Spoilers Episode 7 "Nepenthe"

[Tim Thomason]

This all seems legit. I usually like character based episodes like this so I hope the writing is good. Really bummed about Hugh.

It's legit. The leak is real.

The unseen Infinity Space Lanes Captain's name is Rupert Crandall (commands the Inside Straight, which is a broken ship). Kestra IM's him at the dinner table and he tells her the location of Soji's homeworld ("in the Vice Sector, the Hoolian system. Planet doesn't even have a name, just a number.")

The episode is really, really sappy, but it's a reunion episode, so understandable. I'm like Picard in that I don't like kids onscreen, so sorta tuned out the Kestra-Soji stuff. The dead son's full name was Thaddeus Troi-Riker, per a trophy, so I presume Kestra has a similar double barrelled surname.

And here's the part where no one will believe me: When Picard winds up on the Troi-Riker homestead, he mentions that he's in danger. Riker immediately raises shields (and we see the flicker of force field lights outside, implying a very close shield... although we later see them cook and eat pizza outside) and says they've been in danger before. Picard says its Romulans, so Riker initiates anti-cloaking scans, whatever that might be. But before that he mentions who caused the danger before, and I think he says Kzinti.

That doesn't make sense, copyright-wise, so I presumed I misheard Xindi. But upon relistening, it's definitely multiple syllables like Ka-zin-ti. Maybe it's a new race that sounds like that. We'll know for sure on Thursday when a copy of the episode is released without Japanese subtitles. But if it is the first post-1973 reference to the Kzinti, that is going to be a big deal for some people.

Nepenthe is mentioned to have regenerative properties (a little like the Ba'ku planet, I assume), and that's why they moved there, because their son was dying of Mendaxic neurosclerosis ("MN"). MN is a silicon-based virus that is rare and curable if the "infected cells are cultured in an active positronic matrix." Which of course, were banned by Starfleet. Although Nepenthe, due to the Kzinti reference before, seems to be outside of the Federation. Maybe.

 

[Tim Thomason]

So for those who've seen this, how are the Elnor Rizzo fight scenes? Does Elnor have a go at Narek too? Does Rizzo have a laugh at killing Hugh?

Narek isn't there. He spends the entire episode tracking La Sirena in a scout ship until Jurati coma's herself.

Hugh and Elnor are wandering through the Cube, presumably sneaking towards the spatial trajector. When Hugh tells Elnor he plans to take the Cube from the Romulans, Narissa and her goons step out of the ever-present smoke to announce that it sounds like a treaty violation and that she's authorized to kill Hugh now (and that they should've known they were being watched). Elnor takes out his sword and steps forward to protect Hugh, but Narissa does the logical move of shooting with her blaster right away, and Elnor and Hugh run off into a side corridor, unsurprisingly dodging the disruptor fire.

She turns to find them gone, then spots Hugh. Before firing she sees Elnor, then looks back to Hugh, who's gone (apparently he's also a ninja). Elnor's running around getting shot at, and cutting off people's heads and legs, then grabs someone he just stabbed to offer as a human(oid) shield before confronting Narissa.

Narissa, holding her disruptor at Elnor's face (who's doing a poor job of concealing himself behind the clearly dead and clearly shorter Romulan), says in her subtitled language "This is not how Zhat Vash fights Qowat Milat".

She then walks towards Elnor and his dead friend, and slowly, and inexplicably, holsters her disruptor. Dead guy is dropped to the floor, as Elnor puts away his sword, and they circle each other. I guess he expects hand-to-hand combat with a Romulan spy.

Hugh poked his head out, finally, surprisingly not the dumbest move I've seen, as Elnor starts punching and kicking and is blocked quite reasonably in a choreographed fight scene. Narissa is on her knees now, but get this: She pulls out a small knife, to Elnor's surprise. She then tosses one, shuriken-style, into our favored xB's neck, as the scene continues for a half-second treating it like nothing, then zooms in on Elnor's face when he realizes that Hugh was a side character all along.

Hugh collapses, and Elnor rushes to his side, forgetting that Narissa was standing there with a dagger prepared to kill him as well. And she forgets too, as she stays where she's at, slowly stands up, and quite loudly, powers her disruptor to shoot Elnor in the back. He then rips the dagger from Hugh's throat (probably sealing his fate there) and tosses it at Narissa who beams away as only a Zhat Vash could. No time for laughter or even a giggle.

Hugh's dying breath tells Elnor that he needs an xB to "activate the Queen's [help?]". All the xBs appear to be dead now, so it's a good thing Elnor will find a Fenris SOS alarm fifteen minutes later when the episode remembers his storyline. Seven of Nine to the rescue in a week and a half, I presume.

