Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x10 - "Farewell"

[eschaton]

So many great story threads in this episode. Why cram them all in one episode and instead spend so much screen time about Picard running around the cellars of Chateau Picard?

As I said, I felt like each act of this episode could have been an episode all by itself.

Okay, so turning Act 2 into an episode would have been harder, since it's basically a bunch of slow talky scenes (Soong's fate, Kore recruited by Wesley, Q/Picard bromance, etc) but this is a place I wouldn't mind padding. Like if we found out Wesley was behind much of this to begin with, and if actually tracking down Q was a bit more difficult than just putting a key back into a wall.

 

[eschaton]

I was thinking about this earlier today: just because Rios is off the show doesn't mean "Rios" is off the show. We've got like five holographic versions of him.

Are we even gonna see La Sirena any longer? We know Picard is on a Starfleet vessel, and if Seven's field commission sticks, I'm not sure who's going to captain it.

 

[eschaton]

Just like Jeri Ryan in season 2

I actually think Jeri was playing Seven much better this season when she got a chance to actually do something. In Season 1 she was a totally different character. This season there were times she got stressed where you could hear her slipping back into the old Seven voice.

 

[Lord Garth]

Are we even gonna see La Sirena any longer? We know Picard is on a Starfleet vessel, and if Seven's field commission sticks, I'm not sure who's going to captain it.

I wondered about that too, but a field commission straight to Captain isn't something I see them doing in PIC. If this were the Kelvin Films, then all bets are off. Forget the Captain of the Stargazer, she'd be Captain of the Enterprise-F.

EDIT: I read that post too fast! I wonder about seeing La Sirena too. I think we'll see it in some capacity since it's now a staple of the show.

 

[Nyotarules]

Ok final episode an 8 from me, overall story idea a 9 but I give the second season 6.5 for execution. It took too long to tell the story. Season 1 execution of their plot was better.

 

[Uhura's Song]

While it was not perfect, it was awfully good. All the threads tied up nicely and some nice bonuses in there as well. I was feeling generous and went with a 10.

We did not get a full bodied explanation for why Q was dying or why his powers were off again/on again, but the resolution there was beautiful. He did not want to die alone and did not want Picard to, either. And he saved half the quadrant in the process. Not the first time Q did humanity a solid. He gets a nice bow and a wonderful legacy. Not bad for a trickster god.

Picard's ending scene with Laris was beautiful as well. Orla Brady is fantastic and I am glad she will be back.

Tallinn's infiltration of the launch was a bit too easy for me, but she had some really strong stuff in there. Putting Picard in his place and taking responsibility for HER choices was beautiful, and helped Picard's absolution of himself along. Her willingness to sacrifice herself for Renee was beautiful & dutiful. And proved that Jurati/Queen Birg was on the level.

I liked the wrap up there as well. Though many guessed it from the start. Pill can be a player moving forward. The Borg are reimagined. And this development merges nicely with the Hugh/Borg survivors arc from S1. Though their Federation membership seemed a bit too convenient/rushed.

As did Seven's promotion, but well deserved. Makes it easier for her and Raffi moving forward. Her arc had a nice payoff and she got to experience being fully human this season.

Losing Rios did not bother me at all. His choice. And it seemed obvious this was where they were heading all season. Teresa moving forward would have lost her purpose (she'd be the worst doctor around). And it was handled well, and it also got a nice wrap up from Whoopi!

I for one liked the resolution of the Soong storyline. The Khan stuff not so much, but Kore destroying his life work? Yes! Plus, Kore needed somewhere to go. 21st century experiment could have caused issues. She gets a purpose, Wesley gets a proper bow, AND Assignment: Earth gets a bow on it.

Very nicely done!

Really stuck the landing.

 

[Llywela]

Are we even gonna see La Sirena any longer? We know Picard is on a Starfleet vessel, and if Seven's field commission sticks, I'm not sure who's going to captain it.

Honestly, I think La Sirena is gone. Timey-wimey. It was Alt!Sirena that went back in time and became Agnes's Borg ship, but technically it was also Alt!Agnes and Alt!Rios who went back in time and never came back, so if they simply disappeared from the present, then so did La Sirena. And if La Sirena is gone, so are the holos.

