Whatever do you mean? It was great seeing Hugh and Ro and Icheb and Shelby livin' large.
1.04 "Absolute Candor" 
out of 5
There's a lot I liked about this episode. If I remember correctly (bearing in mind it has been six years) I was largely bored by the Romulan planet stuff. But this time I didn't feel that, and if you pay attention there's a lot going on in the story here.
Seeing Picard say he'll find a home for Elnor then fast forward and "I thought you'd find a place for Elnor"... yeah we've all had that boss. And actually I did think quite about a lot of this in a work context.
I've always found the Number One/Captain relationship interesting. I'd totally want to be a first officer ant not a captain if I were in that world. And seeing Picard abandon so many people, drop so many balls... is it because he's more about ideas rather than execution? TNG was about the crew, the team, the ensemble. Without that support structure, is Picard just less effective?
Or is it just that the synth attack derailed him. It's still not 100% clear to me how this trigger point led to 14 years of him doing what seems to be sod all. Perhaps it'll become clearer.
But there are interesting dynamics to mine here, and supporting my theory that Picard is maybe just not that good without a team around him to carry out the execution of plans perhaps that's why his first instinct is to build a team. He's a leader, that's what he does. He needs people to lead. He doesn't have the long term patience to sit and work on a project.
I like Elnor. The Japanese samurai Romulan vibe is always a bit of an odd one, but he's likeable. And at the risk of making me look thirsty for Romulans he's very hot too.
I liked that Picard told him off for killing the guy, and that at least at the moment life is still precious and Picard will still say so.
There's some nice banter amongst the crew. I did laugh at Raffi saying "Man can't even take a guilt trip without using a starship.". The JL was moderated to "just" three". Swearing twice, still not needed.
Although naughty Jurati. "I watered your plants. You're welcome." I hate people when people say "you're welcome". And don't touch people's plants! I've become quite the houseplant fan and don't like when people touch them. This is big plot stuff I need to address here.
The Romulan story with Rizzo turning up... I feel they want to do a scene with her to keep that story alive but they could have left it out of the episode. Nothing really was added beyond what we knew. It's fine to leave a story unseen in the background for an episode or two.
Then what an ending! Seven of Nine! I remember being very excited about her inclusion, the marriage of Voyager and TNG. Her appearance is short, but boom what an entrance.
Not a ton happens in this episode in some ways. But it inches the story along in a measured way and I think it belies its character building that's going on. I enjoyed it a lot.
out of 5There's a lot I liked about this episode. If I remember correctly (bearing in mind it has been six years) I was largely bored by the Romulan planet stuff. But this time I didn't feel that, and if you pay attention there's a lot going on in the story here.
Seeing Picard say he'll find a home for Elnor then fast forward and "I thought you'd find a place for Elnor"... yeah we've all had that boss. And actually I did think quite about a lot of this in a work context.
I've always found the Number One/Captain relationship interesting. I'd totally want to be a first officer ant not a captain if I were in that world. And seeing Picard abandon so many people, drop so many balls... is it because he's more about ideas rather than execution? TNG was about the crew, the team, the ensemble. Without that support structure, is Picard just less effective?
Or is it just that the synth attack derailed him. It's still not 100% clear to me how this trigger point led to 14 years of him doing what seems to be sod all. Perhaps it'll become clearer.
But there are interesting dynamics to mine here, and supporting my theory that Picard is maybe just not that good without a team around him to carry out the execution of plans perhaps that's why his first instinct is to build a team. He's a leader, that's what he does. He needs people to lead. He doesn't have the long term patience to sit and work on a project.
I like Elnor. The Japanese samurai Romulan vibe is always a bit of an odd one, but he's likeable. And at the risk of making me look thirsty for Romulans he's very hot too.
I liked that Picard told him off for killing the guy, and that at least at the moment life is still precious and Picard will still say so.
There's some nice banter amongst the crew. I did laugh at Raffi saying "Man can't even take a guilt trip without using a starship.". The JL was moderated to "just" three". Swearing twice, still not needed.
Although naughty Jurati. "I watered your plants. You're welcome." I hate people when people say "you're welcome". And don't touch people's plants! I've become quite the houseplant fan and don't like when people touch them. This is big plot stuff I need to address here.
The Romulan story with Rizzo turning up... I feel they want to do a scene with her to keep that story alive but they could have left it out of the episode. Nothing really was added beyond what we knew. It's fine to leave a story unseen in the background for an episode or two.
Then what an ending! Seven of Nine! I remember being very excited about her inclusion, the marriage of Voyager and TNG. Her appearance is short, but boom what an entrance.
Not a ton happens in this episode in some ways. But it inches the story along in a measured way and I think it belies its character building that's going on. I enjoyed it a lot.
