Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 1x06 - "The Impossible Box"

[Roald]

Really LOVED this episode... This series is starting to unfold in an awesome way... It really takes me back in time, discovering Trek when I was 19 in 1994... DS9 was still running, Generations had yet to come out, Voyager was already announced… It really felt like an awesome time to step in, 'cause there was so much to explore and so much to look foreward to... It feels like those times again… Love it!

 

[MvRojo]

Its simply to keep as many subscribers as possible for as long as possible which would not work if they were all released together.

Simple as that really.

Also to keep the show on peoples' mind and help build the audience. Although it's nice when shows drop whole seasons, it does limit the conversation about a show. Pretty much every show that does that gets attention for a few days and then people move on.

 

[eschaton]

I liked that line from Hugh about how Picard and Hugh were never in the QueenCell yet it felt familiar. I thought that was a nice little bit showing that Hugh and Locutus were never in the presence of the Borg Queen when they were assimilated, yet because of their connection to the Collective still had knowledge of what the QueenCell was like.

I thought First Contact made it clear that Locutus was near a Borg Queen - just that we hadn't seen her in Best of Both Worlds.

 

[Timo]

But apparently that was all virtual... The Collective is the epitome of the unreliable narrator!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sir Stewart Wallace]

Didn't JL flash back to the BQ during this epi? It was real quick.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Having Jurati hook up with Rios seemed forced but other than that the episode is great. I hope Hugh lives as well.

That was my first thought as well. On the other hand, sex can make folks stupid. Rios may be less likely to look into those computer logs if it might bother the woman he's banging.

 

[Romulan_spy]

I thought First Contact made it clear that Locutus was near a Borg Queen - just that we hadn't seen her in Best of Both Worlds.

Yes, but maybe not in the QueenCell. Maybe Locutus encountered the Borg Queen elsewhere on the Cube or virtually if the Queen was on another vessel.

The point of the line of dialogue is that neither Hugh or Locutus had ever physically been in the QueenCell before.

 

[Gonzo]

I just hope they don't kill Hugh off.

Would be a waste as he is the ideal candidate to lead the freed XB's.

Got to wait until tomorrow for Amazon.

 

[Gov Kodos]

I just hope they don't kill Hugh off.

Would be a waste as he is the ideal candidate to lead the freed XB's.

Got to wait until tomorrow for Amazon.

Someone's got to tell Rios where Picard went.

 

[eschaton]

Thinking about it more deeply, the episode title - the Impossible Box - works on many different levels.

• There's the literal puzzle box of Narek
• There's the "box" of the Artifact
• There's the mental box that Soji's unconscious put her in (that she eventually escapes)
• There's the mental box that Narek is in because of the conflict between his feelings for Soji and his mission
• There's the mental box that Jurati has put herself in because of her own conflicted emotions regarding...whatever we don't know yet
• There's the mental box that Raffi is trapped inside due to her own guilt
• There's the mental box that Picard is trapped within due to his memories of the pain of assimilation

This episode just works thematically on so many levels. Really the only main cast who don't fit the theme here are Rios and Elnor - who are both much more supporting characters. Rios is basically just a sounding board for Raffi and Jurati, and Elnor is pretty much the definition of someone who doesn't suffer any mental shackles.

 

[KerbalStarfleet]

Didn't JL flash back to the BQ during this epi? It was real quick.

Yes, he had a flashback of her saying "Locutus" from First Contact.

 

[Demosthenes]

It is really interesting that they included screenshots from TNG versions of the Borg (e.g. Hugh and Locutus) and Paris etc in this episode, maintaining them as visually canon in that way, rather than updating them to the modern aesthetic...

 

[J.D.]

Someone give me the next episode now! Can't wait for next week!

 

[ThreeEdgedSword]

Every Trek show needs a Lothario..

Apparently. But I, too, thought it was unnecessary at this point in the series.

During this episode, I realized I just don't care very much (yet) about most of the newly introuced regulars. Rios (has grown on me once I got over his terrible intro scene) and Elnor yes, Raffi and Jurati (even before the murder), no. Narek, definitely no. Soji, sure, but I'm not terribly interested in her character. Even though she's a mysterious "Destroyer", persecuted, innocent yet with superpowers...

The older shows had a lot of time to build up their characters. To think of what DS9 did during the first two seasons with Kira alone... This show does not have the luxury of making us care for the characters.

 

[AlanC9]

I think they said it was only for the queen's use, which makes no sense. It's likely one of those universe - breaking technologies that won't be acknowledged later. After all, the Borg could just send a few drones to any planet within range and assimilate them at their leisure. Considering how spread out the Borg are, this Sikarian technology is basically akin to Iconian gateways at this point.

I think we're just going to have to assume that the gadget uses up too much unobtanium per transit to be an effective tool for assimilation.

Forgotten Phlebotinum is a Star Trek tradition, after all.

 

[Gov Kodos]

To think of what DS9 did during the first two seasons with Kira alone... This show does not have the luxury of making us care for the characters.

Black Sails managed it quite well in 8 episodes. A vast diversity of characters and interrelationships. Your average movie can do that in under 2 hours. Writing, directing, and acting and the ineffable relationship between the production and the audience creates caring.

 

[Sir Stewart Wallace]

I think we're just going to have to assume that the gadget uses up too much unobtanium per transit to be an effective tool for assimilation.

No problem. Just slingshot around the sun to find a larger reserve of unobtainium in the past. If it takes too long, de-age yourself in the transporter.

 

[ThreeEdgedSword]

Black Sails managed it quite well in 8 episodes. A vast diversity of characters and interrelationships. Your average movie can do that in under 2 hours. Writing, directing, and acting and the ineffable relationship between the production and the audience creates caring.

Oooh, you remind me that I watched a couple of BS episodes ages ago, loved them, but never got around to finishing it! And you are right, I still remember at leat two characters I cared about very soon.

 

[Yistaan]

Why is everyone listening to Dr. Jurati's fake autopsy report on Maddox? Did everyone forget her doctorate was in cybernetics and not medicine? Why isn't Rios immediately suspicious that his EMH isn't doing this instead, as he would know the EMH would automatically be activated in signs of Maddox's physical distress?

Notice how Agnes went out of her way to keep the crew emotionally off-guard? Tell Rios a racy line about "never slept with a captain before" to get him all hot and bothered and not making the logical deductions I mentioned above. Go into graphic detail about Picard's assimilation right in front of him so he'll throw a fit about the Borg and not think about how Maddox could have died suspiciously.

 

[Gonzo]

Why is everyone listening to Dr. Jurati's fake autopsy report on Maddox? Did everyone forget her doctorate was in cybernetics and not medicine? Why isn't Rios immediately suspicious that his EMH isn't doing this instead, as he would know the EMH would automatically be activated in signs of Maddox's physical distress?

Notice how Agnes went out of her way to keep the crew emotionally off-guard? Tell Rios a racy line about "never slept with a captain before" to get him all hot and bothered and not making the logical deductions I mentioned above. Go into graphic detail about Picard's assimilation right in front of him so he'll throw a fit about the Borg and not think about how Maddox could have died suspiciously.

Ah does she, that would indicate that she knows exactly what she is doing, which points to her having done this before.

Someone who has just been thrown in at the spying deep end shouldn't know how to do that so quickly.

Why would anyone stick around at the institute when their main area of expertise has been outlawed, perhaps she was waiting to see who would come asking questions.