Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x02 - "Penance"

[IMC Headquarters]

I'm starting to suspect Picard conspired to kill his abusive father and fled to Starfleet to forget. And he's been denying himself true happiness ever since.

He seems to be harboring some deep, dark secret he can't share with anyone else, or even admit to himself. And I can't imagine anything more meaningful.

 

[SG-17]

There's also a scene in a trailer of a Vulcan mind melding with a boy, wearing what looks like 21st century looking clothes, in a forest. The Queen in this episode during one of the ramblings mentions a forest.

Mestral should still be alive in 2024.

 

[eschaton]

I'm starting to suspect Picard conspired to kill his abusive father and fled to Starfleet to forget. And he's been denying himself true happiness ever since.

He seems to be harboring some deep, dark secret he can't share with anyone else, or even admit to himself. And I can't imagine anything more meaningful.

I dunno. The events of Family certainly seem to imply that Maurice was alive at the time that Jean-Luc joined Starfleet.

 

[Photoman15]

Like having an Intelligent Trump for President.
In our present, those two words are completely incompatible.

ha. Even more incompatible: Sentient Biden

Yeah. I confess, I was tickled by Spiner showing up out of make-up last season. It was a "Another fucking Soong!" while cackling and throwing popcorn at the screen moment. But putting yet another Soong at the center of this storm is wearing the joke a bit threadbare for my taste. But at least it's probably the last time.

Didn't you see the "ADAM SOONG" (holo-)statue in San Francisco Bay in the shot they're zooming in on the Confederation HQ? (Not kidding)?

 

[Photoman15]

It's obvious why 2024 is the point in time they have to fix otherwise they get this screwed up Confederation.
They have to stop the US President from being re-elected. If he gets re-elected, Russia quickly takes over the weak run US Government and the march to the Confederation starts.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

I dunno. The events of Family certainly seem to imply that Maurice was alive at the time that Jean-Luc joined Starfleet.

Hmm. Let's just say he did a feasibility study, then. A deep one.

 

[The Rock]

How dare Q slap Picard across the face?! I hate Q again.

 

[Qonundrum]

Merde!

Spoiler

Bingo. Season 2 had him saying that at least once. Of all the times modern shows trying to think they're cool by using swear words, Picard's "BS" or "Merde" never seemed anything approaching "hollow" or "gratuitous" for its own sake.

Not to mention, Patrick Stewart made the actual "Bullshit!" line feel no less real. Okay, "merde" did more for me at the time, but YMMV and being an old guy telling the kids to get off his yard, he's no longer got the patience - so it still works. (Perfectly done, IMHO...) Now, and also IMHO, usually the profanity in the modern shows (in general) has been a bit much, if not outright overcompensating for all those pesky windmills that never once whispered anything other than the generic "hell" and "damn" words that are the most benign of the bunch...

Maybe Q will snap his fingers and Picard will get a proper body again.

Regardless, despite all the pointless fourth wall breaks, everything else has been so good. A genuine improvement over season 1.

But what do I know; I think South Park was better with the bleeps as it was actually funny, and Jerry Springer should have always been uncensored just so we can hear proper what the people were angrily whining about.

 

[Qonundrum]

Oh man, the Klingon skull is Worf isn’t it.

I'd guess "Alexander", but it's all good.

Not sure why we're spoiler tagging public photos in a spoiler tagged thread.

Force of habit? Since I'm on my 4th cup of coffee today and by now my ex is on his seventh vape and third liter of rum...

 

[Tuskin38]

How dare Q slap Picard across the face?! I hate Q again.

He kinda had it coming.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

He's obviously gonna talk to the version of Guinan in 2024 to get help. What event would cause a society to go to that extreme? Did the post-atomic horror still take place?

Would be ironic if Picard and crew, in the process of trying to do a good thing, prevented the Sanctuary Districts from spreading beyond the trial run in Los Angeles to San Francisco and other cities, and thus no Bell Riots rose up to protest them, and no lessons were learned from those events that would eventually go on to contributing to the "more evolved" humanity of the future (with some bumps like WWIII still in the way) that helped form the Federation. Instead the evil Human Confederation rose in the vacuum left behind by the absence of the Bell Riots.

 

[Tomalak]

I'm starting to suspect Picard conspired to kill his abusive father and fled to Starfleet to forget. And he's been denying himself true happiness ever since.

He seems to be harboring some deep, dark secret he can't share with anyone else, or even admit to himself. And I can't imagine anything more meaningful.