Del Arco also gets some final words calling himself a hopeless fool and being in a lost cause, and thanks Elnor for some reason, because we all treasure the friendship between Hugh and Elnor these many, many seconds. Then he pretends to stop breathing, as our emotionless Romulan ninja pretends to breath heavily to convey feeling that they have to drown out with orchestral music to punctuate for us.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Narek isn't there. He spends the entire episode tracking La Sirena in a scout ship until Jurati coma's herself.

Hugh and Elnor are wandering through the Cube, presumably sneaking towards the spatial trajector. When Hugh tells Elnor he plans to take the Cube from the Romulans, Narissa and her goons step out of the ever-present smoke to announce that it sounds like a treaty violation and that she's authorized to kill Hugh now (and that they should've known they were being watched). Elnor takes out his sword and steps forward to protect Hugh, but Narissa does the logical move of shooting with her blaster right away, and Elnor and Hugh run off into a side corridor, unsurprisingly dodging the disruptor fire.

She turns to find them gone, then spots Hugh. Before firing she sees Elnor, then looks back to Hugh, who's gone (apparently he's also a ninja). Elnor's running around getting shot at, and cutting off people's heads and legs, then grabs someone he just stabbed to offer as a human(oid) shield before confronting Narissa.

Narissa, holding her disruptor at Elnor's face (who's doing a poor job of concealing himself behind the clearly dead and clearly shorter Romulan), says in her subtitled language "This is not how Zhat Vash fights Qowat Milat".

She then walks towards Elnor and his dead friend, and slowly, and inexplicably, holsters her disruptor. Dead guy is dropped to the floor, as Elnor puts away his sword, and they circle each other. I guess he expects hand-to-hand combat with a Romulan spy.

Hugh poked his head out, finally, surprisingly not the dumbest move I've seen, as Elnor starts punching and kicking and is blocked quite reasonably in a choreographed fight scene. Narissa is on her knees now, but get this: She pulls out a small knife, to Elnor's surprise. She then tosses one, shuriken-style, into our favored xB's neck, as the scene continues for a half-second treating it like nothing, then zooms in on Elnor's face when he realizes that Hugh was a side character all along.

Hugh collapses, and Elnor rushes to his side, forgetting that Narissa was standing there with a dagger prepared to kill him as well. And she forgets too, as she stays where she's at, slowly stands up, and quite loudly, powers her disruptor to shoot Elnor in the back. He then rips the dagger from Hugh's throat (probably sealing his fate there) and tosses it at Narissa who beams away as only a Zhat Vash could. No time for laughter or even a giggle.

Hugh's dying breath tells Elnor that he needs an xB to "activate the Queen's [help?]". All the xBs appear to be dead now, so it's a good thing Elnor will find a Fenris SOS alarm fifteen minutes later when the episode remembers his storyline. Seven of Nine to the rescue in a week and a half, I presume.

Del Arco also gets some final words calling himself a hopeless fool and being in a lost cause, and thanks Elnor for some reason, because we all treasure the friendship between Hugh and Elnor these many, many seconds. Then he pretends to stop breathing, as our emotionless Romulan ninja pretends to breath heavily to convey feeling that they have to drown out with orchestral music to punctuate for us.

You should write parody novels. That reminded me just a little of Bored Of The Rings or the Leah Rewolinski Star Wrek stuff.

 

[AlanC9]

From the same idiot who posted stuff like this:
https://twitter.com/OliverFranke10/status/1225923740187471873

And also fell for the "ITS A FAKE" leak...
https://twitter.com/OliverFranke10/status/1226116191191732229

If you haven't noticed:
https://treksphere.com/sponsored-content/ketwolski-fandom-menace-exposed/

I don't get how this is supposed to work. If they repeat lies often enough, they become true?

 

[hellojane]

It's legit. The leak is real.

The unseen Infinity Space Lanes Captain's name is Rupert Crandall (commands the Inside Straight, which is a broken ship). Kestra IM's him at the dinner table and he tells her the location of Soji's homeworld ("in the Vice Sector, the Hoolian system. Planet doesn't even have a name, just a number.")

Did you get the impression that the purpose of the planet not having a name is so that Soji ends up calling it the same thing Thad called him and Kestra's "homeworld"? During that scene, when they learn the info about the planet, Soji says "it's Ardani" (the name of the made up planet) to Kestra, and then Kestra and Deanna both got all teary eyed so I just feel like Soji probably ends up calling her planet that since they made such a point of it not having a name. It was a nice scene obviously but that just the impression I got from the whole thing.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Ardani sounds too much like Ardana, from The Cloud Minders. I wish Thad had picked a more unique name for his fake homeworld.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Did you get the impression that the purpose of the planet not having a name is so that Soji ends up calling it the same thing Thad called him and Kestra's "homeworld"? During that scene, when they learn the info about the planet, Soji says "it's Ardani" (the name of the made up planet) to Kestra, and then Kestra and Deanna both got all teary eyed so I just feel like Soji probably ends up calling her planet that since they made such a point of it not having a name. It was a nice scene obviously but that just the impression I got from the whole thing.

