovery that the Borg Queen has locked out controls to the Sirena computer, and that she compromised Jurati before she was shot. They use camera footage to track her down in Los Angeles. Seven makes a deduction about broken glass that had me blinking at the screen in bewilderment over the logical leap.

So now Agnes is on the loose as the big Borg threat. She goes into a bar to break a window because — it's such a rush, and the endorphins are speeding up the Queen's takeover of her mind? Seven warns that Agnes will become the new Queen and could eventually assimilate the entire planet. Maybe that will happen before they emerge from the spatial anomaly after crossing from the parallel universe in " The Star Gazer ." Or not. There's no way of knowing, because any number of a million unrelated things could happen between now and then.

Unfortunately, removing Agnes as a conscious participant from this story and just making her a pawn in the Queen's takeover plot is not the way I hoped this would go. And, who knows, maybe it ultimately won't be. But this week's Agnes/Queen story was both rote and minimal, which is too bad since it has sometimes been one of the more entertaining things happening this season.

Then there's the whole Guinan thing. She's still here, having not left the planet thanks to Picard's earlier pleas. She seems slightly more Guinan-like here than in " Watcher ," but not enough, and this takes a sharp left turn into bizarro El-Aurian mysticism/fantasy when she attempts to "summon" Q with a magic bottle of brandy in a procedure she says "always works." Except, of course, this time.

Or maybe it did. There's the last-minute twist-destined-to-become-a-red-herring, in which Detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach (Jay Karnes) comes into the bar and arrests Picard and Guinan under suspicion of being extraterrestrials, I think he said? Huh? Is this a Q trick? Did Q send them? Is Q now the chief of police able to dispatch units wherever they're needed on a moment's notice? I have no idea where this is going, but I hope at some point the writers will get to something that resembles a point.

"Oh, you've gotta be shittin' me":

Picard's mother being locked away, and indeed everything inside Chateau Picard, feels excessively 18th century. Wouldn't they have a better 24th-century treatment for mental illness than "lock her in a room"?
I guess we're done with Renee Picard. Apparently Picard came all this way to have a five-minute pep talk. Although Renee then witnessing this very man being run down by a car and whisked away by strangers might not be the best thing for her mental health, no?
Another issuance from the Department of Too Many Red Herrings: Soong and his daughter, and the cover-up of his genetic experiments don't factor into this episode at all. Is this going to end up connecting in any relevant way? Or was Soong just a plot device to hit Picard with a car?
Rios gives Teresa the 25th-century device to wake Picard up, saying, "I trust you." This makes zero (0) sense, as even though Rios is not a doctor he should know more about the medical technology than she does (and all she does is press a friggin' button).
Rios' Star Trek IV -inspired line "I only work in outer space," was too predictable and obvious (I said it aloud before he did), as opposed to the funny and inspired moment with Punk Mohawk Guy. I guess you only get to have one of these jokes before they fall flat. Rios bringing Teresa and her son onto the ship also felt like it was going through Star Trek IV motions without a real purpose.
I'm noticing that I'm seeing actors I haven't seen in a decade or more in things (in this case, James Callis and Jay Karnes) and realizing how much older they look. Then I look in a mirror. Time is the fire in which we burn.

Previous episode: Two of One Next episode: Mercy

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271 comments on this post.

I don't even know where to begin. I guess a Q can be summoned like a genie now.

If someone can explain this episode to me I think I would be grateful. What even is this season because it's become such a mess I have lost track of what is happening. I guess the Renee plot is done, now Picard has to respect Q and I didn't even get the mother and father stuff. Also Rios is really screwing up the timeline of do we no longer care about such things.

I liked Picard getting arrested...it;s like a metaphor for what should happen for his insisting upon turning Jean-Luc Picard into Patrick Stewart.

@Jaxon Maybe. It's still repetitive though. This season is running in circles. I was really hoping we could go back to the Stargazer sometime this season but I doubt that now.

"hide my truth" "I'm from Chile, I just work in outer space" And the return of the imposter calling themselves Guinan.

This episode was better than the last four as the plot seemed to move forward with greater strides, particularly by finally uncovering much of the mystery that surrounded Picard's past. With that said, and despite recognizing that the memory is being recalled from the vantage point of a child, the conceit was a bit odd. The episode likely would have benefited from a deeper unpacking of depression as well. Santiago Cabrera continues to shine as Rios; Raffi and Seven were given a bit more to do than of late; the callbacks to 'The Voyage Home' and 'Q Who' were cute; and the bit of retconning regarding the El-Aurians and Q was alright. A few strays elements did not work quite as well, such as Picard's outbursts, Rios' complete abandon of his hidden identity (though, that's likely to be indicative of his feelings for Dr. Ramirez), the 'effects' related to the attempted conjuring of Q, and the ending. I suppose next week the authorities will finally catch up with Raffi and Seven, and then all the main cast will have been arrested at some point in the season. Given the incarceration rates of the country, that actually might be more fitting than not. :p All in all, a better outing, perhaps ramping up to the close of the season.

Colin Lindsly

Who knows what Picard's mother had? It was bad enough that Picard remembered his mother being locked in a room. I mean, really, this is the message that they want to send about mental illness or disability. That if you have it, you need to put somewhere out of sight, out of mind, and that you are cursed with a monster. This show is pissing me more and more. I know depression. My mother suffers from it because she is suffering from the awareness of being old and being laid off because of her age. The company she worked at openly admitted that was one of the reasons for her being laid off. Here is why we are discharging they said in an official letter. We have an example of two employees with the same skills and the same position, only difference is the age. One is 72, one is 35. Well, gee, we let the one who is 72 off. I know depression. I have it because at my level of functioning as a person with autism I know how screwed I am in life and that the probability of me becoming a fully functioning member of this American culture is damn near impossible. It wasn't that long ago that people like me were put in mental asylums or into segregated workplaces. The places where supposedly I am able to get help have been gutted financially and the people there are overworked and underpaid. These jack-ass writers know about mental illness as much as they know about the other hot-button topics they covered this year, which is squat. There are three more episodes of this terrible season left. Ugh.

Visitor1982

72? In what backward country do you live that you need to work when you're that old? I'm glad that in my country (The Netherlands) we all can have a nice pension when we're 66/67. Everyone!

"72? In what backward country do you live that you need to work when you're that old? I'm glad that in my country (The Netherlands) we all can have a nice pension when we're 66/67. Everyone!" My father is 78 and he just recently semi retired and now works part time. I hope he never retires - people need purpose in their lives and as long as they are physically able it's good to work. I can't imagine retiring and sitting around all day. But that said he doesn't dig ditches or work in a coal mine - he is a doctor. Obviously a manual labourer can't work as long as someone in a knowledge field.

^ Well as long as you don't HAVE to work to pay your bills. When you want to is a different thing.

This was very convoluted and opaque. I had to watch scenes over and over again even just to be able to make suppositions of what the showrunners' puzzling aims could possibly be. But did anyone REALLY expect them to only just now use conventional logic and viable storytelling to piece together the mess that is ST:Picard Season 2 in these three remaining episodes? - "In every breath, who you are is who I am so proud of you for becoming." - actual dialogue spoken by a character in this show - Raffi and Seven are like "We're the B-plot, Rios and Jurati are more like the C-plot." Yes, we noticed. - Still not a fan of all the jump cuts. This isn't a low budget horror flick. - The one positive thing is the "twist" that there was no domestic abuse as we were led to believe. The real monster is mental illness, it would seem. - In order for the "1000 ways to die out there" to resonate with the audience like it did for Picard, you gotta put the exposition in the right order. Like, it would be pretty pointless if Soren said "Time is the fire in which we all burn" BEFORE we learned that Picard's nephew died in fire. - Picard's like "Whaaat? JURATI is the Borg Queen now?" as if he were expecting someone different. Picard needs to pay more attention to his own show. - Not-Laris is like "Isn't reliving your childhood memories all part of Q's plan!" Because it all makes perfect sense that taking Picard to an alternate timeline that he'd be compelled alter by traveling to the past where Q could then force Soong under his employ by dangling the miracle cure he's been seeking for daughter-clone #17 so that Soong could crash his car into Picard to induce a coma so that he'd have nothing else to do except revisit his past. - Guinan just so happens to be carrying the bottle that encases the truce made between her people and Q's...? Also why is it a bottle? Did the writers make the logical leap that because Guinan is a bartender that must mean that the El-Aurians are a race of Listener-BARTENDERS? - Oh joy. To the El-Aurians' many understated talents that include listening and bartending, we can also add "Banshee Scream." It's canon now. - How did Seven infer the thing about endorphines...? I'm so lost. - LOL @ it only just now occurring to them that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bring a borg queen to the past. - Guinan doesn't understand. Raffi doesn't understand. I don't understand. At least we're all on the same page. What do you suppose the cops will charge Patrick Stewart with? Pretending to be Jean-Luc Picard?

For reference, Patrick Stewart wrote the following article in 2009 about his mother's domestic abuse by his father: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/nov/27/patrick-stewart-domestic-violence The line that stays with me is "I knew exactly when to insert a small body between the fist and her face, a skill no child should ever have to learn". In a more recent article (2020), he says he's "still in therapy" because of it. "I see someone every week here in Los Angeles, who I have seen on and off for nearly 20 years. I’m still searching myself, still asking questions of myself" https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/sir-patrick-stewartat-80-still-therapy-deal-seeing-mother-beaten/ He made a BBC documentary about his father in 2012, much of which laid the blame on his father being traumatized during WWII: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mfw63

Is it me, or this goes beyond Patrick Stewart getting rid of Picard and replacing him for a self-insert? Watching this episode, I thought that he has also decided to get rid of acting altogether. His performance during the dream sequence was just terrible. To echo some of the commentators above: Sometimes you should indeed just retire.

"- Not-Laris is like "Isn't reliving your childhood memories all part of Q's plan!" Because it all makes perfect sense that taking Picard to an alternate timeline that he'd be compelled alter by traveling to the past where Q could then force Soong under his employ by dangling the miracle cure he's been seeking for daughter-clone #17 so that Soong could crash his car into Picard to induce a coma so that he'd have nothing else to do except revisit his past." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dvj3JIIxhI Hahaha

Eric Jensen

Timeship Relativity? Easter egg? I knew he was familiar! Ducane! An ancestor of Ducane? LOL That story about a queen and a mother? What is that about? Was it a memory? Why mention Locutus at all? I still do not understand the monsters... More time contamination with Rios bringing Theresa and her son... I do not understand the Qs and Quinan... Again, the plot is thickening, plodding, but we need some answers... And we know Q is "dying" so it is about Q as well

Karl Zimmerman

I'm going to break with the developing consensus and say that was the best episode since the first two. I say this for two reasons primarily: That the format of the episode shifted considerably from the last several, and we actually begin to get some payoffs for plot threads which were dangled around in the beginning of the season. The stuff in Picard's head was a bit of a confusing revelation once we reached the end of the story, it's true. I am glad they decided not to go for maximum trauma and make Picard's father into an abusive husband/father. But it was hard to see how this was that deep/dark of a secret in the end (although having a mother with mental illness could explain his fear of commitment). At first I was really perplexed how his "father" (who was just in his head) was providing revelations regarding what really happened, but Jean-Luc undoubtedly learned the truth regarding his mother as he got older, and just crafted narratives in his head to explain away how the mother he adored could have ended up this way. The explanation was really there for Tallinn (and us) not for Jean Luc himself, who was always aware of what had happened. I thought the "inside Picard's head" thing was enacted in a much more entertaining way than say Sloan's Brain on DS9 (though I was really missing Frakes' direction here). Going round the rest of the plot, the stuff with Rios, Teresa, and her son continues to be well acted, a bit hokey, but ultimately heartwarming. The stuff with Seven and Raffi continues to be awful - I can't tell if they are given the worst lines (the scripting here continues to be pretty poor overall) or if it's just Michelle Hurd isn't as good of an actor as the rest. And then there's the curious decision the episode writers made to not conclude the episode at its obvious end, but append on a whole final act with Picard and Guinan in her bar. I don't know what to make of this because it's clearly Act 1 of next week, but was appended on here because...I guess episodes can't have closure or we'll stop watching? Still, at least this episode was trying to do something other than just keep a bunch of stale B plots moving until the end of the season.

@Bryan "Like, it would be pretty pointless if Soren said "Time is the fire in which we all burn" BEFORE we learned that Picard's nephew died in fire." Actually, that's exactly what happens. We don't learn what Picard is unhappy about until Soren is already back aboard the science station. But it mostly works, because even though the audience doesn't know exactly what Soren is referring to (or, indeed, that he even knows about Picard's recent tragedy), it's fairly clear that his words affect Picard in some way, probably related to the recent news he received.

Mike Lindell

Both better and worse than the last few episodes. Some plot movement, finally. Alas, a lot of that movement was convoluted.

The comments section begins with non stop whining. I’m sorry the writers didn’t take your personal feelings into consideration when dealing with what you believe is a mental illness storyline. If the show bothers you this much, find another show to watch. In the meantime, the show is progressing, and the ending is setting up next week to be even better. This week wasn’t the best show, but it was certainly interesting.

In "Where No One Has Gone Before", when Picard was in an anomaly-fueled reality fugue, we got Herta Ware drinking tea. I still consider that Picard's mother flashback. This was Patrick Stewart's.

I don't think it's really "whining" to accuse the writers of not handling a topic like mental illness well. And saying the old line "if you don't like it, don't watch!" isn't really constructive in a review thread, the point of which is for people's honest reactions. And not merely only positive ones.

"If you don't like it, don't watch" is as arrogant as "America, love it or leave it".

But you know, on the flipside... I respect people who have the courage to wade into a sea of negative reviews and post their own completely contrary experiences. Or vice versa. If your experience goes against the grain, don't be intimidated... being honest is what one should do!

I live in the US. About Seven and the endorphins, she replicated the experience of breaking glass to see what the Borg Queen felt. Seven described this as understanding the Queen. That is how she made the connection.

Timmy the Tribble

I’m confused. How did Baltar get off the Cylon Basestar and end up in Starfleet with a psych degree?

"These jack-ass writers know about mental illness..." "I’m sorry the writers didn’t take your personal feelings into consideration when dealing with what you believe is a mental illness storyline." The jury is still out on how well the theme of mental illness will be handled. I really think we need to wait for the season to wrap up. Also, just being Picard's mother got locked up doesn't mean that the story will necessarily frame it as "good" or even justifiable. In any case, I thought going from purely a victim of abuse to victim of mental illness was the more nuanced direction to go in, even if we learn that it was actually a little bit of both in the end. @Henson "We don't learn what Picard is unhappy about until Soren is already back aboard the science station. But it mostly works, because even though the audience doesn't know exactly what Soren is referring to (or, indeed, that he even knows about Picard's recent tragedy), it's fairly clear that his words affect Picard in some way, probably related to the recent news he received." I stand corrected and I agree with your assessment. At least SOMETHING rather than nothing was established beforehand. I would also add that Patrick Stewart applies enough acting chops for the audience to get the correct impression that he's not merely upset but grieving before we know what he's grieving about. I just remember that scene working for me but it wasn't the best example to contrast to the therapy with dad scene. Btw, I'm still not sure if that Soren scene establishes that El-Aurians can do a bit of mind-reading beyond empathy and possibly some mental suggestion too since Soren adds "I know you understand" and Picard changes his mind.

lol what the f*ck did I just watch?

Not hi ng dumber on this site than the incel MAGA Trek fans (who never actually understood Star Trek) that say that “Picard isn’t Picard, but Patrick Stewart” and other such nonsense. Your understanding of the character isn’t greater than PStew’s, and you are not an authority on the character. He just isn’t what you want him to be, which is likely the father figure you need and never had to unfuck yourselves. You’re just basement dwelling mouth breathers who think if you cry loud enough someone might make more 90s era television, de-age your favorite actors, and you can get doped up on enough nostalgia that you can pretend you’re living back when your lives weren’t meaningless, pathetic, dreary existences like you are now.

Jeffrey's Tube

Best episode since the first two episodes. Still a frustrating episode, however. By episode 7, it should be really clear what Q's plan is or at least how this all ties together by now. And . . . it isn't. What does Renee Picard's mission and changing the future have to do with causing Picard to confront his feelings about his mother and learning the truth about his father? I thought we were about to get that answer--that explanation--in the nick of time when Picard went to see Guinan. And then . . . we didn't. Whatever that wrinkle is with the FBI arresting Picard, my feeling is we really don't need it at this point in the season. But hey, let's see what happens next episode. I'm not sure what to do with the idea that the El-Aurians, a race that was destroyed by the Borg, were able to fight a war with the Q, which are godlike beings with near omnipotent powers. According to what we've seen, a single Q could wipe out their entire race with a literal snap of the fingers. And yet they came to some kind of stalemate? It requires quite a bit of mental gymnastics to even conceive of how this would be possible. Well, here are some possibilities: 1) The Q are actually a lot more limited than they've represented themselves to be. I would believe this if the show chose to present them with this option. It is entirely possible the Q, while still quite advanced beings and powerful, have been mostly using smoke and mirrors when dealing with Starfleet, and Starfleet is utterly unable to tell. 2) If #1 . . . have the Borg attacked the Continuum and are assimilating the Q?! 3) It's possible it was more of a "metaphysical" war, fought on planes and through means which Starfleet isn't even aware exist, and which ordinary sentient beings cannot even conceive of existing, or the like. Let's just call it something like "emotional warfare" rather than "physical warfare" (this is NuTrek, after all, ha!). And, because of this, the Q and the El-Aurians were able to fight on something like equal terms. 4) It's possible the El-Aurians were once a lot more than they are now, and that they actually lost the war rather than stalemated, and being made more "limited" was actually the terms of the armistice and their surrender. Regardless, I don't think the show is going to explain, and I don't think the show necessarily needs to explain. "We don't understand and we're not meant to understand, it's bigger than you" is an acceptable explanation for me when dealing with a concept like a race like the Q. And presumably, even a race like the Q has culture and culture dictates reasons for doing things that are not the most expected or expeditious, all the time. Oh, and I don't think Guinan had *THE* bottle with the Q covenant or whatever, like it's something sealed inside like a genie or whatever. I think that little trick she did is something any El-Aurian can do with any bottle. That's what I interpreted from what she was saying. Sure, it was a cool bottle, but Guinan does like dramatic effect. And she totally acted more in line with the Guinan we're more familiar with in this episode. Not that I think how she was portrayed previously was a problem--people have moods, ya know?

How do you "smoke and mirrors" the Enterprise to J-25?

@Lee Hey, is it necessary to be so insulting? I think it's very valid to criticize the show for Picard not really seeming like Picard. Even in interviews, it was directly stated they were going to write the character as being Patrick Steward, the way he is now. I think Patrick Stewart even said that is what made him want to do it. You can like or not like that approach... but it's valid for people to be unhappy with it. And personally, I think it's especially valid to criticize that approach in light of the show's apparently desire to lean heavily on nostalgia. That's a huge contradiction.

How do you "smoke and mirrors" Picard back to 2327?

Even by the TNG films, the Picard character was migrating towards being Patrick Stewart, at his own insistence. Compare Picard's indignance towards Ro when she joined the Maquis in "Preemptive Strike" with the behavior of Picard and company in ST: Insurrection, when they essentially became the Maquis themselves.

You know what recent sequel show I think did an *amazing* job of both appealing to it's old fans, and also deconstructing itself in a very interesting way? The Twin Peaks remake. Some have interpreted the message of that show of being a commentary on nostalgia, and the futility of trying to hold onto the old. At the same time, it's still very compelling TV on it's own merits. And can be interpreted in many different ways. I think it was a great example of doing something very difficult: successfully walking the line between giving fans what they want, and doing something new.

But Twin Peaks has a contemporary setting. So of course you can contrast sensibilities in the 1990s with the 2020s as evolving. Doesn't work so well when the setting is far into the future. The Roddenberry/Berman era ran a tight ship on what the future would be like. Trials and Tribbulations trying to portray Kirk era technology as technology going 1960s retro was kind of silly. It's like saying there will be an era in the 2070s where skyscrapers will be built with logs.

Roddenberry's "no conflict in the future" schtick could be a bit hamfisted, but neither family conflict nor mental illness as portrayed here would exist in his Federation.

