2.02: Star Trek: Picard - Penance
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ctg
weaver of the unseen
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"Welcome to the very end of road never taken." Man, that line puts a chill down my spine. Q has always been a thorn on Picard's backside. Like a bad penny he keeps coming around and causing even more distress to the old man, in an upgraded body.
I know it's hard to remember such a tiny detail, but it was present in the last season and now Picard has to face alone the machine people, while wearing Data's body. How it will play in this drama, we'll see.
Picard's Earth. The worst possibility. Completely isolated with the force fields, putting underneath it a toxic atmosphere, constant conflict and struggle to just keep alive. This planet is dying. And Picard could see it as soon as he walked to the patio.
He tried to tell Q that he was "too old for the b*llsh*t," and that he was "No longer a pawn in the game."
Q acknowledged that he was old and that the end was coming to nearer. "Cut to the chase," Picard demanded.
"Well, the chase is cut, Picard, the chase is bleeding, the chase is dying in your arms. And I am but a suture in the wound."
Never a straight answer. Bloody hell. Q is trapped in his own doings as always. He is the mischief maker and he is getting too old to learn a new ways. But the interesting thing is that he was shocked by his rant.
Look at that face. Pure meme material. He wasn't impressed by anything Q were presenting, but for some reason he's still human for noticing that Q weren't exactly a happy chappy. Yet, Q carried on with his ways, not understanding at all how confusing godly ways can be to mere mortals. And when Picard slashed out, Q slapped the old man and said, "I've had enough your obstinance, your stubbornness, your insistence on changing in all ways but the one that matters. This is not a lesson. It's a penance."
For what Mr Q?
"Do you like skies here?" he asked. "In your history, humanity discovered a way to spare the planet they were in the process of murdering. Here they just... keep the corpse on life-support."
Then he showed the slaves. "I would never..." Picard gasped in horror.
Q laughed. "Such luxuries are morals of victors." It was as hard to Picard to watch the shied looks on the proud faces as it was for me. Totalitarianism is such a crude way of running the world. Then Q showed the trophy room that for some reason also include the Klingon suit from Discovery's first season. Are Picard universe connected to Discovery?
The interesting detail is the heads on the pedestals.
All major races, including Borg and a skull of Sarak. Q sneered at visibily distressed Picard as carried out one of his monologues as if he was the proud creator of the darkest road, never taken. He said, "Decapitated on the stairs of the senate, at front of the witness that included wife and his son. Nice touch. And all carried out by the same withering hand. Who? Why, the greatest general in the mighty Confederation of Earth has ever seen. The most bloodthirsty, merciless, ruthless human, to ever set out to conquer the galaxy. You, of course."
I wanted to slap him. I bet Picard wanted to do the same, before Q offered an atonement, as if it was all Picard's fault. Then he added, "I won't let you do this alone," and I knew he was up to his old shenanigans. The old man was sent to trod a path in hell, because Q wanted to play games. It should be him who should do the penance for all the sins he has introduced to the ST universe.
He should be expelled from Q continuum and stripped from his powers, to live a life like a mere mortal. In a twisted way it was a punishment for the Harvey the Android to offer Picard a Columbian roast as his morning usual. It provoked the old man to refer his situation to Dante's Inferno. I bet the Paradise Lost is not far behind and it is likely that the old man have even read it.
Harvey quite couldn't understand the pain of his master's position as he was tuned for the General not the Admiral Picard. Luckily the android was a stupid as the limitations of his programming to not realise that the man wasn't really the master. If would understood it, he would have sent him in the prison instead of the palace to observe the Eradication Day.
The look on your face when you realise that your implants are gone and that you're wearing a ring. Seven funnily enough checked all her parameters as if she was still a borg. But why is that she didn't realise it as soon as she got up? Instead she got dressed, and she wandered to a make table, that would've never been present in a star ship.
Then the hubby arrived and announced the she was Earth's President.
Luckily it didn't take long for her to get into the role under hubby's watchful eye. Too bad that she doesn't have much of training experience from one of those, because if she would, hubby would not be questioning things. Again and luckily she realised to squeeze the balls and act like a proper bi..., er, bosslady.
Rios wasn't in much better position either for finding his way into the alt reality in the midst of a space battle and people calling him as colonel, while he agreed to end the Vulcan problem.
