Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x08 - "Mercy"

[Gov Kodos]

Yeah, that's a bit of what I mean (though I wasn't thrilled with the actual pacing of the last two eps either). There's a lot left to wrap up, but a lot of the plots/character direction seems to just be meandering along, and there's really not that much space left to pull out the inevitable plot twist and get everything reined in and focused toward a satisfying wrap.

The prior two episodes were so short, an extra five or ten minutes could have added some character beats that fleshed out the stories to give them more meaning to the audience instead of the roller coaster ride from plot point to plot point that we got.

 

[mattman8907]

The trek timeline is so wibbly wobbly and timey wimey like if the Eugenics Wars happened before where's the chaos from it?

 

[Gov Kodos]

The American Hemisphere could be relatively untouched while Eurasia and Africa are a hell hole. Could be why the ship could crash in France with no one investigating.

 

[Precious Tritium]

Now that's more like it.

Giving this one a 9. Easily the best episode since Penance for me. So satisfying to watch all those plates they've been spinning for the past 5-ish episodes finally coalesce. So nice to actually get some forward momentum. It felt dense, but not in a bad way. Just that perfect amount of exposition and character development. And hey, we got Elnor back for a scene.

And what an acting tour de force for both Spiner and de Lancie. It's striking that in an episode featuring the Borg Queen and Q, that somehow Soong delivered the most villainous performance. His conversation with Kore was brutal.

Really looking forward to next week now.

 

[sevenstars]

PROSPERINA???

 

[tomalak301]

It was a lot better than last week, but I've been soured on this season so much that I'm probably much more harsh on the series then I should be. I need to sleep on this one, but at least there was some great progression this week, and I think it would have been great if one of the Vulcans was Mestral from Carbon Creek. I think they should have gone with the Relativity story more because the whole Vulcan thing just seemed so incredibly random. I do like that we finally know what has been going on with Q, even if I'm still really confused about how all this is tied together and then what happens on the Stargazer with the Queen calling for Picard. Hopefully the next two episodes answers those questions and we can actually leave LA. I still have my doubts though.

 

[SeamusShameless]

So, Renée discovers a microbe that she believes to be sentient, and that somehow invalidates Soong's research into genetic engineering?

 

[mswood]

I liked it a lot, it was far better paced. With both slower character beats, but also with a sense of urgency building. Last episode, was the weakest of the season for me, and I thank just having a greater sense of imminent urgency to its presentation would have helped make it far more palatable. Performances also felt stronger for the most from all involved, which I did appreciate.

Initial thought is an 8, I'm going to watch it again and get a better feel of the episode.

 

[trek.]

Better than last week but still a lot of preachy exposition. But only 2 eps left they did that to themselves.

I still do not care at all about raffi's subplot.

 

[mattman8907]

Yep. Jurati's gone full borg queen.

 

[thribs]

Kore playing Star Trek Borg it looks like.

 

[Kai-Winn Scenario]

Just started, found my way to the reply box without seeing any spoilers -- did anyone else thing the FBI agent pronounced the word "aliens" weirdly in the first scene? I couldn't tell what he was saying the first five times I rewound it until I put the subtitles on.

 

[Harpsichord]

Alison Pill continuing to absolutely carry the show, but I also enjoyed the Seven/Raffi stuff alot more than in previous weeks. The Jay Karnes stuff was pretty pointless and (obviously) he wasn't Ducane. Q is dying, huh..?

 

[SeamusShameless]

I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out how the fuck they're going to get back to the 25th century and avoid there being duplicates of all of them. Q could easily snap them all back to their proper time/bodies, but he's currently powerless. Unless the Europa mission is a Q origin story, and once they ensure the launch Q gets his powers back. I hope they don't try to intertwine Q's origins with the history of Picard's family though. That is way too small universe for my taste, and I normally don't give a shit about small universe stuff.

 

[SeamusShameless]

Alison Pill continuing to absolutely carry the show,

Plus, they're really getting their milage out of her in that red dress. Not that I'm complaining, of course.