"I'm not sure what to do with the idea that the El-Aurians...came to some kind of stalemate?" 5) It wasn't quite metaphysical emotional warfare per se but storytelling warfare, with the Q race being like the perennial Trickster figures the cosmos but they were always pretty assholian about it, stacking the deck against the El-Aurians in such a way that the latter would be inevitably be forced to admit, much to their chargin, that they were the greater assholes all along before the Q's would be satisfied and move on. And until the truce, the El-Aurians, as such great Listeners, were compelled to play along and be receptive to the "points" that the Q race was trying to make about them until they finally just had enough one day and told them to STFU. "About Seven and the endorphins, she replicated the experience of breaking glass to see what the Borg Queen felt. Seven described this as understanding the Queen. That is how she made the connection." Yeah, I wondered if that's all it was. Still feels like a bit of logical fallacy to say "I felt x when I did y, therefore she felt the same thing". Almost a bit of Pathetic Fallacy too if this is supposed to apply to Borg Queens but at least Seven is the one to say it. @Lee "...'Picard isn’t Picard, but Patrick Stewart' and other such nonsense.Your understanding of the character isn’t greater than PStew’s, and you are not an authority on the character." I take it you missed the part where PStew openly admitted that he's no longer playing Picard as Picard but as himself -- that there's no longer any separation between the two? I believe that's largely the context in which some of us were responding, and in that context, I do believe there is a valid argument to be made that we "understand" Picard better than even the great PStew himself if his characterization in the show is any indication.

I am a sentinel from the Mirror universe, guiding you wayward souls to the light. Lost in your pitiful longing for a Trek long since died. Ron asked me to speak for him - he's presently indisposed. He asks if you would attend a multi-dimensional soiree in which the Inner Light version of an aging Picard would opine as follows: "Go fuck yourself nu-Trek Picard, you hollowed-out, emotionally-compromised, second-rate pussy." I admit, the quote is taken out of context, but what do you do.

It is very frustrating. 1. Will Theresa's son mess around on the space-ship, going on to a different tangent? What was the point of that? 2. Will the other door be opened in Picard's "dream"? 3. Who else will be arrested? Will Seven and Raffi be arrested for that car chase "teleport" too? 4. Will Q show up? 5. Will Soong/Kore show up? I am sure they will, but after all that build up, there is none here... 6. What happened to Renee? Yeah, I get we are focusing on Picard right now... I still like the show because I do want to know what happens. This is like a long journey and I am feeling bored but I have to get to the destination... I like PIcard because it is fan service. Picard, Seven, etc... but some solutions/hints that lead elsewhere and distract us, is not good. So basically... A. Q cannot be summoned now B. They need to find Jurati or everyone will be assimilated C. They need to find out what is wrong with Q - know your enemy... D. What will happen to the FBI and who is this Wells? It is good in the plot is moving forwards but there is no pay-off.

What gets me about Star Trek: Picard (and Discovery) is that seasons, and some episodes, start off with a very promising premise, but it always falls apart. This episode was a textbook example. The “memories” that Picard was experiencing were an intriguing concept, and I was happy that we got *some* answers regarding his parents, but then they reveal that there’s more to it, and they don’t give it to us. Why? To deprive the viewers of the satisfaction of getting any clarity on this storyline at all? It doesn’t leave me wanting more, it leaves me frustrated that they continue to stretch a very thin story / premise over an entire season.

MidshipmanNorris

Ira Stephen Behr, this ain’t.

I wonder how much of the problem is just that the writers are constantly rotating in and out. Picard feels like a show that has multiple personalities, and can't decide what it wants to be. It seems to have no plan, almost as if it's made up as the writers go along. This is kind of what you'd expect from a serialized show where a new writer comes in every second episode. I mean, I'm sure there's examples of serialized shows constantly changing writers, and yet managing to have cohesive storylines with a satisfying ending. But it also seems like many serialized shows have the same problem, where they start out with a solid idea and then gradually lose the plot. Lost actually seemed very interesting for awhile, the casting and writing was great, the mysteries were interesting. But after awhile it started to become obvious that there wasn't going to be satisfying answers to a lot of things, and that there was sort of a lack of overall vision. I feel like there's been many serialized stories with that problem.

Jeffery’s Tube: “Quinn “ told Tuvok, ‘ We may appear to be omnipotent, but we’re not.’ I believe the Q are merely very sophisticated time-travellers.

@ Jeffrey's Tube, "1) The Q are actually a lot more limited than they've represented themselves to be. I would believe this if the show chose to present them with this option. It is entirely possible the Q, while still quite advanced beings and powerful, have been mostly using smoke and mirrors when dealing with Starfleet, and Starfleet is utterly unable to tell." This would really be a retcon IMO. Everyone Quinn says in his testimony suggests the Q are so powerful that they can literally have been everywhere and done everything...ever. In all space and all time. Maybe even in the multiverse, since Trek has an established multiverse. That's not just Doctor Who territory, since he has limited time in which go around seeing and doing everything. The Q would have to be more than long-lived; they would need to be able to essentially be everywhere and everywhen simultaneously, outside of time totally like the wormhole aliens. "3) It's possible it was more of a "metaphysical" war, fought on planes and through means which Starfleet isn't even aware exist, and which ordinary sentient beings cannot even conceive of existing, or the like. Let's just call it something like "emotional warfare" rather than "physical warfare" (this is NuTrek, after all, ha!). And, because of this, the Q and the El-Aurians were able to fight on something like equal terms." I think the term you're looking for is the Astral Plane :) And in this schema the El-Aurians would be Professor X, physically feeble but good at mental warfare.

I'm just wondering where Robert Picard was during all this.

Robert got the Chuck Cunningham treatment.

I believe that in a DSC episode when they are already in the future someone mentioned that they haven't heard from the Q continuum in a couple hundred years, so my guess is that Q needs Picard to do something for him before him and his friends are gone. With all the annoying timeline contamination they are already f*cked up and past the point of no return. I mean, Borg Queen is freely roaming in LA probably trying to assimilate Earth and Rios is too horny to think straight. I still don't understand why they didn't beamed into the ship to help Picard and minimize timeline contamination even if Jurati wasn't there... ANYWAYS I think the contamination is large enough that only Q can fix it with his magic fingers. So, my hunch is that Picard helps Q and Q helps restore the timeline and also saved them from the explosion in Stargazer. That's my guess. I'm a bit of hatewatching at the moment and I did rolled my eyes a couple of times, but I will keep watching because I love Star Trek (even the bad episodes - which there are a LOT of those) and I want to know what happens even if the show is not what I would like it to be. There's only a few episodes left and the writers keep introducing new plot strings, which is annoying because I feel like nothing much has happened since episode 2 and I find it hard to believe that they will wrap up everything by the end of the season without rushing or being sloppy. Let's just say that my expectations are low, but I am looking forward to it.

Where is Ron Moore when you need him... I'm starting to see Jammer's point about the double-edged sword that is the serial. Seems like we could have reached this point in 4 episodes, yet these plotlines are moving at a snails pace, almost as if they had an idea that in reality would only take 6 episodes yet are painstakingly trying to stretch it out across 10... And I'm just not buying into this repressed childhood trauma storyline; however, it was cool to see James Callis. I was anxiously waiting for him to bust out into one of his wild-eyed, panicky Baltar moments!

What they need is (a.) a plan for the season and (b.) a plan that can not be upset by the departure of a showrunner. Then, they need to run that plan by an outside neutral party who has expertise in serial stories that can help them with pacing, characters, and all the other things.

"The comments section begins with non stop whining. I’m sorry the writers didn’t take your personal feelings into consideration when dealing with what you believe is a mental illness storyline. If the show bothers you this much, find another show to watch." Take a page out of your book: if you don't like this comments section, don't read it, find yourself another comment section.

I wasn’t looking forward to an episode in JL’s head but framing that storytelling device as a Starfleet counseling session worked. It also paid that the episode didn’t go all in on this single story but instead advanced other plot threads. For example, it’s great that Teresa is now invested in the time mission she’d been inadvertently supporting the whole season. Though it’s hard to figure what Rios has in mind exposing her (and her son) to La Sirena, it sure beats an unbelievable “we’re from the 2Xth century” conversation. I don’t fully know what to make of the dungeon scenes that hold Picard’s Id captive or whatever that all represents. Still, the heated conversations between Picard and the counselor (Picard’s father) functioned well enough to show a haunting trauma. Regardless of the meaning behind this internal conflict (I dare not even try analyzing it all), the result of Tallinn’s rescue results in some good character beats between her and Picard. Tallinn mental escapade naturally makes her understand the man, and what looks like the imminent romance between the two seems somehow real. Meanwhile, Seven was given Borg material that made sense. This led to a few fun detective scenes tracking the bread crumb trail to whatever Agnes is up to. It was even kind of cute to see some flirty banter between Raffi and Seven which hints how they’re offscreen relationship must’ve functioned. The ending scene with Guinan summoning Q was mostly confusing for me. While the El-Aurian lore itself seemed promising, it was interrupted with yet another federal officer raid (man the Feds are really on the ball in Star Trek). And we’re supposed to believe these federal agents have been tracking Picard for quite some time now, to the point where they know he’s “alien”. Obviously, this is just a “wtf” cliffhanger that long-form shows love to use these days, so I’ll leave it at that.

I want to also mention how good Orla Brady looks, especially for a woman about 60

Really did not enjoy this episode and coming after the slightest hint of optimism after "Two of One" this one's a massive disappointment -- in fact, I think it's terrible. There's so much padding here with trying to get to the bottom of Picard's childhood memories, which have dragged on for so many episodes that I find it hard to care anymore. Also, it just seemed like every new plot development was worse than what preceded it. Like just when it could not get worse, we get young Guinan again. NOOOOO!!! I think these writers believe that creating confusion for the viewer, making you wonder WTF is going on is a good thing. There's been too much of that in PIC S2 and it has really become frustrating. The start with the psychiatrist (father) & Picard is just more bullshit. It just feels like they're retconning too much of Picard's childhood. So the story goes from making Picard's dad being the bad guy to now his mom being some kind of psycho? Is that supposed to be an enlightening revelation? Maybe there's a theme of the importance of a father figure?? RIos says he sees Picard as a father figure FWIW... As for Tallinn doing the "Extreme Measures" with Picard, it's all arbitrary. A really stupid part is when Rios gets a medical device beamed to him and Dr. Teresa has no idea how to use it, but she does anyway and it works. And then Rios beams her and her son onto his ship -- what ever happened to not messing with the timeline?? Tallinn breaks some shackles on young Picard's legs and voila everything is fine. Oh, and she shows her Romulan ear as if to rekindle some romance with old Picard. It all just seems very hackneyed. And just for the ending cliffhanger, Picard and young Guinan get fooled by an undercover cop and get arrested. But prior to that we had to endure the sheer stupidity of Guinan saying she can summon Q by drinking something and uttering a scream and the whole bar shakes. It's soooo bad. A couple of things of interest are how the Borg Queen is trying to get more control over Jurati by generating endorphins and some questions from Tallinn and Picard about why Q wants Picard to relive certain memories. Nothing stellar here but just more pieces in the puzzle. 1 star for "Monsters" -- worst episode of non-animated nu-Trek for me. It was borderline unwatchable. I suppose classic Trek has done some episodes where there's a lot of cryptic psychoanalysis (kept thinking of "Frame of Mind") but this one totally failed IMHO. Just too much stupidity here. Pretty much every act sucked.

Ron Burgundy

Picard and Seven were themselves, even if briefly. Kurtzman tried to stop it. He was sexually assaulted by a BSG apparition. Ronald Moore stepped in for just a few seconds, laughed at Kurtzman's schlock, and gave us something halfway decent. Kurtzman, we will find you, assimilate you, and take your talentless, shitbag ass out back for the beating you deserve. And my mustache will quiver only slightly. Inferior beings are irrelevant and should be treated accordingly.

I think the reveal of his mother's mental health issues, and Baltar being his father, is what saved this episode for me. I found myself enjoying where that was going. Unfortunately that modestly interesting reveal has to weavvvvve itself into the billion or so other plot threads going on this season. So that's one positive thing I took away, I guess. Well, two if you count Rios, Teresa, and her kid. I swear to god I hope they stick around. Either Rios in 2024, or the others come to 2401. As long as they stay together. I don't even give a shit that he beamed them to his ship. That's absurd, right? And makes no fucking sense? But I don't give a shit about any of this anymore, because THOSE THREE are the one goddamned great thing that I have to hang onto on this show. :U Well... outside of, perhaps, Jurati and the Borg Queen doing the Steven Universe-like fusion dance. Jurati is really neat.... And speaking of 'neat', how neat is it that Guinan keeps EXACTLY the sacred, historic genie-summoning holy object they need on Earth right there at the bar, huh? This fuckin' show, man. ;) I'm tryin', though. I'm hoping it'll all work out. But I was in a similar "maybe it'll stick the landing on all of this shit going on" last season, too. Gotta recognize the signs of abuse. :(

Puppylaurah

The best part of this episode was Rios. His interaction with the Doctor was very charming and cute, but the rest was confusing and kind of bad. The entire sequence in Picard’s coma dream was so awkwardly acted and uncomfortable to watch. I don’t know if it was the dialogue? I really enjoyed the first episode of this season, but it has gone downhill from here. I’m still going to watch and hope for the best. I love the cast so much. And the ending when Rios brought the doctor and her son on to the ship was nice.

@ Jaxon If the Q can only do those things with technology, rather than it being something inherent to their very nature, while claiming to others it is something inherent to their very nature, I would consider that smoke and mirrors. (And no, we don't need to be able to see them using the technology for them to be using it. Any sufficiently advanced technology . . . well, you know how that quote ends.) @ Peter G That's true . . . allegedly, they've all been the scarecrow. But it also cannot be accurate. Not unless, for example, Quinn has already lived Janeway's entire life as Janeway, and the life of every bacterium on Janeway's skin as that bacterium, and been every atom in the universe as it cavorts from one place to another across the entire history of the universe from the Big Bang to the Heat Death . . . there have to still be new things, otherwise the Q would each be everything, all at once. So he had to be speaking metaphorically. I think we still get the point even if he's speaking metaphorically. The episode keeps its "point." You know, I think I just wouldn't take anything any Q says at face value, ever, no matter the circumstances. I think that's probably a good rule. @ Fortyseven What you find "the one goddamned great thing that I have to hang onto on this show" I find entirely extraneous, derivative (trope-y), and predictable, but hey. It's hardly one of the season's major problems, at least. _____ Oh--if I were to go back in time and hand Queen Victoria an iphone, she'd know how to use it pretty quickly. Easy, intuitive user interface, and all that. I guess it's the same principle for the 25th century Brain Unscrambler Wand.

Honestly? I haven't watched this episode yet. I've read some of your guys' comments, and it's enough for me. For the very first time in a long time, I feel "checked out" of Star Trek. I am a big fan of "Balance of Terror," "Corbomite Maneuver" and "This Side Of Paradise." "Measure of A Man," "The Most Toys" and "The Drumhead" are all winners. "Necessary Evil," "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost" are all great too. This isn't good storytelling, because unlike all the above mentioned episodes, none of it seems to know what it wants to say about its subject material. It's all flash! Bang! Whizz! Kapow! Look! Whoa! Aren't we great?! No, you're not; you're flailing wildly hoping to generate feelings of intensity while you're really just stalling the crowd. There's nothing here for my mind to bite down on and chew on, guys. You're not making a point. You may as well be putting on a Star Trek-Themed Light Show. If you're not going to let Science Fiction fans write Science Fiction, then please, leave the rotting corpse of Star Trek alone. Picard and Discovery are insults to the memory of what this show used to be.

The worst episode of Star Trek ive seen - a disgrace to the spirit of the show.

Yeah, this was certainly something... Remember when this show was about space and ships? When Patrick Stewart said “The world of ‘Next Generation’ doesn’t exist anymore. It’s different." he wasn't kidding. But is it better? What I don't get about the extended flashbacks to his troubled childhood: where in the world is Jean Luc's brother Robert? There's no mention of him anywhere. Unless he's the other secret we didn't get to in this albatros of an episode. I did notice the monsters in Picard's mind dungeon looked an awful lot like the older Robert Picard we met in TNG's Family. The late Jeremy Kemp would be so pleased... I'm fine with still having mental illness in the future. Sure, it goes against Gene's vision but think about this: if humanity had really evolved as much as he claimed, why was there a psychologist sitting next to the captain of the Federation flagship? Meanwhile it seems clear the writers struggle with the same pacing and structuring issues that plagued season 4 of Discovery. Start strong with an interesting set up and then mostly spin your wheels before rushing to wrap it all up in the final episode or two. We're in hour 7 of a 10 part season and so far nothing is resolved yet. Next week we'll waste more precious time getting Picard and Guinan out of the hands of the FBI which is such a repeat of Rios and the ICE raid. And of course Picard lost his communicator too... Speaking of Rios... The actor's charm saves the character, but honestly I had to laugh at him handing Theresa the neural stabilizer to use on Picard. Yes, she's a doctor but this is like having an 18th century optometrist do laser eye surgery. He also just set up another potential plot deviation by beaming two civilians onto the Borg infected La Sirena. Because oh yes, the kid already announced he's going to touch everything.

Frank A. Booze

What the hell was that? I recently watched the TNG episodes “Reunion” and “The Wounded” to get rid of the horse shit smell from NuTrek. It did, as of yesterday, but after watching “Monsters”, it’s like smelling a horse that ate its own shit, puked it back up, and then another horse took a shit on top of the already puked out horse shit. Have these writers ever actually watched an episode of Star Trek before? Or are they basing everything off of Wikipedia summaries of the different series? I don’t even know where to start in describing why that episode sucked. Absolutely atrocious.

So....this season doesn't seem to be going anywhere all that fast. Glad to see bringing the Borg Queen to the past is playing out to be a horrible idea, as it should have been obvious she should have been disabled immediately after entering the 21st century. The dream thing was...eh. Just....eh. I am glad to see that Dutch has moved up from being a detective in LA to an FBI agent. That being said, didn't we already do the whole "Detained by 21st century authorities"? subplot?

@Frank A. Booze Yes. I do think these writers have watched every episode of Star Trek. I think they watched it all and they hated it all and they wanted to kill it. This is the result.

@ Jeffrey's Tube, "That's true . . . allegedly, they've all been the scarecrow." Well, we don't know for sure, but in my head canon the Q can do anything other than not be Q. So while Quinn or Q could go any time or place, summon any item, change time, move things around, they are always themselves. So it's like gods in a small sandbox. They can't be the sandbox, or even the kid in the sandbox. Just gods that can be there and realize there's nothing they can't do, and therefore nothing worth doing. Although I don't like the VOY iterations of the Q, at least Quinn's complaint is concordant with what we see of Q in TNG, which is that he appears to have nothing better to do, and is desperate for entertainment. That is, until they begin to link Encounter at Farpoint with episodes like Tapestry and All Good Things, at which point they've moved beyond Q being merely a joker with nothing to do (although VOY soft retcons this back to him not having much to do). I like to think of Trelane as a good template for what the Q are: powerful but lacking the real-world understanding of what being human is like. They comprehend all the facts about human biology, but not the experience. Trelane can adopt any costume and imitate any behavior, but it's all wrong and he doesn't really get why they're upset. Granted he's a child, but I think the idea is that the power to manipulate time and space does not equate to the ability to understand someone else's perspective.

@Brian Ah, I see. Kind of like what Star Wars did with “The Last Jedi”. Come to think of it now, there is something worse than “Monsters”. It’s called Star Trek: Discovery, the entire series. After watching these episodes, I just need to take a step back and practice the following mantra. “I can always watch old Star Trek. I can always watch old Star Trek. I can always watch old Star Trek.” Of course, I will come on here and complain anyways, just like I shat all over the Game of Thrones tv show on the westeros.org forums.

Norvo said: "I'm fine with still having mental illness in the future." I am too.. I don't buy that it would go untreated and ignored.

so... reading the comments... no one thinks that FBI fella is the Q that was summoned and he is just doing this to try to figure out what is going on? Maybe I am thinking too much on that. Otherwise, I have no idea what I just watched. I appreciate deep and rich storylines, but FFS they need to at least make them understandable to their audience; which most core Trek fans are pretty sophisticated thinkers after 600 episodes of this stuff. And most are probably at the WTF point after this one.

I love the smell of nu-Trek loathing in the morning. Crazy people out-crazying each other.

