I'm reading it as an ancient race with issues against synths which routinely cleanses younger synth producing races as the need arises.
Vague echoes of Alastair Reynolds...
Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 1x08 - "Broken Pieces"
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Vague echoes of Alastair Reynolds...
Are you suggesting that the Zhat Vash are foolish to think this is anything other than an elaborate prank or hoax by highly advanced aliens? Even so, that wouldn't help us understand their behavior given that they obviously don't think that.
No. Romulan society was formed because its people didn't want to suppress their emotions.
It's amazing how much people are tying themselves into knots to explain this plot point. The big elephant in the room is, that however sure everyone is that they understand it and that it makes perfect sense, people aren't giving the same explanations. Some people have tried to give reasons that the Zhat Vash's behavior is actually rational, others have admitted that it isn't, but say we should expect them to be irrational. The fact that people aren't all zeroing in on the same conclusion suggests that it wasn't really established in the show and the writers probably hadn't even thought about it at the time.
I think the real culprit here is the JJ Abrams Mystery Box writing style this show embraces. Some people are more tolerant of that sort of thing than others and it's fine if you like that sort of thing, but can we at least admit that's what's going on?
This discussion sort of reminds me of some discussions about Westworld (the series) back when the IMDb boards were still there. It was a regular feature of the writing to have the characters do things that made no sense and contradicted other things they did or to arbitrarily withold mundane information from the audience to reveal it as a "plot twist" later on. A lot of people, even people who really liked Westworld (like me), noticed these problems and called the show out on it. There were, of course, people who insisted everything made perfect sense even though they didn't necessarily give the same reason or were pretty vague about it. Of course the real reason was that the writers wanted to give the audience mysteries to speculate on, "epic reveals," and "plot twists" and didn't care if they had to cheat to get there and weren't overly concerned that the story made much sense.
Can we at least agree on something that was a little contrived in the show? I think I've only seen two other people besides myself point out what a huge coincidence it is that Rios' backstory is directly tied to the synths. Can most people acknoledge that that's true?
What does the Admonition do?
According to Chabon, it is not a recording of images--the images are the product of the modern mind. This suggests that the Zhat Vash who are using the Admonition are bringing their own interpretations, their own preconceptions, their own prejudices to the experience. It is perhaps possible that how the Zhat Vash prepares their initiates makes them susceptible to interpret the experience in a way that emphasizes their xenophobia towards synthetic life and hardens them to the use of violence.
The Admonition may not be the source of the intolerance, but the tool used by the intolerant.
According to Chabon, it is not a recording of images--the images are the product of the modern mind. This suggests that the Zhat Vash who are using the Admonition are bringing their own interpretations, their own preconceptions, their own prejudices to the experience. It is perhaps possible that how the Zhat Vash prepares their initiates makes them susceptible to interpret the experience in a way that emphasizes their xenophobia towards synthetic life and hardens them to the use of violence.
The Admonition may not be the source of the intolerance, but the tool used by the intolerant.
Ah, remember Rule of Trek Fandom 47: A currently airing Trek show will have a contingent of fans who will not accept anything but the most superficial of criticisms of said show. It happened here with VOY, ENT, and DSC.* it's just one of those things you have to get used to.
*DS9 was obviously perfect, so Rule 47 doesn't apply to it.
That makes sense. I think the execution is a bit wonky, though. If you want to convey the horror of those experiencing Admonition, showing a rapid succession of generic stock images/ clips is a bit lame. So I don't blame people for scratching their heads.
True. However, I think that it is intentional, resembling lots of Star Trek stories, like Omega Glory and The Chase, where the object that is presumed to be one thing turns out to have been something made for entirely different purposes.Perhaps Lee Merriwether will make a surprise cameo in the last episode.
I would have left the Admonition completely to the viewer's imagination. The fact the Admonition basically mirrored the Controlocalpyse from DSC S2 didn't help, either.
Welcome to the synth planet with special guest stars James Callis and Tricia Helfer.
A little, but I don't think it's as improbable a coincidence as many seem to think. I mean, Picard didn't just wander into a bar and hire the first pilot he could find at random - if the pilot had been connected to the mystery in those circumstances, then yes, I'd agree with you. But he wasn't. Rios was recommended to Picard by Raffi, who already knew him and had bonded with him as ex-Starfleet lost souls. There probably aren't that many ex-Starfleet freelance pilots out there, still fewer that Raffi would trust with JL. So in those circumstances, the improbability of the coincidence is much smaller.
A matter of taste, perhaps. I don't find this kinda dialogue sit-com-ish, just naturalistic. People swear, make flippant remarks, indulge in gallows humor, even during serious situations. Doesn't undermine the seriousness of the drama, just makes it more real. People snark and swear and make wisecracks, even on the battlefield or in emergency rooms. (How many corona-virus jokes have you heard already?)
Heck, Kirk and Spock and McCoy were always drolly bantering, even when under fire on Cestus III or whatever. The idea that people must always talk seriously and formally during serious difficulties doesn't gibe with human nature, at least in my experience.
Picard: "Tell them to hold station until the USS Kirk, USS Montgomery Scott, and the Vulcan science vessel USS Spock arrives."
Nor in my experience.
Said interpretation is also supported by dialogue in the TOS S1 episode "Mudd's Women".
The 1701's main frame States Mudd was sentenced to psychiatric rehabilitation, but also mentions: "effectiveness disputed".
So yes maybe it helped correct some of his more homicidal tendencies, but didn't completely correct all of Mudd's other illegal tendencies.
Everyone being able to predict exactly where the show is going at the 80% mark would be a bad thing, surely.
Is it just me, or (in the drawing) is Beautiful Flower wearing Starfleet rank pips?
I suppose this could have been done as 'tribute' to Data, but it still seems kinda weird.
Zhat Vash agents somehow found out and told her?
I suppose this could have been done as 'tribute' to Data, but it still seems kinda weird.
Zhat Vash agents somehow found out and told her?
The character has been awkward/cringey/whatever the whole time though. It's not like it's an out-of-character moment for this character to now have an awkward moment. And to me, Allison Pill's performance has not been ignoring what's been going on, she's looked pretty rough these last episodes. She hasn't been thrown in the brig but I'm not so sure she's considered absolved of what's she's done.
That isn't Beautiful Flower, that's the captain of the ship. Beautiful Flower drew the picture.
Was Flower even in any of the pictures? Do we have any idea what he looks like?