 

[mswood]

Better than last week but still a lot of preachy exposition. But only 2 eps left they did that to themselves.

I still do not care at all about raffi's subplot.

Not a huge fan of Raffi, but I will say as the character that I found the most damaged from their first appearance in Picard, I actually appreciate the fact that characters flaws haven't been hand waved away once she was able to get her job back. And I did appreciate the fact that they showed she is using Elnor as a replacement for her son, as an emotional crutch, and how she manipulated him to keep him with her. While I figured this was the case its nice to see it really featured. For her character, I thank this was her best episode of the season.

Still not a character I love, but I do appreciate a better realized dive into her character.

 

[cooleddie74]

The bad:

- I was hoping that would be Ducane from VOY.
- No given date nor even rough timeframe for Wells' childhood encounter with the two visiting Vulcans, though based on the actor's age and the appearance of his character as a child I'm guessing sometime after the events of "Carbon Creek(ENT)," possibly the first covert expedition to study humanity after Mestral chose to remain behind on Earth.

The good:

- Most of the rest.

Still unsure about the rating I'll give it. Some things sat very well while a few others really sat and felt inert. I know I like it more than last week's episode but not sure how much.

 

[DarKush]

This episode had some wild swerves for me. For most of it I didn't think it was that good, but by the end I finally got questions I had answered and also saw more of the shape of where it's going.

I did like that Young Guinan is channeling Guinan Classic. At first it was jarring because her prior depictions had been different, but by the end of the episode, when I saw that this was kind of like an origin story for the Guinan we know from TNG, I felt better about it.

I thought not having Karnes as Ducane was a waste. When Q informed Guinan that all humans were stuck in the past, I was hoping that it would come out that Ducane had gotten time lost somehow and that Picard would help him regain his memories. That said, I did think the Vulcan who attempted a mind meld with Wells looked a lot like Mark Lenard, so that was neat casting.

I also felt the interrogation scenes were mostly pointless. It's a first for me but I thought John de Lancie's scenes this episode was bad. I just didn't buy the performance. Brent Spiner's performance wasn't the greatest either this episode but worked better for me than De Lancie's. Sir Patrick was saved by that wise talk Picard had with Wells. Stewart can do that in his sleep, but he does it so well.

Was happy we did get more insight on why Raffi had such strong feelings about Elnor, with her grappling not only with the loss of a friend and surrogate son, but the guilt she over her role in him staying in Starfleet. I liked the character moments in this episode with Raffi and Seven more than that underwhelming fight with Jurati/Borg Queen. She wiped the floor with both Seven and Raffi handily.

I was also okay with Rios and the doctor, though I thought it was strange the little role playing she wanted to do with him to get him to open up to her. Seemed unnecessary and weird. I still believe that Rios is going to stay behind or will seriously contemplate doing so. Wished that the replicated cakes had tasted different, not as good as real desserts. I think that would've bolstered how Rios was gushing over the taste of 21st century food earlier on in the season.

I do like how the episode swung things back to making the success of the Europa mission still important to the season (I thought they had moved on from it), and I like that we got an explanation-of a sorts-of why it's important. I don't get why the Borg Queen needs any help to retake the La Sirena or even why a Picard trapped in the 21st century is such a threat, but that's just a conceit of a series that bears his name I suppose.

 

[thribs]

It’s a shame he wasn’t Ducane. I was waiting for that big reveal which never came sadly. Instead he’s just basically Mulder.
The Borg stuff is just weird here. They’re reminding me of something else but I can’t place it.

The Q stuff is easily the best stuff. The show desperately needs more de Lancie. Unlike Stewart, he’s still got it.
Perhaps instead of Star Trek Picard they should have done Star Trek Q.

 

[thribs]

So, Renée discovers a microbe that she believes to be sentient, and that somehow invalidates Soong's research into genetic engineering?

She discovers the Protomolecule.