@Norvo "I'm fine with still having mental illness in the future. Sure, it goes against Gene's vision but think about this: if humanity had really evolved as much as he claimed, why was there a psychologist sitting next to the captain of the Federation flagship?" Yes. Troi was there. We are forced to conclude that mental illness (or at least troubled and negative ideation) is (1) alive and well in the future and (2) was a big factor in Trek from the very start. In fact, there are a slew of episodes in TOS with all manner of deranged persons running around. We have: Gary Mitchell, Charlie X, the Grups, Dr. Adams, Lethe, Simon van Gelder (admittedly after torture in the Neural Neutralizer), Codos' daughter, Commodore Decker (definite PTSD case), Dr. Daystrom (who suffers a nervous breakdown when M5 malfunctions in the Ultimate Computer). Next we have Dr. Sevrin-the space hippie guru (going Full sociopathic false messiah on us in The Way to Eden). Also worthy of mention is my personal favorite Capt. Ron Tracy, run-of-the-mill banaloid transformed by greed for immortality into becoming a major war criminal. Who can forget Lord Garth, Marta, and all the rest of the inmates in Whom Gods Destroy? They were hardly healthy. Come to think of it, Roger Corby wasn't all that stable either. Oh yeah, then there were all kinds of temporary space madnesses which usually infected the ship (the Naked Time), or other unfortunates like Larry Marvick so love-sick to attempt murder and then actually driven insane after looking at the Medusan ambassador. Saddest of all were those poor colonists in Operation Annihilate made ill by those space parasites that looked like melted Swiss cheese patties flying around and buzzing. Yuck. Despite his utopian vision, I think Roddenberry was very much aware that humanity would always be vulnerable to these kinds of disturbances.

Two words: STAR TREK Where is the trek into the stars? WHERE?

Star Trek: Voyager, rejoice! "Threshold" is no longer the worst live-action Trek episode.

I would like to mention that Counselor Troi dealt with neurosis and problems in relationships, not serious mental illnesses. I doubt that the Federation would employ the mentally ill on it's flagship. I would assume that with far more modern methods many mental illnesses would be cured and that the stigma that still exists today would not exist anymore. Having a mental illness should be seen like a physical illness (lots of mental illnesses are actually physical illnesses)

Reginald Barclay?

I wouldn't call Mr. Broccoli mentally ill. Neurotic, sure.

I think it would be unwise to reserve too much hope for Strange New Worlds. As Garak once said: "I always hope for the best; experience, unfortunately, has taught me to expect the worst". The goodwill is well and truly dried up. I thought episode one of this season was a home run. If you'd told me by episode seven I'd be questioning whether I'd been too hard on Discovery, I mean - phew. This is a stunning drop off after such a promising start. I just can't believe what a mess this is - I'd take season one of Picard over this any day.

Absolutly CLASSIC (Jammer comment section) where the very first comment was "WTF did I just watch????" They seem very anamored with ST IV TVH though. When the kid asked Rios if he was from outer space I literally responded to the TV "no, I only work in outer space". (not) Laris finally showed her true colors (ears). WOW, shocking plot point there. While I am not currently a "STD" watcher the whole Guinan "SCREAMING" thing is similar to Burnam having a scream session in the middle of S4 regarding reaching out to 10-C

@Booming "I would like to mention that Counselor Troi dealt with neurosis and problems in relationships, not serious mental illnesses. I doubt that the Federation would employ the mentally ill on it's flagship. " True...good point. Compared to TOS, TNG only rarely dealt with cases of great severity (Ira Graves was pretty weird though). Mostly Troi was really a shoulder to lean on for crew under stress (e.g., the bereaved) and is not involved in full psychiatry.

Ok, I wanted to watch the episode in one go but I'm laughing hysterically about the Doctor using the mind repair thingy. Hahaha. Rios couldn't push a button? :D Is she controlling it with her mind?? Could she not do serious damage? Whatever. God, Raffi is the most annoying character in Star Trek. Assimilation sure takes it's sweet time. Endorphins to build nano probes?? ok. Why the queen wouldn't just walk into a pharmacy to pump herself full of endorphins is anybodies guess. Whatever. I found this to be a little more satisfying. This could have worked as a stand alone episode until we get to the Guinan part which is also a big whatever. I want the plastic surgery or weapon grade foundation Orla Brady is using. It's pretty funny that she is now actually an ancestor of Picard's housekeeper. Hahaha. omg... One wonders why the Federation hasn't cured bi polar/schizophrenia and even if Mummy Picard was so completely crazy that she refused the treatment why not just have her committed. She was clearly a danger to herself and others. The problem would be solved in a day. Rios beaming the doctor on the ship was another lol moment. Uh, and the kid Picard's acting... Her presence in this is so forced. With the wale scientist from the voyage home they actually really needed her. With the doctor it's different, how did she even know how to repair picard's ghoul body??? Would bringing Picard to the ship not have been far more logical??? Igual. I'm still confused though what this all means. Was Picard so heavily traumatized that he forgot that his mother was crazy and how his father behaved? Now Picard is his own mystery box! :D

This show keeps making more stuff up about the El-Aurians and the Q, making the same mistake as BSG (Hi Dr Baltar!) explaining and revealing way too much about the Cylons down the home stretch. TNG understood that the less you knew about Guinan’s or Q’s people, the better. They were MYSTERIOUS and thought provoking, but could also serve as allegories. To paraphrase Garak, I find this hyperspecificity most distasteful.

First watch, I thought this was largely much better than the earlier comments,though very uneven (Picard's talk with his father, no rehab for the mother?), but halfway through, after the sudden Picard reawakening, more WTF moments. I need a rewatch.

I’m not sure why I keep looking forward to this show every Friday night, hoping that it will exceed my expectations. I’m not even sure whether this is good entertainment. In order to be entertained, you have to have a story, and believable characters you care about. Right now, Picard season 2 midway is equivalent to the sci-fi version of Seinfeld in the 21st century. A show about… nothing. Oh, I suppose things will work out in the end. That is, after all, why we keep watching this show, isn’t it—to see how things work out in the end… meaning the end of the story arc. Too bad the vehicle for providing “entertainment” prior to the arrival of the long-awaited conclusion is such a hodgepodge. Although it’s so easy to complain, there might have been a few standout features of this episode: - James Callis? Um, yes, okay… - The big reveal that Picard’s deep, dark childhood secrets were not what we thought they were. Nice little twist, there, and perhaps we’re not even done with it. - Tallinn’s words to the young Picard in the vision: “You’ll do so much with this pain. You’ll save worlds with it.”

First watch, initially I thought this was largely much better than the earlier comments,though very uneven (Picard's talk with his father should have been meatier, no rehab for the mother?), but halfway through, after the sudden Picard reawakening, more WTF moments.And the ending? I need a rewatch.

We are not getting a resolution to Picard's issues this season. "Ultimately, the actor helped chart an unexpected course for the role that would inform three seasons of the Paramount+ streaming series that would challenge both the character and himself. “Picard had to face a reality about his childhood and his home life and his parents that he had never ever faced before. Why? Because he was afraid, and an afraid Jean-Luc is a pretty rare creature, but to have that undercurrent of unexpected emotion running through Season 2, and coming to a climax of course in Season 3, was very satisfying.”" https://deadline.com/2022/04/star-trek-picard-patrick-stewart-interview-contenders-tv-1234999334/

Lodged Torpedo

Perhaps the genie bottle beacon did in fact work, and perhaps Q has managed to retain some of his powers, and perhaps the FBI man is not an FBI man…

James Callis made this interesting for me. Great acting chops and I thought he and Patrick played it quite subtle. When Pat has someone he can bounce off he is great. They could have been talking about… endorphins… and Istill would have watched it. I felt the Tallin connection as well. JL’s gonna be pissed when he returns home to find Laris has left and Mrs Doyle is making him a ‘nice cup of tea’! FECK! The rest unfortunately was more of the same guff. Guinan sure swept up that glass quick… real quick.

@Mike W "The comments section begins with non stop whining. I’m sorry the writers didn’t take your personal feelings into consideration when dealing with what you believe is a mental illness storyline. If the show bothers you this much, find another show to watch." This web-site bustles with praise when it's appropriate. The question is, WTF does this "mental illness storyline" have to do with anything? @Lee "Not hi ng dumber on this site than the incel MAGA Trek fans (who never actually understood Star Trek) that say that “Picard isn’t Picard, but Patrick Stewart” and other such nonsense. Your understanding of the character isn’t greater than PStew’s, and you are not an authority on the character. He just isn’t what you want him to be, which is likely the father figure you need and never had to unfuck yourselves. You’re just basement dwelling mouth breathers who think if you cry loud enough someone might make more 90s era television, de-age your favorite actors, and you can get doped up on enough nostalgia that you can pretend you’re living back when your lives weren’t meaningless, pathetic, dreary existences like you are now." Wow... @Bryan "I take it you missed the part where PStew openly admitted that he's no longer playing Picard as Picard but as himself -- that there's no longer any separation between the two? I believe that's largely the context in which some of us were responding, and in that context, I do believe there is a valid argument to be made that we "understand" Picard better than even the great PStew himself if his characterization in the show is any indication." Hence the problem... many here including myself brought up that letting Patrick in the writers booth would be a big mistake. It appears we were correct. I don't give a rats ass what Patrick thinks Picard is, I care what intelligent writers and producers (yeah, I know what we have) think he is based on a rich history of this character and franchise. They screwed it up right out the gate last year when they made Picard a quitter. @Troy G "I want to also mention how good Orla Brady looks, especially for a woman about 60" Fact... she looks like she's 45. And a very capable actress I might add. I'm holding out that this is in fact Laris and she has been watching Picard all along. After I watched this, I asked myself... what does anything mean? Are we to believe that TNG's Guinan had a bottle laying around so she could summon Q when she saw fit? What happened to that bottle when the Enterprise D crashed? the "truce" happened 100 years prior to 2024 so when Guinan when back in time in "Times Arrow" there was no truce? If the El-Aurian's can duke it out with the "Q" to a draw, how the hell does the Borg almost eliminate them? And folks, that's not the FBI that arrested Picard and Guinan, it's LT Ducane from the time ship Relativity. (VOY S5: "Relativity") Another wrench in the messy toolbox that is 'Picard' season 2. (I think so anyways) So Rios is worried about "breaking time" and yet he lets Teresa see and operate a 25th century medical device??!!!??? she sees in beam in? ... and then at a whim (and I mean the slimmest of whims... no big moment requiring he save them or anything) - beams them aboard his 25th century spaceship? Who the frak writes this stuff? Then the first thing the kid says is "I'm going to go touch everything" What, is this some writer getting back at his/her parents because they wouldn't let them touch everything in the store? Good lord. Santiago Cabrera must have been just shaking his head at this crap. What a waste of a good actor and what an assassination of a pretty good character (until now) Oh, and we still haven't recovered Rios' comm badge. (have we?) Seven and Raffi are an after-thought pretty much as well as our in-progress Borg Queen. More to follow I guess. We needed to spend an episode in Picard's head for some unknown #^%&#^$^ reason, so no assimilating going on in episode 7... no big threat here... we can wait until episode 8 or 9 for this... Then, and even "Laris" couldn't follow Picard here - Picard somehow surmises that he needs to learn from Q? I literally was shaking my head at the TV. I still don't get the logic. So Picard is "unstuck", there is a key, Seven and Raffi are looking for Jurarti, Rios shows off the 25th century, we get no more Q, we get no more Soong and Cara - what the frak DID we get out of this episode? WHY did we just spend and episode in Picard's head? .... does he HAVE to realize that it wasn't his father that was the monster all along? Why? WTF does any of this have to do with saving the future? I've given up on Discovery. The galaxy is run by females and there are no longer white straight males in the future... that's what it is... but I really had high hopes for this season. I've learned my lesson - these writers just suck. ... and I have no doubt that Patrick is a large part of the problem in "Picard'. A shame because I really enjoy, for the most part, this gaggle of actor's.

@Philadlj "TNG understood that the less you knew about Guinan’s or Q’s people, the better. They were MYSTERIOUS and thought provoking, but could also serve as allegories. To paraphrase Garak, I find this hyperspecificity most distasteful." Indeed. Just as I didn't need to know why Guinan looked older, I did not need to know a thing about El Auria vs. The Continuum. How we're expected to believe a corporeal race (albeit long-lived with psychic awareness and some spooky temporal perceptions) could possibly take on a single Q - let alone the entire Continuum - yet manage to lose to The Borg is a tough sell.

My guess is that Queen saggy Aggy will be producing plenty of endorphins next week by banging Mr 8ball from the bar. Forget chalk drawings, we’re going to see some real ‘skyrockets in flight’. Over to you Mr Burgundy.

Lee, You seem angry and petulant. I like that in a woman. How about we grab a whiskey sour and I show you how a real man covets the world.

After thinking more about it, I realize that the bad thing here isn't that they're trying to fill in the blanks on things like the Q and Guinan thing. It's that if they're going to do it, it needs to be as epic as it was when it was left unexplained. IOW, this is exactly why I was leery of the entire prospect of the Picard show from the moment I heard about it. I didn't know anything about the people who were behind it but I knew they weren't the same people who made TNG what it was. I was not willing to take it on faith that these people were competent enough to take something that was great and fill in the blanks with material that was of equal quality.

Anti-alien FBI man will have something to do with the point of divergence...

Alienatbar, Mmm, a borg queen and a barfly. Cybernetic royalty goes gutter diving for the mangoods. That's sassy.

Chris from Canada

Haha what a joke of an episode. The very first line after the title credits was when Raffi said "what's going on in there JL?" I laughed so fucking hard. 🤣 it was at the moment I knew this episode was going to be the worst. Seriously, whoever came up with that nickname should be forever banned from writing for Star Trek. The sheer fucking hubris 🤦‍♂️🤣 I see some commenters above quoting Garak.... sigh.... those were the days. Remember those intelligent, thought provoking and sometimes intense convos Garak/Gul Dukat would have with various DS9 characters? Yeah, we will never see that again. That was the pinnacle of well written Star Trek dialogue. Now we get dumb downed cheeky one-liners, unnecessary swearing, and whatever the hell Raffi is constantly whining about... so much whining. Shut the fuck up Raffi; worst star trek character ever created.

FBI Agent Welles i believe. As in Wells. As in HG Wells. Author of The Time Machine. The Timeship Relativity. Crewed amongst others by Lt. Ducane. Played by Agent Welles guy.

Dire. How did something manage to go down hill so quickly after those two promising opening episodes?!

Yeah I loved Garak and Dukat's characters (until Dukat went off the rails in season 7.) What was great about them was not only their intelligence and charm, it was how you got a picture of an alien race's different culture just from their personalities. And other Cardassians as well... those writers seemed to have a great grasp on the specifics of the alien race they were portraying. Contrasting to this show, not only is there nothing like that, but everyone from the 24th century acts like how people act today. Do the writers have a lack of imagination? I wonder.

@artymiss Weren't all NuTrek seasons like this? A few good episodes at the beginning and then...

Species 10-Forward

This is what I think the Germans call fremdscham - being embarrassed for someone who has embarrassed themselves. I had an inkling of how Picard’s millimeter-deep self-analysis was going to go down, and it hit just about every false note I expected, including that something was wrong with mummy’s head. Watching the VFX, I kept thinking about how much money they spent to tell a story this cheap. My Ambien-inflected viewing experience made this episode much more bearable, but unfortunately not forgettable. Since Guinan summoned Q from a bottle like I Dream of Jeannie, perhaps Picard can summon the TNG team by wriggling his nose back and forth. Also Picard is Su’Kal. Picard’s trauma caused The Burn. Discuss.

Among certain circles of people, there's currently a very strong preoccupation with anxiety and depression. So, the fact that that just happens to be the "issue" from Picard's past is not a surprise, but feels really forced to me. It doesn't feel like 24th century problem to me, realistically. We already have *some* medication to deal with this type of thing now, although it's very shotgun approaches and we still lack a lot of understanding of the brain. I think a more imaginative and open minded view of the future would speculate that this is the kind of thing their medicine can solve. We DO see that psychologists exist in the future in the form of Troi, but note that when people have psychological problems, it's usually for heavy real world reasons and they aren't just suffering depression as an illness of it's own. It's unfortunate that the style of writing behind Picard, which very much wants to make episodes about modern issues to the point of desperation, just ends up lacking imagination and foresight about what the future might bring. It's a more subtle aspect that is missing from the newer Trek shows, and makes them less inspiring.

I honestly have no idea what I just watched.

@Species 10-Forward It's Fremdschämen. @Flipsider That didn't look like some kind of depression or anxiety disorder. That behavior was probably some kind of bipolar or schizophrenia. Who knows what actually happened but the woman portrayed was obviously psychotic.

Ok, I really tried... but this show has become unwatchable. I'm going to stop watching until the season is over so I can just binge watch the rest of this travesty and move on with my life. No S3 for me! Although it was nice to see James Callis again, this whole psychobabble subplot is extremely unrewarding. It's not that I don't find mental illness a worthy subject, but that the writers of this show seem incapable of crafting a meaningful moment that makes us care. The way things inch along, all I can think is, this whole season could've been a 2.5 hour movie. I really wish they would abandon the serial plot model for this show. It just doesn't work. I think about a show like BSG where it did work because they created such a high stakes situation with highly diverse characters that were deeply explored interconnectedly. This show just can't decide what it is. There are too many loose plot threads that were already outlandish to begin with. It reads like there were too many leaders in the writer's room who all had ideas -- dumb ones. That, or the superficiality driving the ideas just can't be reckoned with. The way Picard's childhood has been presented to us from episode 1 has been totally uninteresting. Like, I just couldn't care less. Now we find out that she was mentally ill and this all ties into Patrick Stewart's real life to make some kind of PSA for the viewers. I just don't care. It's not the kind of "progressive" ideology that really works in Star Trek. They are successively ruining the Picard character with every episode. When we finally get to the big reveal about his mother, the shrink sessions in his head, the mental exploration... it's skin deep. James Callis was wasted on this episode. Picard's interaction with the shrink... who the hell wrote that scene? It's just Picard being angry and avoidant for almost the entire episode. Boooooring. The scene with Guinan just made me give up. So the El Aurians, who were defeated by the Borg, somehow had the power to bring the Q to a negotiation table? This show is a parody of a parody of a parody. I'm out! Bye felicia.

@Booming Hmm. Well anyway, those are also issues you could imagine being solved in the future, when understanding of the brain ought to be better.

@Flipsider Absolutely. I wrote as much. Many of these mental illnesses are due to an imbalance in the brain chemistry which should be no problem for super advanced tech.

@Cyradus Ha ha. I don’t know if I would go that far. But pretty sad when you need to stop and think about whether it is actually worse than “Threshold” or not. I agree with a lot of people that Raffi is a poorly written character. In this episode, she did nothing but try to engage Seven in playful banter, as where Seven seemed focused on actually finding Jurati. As sad as this is, I don’t hate Raffi as much as Burnham. At least Raffi isn’t written to be the person responsible for saving the entire universe every season.

@Booming Weren't all NuTrek seasons like this? A few good episodes at the beginning and then... Possibly, probably... This time I was foolish enough to have hope!!! Picard 2 though does seem to have gone downhill far more spectacularly than Disco ever managed.

Another thing I find quite amusing is that the ship was still only shown in the dark. They are not using the cloak anymore, I guess the Picard estate is so gigantic that nobody can see a huge ship parked in a small forest. :D I must admit that it is kind of funny how people are still annoyed or surprised by all this. It's the sixth season of NuTrek. Personally, I have watched all but season 4 of dsc. All those season were convoluted messes with shallow, barely explored themes. Discovery at least tried things, this show on the other hand is just Star Trek: Reference. That they got the old TNG crew for one last paycheck reeks of desperation. Oh and people will watch. It's dead. Let's not be bitter and enjoy the last three episodes of the vomit comet. :)

More nonsense, more preaching. Baffling garbage dressing itself up as "Star Trek".

nacho Picard

The worst episode from the worst Star Trek related thing I've ever felt compelled to watch. This season is like Voyager's Threshold over and over and over again.

@nacho Picard Threshold at least had a redeeming quality in that it had an (albeit far fetched) scientific basis. This episode had mostly uncomprehensible chaos. I have seen everything Trek, but this a such a low point I have trouble wrapping my head around it. Absolutely flabbergasted.

Really feels like every episode spends the first half wrapping up the previous episode's big cliffhanger (Rios is on a bad bus! Picard got hit by a car! Picard is under arrest!) and then the second half of the episode setting up the next one. Also, this is easily the closest I've ever come to not actually completing an episode of post-TOS Star Trek. I don't think the intention is for the viewer to nod vigorously when Picard shouts that this backstory delve is irrelevant, but there it was. Have the creative team behind Picard actually watched a decent TV series in the last twenty years?

Threshold is better because it attempts a "Triple Lindy" level plot, and the result is Rodney Dangerfield hitting his head on all three diving boards before careening into the spectator's gallery and killing several old ladies and one dwarf-sized person. It has ambition yet leaves the audience wide-eyed and bewildered, as it concludes its Sam Kinison-esque assault on our senses and well-being. Picard is like the uptight professor in the film except with Alzheimer's and constant bouts of flatulence.

And that's also the curse of serial storytelling. You can't give up on just one episode halfway through without giving up on an entire season. More likely though, you're glued to your seat and are strangely compelled to watch the whole trainwreck unfold.

