Wouter

Gwyn has already been created. Her father, the Diviner, went back in time from his own timeline (the original one, where Solum gets totally wrecked). He did this already before S1, and in the "rerun" of events caused by Chakotay boarding the Protostar while escaping Solum, he did it again in S02e04 ("if the odds are 100-to-1, we will sent a 100 ships). Now that the Protostar is back in place in the past, he can set up shop at Tars Lamora again, and create Gwyn. Ilthuran on the other hand, has no reason to become the Diviner since the civil war is already over in this new reality, and Starfleet actually helped this time. He will be a very influential figure on a more united Solum now (post the total defeat of "The Vindicator"/older Ascencia), if not the leader. There is no loop, the future is unwritten and for Solum it looks quite good. The Diviner and the Vindicator essentially came from another universe, and whatever happens in the one we follow in Prodigy does not affect their existence.

I doubt she could even reach Janeway. Ro said she didn't get past her "gatekeepers", who may not forward such requests to Janeway. I also liked the episode, perhaps the best of S3 so far. While earlier emotional conflicts felt forced (particularly the one between Riker and Picard that was resolved very quickly) and I dislike the TNG bunch running the ship in episode 4 (with the actual crew, including the captain and the main helmswoman, being reduced to spectators or figurants on their own ship), the meeting between Ro and Picard really resonated. At least it was something left hanging from TNG where the conflict feels very appropriate, and where a form of resolution gets welcomed. Particularly well done was that they managed to keep the audience in doubt whether or not Ro was a changeling. While they made such a big deal of Picard's suspicions that I suspected it was the actual Ro, they did keep me doubting until Picard pulled his holo-phaser on her without anyone firing. And though Jack Crusher is not my favourite character and Picard not knowing about him is melodramatic in a rather bad way, at least I have the impression they are going somewhere with this particular mystery box. Prodigy takes place some 15-20 years before Picard S3 (Prodigy is in 2384 or 2385 I think, unclear when exactly Picard S3 takes place but it's later than 2400).

Prodigy is excellent, too, with far more natural plots/drama then Picard currently has. The animated shows are the best of the current bunch, easily.

Very good finale, it is what Voyager's "Endgame" should have been, wrapping up the entire first 20 episodes with callbacks to the first episode, an epilogue and the touching sacrifice of holo-Janeway (a great character in her own right) and also the emotional goodbye of Gwyn. I suppose we will check in on Gwyn's storyline in Season 2 though, much like we saw glimpses of Vice-admiral Janeway in season 1B. The accusation may have been partially about the Denaxi Depot, where the kids could have returned the ship but failed to because they panicked, or alternatively that part was specifically for Gwyn (who did attempt to claim the ship for the Diviner, back in episode 4) much like the accusation about "inhabiting the mind of an esteemed Admiral" was specifically for Dal and not for the others. Given that Gwyn had already talked with Janeway/Starfleet before the latter came to deliver the verdict, and yet she didn't say anything to the others, it's possible she already knew the gist of what Janeway would say (she could hardly go to Solum if she was convicted and put into some kind of youth correction program or something like that) and that the verdict was conditionnel on Gwyn cooperating and Janeway taking the others under her wing.

Excellent episode, very moving in multiple ways. I didn't think they would go this far with the carnage. Maybe they will push a reset button next episode, or if not they may at least get to stop the Construct so something can still be salvaged. I'm guessing John Noble will reprise the role of the younger version of the Diviner on present day Solum, during season 2.

Asencia doesn't look like Gwyn either. The ridges on her face are very different, much more subtle with Gwyn (who looks much like her father in this regard). The hair is also very different, and not just the way it is arranged. With hindsight, Gwyn was very right to run away from Ascenia in the episode prior.

Agreed on the miscommunication, slightly disappointing that they went this far with all the missed chances (though Gwyn's panicky reaction was understandable to some extent - but still over the top). Attempting to communicate with the Dauntless is kinda irrelevant if Dal and co don't even dare to speak to Janeway in person. I think this will only be resolved in the double episode that will be the season finale. As for the Romulans, they turn up with more firepower (presumably) which gives them "the right" to be giant pricks. With 3-to-1 (or worse, if any others are lurking) Janeway will have to retreat, I suppose.

I'm surprised that the escape pod of the relay station wasn't found (yet). Would be interesting information for Janeway. The Diviner is probably going to give all kinds of disinformation to the Dauntless crew. It was a good episode, I enjoyed especially the parts with the "living construct" and on the Dauntless. The crew of the Protostar is suicidally brave to board a Borg cube and ask for information. The resolution was a bit easy, but then Picard and Data did much the same on TNG (putting the Borg to sleep) and Zero actually has better reasons to be able to resist the collective. The Borg cube was suitably impressive.

