Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x07 - "Monsters"

[marillion]

Solid 8 for me. I'm not seeing why people think this was such a mess. I'm enjoying the character development for Picard, which is something that we've never really had to such levels.

While it can seem disjointed at times, I really think the pandemic threw production out of whack and we're seeing the unfortunate results.

To each their own, I guess.

 

[Yistaan]

In his hormonal haste to date Teresa, Rios didn't even seem to remember that this La Sirena isn't his ship but belonged to his evil alternate counterpart. He's going to have a lot more explaining to do if she or her son find Confederation propaganda while looking around.

 

[Lior .B.]

it feels like the first (and second?) episode were written by completely different team.
Not sure what to think about this episode. More supernatural than sci fi.

 

[DaveyNY]

If I had seen this episode in conjunction with being able to binge the entire season I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

In that context I would have graded it much higher, as it is, I gave it a 5.

(also, it very much feels like a dragged-out 'Halloween Season' episode)

 

[Jonathan Hayes]

The new lore surrounding the Q and the El Aurians begs a lot of questions. If they can summon a Q, might they be able to make one disappear? That mightve been what Guinan was going to do in Qwho. I get the feeling that the El Aurians have the Q on bit of a leash. They went with the whole genie and the bottle metaphor for a reason

 

[Zod]

I was disappointed in this episode, thought it was the weakest of the season so far. I didn't like the pacing and didn't enjoy the written story very much at all. I was looking at my watch at around the 20 min mark, which also never happened with earlier episodes. I also didn't like the way they portrayed mental illness.

Lakenhealth 72 in an earlier post summed up my feelings on it perfectly.

As someone who has a mental disability, I am really disliking how they treat anyone with mental disabilities. They are a problem, so we move them somewhere where they can't be seen. Hell, we will lock them up in a room. They are cursed with a monster. What the hell kind of writing is this? Where is the 24th century sensibility on mental illness? There wasn't a time so long ago when people like me on the spectrum were relegated to mental asylums or into segregated workplaces because other people did not how to treat us fairly and equitably. Fuck these writers.

 

[gvn2fly]

it feels like the first (and second?) episode were written by completely different team.
Not sure what to think about this episode. More supernatural than sci fi.

The showrunner of the first half of the season (Terry Matalas) said on social media that Akiva Golsdman helmed the second half.

 

[Yistaan]

I get the feeling that the El Aurians have the Q on bit of a leash. They went with the whole genie and the bottle metaphor for a reason

Had. The Q didn't intervene when El-Auria was assimilated and they got the last laugh. Then they ran off and gave the Fed early warning about the Borg to help them survive. Q Who is going to feel very different on rewatch now.

I find it hard to believe that this is the same Rios we saw in Season 1 who literally first appeared shirtless and musclebound with a blade in his arm. This guy's tripping over Teresa even clumsier than wimpy dateless me did over people in college. He had tons of time on La Sirena to himself to relieve hormones on his personal holodeck and even if he wanted a "real" relationship, I kind of think his very recent breakup with Agnes would've chilled him on that. As it is, he seems hardly bothered that she's obviously been assimilated.

 

[Char Kais]

it feels like the first (and second?) episode were written by completely different team.

Akiva Goldsman is also the creator and showrunner of Strange New Worlds.
Take a look at the IMDB profiles of the writers of the last few episodes. This is Jane Maggs:

 

[gvn2fly]

I thought the watcher saying that Q wanted Picard to remember those memories was quite a stretch. Where exactly did that assumption come from?

 

[thribs]

Akiva Goldsman is also the creator and showrunner of Strange New Worlds.
Take a look at the IMDB profiles of the writers of the last few episodes. This is Jane Maggs:

They should have done this from the start

 

[gvn2fly]

I'm really starting to think they made the season 3 cast announcement because they knew the rest of the season was bad and they didn't want fans to drop ship. I hate to say that for a show I had really enjoyed, but it's dropping into unwatchable territory for me.