Well, everyone, we are a LONG LONG WAY from IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT, aren't we ?

In my personal rating system I only give episodes pluses or minuses, and I was on the fence about this. On the plus side, half of the Emotional Picard Mystery is cleared up - his beloved mother was mentally ill (schizophrenia I'm guessing). I very much liked the various illustrations of Picard being "stuck." I'm also in favor of the idea that Q wants Picard to face his inner demons. But I seem to have a lot more minuses. - Why not tell us the rest of the EPM? That young J-L was somehow responsible, at least in his own mind, for his mother being locked away. That's got to be the reason for the guilt. - Agree about the missing Robert, although possibly he was so much older than J-L that he'd left home? - Rios handing the neural stabilizer to his doctor GF is hopelessly wrong. - The GF's kid is being written as a real brat - he smirks when told he's broken a promise, then threatens to "touch everything" on La Sirena. - Rios takes them to La Sirena for no reason and potentially awful consequences. - Rene Picard's storyline is completely dropped. Are we past three days yet? Will we get to see her lift off with supportive music? - A complete repeat of the arrested-by-cops scene from a few eppies earlier. This had better be a ruse by the lead cop-who-is-really-Q. (If he's being summoned by Guinan, there's no reason he'd look like he usually does to Picard.) - I am so uninterested in the Seven-Raffi nonromance, it's a waste of screen time to me. - One short scene is not enough for the Agnes/Queen battle. - The pacing was slllooww. So I guess it rates a minus. With the news that next season will feature most of the TNG cast, one wonders what will happens to the actors from this year. I vote as follows: - Rios stays in the past with Dr. Ramirez. - Seven and Raffi go off to be Rangers together far, far away. - Agnes becomes a good Borg Queen and turns the hive toward the light, or back to the Delta Quadrant. - Q is still mysterious, but much weaker. - Elnor stays dead. - No new Soongs appear. - Soji isn't important enough to mention.

TheRealTrent

This show continues to get fairly decent reviews. On the top ten or so search hits on google for this episode, most of the magazine reviews are positive. On the Trek forum, everyone loves this stuff. On reddit, the StarTrek subreddit has split into two different subreddits, one half hating this stuff, the other loving it. The fandom seems to have bifurcated starkly into those who love this stuff, and those who can't stand it. This seems different to previous Trek, where there's a general consensus as to what good and bad episodes are.

Some random thoughts in no particular order : - well, those developments were certainly all remarkably random, to the point where it feels like the writers just put their hand into a bag with random dramatic plot developments and just threw the first five things they got on the screen. - but at least, there was development. So from a bare bones "was I bored or not" entertainment angle, this easily was a step up from the previous episodes. - James Callis! Wheeee! - also James Callis : aaaargh, why do you have to show up on screen and remind my of how much better such a series can be? I certainly like Picard a lot more than DSC, but none of this new trek business comes even remotely close to BSG on a bad day. - fascinating to see how Stewart, who generally now sometimes seems too lazy to act, dials it up once Callis is in the room. He's clearly still got it in him, but apparently the best way to get a good performance out of him these days is to put an actor in front of him that makes him worry that the scene might get stolen if he doesn't bring his A game. Well, fine by me, do that more often then 😄 - which leads me right to my next wish : can we please have as little Raffi as possible? Terribly written character, and terribly acted on top of it. At this point, all I can think in those scenes is "that's seven of nine there in the frame, can you please stop yapping, I want to hear what she has to say" - and yes, getting paired with the completely pointless Raffi character is really a monumental disservice to Jery Ryan. Seven of Nine character, completely wasted and reduced to being a sidekick in a completely ineffective "duo". I'm sure it looked good on paper in the writers room, but boy, what a waste this turns out to be. -staying with Raffi and Seven for a moment : this now starts to rival seven/chakotay in terms of least believable, chemistry free on screen trek romance. Can we please just stop dealing Jery Ryan a completely fabricated, plot-unearned love interest at every turn and just let her function as individual character? Worked great on voy all those years, you know? What an irony to now always force her into a... collective of sorts 🥳 (sorry) - I laughed out loud when young guinan quoted the jazz hands gesture from whoopie in TNG. It's completely pointless (and the whole explanation attempt as to her species relationship with the Q is really remarkably yeah-whatever) but hey, I laughed, so there's that. Managin expectations, I guess. Oh well. First two episodes felt a lot more promising than what this now turned into. I'd like to be emotionally involved, but the sheer randomness of it all thoroughly destroyed my suspension of disbelief. Be less lazy with your plot writing, please. Ah well, they get one more try with S3 and the TNG cast. Of course I will watch. I'm a trek addict. But boy, imagine a nutrek on the level of BSG. Maybe they should just call Ron Moore and have him create another "gonna show Berman and Braga what I tried to do when they didn't let me" extravaganza.

@Queen - Rene Picard's storyline is completely dropped. Are we past three days yet? Will we get to see her lift off with supportive music Oh yeah, I'd forgotten all about her! 😆

Chris Lopes

"Not hi ng dumber on this site than the incel MAGA Trek fans (who never actually understood Star Trek) that say that “Picard isn’t Picard, but Patrick Stewart” and other such nonsense. Your understanding of the character isn’t greater than PStew’s, and you are not an authority on the character. He just isn’t what you want him to be, which is likely the father figure you need and never had to unfuck yourselves. You’re just basement dwelling mouth breathers who think if you cry loud enough someone might make more 90s era television, de-age your favorite actors, and you can get doped up on enough nostalgia that you can pretend you’re living back when your lives weren’t meaningless, pathetic, dreary existences like you are now." I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over. :)

TheRealTrent - the real question is whether the latest incarnations of "Trek" have anything but a cosmetic connection to the source material. Because if they don't, does it really matter if anyone likes the shows? And I'm pretty sure if Gene were still alive today, people like Kurtzman wouldn't be allowed within a parsec of the Trek kingdom. Similar issue to Lucas's decision to give up control of SW.

@The Queen Renee was unstable, then had Picard talk to her for half a minute and after that somebody tried to kill her, while terribly injuring the nice man who turned her around. The last we see of her is staring down on Picard in horror. Mental problems solved. Next stop Io! :D Hahaha

If you want more help from me JL, there's a price to pay I'm a Q-ueenie in a bottle You gotta rub me the El-Aurian way When you scream like a banshee You can somehow summon me You gotta drink the essence of our truce Then the correct timeline I'll reintroduce

"You’re just basement dwelling mouth breathers who think if you cry loud enough someone might make more 90s era television, de-age your favorite actors, and you can get doped up on enough nostalgia that you can pretend you’re living back when your lives weren’t meaningless, pathetic, dreary existences like you are now." If you think of Q's voice saying this it's quite amusing!

@Artymiss Wow, it really is! Maybe he had Q's voice in mind while he was writing it!

""You’re just basement dwelling mouth breathers who think if you cry loud enough someone might make more 90s era television, de-age your favorite actors, and you can get doped up on enough nostalgia that you can pretend you’re living back when your lives weren’t meaningless, pathetic, dreary existences like you are now." If you think of Q's voice saying this it's quite amusing!" It works even better with Garak. Or, for a real laugh, try it with Sisko and insert some gratuitous "DAMN!" In there.

Imagine someone watching Picard and saying the ones disliking the show are the ones who don't understand Star Trek. Imagine someone watching Picard and saying "yes this is Star Trek. This is a worthy continuation of the franchise." Wouldn't be me.

The Queen said: "Agree about the missing Robert, although possibly he was so much older than J-L that he'd left home?" Robert arguably *never* left home. He took over the family business.

I'll avoid the moronic arguments erupting here between people who have opinions and people who have different opinions. Anyway: I thought this episode was probably the season's best so far. It wasn't perfect (some of the B-plot material outside Picard's head was a bit too campy), but the primary focus was very nicely conceived. I really liked the way they explored Picard's past, and I don't think it's a bad thing if that parallels Patrick Stewart's past in some ways. It's simply true that for much of his fictional life, Jean-Luc Picard has been allergic to emotional expression, to sharing himself, and to being close to other people outside the professional environment. So that they've taken the psychoanalytic route to discern why is, while not necessarily the best-aligned with modern psychological theory (that's my field), an accessible and familiar approach. As long as it's executed effectively, it can be very good -- and I think this episode was admirable in that light. I did have some concerns about the way mental illness was being portrayed through Picard's mother, but I am also inclined to wait and see how that develops before I throw any stones. There are many legitimate ways they can handle this from the foundation in place, and I suspect they'll get there.

"""You’re just basement dwelling mouth breathers who think if you cry loud enough someone might make more 90s era television, de-age your favorite actors, and you can get doped up on enough nostalgia that you can pretend you’re living back when your lives weren’t meaningless, pathetic, dreary existences like you are now." I read it with Time's Arrow's Mark Twain voice...

@Greg M No I can't explain what is happening but it was more viewable than lst time. There is a lot of complaints regarding whining and that one could stop whatch if you do not like. I like to wath it but it is not the Trek I prefer. I just finished watching The Orville for the first time. It was sometime silly, but very watchable and even good but it did not really get this extra trek feeling. (Well it isn't trek or?) Picard and even DISC gives something more that makes me like it, and Picard is better. My whining, it's good enough to watch but I still would like the 14 good stories in a season than a very looooooooong.

Steve McCullagh

Seriously, do the writers really not know Picard had a brother, or are they just ignoring it for no reason?

Picard's brother was mentioned by his mother in a flashback in the first episode of this season. I'm not sure why he would be mentioned here, as he is not story relevant.

I was actually liking this episode, until Rios brought that lady into the ship. I literally scream "oohh, c'mon!" At my TV. However, even worst was the ending. Until the very last moment i thought the FBI guy would be a different Q, but that just pissed me off. On what ground would you arrest somebody for materialising somewhere? Terrorist activity? Even worst, how are writers gonna fix the immense contamination of the timeline? So far, every single character from the future has manage to do some irreparable damage to the past. Is Q gonna snap his fingers by the end of episode 10 and erase everything? Be my guest, and erase these season if possible too.

Picard's mother "You must learn to lead people with inspiring speech" Young Picard "I will never be able to do that" Picard's mother "But you will" *eyeroll* guess he lived up to his mother's expectations. I actually thought the idea of fleshing out Picard's issues with this mother and father and explaining how that shaped him into the man he became was a great concept that was very poorly written. It's a better side plot than Rios being arrested, the gala, etc, and having Gaius Baltar there helped, but it could have been so much better. The end of the episode just devolved into nonsense. Summoning Q and Picard getting arrested was beyond stupid. Are we going to spend the entire season in 2024? If so, I'm going to be really disappointed.

They're gonna have to dust off the Voyager reset button. It's the only way to decon all the stupid.

The Queen said: "- Seven and Raffi go off to be Rangers together far, far away." Not sure how much it means, but Jeri tweeted gleefully about the entire TNG cast joining in S3, so presumably she gets to stick around and work with them. Either that or she's eager to decamp the shit show and glad to have reinforcements.

I forgot to mention another thing I rolled my eyes at when watching that other commenters mentioned. Rios giving Dr. Theresa future medical tech under the premise that she is more qualified to use it than him is also beyond stupid. She just pointed it at his head, pushed the button, and waved it around in circles. I'm sure they teach that in 21st century medical school. I think with those things if you move it around in a clockwise circle the mind heals, but if you move it around in a counterclockwise circle you stay in a coma forever. Maybe Rios couldn't remember which direction to make the circle motion.

@Nick It reminds me of Voyager's "Extreme Risk", where the Doctor said that Torres healed herself "with the skill of a first year nursing student". From what I could tell, it;s just a healing beam that you shine over the wound. It's hard to believe that it can be done with various levels of skill. It's like saying someone is very skilled at using a flashlight.

Dahj’s Digital Ghost

@Nick — If this entire episode had been an exploration of Picard’s childhood and family life, including relevant flashbacks to Robert, Marie, and Rene, sans “Monsters,” I would have been happy. As it stands, meh.

"They're gonna have to dust off the Voyager reset button. It's the only way to decon all the stupid." Imagine if Picard turned out to have been dreaming the entire season Dallas-style - his fevered mind reimagined Laris as Tallinn, Soji as Kore, and Altan Soong as Adam Soong. It would make more sense than some of what we've seen so far. OK, so it would render the preceding episodes void... I'm not seeing a downside? Even better if they go full Frame Of Mind and he then wakes up again and realizes S1 was a dream as well...

Could be like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz... you were there, and you were there"

"Even better if they go full Frame Of Mind and he then wakes up again and realizes S1 was a dream as well... " Have a final scene where Patrick Stewart wakes up next to Rick Berman...

EmpressHoshiSato

Seeing Dr. Baltar as Starfleet/the Father was great. Missed opportunity for the Agent at the bar to be Captain Ducane from the 29th Federation Timeship Relativity from Voygaer. Thus Seven would recognise him. The therapist scene was more like Star Trek. The vineyard flashbacks at the start were terrible until the adult Picard and Doctor Baltar arrived. A lot of time used up in the limited 40 minutes yet again, which surely is a poor use of screen time. Didn't seem like Rios had to break the Prime Directive at all yet he did. Cute Doctor is hot , but still. And is it safe to take her back to the Starship that has been compromised by the Borg Queen? Raffi poor at the start, better towards the end. Seven more like Seven towards the end. Guinan should be played by someone who looks more like Guinan or just by Whoops herself. Didn't quite understand why a Q could not be summoned. The plot didn't appear to advance much or explain the big picture much at all. As for the Borg Queen, surely that should be the priority now given the entire premise of the movie First Contact! It really seems like the 24th century Starfleer crew should have fabricated some ID to cover themselves in the event they encounter the authorities. Unless the agent at the end is the Federation Time Department given it's the exact same actor from Voyager. Doctor Baltar would have been a great Starfleet character and hope he would have more of a role. Did Picard senior accidentally allow a seductive Borg agent access to the Federation Defence Mainframe? Did the Borg collective gain the ability to remotely disable a great portion of the The defensive fleets of Earth, Vulcan and the founding worlds of the UFP before Starfleet could mount a defence? Did Picard junior have to lead an Enterprise E, due for retirement and survivors of Earth and Starfleet to safety to the rumoured lost 13th colony? Better than last week, but so much of it did not feel like Star Trek and was a poor use of screen time.

Psychologist: Even your closest friends call you Captain Next scene Raffi: What’s going on in there J-L? Christ on a bike. Starting to wish Elnor survived and Raffi was killed off. That’s how bad things have got… Probably the weirdest episode of ST I’ve ever seen (yes including Beverley having ghost sex) as no plot, random events, bizarre decisions, Jurati goes to a bar and to get endorphins, she breaks glass. Why?? Just why? No Spiner or Q this week. Why? Best Bit was from a film. Are you from outer space? No I’m from Chile… Difference here was that she was actually seriously asking him this. In ST IV she was being sarcastic.

Yup, the closest friends Capn thing? Yuk Yuk. Raffi on form.

I quite enjoyed this one right up until the "Guinan" scene.. I was never that keen on her character to begin with but this just isn't Guinan or any El-Aurian we've seen (which I guess is only 2?). That almost ruined a pretty decent episode for me. Rios semi-copying Kirk's line was amusing but unfortunately reminded me that I wasn't that keen on 10 episodes of Star Trek 4 in the first place. I'm also not sure where they're going with Picard's unability to be err overtly emotional or touchy-feely? So what? Many people aren't and still lead happy fullfilling lives - in fact he did in "The Inner Light". Not to mention Beverly called him Jean Luc pretty much the entire series. Just.. Odd. I did like the fact the FBI have caught up with them at least - I mean they've been incredibly sloppy about beaming into and out of places. Even in my moderately sized townin 2022 it's unlikely you could beam into any street without being picked up by CCTV or camera of some kind. But yeah somehow I enjoyed it anyway. 2.5 stars for me. Might have been 3 without the Guinan scene.

@P Car "Psychologist: Even your closest friends call you Captain Next scene Raffi: What’s going on in there J-L?" Oh man, good point! It's as if, in examining Picard's character, the writers can only conceptualize him as the man *specifically* from TNG. But, at the end of TNG, there's the classic scene of Picard sitting down and playing poker with them, with the implication that he's loosening up a bit. He would've changed and continued to evolve over time. For that matter, I think the idea that Picard from TNG was some emotionally stunted man is an exaggeration. There was really never any cause to think he had childhood trauma. It was just in his character to be stuffy and overly serious, keeping a bit of a professional distance between him and his crewmates, but he can and did frequentally bond with many of the crew members throughout the course of TNG. I'd say he was portrayed as well adjusted, kind, and nurturing in his own way. I think it's why they made such a bad choice in trying to focus more on Patrick Stewart. That would have been fine if what they were trying to say also fit with the Picard character... but it really doesn't, not at all.

@Artymiss "Possibly, probably... This time I was foolish enough to have hope!!! Picard 2 though does seem to have gone downhill far more spectacularly than Disco ever managed." DSC started fairly low and sank way, way lower.

All this talk of Garak and Dukat. Seriously well written supporting characters and played beautifully. I once had Robert O’Reilly running up auditorium stairs to kill me Klingon style at a fan gathering as I suggested having both he and the mighty Hertzler in the same room was.. almost.. as good as having 1 Jeffrey Combs. They were brilliant. Had a photo with my daughter who was next to Gowron. She’s, eh WTF! Priceless. Damned if anyone is going to question my nostalgia!

Didn’t Guinan leave the bar for good???

Dahj's Digital Ghost

@P Car — "Psychologist: Even your closest friends call you Captain Next scene Raffi: What’s going on in there J-L?" I caught that, too. Hilarious. I guess they've forgotten that not only did Beverly Crusher call him "Jean-Luc" all the time, she was also known to call him simply "Jean". Hmm....

If my name was Jean-Luc, I would tell my close friends NOT to call me "JL." In fact I'm pretty sure I could identify my enemies that way.

Oh yes, the "J-L" thing again was annoying. Next week, will J-L meet Jalo? Or Seven of Nine is suddenly referred to as 7-9. As far as the "reset" button goes mentioned above in the comment thread, best way would be this whole show is actually a hallucination during Picard's torture on Cardassia. Suddenly the lense flare will awaken him. The scene from the TNG resumes. As Picard is freed from his bonds and about to be taken away, he turns to Madred and defiantly shouts, "There are four lights!" And history continued as it did. Fast forward to the 24th century and a retired Picard misses the stars. He is suddenly contacted by his old TNG comrades after Starfleet detects a signal that suggests Data is alive and the whole family reunite to steal the Enterprise E and save him in "The Search for Data".

They might do the reset button thing... especially with Q in the mix, he could just snap his fingers and everything would be back to normal. On the other hand, they could just completely ignore any time travel issues and pretend like nothing happened. That sounds to me a bit more likely.

Can we just skip to Season 3 right now?

Indeed, I want to see how the Picard/Romulan housekeeper/Dr. Crusher love-triangle plays out. Because your life is empty and meaningless if you're single for any reason.

Irumodic syndrome. S2 ends with us seeing Picard with a rare moment of clarity, the other actors are his caregivers. His broken mind has imagined all of S1 and S2. The reset button talk gave me that idea. And I’m just going to pretend that’s how it ends cause I hate both seasons anyway. Of all the possibilities for Star Trek and Discovery and Picard is what we got. Ugh.

Idk-- I'm still hung up on the fact that a starship captain in the 25th century is allowed to smoke stogies openly on his bridge during what is about to be a major life and death situation-- regardless of the second-hand smoke likely being synthesized and non-toxic. :) You can't trust writers who think this is a cute character-building decision. "Man... will just be too smart to keep this up. So I said 'no one smokes.'" -Gene

"Picard's mother being locked away, and indeed everything inside Chateau Picard, feels excessively 18th century. Wouldn't they have a better 24th-century treatment for mental illness than "lock her in a room"?" Yes! Thank you! The whole thing feels so moronic!

The text of Jammer's review makes the 2 stars he doled out seem rather high.

Quick follow-up... Reading through the comments, I'm noticing that many of you point out one aspect of the show that you liked, and you hung onto that storyline which is totally understandable (I'm intrigued by what's going on with Jurati and the Borg Queen, but little else). We're all Trekkies and we WANT this to be good Star Trek. But therein lies the rub, when you're desperately searching for something, anything, to like about the story, it's just not working overall. These last few episodes have been a mish-mash of incoherent plotlines that make little sense... 100% agree with Jammer's review.

I agree with Jammer here and I agree with the star rating. We are at the point of the season where things need to start connecting together but instead we are thrown more curve balls and just keeping track of it all is hard. This episode went from point a to b to c in a span of 46 minutes and none of it felt cohesive. Where are we going and I hope there is a point soon.