Q is such a bast*rd. He always puts people in situations, where they've limited choices. It is the same paradox as the hitler paradox. And given the choice, Rios didn't end the massacre. Even though he was confused about all of it, he managed to figure out Seven's position as the President. What I didn't accept was him calling the assault as D-Day for Vulcan.
Why would D-Day reference carry all the way to his time when there are better examples to refer to?
Agnes and Spot-73. The coolest wake-up scene. I really love the Cat Ai, meow. Of course Agnes would have made one, but the question is why she didn't do him sooner? But as the course of intelligence goes, her practical reasoning and following the play, were abysmal. And her face was the best fish face I've seen for a while, when El Presidentes hubby asked her to present the prisoner.
Oh, the morals that comes with the intelligence package. It's easier to be stupid. But I loved that she properly swore out loud of her shock, when the machine presented the Borg Queen as the prisoner for the Eradication Day's execution ritual.
The queen said, "The hive is gone. The hive is dead," before she realised what was going on. Seven said that they have transdimensional awareness and therefore they're able to sense temporal shifts as advanced species.
Picard wasn't happy. Not in any way. Especially not when they saw Elenor treated like dirt. I've never heard him being so pissed. Angry Picard is a good Picard as he gets more righteous madder his gets.
Look at him. Properly pissed. So here's a song for Old Man Picard,
Trek in hell is not easy. It is one that you take when you have no other choice and he knows it. In his heart he feels hatred towards Q's twisted version of reality. The path never taken. But he, like others, expect Elnor are in the right places to make a difference. So while this is maddening they're not starting from the scratch.
However the road to forgiveness is long and hardy. It is the road of the redemption. Some things you'll give away, others you have to bleed, beg and try your hardest to stay on that path of righteousness and at the end, forgiveness isn't given, it's granted. It is a victory.
"The Borg Slayer," status nevertheless is fitting for the Admiral Picard as they are his nemesis. Same as Q, but I doubt he'll be ever called as such thing. I loved that Raffi called him as Mr Alphabet, when Picard finally figured out the temporal shift that Q had introduced into the play.
The meeting between the Queen and the old man was heartening. I felt the anger and I loved hearing Queen addressing the admiral as Locustus. Then she reveal that Q had done a temporal recision at 2024, in the time that is the darkest in Earth's history.
In the time when nukes fell on the cities and burned like thousand suns. Funny thing is that the Queen sent the team back to 24 at Los Angeles to: "Seek a Watcher."
The key thing to repeat Kirk's temporal shift turned out be the Queen. Oh. I loved that twist. I loved even more that they were presented a challenge of stopping Queen's execution. Luckily for them El Presidentes hubby is firmly under the foot, even if his figuring out that wife might not be running on right track.
Questioning Picard however is a big thing. And I liked that the Old Man was presented the kill challenge on the stage. The one chance to be done with the Borg's. He didn't take it, instead he chose to put down some of the guards and then teleport out.
The hubby followed, but I doubt he'll survive the encounter much longer, now that the Borg Queen is connected to Rios ship.
I know it's hard to remember such a tiny detail, but it was present in the last season and now Picard has to face alone the machine people, while wearing Data's body. How it will play in this drama, we'll see.
Picard's Earth. The worst possibility. Completely isolated with the force fields, putting underneath it a toxic atmosphere, constant conflict and struggle to just keep alive. This planet is dying. And Picard could see it as soon as he walked to the patio.
He tried to tell Q that he was "too old for the b*llsh*t," and that he was "No longer a pawn in the game."
Q acknowledged that he was old and that the end was coming to nearer. "Cut to the chase," Picard demanded.
"Well, the chase is cut, Picard, the chase is bleeding, the chase is dying in your arms. And I am but a suture in the wound."
Never a straight answer. Bloody hell. Q is trapped in his own doings as always. He is the mischief maker and he is getting too old to learn a new ways. But the interesting thing is that he was shocked by his rant.
Look at that face. Pure meme material. He wasn't impressed by anything Q were presenting, but for some reason he's still human for noticing that Q weren't exactly a happy chappy. Yet, Q carried on with his ways, not understanding at all how confusing godly ways can be to mere mortals. And when Picard slashed out, Q slapped the old man and said, "I've had enough your obstinance, your stubbornness, your insistence on changing in all ways but the one that matters. This is not a lesson. It's a penance."
