Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x10 - "Farewell"

[gweeps]

The only thing that would've made me like it better would've been Picard recapping this as he's putting the puzzle together like he did in the eighth episode of the last season.

"Must it always have galactic import? Universal stakes? Celestial upheaval? Isn't one life enough?" - I chuckled at that line, it was definitely intended for (a certain part of) the viewers.

Picard essentially sums up Q's singular motive when Q tells them it's time for him to go, and Picard says, "But not alone. Isn't that what this was all about?"

Regarding the Picard/Q shippers, I'll paraphrase Data from TNG's 'All Good Things...": Q thought of Picard as fondly as a master would feel for his beloved pet. Even Q told Picard, "I care about you" in their last alone time together. He was a godlike being; sex didn't come into play. But Q did feel affection him, and considered him an "old friend".

 

[Unimatrix Q]

"In all of the universe, you're the closest thing I have to a friend, Jean-Luc."

Alright, I cried. Seriously, I'm starting to feel something in my eye just at hearing that above line in John de Lancie's voice, even though everything was different back then when he said it. It was a beautiful swan song for Q. And I want a Picard/Laris endgame, dammit. I never really cared for the whole Picard/Crusher pairing, and throwing out the stellar chemistry Stewart and Brady have consistently had for two years just because the idea of Picard/Crusher is an established part of the Fandom's groupthink seems to be a total waste for me. But I have no illusions, because I've learned in the last five years that fanwank always wins out in the end.

That being said, now that I've managed to get through the last two episodes in one afternoon, I'm not as mad about the TNG reunion we're getting next season and I think I can make peace with the endings Jurati and Rios got, and quite frankly, while I like Elnor, they didn't flesh him out enough to make his absence carry much weight for me. Keeping Raffi for the next season because of her connections to the two legacy characters staying in the main cast makes perfect sense.

I enjoyed the handful of posts in this thread describing how all the seemingly random events could all be tied together into a coherent plot by Q: he needed a group of Borg tempered by Jurati's compassion to cooperate with the Federation to stop the anomaly, and because he was dying, he also wanted to help Picard let go of his repressed pain as a parting gift. He brought the crew to the Confederation timeline specifically because he needed a Borg Queen that was disconnected from the Collective so that she would merge with Jurati instead of just assimilating her. However, because he was dying, he expended most of his power bringing the crew into the alternate timeline, and he was forced to go through with his plan in a roundabout way, manipulating Soong and Renée to create a chain of events that would force Tallinn into action, leading to Picard's injury and subsequent epiphany. Tallinn being given the chance to meet Renée and the liberation of Kore were just small moments of compassion for him, deciding to do some good things with the limited time he had left, culminating in him resurrecting Elnor with the small bit of energy originally intended to bring Rios back to the future. He truly shined as a bona fide Trickster Mentor for me throughout this last lesson of his. The only thing that would've made me like it better would've been Picard recapping this as he's putting the puzzle together like he did in the eighth episode of the last season.

"Must it always have galactic import? Universal stakes? Celestial upheaval? Isn't one life enough?" - I chuckled at that line, it was definitely intended for (a certain part of) the viewers.

Wonderful post! I agree with everything you said.

Was a Picard/Beverly shipper before Star Trek Picard, but more because i like both characters for who they are. Not because i see them like they were made for each other, but because there wasn't any good long term alternative beside Vash. Never was really interested in seeing Picard/Anij again.

While Laris is a wonderful and fascinating character and she and Jean Luc have a amazing chemistry.

 

[nic3636]

This was a good episode. The Picard / Q scenes were excellent, the rest of it was fine. I was a fan of the Wil Wheaton cameo. You have to ignore some of the crap in the seasons middle episodes, but mostly this episode works. 8/10 for me.

 

[JRob94]

Elnor is so easy on my eyes, I don't even have to open them when he's on screen. Seriously, it should be criminal to look that damn good.

Glad I’m not the only one!