Gywn still has her sword/tool thingy, it was already visible on her right hand while she was trying to disable the Protostar's shields in S01e10. It was funny that Dal didn't manage to cut the sarcophagus with a phaser (was it on stun or another wrong setting?), while Gwyn saves herself. It's also remarkable that Gwyn hadn't been told - and still isn't being told - what happened to her father. That could potentially still bring some problems. As for Dal and the alert, I don't think that's a good thing at all (for Dal!) allthough the kids were all happy that Starfleet seems to know what/who he is. I suspect he may be (genetically) augmented/altered, something which is still frowned upon by the Federation (traces from Khan, apparently). Once Starfleet gets an impression of what the Vau N'akat are trying to do, I guess Gwyn will be on their radar soon enough, as well. As I guess that the Dauntless is going to pick up the Denobulan officer in his escape pod, vice-admiral Janeway will likely gets description soon and the similarity with the Diviner will (likely) be noted. If the Denobulan remembers and reports correctly what was said on the station, the kid's claims about escaping from someone who kept them enslaved may ring a bell, having seen Tars Lamora. I don't think the guy was completely inept, though it was cruel of Starfleet to keep him alone in such a farflung outpost. The initial reception went well enough. Taking off like he did isn't the starfleet thing to do, but then he believed (not wholly unreasonably) that they had been sabotaging the station. The situation with the calculation of the jump at the end seemed a bit unnecessary, as the Protostar could have moved to pick them up (or used tractor beam as the ETH, did). Rok may be a prodigy but it would take Data to calculate something like that without any tools. Little detail: Janeway found Gwyn's combadge, which was crushed by the Diviner in the mid-season finale.

Starfleet does not know what happened to the ship (Chakotay and co are missing, disappeared without trace with exception of the ship suddenly resurfacing). They also don't know about the Vau N'akat (they have yet to make first contact, unless either Gwyn meeting the lone officer on the station or Janeway and co meeting the Diviner on Tars Lamora would count) and don't know about a weapon. The only they know/think is that the Protostar, with an alien crew, visited the relay station and once contact was made with the ship's system, everything went haywire (and Janeway doesn't know even that yet, she first has to pick up the Denobulan in his escape pod). The show is setting up a season long arc of vice-admiral Janeway chasing the Protostar, in order to "stop the saboteurs", reclaim the ship and get to know what happened to Chakotay and is crew. And because the Protostar crew wants to avoid contact at all costs given they know about the weapon now, they will keep evading her (until they can't, I suppose, probably in the season finale).

