• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 3x08 - "Surrender"

Engage!


  • Total voters
    243
One would imagine that the fiery explosion of the Shrike right next to Vadic's floating parts, probably flash fried and boiled off what remained of her.

Here's hoping.

And I guess the Shrike wasn't ALL THAT after all, was she? Went down like a bitch.
 
Part of this is couched in nostalgia, but I do wonder if it isn’t a deliberately structured case of ‘it is always darkest before the dawn’ being played out in a variety of ways.

And there was very little whimsy in s1 that wasn’t then immediately undercut by violence or darkness of some kind. Nepenthe came with the story of Thad, silly space dandy’s came with Seven executing someone and Ichebs death, and all the Borg stuff came with GoT level characters and the death of Hugh. Even the planet of ai flowers had its people stabbing each other in the eye. It was edgelord wearing a colourful waistcoat of whimsy at best.

This is… the other way around.
After "No Win Scenario," I did see some comments online that wondered whether the Riker storyline (of him going from a dour outlook on life to being able to feel the beauty of the universe again), as well as the scene of him apologizing to Troi, might be metacommentary from the writers and producers acknowledging a shift in tone and course correction for the series.

TROI: You haven't said anything as lovely as that in a very long time.

RIKER: I know. And that's on me. And I'm sorry. I'm gonna fix it. With you.
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
To address one thing — you are right that it has the dark violence (and swearing) that are hallmarks of modern Trek, but for me, so far, the light moments are there — like with the birth of the nebula, or the rebirth of Data, the second chances for Will and Deanna… there seems a deliberate contrast that I suspect will be completed in the end. The darkness is going to be… symbolically sloughed off.

See, I don't find modern Trek dark or overly violent, except in passing moments. The swearing is to me a good thing, too. I take your point about the sloughing off, but (and this is down to personal taste) I find the visual darkness of this season oppressive, along with the amount of wanton shooting and cruelty. It seems like all the TNG characters don't hesitate to kill and then vaporize, and the uniformity of this tendency suggests it's a matter of Matalas's taste rather than a character-driven choice. The way the aesthetic and narrative choices seem to be prolonged is simply too much for me. It feels like the show is one big rut of ugliness to me. I realize it's different for others.

And there was very little whimsy in s1 that wasn’t then immediately undercut by violence or darkness of some kind.

We'll have to agree to disagree there. I found there to be a lovely lyricism to Season 1, from Picard's vineyard to Kestra's imagination to the general look and feel of Nepenthe, to the sliding in socks down the corridor, to the space orchids. And there were tonal shifts, like the masquerade in Stardust City Rag or the total TOS throwback with the android planet. For me, those moments of weirdness and wonder, the sheer ability of the show to play all sorts of notes, gave the proceedings a well-rounded feeling even when the execution didn't entirely work. The simple fact of there being a variety of settings helped immensely for me personally.

I know I'm in the minority here, though!
 
See, I don't find modern Trek dark or overly violent, except in passing moments. The swearing is to me a good thing, too. I take your point about the sloughing off, but (and this is down to personal taste) I find the visual darkness of this season oppressive, along with the amount of wanton shooting and cruelty. It seems like all the TNG characters don't hesitate to kill and then vaporize, and the uniformity of this tendency suggests it's a matter of Matalas's taste rather than a character-driven choice. The way the aesthetic and narrative choices seem to be prolonged is simply too much for me. It feels like the show is one big rut of ugliness to me. I realize it's different for others.



We'll have to agree to disagree there. I found there to be a lovely lyricism to Season 1, from Picard's vineyard to Kestra's imagination to the general look and feel of Nepenthe, to the sliding in socks down the corridor, to the space orchids. And there were tonal shifts, like the masquerade in Stardust City Rag or the total TOS throwback with the android planet. For me, those moments of weirdness and wonder, the sheer ability of the show to play all sorts of notes, gave the proceedings a well-rounded feeling even when the execution didn't entirely work. The simple fact of there being a variety of settings helped immensely for me personally.

I know I'm in the minority here, though!
I agree. The casual brutality is something I don't like, and I didn't like the beheading in season 1, either. Still, season 3 has taken it to a whole new level. That's why I made the "Star Trek Phaser" instead of "Star Trek Picard" comment earlier. Granted, it's just my viewpoint, but I found it absurd on a whole new level watching a team of Septuagenarians and Octogenarians moving around a ship like they're special forces, pointing phasers in everybody's face, and the return response? More phasers.

I just don't like it. Tonally, it feels depressing as hell. The only good moments are those sweet little motifs that harken back to TNG itself, like Data and Geordi's friendship, Riker and Troi's affection for each other, and the rest just feels so bogged down. I know there are lots of people here who love this season, and I don't mean to take away from them, but I am honestly riding this out to see how it ends, and that's it. Season 1 was good, season 2 was better, season 3, I also feel undid everything seasons 1 and 2 tried to create. They're two totally separate shows, IMO. Star Trek: Picard ended after season 2, and then we got Star Trek: Member When? with legacy characters and casual gun play.
 
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.
The "Evolution" wasn't chosen, or determined by environmental factors. It was forced on them by a Section 31 Scientist experimenting on their physiology to be better at mimic-ing Biological Solids for espionage purposes.

The modifications may have come with some "Down-sides" that makes them particularly weak.
 
Last edited:
a very old entity that somehow is in Picard’s brain? Kamin? The alien that took him over in TNG season one? The sun god in Masks? I guess that the Borg queen is pretty old too…
Kamin is a good point - the red destruction could be the nova that destroyed their world

The Oberth class had something similar already, we saw it in The Naked Now
And the BoP as well, as seen in TVH

I assume the tricorder in Data’s memories was Mr. Tricorder from Generations
That had the earlier TNG design, IIRC. This one here was the later version.

