User Reviews

We'll start on the bad.

The rehashed Star Trek Into Darkness storyline of; Getting through to good man by promising a cure to his sick daughter, it's just what Khan did in ITD. It would be forgivable if this was the first use, but sadly its a rehashed storyline not just from other franchise... But this franchise.

The timeline continues to be an incoherent mess; I routinely see debate about whether not this breaks continuity or if its chronologically coherent, but that's irrelevant if you're having to debate it.

A story shouldn't demand the viewer open a can of warms to make sense of it. For all intents and purposes this time travel is very patchy, and even if you can justify it, its a stretch at best.

There still persists great pacing issues. They literally summarised the stories premise in the opener before the title sequence as "ThIS cOncErnS YoUR AnCEsTor PicARD". I was actually astonished, how badly they covered that. It's not that the idea is bad, its just poorly handled.

This bloke in the 21st century has sci-fi technology making his daughter live. Not sure how that works.

Show continues to feel like day time TV action. I on occasion convince myself that half this story was written in the past, just to facilitate the film crews desires of filing in the modern day, the BRoll of LA is killing me, and the sets don't even feel real. They've somehow got a season set in the present, yet it all feels wrong. It doesn't feel like 21st century Earth.

Now for the good;

The dreadful ICE storyline was wrapped up, I haven't seen any "current issues" being mentioned for the sake of a tickbox (Seriously, if you want to do a storyline about climate change, go write a good series, that explores the issue through the lens of a future humanity seeing a species going through humanities downfalls).

Q is carrying the franchise, when they hired him for the role all them decades ago, they chose the perfect man for the job. I'venever been more convinced in a character possessing god like abilities. I have some reasons to criticise Q's current character development, but I'm reserving that judgement until the whole story line is wrapped up.

There has been nice references and also call backs to TOS, but they are just passing speech. Its not actually relevant to the story, it serves only to say "Hey, these people are canon. Moving on".

The reason franchise like Marvel etc are so successful in what they do (and indeed what Paramount/CBS is trying to do with this franchise, which is ultimately killing it) is that they actually work to link every story.

You can't do that with a franchise built without established cannon, we are calling back to a TV series written in the 1960s before they even knew that TNG would be a thing, let alone Picard.

The Borg queen story line is going well, but already you can tell how this is going to end. It's clear as day becuase the writing is so transparent.

Final note (another bad one);

This episode, ended once again in a way that links back to the pacing issues. It ends at such a random point, and I really can't follow the producers logic.

This episode was less filler, but it was by no means amazing, but it certainly wasn't awful. Again, I'm still watching this show when Star Trek: Discovery lost me in the first 9 minutes of its latest season.

Again you have to suspect this is the Confederation timeline the show is dealing with.

How else can it explain that Picard had a famous ancestor Renee Picard. An astronaut, who went to space in the Europa missions and he knows nothing about her. Q wants her to back out of the mission.

Q is also using Dr Soong a geneticist who is trying to sure his daughter and running out of time.

As for the Borq Queen, she has a dastardly plan to escape and plans to use Jurati.

The good thing about this episode was the gang are back together. Rios is saved by Raffi and Seven. The show makes its point about immigration enforcement in the USA regarding those from south of the border.

I do think a lot of this could had been done in the previous episodes. It just shows how lethraigic pacing has been for the time travel segments.

I am intrigued about Q's intentions. In the past he has been a malevolent naughty boy. Here he verges on evil.

Now if that astronaut is Picard's ancestor then her name shouldn't be Picard. Unless it is common for mothers to give their surname to their children in France? Unless she gets knocked up and wants nothing to do with the father, but I digress. The Picard name is already established with the vineyard, so not understanding her relationship with Jean Luc. To keep the same surname as an ancestor in the 21st century Picard would need an uninterrupted line of male ancestors. Don't get me going on how in 2 years I'm going to have an amazing flying force field over my pool. Goodbye sunburns. Or that in 2 years my whole life info will be on a passport. Stupid idea making this just 2 years from now.

Things have slowed down a little but it was always going to be tough to keep up what was a very frantic pace of the first two or so episodes. That said, there was a cool scene with Rios on the ICE bus taking him to prison. Picard has met up with The Watcher and learns that there is an ancestor of his, Rene, attached to a space exploration program. He also finds out that Q is pulling the strings again in relation to ReneI enjoy the continued tips of the cap to previous time-travel themed Star Trek episodes and movies: Picard references Gary Seven from one of the early The Original Series episodes. Oh yeah, and the Borg Queen, left alone, is doing things she probably shouldn't be. I'm no genius, but I don't think that's going to end all that well for Picard and crew. Especially not Agnes!

This episode was at least somewhat watchable due to the scenes between John de Lancie and Brent Spiner. It's just sad that these scenes are in service of this convoluted and unevenly written story. Therefore I can't really give points for that.