 

[Sci]

1) Those aren't just normal veins in the eyes of a human actor in a standard scene. That's an SFX scene.
It's a CGI effect. They could have made the veins in any color they wanted, including the correct color of Romulans/Vulcans.

That's fine, but honestly, I would make the same decision if I were the Head Honcho of PIC.

The vast majority of the audience are not going to watch a scene in which they're caught up in the emotion of it all and give a shit about whether or not it is plausible that aliens with green blood would have red bloodshot eyes. But the vast majority of the audience will be so distracted by the sight of a woman with green bloodshot eyes that they will become distracted from the intended emotion of the scene.

This is an example of an instance where maintaining strict continuity would break verisimilitude for the vast majority of the audience rather than enhance it. It would take them out of the scene and out of the emotion of the scene. It would inhibit the story, in other words.

They made the right call by keeping her eyes red bloodshot.

But they didn't know or they didn't care because they, the people in the entire post-production chain, are sloppy.

Why do you not lobby the same charge against the production teams that have previously featured Vulcans with red bloodshot eyes?

They are not sloppy. They just have good taste, and you do not. That is why they are making a television series and you are whining on the Internet.

2)

The bit with Tuvok's eyes there was cool, but that's also the only image there in which we see a Vulcan with any green in their eyes. None of the other images are relevant to this discussion.

To be very brutally honest, Rios staying behind in the 21st Century isn't something I can argue with. As much as I'll miss the character.

Rios didn't seem like he fit into the 25th Century. Him having a cigar on the bridge of Stargazer looked ridiculously out-of-place. Hell, having a cigar in a public place today -- especially where you work -- would look ridiculously out-of-place. It's more of a 20th Century thing. But it's still less out of place in 2024 than in 2401.

The only really weird thing is "I want to live in the 21st Century! Nuclear winter! World War III! The risk of getting deported? Yeah! That's where I want to live!" But, if you like to live dangerous, which he does, then why not? Not something I would do, if it were me, but it's about what he'd do. And he's blinded by love.

Hm. That's a fair point.

So does anyone else remember that Tallin had the ability to temporarily possess people? She used that power to bring Picard to her and then never again even though it seems like it would have been useful on multiple occasions.

I don't think being able to possess someone for 90 seconds is all that useful.

Picard essentially sums up Q's singular motive when Q tells them it's time for him to go, and Picard says, "But not alone. Isn't that what this was all about?"

Regarding the Picard/Q shippers, I'll paraphrase Data from TNG's 'All Good Things...": Q thought of Picard as fondly as a master would feel for his beloved pet. Even Q told Picard, "I care about you" in their last alone time together. He was a godlike being; sex didn't come into play. But Q did feel affection him, and considered him an "old friend".

I think the great thing about that scene is that it peeled away Q's pretense of superiority. He was forced to accept and acknowledge that he's not superior to Jean-Luc; he's not a master to a pet. He's just another person, and he's found someone he cares about and who cares about him in spite of their differences and in spite of their past.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

Must it always have galactic import? Universal stakes? Celestial upheaval? Isn't one life enough?" - I chuckled at that line, it was definitely intended for (a certain part of) the viewers.

But then followed almost immediately by a big giant galaxy destroying wormhole.

 

[Norad]

"[...]Isn't one life enough?" - I chuckled at that line, it was definitely intended for (a certain part of) the viewers.

Cats?

 

[gweeps]

But then followed almost immediately by a big giant galaxy destroying wormhole.

Since Q de Lancie was "moving on", I give him a pass for that statement.

 

[T'Bonz]

I binge-watched tonight to catch up. I liked the finale, for the most part.

Likes: Elnor is back! I kinda like what happened with Jurati.
Dislikes. Picard, you're lame. KISS THE GIRL! (at the end). Bye bye, Rios.

I'd like to know why Q, supposedly immortal, was dying.

 

[jackoverfull]

Great chant. Creepy effects. Bad episode.

didn’t it even win some award for the special effects?