There will probably be another time jump for S3, giving time for Seven's status to be resolved and her commission made permanent. Stargazer has a vacancy, after all.

 

[Vger23]

While I'm not usually one to gripe about "this serialized story took too long blah blah blah...." I do have to admit that the middle episodes of this season were the ones that really didn't work for me. The opening 3 were great, and the final 3-4 were really good (not as good as the first 3). It's the same feeling I had with S1 quite honestly, although I had less affection for the middle episodes this season than last season.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I really enjoyed the episode. Some predictions came true, a few surprises, a delightful return of the Travellers - with an acknowledgement of the recent "Coda" novel trilogy - and Guinan trying not to reveal "a spoiler" because she thought Picard might have spotted it for himself.


Rios cameo by Ian McLean, on Flickr

Exciting for me: A certain blue someone, first spotted in the "Entertainment Tonight" pics promoting Episode #1 - and actually pointed out by the host of the premiere's after party - is now actually in the finale (so canonical, albeit blurry).


Therin of Andor's "Star Trek: Picard" finale compile by Ian McLean, on Flickr

Thanks Production Designer, Dave Blass.

(The two-shot of Therin the Andorian beside Grol the Tellarite is also there, if you know where to look.)

 

[truthchampion]

While it was not perfect, it was awfully good. All the threads tied up nicely and some nice bonuses in there as well. I was feeling generous and went with a 10.

We did not get a full bodied explanation for why Q was dying or why his powers were off again/on again,


I for one liked the resolution of the Soong storyline. The Khan stuff not so much, but Kore destroying his life work? Yes! Plus, Kore needed somewhere to go. 21st century experiment could have caused issues. She gets a purpose, Wesley gets a proper bow, AND Assignment: Earth gets a bow on it.
g.

Heard of backups? backups to the cloud or NAS or different locations. The idea that if you delete 10000 or a million files the work is lost is absurd. Who created those files? Soong. He can create them again.

i have seven diverse backups and im not even a scientist.

If you hacked Elon Musk and deleted his files would spaceX and Tesla collapse?

 

[Starkers]

Well that was a little clunky in places but overall I really enjoyed it. I hit the right buttons on an emotional level, if not necessarily on a logical level but that's fine with me.

Highlights for me were of course Picard and Q's goodbye scene. "Even Gods have favourites." No you're crying! Did it feel a little more like Stewart and de Lancie saying farewell rather than JLP and Q? Maybe. Did I care, not one jot.

Wesley turning up was unexpected and kinda wonderful. I was never the biggest Wesley fan but he did grow on me over time. Much like Deanna the uniform made a hell of a difference.

Seven in the captain's chair. I hope it isn't the last time we see that!

Seven and Raffi finally kissing! I'd complained there was zero chemistry between them but I finally felt it there!

Downsides.

So after all that, Picard and Laris still aren't a thing?

Rios staying behind was utterly predictable and utterly lame. I had hoped for a Stargazer series (which I guess we could still get, only with Captain Seven instead?).

Overall I loved the first couple of episodes, really enjoyed the last couple and the ones in the middle were ok! Definitely could have made for a tauter 8 episode series but there was no episode I hated.

 

[Uhura's Song]

A giant butt hole in space threating the quadrant with a giant beam of death?


Oh krutzman

My interpretation was that it was the galaxtic consequence of Q's death.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Ever since he became Wil Wheaton from The Big Bang Theory.

Y'know, I enjoyed Wil on BBT, and for that matter it's not always popular to say one enjoyed BBT these days. I guess with all the callbacks this series has indulged in it was more of a groan moment for me than an OMG!. Maybe being so familiar with Wil as being just Wil in pop culture and just not caring much for this season of Picard it didn't work for me. I am being sincere when I say I'm glad others liked it so much.

 

[ThreeEdgedSword]

Honestly, I think La Sirena is gone. Timey-wimey. It was Alt!Sirena that went back in time and became Agnes's Borg ship, but technically it was also Alt!Agnes and Alt!Rios who went back in time and never came back, so if they simply disappeared from the present, then so did La Sirena. And if La Sirena is gone, so are the holos.