 

[E-DUB]

When I first saw that shrink, I thought it was Julian Bashir!

You aren't the only one.

 

[gvn2fly]

In his hormonal haste to date Teresa, Rios didn't even seem to remember that this La Sirena isn't his ship but belonged to his evil alternate counterpart. He's going to have a lot more explaining to do if she or her son find Confederation propaganda while looking around.

I thought about that too. That technically isn't "his" ship. Also, why doesn't he care at all that Jurati is missing?

 

[Char Kais]

I'm really starting to think they made the season 3 cast announcement because they knew the rest of the season was bad and they didn't want fans to drop ship. I hate to say that for a show I had really enjoyed, but it's dropping into unwatchable territory for me.

That was my first thought when I saw the announcement.
And I'm getting called a troll and hater on the forum when I wrote that.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

yeah that is odd Picard wouldn't recognize his own father

The thing about dreams is, what you "see" is often different than what you perceive. I can dream about being in my childhood home, yet it looks very much not like my actual childhood home. I still "know" that's where I am.

It can work the opposite as well. Stuff gets pretty jumbled in dreams, plus JL was extremely traumatized by what he was going through. He could have blocked out what his father looked like at that earlier point.

 

[Romulan_spy]

I thought the watcher saying that Q wanted Picard to remember those memories was quite a stretch. Where exactly did that assumption come from?

I think that was to tell us the viewers that Q wants Picard to remember these memories as part of his "test" to help Picard deal with his fear. How the Watcher knew this is a mystery. I am not sure it makes sense for the Watcher to know this.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Picard's new new Confederate robot brain, processed childhood memories better. This was deeply buried trauma earlier versions of Picard never discovered.

Better than his human brain, better than his Borg enhanced human brain, and better Soong's Gollum Brain.

I was disappointed in this episode, thought it was the weakest of the season so far. I didn't like the pacing and didn't enjoy the written story very much at all. I was looking at my watch at around the 20 min mark, which also never happened with earlier episodes. I also didn't like the way they portrayed mental illness.

Lakenhealth 72 in an earlier post summed up my feelings on it perfectly.

Bashir said that Schizophrenia was licked in Past Tense

SISKO: Don't be so sure. One of the main complaints against the Sanctuary Districts was overcrowding. It got to the point where they didn't care how many people were in here. They just wanted to keep them out of sight.
BASHIR: And once they were out of sight, what then? I mean, look at this man. There's no need for that man to live like that. With the right medication, he could lead a full and normal life.
SISKO: Maybe in our time.
BASHIR: Not just in our time. There are any number of effective treatments for schizophrenia, even in this day and age. They could cure that man now, today, if they gave a damn.

 

[Airmandan]

It was definitely an odd, paced episode. I'm still not exactly sure what the whole point of the mother arc is supposed to be. I'm still trying to figure out how his mother having mental health issues and him misremembering how his father handled them would affect his future relationships. If his father was actually abusive, and he was worried about being the same, I could understand that angle. But this just seems like a weird mess. Is it going to be revealed that Picard's mother hurt herself and Picard at some point? That he saw that as some kind of betrayal and since then has a hard time trusting women too far? if so, that seems like a cheap storyline to use.

 

[ThreeEdgedSword]

I also thought it was Bashir for a second.

I thought about that too. That technically isn't "his" ship. Also, why doesn't he care at all that Jurati is missing?

And there was really no reason whatsoever to beam them on his ship in the first place.

I feel this love story is thrust upon him because hey, he's our Latino Lover type and didn't Kirk do it, too?

I was hoping that the social criticism would amount to more than "oh look, ICE bad, racism bad,let's move on!" They could have him shaken from the experience and sad for everyone having to undergo it, or angry, or ponder how it all went wrong or whatever. Instead, after this made up 80% of his 24th century experience, he's all like, oh look, real cigars! And matches! Because lurve! It makes him look foolish and cheapens the point they were trying to make.