If people lost their shit last year when Agnes killed Maddox, I can't imagine how they will react to making Picard a murderer. I don't think that's going to happen.

It may be that his shame is that he did nothing.

 

[Tomalak]

Would be ironic if Picard and crew, in the process of trying to do a good thing, prevented the Sanctuary Districts from spreading beyond the trial run in Los Angeles to San Francisco and other cities, and thus no Bell Riots rose up to protest them, and no lessons were learned from those events that would eventually go on to contributing to the "more evolved" humanity of the future (with some bumps like WWIII still in the way) that helped form the Federation. Instead the evil Human Confederation rose in the vacuum left behind by the absence of the Bell Riots.

Yeah, it would be very City on the Edge of Forever to undo a bad thing and instead make an even worse thing happen.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

So they decide to go do a story about a warmongering authoritarian regime that literally premieres at the same time a warmongering authoritarian regime unleashes a war and threatens our planet. I know no one at all could possibly predicted or have intended that, but... wow... Sure there aren't any precognitive people on the writing staff?

Talk about making predictions on Powder Kegs going up. We all knew it was a possibility, but wow!
The timing of the Picard S2 premier and IRL events in the Russian invasion of Ukraine are incredibly close.

Like having an Intelligent Trump for President.
In our present, those two words are completely incompatible.

You mean a competent Putin.

Also, when Q says "you change in every way except where it matters most" and then "this is not a test, this is penance", I get the implication that the trial in TNG is over and Q is basically saying "you failed to learn the lesson you were supposed to learn after All Good Things so this is not another test, now you are being punished"

But what exactly did Picard do that is so terrible that it deserves penance and forgiveness? I guess we will find out. It seems extreme to put Picard in an alternate timeline where he is a genocidal conqueror just because Picard had a troubled childhood as implied in episode 1?

I think it has to do with the way he handled (First Contact) with the Borg Queen that emerged out of the temporal anomaly.
He let Pre-Conceived bias based on his historical experience determine his judgement with a similar, yet different version of the Borg.

 

[TheMadCloner]

I really feel like Q's line about fear is the key here. Picard's fear of the Borg led to him destroying himself, his fleet, and any chance of lasting peace with the Borg despite the Queen's behavior being extremely atypical and thus he made the wrong choice and this whole thing is Q giving him a chance to fix his mistake, atone for his actions aboard the Stargazer.

I think the Borg’s intentions in 2400 aren’t entirely noble either (despite the fact that they may actually want to join the Federation), and I think Q intends to teach them a lesson too about being forthright and more transparent.

 

[Tuskin38]

IIRC Picard agreed with Agnes that they should hear the borg out, but also be cautious. But once Rios started order defensive measures, he never did anything to stop it, until the very end when he ordered the self destruct.

 

[The Rock]

I wonder what would happen if this Confederation met the Terran Empire?

He kinda had it coming.

How so?

 

[Tuskin38]

Saw an interesting comment on TrekCore
Carlo A. Flores:

I felt like the bloody nose directly related back to Q-Who where Q said to Picard: "If you can't take a little bloody nose maybe you should go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous with treasures..." So although the slap was off putting it seemed like the intent was done with far reaching purpose and meaning.

 

[CorporalClegg]

If I am remembering correctly, in the original timeline, Bell was able to bring attention to the sanctuaries in a peaceful way. It was the first step towards solving homelessness in a more civilized way which eventually led to the peaceful Earth of the Federation. What if the change is that the the Bell riots were squashed with force which led to the rise of this authoritarian Earth?

I imagine more a scenario where situation changes, and they never happen. Like let's assume it's a few months before September when Picard and co arrive and Gabe had driven down to LA to look for work and something happens that alters things just enough that he's not back in SF by the end of August or whatever.

 

[Yistaan]

I'm starting to suspect Picard conspired to kill his abusive father and fled to Starfleet to forget. And he's been denying himself true happiness ever since.

He seems to be harboring some deep, dark secret he can't share with anyone else, or even admit to himself. And I can't imagine anything more meaningful.

I doubt Picard did it directly, but indirectly. He sabotaged the fire safety detection in his father's room, knowing his father's smoking habits (Hey it's not just you Rios) in a drunken rage would eventually burn him to death. Picard blocked his memory of the deed, and the tampered fire safety equipment was never fixed ultimately leading to Robert's and Rene's deaths many years later.