Episodenull

I felt very optimistic about this season after the first three episodes. I don't any more. It's barely coherent nonsense, just like season 1 and the first three seasons of Discovery (I bailed on season 4 after the first episode.) I don't know why the producers of modern Star Trek felt it had to become one mystery box after another, but putting that aside I'd be okay with it if the mysteries were interesting and the overall picture compelling. They're not. The show runners aren't doing any of it well. It's just tedious at this point. Someone over on another site posted excerpts from what was supposedly an interview with Terry Matalas where he said he stepped back from season 2 midway through to start work on season 3, with Akiva Goldsman taking over the day to day running of things. All I could think was, great, another season of new Trek that changed show runners midway and suffered for it. When will they learn?

@Jaxon "The text of Jammer's review makes the 2 stars he doled out seem rather high." I was expecting a * 1/2. Still, the trend is clear and frustrating. Just as a matter of interest I pulled out the calculator and added up Jammer's star count for each season up to episode 7 (NuTrek live-action only). By episode 7, each season had accrued: Disco S1: 19.5 stars Disco S2: 20 stars Disco S3: 19.5 stars Disco S4: 19.5 stars Picard S1: 19 stars Picard S2: 17 stars So basically, to pull up the season average, Picard needs to knock it out of the park the next three weeks. Someone has dropped the ball at the production end if, by the 2/3 mark, we're still waiting for the show to approach a point.

I imagine that nearly all of the episodes in this season are getting a conditional half-star in good faith that could be retroactively revoked if it turns out in the end that all the mystery boxes were empty and they were just stringing us along and wasting our time. In order to justify that, though, the season would need to make little to no sense when viewed a whole from beginning to end.

People who have used Picard's first name. - Beverly - Vash People who are on first name basis with Picard on THIS SHOW - Raffi - Deanna Troi - Will Riker Hahaha, never trust you coma therapist. OMG. This show is dumb. "Then I look in a mirror. Time is the fire in which we burn." 500cc of hugs for Jammer. Stat! I prefer that sooner or later "the drop becomes the ocean again" :) The thought of death has to be uncomfortable, look at how self-destructive and risky Humans act all the time, can anyone even imagine how that would be if we wouldn't fear death so much?!

PS: I forgot. Laris also called Picard Jean Luc. :D I guess we shouldn't hold it against the writers that they didn't watch their own show.

Oh and Guinan also called him Jean Luc. Jesus!

Q called him John Luck Pickurd.

The "JL" thing has always been awful. It makes no sense as a nickname; it's not less syllables than his real name, and it doesn't roll off the tongue as well. It was always unearned familiarity for a character that came out of nowhere but was Picard's best friend for some reason. I wish Raffi was better written, there's no reason a sassy competent lady can't work in Trek, it's been done multiple times. I don't think Hurd is a bad actress but they went from giving her nothing to making her an obnoxious idiot for no reason. People complain about the "wokeness" in this show but look at Raffi. She's the embodiment of the myogenetic caricature of the hysterical woman, ruled by her emotions and utterly irrational. It's kind of fucked up. I will say in her defense that it's funny how many people refer to her as a "drug addict" when she's been shown vaping on screen three, maybe four times and was visibly inebriated exactly once, when Picard was manipulating her into burning bridges with one of her only friends so he could get to the Borg cube. It's very likely the show meant to portray her in a way that implied she was an addict, but they didn't really do anything with that besides show her vaping. Good heavens!

@Jaxon Arguable Q and Picard aren't friends and the Fathertherapist said even your friends call you captain. @Sen-Sors In season 1 she had an entire bush of drugs in front of her house. There was also the time when everybody was shown ads and Raffi saw an ad for drugs. In this season we had the scene where it is portrayed like she had to overcome the strong urge to drink alcohol. The show certainly treats her like a drug addict. One wonders how she got her starfleet commission back without her substantial drug problem ever coming up.

Quote: //JANEWAY: The Doctor says many of the wounds were treated by someone with the medical expertise of a first-year nursing student.// in extreme risk. I don't think she was talking about a dermal regenerator

I must admit I had (maybe unreasonable on my part) high hopes for this season of Picard, thanks to Terry Matalas who was the showrunner on 12 Monkeys, a TV show that ran for 4 season on SyFy. It was a genuinely good series with some nifty plot twists and great character work. I am a pretty tough critic and there aren't that many shows that I can unconditionally endorse, but 12 Monkeys was one of them: a fun little gem of time-traveling shenanigans. Sadly, Matalas doesn't seem to have succeeded in bringing the same kind of magic to Picard.

> They might do the reset button thing... I've jumped ahead and wonder how that might work. So I did a bit of branch exploration. Let's presume they fix things enough that when they jump to the future, they come into the OG timeline. But at what point? Just as they're being self-destructed? Obviously can't work as most are dead anyway. A bit later, if we understand that Q just brought them "sideways" into the CF timeline but without time traveling? Seems dubious, as the fleet will have sustained heavy losses. Conveniently some time before the self-destruct? But then, wouldn't they exist twice in the timeline? Picard can't go wait for the call if he is already there getting the call. So I'm left with Q reinserting them at such "some time before" point, in their same bodies. Will they retain their memories? Or will they act differently by instinct? And what about the ship then? But I'm starting from a maybe flawed premise: Q is the only one able to move sideways, thus they jump forward into the CF timeline, after they left out. Only now it is just like the OG timeline, after they managed the fix. But it's not the "same". Is then the actual OG timeline wiped out of existence? Or is there now a parallel timeline, the OG, in which the Borg snafu happens? In any case, if they return to CF after they left, wouldn't the Borg have already arrived and they fsckd up in the same manner? What if they all die/are marooned in the past fixing the future? Will their future selves continue living on, oblivious to it, in the fixed future? All in all, I can't see it working without Q intervention, and at that point I'm not sure they need the ship anyway.

I have so much fun reading the comments on this site, way more than I ever got from NuTrek. Thank you Jammer for having this site :) I do have a single suggestion that would solve a lot of the issues the show has. It is clearly written as a comedy instead of a serious Star Trek show, right Kurtzman? So why not make the tone lighter (like a campy 80's comedy), and add a laughing track after every line of dialogue? It would do a lot to make all the stupid things happening on screen (illogical events, flat dialogue, character decisions) much more bearable. Calling a ship "Worldrazor", having skulls of other races in a room, the whole human race being so morally bankrupt to celebrate "Annihilation Day", introducing an advanced Earth-ending danger to the past (Borg Queen) and put in a mimimum of effort to have her guarded at all... having Rios being transported in a random place like that's acceptable (seriously, he could have just as easily been transported inside a wall or the earth of they're being so clumsy). On top of that dialogue (paraphrased but still) like: Picard's mother: "You will learn to lead people with inspiring speech" Young Picard: "I can't... I won't..." Picard's mother: "Oh, but you will!" This is just a very random example of dialogue for the sake of brevity, but how could you not add a laughing track to that? I guess I will do that in my mind from now on (if I can bear to watch another episode that is, but I'm such a sucker I probably will).

@StarMan Which shows that the star ratings don't really mean much across series. Say what you will about PIC but it is not worse than DSC.

@Top-Rob, your post could be interpreted as satiric or ironic... But to me a very real problem of modern "gritty/realistic" shows is that people rarely reacts as they would in such dire situations, for no discernible reason, which in turn makes you think "it's in the script" (in no small part due also to wanting to keep the Mystery Boxes unopened, and so making everyone withhold any interesting information, or never asking for it), hence breaking suspension of disbelief. Classic Trek campiness no doubt helped broaden the scope of what is acceptable in-universe. Actually I thing we have seen some minimal efforts in DIS/PIC to introduce some levity... But as it's not integral to the tone, it sounds as bitchy/snarky people that should better get their act together in a professional setting instead of acting like a-holes. And I actually agree that once you transcend the sadness of the loss opportunity that nutrek represents, taking it as non-seriously as possible helps. Or put another way, once you see "the matrix" of the soap opera that is behind it all, the seriousness takes second seat and you can enjoy it a bit more.

"Things happen on an all-new episode of Star Trek: Picard. That seems to be the best synopsis for many episodes this season. Lots of things happen. I have no idea how they relate to one other or make a compelling or cohesive tapestry (weak laugh), but, yeah, sure — things happen." This exactly. PIC S2 has grown extremely frustrating. We're very likely following the recipe of PIC S1 where like 95% of the season (pretty much everything except for the beginning and end) is subterfuge. It just doesn't matter. It is not making any cohesive sense and it's going to come down to a final moment -- this time between Picard and Q. I think Jammer's rating is too generous here (as it was for the first episode of the season). This particular episode descended from just being weak into being downright stupid in far too many acts. I'd agree that one should not waste one's mental energies trying to piece together what this episode says about mental illness... Hard to fathom how these writers can introduce so many pieces, then seemingly throw them away (Renee Picard, Soong/Kore), or bring them back in nonsensical ways like young Guinan. But again, it very likely doesn't matter. The idea of getting the best out of familiar actors/characters has been wasted and I'm really starting to think PIC is looking worse than DSC, especially if DSC can keep doing the very few things it did right (the sci-fi elements for one) in S4. I can't identify what PIC is consistently doing right. The difference between PIC & DSC comes down to how the writers approach the multiple episodes in a season-long arc -- is it to build a story or to deceive.

I agree with those who think two-stars is a bit high given Jammer's writeup of this episode. But I'd also remind you Jammer is fair and he gave two stars to notorious clunkers in DS9 like "Move Along Home." What's really striking to me is just how many episodes this season - and in Discovery - are getting 2 stars or fewer from Jammer. Each season of DS9 had about 2-3 episodes rated at 2 stars or less, but each season of DS9 was 2.5 times as long. By contrast, Picard Season 2 already has two 2-star and one 1.5 star episodes. Even if the final three episodes of this season are great, that's a very high proportion of terrible episodes.

@grey cat "Which shows that the star ratings don't really mean much across series. Say what you will about PIC but it is not worse than DSC." Agreed on both accounts. For instance, I would not leave a negative review about DSC as I simply stopped watching it ages ago. And I'm still not at that point with PIC. @Jan "@Top-Rob, your post could be interpreted as satiric or ironic... But to me a very real problem of modern "gritty/realistic" shows is that people rarely reacts as they would in such dire situations, for no discernible reason, which in turn makes you think "it's in the script" (in no small part due also to wanting to keep the Mystery Boxes unopened, and so making everyone withhold any interesting information, or never asking for it), hence breaking suspension of disbelief. Classic Trek campiness no doubt helped broaden the scope of what is acceptable in-universe. Actually I thing we have seen some minimal efforts in DIS/PIC to introduce some levity... But as it's not integral to the tone, it sounds as bitchy/snarky people that should better get their act together in a professional setting instead of acting like a-holes. And I actually agree that once you transcend the sadness of the loss opportunity that nutrek represents, taking it as non-seriously as possible helps. Or put another way, once you see "the matrix" of the soap opera that is behind it all, the seriousness takes second seat and you can enjoy it a bit more." I fully agree with you. And the 80's sitcom with the laughing track is a bit much, I know :). But for the rest I'm pretty serious. Just for good measure: I don't find harping on a bad show nearly as much fun as simply looking at a good show. I would wish for NuTrek to be great. So I'm not trying a jerk to NuTrek. But since it has Star Trek in the name I have some expectations and I before DSC aired I expected NuTrek to be (quasi) serious and smartly written. But not only does it fail to meet those expectations, it does it so spectacularly that it still baffles me every time. So PIC still has me as a hostage because I'm a helpless sucker for something with something Star Trek in it, but you really have to use a different mindset to get any joy out of it. In that sense my post is dead serious. But even I stopped watching everything NuTrek except PIC. Even minor stuff like small scenes... like you mention the snarkiness. The 'highly trained and professional' Starfleet members of the 24th century are somehow less able to collaborate on a professional level than some REAL random people that don't even know each other? "Are you sure we are supposed to be here?" "I KNOW HOW TO READ A TRICORDER!" Wow... just wow. It's a minor gripe but it's so far removed from the uplifting, positive outlook on the future that -for me- was always the magic of Star Trek. But I guess writers have problems and lost hope and everything has to be as dark as "The Walking Dead" nowadays. --- I have seen TNG/VOY/DS9 multiple times and will probably see them multiple times before I take my last breath. That much of a fan. Not sure if I will finish PIC but I will definately not see it ever again.

Even if nuTrek were good it would be much harder to rewatch, because it's not episodic. If you have time to catch a quick episode of Start Trek in between tasks, you're unlikely to pick an episode in the middle of an arc, even in a show like DS9 with an ongoing overall storyline. You're, say, more likely to pick In The Pale Moonlight than Strange Bedfellows.

Such a shame. I liked the dialogue and scenes with Callis, but this show again seems lost compared to what I thought was a very strong start.

Does anyone have a good feeling about Strange New Worlds at this point? I mean, if they can't do two live action shows right, how can they do a third?

I don't consider any nuTrek can on to the prime timeline. As far as I'm concerned, it takes place entirely of it takes place in a mirror universe. That includes Strange New Words. The last prime canon Trek is Demons/Terra Prime from 2005.

@SouthernD I think this idea of having Star Trek on nonstop to the point of oversaturation is really hurting the product right now. At this point I think they should end Picard, wait until the Summer and then premiere Strange New Worlds. I know they won't, but my opinion on SNW might be harsher considering it will air the same time as Picard's Season 2 finale. They really need to plan some breaks because there might come a point where there is too much Star Trek.

"The last prime canon Trek is Demons/Terra Prime from 2005." Amen.

Daniel Prates

Anyone else fearing that Tereza's son will pull a "wesleycrusher" and kinda hit the right button or turn the exact knob to take them out ot trouble on the nick of time by the ending of the season?

Maybe the Traveler will take a fancy to him.

@SouthernD I wouldn’t say I have a good feeling. I am mainly curious to see what it is like, and if they give episodic storytelling a shot. I did really like Anson Mount in Discovery as Pike, so I am willing to give it a shot. @Jaxon Yeah, I don’t consider anything in Discovery or Picard prime universe canon. I cannot accept Burnham being Spock’s brother. If she were, Spock would have murdered her, as that would have been the only logical thing to do with Burnham. I also cannot accept Picard as being a golem. But I suppose that is easier to accept than Q creating an alternate timeline, where Picard would have to travel to the past to correct the timeline, and in the process save his ancestor from a hit and run, resulting in Picard being put into a coma, all in order for him to confront his past. And then logically deducing that this is what Q wanted all along. OMG, how will Picard escape the FBI in the next episode? What a cliffhanger! I hope it’s as exciting as Rios escaping ICE! Maybe we can get another car chase scene with Raffi and Seven where they banter! F this stupid show.

One thing I have found a little amusing in the comments is the aversion to "JL". Most people either know me or have referred to me by my initials for a long time. Its somewhat of an oddity for the field but I can relate to it, and there's never been anything negative associated with it. So I admittedly have a bias and don't really share in the negativity towards it. As for the episode, I'm with Karl and a few others. I enjoyed most of the episode and the imagery going on in Picard's mind. I am curious as to whether he has awoken from the coma yet or somehow deliberately did so, as that story with his mother and father doesn't seem to be complete. However, I also think this was another wheel spinner of an episode. As a standalone I think it was fine but as part of the larger story I'm not sure it did much at all. 2.5 stars

I don't think there's anything negative with using initials. It's more just that Picard was called Jean-Luc by his close friends in TNG, and "JL" just sounds a bit ridiculous and ill-suited for him.

I suppose we'll have some or all of the TNG crew calling him JL or Jean-Luc next season.

I'm not even sure if I've woken from the coma yet, let alone JL. Crazy times.

@Jaxon @Flipsider Though I don't agree about how JL sounds in the context with Raffi, if the TNG crew were to do so, I would have to concede that it would sound fairly ridiculous.

I gave up on STD after season 2 and on Picard after season 1, I just couldn't take it anymore. But I still like to come here once in a while to read Jammer's take on this pseudo-Trek and I truly admire him for braving it. Never in the history of mankind was it a more thankless job to be a Trek fan. I also like coming here and scan through the comments to see that I'm not really missing anything. It seems to be still utterly underwhelming and nonsensical, ignoring the rules, tone and logic of the franchise in which its set. Honestly I prefer to watch the Red Letter Media diconstruction of this travesty than to watch the actual show. The sad thing is that all this tripe is official canon now. It's almost heart-breaking. I wish someone would come along in the future to make a real Star Trek series that would tell us the Kurzman era was a fever dream of Q or an alternate universe created by a spatial anomaly. I dunno, just friggin' make something up. Now, Strange New Worlds, I am tempted, I have to admit.... Anson Mount's Pyke was my favorite thing about STD season 2, and the character has untapped potential. So I like the premise, I like the cast, but it's the same friggin' creative team. Is it possible it will not be tripe? Is it possible they will not comtaminate the Trek timeline with utter bollocks? Shall one dare to hope?

@Lynos I believe there's a chance that Strange New Worlds won't be TOTAL tripe but I'm sorry to report that the outcome does not look too good for Pike. Because you know that the showrunners will lean all the way in to him suffering an agonizing and debilitating fate worse than death from which he cannot return, as is the destiny of all SWMs who lack plot armor. Even legacy characters like Icheb and Hugh aren't spared once they've outlived their usefulness...and it's not like their doom has been foretold like it was for Pike.

It's a mess, sadly, but a mess I will only ever watch once. I've only seen the first season once. I keep hoping the episodes are only 38 minutes long, to get through it. Entering a character's mind is such an old sci-fi trope and it's usually tedious.

@Greg M, I agree and I personally won't be going out of my way to watch SNW. One reason I took a chance on Picard Season 2 - despite being really disappointed in Season 1 - is because I thought Discovery was getting better. Picard is two steps backwards. And nothing about SNW suggests it'll be a big leap in quality from the other shows. It has the same writers and creative team.

Second watch on a dark and stormy night (seriously). The first half with Picard's deep backstory held up slightly better on a second watch, but his recognitition of the therapist as his father fell flat. The rest was just a waste, though the Rios actor is great.

@ Bryan Yeah, I know, and I did not like this part at all in “Through the Valley of Shadows”, but it was all par for the course for Discovery which played fast and loose with old-established characters and their back stories. If we were dealing with competent writers here I would say they could do something interesting with this future knowledge of Pike, but I fear it's just going to be a cheap dramatic device to let Pike have a darker side. Because we know it happened and we know he can't change it, even though this goes against previous episodes where your present knowledge could effect the timeline. In other words, the writers have opened a can of worms, but whatever. Nothing new here. And I always thought it would be more powerful to see a Captain Pike show where we're the ONLY ones who knows about his ultimate fate. It would imbue everything with a sense of tragic irony. But now that the character is aware, what is he going to do? He's certainly not gonna care much about his own fate. He can go on dangerous missions because he KNOWS he'll survive well into the future. I mean, WE know it, but he doesn't. Kirk was ready to sacrifice himself many times for his crew and put his life on the line, but heck, Pike knows his destiny, so he's safe. In other words, this stupid plot development they did in Discovery is compromising Pike's character as aleader of men and women. Anyway, I'm gonna give the series a shot, especially if it's episodic as they promise it would mostly be, but my expectations are low. And I won't be surprised if the writers decide to go the other way and just pretend “Through the Valley of Shadows” never happened, or only mention it when it's convenient.

@kiminasia You willingly watched this TWICE?!

This whole season feels like a rehash of Star Trek IV, repeating so many beats. Besides the ones already mentioned, we have Picard in a coma and getting arrested by federal officials ala Chekhov, ala not in the same order. Maybe he’ll have a funny interrogation scene next week too, ala the Russian thing. It’s all way too serialized for enjoyment.

Lost Mercenary

This season... Jesus Christ this might be worse than Discovery

@Lost Mercenary I guess DSC is almost old enough to be treated with the slightly rose-tinted glasses of ENT and VOY (and I have to admit some TNG/DS9). Not a chance is PIC worse. Rewatch DSC if you can stomach it then you'll remember (I actually tried that.. didn't last long. New Eden is actually good though.) ---- I would definitely agree with one of the posters about about Rios (or rather the actor). I feel they're under using Rios, Seven (and Jurati a bit less so). Those guys are real proper actors - certainly compared to the relative unknowns of some of the previous series and I feel they're kinda standing around without much to do a lot. Raffi is just being badly used. I realise it's a vehicle for Steward but great as he is, i'd rather they'd called it something else and not had to focus on him so much.

Booming: Renee was unstable, then had Picard talk to her for half a minute and after that somebody tried to kill her, while terribly injuring the nice man who turned her around. The last we see of her is staring down on Picard in horror. Mental problems solved. Next stop Io! :D Hahaha Sure, I know all that. I was just pleading for some actual closure. Jaxon: Robert arguably *never* left home. He took over the family business. I was thinking something like "away to university for business degree."

