Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 3x08 - "Surrender"

[Romulan_spy]

I also was not expecting Vadic to buy the farm this episode (I'm assuming, though with her being a Changeling, perhaps she will just reform). If that was the end for her it was as exaggerated (struggling to find the right word here) as the character's portrayal.

I was surprised but glad. I had thought that Vadic would escape with Jack and the finale would deal with the TNG cast having to save Frontier Day and rescue Jack. I am glad they did not go that route. It would have been depressing and drag things on longer. This way, Vadic got a satisfying villain death and we got a positive end with our heroes winning for a change. And the finale can focus on the big threat.

I do think Vadic is really gone. We saw her body freeze solid and shatter into a million pieces in space, not to mention the Shrike was blown to bits too. Sure, anything is possible but that looked pretty final to me. And bringing Vadic back after such a death would feel forced and dumb IMO. It would undo the emotion of our heroes victory.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I'm guessing it will be the Borg. Who else could it be at this point?

President Hansen from season 2, episode 2?

 

[Orac Zen]

I wish the episode had established that Kestra was safe.

Agreed. That would have been very reassuring. (Really hoping Tuvok is okay, too.)

 

[Finn]

Yeah, not missing Neelix too much.

I got the impression Deanna had a suspicion she decided to not tell her old comrades...at least not on screen.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

At least Data got Lore's wicked sense of humor in the divorce. But the way he tricked Lore was something else, giving Lore everything he wanted.

Spot is back to being a "he". Will that riddle never be solved?
"monologuing protoplasms"


I was worried Deanna wasn't going to be Deanna, even til the very end.


Worf's re-entrance was epic. "Personal space is a right"


"Fucking solids"

 

[Sakonna]

Troi is hands down my favorite TNG character, and my great fear about this season was that she would be the only character not well-served, because she's the only character they didn't have intriguing teases for in the pre-release press. They talked about everyone except her! I kept hoping that it would turn out this was only because her material was particularly spoiler-y, but that "shrew sitcom wife" scene in ep 3 did not inspire confidence, then using her as the cliffhanger for ep 6 with no follow-up the week after...

I guess I should have had more faith! I LOVED her material here. Totally worth the wait.

The TNG writers were always complaining how Troi's empathic powers made plotting impossible, and there was cleverness in how this season kept her sidelined until they could lean hard into that. Bring her in when her powers and counseling can actually be used to advance the plot instead of having to be written around! Genius!

Damn, the rush I got when I realized Troi was actually going to do some counseling in a way that would actually help the main problem... so satisfying!

 

[Finn]

I'm starting to fear it's Armus, when Deanna seemed to convey some kind of vague familiarity when she mentioned the darknesses. The Borg or Pah-Wraiths (darkness yes, but not familiar to Deanna) wouldn't do this, me thinks.

 

[Sakonna]

I guess now that my fears that Troi will not be well served have been assuaged, I can move on to stressing about Raffi. I desperately still need these last two episodes to include:

1. One good Picard/Raffi moment
2. A Raffi/Seven reconciliation. Falling into a passionate kiss in their last scene will do.

 

[Cox of Seagulls]

Thank God, this was much, much, MUCH better than last week's.

Everything with Data was genuinely quite touching and I did have a few tears in my eyes as the old gang was back together again at last. It just rang true emotionally, it was a well deserved pay-off. Really great stuff, the season is back on track.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I guess now that my fears that Troi will not be well served have been assuaged, I can move on to stressing about Raffi. I desperately still need these last two episodes to include:

1. One good Picard/Raffi moment
2. A Raffi/Seven reconciliation. Falling into a passionate kiss in their last scene will do.

Raffi and Worf are really turning into a great team. I hope they appear in any 25th century show that might come along.

 

[Deks]

I was surprised but glad. I had thought that Vadic would escape with Jack and the finale would deal with the TNG cast having to save Frontier Day and rescue Jack. I am glad they did not go that route. It would have been depressing and drag things on longer. This way, Vadic got a satisfying villain death and we got a positive end with our heroes winning for a change. And the finale can focus on the big threat.

I do think Vadic is really gone. We saw her body freeze solid and shatter into a million pieces in space, not to mention the Shrike was blown to bits too. Sure, anything is possible but that looked pretty final to me. And bringing Vadic back after such a death would feel forced and dumb IMO. It would undo the emotion of our heroes victory.

Vadic's death seemed underwhelming.
Mainly because we know Changelings can survive in space. So I don't understand why she simply hadn't reformed into a space dwelling lifeform for example (Laas was able to).

But then, I come back to the premise that these are supposed to be 'evolved' changelings which can closely mimick humanoid physiology.
Given that Vadic was in human form at the time, maybe she was more susceptible to the vacuum (as unrealistic as that portrayal of a human freezing in space was) as a result.