For what Mr Q?
"Do you like skies here?" he asked. "In your history, humanity discovered a way to spare the planet they were in the process of murdering. Here they just... keep the corpse on life-support."
Then he showed the slaves. "I would never..." Picard gasped in horror.
Q laughed. "Such luxuries are morals of victors." It was as hard to Picard to watch the shied looks on the proud faces as it was for me. Totalitarianism is such a crude way of running the world. Then Q showed the trophy room that for some reason also include the Klingon suit from Discovery's first season. Are Picard universe connected to Discovery?
The interesting detail is the heads on the pedestals.
All major races, including Borg and a skull of Sarak. Q sneered at visibily distressed Picard as carried out one of his monologues as if he was the proud creator of the darkest road, never taken. He said, "Decapitated on the stairs of the senate, at front of the witness that included wife and his son. Nice touch. And all carried out by the same withering hand. Who? Why, the greatest general in the mighty Confederation of Earth has ever seen. The most bloodthirsty, merciless, ruthless human, to ever set out to conquer the galaxy. You, of course."
I wanted to slap him. I bet Picard wanted to do the same, before Q offered an atonement, as if it was all Picard's fault. Then he added, "I won't let you do this alone," and I knew he was up to his old shenanigans. The old man was sent to trod a path in hell, because Q wanted to play games. It should be him who should do the penance for all the sins he has introduced to the ST universe.
He should be expelled from Q continuum and stripped from his powers, to live a life like a mere mortal. In a twisted way it was a punishment for the Harvey the Android to offer Picard a Columbian roast as his morning usual. It provoked the old man to refer his situation to Dante's Inferno. I bet the Paradise Lost is not far behind and it is likely that the old man have even read it.
Harvey quite couldn't understand the pain of his master's position as he was tuned for the General not the Admiral Picard. Luckily the android was a stupid as the limitations of his programming to not realise that the man wasn't really the master. If would understood it, he would have sent him in the prison instead of the palace to observe the Eradication Day.
The look on your face when you realise that your implants are gone and that you're wearing a ring. Seven funnily enough checked all her parameters as if she was still a borg. But why is that she didn't realise it as soon as she got up? Instead she got dressed, and she wandered to a make table, that would've never been present in a star ship.
Then the hubby arrived and announced the she was Earth's President.
Luckily it didn't take long for her to get into the role under hubby's watchful eye. Too bad that she doesn't have much of training experience from one of those, because if she would, hubby would not be questioning things. Again and luckily she realised to squeeze the balls and act like a proper bi..., er, bosslady.
Rios wasn't in much better position either for finding his way into the alt reality in the midst of a space battle and people calling him as colonel, while he agreed to end the Vulcan problem.
Q is such a bast*rd. He always puts people in situations, where they've limited choices. It is the same paradox as the hitler paradox. And given the choice, Rios didn't end the massacre. Even though he was confused about all of it, he managed to figure out Seven's position as the President. What I didn't accept was him calling the assault as D-Day for Vulcan.
Why would D-Day reference carry all the way to his time when there are better examples to refer to?
Agnes and Spot-73. The coolest wake-up scene. I really love the Cat Ai, meow. Of course Agnes would have made one, but the question is why she didn't do him sooner? But as the course of intelligence goes, her practical reasoning and following the play, were abysmal. And her face was the best fish face I've seen for a while, when El Presidentes hubby asked her to present the prisoner.
Oh, the morals that comes with the intelligence package. It's easier to be stupid. But I loved that she properly swore out loud of her shock, when the machine presented the Borg Queen as the prisoner for the Eradication Day's execution ritual.
The queen said, "The hive is gone. The hive is dead," before she realised what was going on. Seven said that they have transdimensional awareness and therefore they're able to sense temporal shifts as advanced species.
Picard wasn't happy. Not in any way. Especially not when they saw Elenor treated like dirt. I've never heard him being so pissed. Angry Picard is a good Picard as he gets more righteous madder his gets.
