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Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x03 - "Assimilation"

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JirinPanthosa said:
They absolutely should not have killed a major recurring character in a throwaway manner just as motivation for Seven.
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They didn't. They killed him as motivation for Raffi. ;)

I'm fairly certain he will be alive again when they all get restored to the original timeline - where they all should be dead, let us not forget. I expect them to unwind to a point just before Picard called for the self-destruct.
 
Trekker4747 said:
They could've just said Fascist Rio's version of the ship had a cloak.
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that would have been an easy way out. Or just don’t crashing the ship at all. But they wanted to go the “disabled spaceship” route, so both wouldn’t have been feasible. On fact I’m not sure how they are going to operate now: raffi and 7 (not mentioning Rios) are out of communication with La Sirena, which has almost zero power and needs repair. I guess Picard and Jurati will have to restart the warp core or something like that. And I still don’t get why they still haven’t disconnected the Borg queen: they should have done it first thing as they arrived in the past, way before reviving her. In fact Rios didn’t need to kill her to save Elnor: just cut the cables!

Trekker4747 said:
Wait... Did they put Elnor in a refrigerator?
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the usual wall morgues similar to what they had on tng, DS9 and voy. A stasis chamber, probably.
 
Llywela said:
They didn't. They killed him as motivation for Raffi. ;)

I'm fairly certain he will be alive again when they all get restored to the original timeline - where they all should be dead, let us not forget. I expect them to unwind to a point just before Picard called for the self-destruct.
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In the first paragraph I was referring to Icheb.
 
eschaton said:
A big issues is Elnor is just an underbaked character in general. Season 1, Episode 4 did a great job introducing him and then...they did jack shit with him. I don't know if this was driven by the limited range of the actor (he is awful) or they just don't know how to use him, but his use this season has essentially been a prop for Raffi rather than a real character, which is no great step forward.
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I think it's largely not knowing how to use him. The character is a cool concept desperately in search of an actual role in Picard's story. Any conflicted feelings he might have about Picard got dropped after S1EP4. There was a foundation for a sort of growing-up arc with Hugh and the xBs, but that went nowhere since the writers decided it was more important to give Seven more screentime with the vengeance kill, then forget the xBs existed. And in S2, his role so far is to be the secondary relationship to a secondary character, with an extra layer of emotional manipulation (re: leaning heavily into the "kid" stuff) in an attempt to make his "death" extra sad, since not a lot of attention has been given to his actual character. I actually like Elnor, but it's been pretty obvious that the writers struggle to find a use for him, and I don't know if that's going to improve if they stick with the "everyone is happily back in Starfleet" path post S2, unless maybe there's another time jump to open S3.
 
Llywela said:
They didn't. They killed him as motivation for Raffi. ;)

I'm fairly certain he will be alive again when they all get restored to the original timeline - where they all should be dead, let us not forget. I expect them to unwind to a point just before Picard called for the self-destruct.
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indeed I have the sensation that all they will do in the 21st century will turn out to be pointless and they’ll have to fix the situation some other way in their present. And yes, at the ending they will be back on the stargazer and in the position of doing different choices.
 
Anduinel said:
I think it's largely not knowing how to use him. The character is a cool concept desperately in search of an actual role in Picard's story. Any conflicted feelings he might have about Picard got dropped after S1EP4. There was a foundation for a sort of growing-up arc with Hugh and the xBs, but that went nowhere since the writers decided it was more important to give Seven more screentime with the vengeance kill, then forget the xBs existed. And in S2, his role so far is to be the secondary relationship to a secondary character, with an extra layer of emotional manipulation (re: leaning heavily into the "kid" stuff) in an attempt to make his "death" extra sad, since not a lot of attention has been given to his actual character. I actually like Elnor, but it's been pretty obvious that the writers struggle to find a use for him, and I don't know if that's going to improve if they stick with the "everyone is happily back in Starfleet path" post S2, unless maybe there's another time jump to open S3.
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Ironically, there would have been a far stronger story to tell for Elnor if we were spending the season on board the Stargazer and he were assigned there as his first posting. It's a story we've seen before - the fish out of water cadet learning to fit in on a starship, an age old coming of age journey - but it's a story that would have fit his character and backstory. As it is, there just really wasn't anything for him to do here. And apparently no interest on the part of the writers in carving out a role for him.
 
So I'm changing my hypothesis from Seven to Agnes being the Black Queen. This was another great episode. It loses points for name-dropping Rick & Morty (ugh) but otherwise fantastic. Annie Wershing is already establishing herself as a Trek Legend.
 