Then of course she smashes into a lot of tiny little pieces when colliding with the Shrike... and if that didn't kill her, the subsequent explosion of the ship should have (because she was in close proximity to it).

The only one who might have escaped death was that bodyguard of hers... we didn't see him smash into tiny little pieces and he veered way off course compared to Vadic... so he may have survived the vacuum but not entirely sure about an antimatter explosions because those usually have a rather big range (albeit given how many phaser shots he withstood to date, I'd say he has a much higher chance of surviving than Vadic).

 

[Sakonna]

I'm starting to fear it's Armus, when Deanna seemed to convey some kind of vague familiarity when she mentioned the darknesses. The Borg or Pah-Wraiths (darkness yes, but not familiar to Deanna) wouldn't do this, me thinks.

I think I'd be satisfied for it to be Armus.

Which, if you'd told me in the lead-up the main villain would be Armus, I would have said that's stupid.

But now that we're here, it could resonate so well with all of this. The goo person connection is clever. The producers kept comparing this season to TWOK in interviews, and that would be the same vengeance premise, you condemned me to an eternity rotting on this desolate planet. And there's a reason "old enemy from decades ago returns for final battle" is such a common trope, because it's such a satisfying one.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The musical piece that played during the destruction of the Skrike, was that from another one of the movies?

It sounded really familiar.

 

[Lord Garth]

This episode threw me a few curveballs, and did some things I didn't expect. Vadic's choice of who she killed for one. How soon she died for another. It helps in that we'll get to focus on who's infiltrated Frontier Day.

I liked seeing the entire TNG crew back together again the Ready Room. People should note that it took 28 episodes out of 30 for this to happen. They didn't do it right away, and this is the last time we'll ever see it. If you don't like seeing it, you're either lying at least a little IMO or you shouldn't be watching this because this isn't for you. That scene is basically the Litmus Test.

I have no problem with Data being back. This is a different take on Data. And, like I've said before, Data's software. As long as a copy exists, I won't say, "fowl!" How Data defeated Lore and became "Data" is something I wouldn't have predicted. "I'm giving all of me to you, so now you're me!" I think Data saying, "That was that Data, I'm this Data!" was basically the Season 3 writers saying, "This is how we would've handled it!" Works for me. As far as I'm concerned, the Data in Season 1 was committing suicide. "Please kill me! I wish for my existence to end!" That's what should be frowned upon, not this.

Worf. He talks too much now. I liked him better when he was of fewer words. I'm with Riker. "Are you here to rescue us or put us through more torture?" Worf, I'm sorry, but that all could've waited until you were back on the Titan!

Circling back to where I stared this post, Vadic had me on edge. Not only did she have me wondering who she killed, she had me wondering who she might kill next. For a split second, I thought she might even kill Seven. I'm so glad she didn't. But, for a while, I thought "Anything could happen!"

 

[Deks]

Ok... so Jack has the ability to connect with other humans/solids and even control their bodies.

So, what... the Changelings want that ability to connect with all solids in the Federation and then force them to commit mass suicide (or something to that effect) come Frontier Day?
Or possibly not make them commit mass suicide, just establish 'permanent control'... in which case, the Federation then just ends up theirs..

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I liked seeing the entire TNG crew back together again the Ready Room. People should note that it took 28 episodes out of 30 for this to happen.

Realistically, it took 8 out of 10 episodes, since S1 & S2 were never meant to be TNG related.

Worf. He talks too much now. I liked him better when he was of fewer words. I'm with Riker. "Are you here to rescue us or put us through more torture?" Worf, I'm sorry, but that all could've waited until you were back on the Titan!

That was pure Riker right there and inappropriate humor is his thing.

 

[Quinton]

To paraphrase Vadic’s last words. Fucking Cliffhangers










Vadic said it was appropriate that Seven was still on the bridge for the big Jack reveal. What else could it be but the Borg? The mention of voices, Jack always feeling alone…

Yeah, exactly.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Vadic:

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[Lord Garth]

Realistically, it took 8 out of 10 episodes, since S1 & S2 were never meant to be TNG related.

Splitting hairs but yes. Some cynical people, I won't name names, probably thought they'd do it the first chance they got. So I wanted to highlight how that wasn't the case.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Splitting hairs but yes. Some cynical people, I won't name names, probably thought they'd do it the first chance they got. So I wanted to highlight how that wasn't the case.

I'm firmly in the group that remembers PS saying he didn't want to do TNG 2.0 and have been completely OK with that.

I loved what they did with S1 & S2, showing a whole new dimension to JLP. A broken Picard that makes a sort of comeback in S1, only to be shown as broken in a whole other way in S2.

He's so much more than just the Capt. Picard we saw on TNG and I'm glad they gave Patrick the chance to do this version.