 

[jackoverfull]

The vast majority of the audience are not going to watch a scene in which they're caught up in the emotion of it all and give a shit about whether or not it is plausible that aliens with green blood would have red bloodshot eyes. But the vast majority of the audience will be so distracted by the sight of a woman with green bloodshot eyes that they will become distracted from the intended emotion of the scene.

not that I care one way or the other, but I don’t think that the vast majority of people was distracted by Spock having green blood at his death scene.

 

[cooleddie74]

didn’t it even win some award for the special effects?

Don't know about that but for Season 3 with its trimmed budgets and TV special effects in the year 1968 they were pretty cool.

 

[EJD1984]

I was thinking this as well.

I'm still holding out for Data at the end of Season 3.

*Brent Spiner did state that in his contract, no Data for SE2, and then went mum about SE3.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I can't recall clearly - in the new S3 teaser, with all the new dialogue for the original characters, wasn't Brent Spiner indeed acting as Data? Or, at the very least, Data speaking using B4's mouth?

If so, I really hope they do a better job with the makeup and de-aging algorithms this time around than what was used for S1.

 

[XCV330]

BTW, that's a Korg nanoKONTROL, a small budget digital audio workstation mixing control surface:

I saw that. Soong is too cool for plc's and hackable networks. He's using old school midi to control his drones
Considering his new/old Jeckyl and Hyde lab I could kind of believe it. I know that it was just prop people looking for something cheap and technical looking, but it gave me a smile, and since I am looking for a new small mixer for my DAWless setup, I won't pretend the nanokontrol didn't just move up on my list.

 

[jackoverfull]

I saw that. Soong is too cool for plc's and hackable networks. He's using old school midi to control his drones
Considering his new/old Jeckyl and Hyde lab I could kind of believe it. I know that it was just prop people looking for something cheap and technical looking, but it gave me a smile, and since I am looking for a new small mixer for my DAWless setup, I won't pretend the nanokontrol didn't just move up on my list.

The nanoKontrol is pretty great, not sure it's still on sale (the version I have, with 9 faders, certainly isn't).

 

[XCV330]

The nanoKontrol is pretty great, not sure it's still on sale (the version I have, with 9 faders, certainly isn't).

I can always get fleeced on Reverb

 

[Jax]

The Picard/Q scenes were a real tear jerker - these two friends saying one last goodbye was hard to watch. The end arc was OUT OF LEFT FIELD but I guess it will tie into season 3 of the show and maybe this threat might even be responsible for Q dying.

We have a new Borg that was hidden for all these centuries and potentially a new member of the Federation. Also the Wil Wheaton cameo was SUPERB.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The only thing that kinda bugs me is the "galactic event" that was basically a straight line energy beam that was blocked by the harmonized shields.

Even unblocked, how much damage could it do to the entire sector? What are the odds that thing would hit even one planet?

 

[Klingon Empire]

I binge-watched tonight to catch up. I liked the finale, for the most part.

Likes: Elnor is back! I kinda like what happened with Jurati.
Dislikes. Picard, you're lame. KISS THE GIRL! (at the end). Bye bye, Rios.

I'd like to know why Q, supposedly immortal, was dying.

I agree with your likes, but I feel like the Jurati/Borg Queen thing was a little eeehhhh. All you have to do is convince her? That doesn't spark right for me. The motives of the Borg queen are much more intricate than being alone, and even if she were to know she was going to lose constantly, now that she has the knowledge of her loss, she would be more likely to try and fight that by getting ahead of it. Jurati should have been deleted, but on the obverse of the coin, I feel like seeing a good Borg will be interesting. So we'll see how it goes.

I'd also like to know why Q was dying, it seems unfathomable.

The only thing that kinda bugs me is the "galactic event" that was basically a straight line energy beam that was blocked by the harmonized shields.

Even unblocked, how much damage could it do to the entire sector? What are the odds that thing would hit even one planet?

Odds are astronomically low. I feel like people forget exactly how big the universe is. There's a lot of distance between things. I was actually questioning what they were going to do with so few ships to stop the event, then bam, Death Star beam. Ok? I was a little nonplussed by that, and I feel like it was a little rushed not going to lie.