Yeah, I bet it won't get mentioned again.

There will probably be another time jump for S3, giving time for Seven's status to be resolved and her commission made permanent. Stargazer has a vacancy, after all.

Oh joy, another time jump - so we'll return just in time for Seven and Raffi to start bickering again!

As for Rios, I don't mind losing him so much (at least I didn't as long as I thought we could still get the holos), I just didn't buy how they told the story.

 

[Llywela]

As for Rios, I don't mind losing him so much (at least I didn't as long as I thought we could still get the holos), I just didn't buy how they told the story.

I did mind losing him, and keeping the holos wouldn't have been much consolation (Cabrera has said in interviews that he prefers playing the real thing) but I honestly think they are gone, too. And I didn't buy how they told the story either. Everything that made the character interesting in S1 was completely stripped away for S2, reducing him to his ethnicity for the ICE story and the Latin lover stereotype for the romance with Teresa - and I simply can't see staying in a 2024 on the brink of WWIII and then dying in a bar fight as a happy ending. It just isn't. It might have been better if his reservations over returning to Starfleet had been seeded through the season - I know Agnes said something in 2.02 when they bickered over comms, but we needed more than that. We needed to hear Rios talking about it himself, examining his own motivations, and we needed it earlier than a single line in the finale to explain his decision to stay. The opportunity was there. He had multiple conversations with Teresa, most of which amounted to little more than meaningless fluff designed to show how much he liked her. Imagine if instead those conversations had been used to discuss something of substance. If Teresa had recognised him as forces/ex-forces and he'd talked to her about his discharge and reinstatement, admitted having mixed feelings about it, acknowledged that reclaiming his career after so long out in the cold felt hollow rather than satisfying. It would have made his arc through the season so much more personal than the superficial 'Rios falls for Teresa and gives up his entire future to live through WWIII with her' we were given. But I still would have hated it as an ending for the character. I honestly don't see why the producers decided to go so scorched earth with him.

 

[Kaelef]

I did mind losing him, and keeping the holos wouldn't have been much consolation (Cabrera has said in interviews that he prefers playing the real thing) but I honestly think they are gone, too. And I didn't buy how they told the story either.

Everything you said, plus also: the reason Picard accepted for him staying behind and likely breaking the timeline was simply that he wanted to. "Oh, you feel like staying! Well that changes everything! By all means, my little Latin butterfly, stay and cause incalculable change to the future we've claimed to care about protecting for the last 8 shitty episodes!"

Even a quick nod to Q to confirm that he wasn't going to break the timeline this way would've been some kind of acknowledgement that the writers had thought about this for more than half a second.

Not that there weren't already a few dozen other timeline-breaking actions our heroes participated in this season that no one batted an eyelash at.

 

[Starkers]

Forgot to mention one other bit that irked me somewhat. Picard putting the key behind the wall for his future self to find as a child made no sense when earlier we'd been told the skeleton key migrated around the house? Or was that hidey-hole just where it resided between floating around the house?

Suspect I've answered my own question there!

 

[jackoverfull]

Heard of backups? backups to the cloud or NAS or different locations. The idea that if you delete 10000 or a million files the work is lost is absurd. Who created those files? Soong. He can create them again.

i have seven diverse backups and im not even a scientist.

If you hacked Elon Musk and deleted his files would spaceX and Tesla collapse?

true, however when I was working in tech support it was unbelievable how many people never did any kind of backup and then came to me crying when their HDs died. Soong is literally a mad scientist, and a somewhat computer-illiterate one (not even a login password on his own computer? Really?), so one might expect it from him.

 

[Paul Weaver]

Are we even gonna see La Sirena any longer? We know Picard is on a Starfleet vessel, and if Seven's field commission sticks, I'm not sure who's going to captain it.

Holographic Rios!

Honestly, I think La Sirena is gone

It was part of the butthole shield fleet, ship 11 below

https://twitter.com/gaghyogi49/status/1522305657919131652

 

[fireproof78]

Heard of backups? ba

That's not how fiction works.