But oh, dear the writers took shortcuts again. You can see the mechanics of their storytelling before your eyes:

WE WANT: Cool scene with Borg Queen taking a police hostage HOW DO WE GET THERE: He just walks into the ship where the dangerous Borg Queen is left alone, I guess. He is alone and doesn't call reinforcements when discovering a CLOAKED SPACESHIP. The ship repairs itself, so the Queen's abilities grow, I guess. Nobody checks on her or the repairs and our resident 'genius' Agnes is sleeping at the chateau on a 70-year-old moth-eathen and rodent-infested sofa for some reason.

It is as if the writers don't ask themselves IF the scene makes sense at all.

WE WANT: Agnes holding a shotgun and pointing it at Borg Queen.

HOW DO WE GET THERE: Agnes wakes up and hears "I don't want to start without you" from the Borg Queen and decides, she needs a decades-old shotgun that HANGS OVER THE FIREPLACE ALREADY LOADED (and presumably still working without blowing up upon firing) and runs to the ship.

And this is supposed to make sense? How does she know her way around shotguns? Why didn't she get a phaser from the ship?

Thankfully, Rios' and action women's storylines have ended. Was it worth making this a cliffhanger in the last episode? What did it contribute to the overall story?

They mention the Butterfly Effect again (don't change anything, protect the timeline!) but they stop a police bus, stun a policeman with future tech, policemen get hurt and a busload of immigrants are set free. Who wrote this drivel? It is as either important or unimportant to protect the timeline when the plot demands it, I guess.

This is the level that the writing is at: (Seven says they can't violate the timeline) Raffi: "Time travel rules? We're about to lose Rios forever - what the hell are you talking about?" Yet he is just being transported on a bus to a facility over the Mexican border. AND THEY ARE ABLE TO TRANSPORT - like they do in the same episode! What is this if not bad writing?

And what was the point of letting Orla Brady (Laris) play the "watcher"? She plays it almost exactly like Laris and not like a completely different character. She even has a little intimate moment with Picard for some reason. It's like the director (Jonathan Frakes) didn't know that it wasn't Laris. And to further confuse things, why does her holographic device comes with a romulan (V-shaped) interface?

Patrick Stewart also doesn't give a very good performance in this episode. He seems tired and uninterested.

Another strange thing is Renee Picard. Picard doesn't seem aware of this special ancestor of his and I have to ask why would anyone send an emotional unstable women alone on an important Jupiter mission? Is that how the writers picture astronauts to be? It seems like they can only write people with problems nowadays and not successful, well-adjusted people for a change.

What I also don't get is the inclusion of Soji actress Isa Briones. It doesn't seem to matter who plays her, so why her? Just to remind us that Soji still exists? I just don't get it.

She also declares, when she's cured she wants to learn how to swim - while living in a house with attached SMIMMING POOL and protective FORCE FIELD. How dumb do the producers think the audience is?

Finally, I have to mention a scene where I actually laughed. The crew comically assembles in the chateau instead of the ship. Why would they do that? For all they know, the police could burst in, looking for their missing officer.

It's just another case of shortcut storytelling. They imagine a "cool scene" and don't really care how it makes sense in the overall framework. A character like Agnes is either stupid or a genius if the plot demands it. Nothing really flows well and it seems only half thought out.

I'm not ready to have fun yet with an Ocean's Eleven clone episode - this season is so uneven and messy. Please write a coherent story first! I don't care about nostalgia Easter Eggs anymore.

Side note: Why is Dr Soong being told off by a committee in an entrance hall? The board is sitting next to the stairwell. Very strange choice of location.

First the cop needs to look in the right direction to see the ship at the moment the cloaking devices glitches. That's convenient. Then Dr. Jurati shoots the Borg Queen, so she can tell her to come near, because they need her to get back. Then she nests herself into Jurati's brain. I mean, we had the option already since they merged. Why waste extra time on the completely useless story line with the cop?

Q also forgets how to Q, but still manages to do all sorts of things, he wouldn't be able to without his Q powers. Like being Picard's ancestor's psychiatrist, hacking into Dr. Soong's computer. Yeah, *that* Dr. Soong, between the plot holes we're introduced to yet another incarnation of Dr. Soong, who is basically the same person again. Only the first name changed.

Also, let's not forget the fact, that we just travelled back in time a few centuries, but are now short on time.

And we end on Jurati getting pulled into the security centre, after being weird at a party. Which was totally planned!

This whole season feels like one of these holodeck episodes, where the crew gets stuck in an alternate story for a while and needs to fix it. But without the goofy quirkyness of these. I mean, it's still stupid, but in the holodeck episodes, the stupidity seemed to be intentional.

My previous ratings were 7, 7, 6 and 3 Noteworthy about this episode:

• Interesting beginning before the main titles
• queens actions too easy, why is she not guarded? So stupid
• Rafi continues to be extremely anoying. How did she end up in starfleet?

• Gary 7 / Watcher connection is ok, not the worst idea, but let's see where it goes with her identity
• not sure I like the fact that it is all about an ancestor of Picard, I like her though
• why does Soongs daughter look like Sojii???