WarpFactorZ said:
What I'm wondering is how they're going to hide the crashed spaceship in the middle of a vineyard.
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It looks like they landed in a forest on the outskirts of the property. Maybe the Vineyard isn't used at this point, as it's implied that Picard chose it to be out of the way.
 
eschaton said:
The thing is, Elnor would be awesome in 21st century LA. Everyone would think he was just really, really into elf cosplay, and would compliment him on the body modification of his ears.
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Yeah, I have a feeling that our Trek characters could probably blend in better to our day than say Kirk and co did in the 80's in TVH. Today, we are more used to different.
 
eschaton said:
The thing is, Elnor would be awesome in 21st century LA. Everyone would think he was just really, really into elf cosplay, and would compliment him on the body modification of his ears.
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I mean, I agree. I can also see how it might have been a struggle to fit that sub-plot into this episode, with everything else going on, and in the end the writers chose to go in the direction that gave Raffi more material to work with, while also shuffling Elnor off-screen for a few episodes. But I'd have been down for Elnor getting off the ship and getting a little storyline of his own. Heck, maybe he could have joined the landing party and been the one to peel Rios off the sidewalk after his fall, incorporate him into the action that way - Elnor watching loopy concussed Rios bonding with Theresa might have been fun. But then we wouldn't have had grieving mama Raffi, which was evidently a direction they wanted to take her, so...ah well. They were working around covid regs and I suppose we'll never know how much those limitations may have played into the choices made for the season.
 
Llywela said:
Ironically, there would have been a far stronger story to tell for Elnor if we were spending the season on board the Stargazer and he were assigned there as his first posting. It's a story we've seen before - the fish out of water cadet learning to fit in on a starship, an age old coming of age journey - but it's a story that would have fit his character and backstory. As it is, there just really wasn't anything for him to do here. And apparently no interest on the part of the writers in carving out a role for him.
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Yeah, and it would have been an obvious and interesting path to go if this was a general post Nemesis show. But I do think it mostly comes down to this being the Picard show, and the characters needing roles that are largely in service to his story. It's one of the reasons I'm hoping we get a Stargazer or Fenris Rangers spin-off; I like this cast and I'd like to see them given a little more room to breathe.
 
Anduinel said:
Yeah, and it would have been an obvious and interesting path to go if this was a general post Nemesis show. But I do think it mostly comes down to this being the Picard show, and the characters needing roles that are largely in service to his story. It's one of the reasons I'm hoping we get a Stargazer or Fenris Rangers spin-off; I like this cast and I'd like to see them given a little more room to breathe.
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Me too! I'm not holding my breath, but it is something I would really like to see, if only there's the will for it.
 
This episode gave the actors a lot of room to shine, the pacing felt right, and I think they mostly nailed the Star Trek IV vibe, which I'd been hoping for. To whit: Jeri Ryan is just pitch perfect in the security guard scene. Hoping for more "hello, computer" moments to come.

Plot-wise, we also set up (what I assume is) the second act of the season --- the 21st century adventure --- pretty darn well.

Highlights:
  • Once again, Jeri Ryan is doing excellent work. I think the writers have done a nice job of setting up an internal conflict in Seven; what is she in her "human" form, but with her full memories of the Borg, being an xB, etc. as well as some potential tensions with Raffi, whose emotional struggles seem decently grounded. That is to say, the bit about her son felt weirdly tacked on in S1, but it lays ground work for her protectiveness of Elnor.
  • Allison Pill, wow. Great writing for her to chew on, an just a spot-on performance. Her character didn't quite slot into place for me in S1, but boy oh boy is Jurati an absolute highlight this season so far.
  • Related, the semi-magic Borg brain palace scene was overall just some classic sci-fi stuff. Loved it.
  • The pacing felt really good to me in this one. Credit to my girlfriend, Lea Thompson. And probably the writers.
  • Like Jurati, Rios was a character with such a good story that never seemed paid off in S1. I'm very excited for his story this season. Santiago Cabrera and Sol Rodriguez's chemistry is off the charts, warp factor 11 for me.
  • They did a nice job of hitting thematic elements (i.e. Q pops in just to remind us of the stakes and pieces). Sometimes those things get abandoned for a few episodes on many TV shows, so I like that they're keeping things thematically tight (see: the butterfly theme developed this week).
Dimlights:
  • Raffi's reaction to Elnor's death is a little off to me. I think it makes sense for her character, and sets up a good arc for her, I just think the in-scene writing was a bit much. Raffi's character is the most Discovery-y of this cast, and while there are many elements of Discovery I like, I don't mean it as a compliment.
  • It was pretty murder-heavy and highly convenient in the first-act action sequences. I get it from a writing standpoint, but I wish they'd added a line or two to mitigate it (e.g. "No stun setting?" or "Wow, she's pretty good with torpedoes")
  • The fictional contrivance that a well-trained person can snap away a gun to their head never fails to get an eye roll from me. Again, it's like, fine, but a bit lazy.
I have enjoyed all three episodes so far greatly, but this is the one that convinced me this is going to be a well-put-together season. I think all the dramatic tensions are set up well, and the interpersonal conflicts and arcs make much more sense than in S1.

More convinced than ever that Jurati is behind the "Borg Queen" mask on the Stargazer. Even the cloak she wears mirrors her suit in episode one. I think this is a great idea. I imagine the Queen dies around the time they leave the 21st century, and Jurati, the only one of the crew with a remaining link to the Collective, is able to make the Picard plea for peace happen.

Once Picard realizes this, he'll know to be brave and trusting, and undo the mistake that Q is mad about --- eradicating the Borg.
 
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