OmicronThetaDeltaPhi

@Jaxon " 'If you don't like it, don't watch' is as arrogant as 'America, love it or leave it' " To be fair, I don't get why people who hate Nu Trek fork their well-earned money to watch it. Why, in the name of the Great Bird of the Galaxy, do these people insist on financing a project that mutilates the thing they love? It's absurd. @Grey cat "Not a chance is PIC worse. Rewatch DSC if you can stomach it then you'll remember (I actually tried that.. didn't last long. New Eden is actually good though.)" I can't stomach either of them, but I firmly think PIC is far worse. DSC - at least - mostly leaves the classic iconic characters alone. Pike was actually treated with dignity and respect. Spock's character was kinda butchered, but it wasn't *that* awful. PIC, on the hand, is downright vicious and malevolent in its treatment of the classic Trek material. Picard's character has turned into a mockery of himself. Icheb literally butchered onscreen. Seven becoming a murderer. Now they are also ruining Q and Guinan... not to mention all the times where PIC actively mocked the ideals and morals that TNG always stood for. So no, there's no way DSC is worse. @Booming "Weren't all NuTrek seasons like this? A few good episodes at the beginning and then..." Yup. This has become a staple of the newer live shows.

@Ron Burguny "I've been censored by this foolish, mortal site denizen." Good! This should have happened a long time ago. Gotta admit that I don't understand why Jammer is giving this guy so much leeway. Pretty much all his comments here are troll-posts with zero substance. Why allow this kind of behavior? It contributes nothing to the discussion. It's unpleasant. So why?

I don't remember that quote from Anchorman. Maybe I need to watch it again.

Similar to last week, I found this episode perfectly serviceable and making me want to see the next installment, so a success. I do miss the early 25th century, though. Some plot threads are starting to come together. Talinn is an ancestor of Laris, and helps Picard realize that his mother suffered from what I'm going to guess was major depression with psychotic features based on what the show's revealed thus far. This gives context for Picard's knowing statement that depression in a human is debilitating and that there may be a family history of depression given Renee's struggles that Q was seemingly trying to exploit. I doubt that Picard's father literally locked her in a room. That's just what the show wants us to think at this point. How this ties in with the damage to the Q Continuum I'm not sure about yet. The trailer for S2 and the trailer for next week suggest that Wells/Ducane saw Vulcans or Romulans on earth as a child, but it's also possible that we'll learn that there has been some other meddling. I think the boy we see receiving the mind meld is *not* young JLP, as I had initially thought. The "I'm from Chile, I just work in outer space" line made me chuckle. I didn't find it corny at all.

Jammer giving it 2 stars was a shock. I for sure thought he would pull out a 1 or a 1/2 star for this one. Hes a nice fellow. We need ignore buttons, this Ron Burgundy fellow needs to do something else with his time.

@OmicronThetaDeltaPhi "PIC actively mocked the ideals and morals that TNG always stood for." applies equally to both shows at best and more realtically applies to DSC more. PIC at least has hints of Star Fleet crew acting like Star Fleet now and again. DSC literally never does - they're just unprofessional children. I don't have a problem with Picard's character changing as he ages, mellowing and becoming more reflective - people do. Seven seems like a slightly humanized version of Seven from VOY. Yep Icheb was butcherd on screen, that was a plot point. Someone's head exploded in S2 (?) of TNG. Q is ill (dying?) so who knows and I never cared for Guinan but the new actress is dreadful at playing her I agree. So to compare to DSC: Mediocre actress playing the lead Literally everything revolves around Michael saving the day and being a hero despite being probably the biggest mass murderer of any Star Fleet commander/captain. Weakest cast of any Star Trek version (literally soap-opera level of acting) Not a single likeable character since they all act like children Many characters barely have back story or any defining characteristic Ridiculous plot (ok that could be same for PIC at the point we are in this season but it's not over) So no, there's no way PIC is worse. It's not meant to be TNG season 8 but at least it isn't DSC 2.0 Maybe I'll hate it as much as DSC by the end of this season but it has a long way to go to sink to those depths yet. I'll concede it's definitely having a wobble right now. @dave An ignore button would definitely be nice to avoid the main 2 trolls on this forum but it's easy enough to scroll on by.

For anybody who wants to understand why NuTrek is such an ethical wasteland I can only recommend "A perverts guide to ideology" (It's on archive.org). It's just fantastic and explains why a corporate product is constructed like this is. It's a blast. If you like deep thought, give it a go.

I have a teory for why Robert is missing from the flashbacks. At that time he was sent back in time, got a sex reassignment cirgury, so he could impersonate Reneé Picard, find life on Io and save the future of humanity. That explains why Reneé, a supposedly trained astrounaut, was so scared of the mission. Thats why Jean Luc (sorry, JL) doesn't remember her and thats why Robert is missing from Picard's visions. I know it, and you know it... that's gonna happen!

Again, Robert being in Picard's weird mental space wouldn't make sense within the context of the story, even if it was better written. The emotional dynamic here was that Picard idolized his mother, and demonized his father - they were who were important to the story. Robert doesn't have a place within this particular story, and in the first episode his mother intimated he (as the older son) spent most of his time with Maurice anyway (which may partially explain why they were never close). We already got a great look into the Picard/Robert dynamic in Family back in TNG anyway - no reason to revisit it. Indeed, since Picard mended fences with Robert before his (pointless offscreen) death in Generations, I wouldn't expect he was holding any resentment of his brother, and that we'd see him here. Regarding Strange New Worlds, Henry Alonso Myers is running the writer's room. He was co-showrunner on one of my favorite shows from the last decade (The Magicians) which means I have high hopes for smart character writing. Hopefully his influence wins out on that show over the hackish Goldsman (who seems like a mench and has a genuine love of Trek, but can't write for shit).

Missed opportunity for the Agent at the bar to be Captain Ducane from the 29th Federation Timeship Relativity from Voyager. Thus Seven would recognise him. Did Picard senior/Baltar accidentally allow a seductive Borg agent access to the Federation Defence Mainframe? Did the Borg collective gain the ability to remotely disable a great portion of Starfleet defending Earth and the founding worlds of the Federation? Didn't seem like Rios had to break the Prime Directive at all yet he did. Cute Doctor is hot , but still. And why on Earth would a 24th century Starfleet officer hand a 24th century piece of equipment to a 21st century human expecting her to magically know how to use it? And is it safe to take her back to the Starship that has been compromised by the Borg Queen? As for the Borg Queen, surely that should be the priority now given the entire premise of the movie First Contact! It really seems like the 24th century Starfleer crew should have fabricated some ID to cover themselves in the event they encounter the authorities. Unless the agent at the end is the Federation Time Department given it's the exact same actor from Voyager. None of this season seems to connect/make sense as to what the bigger picture is. According to the Nemesis deleted scene with Riker pulling a prank on his replacement, Captain Jean Luc Picard did not take to his new Number One (whom he had selected) calling him Jean Luc ("Very good Jean Luc."). Bizarre why anyone else later would call him "J-L". The closest person to him out of his oldest friends like Beverly may have called him Jean Luc at most.

Okay. It's really pretty simple: If you are attacking other users without contributing to the conversation, your comment may be deleted. If you're debating the behavior of someone else instead of forming a coherent argument, your comment may be deleted. You may argue against others' views or positions, but you need to do so without resorting to ad hominem attacks or whining about their past behavior. If your comment exhibits that behavior and disappears later -- well, that's why. Figure it out. (As a side note, follow-up comments responding to offending comments may also get deleted in the overall cleanup to avoid an overall thread derailment. Don't take it personally, but do take it as a reason not to respond to such comments in the first place, since you will have wasted your time.) Comments will be removed at my sole judgment. I'm not going to entertain hearings on the matter. I frankly don't have the time, and nobody else cares. And attacking the judge will not help your case. I think I've built up enough credibility around here as someone who allows people to discuss ideas coming from all kinds of perspectives, including and especially those I personally disagree with. Crying about censorship, cancel culture, free speech, blah, blah, blah -- I. Don't. Fucking. Care. This is not a public square and I am not a government. If you don't want to play by the rules, then don't post. Stop wasting everybody's fucking time. Will I delete everything that violates the rules and/or in a timely manner? Nope. Things will inevitably fall through the cracks, and I'm not on here 24/7. But I'm sick of the verbal attacks and the he said/she said. Anything that starts to go down that route will simply be removed without comment. And if you attack me over it, that also will be removed. Not because poor old thin-skinned me can't take criticism, but because it's irrelevant to the conversation and I'm not going to have it here. It'd be nice if more stuff could be about Star Trek or the issues arising from the episodes, but I realize that's not always going to happen and that things veer off into tangents and long arguments. And that's fine, as long as you're not attacking each other. That is all.

:D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vTDnhDfstM

Sounds more than fair to me. Must be a bit tricky to decide what to delete, sometimes. Lee's post is just complete an insult post, but so many people responded to him, you wouldn't want to delete all those posts.

Rios is SUPPOSED to get with her. In fact, before they part, looks like they need to have a kid together. From Screenrant: "It's worth noting that the medical supplies in La Sirena bear a butterfly-like logo that's similar to the logo of Dr. Ramirez's clinic." In this case, if the butterfly doesn't flap its wings differently than we all thought it was supposed to, Rios (and maybe even the Federation the way it's 'supposed' to be) may never be able to exist.

Or.....Dr. Ramirez could have just gotten "Dr. Gillian Taylor"ed info the future w our crew, OR made such an impression on the crew in 2024 that the logos get put on the medical supplies on La Sirena as a tribute to her.

They'll probably do something stupid like that, yeah. In time travel stories, you can always make it so that whatever the characters just happen to do will be "correct." But, if not done carefully this will just come acrossed as lazy writing; and if the characters were to become aware of that fact, it would lead to completely ridiculous behavior. This idea was very smartly made fun of in the DS9 Tribbles episode, when Bashir starts to panic after a girl flirts with him: "what if I'm supposed to get with this women and become my own grandfather? If I don't do it, I might never exist!" and O'Brien just rolls his eyes at Bashir.

Yeah, I'm curious to see how the situation with Dr. Ramirez plays out...lots of directions in which it can go. Regarding the brain stabilizer thing that Raffi beamed down to Rios. It was a little wonky, but I assumed that it had some relationship to the imagine-the-fix tech from last season...the operator's brain-wave activity is used as a stable pattern to regulate those of the patient, and for reasons, it makes more sense for a doctor to do that. No more weird than how a cortical stimulator is supposed to work...always wonder why on TNG the patients jerked about as if they were being brain-defibrillated.

Rios doesn't have to take the doctor into the future or stay behind. He can just find one of the doctors descendants in his time who will probably be a doctor as well an look exactly like her. It's true for Soong and the Romulan housekeeper super spy so why not for her??

Speculation

What did I just watch.....that is all I can say about this episode I still think Picard's mother is Agnes/Borg Queen. It isn't a something that they need to stop but it is the "something" that needs to be happen. Also, I don't think we are going to see a conclusion to season 2. I think it will be a cliff hanger and then resolve in the first episode of season 3.

Jammer said: "The long and the short of it is that Picard feels guilt and pain over what happened to his mother, who was imprisoned by "monsters." What actually had happened was his mother was mentally ill, his father locked her away for her own good, and Picard blamed his father for it." Can someone elaborate on this, please? Does the episode explain what illness Picard's mother was suffering from? Couldn't she be treated? Why was she locked away? Also, who's the "monsters" that Jammer refers to? The father? I've stopped watching, but am curious as to how the mother arc is playing out. Thanks.

I think the monsters are the mental illness or the fear of the it or deep seated trauma. Her illness looked like schizophrenia or something else that makes you completely delusional.

Regarding JLP's mother's illness, I still we're still getting an incomplete picture filtered through a child's eyes. So I disagree with Jammer that she was literally "locked away"--it's probably something more metaphorical than that. And the young JLP having a key to open the door to the room in which she is locked away--I also suspect that is metaphorical. As to the diagnosis, it's hinted that she has some paranoid delusions (fear of persecution, possible hallucinations). Given the family history of Renee also struggling with depression (and as I said above, Picard's knowing statement about how crippling depression can be in a human), I'm going to put on my mental health professional hat (it's my day job) and theorize that JLP's mom may have major depression with psychotic features. It could also be schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (or even bipolar disorder, type 1) from the little snippets we've been given, so I'm not going to make any bets.

And I wish there were an "edit" button for the typos (or that I took the time to proofread...but it's easier to blame tech for my laziness...lol).

If the Agent turns out to be Ducane, from the Federation Timeship Relativity, then so be it. But that would be cool and interesting, and not sure the writers have got a plan or seen previous Star Trek movies or shows.

Sounds dreadful.

If I remember correctly, Picard's mom as described by the father, was unwilling to undertake the treatment she needed Jammer.

@Yanks: I didn't pick up on that aspect, but it does support the notion of JLP's mom being "locked away" in more of a metaphorical sense. I'm sure we'll get more clues before the end of the season.

I'm also going to bet that the "abusive father" storyline turns out not to be as it seems.

I think one of the things killing this is the whole "mystery theatre" style of storytelling. They are dragging out what changed the future, how and why, who fits where, WTF is going on with Q and so on. A more linear story where we knew what was going on would have a shot at keeping people more engaged. This isn't like Disc trying to figure out the mystery of the DMA and who 10C really is. I think there would be less frustration if there was more clarity on where this is going and what is happening. The last couple of episodes are likely going to be an utter cluster fuck.

Further to my last comment (dont we always think of more and wish there was an edit button!). The story has jumped around and acted like it forgot several things.. Was this about climate change? Haven't heard about that in a while Renee? Who knows what happened to her Q's sick? No idea, he has said nothing about it Soong's cloned daughter and the cure to make her viable? WTF happened with that? These threads happen then vanish and somehow they will barf it all out in one episode at the end. I honestly can't understand the rationale of the writing. I can make peace with them trying to modernize it or attract different viewers than all the OG fans like us but at the very least they need good coherent storylines that make sense and lead somewhere. They are alienating the OG and a new young super fan isn't going to hang in there with such convoluted storytelling.

Tricia Helfer is near 50 now. They should have just made her Picard's mom and then thrown us the amazing moment of re uniting her with Baltar. why not, would have been more fun that some of what they did.

With all due respect, hanging in there when the going gets tough and singing the praises of all the minutiae is what the young super fans do best.

I tell you, I almost feel like I need to watch it again to see if it makes any more sense but I just can't. It's 46 minutes long and I felt every second of it as though I were having a migraine. I think enduring it again would just make me need professional help.

So is the reason the 24th Century hadn't made much progress in treating the symptoms and underlying causes of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, manias and/or bipolar disorder the same reason that starships and computer tech in the 32nd Century are only slightly slicker than that of the 22nd and 24th Century (rather than orbs of pure, self-aware energy that can transition easily between galaxies)?

@Booming It's spelled "whales".

No, my good sir. It's still spelled "Wales". (I have no idea what you are referring to)

I pretty much agree with all the negative comments about PIC and DISCO, and get the same migraines that others have mentioned. To relieve your headaches, it really helps to go back and watch Star Trek: The Animated Series. Not perfect, but so, so much fun. The stories are creative, make sense within the ST universe, and are great trekkie entertainment. And "Yesteryear" is one of the best ST episodes ever--cartoon or not. TAS has held up well over the years, is not dumbed-down for kids, and is well-worth your viewing time.

@Brian "I tell you, I almost feel like I need to watch it again to see if it makes any more sense but I just can't. " I have. It doesn't. I oddly kind of liked the comatose dreamy psychological part more, but not that much to be honest. But overall it's still as chaotic and contrived (I'm avoiding stupid here) as it looked the first time. I have NEVER ever thought that way about a ST episode, old or new. "It's 46 minutes long and I felt every second of it as though I were having a migraine. I think enduring it again would just make me need professional help." If it helps: I still feel fine.

@Lizzzi I couldn't agree more re. TAS. It truly is wonderful and I would also back your suggestion of going back and revisiting these classics (whether or not you have a migraine from watching PIC/DSC). And "Yesteryear" is the best of the TAS episodes -- very poignant and touching. TAS doesn't get the credit it deserves and is often forgotten, it seems to me, when talking classic Trek.

Gorn With the Wind

My humble attempts to unfuck the storylines of PIC S2 We start with having character arcs rather than plotty shenanigans. Picard’s arc: Reckon with traumatic childhood at last and heal the wound that’s driven him to perpetual isolation from others. Gives up the vineyard to be with Crusher. Seven’s arc: After losing the trauma of her borg implants via alt future, she wants to stay in the 21st century. Torn between duty to her crewmates and her own happiness. Eventually comes back because of Raffi. Q: Punishes Picard for his season 1 actions by screwing up timeline. Has his powers removed by continuum as a result. Still tries to screw with Renee to foil Picard’s efforts to restore timeline. Picard offers him mercy where he offered Picard penance. (Similar-ish to Deja-Q) Rios + Raffi: Stay in alternate fascist timeline and get a resistance going or something. Soong: Save until season 3 or don’t bother Kore: Save until season 3 or don’t bother Jurati + Borg Queen: This arc is actually fun and makes sense. Don’t change! Renee Picard: Is a confident, awesome astronaut until Q gets into her head. Talinn: Delete this character from any and all seasons Guinan: ???

If I were to try to re-write Picard, I think it'd have to restart from the ground up. I think the concept of it being about Picard dealing with his issues doesn't work. Especially the idea that he is "closed off from his emotions," that just isn't the character as he's been portrayed. He was always portrayed as well adjusted and good at dealing with people. He just preferred to keep a bit of a professional distance with his crewmates, which there's nothing wrong with. And the end of the series, with him finally joining the poker game, shows that he's already decided to grow out of that. I think the series would have worked better as an examination of the characters around Picard, with Picard himself basically playing the role of an advisor, in a Guinan kind of way. One thing they really could have extrapolated from was the idea that there would be more androids in Starfleet, and maybe even a race of android people. But instead of the weird way they did it, perhaps they could've been seen working together with Starfleet in a cooperative capacity like the Vulcans. I also would have loved to see an android and vulcan character together on the same show.

@dave Agreed. Doctor Baltar and Tricia would have been best. 1 hour before the events above Earth in Star Trek: First Contact, aboard the main Spacedock station overlooking the planet below, in the quarters of Head of the Home Fleet, Admiral Doctor Baltar Picard Dr. Baltar Picard: "Admiral, with all due respect, this isn't anything to do with the fact he's my son. Captain Picard and the Enterprise should be recalled to Earth! This is the Borg for crying out loud! We should have the most advanced ship in the Fleet here!" Admiral Hayes: "The decision has been made Picard. Your job is to take command of Spacedock and coordinate with Earth ground defences. You know the system better than anyone. Cerritos out!" The old Picard sighed. Woman behind him: "Never would have taken you for someone who would leave the farm for an office job dear." Baltar Picard turned around and dropped his mug of Earl Grey. Dr. Baltar Picard: You're...you're alive? That's not possible. Security! His com-badge failed to respond. Mrs. Picard: I can't die. When this body's destroyed, my memory and consciousness will be instantly transmitted to a new one. I'll just wake up somewhere else in an identical body. We have adapted. Dr. Baltar Picard (frantically pressing the button on his desk for Security, but something is jamming communication): You're not my Renee. Who, or what are you? Mrs. Picard: I am the beginning and the end. I bring order into chaos. We are Borg. Dr. Baltar Picard: So... now you're telling me... you're a Borg? Mrs. Picard: Yes. There are more of us out there like me. I was lost in time. Not something your 3 dimensional mind would be able to understand. Dr. Baltar Picard: A synthetic woman. A robot. That's you? You're the new breed of Borg? Mrs. Picard: The old breed is still around. They have their uses, in our Collective. Dr. Baltar Picard: No. I don't believe any of this. Prove it. Prove to me you're a Borg. Right now! Mrs. Picard: Deep down you've always known there was something different about me, something that didn't quite add up in the usual way. And you believe me because it flatters your ego to believe me -- to believe that you alone among all the people of Earth and your Federation, that you were chosen for my mission. Dr. Baltar Picard: Your mission? Mrs. Picard: You knew I wanted access to the Starfleet mainframe. My mission was to compromise Federation Defence systems in preparation for an attack on Earth. Dr. Baltar Picard (panic rising): How many people know about this? I’m going to call my lawyer. Or Jean Luc! He’s the best in the business. Mrs. Picard: That wouldn’t be necessary, because in a few hours, no one will be left to charge you with anything. Dr. Baltar Picard: What are you trying to say? Mrs. Picard: Humanity’s children are returning home. Today. Dr. Baltar Picard: Humanity's children? But that means the Borg... Suddenly, there's the SOUND of sirens. The desk rattles. And beyond the elegant glass window, in the cold void of space, beyond the rallied Starfleet, emerges a giant Cube.

