S02.E07: Monsters

[Zonk]

So El-Aurians evidently fought a war against the Q once and made it to a truth?! What do these writers think El-Aurians are? They had to flee from the Borg. The Q on the other hand are all powerfull and can just snap anybody they want out of existence. This is getting stupider by the episode.

[Hiyo]

Q did say in Next Generation that Picard should be wary of Guinan and that she wasn't what she seemed (or something to that effect).

So not stupid, it kind of tracks with what was revealed earlier.

[wmdekooning]

On 4/15/2022 at 9:56 AM, Llywela said:

What we saw in his dreamscape in this episode was simply his unconscious mind exploring a formative experience that helped to shape him that way, that's all, an experience that has been buried deep until now. 

For one I would have preferred it had remained buried deep in favour of something more interesting…

[Ottis]

On 4/16/2022 at 4:39 PM, millennium said:

The repetitive apprehensions by police/soldiers/security guards are getting tiresome -- worse, they eat up valuable minutes

LOL - pretty much 70% of every episode of this show eats up valuable minutes. ALL of Rios' adventures on Earth, ALL of Raffi and Seven wandering around 2024 LA, ALL of boy Picard with his mother, almost all of Adam Soong and his daughter ... it is all a waste of time. I have fast-forwarded through 95% of those bits and haven't missed a thing.

I have watched Picard and FBI guy, and Q when he occasionally appears, and a little bit of Jurati - and I pretty much know the plot. This is the most ridiculous, wasteful writing in Star Trek history. It is a bore and a waste of time, and worse, it is derivative of a past ST movie with the Borg trying to change the past, Vulcan first contact, etc. etc. There is not a single new or interesting idea in any of this. 

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by Ottis

[millennium]

1 hour ago, Ottis said:

This is the most ridiculous, wasteful writing in Star Trek history. It is a bore and a waste of time

 

I would wholeheartedly agree with you ... except Discovery runs away with that dubious honor.

[MissLucas]

55 minutes ago, millennium said:

I would wholeheartedly agree with you ... except Discovery runs away with that dubious honor.

But nobody could get away with repressed memories on Discovery because 'let's talk about  feelings' has easily replaced 'to boldly go etc.' 😁

[Ottis]

2 hours ago, millennium said:

I would wholeheartedly agree with you ... except Discovery runs away with that dubious honor.

I actually liked the end of the season of Discovery before this last season There was a window there from when Pike appeared through the first two eps of the most recent season when Discovery was much more the spirit of Star Trek than before. Then the writers had a relapse and the rest of the season was meh and '"Michael loves Booker." Back to Picard, the offense this season is much worse because this show has ... Picard! One of the singularly most cerebral and thought-provoking characters in Trek. And it has made him into a feeble old man who struggles with his lines, while having new, canon-less characters run around in circles for no reason. You could quite literally start this season NOW, ignore all the eps that have appeared so far this year and have the Borg queen trying to jumpstart the Borg dynasty and go from there - and it would in all likelihood be *better!*

[paigow]

12 minutes ago, Ottis said:

ignore all the eps that have appeared so far this year and have the Borg queen trying to jumpstart the Borg dynasty and go from there - and 

Q saved Shinzon and dumped him in the 21st Century as well... younger, sexier Locutus

[millennium]

3 hours ago, Ottis said:

I actually liked the end of the season of Discovery before this last season There was a window there from when Pike appeared through the first two eps of the most recent season when Discovery was much more the spirit of Star Trek than before. Then the writers had a relapse and the rest of the season was meh and '"Michael loves Booker." Back to Picard, the offense this season is much worse because this show has ... Picard! One of the singularly most cerebral and thought-provoking characters in Trek. And it has made him into a feeble old man who struggles with his lines, while having new, canon-less characters run around in circles for no reason. You could quite literally start this season NOW, ignore all the eps that have appeared so far this year and have the Borg queen trying to jumpstart the Borg dynasty and go from there - and it would in all likelihood be *better!*

For me, Pike's appearance was undercut by the retconning of Spock's history (Michael Burnham is his sister, yeah right) and the feeble portrayal of Spock by Ethan Peck.   He has no charisma and his Vulcan features don't look at all organic.  I wish I could be looking forward to Strange New Worlds, but the faux Spock and the show's connection to Discovery dampen my enthusiasm.

However, I do agree with you re: the wasting of Picard as a character.  It feels to me that Picard is out of his element.   He's a commander, a leader.   Yet he has no ship to command and his control over the other members of his ragtag crew is apparently very limited.   He 's always been top dog, now he's kind of a nobody.   He references Kirk's history more than his own.  As the former Locutis, he has had ample opportunity to have insights into the Borg Queen's scheme; instead he's going on about Kirk slingshotting around the sun and encountering Gary Seven.   Picard's not a captain here -- he's a Trekker.

Another problem is that he is not surrounded by people who regard and respect him as a commander (i.e., the Next Generation crew).   Rios dissed him as a robot, Seven seems to have stipulated to his authority, Raffi is too close to him to be in awe of his abilities -- she calls him J.L., for cripes sake.  Jurati is ... Jurati.   Compare their demeanor with the instant recognition of the real Jean Luc Picard by Riker and Troi when he stopped by their hacienda last season.  

To me, Picard seems like a man without a country right now.   And kind of lost.

* It just occurred to me -- maybe that's what getting old is like.

Edited May 4, 2022 by millennium

[TAG42481]

I hope we're done being in Picard's mind - SO BORING.  I also felt many other things are moving slowly.  Similar to Disco, I'll finish out the season and that might be it.  Well, one possible exception.

 

Spoiler

If they're bringing back everybody from ST:TNG, I'll have to at least give episode 1 of Season 3 a try, THEN decide if I'll drop the show or not.

 

[Paloma]

On 5/3/2022 at 6:40 PM, millennium said:

However, I do agree with you re: the wasting of Picard as a character.  It feels to me that Picard is out of his element.   He's a commander, a leader.   Yet he has no ship to command and his control over the other members of his ragtag crew is apparently very limited.   He 's always been top dog, now he's kind of a nobody.   He references Kirk's history more than his own.  As the former Locutis, he has had ample opportunity to have insights into the Borg Queen's scheme; instead he's going on about Kirk slingshotting around the sun and encountering Gary Seven.   Picard's not a captain here -- he's a Trekker.

Another problem is that he is not surrounded by people who regard and respect him as a commander (i.e., the Next Generation crew).   Rios dissed him as a robot, Seven seems to have stipulated to his authority, Raffi is too close to him to be in awe of his abilities -- she calls him J.L., for cripes sake.  Jurati is ... Jurati.   Compare their demeanor with the instant recognition of the real Jean Luc Picard by Riker and Troi when he stopped by their hacienda last season.  

To me, Picard seems like a man without a country right now.   And kind of lost.

* It just occurred to me -- maybe that's what getting old is like.

I agree with all of this, and my husband (who does not read the forum) echoed your last sentence while we've been catching up on this show. In fact, he thought  that "getting old" and the associated physical and psychological issues, such as increasing infirmity and losing one's sense of identity as a respected professional, is really the theme of the series (even if not the intention of the writers). Maybe he sees it that way (and I mostly agree) because we are in our 70s and retired, and for both of us our identities were very much tied to our professional accomplishments and the respect and admiration that others had for us as, respectively, VP of a large research group (him) and editor (me). People often say, "Retirement must be great. You don't have to work, and you have time to do whatever interests you." And to some extent that's true, but it's also easy to waste much of that free time and to feel like you don't have as much value as you did when you were working. Think how much greater an effect that must have on someone with such a stellar (pun intended) career as Picard!