Probably. Of course, if it's in the Hoolian system, it should have a name like any other planet. Like "Hoolian V" or something. Kestra doesn't know how planet naming works in Star Trek. Would've been better if the star system didn't have a name (just numbers, like FGC 4728), and we could assume it was uninhabited aside from the mad scientist library and potential synth depot we're about to discover.

 

[Yistaan]

Narek isn't there. He spends the entire episode tracking La Sirena in a scout ship until Jurati coma's herself.

Hugh and Elnor are wandering through the Cube, presumably sneaking towards the spatial trajector. When Hugh tells Elnor he plans to take the Cube from the Romulans, Narissa and her goons step out of the ever-present smoke to announce that it sounds like a treaty violation and that she's authorized to kill Hugh now (and that they should've known they were being watched). Elnor takes out his sword and steps forward to protect Hugh, but Narissa does the logical move of shooting with her blaster right away, and Elnor and Hugh run off into a side corridor, unsurprisingly dodging the disruptor fire.

She turns to find them gone, then spots Hugh. Before firing she sees Elnor, then looks back to Hugh, who's gone (apparently he's also a ninja). Elnor's running around getting shot at, and cutting off people's heads and legs, then grabs someone he just stabbed to offer as a human(oid) shield before confronting Narissa.

Narissa, holding her disruptor at Elnor's face (who's doing a poor job of concealing himself behind the clearly dead and clearly shorter Romulan), says in her subtitled language "This is not how Zhat Vash fights Qowat Milat".

She then walks towards Elnor and his dead friend, and slowly, and inexplicably, holsters her disruptor. Dead guy is dropped to the floor, as Elnor puts away his sword, and they circle each other. I guess he expects hand-to-hand combat with a Romulan spy.

Hugh poked his head out, finally, surprisingly not the dumbest move I've seen, as Elnor starts punching and kicking and is blocked quite reasonably in a choreographed fight scene. Narissa is on her knees now, but get this: She pulls out a small knife, to Elnor's surprise. She then tosses one, shuriken-style, into our favored xB's neck, as the scene continues for a half-second treating it like nothing, then zooms in on Elnor's face when he realizes that Hugh was a side character all along.

Hugh collapses, and Elnor rushes to his side, forgetting that Narissa was standing there with a dagger prepared to kill him as well. And she forgets too, as she stays where she's at, slowly stands up, and quite loudly, powers her disruptor to shoot Elnor in the back. He then rips the dagger from Hugh's throat (probably sealing his fate there) and tosses it at Narissa who beams away as only a Zhat Vash could. No time for laughter or even a giggle.

Hugh's dying breath tells Elnor that he needs an xB to "activate the Queen's [help?]". All the xBs appear to be dead now, so it's a good thing Elnor will find a Fenris SOS alarm fifteen minutes later when the episode remembers his storyline. Seven of Nine to the rescue in a week and a half, I presume.

Del Arco also gets some final words calling himself a hopeless fool and being in a lost cause, and thanks Elnor for some reason, because we all treasure the friendship between Hugh and Elnor these many, many seconds. Then he pretends to stop breathing, as our emotionless Romulan ninja pretends to breath heavily to convey feeling that they have to drown out with orchestral music to punctuate for us.

And they're complaining over at Dr. Who how their new shows stomp on their legacy. I don't think the Whovians have it quite as vicious as Trek to be honest. Or maybe they do?

 

[ITDUDE]

And they're complaining over at Dr. Who how their new shows stomp on their legacy. I don't think the Whovians have it quite as vicious as Trek to be honest. Or maybe they do?

Who? Whovians? That's what they call themselves?
Is that the show that has a female Dr. Who these days?

 

[Yistaan]

Who? Whovians? That's what they call themselves?
Is that the show that has a female Dr. Who these days?

I quite like her myself. I won't deny the season finale that came out this week has been controversial, but I personally loved it. Much better than the Moffat stuff Capaldi was saddled with.

 

[Gonzo]

I stopped watching Doctor Who a long time ago, its just for kids now really.

There is never any real threat in the show any more.

I last watched it regularly in the 80's with Sylvester McCoy.

Tried it a few times sine then but couldn't stick with it for any length of time.

Quite frankly the whole idea has not really aged well.

 

[Tim Thomason]

And they're complaining over at Dr. Who how their new shows stomp on their legacy. I don't think the Whovians have it quite as vicious as Trek to be honest. Or maybe they do?

It's a silly conceit to have a sword-wielding Romulan. The scene wasn't that bad, just a little bland and cliche and maybe would've been more powerful if I hadn't been spoiled about Hugh's death (it's good that he dies though. Should've been killed in the opener, treaty be damned).