@flipsider You’ll find no disagreement here. Nothing about Picard has felt thematically coherent from the beginning.

Booming said: [No, my good sir. It's still spelled "Wales". (I have no idea what you are referring to)] None of us do, mystery person. This is a PSA that you should include the text you’re referring to in reply posts. It’s only logical ;D

@Gorn With the Wind Yeah. Well, I just find it a bit depressing... the idea that if you're a bit of private person, there is something wrong with you, and you must have some kind of childhood trauma. I don't think people are that simple.

@Flipsider "Yeah. Well, I just find it a bit depressing... the idea that if you're a bit of private person, there is something wrong with you, and you must have some kind of childhood trauma." It's easier to write about a deeply traumatized person, than about being a somewhat private person. Don't read too much into it. In season 1 all of them had a trauma. Maybe they thought it was too much, so now only Picard('s) is(are) really traumatized.

@Booming ....I think the whale thing may have come from a post made way back on April 15 "Rios beaming the doctor on the ship was another lol moment. Uh, and the kid Picard's acting... Her presence in this is so forced. With the wale scientist from the voyage home they actually really needed her." Not that I go around correcting the spelling of others...I just like finding stuff. :)

@Sigh2000 "I'm from California. I just whale in outer space." ;)

Just watched Rascals again. The 12 year old Picard is more Picard than 80 year old Patrick Stewart.

@jason You are right. I honestly am still surprised Patrick Stewart signed off on this series. he is a smart man I can;t fathom how he thought S1 was good material and S2 was worth his time. PS - I liked Rascals! Child Guinan was more fun than this series too!

So what do we have here with our dear Rios. Did he really just take a woman and her kid to see their technology because he was horny?

@Sigh2000 Thanks. Another mystery solved.

"I honestly am still surprised Patrick Stewart signed off on this series. he is a smart man I can;t fathom how he thought S1 was good material and S2 was worth his time." Is he though? That is, a smart man? Does he really understand what makes a good story? I am not sure that we know that either way. Just because he convincingly played a smart man (JLP) doesn't mean he personally is smart let alone has good judgment in terms of story or scripting or directing. In fact, from what I know on the subject from comments he has made and episodes he has personally been involved in as director, his judgment on such matters is a mixed bag at best.

Patrick Stewart's ego would now seem to exceed William Shatner's. Stewart can't seem to be bothered to play the role of his character anymore.

Because I didn't immediately recognise Baltar, I spent entirely too long thinking the therapist was Julian Bashir 😄

I'll admit I enjoyed the shock of seeing "Baltar" wearing a Starfleet uniform. Other than that, not much to recommend from this episode. You've all done a good job at pointing out the flaws. I don't know how much input Stewart had into this retcon of Picard's past, and it really doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is: does it fit with what we already knew and does it make for good drama? Unfortunately, for me at least, the answer is "no" and "no". I could imagine Picard having a problematic childhood. What I CAN'T imagine is never having effectively bottled it up for all these years. Picard was more emotionally mature than this on TNG. He appreciated the importance of talking about your feelings and knowing yourself. He had a Betazoid counsellor on the Bridge for crying out loud! The scene where Guinan tries to summon Q was unintentionally hilarious.

Q said in this episode - he did not send them back in time - true. Q though DID send them to the alternate time line How do we know it is actually 2024 that there was a "divergence" in time? It was the Borg queen that said 2024... Now, was she lying? I don't think so...

Oops wrong page

This episode felt like a very bad holonovel.

Very little science, too much fantasy (magic bottles that summon the Q? WTF). This feels like watching Lost with all the mystery stuff and questions that get some answer only to be the basis for another mystery. This is such a disappointment after the very strong first two episodes. Silly question: so the Romulans have spies in Earth 2024 helping humanity (why?) even before first contact with the Vulcans?

@MarkG 'Very little science, too much fantasy (magic bottles that summon the Q? WTF).' Agreed. DSC and PIC don't do science - apart from when the writers have a character say 'I like science' - and effectively turning Q into a genie in a bottle is sadly par for the course from these writers and producers.

I have to agree with your point on giving a 21st century doctor a device from the 25th century. Really? That’s like asking a doctor from the 1500s to read an EKG. “Uh, I just do bloodletting…” So many stupid mistakes in these plots but that one jumped out at me. Another 1 star episode from me. I think Jammer is giving an automatic star just because Patrick Stewart is in it, which is not a terrible handicap. But when one of the Greatest Of All Time can’t salvage this train wreck, you know there’s a deeper problem at hand.

So the Watcher is just a romulan spy? They played it up like she was on par with Q. I didn't really get that.

I tried watching this ep, and I didn't get far past the line "It's not my job to be interesting." "Yeah, uhm, Sir Patrick, it kind of *is*," I said to myself, and realized why I avoided watching this in the first place, and took the ep off. Yeah, no.

SpaceTime Hole

We didn’t need a Picard backstory. This sucks. No redemptive value to this wank. God!

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Star Trek: Picard

Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Patrick Stewart, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Todd Stashwick, and Ed Speleers in Star Trek: Picard (2020)

Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life. Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life. Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life.

Kirsten Beyer
Michael Chabon
Akiva Goldsman
Patrick Stewart
Michelle Hurd
2.8K User reviews
78 Critic reviews
14 wins & 54 nominations total

Episodes 30

Burning Questions With the Cast of "Star Trek: Picard"

Jean-Luc Picard

Raffi Musiker

Seven of Nine

Dr. Agnes Jurati

Cristóbal Rios …

Adam Soong …

La Sirena Computer

Jack Crusher

Doctor Beverly Crusher

Captain Liam Shaw

Ensign Sidney La Forge

Ensign Esmar

Titan Computer …
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Stellar Photos From the "Star Trek" TV Universe

Nichelle Nichols and Sonequa Martin-Green at an event for Star Trek: Discovery (2017)

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Trivia The first season is set in 2399, 20 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) (which was set in the year 2379). Using the Stardate format established in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) , this would place the start of the series just after Stardate 76000.
Goofs Commodore Oh often wears sunglasses. Star Trek lore establishes that Vulcans have an inner eyelid to protect against harsh sunlight on their desert planet. Oh's shades are a fashion statement, not a protective measure.
The first season features a Borg cube and the planet Romulus.
The second season features a Borg ship, a wormhole and hourglass, and the Borg Queen's silhouette.
The third season does not have an opening titles sequence.
Connections Featured in Half in the Bag: Comic Con 2019, The Picard Trailer, Streaming Services, and Midsommar (2019)

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January 23, 2020 (United States)
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Runtime 46 minutes
Dolby Digital

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Why Star Trek: Picard Teamed The Borg Up With The Changelings

In the "Star Trek: Picard" episode "Võx" (April 13, 2023), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) used her empathic abilities to reach into the mind of Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) to explain the mysterious, brief psychic spells he periodically and uncontrollably falls under. Jack had revealed that he possessed martial arts skills he never knew he had, can occasionally read people's thoughts, and even invade the brains of others, taking control of their bodies. Nothing is known about Jack's powers, other than he was being murderously pursued by Vadic (Amanda Plummer), a vengeful Changeling who hoped to unlock their secrets.

It seems that years ago, the Federation kidnapped several Changelings, including Vadic, and performed cruel medical experiments on them. Vadic only wants revenge for the Federation's unacknowledged war crimes. Jack has something to do with her plan.

In "Võx," it was revealed that Jack's powers came from, rather unexpectedly, the Borg. It seems that Picard (Patrick Stewart), Jack's father, unwittingly passed a Borg gene (!) into his son's brain, giving him latent Borg superpowers. Jack, upon learning of his Borg genetics, flees distraught to a nearby Borg ship, where Vadic's true mastermind is revealed: a dying Borg Queen (Jane Edwina Seymour, voice of Alice Krige). She reveals the Borg were in cahoots with the Changelings this whole time, and that their plot was ... well, read below for a fuller explanation.

In 2023, "Picard" season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas took to Reddit to answer questions from fans . During his Q&A, Matalas revealed why he paired up the Changelings with the Borg, stating that he felt the two notorious "Star Trek" antagonists have a lot in common.

Read more: Why Khan Noonien Singh Casts A Shadow Over The Entire Star Trek Universe

The Borg Cut A Deal

Matalas didn't explain how the Changelings and the Borg first came into cahoots, or how they were able to form their partnership, so Trekkies have to take it for granted that the two groups of villains met at some point, compared grievances with the Federation, and hatched a mutually beneficial plot. The Borg revealed to the Changelings that the corpse of Admiral Picard was being held at a Federation black site, locked up in a vault. Picard's consciousness was shunted into an android body at the end of "Picard" season 1, so his dead organic body was fair game for storage.

The Borg also revealed that a deadly brain ailment embedded in Picard's gray matter was actually the aforementioned Borg gene, only mistaken for a disease. It was left behind from when the Borg assimilated Picard several decades before. The Changelings stole Picard's dead body, extracted the gene, and then infiltrated dozens of Federation ships. Using many, many Federation transporters, the Changelings were able to implant the Borg gene into the brains of anyone who beamed anywhere. A wrinkle: the implanting only worked on anyone under the age of 25, as they were more susceptible to brain gene manipulation.

Once infected with the Borg gene, the Borg Queen could "activate" the Federation's youth, assimilating them all at once, and forcing them to attack their commanders. The Changelings and the Borg would get to see the Federation fall.

The team-up is odd from the outside, but Matalas felt it was organic, writing:

"The Changelings/Founders and The Borg have a lot in common. They both have had Starfleet attempt to wipe them out with weaponized viruses. 'DS9' and 'Voyager.' They both are kind of like a Hive. It seemed like the perfect Team-up."

Perfect? Hm...

The Common History Of The Founders And The Borg

The weaponized virus Matalas referred to is a morphogenic virus implanted in the Changelings during the seventh season of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." The changelings were said to be the founders of the Dominion, a powerful, warlike empire from the Gamma Quadrant of the galaxy, hence Matalas' reference to them as Founders.

The Borg virus was a neurolytic pathogen that Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) deliberately infected herself with. She then allowed herself to be assimilated by the Borg, spreading the disease through their cybernetic network. This was the plot of the final episode of "Star Trek: Voyager," titled "Endgame" (May 23, 2001).

Matalas was well-versed in "Star Trek" to recognize the similar plights suffered by both the Borg and the Founders and decide that they should team up. He clarified that Vadic had been talking to the Borg Queen for the entire season; when Vadic retired to her quarters, she severed her own hand and watched it grow into a weird, goopy face that she could communicate with. This was, Matalas clarified, the face of the Borg Queen, somehow able to used Vadic's own body as a communication device:

"The Gelatinous Head was the Borg Queen speaking to Vadic via a long-range communications device. If you look at the face and the Queen, they are the same."

It seems out of character for the Borg to outsource their villainy; they have historically been more like cyborg zombies, marching relentlessly forward, sharing a group mind and only thinking of assimilating others. Some Trekkies wondered how a deal might have been struck.

Did the dying Borg Queen meet Vadic at a coffee shop to brainstorm plans? Perhaps not, but that's an amusing visual.

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Read the original article on SlashFilm .

Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Guinan

The enigmatic bartender is still a great mystery in Star Trek, but what we learned along the way?

Guinan Whoopi Goldberg Star Trek Next Generation TNG Picard

At TrekCulture we have previously listed several of the biggest mysteries about Whoopi Goldberg's beloved El-Aurian, yet what have we learned in the years since?

This earlier article was composed before the character's appearance in the second season of Star Trek: Picard , so has much changed on this front? If so, has it been for the better, or for the worse?

Since her first appearance in The Child, we have seen her rootin' tootin' with a rifle, we have seen her concoct the perfect cocktail, and we've even seen change faces as time went forward...and backward...and somewhere in between. But whatever else, Guinan remains one of the most intriguing characters from the entire franchise, embodying Dr. Boyce's original line:

Sometimes, a man'll tell his bartender things he'll... never tell his doctor.

10. A Question Of Q

One of the early mysteries that surrounded Guinan was her relationship with a certain trickster. Q, Who introduced the fact that these two characters knew each other, though at that time exactly how was unknown. There was, however, enough animosity to give even a being as powerful as Q room for pause.

This was further explored in the second season of Star Trek: Picard . It turned out that far from Guinan and Q being personal enemies, the entire Q Continuum and the El-Aurian race had engaged in a 'cold war' for many years. This war was brought to a close, as many often are, over a bottle.

In this case, that bottle was quite literal. The El-Aurian people saw 'unity through food and drink,' and therefore had evolved to capture a moment of time within a bottle. This bottle could then be used to summon those directly affected by it - as was demonstrated to varying levels of success in Monsters and Mercy.

Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick

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‘star trek: picard’ showrunner terry matalas tackling remake of 1980s sci-fi movie ‘enemy mine’ (exclusive).

The original movie starred Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr.

By Borys Kit

Senior Film Writer

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Terry Matalas, the showrunner who steered the final season of Star Trek: Picard to new ratings and critical heights, has been tapped to write an update of the 1985 cult sci-fi movie Enemy Mine for 20 th Century Studios.

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Published Jun 21, 2024

How the Picard Season 3 Soundtrack Unlocks All of Star Trek

For World Music Day, let's look at how Picard's final score stretches across the entire final frontier, from familiar themes to deep sonic cuts.

Illustration of headphones attached to a music player, both adorned with Star Trek deltas

StarTrek.com

The music of the Final Frontier is one of the most grounding aspects of the entire Star Trek phenomenon. Rather than sounding overtly futuristic, the musical world Trek has always been the opposite — old-fashioned and classic. When Nicholas Meyer hired James Horner to compose the music for The Wrath of Khan , he asked for a score that was "nautical, but nice." This single phrase perhaps best describes a large swath of famous Star Trek scores; the music is rooted in an antique style, combined with a buoyant sense of optimism. The music of Trek looks forward, partly, by looking back. In real life, Star Trek scores have been played at the commissioning of space shuttles, at least one U.S. Presidential Inauguration , and on March 11, 2024, Jerry Goldsmith's themes from Star Trek: First Contact were played during a ceremony in which Sweden was inducted into NATO.

Sometimes, it seems the classical music of Star Trek is oddly more pervasive in everyday life than Star Trek itself. Yes, there have, of course, been examples of non-classical music in Star Trek ; from Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride," to Enterprise 's "Faith of the Heart," Kirk blasting The Beastie Boys' "Sabotage," and, in 2023, musical theater and pop stylings throughout " Subspace Rhapsody " in Strange New Worlds . But, for almost six decades, classical scores have been the sonic glue binding the Trek universe together. From Original Series composers like Alexander Courage and Sol Kaplan, to Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner in the classic films, to Dennis McCarthy in The Next Generation era, Michael Giacchino 's scores for the Kelvin Universe films, to Jeff Russo in Discovery and Chris Westlake in Lower Decks , Nami Melumad on Strange New Worlds and Prodigy , each Trek score often contains a piece of another. But, perhaps more than any orchestral Star Trek event to date, the soundtrack for Star Trek: Picard Season 3 bridges various eras simultaneously, but also created edgy, new directions for Trek scores that had never been tried before.

The Picard Season 3 score — composed by Stephen Barton and Frederik Wiedmann— is a rosetta stone of nearly all of Star Trek music, ever. Here's your guide to why this 2023 score is so unique, how it's the perfect place to start your Star Trek musical education, and why, if you haven't already, consider spinning this one on vinyl .

"All Good Things…Must Come To An End"

The original Enterprise-D crew (Deanna, Riker, Picard, Beverly, Worf, Geordi, and Data) sit around the poker table while raising a glass in 'The Last Generation'

"The Last Generation"

While it's somewhat obvious that Star Trek: Picard Season 3 is a direct follow-up to Picard Season 2, a huge thrust of the series is also a coda to the era of The Next Generation TV series and four feature films. So, throughout this score, there are various musical references to the hugely famous main theme from Star Trek: The Next Generation composed by Jerry Goldsmith. But, within this musical cue, there's an Easter egg to 1979. As many fans know, the immortal TNG main theme was actually first composed by Goldsmith for the film Star Trek: The Motion Picture . And while the bombastic march opens that film, and every episode of TNG, a slower more ballatic version of the theme was created for the classic track "The Enterprise ," in which Scotty and Kirk view the newly refitted ship for the first time.

'The Next Generation'

In Picard Season 3, this dreamy arrangement of the TNG/TMP theme is on full display in the back-to-back tracks "Hello, Beautiful" and "Leaving Spacedock," in which Picard and Riker take a shuttle to the U.S.S. Titan -A, and we hear the gentle strings of "The Enterprise " from 1979. However, as this musical moment continues, and Commander Seven takes the Titan out of spacedock, a new musical theme emerges, which showrunner Terry Matalas has called " The Titan Theme, " since it plays in many instances in the series that focus on the scrappy starship itself. And yet, by the end of Picard Season 3, the Titan becomes a new version of the Enterprise . So, when Riker and Picard roll-up on the Titan and hear the TNG/TMP main theme, it's not just a neat Easter egg, the music becomes a foreshadowing element that helps tell the story.

Deep Cuts Reveal Myriad Star Trek Legacies

"The Next Generation"

Just as Beverly Crusher sends Picard a transmission as a myriad codec, the Picard Season 3 soundtrack contains a myriad of references to all sorts of other Star Trek music. Some of these cues are somewhat obvious. The end-credits for the series borrows from the First Contact main themes, first introduced in 1996, while Jeff Russo's arrangement of the TNG main theme, crafted for Picard Season 1 and Season 2, still exists as part of the brief title card at the top of each episode. But, once you start digging into the episode-by-episode tracks, deeper cuts start to reveal themselves, ever so slowly.

In "Old Communicator," ominous woodwinds play as Picard riffles through his stuff, to find his TNG-era red uniform. These notes are reminiscent of Ron Jones' music for " The Best of Both Worlds " in The Next Generation , reminding us of that time Jean-Luc lost a uniform just like this when he was assimilated by the Borg. But, for composers Barton and Wiedmann, this is just the first of many musical cues from the past.

"The Bounty"

When the Titan arrives at the Fleet Museum in the sixth episode, " The Bounty ," we get a track called "Legacies," which has rapid-fire sonic Easter eggs like no other piece of Star Trek music before or since.

As Seven and Jack observe the various ships in the museum, each one gets his own theme; for the Defiant , we hear Dennis McCarthy's main theme for Deep Space Nine , for the movie-era Enterprise -A, an arrangement of the Alexander Courage TOS theme, and as Seven waxes nostalgic about the U.S.S. Voyager , a triumphant and bittersweet rendition of the Jerry Goldsmith main title from Star Trek: Voyager plays. Impressively, these musical cues are packed into three minutes and fifteen seconds, meaning "Legacies," tells the story of four starships, through music, in a very short amount of time.

Did we say four ships? Yes! Because in addition to the Defiant, Enterprise -A, and Voyager , the medley of "Legacies" eventually concludes with Leonard Rosenman's 1986 themes from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . And that's because Jack realizes that the captured Klingon Bird-of-Prey, which Bones christened the H.M.S. Bounty all those years ago, has a cloaking device that the crew of the Titan can use. And so, this wonderful nod to Rosenman's music not only references The Voyage Home , but also moves the present tense of the story forward.

That Cinematic Feeling

A Musical Legacy: Scoring the Final Season of Star Trek: Picard

On the liner notes to Picard Season 3, Terry Matalas specifies that the score for this season was designed to remind fans of the big, epic music from the films. Even though this was a season of a TV series, the sound of Picard Season 3 is cinematic. "I knew early on that Picard Season 3 needed to sound like the great Trek film scores that came before it," Matalas writes in the liner notes. "[When] I was five…the track 'The Enterprise ' was imprinted onto my brain."

And so, in collaboration with composers Barton and Wiedemann, Matalas steered the music of Picard Season 3 into a massive tribute to the entirety of previous Star Trek film scores. This was accomplished by the sonic Easter eggs we've just pointed out, but this feeling also exists more broadly throughout the entire soundtrack. The dark track "Dominion" isn't one that contains any sonic Easter eggs, but is unique to this soundtrack, as is the heroic hero theme for the Titan , heard in "Leaving Spacedock" and throughout the all ten episodes of the season.

Seven of Nine sits in the captain's chair of the Titan-A, renamed Enterprise-G, in 'The Last Generation'

But, the brilliance of the Picard Season 3 soundtrack isn't that it simply checks-off various Star Trek musical boxes. Instead, it seamlessly blends the old with the new. In "Legacy and the Future," longtime fans will be reminded of Denis McCarthy's tender music from 1994's Star Trek Generations , but as the track builds, we move from the immortal Alexander Courage fanfare, and into the new , future-facing music created for the Titan , which is destined to become Captain Seven's ship, the Enterprise-G , boldly headed into the future.