A bit presumptuous that Data put his uniform back on. You need to contact Starfleet first and put him back on active duty.
Did he have a badge and rankpins? It also looks like none of the other shirts, so it's probably not a uniform. Though you can never be sure with these designers :D

And at the end of it she outright said "The DNA around the microcircuit fibre implants is returning to normal."
Maybe whatever he had in his parietal lobe wasn't a fiber implant :D

I like that Worf has a proper phaser. Not a “pew pew” one.
The sound was odd though. Troi also had one, but maybe she just took Worf's...?


Erm… I think they were doing that in The Cage. Then it turned out there were no villains as such. Farpoint… same. Emissary… same pretty much. Caretaker… same. Broken Bow… same.
I think you realised that with your ‘at least sometimes’ in brackets.

Roll on midnight, I shouldn’t be hanging about in here getting spoilers…
And those were how many episodes? :p

The only thing that makes me doubt the Borg is that the Thing Behind The Door seems to use red as a colour scheme, and surely for the Borg it would be green.

The Borg symbol was red, and so are their lasers

Matalas has said the Borg won't play a part this season... So far, he hasn't mislead the fandom.

subtitles disagree

Beverly’s family had something special that attracted the energy creature for generations and Jack and Wesley likely inherited it from her. Some Humans in Trek do have psi ability and might evolve in a few thousand years to Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner. Picard’s Irumodic Syndrome might actually be a development along that evolutionary path. Combine all that with the Borg nanoprobes left behind by Locutus and passed on to Jack. Jack’s DNA probably tells the tale to whomever was looking for it.

Didn't Beverly and her ancestors have green eyes when possessed? I think even the corpse got green eyes when it was briefly taken. Perhaps these lifeforms have different colors, and Jack is possessed by a red one (or perhaps males are green and females are red) :D
 
They finally show personalized hand held shields.

=D

Also I think the big bad is Dukaht with Pah-Wraith powers =D.

Irumodic Syndrome isn't what most people think it is.

Those are essences of Pah-Wraith =D
 
Have we ever seen a portable force field generator before? Was it telegraphed at all?
 
What did I miss out on?
Lots of fun =D
xFOuDix.jpg

And it's not some Jerry Rigged Contraption like what Worf did in the Holodeck.

Have we ever seen a portable force field generator before? Was it telegraphed at all?
Yes, but they were MUCH bigger. Equipment that you had to set into place and activate to create a giant networked Force Field wall.

When Nella Darren was setting up Thermal Deflector Units, she was down planet side trying to stop a Fire Storm on
Bersallis III which threatened a Federation Outpost.
 
Last edited:
M
Lots of fun =D
xFOuDix.jpg

And it's not some Jerry Rigged Contraption like what Worf did in the Holodeck.


Yes, but they were MUCH bigger. Equipment that you had to set into place and activate to create a giant networked Force Field wall.

When Nella Darren was setting up Thermal Deflector Units, she was down planet side trying to stop a Fire Storm on
Bersallis III which threatened a Federation Outpost.
Maybe they nicked it from Daystrom?
 
I'm referring to when they awkwardly played the Voyager theme with misplaced sentiment, before she beamed down to go on a vengeful killing spree
Still not seeing how that is "random". As for "vengeance"... Was Seven supposed to arrest Bjayzl? A woman who had used her, manipulated her, and ordered the torture and dismemberment of her surrogate son? How likely is it that Seven would have been able to "bring her in"? How likely was it that Bjayzl would ever have faced justice? I'm not in any way, shape or form an eye for an eye person (I've always liked Gandhi's take on that phrase) and so-called "capital punishment" is an abomination that has no place in any genuinely civilised society. But I had no issue with Bjayzl's fate.

As for Seven being "better served" this season...sure. She's finally in Starfleet, so that's a plus. Serving as first officer to a rule-loving jerk who has so little respect for her he won't even call her by her name. That's ...progress? I'm not at all convinced. But whatever. Your mileage clearly varies. So be it.

Edit: Additional point.
 
Last edited:
Didn't Beverly and her ancestors have green eyes when possessed? I think even the corpse got green eyes when it was briefly taken. Perhaps these lifeforms have different colors, and Jack is possessed by a red one (or perhaps males are green and females are red) :D[/QUOTE]

Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner both had silver eyes when they became super psi. So far Jack is mainly showing psychic abilities — telepathy, precognition, the ability to take control of another person’s body for a brief period — and is having a very hard time controlling it. There might be more cause for concern if he were evil or selfish but he seems to be using his powers for good thus far. It could be that he’s been possessed by some pah wraith or some other energy being and this creature is the source of the abilities, not Jack, or that it came from his parents. Maybe Charles Xavier is one of his ancestors.
 
After "No Win Scenario," I did see some comments online that wondered whether the Riker storyline (of him going from a dour outlook on life to being able to feel the beauty of the universe again), as well as the scene of him apologizing to Troi, might be metacommentary from the writers and producers acknowledging a shift in tone and course correction for the series.

TROI: You haven't said anything as lovely as that in a very long time.

RIKER: I know. And that's on me. And I'm sorry. I'm gonna fix it. With you.
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
Well I still think Troi's line of: "You went to help Picard and put half a Galaxy between us..."
Is referring to what Riker did at the end of Picard S1. To be put in command of that Fleet he had to reenlist in Starfleet; so he's been back in Starfleet, and away from Troi and his daughter for about 2 years at this point. So yeah it probably was a while since he said anything that personal to Deanna Troi.
 
Pretty good. Would have been just perfect if we could at least have seen what was behind the door.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top