The relation between Gwyn and Dal is fascinating. Really liked how it was played out in this episode, with Dal pointedly not taking credit but Jankom giving it anyway, to Gwyn's obvious delight. What I think happened: holo-Janeway asked Dal "where's Gwyn?" and Dal then took it from there, without further encouragement needed from Janeway (who had earlier manipulated Gwyn off the ship by exagerating the danger of crashing, and not offering any help beyond responding to direct commands, because she didn't want to leave without everybody on board). From Jankom's perspective, it would have been entirely Dal's idea. I don't see it as a retcon in the other sense either (Dal "suddenly" caring about Gwyn), due to something that struck me when I rewatched "Dreamcatcher". At the end of that episode, the group in the "runaway" buggy see the shuttle and Protostar crashing down. It's clear they realise Gwyn has broken out again and must have been on the shuttle. Dal drives to the shuttle crash site (rather than directly to the Protostar) and when they arrive, he jumps out and runs to the shuttle in a fashion that suggests he fears to find a dead or severely wounded Gwyn. Directly after he sees she is more or less OK, his anger at her comes out again and early in the next episode he is at his meanest again. But I don't think he ever wanted her to die (he would have asked Rok to carry her if need be I think, but at that time he would not admit that he cared one iota about her unless it was absolutely necessary for survival). When they were still at Tars Lamora (before Rok activated the magic translator), Dal had almost nobody to talk to. His options seem to have been limited to Drednok and Gwyn (not entirely sure if anybody else speaks a language Dal would understand), and Gwyn obviously the more pleasant option. When Gwyn and The Diviner discuss Dal, she notes that "he talks a lot" and it is clear that she (usually) is happy to listen, though she doesn't think very highly of his intelligence. Especially the stories about the stars entice her, and Dal does seem to have a certain winning charm to him in this regard. Gwyn in turn was likely looking for affection among the captives, as she didn't get any from her own "family", and thus easily charmed. In the scene of the interrogation of Dal regarding "fugitive zero", the signals we get from Gwyn and Dal are complex and sometimes seem contradictory. It demonstrates that the balance of power in the relation is not healthy, with Dal brought in handcuffed and under guard. As we see in later scenes also, Dal likes to play it cool in such situations to show that he is not intimidated (and Zero isn't there to point out he actually is), and puts his boots on the table to the annoyance of Gwyn. She gives him the Lychees, but she does not order the removal of his handcuffs so he can eat normally, which no doubt annoys him in turn. Over the entire conversation hangs the loyalty conflict within Gwyn, as she wants to please the Diviner but also spare Dal at the same time. I imagine Dal came out of this with a bit of resentment, being send off to deep mining with a threat hanging over his head. Yet, I suppose Gwyn feels she is trying to protect him from harm and she blames Zero for involving Dal in a rebellion against her father. Gwyn is quite shocked when she cannot protect Dal from being sent to the surface, with the Diviner taking entirely Drednok's side. And she helps Drednok with the plan to let Dal escape so that he leads them to Zero. When she arrives at the Protostar, Dal reaches out to her and offers to take her along on the ride (it is of course possible he does this merely out of desperation, but I think he genuinely wants her to come with him). Her refusal (to go willingly) probably does not sit well with him, as he - and even her dream of the stars - are dejected in favour of the Diviner. During the escape of the Protostar, there is again a sign that Gwyn does not want harm to come to Dal as the editing implies she somehow realises that Drednok is going to strike a fatal blow at Dal, as she cringes at that very moment (but he is obviously not aware of that). After the escape, Dal's demeanor towards Gwyn changes and the viewer is left to wonder if the "friendship" from his side was only there out of calculation and necessity. However, I think Dal is angry with Gwyn (whom he otherwise likes well enough) and pointedly wants to demonstrate his anger because of three reasons: -her refusal to go with the escaping group when offered, and active resistance when taken by force indicating she chooses loyalty to the Diviner over him, even when she has the chance to chase her dream of going to see the stars -her cooperation with Drednok in setting up a trap for Zero and him -build-up anger over the uneven power balance, as he often seems to have been in detention and was demonstrated in the interrogation scene, which he couldn't express before since she is the daughter of the boss Dal then apparently wants to show Gwyn how that made him feel by treating her like dirt in return. However, as self-appointed "captain" this was a very bad choice because this leads to an angry Gwyn being reinforced in her loyalty for the Divinier and not only plotting her escape, but eventually even choosing to take off with the Protostar and leaving everybody behind. Luckily, Janeway interferes. Dal really should have put his feelings on hold and negotiated some sort of terms with her to avoid that as well as the escape attempts that actually happened, instead of getting "even" with her for perceived or real mistreatment. Once Gwin has finally made her choice, all this balast seems to have been jettisoned and the positive aspects of their relationship come to the fore again. Incidentally, I think Gwyn could quite easily have escaped or taken control of the Protostar at any point in the episodes 2-3-4 before she actually did it - IF she had been willing to use her multitool/weapon in a configuration to actually kill rather than deflect or incapacitate, especially as really she only needs to take out Rok and the others can't stop her.

I think Nandi will be back in a later episode. We may get more back-story (about Dal and his origins, and possibly about how/why Nandi is running a big ship quasi alone, far from Ferengi space) and Nandi was quite interested in Gwyn, noting her language skills. If she gets the chance, she may see a chance for profit there.

Time passed in between, the implication is that someone (most likely Rok, who was generally the least hostile to Gwyn) took them off.

While the weapon the Diviner was talking about is most likely a computer virus of some sort (like the one Picard had hoped to place among the Borg when they first met Hugh), I don't think the wording of the Diviner explicitly excludes Gwyn as being the weapon. He said to her that it was currently onboard the Protostar, that it needed to be "armed" and that it would send a signal that would lead to Starfleet ships turning on one another. The Diviner and Gwyn are capable of sending remote signals to their multitool thingys in orde to manipulate them and the Diviner insisted she would be on the ship, Like he turned her "heirloom" against her, he may have other nasty surprises in store.

I think she still has it. A small piece of it was visible on her right hand when Zero was scanning her at the end. I only just got round to seeing Prodidy, really surprised by the quality of this show.