Look at him. Properly pissed. So here's a song for Old Man Picard,
Trek in hell is not easy. It is one that you take when you have no other choice and he knows it. In his heart he feels hatred towards Q's twisted version of reality. The path never taken. But he, like others, expect Elnor are in the right places to make a difference. So while this is maddening they're not starting from the scratch.
However the road to forgiveness is long and hardy. It is the road of the redemption. Some things you'll give away, others you have to bleed, beg and try your hardest to stay on that path of righteousness and at the end, forgiveness isn't given, it's granted. It is a victory.
"The Borg Slayer," status nevertheless is fitting for the Admiral Picard as they are his nemesis. Same as Q, but I doubt he'll be ever called as such thing. I loved that Raffi called him as Mr Alphabet, when Picard finally figured out the temporal shift that Q had introduced into the play.
The meeting between the Queen and the old man was heartening. I felt the anger and I loved hearing Queen addressing the admiral as Locustus. Then she reveal that Q had done a temporal recision at 2024, in the time that is the darkest in Earth's history.
In the time when nukes fell on the cities and burned like thousand suns. Funny thing is that the Queen sent the team back to 24 at Los Angeles to: "Seek a Watcher."
The key thing to repeat Kirk's temporal shift turned out be the Queen. Oh. I loved that twist. I loved even more that they were presented a challenge of stopping Queen's execution. Luckily for them El Presidentes hubby is firmly under the foot, even if his figuring out that wife might not be running on right track.
Questioning Picard however is a big thing. And I liked that the Old Man was presented the kill challenge on the stage. The one chance to be done with the Borg's. He didn't take it, instead he chose to put down some of the guards and then teleport out.
The hubby followed, but I doubt he'll survive the encounter much longer, now that the Borg Queen is connected to Rios ship.
This was a good episode -- once Q made his exit, of course. I'm hoping he won't be making regular appearances as the season continues.
The laborious task of getting the gang back together was offset by humor. Making the solitary Seven not only President but saddling her with an obnoxious husband was a nice touch. Many of the exchanges among the characters were also chuckleworthy.
I got the impression that Q was not responsible for the pivotal moment in 2024 when Humanity took its nasty turn toward totalitarianism and wreaked havoc on the rest of the galaxy. Why he expects Picard to make things right is a mystery -- as is the connection to the Borg's appeal for help.
So, the reunited crew, plus the Borg Queen has a mission: traveling back in time in what is apparently a parallel universe. Nothing potentially complicated about that.
The laborious task of getting the gang back together was offset by humor. Making the solitary Seven not only President but saddling her with an obnoxious husband was a nice touch. Many of the exchanges among the characters were also chuckleworthy.
I got the impression that Q was not responsible for the pivotal moment in 2024 when Humanity took its nasty turn toward totalitarianism and wreaked havoc on the rest of the galaxy. Why he expects Picard to make things right is a mystery -- as is the connection to the Borg's appeal for help.
So, the reunited crew, plus the Borg Queen has a mission: traveling back in time in what is apparently a parallel universe. Nothing potentially complicated about that.
Hmm. Speculation: Might the version of the Borg (and their queen) seen in the previous episode actually be a future evolution of the Confederation, come back from the future of their timeline?
OK, what I'm basing this on is thin as hell but: There's an announcement in 'Penance', when Seven/Annika's in her office, that sounds like "All cortical implants must be checked on arrival". The confederation have (somehow) taken out the Borg and so, presumably, captured and adopted some of their tech. They're clearly ok with both slaves and widespread use of synthetic life. So.. ok, perhaps the Confederation's humanity is on the same path the Borg originally took, and their totalitarian government (which has a very Borg-like ethos already) eventually (in their own timeline) resorts to controlling the population via the cortical implants the announcement mentioned, and other stolen Borg tech, and end up just re-creating the exact same type of collective mind. Seven ID'd the new ship as Borg in 'The Stargazer', but if it's a very similar Confederation hive-mind, made using Borg technology she might have misidentified them
Or maybe it's the Tribbles. We never found out what their master plan was...