• Brent acts well, but he is overused at this point
• the beginning of the eugenics history is an interesting plot point, but I don't like that they are going to make Q responsible for Khan...
• not sure about the way how Q influences everything. Not his style, but I guess he lost his powers so he can only do it that way. Still I don't like it
• not a fan of the queens thick tentacles, and the way she is portrayed. She gets anoying. Just watched First Contact, and the queen was so much better there.

• where did Soong get the funky force field drones from?? Amazon?

• not a fan of the Oceans Eleven sequence
• ok, so Red Letter Media is right, Agnes will be the queen that cam aboard the Stargazer...

A much better episode than the previous one, less boring, less preachy, although very convoluted. Less Rafi! I don't like all the look-alikes. Not sure I like where this seems to be going, but as an episode, this was ok.

Okay. Definitely an improvement over the previous episode. Things were more interesting. Tensions are bigger. Improvement of writing. More tight pacing.

Yet, the Soong family trend continues... The comeback of BRENT SPINER, but as an ancestor of Noonian Soong. I was worried about seeing the rating as TV-MA / Language. I was like: "oh no, are we going to have unnecessary swearing and women shouting the F Word up Picard's face?" But, thank god that didn't happen.

Besides, it was investing seeing the background of this Adam Soong who is a geneticist who has been struggling with a cure to stop her daughter's genetic disorder in which whenever she's exposed to sunlight. Bad, bad sensitivity happens to result in death. I can't imagine how terrifying that could be. Especially if you're an active individual.

Rios finally manages to escape with the help of Seven and Raffi getting back to the ship. Finally, some good action. I was wondering where did it go. The Borg Queen subplot is magnificent. Since the two interacted in each mind, the Borg Queen has gained full knowledge. It's intriguing seeing her manipulating the hell out of Agnes. Just a really interesting relationship is one way to say it.

Like, the crew still needs her, but... the Borg Queen implanted one final trick is decloak the ship, lure a Police Officer, hold him hostage, got Agnes' attention to taunt her resulting in her (( Queen )) being shot to death. To be honest, I wouldn't blame Agnes. One way to stop a hostage crisis is to do the usual. Still shocked by the fact that the Borg Queen managed to inject her. I do hope to god Agnes survives this.

We still have John De Lancie stealing the show. My favorite scene of this episode has to go with the conversation between him and Soong. God-tier dialogue. It was hilarious hearing Brent Spiner using the F Word. Damn, Q still is ruthless in manipulating Soong into thinking the cure that Q had given him was actually 100% curable. I wonder how Soong will cope with the aftermath besides accepting to help Q. Excellent performances between the two.

The Europa Mission stuff continues to be more involved within the plot. I was entertained seeing the crew "infiltrating" into Renee's gala. Of course, it didn't go as well. But damn, I wanted to see more. Hopefully, the next episode is good. Since Renee suffers from anxiety and depression, it'll be interesting what happens to her during the mission. Looks like Q's plan with Renee didn't work. (( She still has to go with the crew despite this. )) The episode isn't as bad as everyone stated, but that's just me.

8/10.

Much, much better episode than the previous two. I am hoping some of the other reviewers were correct in suggesting last weeks horrid episode was just filler. John De Lancie has not missed a single beat as Q, his performance stands out in this series. I especially loved the scene and dialog between Q and Adam in the restaurant - "I am death, destroyer of worlds" weather this line is symbolic or related to the Bhagavad Gita or to Robert Oppenheimer, little does Adam know this is the truth. I had a youthful chuckle and a little chill when De Lancie delivered this line. Did anyone catch the easter egg in the same scene "17 seconds, 'right on the tick". A homage to Doc Brown and Back to the Future? After all Lea Thompson made a cameo in this episode after directing the previous 2. I am hoping Q is not being developed into an evil villain by the writers. Looking forward to the rest of the season, hopefully it keeps the momentum of this episode.

As for the previous episode, which I wrote a scathing review for I wanted to crest myself on two things:

1. The punk on the transit bus - who was played by Kirk Thatcher. I did not realize this was played by the same actor from Star Trek 4 and was apparently the same person who Spock neck pinched in 1986. You can see thatcher grab his throat apparently remembering this incident from almost 40 years previous. I incorrectly blamed this on something else in my previous review. Now, following this logic if he remembers this (Kirk and Spock came from an unaltered timeline) why doesn't Guinan know Picard??

2. The "ICE" agents and bus - The DS9 episode Past Tense, also takes place in 2024. So was that "migrant bus" heading to one of the camps for persons without ID which we see in Past Tense??

To boldly go to 2024's earth and film there and find ways to place all the cast members through silly plots.

There is so much wrong with this episode. UV blocking field drones in 2 years which swarm like nothing seen before? Dr Soong which is in every way the same as all his incarnations? A Borg Queen with tentacles left alone on a space ship which can be hacked with voice commands? Touching a nano-machine enhanced Borg? Only ripples and not waves by letting a whole bus of immigrants escape? Etc

O, I am looking forward to another if not the whole season of Picard on earth. I love that, trekkies love that. No space exploration, that is so old fashioned Star Trek. The universe revolves around earth don't you remember? Space is boring.

O Jean-luc, please step out of this holodeck filler season.