Star Trek Picard: Two of One

The episode takes place at the top security gala given for the Europa astronauts.  Everyone is elegantly dressed, with top style honors going to Agnes Jurati, Borg Queen infused young scientist in a stunning red gown.

Luckily Picard gets a chance to talk to Renee Picard, giving her a strengthening talk about melancholy, and fear being a safety mechanism that keeps us alive.  Something like that.

I've seen a fair few write ups about this episode having plot holes. 

To me, the largest is that Agnes is left behind by everyone all the time.  Picard has Tallin, Rafi has Seven, and Agnes should have Rios, with whom she has a complex relationship.  

However they have Rios improbably falling for a 2024 doctor in a plot thread that really hasn't made much sense besides giving him screen time and isolating Jurati to be taken over unnoticed by the Borg Queen.

There are of course pros to having a Borg Queen helping you out. There's an emp burst that takes out the lights, then Agnes appears on a balcony, belting out Pat Benatar's Shadows of the Night in a strong voice.

It does give Picard the opportunity to follow and speak with Renee.  

She also, egged on by the Queen, grabs Rios for a big kiss before leaving the gala, striding down the street, dress flowing, taken over by the Borg Queen after having produced sufficient endorphins.

Soong has a few cheesy moments, somehow a jolly fellow at the gala for a large donation to the Europa program.  Wasn't he just tossed out of his job?

Failing there, he tries to run Renee down, but she's pushed to safety by Picard.

The episode goes to Agnes and her scaly girl pal!

Picard: Fly Me To The Moon (Paramount Plus)

 

Picard manages to talk at last to The Watcher.  

She's a dead ringer for his friend Laris from the future but is not Laris.  Her job has been to protect a single individual in this time period without ever being seen or detected by her in any way.

Her charge is to protect Renee Picard, an ancestor of Jean Luc's who is preparing for the historic Europa flight.

Picard urges Tallin to help him avert the upcoming time event, and tries to explain Q and his machinations to her. She's willing, but the last opportunity to protect Renee is at a gala with impossible to crack security.

Naturally Jurati, who's thrilled to try out the old code she once studied goes in first.  Captured by secuity almost immediately, as planned, she's soon in cuffs in the security center, right where she needs to be.

Unfortunately, she has the Borg queen like a devil on her shoulder tagging along. Agnes was forced to shoot the Borg Queen, but somehow the Queen at the last reached out and infected her somehow, and now the Queen is part of her.

Renee has been stressed and deeply depressed, and as part of her preparations, talks to a therapist who is revealed to be Q, encouraging her to allow her fears to take over and pull out of the mission.

Q has been very busy, as he's also got Adam Soong on a string, promising to help his genetically ailing daughter with a cure, if only Adam will help Q with an obstacle.

Rios is rescued handily by Seven and Rafi, once cool headed Seven takes over.

It's an action packed episode, and yet when it was over I was once again thinking "Wait! You're stopping there?"

The deeper we go, the more complex things get. It's another excellent season of Picard.

Picard Season 2 Ep 2 Penance (Paramount Plus)

When last we saw the crew of the Stargazer, there was a self destruct countdown ticking to eradicate the efforts of the Borg queen in taking over the fleet.

Poof, now Picard is getting a tour of his own home, with trembling Romulan staff, shaking in fear of him.  Picard has a trophy room full of skulls of alien enemies with plaques that describe Picards triumph over them.

 

Horrified by everything he sees, feeling angry and powerless, Picard must get on a flight to take part in Eradication Day.

Most alien worlds have been destroyed with their populations.  The last Borg is held in the basement of the President's dwelling.  

Luckily Picard isn't alone in this alternate time line.  Seven is President of the Confederation. Raffi is Chief of Security. Elnor is a rebel. Jurati is an expert in cybernetics. Rios leads the fleet destroying Vulcan. 

They're all dropped into these new roles with full memory of who they are, and where they just were, aboard the Stargazer.

Intriguingly, the star of Eradication Day is the Borg Queen.  She's being kept in a secure chamber in Jurati's laboratory.  There is only her head and torso.  She's confused because all of the Borg are gone but her. Something is wrong with time, she says.

She tells them that in the twenty fourth century, Los Angeles, the original timeline was changed.  That there is a Watcher there.

Quickly getting everyone together, Picard plans to use Kirk's old trick of rubber banding around the sun to travel in time.  The Borg Queen can do the calculation that Spock did in the original, if she will help them.

Seven convinces her by telling her re-setting the timeline gets her back with the Collective.

Rios transports them all aboard his ship at the last moment. The Queen is tied into his ship's computer over his protests.

Just then The President's husband (!) beams aboard with two security crew and shoots Elnor and threatens the rest.

What a place to end the episode!  After the slow opening episode for the season, this glimpse into a totalitarian, hate mongering timeline was instantly a place to try to escape from.

Reading a few reviews, I like the idea that The Watcher in the 24th century is Guinan.  I trust that our intrepid crew will defeat the bad guys on the ship (maybe the Borg queen will transport them into space).

In the future with the Stargazer, where the newly designed Borg ship has asked to join the Federation, maybe they meant it. Apparently the Queen is aware of different temporal phases (?). Maybe she remembers what they are about to do together in this alternate time.  Maybe they succeed because they work together and everyone realizes they don't need to be relentless enemies.

Picard Season 2 Ep 1 Stargazer (Paramount Plus)

 

While I loved season one of Picard, this first episode seemed a bit meandering.  On the plus side, all of the great characters new and old from season one are here.

On the negative side, Q.  I knew he was in the season, but have never liked the character.  According to the previews, he feels Picard owes some sort of penance.   At least he came in at the very end of the episode.

I love the Borg, though, so seeing their newly designed ship was pretty cool.  Awesome armor for the Queen as well. At some point she and Seven of Nine will no doubt go Circuit to Circuit, with Seven triumphing (I hope).

More air time for Guinan would be great too.

The Stargazer was a particularly beautiful ship.