OK, what I'm basing this on is thin as hell but: There's an announcement in 'Penance', when Seven/Annika's in her office, that sounds like "All cortical implants must be checked on arrival". The confederation have (somehow) taken out the Borg and so, presumably, captured and adopted some of their tech. They're clearly ok with both slaves and widespread use of synthetic life. So.. ok, perhaps the Confederation's humanity is on the same path the Borg originally took, and their totalitarian government (which has a very Borg-like ethos already) eventually (in their own timeline) resorts to controlling the population via the cortical implants the announcement mentioned, and other stolen Borg tech, and end up just re-creating the exact same type of collective mind. Seven ID'd the new ship as Borg in 'The Stargazer', but if it's a very similar Confederation hive-mind, made using Borg technology she might have misidentified them
Or maybe it's the Tribbles. We never found out what their master plan was...
ctg
weaver of the unseen
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2007
- Messages
- 9,749
I agree it's pretty thin as they do have people with implants. The new Queen is definitely a problem that needs an explanation, but I'm afraid that we'll have to wait for them to reach those bits. I assume there's going to be more than one timejump in the books.
I'd like to forget this version, and hope that the timeline collapses, when our heroes make the jump. This version is truly horrible.
Being in an alternate universe frees the crew to go back in time without fear of what adjustments might do to their home universe, future/present existence.
Meanwhile, where are their alternate universe counterparts? Has Q transplanted the "good" minds into the evil bodies? Did he put the evil minds on ice in the Continuum holding tank?
Meanwhile, where are their alternate universe counterparts? Has Q transplanted the "good" minds into the evil bodies? Did he put the evil minds on ice in the Continuum holding tank?
Of course! The answers have been there, all the while.Or maybe it's the Tribbles. We never found out what their master plan was...
ctg
weaver of the unseen
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2007
- Messages
- 9,749
Picard's Gallery of Star Trek Skulls: Creepy Alien Biology Insights
I've never had so many questions about Ferengi ear bones.
gizmodo.com
So I wasn't the only one who paused and checked those heads. I wish they would have given more info on the Borg head.
I agree with that. My complaints about last week largely float away after this. Everything was just to split the gang up, so that they could be got back together in a fun way.
I'm not sure that I did. Quantum jumping to an alternative reality. All that is needed is a single change at a pivotal moment. Q definitely did something, but it didn't need to be very much. I'm not sure about the why though? Or why something that happened in 2024 is Picard's fault (why is this his Penance.) Or why Q is ill? (There was another story - ST: Voyager?? - about a Q that was ill.) I thought they were immortals.
That is possible. I don't trust the Borg Queen and they shouldn't either. She will have an ulterior motive for helping. It could be to make her version of the future Confederation the version that survives, it could be something else entirely, but they need to be more suspicious.
I only had a quick look but the Cardassian had a bullet hole in the skull, I think? The Vulcan was quite small.
Also good to hear that General Sisko leads the battle against Vulcan. (And that planet Vulcan exists in this timeline.)
Either way, the odd tactics, the unusual ship, the atypical Queen, calling Picard "Picard" rather than Locutus - it seems (right now) to imply that the Borg from episode 1 were a break-away hive of some sort (like the Borg co-operative from Voyager, Lore's Borg from TNG, Seven's micro-collective from season 1 etc). It makes me wonder how many of those might be out there, and if it really makes sense to use 'the Borg' as a term for the big, bad, delta quadrant collective - or a more general term for a certain type of hive-minded, cybernetic, life.
Yes, you can tell I've written fan fics on the subject
Yes, you can tell I've written fan fics on the subject
This was an excellent episode - loved all the tension, plus the characters are actually starting to shine, which I never felt they really did in season 1.
Series spoiler
Forgot I'd written this but: Totally called it. I am the nerdiest. The nerdiest nerd that ever did obsess over the details of TV showEither way, the odd tactics, the unusual ship, the atypical Queen, calling Picard "Picard" rather than Locutus - it seems (right now) to imply that the Borg from episode 1 were a break-away hive of some sort (like the Borg co-operative from Voyager, Lore's Borg from TNG, Seven's micro-collective from season 1 etc). It makes me wonder how many of those might be out there, and if it really makes sense to use 'the Borg' as a term for the big, bad, delta quadrant collective - or a more general term for a certain type of hive-minded, cybernetic, life.
Yes, you can tell I've written fan fics on the subject
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Not sure if that's a spoiler for the entire series or not, so I've used the spoiler tag on it.
