Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x08 - "Mercy"

[Alexander Corrino]

Another thought I had while watching this episode. I wonder if Picard's plot last week and this week had anything to do with Patrick's age? I know he is in great shape for his age and I don't mean this in any kind of negative way, but I noticed he was sitting down in almost all his scenes this week and last week he was laying down / sitting in most of his scenes as well. Not a criticism, just an observation.

It could be. However, Sir Patrick has also said that he "didn't have that much to do" in the 2024 LA scenes, so maybe this was a deliberate choice - his plot IS more about Jean-Luc's INNER demons than him chasing OUTER demons. I mean they clearly can't have Jean-Luc running through LA chasing after Borgati, I think we all know that. (Although I am somewhat miffed that they didn't give him that car chase, what with the "unsafe velocities" Jean-Luc seems to like when it comes to AUTOMOBILES.)

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Did the Vulcans have transporter technology?

2024 Vulcans? Apparently. 1957 Vulcans? Who knows for sure? Their ship was damaged.

 

[Dukhat]

I don't think we've seen the last of him. Picard openly said he needed his help. Guinan's comment to him about time working in mysterious ways made me wonder if they're holding the door open a crack for him to be rejuvenated/recruited in the 29th century - that he eventually becomes Ducane.

I’m not sure why that would matter to the audience of this show. Most people who aren’t die-hard Trekkies with the Star Trek Encyclopedia by their side wouldn’t even know who the Ducane character is, much less be emotionally invested in some guy who only appeared in one episode of VOY playing a bit part. This isn’t Hugh we’re talking about.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Everything in 2024 so far took place in the span of two days.

During this time Soong got his license revoked, made a donation to NASA to get on the board of the Europa Mission, and now has a private army? And not just any army, all ex SF!

WTF? Where do these mercenaries come from? He just calls a general?
This is absurd. Nobody can take this seriously.

BTW, the mercenaries use Discovery armor vest (budget problems?).

This is what I imagine the plot of one of those CW DC Arrowverse shows looks like.

The donation to the Europa mission could have happened days or weeks before the La Sirena crew arrived.

But yes, the general deferring to Soong comes out of nowhere. Not that its hard to believe military would be interested in Soong’s work. But there's no prior hint of Soong working with any military anywhere, privatized or otherwise. How much influence does Soong hold to get a general on speed dial?

 

[gvn2fly]

But yes, the general deferring to Soong comes out of nowhere. Not that its hard to believe military would be interested in Soong’s work. But there's no prior hint of Soong working with any military anywhere, privatized or otherwise. How much influence does Soong hold to get a general on speed dial?

2.5 mentioned that Soong has been working with a privatized military operation and conducting experiments on their ex soldiers.

 

[gvn2fly]

During this time Soong got his license revoked, made a donation to NASA to get on the board of the Europa Mission, and now has a private army? And not just any army, all ex SF!

WTF? Where do these mercenaries come from? He just calls a general?
This is absurd. Nobody can take this seriously.

Episode 2.5 stated that that Soong has been working with a privatized military operation (mentioned as Spearhead in 2.5 as well) and conducting experiments on their ex soldiers. That's where they came from.

 

[eschaton]

I’m not sure why that would matter to the audience of this show. Most people who aren’t die-hard Trekkies with the Star Trek Encyclopedia by their side wouldn’t even know who the Ducane character is, much less be emotionally invested in some guy who only appeared in one episode of VOY playing a bit part. This isn’t Hugh we’re talking about.

I'd agree, but this season has been replete with little asides like Jackson Roykirk which mean nothing to anyone who isn't a die-hard Trekkie.

 

[eschaton]

I'd also note that over the last two episodes, the thematic core of the season has revealed itself.

First, Picard had imagined his father as a monster - explicitly calling him one. He misunderstood his father's intentions, who was trying (and failing) to manage his mother's mental illness.

Here, Wells carried with him childhood trauma from an encounter with a Vulcan. He imagined the Vulcan as a monster, when he was just a dude trying (and failing) to manage the situation.

I presume this is how the season will end. There are no monsters - there are no bad guys. The Borg themselves are misunderstood, and when we go full circle back before the Stargazer went all explody, Picard will make peace with the Borg. If we presume that what's "out there" is monsters, we end up in the Confederation timeline, not the Federation one.

 

[Dukhat]

I'd agree, but this season has been replete with little asides like Jackson Roykirk which mean nothing to anyone who isn't a die-hard Trekkie.

But most of that has just been Easter Eggs. To bring in a somewhat major character into the story and then have him turn out to be a time cop from the 29th century is a bit more than just an Easter Egg. That’s a whole plot point.