This is the reason given in the show: Rand and Matt think Matt can channel, and they are afraid of what the Aes Sedai (not merely Moiraine, but also the Liandrin types) would do if they show up with what they think are clear signs that Matt can channel. Nynaeve also mistrusts the Aes Sedai.

Ishamael is also a hidden forsaken, arguably. Agreed on Taimandred being a must, if Demandred is in the show. As for the el-characters: technically, Elmindreda (Min) is also an -El. And there is also Elyas (possibly).

Valda's Whitecloaks (in the show) are questioners. Other Whitecloaks, like the group of Bornhald the elder, are probably less unreasonable. Regarding a question you asked in an episode thread, Padan Fain was the person spotted twice watching Matt and Rand. There are audio cues as well, subtitles point those out if engaged.

That's a good suggestion, though I suppose Romulan databases can't be hacked as easily as Federation ones. OTOH, Data, Dahj and Soji were all shown to be very adept at hacking so it's possible. Maybe Narek and co even let it happen, to find clues about Soji herself.

You're right about Soji, Maddox had his lab there but maybe the Tal Shiar/Zhat Vash blew it up before he could really make anything. Right about Soong too: I forgot that Soji didn't even know (that we were shown, at least) that it was Sutra who had killed Saga. I think this can be explained. One simple option is that is was for variety. There were different looking models on the colony, as well, some looking like Data, some like the synths on Mars, and others. The other option is that infiltration in human/Romulan society had been kept in mind from the start, if not by Soong then at least by Maddox. That would also be the reason for the fake memories, like Boomer from Moore's BSG: to be more effective infiltrators, able to behave convincingly like humans because they believed themselves to be. They cannot betray themselves, because they don't know. One thing the show did not explain is how Soji knew stuff like the name and purpose of the Shaenor, the last ship assimilated by the Borg Cube. Such information was likely given to high ranking Romulans only. Unless Maddox had pals in S31 or at least Starfleet Intelligence, and those had gathered intel on it. I suppose people like Laris and Zhaban (ex-Tal Shiar) could potentially have known, but why would one of those randomly tell Maddox or Soong? I tend to agree with them. I don't see the point in "justice" being done in the form of a trial. Who has something to gain with that? Not Maddox, he will remain dead. Not Soji and the other androids (or Soong), who prefer to have Jurati with them rather than have her rot on some penal colony. Not Picard and the La Sirena crew. Not Jurati herself, unless she insists on self flagellation. Not the Daystrom Institute, which can use Jurati's expertise and cannot use the likely scandal of having one of their top scientist murder an alumni. And on a political level, both Romulans and Federation may prefer to keep things as quiet as possible (note how Starfleet did not want to pay the price of a massive fleet to fleet battle - even though they would win - just to bring Oh to justice). Only some Federation lawyers would have something to gain from it. Jurati is far more useful as part of the crew - for everyone involved. And I do think we can easily say she was not in her right mind, and that could at least be the outcome of a painful trial. There is also Soji and her attempted genocide to consider. In most countries today, planning a terrorist attack, with concrete steps being taken to implement said attack (like arranging for weapons/explosions etc) is sufficient to be convicted for terrorism. Since Soji was already executing Sutra's plan, she would be like the #2 of IS in terms of a real world situation, albeit with a change of heart at the very last instance. So why isn't everybody calling for Soji to go to DS12 and then on to a Federation courtroom? I also generally like the characters, the dialogue, the setting, atmosphere etc. Overall, Picard had a good first season. Compared to the classic Trek series, there is the advantage of a season-long spanning story (as opposed to the "problem/planet/species/character of the week" format), an emotional buildup and more "real" characters compared to sometimes stiff utopian-perfect Starfleet officers from earlier series. Compared to Discovery, the creators of Picard at least seem to have had a firm plan on what they wanted the first season to be. And while I'm dissapointed by some of the choices in the finale, overall the story for the first season was strong. For me, Discovery S1 was a big disappointment with its handling of the Klingons and of characters like Lorca. So far, I haven't watched Disco S2 yet. I am, however, looking forward to more Picard, allthough a somewhat more episodic format may be better after the high stakes of S1. I agree on Narissa, short-range device within the Borg Cube (maybe not unlike the emergency portale transporter from Nemesis). It's still weird that the Romulan ships didn't beam her out afterwards though, but maybe some underling was glad to get rid of genocidal Narissa. Since we know that present transporters allow Romulans to beam out in mid fall (pilot episode) and that Narissa has a device on the cube, she may well have survived the final. It's a pity they she and Narek didn't get more scenes, equally so with the xB's at the end. Since it's a streaming show they could easily have left them in, weird decision to trim the episodes. I hope Narek will still be involved in some capacity, next season, preferably on the side of Rios and co. Soji seems to have gotten a lobotomy as part of the process of regaining her android memories. That she did not understand what she was doing would have been an explication (allthough also requiring the lobotomy anyway), but Soji was so dismissive of "organics" (allthough she believed herself to be one mere days ago, and arguably is an organic as well as synthetic, being carbon based) that she arguably may have understood. Her line to Picard was quite ironic: "You choose if we live, you choose if we die. You choose! We have no choice! You organics have never given us one." The problem being, Picard isn't the one who has the power to choose. In so far he had power to let the Androids live, he did all he could by: -contacting Starfleet to call for protection -exposing the truth of Mars -providing an escape possibility with the La Sirena, by being ahead of the Romulans (which was risky business for Rios) Soji was actually talking about herself, choosing about life or death over other people. I am bit surprised that a writer of the caliber of Chabon didn't find a better solution for this, especially with a character like Sutra in their arsenal. It seems the obvious call to let her manipulate the situation (have her incapacitate Soong, rather than the other way round) and then call on Soji to stop her, after getting the Picard speech (tm). I guess that the writers absolutely wanted to let everything hinge on that one Picard moment. This is one example where the name and concept of the show works against itself, as an ensemble show like TNG or DS9 would have solved this far more elegantly by not insisting on letting one particular character be the only one deciding factor. I didn't catch that the magic device is actually a replicator. That makes sense for the repair of La Sirena, since the only thing that was missing to do the repairs was a specific part. However, the ultrabelievable (fools Romulan sensors) projection would not seem to be part of the curriculum of the average Federation replicator. I also really liked Data in TNG - he was a great officer and a very decent being - and so the Data indulgence is a bit of a guilty pleasure. Allthough it's a shame Geordi was not involved, I also think that Data and Picard had a very good relationship even in TNG, at least since "measure of a man". I do, however, also agree with those who say that the near worship of Data was a bit over the top at times. The show could have been more subtle in this regard. Best episode of the season, for me, was The Impossible Box. Worked on all levels, and the return of Picard to a Cube (first time since Best of Both Worlds) was the highlight of the season.