The Qowat Milat is fine. Elnor's backstory is okay, especially since he's portrayed as distressingly naïve. But he's in the real world now, facing off against the most elite of the elite spies, people who keep secrets upon secrets and have a singular mission above all else.

If he was up against a Klingon or Jedi, or anyone portrayed as wanting a fair fight or big on honor, then sword-wielding might make sense. Or they could've stated that disruptors don't work in the Artifact because of special fields/plot contrivances. Or have Narissa state that she wants a challenging fight or something to indicate they want Elnor alive despite him killing at least six of her people thus far.

There were three plots in this episode.

1. The Troi-Riker homestead with no conflict and just to give Picard a break as they prepare for the last half of the season.
2. The crew of La Sirena somehow not realizing that Jurati is a freaking homicidal maniac now.
3. The action-adventure portion with Elnor fighting a group of Nobodies and being put in charge of getting Jeri Ryan back on set.

I don't know anything about Doctor Who. I stopped midway through Capaldi's run because there are 529,600 other genre shows I need to follow (Twice Upon a Time was good, although not as powerful to me because I had no idea who Bill Potts was). But Doctor Who isn't Star Trek. If they do a similar scene as the Narissa vs. Elnor battle, they would probably toss in some actual quips and jokes, instead of relying on me to do so after the fact.

 

[Yistaan]

It's a silly conceit to have a sword-wielding Romulan. The scene wasn't that bad, just a little bland and cliche and maybe would've been more powerful if I hadn't been spoiled about Hugh's death (it's good that he dies though. Should've been killed in the opener, treaty be damned).

The Qowat Milat is fine. Elnor's backstory is okay, especially since he's portrayed as distressingly naïve. But he's in the real world now, facing off against the most elite of the elite spies, people who keep secrets upon secrets and have a singular mission above all else.

If he was up against a Klingon or Jedi, or anyone portrayed as wanting a fair fight or big on honor, then sword-wielding might make sense. Or they could've stated that disruptors don't work in the Artifact because of special fields/plot contrivances. Or have Narissa state that she wants a challenging fight or something to indicate they want Elnor alive despite him killing at least six of her people thus far.

There were three plots in this episode.

1. The Troi-Riker homestead with no conflict and just to give Picard a break as they prepare for the last half of the season.
2. The crew of La Sirena somehow not realizing that Jurati is a freaking homicidal maniac now.
3. The action-adventure portion with Elnor fighting a group of Nobodies and being put in charge of getting Jeri Ryan back on set.

I don't know anything about Doctor Who. I stopped midway through Capaldi's run because there are 529,600 other genre shows I need to follow (Twice Upon a Time was good, although not as powerful to me because I had no idea who Bill Potts was). But Doctor Who isn't Star Trek. If they do a similar scene as the Narissa vs. Elnor battle, they would probably toss in some actual quips and jokes, instead of relying on me to do so after the fact.

The fatality rate on dr. Who is surprisingly high. You don't even want to know what happened to bill potts. picard is mourning data for 20 years. With a who companion, s/he feels sad for 1 episode, maybe 2, then eagerly goes back to recklessly endangering some new companion. Its jarring

 

[gvn2fly]

It's legit. The leak is real.

What would you rate this episode?

 

[Tim Thomason]

What would you rate this episode?

I rated it an 8. Because, Elnor be damned, I like continuity, there was a Kzinti mention, and it does move the plot forward. Not the best episode in all of Star Trek or even Picard, but a solid outing and it's great seeing Riker and Troi together again for the first time since Nemesis.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

Better things to do then update a Wiki page.

We're talking about trek fans here. Like any of us have seen natural light in the last week.

 

[The Wormhole]

We're talking about trek fans here. Like any of us have seen natural light in the last week.

"Natural light?" What kind of weird sci-fi concept are you talking about here. Is this like, being exposed light direct from the sun? How would one even do that? Evolving into a salamander sounds far more realistic than that.

 

[Dukhat]

I rated it an 8. Because, Elnor be damned, I like continuity, there was a Kzinti mention, and it does move the plot forward. Not the best episode in all of Star Trek or even Picard, but a solid outing and it's great seeing Riker and Troi together again for the first time since Nemesis.

You mean, the first time since “These are the Voyages.”

 

[Yistaan]

You mean, the first time since “These are the Voyages.”

Instead of the farm business, Picard should have caught Riker and Troi acting out another NX-01 holodeck fantasy. Scott Bakula can appear!

 

[picardjean-luc]

Instead of the farm business, Picard should have caught Riker and Troi acting out another NX-01 holodeck fantasy. Scott Bakula can appear!

I assume the show-runners have filmed a Riker and Troi scene on the holodeck.

Just in case things don't work as planned for the series they will have the option to reboot the Prime Universe again.