And so, the Picard Season 3 soundtrack isn't just a series of nostalgia hits. Its music allows us to revisit stories from across the whole timeline of Star Trek , but, also, imagine an unfolding new future, full of wonder, hope, and adventure.

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Ryan Britt is the author of the nonfiction books Phasers on Stun! How the Making and Remaking of Star Trek Changed the World (2022), The Spice Must Flow: The Journey of Dune from Cult Novels to Visionary Sci-Fi Movies (2023), and the essay collection Luke Skywalker Can’t Read (2015). He is a longtime contributor to Star Trek.com and his writing regularly appears with Inverse, Den of Geek!, Esquire and elsewhere. He lives in Portland, Maine with his family.

In addition to streaming on Paramount+ , Star Trek: Picard also streams on Prime Video outside of the U.S. and Canada, and in Canada can be seen on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Picard is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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A child porn conviction and angry ‘Star Trek’ fans: Inside the drama around a new sci-fi museum

An exterior view of the Sci-Fi World museum in Santa Monica, with a blown-up image of comic book character Harley Quinn.

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Sci-Fi World, a new “museum” that promises fans real and replica props, costumes and sets from popular films and TV shows, hosted its opening “gala” on Memorial Day in the historic former Sears building just a couple of blocks from the Santa Monica Pier.

More than a decade in the making, the museum has drawn the interest of “Star Trek” fans worldwide thanks to its genesis story: Superfan Huston Huddleston said he salvaged a replica of the bridge from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” from a discard pile outside of a Long Beach warehouse in 2011. Huddleston, known for his fanatical devotion to science fiction and horror, launched Kickstarter campaigns to restore the prop and open a museum to house it, raising nearly $163,000 in less than two years.

But now Huddleston, 54, has emerged as the nexus of questions swirling around the museum, which, despite the recent gala, did not actually open as scheduled. Some of those same sci-fi fans who were enthralled by the museum’s origin story have since learned that in 2018, Huddleston was convicted of misdemeanor possession of child pornography. He was required to serve 126 days in jail and three years of summary probation, complete 52 weeks of sex offender counseling and pay fines.

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In an interview with The Times, Huddleston said he knew that any association with the museum after his conviction would be toxic for an organization that hopes to attract young fans, so he gave up control of the nonprofit and its collection of film and TV ephemera to the museum’s chief executive.

But several Sci-Fi World volunteers past and present told The Times that Huddleston remains active — if not central — in museum operations and preparations for opening. Lee Grimwade, one of the museum’s lead volunteers who quit a day before the gala, said Huddleston is “definitely 100% involved.”

“He’s the idea-guy who is laying it all out. He’s telling you where he wants things, he’s telling you where the walls should go in the museum, he’s telling you where to set up the [security] cameras, he’s telling you all of this stuff,” said Grimwade, a “Star Trek” devotee who said he spent almost every day of the last month setting up the museum and who showed The Times photographs of Huddleston onsite. “He’s basically directing the entire thing.”

Huston Huddleston, in a fedora, Hollywood Horror Museum T-shirt and leather jacket, makes claws with his hands.

Concerns about who was actually in charge at the museum reached a fever pitch with the recent resignations of at least two key leaders: Chief Executive John Purdy and General Manager Cory Dacy.

In an email to The Times, Purdy wrote that he’s no longer involved with Sci-Fi World “as a result of a violation by Mr. Huddleston of my contractual agreement with him and his nonprofit foundation.” Asked whether he was, in fact, in charge of the organization after Huddleston’s 2018 conviction, Purdy wrote: “Any and all actions by me were approved in advance in their entirety by Mr. Huddleston in his role as President of the Foundation.”

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GM Dacy, a former Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum manager, had been led to believe that Huddleston would not be involved, but he said Huddleston was regularly onsite — a characterization that Huddleston contests.

The Times has also confirmed that “Star Trek” producer Ronald D. Moore and writer Larry Nemecek — listed as board members on a 2022 tax filing for the Hollywood Science Fiction Foundation, the nonprofit behind the museum — were, in fact, not on the board.

A representative for Moore said the screenwriter has never been involved in the organization, and Nemecek said he resigned in 2015.

As if the museum’s leadership turmoil were not enough, CBS Studios, which produces multiple “Star Trek” series, said it has sent a cease and desist letter to Huddleston and Purdy, notifying them that they do not have the right to re-create elements from the “Star Trek” franchise and exhibit them for commercial use. A studio rep also said the “Next Generation” set pieces were believed to have been destroyed at the time of their disposal because they were extremely damaged.

Santa Monica, CA - May 21: Alex Kurtzman, the executive producer behind Paramount's new generation "Star Trek" franchise, poses for a portrait at Secret Hideout production offices on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 in Santa Monica, CA. The finale for the new-gen series "Star Trek: Discovery," premieres May 30. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

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Who’s running the show?

Huddleston repeatedly told The Times that his involvement with the museum is minimal, limited to helping assemble tricky props, and that all other managerial duties were up to Purdy. The museum’s public opening is delayed indefinitely due to permitting issues with the city. Huddleston said he had not been a part of early discussions regarding city requirements for getting the space up to code, and that he’s been onsite only about nine times since the 30,000-square-foot space was secured in November.

“I told John, and I told Cory, and I told everybody else involved, ‘I don’t want to step foot in there once it opens,’ ” Huddleston said, adding that he was wrongly convicted and pressured to take a plea deal. He said he had largely stepped aside for the good of the project. “I love that it’s getting done. I was really, really, really hoping by now I could prove my innocence. And that didn’t happen because I didn’t have enough money or power and it all happened during ‘Me Too.’ ”

Huddleston’s involvement extends to the property’s security camera feeds, which he confirmed connect directly to his phone. Huddleston said that the cameras feed to him only in the absence of a CEO or a general manager, and that he would transfer the cameras to the future GM’s phone.

Dacy said he resigned partly because the museum was not remotely ready to open.

“It’s been haphazardly handled,” Dacy said of the museum, which is selling annual memberships for $70. “It’s being treated the way a pop-up would be treated, in my opinion, where you go in with the idea that you’re going to be open for a few weeks.”

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Grimwade said he heard Huddleston refer to the museum multiple times as a “pop-up,” in particular when “trying to convince electricians to complete work that they seem to think is not up to code for a permanent location.”

Huddleston confirmed that he called the museum a pop-up, and added that it was always meant to be a pop-up, unless it succeeds on a permanent basis.

Donald Gorman, another “Star Trek” fan, said Huddleston paid him $100 in cash to operate a forklift for one day. (Gorman went on to volunteer for three additional days.) He saw Huddleston talking with contractors and taking a photo of a prop replica from the film “Alien” to upload on the museum’s X account.

Grimwade said Huddleston met with a potential new CEO for a tour of the museum a week before the gala, but Huddleston told The Times that beyond recommending him to the board, he was not involved in his recruitment or hiring. Huddleston and Grimwade declined to identify the new CEO; however, Huddleston called him a “well-known, well-respected film producer and director.”

A cloud even hangs over Huddleston’s salvaged replica bridge that started it all. Huddleston appeared regularly at comic book, sci-fi and film conventions including Comic-Con and WonderCon with pieces of the bridge, most notably the captain’s chair. He’d take pictures of celebrities like “Star Trek” actors Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig and Marina Sirtis sitting in it — a donation bucket for the museum not far away, said former volunteers.

Marina Sirtis and Nichelle Nichols and Huston Huddleston, who are doing the Vulcan salute, smile for cameras.

The restored bridge, however, is not assembled at Sci-Fi World. The organization recently announced that city inspectors and the owners of the building will not permit it to be displayed in its entirety because the bridge doesn’t have sprinklers on its ceiling, making it a fire hazard. The newly restored chairs and computers will be on display for photo ops.

Trekkie outcry

Tickets for Sci-Fi World’s red-carpet gala sold for $200 to $400. However, due to the ongoing permitting issues, the gala was held in the parking lot at the last minute. Santa Monica Fire Marshal Joe Cavin ensured no one entered the building. Huddleston was there, Grimwade said, talking with attendees and even running an auction for a speed painting.

Bradley Clifton, a self-professed “big sci-fi nerd” from Kentucky, donated to the original Kickstarter and flew to L.A. for the “gala.” He described a red carpet near portable toilets, a self-serve table of Buca di Beppo pasta with 2-liter bottles of off-brand soda — and none of the celebrities, bands or comedians that he expected. Clifton got his ticket money back but was out more than $600 for his plane fare and hotel.

“I’ve never been to a red carpet,” Clifton said, adding that the museum’s online posts teasing star-studded guests led him to believe it would be a ritzy L.A. affair, and he had been worried about what to wear. “I just see all this stuff on TV, and I’m thinking, ‘Big deal,’ and I’m like, ‘Wow, this is it?’ ”

The red carpet at the Sci-Fi World opening gala in front of portable toilets.

Olivia Youngers, an actress who appeared in the CBS All Access series “Star Trek: Picard,” volunteered for the museum’s nonprofit in 2014. She said she withdrew her support after a few exchanges with Huddleston made her uncomfortable, and she later learned of his conviction.

“He would frequently comment on my age and how young I looked, and that unnerved me,” she said. When she heard the museum was opening, she discovered that Huddleston was still listed on its tax forms and decided to raise awareness about his involvement on Twitter.

Huddleston said he did not recall Youngers ever being a volunteer. If he made such a comment, it was meant to be a compliment, he added.

Bill Smith, co-host and co-founder of the popular “Trek Geeks” podcast, contributed a small sum to one of Huddleston’s Kickstarters and featured him on his show. Smith pulled the episode off his archives after Huddleston’s conviction and issued an apology to fans.

A Kickstarter update that said Sci-Fi World was about to open alarmed him. On May 9 he wrote to the museum, asking whether Huddleston was still involved.

“Hi, not for years. John Purdy has been boss since 2018,” read the reply reviewed by The Times.

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“People donating money, especially through a crowdfunding campaign, expect some level of transparency,” said Smith, who added later: “It does feel like they’re trying to just sort of sweep it under the rug and say, ‘There’s nothing to see here.’ How many fans are gonna go through this thing? How many families are going to go through this thing with kids?”

Kasey Shafsky, a co-producer and unit production manager for the webseries “Star Trek Continues,” worked with Huddleston when he co-wrote an episode of the show in 2014, and was aware of his conviction. When Shafsky learned of the museum’s opening, he posted directly to the organization’s Facebook page asking whether Huddleston was still involved.

“Not for about six years as we have said numerous times, and online and on our website and on Google etc,” said the response, reviewed by The Times.

Shafsky pulled up the organization’s most recent publicly available tax return, which lists Huddleston as president in 2022. Shafsky sent a screenshot of the return in response to Sci-Fi World’s denial, asking why the tax form told a different story.

The museum’s reply: “Okay sending it to our ceo, it’s obviously a mistake.”

Huston Huddleston leans down next to Billy West, who's seated.

A ‘knock and talk’ with the FBI

In September 2013, after being tipped off by a volunteer who claimed to have found questionable material in Huddleston’s social media messages, the FBI conducted a “knock and talk” at Huddleston’s home. During the visit Huddleston “admitted to communicating online with minor females, asking them for nude photos and receiving some photos,” according to a disposition report from the office of the L.A. County district attorney.

Huddleston said a hard drive that he gave to the FBI was found to have illegal images but that he had no idea how they got on the drive. He said he had just retrieved the drive after about two months during which time it had been in many people’s hands, including at various post-production houses that were editing and mixing trailers for the museum. (A representative for the FBI said the bureau does not comment on evidence given to it.) The disposition report said the loss of the computer that contained the hard drive could create reasonable doubt among a jury over who downloaded the child pornography onto the hard drive.

A longtime volunteer named Alana Evans, an adult film actor and president of the Adult Performance Artists Guild, said she had seen Huddleston’s laptop passed around between many volunteers on multiple occasion. She called the conviction ridiculous.

“When I see a creep, I know a creep, let’s be real,” Evans said. “Huston’s not one of those guys.”

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According to court documents, Huddleston was eventually charged with three counts, including “contact with minor for sexual offense,” “using minor for sex acts” and “possession of matter depicting minor engaging in sexual conduct.” He was convicted of the last count and accepted a plea deal that reduced it to a misdemeanor offense, so he did not have to register as a sex offender.

Jessika Lange, a Trekkie who volunteered as the Hollywood Science Fiction Foundation’s social media manager from 2015 to 2017 but remained part of a group chat with other volunteers, heard that Huddleston could not be reached for a period because he was out of town.

Lange, a paralegal by trade, became suspicious, and after a bit of sleuthing, she discovered that Huddleston was in jail. Volunteers quit, Lange said, and since then some have tracked Huddleston’s social media accounts, noting with increasing concern that he appeared to be heavily involved with the museum.

“It bothers us because we put a lot of effort into this, and it is important to our fandom, and I feel like he really just abused that. He abused our passions for his benefit,” she said. “That’s why we’re real frustrated about it.”

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COMMENTS

"Star Trek: Picard" Monsters (TV Episode 2022)
Monsters: Directed by Joe Menendez. With Patrick Stewart, Alison Pill, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd. Tallinn enters Picard's subconscious mind to help him wake from a coma and face his deepest fears; Seven and Raffi search for Jurati fearing she's succumbed to her inner monster; Rios struggles to hide the truth about himself from Teresa.
Monsters (episode)
Tallinn ventures inside Picard's subconscious mind to help wake him from a coma and face both his darkest secrets and deepest fears. Seven and Raffi go in search of Jurati whom they fear has succumbed to the monster inside. Rios struggles to hide the truth of who he really is from Teresa. Picard is wearing a tuxedo and is seated across from a Starfleet psychiatrist; he appears to be undergoing ...
Recap: Star Trek: Picard
Recap: Star Trek: Picard - Monsters. We start out this latest episode of Star Trek: Picard, "Monsters," inside Jean-Luc's head, and he's in some sort of therapy session. He's analyzing himself (doing the therapist's job for him) and discussing how he doesn't like enclosed spaces. What does it mean about Jean-Luc that he chose a ...
"Star Trek: Picard" Monsters (TV Episode 2022)
"Star Trek: Picard" Monsters (TV Episode 2022) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Menu. Movies. ... 'Star Trek: Picard' Episodes Ranked a list of 30 titles created 24 Jan 2020 Star Trek: All Episodes a list of 964 titles ...
First Look: Star Trek: Picard
First Look: Star Trek: Picard - Monsters. The adventure continues in the next episode of Star Trek: Picard. In addition to streaming on Paramount+, Star Trek: Picard also streams on Prime Video outside of the U.S. and Canada, and in Canada can be seen on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Picard is distributed by ...
Episode Preview
Star Trek: Picard streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and is distributed concurrently by Paramount Global Distribution Group on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.
Star Trek Picard Season 2 Episode 7 Recap: "Monsters"
Star Trek: Picard Gets Lost in Its Hero's Head "Monsters" slams the brakes on the already subdued pace of Picard season 2's back end, to half-grasp at the character behind Picard's heroic persona.
'Star Trek: Picard' Recap: Of Monsters and Men
Season 2, Episode 7: 'Monsters' Jean-Luc Picard's subconscious is a largely unexplored subject in "Trek" lore, despite Jean-Luc being such an oft-discussed character.
Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7 "Monsters" Review
Review: Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7 "Monsters" Patrick Stewart and a special guest star shine in an episode that not only intensely moves the season's plot forward, but helps inform ...
Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7 Review
Reviews Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7 Review - Monsters. Star Trek: Picard takes a literal deep dive into Jean-Luc's subconscious and undoes much of the season's forward progress in the ...
Preview
We now only have a handful of episodes left of Star Trek: Picard season 2 and this week things heat up with episode 7 titled "Monsters". Last week we left our crew dealing with the aftermath of Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) being run down by Adam Soong (Brent Spiner) and the realisation that something is very wrong with Jurati (Alison Pill)…
REVIEW
Star Trek: Picard 'Monsters' is truly about Picard as a character, and when that occurs in this series, it tends to soar. So let's dive in. Picard's Backstory. Given that the character of Jean-Luc Picard has been with us through nearly nine seasons of television and four films, we know surprisingly little about his family life.
Recap/Review: 'Star Trek: Picard' Faces Its Fear In "Monsters"
"Monsters" Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 7 - Debuted Thursday, April 14, 2022 Written by: Jane Maggs Directed by Joe Menendez. Picard takes a personal journey to reveal more about the ...
Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7 Review: Monsters
Despite the many tips of the hat to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine this season, that. is. not. Bashir. Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 7 gets pretty in-depth and trippy as Tallinn forms a ...
STAR TREK: PICARD Review
Star Trek: Picard soars once again this week. It may not be the most surprising episode of the season, but it takes yet another fun Star Trek trope and makes it its own, allowing it to further the season-long narrative in fun and dynamic ways.. With a deep dive into the mind of a comatose Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), the troubling guilt from the admiral's childhood begins to take focus ...
New STAR TREK: PICARD Photos
Star Trek: Picard's second season continues this week, and we've got a new collection of photos from "Monsters" to share with you today!. After Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) fell into a coma after being run over by Adam Soong (Brent Spiner), the La Sirena gang relies on Tallinn (Orla Brady) to enter the Admiral's mind to bring him back to the waking world.
Star Trek: Picard review, Episode 207: "Monsters"
By Michael East | Apr 14, 2022. After teasing a deep dive into Jean-Luc Picard's psyche for a while, Star Trek: Picard finally gets there in Episode Seven, "Monsters.". Like last week, it ...
Star Trek: Picard S2E07 "Monsters" / Recap
Picard (both old Picard and young flashback Picard) call Maurice a monster for what he did to Yvette. Maurice reveals that the truth isn't what Picard remembered. A page for describing Recap: Star Trek: Picard S2E07 "Monsters". Seven and Raffi return to La Sirena to try and hunt down Dr. Jurati, who is not answering ….
First Look: Star Trek: Picard
First Look: Star Trek: Picard - Monsters The adventure continues in the next episode of Star Trek: Picard. Star Trek: Picard streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and is distributed concurrently by Paramount Global Distribution Group on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media's ...
RECAP 'Star Trek: Picard' S2E7, "Monsters"
Most of Picard's story in "Monsters" takes place within his mind, in a pair of parallel coma dreams. In one, Picard is being taunted by a Starfleet analyst as part of a mandatory psych ...
"Monsters"
Star Trek: Picard "Monsters" Air date: 4/14/2022 Written by Jane Maggs Directed by Joe Menendez. Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan. Review Text. Things happen on an all-new episode of Star Trek: Picard. That seems to be the best synopsis for many episodes this season. Lots of things happen. I have no idea how they relate to one other or make a ...
Star Trek: Picard (TV Series 2020-2023)
Star Trek: Picard: Created by Kirsten Beyer, Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman. With Patrick Stewart, Michelle Hurd, Jeri Ryan, Alison Pill. Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life.
Why Star Trek: Picard Teamed The Borg Up With The Changelings
In the "Star Trek: Picard" episode "Võx" (April 13, 2023), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) used her empathic abilities to reach into the mind of Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) to explain the mysterious ...
Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Guinan
This was further explored in the second season of Star Trek: Picard.It turned out that far from Guinan and Q being personal enemies, the entire Q Continuum and the El-Aurian race had engaged in a ...
'Star Trek: Picard' Showrunner Terry Matalas Tackling 'Enemy Mine'
Terry Matalas, the showrunner who steered the final season of Star Trek: Picard to new ratings and critical heights, has been tapped to write an update of the 1985 cult sci-fi movie Enemy Mine for ...
Star Trek: Captain's Chair
In Star Trek: Captain's Chair, you will go head-to-head with an opponent, each stepping into the shoes of an iconic captain from across Star Trek's galaxy and history.Command ships, crew, and away teams while you manage resources and alliances! Each of the six captains comes with a unique, asymmetric deck of cards themed to that captain's personality strategies, allies, and assets.
How the Picard Season 3 Soundtrack Unlocks All of Star Trek
Just as Beverly Crusher sends Picard a transmission as a myriad codec, the Picard Season 3 soundtrack contains a myriad of references to all sorts of other Star Trek music. Some of these cues are somewhat obvious. The end-credits for the series borrows from the First Contact main themes, first introduced in 1996, while Jeff Russo's arrangement of the TNG main theme, crafted for Picard Season 1 ...
Sci-Fi World museum's troubles: Child porn conviction, angry 'Star Trek
A child porn conviction and angry 'Star Trek' fans: Inside the drama around a new sci-fi museum ... an actress who appeared in the CBS All Access series "Star Trek: Picard," volunteered ...