Star Trek: Picard

[Dion]

Yeah, my thought is that they likely first got together soon after All Good Things and just so happened to be broken up whenever a movie came along.

I also liked that they tied in Picard's work with the Romulan refugees and Beverly's personal losses in a way that makes her absence make sense.

Me too!

[janea4old]

So one of the premises of this season is that we get to see how the TNG characters have changed in the past 20 years.
LOL that Worf now drinks chamomile tea.

Edited March 4, 2023 by janea4old

[AdelaideCate007]

If Riker's a changeling, then it would have had to have happened sometime right before the end scene because those scenes where he knew how to find Beverly and where he was talking to Jack and Picard about Troi and their kids were definitely supposed to be real Riker. Just going off what the actors and the show runner have said about the arcs for this season, it would really cheapen the story this season if he's a changeling at this point. I think he's just mad that his son is dead and he can't see him anymore while Picard's son is alive and he doesn't seem to care about seeing him. Plus now that he thinks they're dying, he thinks he won't get to make things right with Troi and their daughter since he hinted in the first episode that they're mad at him. I mean, maybe he becomes one later on or I'm way off base, but now, I don't think he is.

Anyway, I loved the episode. The best of three so far. The villains being the changelings is a cool twist. I'm enjoying the Worf and Raffi stuff a lot. The Odo shoutout was a really nice touch. The Beverly and Picard showdown was wonderful and well acted.

Yeah, they're definitely setting up a backdoor Titan or TNG Legacy show. Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes were even floating the idea of a show this week in interviews. 

A preview for the 5th, 6th, and 7th episodes accidentally aired early in some places apparently and there's a photo floating around from it that's pretty great.

[AdelaideCate007]

The episode description for episode 5 definitely gives you some hints about who at least one cameo this season will be. 

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[Vee]

Ooh, pass it along.

[AdelaideCate007]

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@Vee

[Vee]

Oh yes - that I've seen.

[Dion]

I think this is partly why they have decided to end Discovery after five seasons. With both Picard and Discovery ending it frees up space for two more shows.

[Vee]

In honor of Picard/Crusher finally being canon, I rewatched a key episode from the final season of TNG that directly deals with that long-running subplot: "Attached." It still holds up and Stewart and McFadden's performances are wonderful (and @DRW50and other GL fans will be pleased to know Lenore Kasdorf appears, albeit as a very prim and xenophobic alien in a cowl) but it seems like a direct setup for a rekindling of the romance thread between them that the show had, til then, largely abandoned since Season 1. At the end of the episode Picard wants to explore the relationship and Crusher backs off at the last moment, seeming very conflicted as she does so, leading to Picard sadly blowing out the candles on their dinner date before the credits roll.

I wonder if this was originally intended to be a serialized thread; they had allegedly floated the idea of marrying Picard and Crusher off in the final season, and I am not sure whether this was either the compromise or a potential starting point for that. I believe Patrick Stewart may also have wanted Picard unattached for potential romance in the films (which only happened with Donna Murphy in Insurrection). The only time it is returned to after "Attached" (and before this year) is in the series finale of TNG, where we see them married and divorced in an AU and then, in the present, Crusher lays a scorching kiss on him near the end of the episode. I have never forgotten watching that live as a kid, I nearly died.

The actors discuss the past material a bit here, and you can see a clip from "Attached" in the early segment. I don't have any expectation of the characters ending up together in S3 as Picard seems committed to Orla Brady's character from the first two seasons. I like Brady a lot, but I'm sorry, I'd be happy for Picard and Crusher to surprise me.

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[janea4old]

I am usually disinterested about shipping crew relationship on Trek.  It just wasn't my focus. 
I watch soaps for shipping relationships, not Trek.

But then, I'm in a different headspace watching Trek. For Trek I watch for the interactions between peoples of various planets.  The idea of an interplanetary multi-species Federation gives me hope that our real-life Earth will get our act together someday with kindness.

Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard? Nah, that relationship always felt lukewarm to me.  I just can't ship them, sorry.  I like who Beverly is now, though!

The Trek ships that interested me:

I cared about Worf and his first love K'Ehleyr. She was so magnificent, it's amazing that she was in only two episodes because she had such an impact.

Worf/Troi didn't work (obviously).

And I loved Worf/Jadzia so much.  I was bummed when they killed off Jadzia, but the actress wanted to leave.  (It still amazes me that Terry Farrell left DS9 because she didn't want a career typecast as a Trek character, and then she ended up getting married in real life to Leonard Nimoy's son!)

And I liked Quark and Grilka, that was fun!

Kira and Odo were sublime.  I liked their mutual respect of one another.

 

[AdelaideCate007]

Great episode and nice closure to the first sort of act of the season. I have to admit that the Riker and Deanna reconciling scene at the end really got me. The ending with the new life being born and the scenes of Beverly, Picard, and Jack convincing Riker of their plan were also stellar.

I'll refrain from saying more till everyone has a chance to watch it but I have so many questions about Amanda Plummer's character and that whole...vibe lol.

[Vee]

For a Trekkie this show is painfully good.

As a fan who laughed his way through Nemesis in the theater and has wanted the TNG crew to have a better wrap-up for over 20 years, I share the cast's noted joy over this season being their final bow vs. the movies which, for the most part except FC, largely sucked. They've talked about their relief over this season's closure for them a lot in interviews but these episodes just keep driving it home. Watching the Enterprise crew puzzle things out together intelligently like they did in the old days, competently vs. overly imbuing the material with emotional appeals (something most recent Trek has often been afraid to with the exception of SNW and oddly enough, Lower Decks), was so refreshing after the last few years. And there's still a lot of emotion to be had - the ending, and the Ten-Forward scenes with Picard and co. were great, especially Shaw's Quint from Jaws speech. I figured Shaw had to have been at Wolf 359, or traumatized by the Dominion War (probably both).

I assume they have to be cueing up a Titan or other show with Seven, LaForge and presumably Jack by the end of this, assuming Speleers is not committed to more seasons of You on Netflix.

[AdelaideCate007]

Nemesis should just be ignored outside of the first like ten minutes and I guess Data's death. So [!@#$%^&*] bad lol. I'm glad they're all getting a better goodbye together, even if everyone had to wait 20 years for it.

@Vee The show runner talks here about why they didn't end up going with the bugs from Conspiracy and how they ended up on the Changelings instead. Super interesting that he said there was a few ideas they floated but couldn't use because it would meaning killing a legacy character. It's a good read. Some good stuff about Shaw in there too.

https://collider.com/star-trek-picard-season-3-episode-4-spoiler-interview-showrunner-terry-matalas/

Also interesting that he hints at the back five episodes being Troi heavy.

I assume they're definitely planning a show centered around Shaw, Seven, presumably Raffi, Jack, and whatever other legacy kids they decided to use.

 

[Vee]

Apologies if this was posted - I didn't see it. I wondered if that crewmember was part Deltan. Deltan and Vulcan is a wild mix.

More on T'Veen's background.

[Vee]

@AdelaideCate007

I wasn't sure if Vadic was a changeling or if she had some sort of symbiotic communication device with the Founders. That answers that. The question is, is she answering to more Founders or to someone else? Who could co-opt the changelings?