 

[Campe]

I'd agree, but this season has been replete with little asides like Jackson Roykirk which mean nothing to anyone who isn't a die-hard Trekkie.

Things like the Roykirk reference are background details — set dressing. Making Wells Ducane just because they’re the same actor? Just as bad as the fan theory that V’Ger is the Borg because they both want perfection. And how many actors in Trek play different characters? It’s nothing new. Just because this is a time travel story doesn’t mean we need to do that. People are already complaining that the show is moving too slowly for them and with two hours left, doesn’t seem pretty likely with the number of stories left to resolve.

 

[Tuskin38]

Mestral said in ENT Carbon Creek that the next Vulcan survey of Earth would be in the 70s. Would that line up with Wells?

 

[Romulan_spy]

Here is the clip of Q and Guinan:

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Guinan asks if Q is trying to find meaning in his life and Q says "can a single act redeem a lifetime?" I think this confirms that Q is trying to teach Picard one final lesson as a way of redeeming his life before he dies. Q also says that he did not bring Picard into the past and that there are many forms of time travel. That is true. Picard traveled into the past using the sling shot maneuver, not by any act by Q. Q also says that it is the escape that matters. So I think Picard escaping from his situation is part of the lesson.

I do wonder if Q will die at the end of S2 or whether something will happen where Q will not die. Maybe we will get something like at the end of TNG's "Deja Q" where Q will be like "I'm back!"

 

[Yistaan]

2024 Vulcans? Apparently. 1957 Vulcans? Who knows for sure? Their ship was damaged.

So Emory Erickson wasn't some pioneering inventor but just copied transporter tech from the Vulcans. And the Vulcans didn't even intervene when Erickson started experimenting on his own son to "invent" a transporter, even though it was meaningless as again the Vulcans already had the tech.

NX-01's fear of transporters now also seems even more absurd if the Vulcans had been using them safely for centuries.

Maybe it's better to retcon these guys as Romulans who secretly had transporter tech rather than actual Vulcans. Or the Vulcans were time travelers.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

2024 Vulcans? Apparently. 1957 Vulcans? Who knows for sure? Their ship was damaged.

Wasn't Erickson in Enterprise lauded as the inventor of the Transporter?

So how could the Vulcans already have the tech?

 

[Romulan_spy]

Wasn't Erickson in Enterprise lauded as the inventor of the Transporter?

So how could the Vulcans already have the tech?

I think Erikson was the inventor of the transporter for humans, not the inventor of the transporter everywhere. Vulcans are more technologically advanced than humans, so I imagine Vulcans invented the transporter before humans did.

 

[Yistaan]

I think Erikson was the inventor of the transporter for humans, not the inventor of the transporter everywhere. Vulcans are more technologically advanced than humans, so I imagine Vulcans invented the transporter before humans did.

Why was NX-01 so afraid of the transporters for biological use then if Vulcans had been using them safely for centuries?

 

[Dukhat]

Wasn't Erickson in Enterprise lauded as the inventor of the Transporter?

So how could the Vulcans already have the tech?

Just like how Zefram Cochrane invented warp drive, but the Vulcans and other races already had it before.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Why was NX-01 so afraid of the transporters for biological use then if Vulcans had been using them safely for decades?

Vulcans were using transporters for themselves but probably did not share the tech with humans. So transporters were new to humans. So it would make sense that humans would be afraid since it was a new tech for them. And Erikson's transporter may work a bit differently than Vulcan transporters. And Erikson's tech was new. So there could be concerns whether Erikson's prototype would work correctly.

Think of it this way: say the Russians build a hypersonic jet. And then an American inventor builds his own hypersonic jet and builds a prototype and asks you if you want to be the first to fly on his new hypersonic jet that is not fully tested yet, would you be afraId?

 

[eschaton]

Mestral said in ENT Carbon Creek that the next Vulcan survey of Earth would be in the 70s. Would that line up with Wells?

Jay Karnes IRL is 58. If his character is the same age, and you take into account the two-year time gap, his character should have been born in 1965, making him between 5 and 15 in the 70s...which is just about perfect.

 

[ananta]

I presume this is how the season will end. There are no monsters - there are no bad guys. The Borg themselves are misunderstood, and when we go full circle back before the Stargazer went all explody, Picard will make peace with the Borg. If we presume that what's "out there" is monsters, we end up in the Confederation timeline, not the Federation one.

The problem with that is, the Borg are monsters. Or, at least, as they were originally presented, a force of nature that will kill and assimilate simply because that’s their nature. They’re certainly not misunderstood good guys. They are death, carnage and rape personified. I can’t see how there can ever be peace with the Borg, unless there’s simply an agreement to avoid certain territories because a war would cost them too much are therefore not be in their best interests.