Yes and no. They were right the synths have genocidal tendencies, but they engineered the whole situation themselves. If the Romulans had done nothing, the synths would not have been banned in the first place and wouldn't have felt threatened.

Exactly, Soji thought she was human for 3 years, and interacted with a lot of people during that time. All the xB's she cared about (or seemed to?), her colleagues including Hugh, that Trill woman and various Romulans. And then the people who helped her after the cube: Kestra, Riker, Troi, Rios, Raffi, Jurati, even Soong. They all need to die? Along with everyone else? And I don't get why she was worried for Picard when La Sirena was hit by the Romulans and out of control for a moment. If Picard died then and there, it would only hasten his end by a few minutes, and if the Romulans didn't kill him she would do it herself. Her behaviour is totally inconsistent. Interestingly, nobody in-universe seems to be calling her out on that (Picard even "believes in her"). Even more so, many online reactions I've seen focus on Agnes Jurati getting away with murder, but totally ignore the attempted total genocide.

I think the whole ubersynths plot would have worked better if it was made clear that Soji and co thought they could use them to wipe out the Romulan Fleet, thank them and sent them back (or limit them to defend the colony from that ime on). As it was though, they left little doubt that the total genocide/biocide on galactic scale was understood and that Soji was fine with that.

I hope they don't have the device anymore, would indeed be too easy ("just imagine those Borg cubes/Romulan Fleets/space monsters are all gone"). One of the synths (Arcana?) mentioned that more Orchids could be made, given time. They didn't have much time but apparently production goes quite fast, even though the Romulans made short work of them. It's not certain Soji can be shut down like Sutra could be, she was "build" by Maddox on a lab in Freecloud and may not work exactly the same as Sutra/Jana. Soong of course should have spoken up (unlike what I wrote earlier, apparently he didn't even tell Soji that it was Sutra rather than Narek who took Saga's life), but as you say, that would have brought Soji to her senses and the writers couldn't have that (yet). A bit of a shame, as with some more care in the plotting it could have been an excellent finale.

The bad kind, which is why an organisation like Section 31 exists. Starfleet Intelligence/Security is a joke compared to Romulan and Cardassian equivalents. Not a robot body: a synthetic but organic body. The net result is that Picard is more human than ever, since he got rid of the artificial heart (his orginal heart had to be replaced after he was stabbed by a Nausican) and any leftover Borg bits.