Was pretty excited for this show.. but ultimately underwhelmed...
- Thread starter Dar70
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To you, it's pointless. The character had a brain abnormality and was dying. Whether said death took place in s1 or later, it doesn't change that fact.
It wasn't. He was surprised by it. I'll have to try to dig up the interview about it.
Found two sources:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/l...down-shocking-star-trek-picard-finale-1286604
https://screenrant.com/star-trek-picard-patrick-stewart-death-scene-surprise/
Pointless from a storytelling perspective. Nothing changed as a result of his death. Literally, nothing. As I said, they go out of their way in exposition to explain that nothing has changed for him.
From the point of view of snipping a loose thread, yeah, he had Pirogi's Syndrome and now that's not an issue. From the point of view of an actor who wants a death scene...he's had it. From the point of view of advancing the characcter and the plot, nothing has changed.
I don't see it as pointless. Picard made a choice and it led to his death. Just because he came back doesn't change his choice.
Does Spock's death mean less because he came back the next film?
Does Spock's death mean less because he came back the next film?
Eh, to be fair, they only had like five minutes of screen time after Picard came back from the dead, so hopefully they'll explore that more next season.
Again, from a storytelling perspective. My opinion (yours may vary) is that going crazy and killing a guy calls for rehabilitation at the very least. How do we know what was done to her, on a deep, core level?
As for Soji, like I said, with very little motivation she's ready to trash all living things. Then, with very little motivation, she switches sides again. Who knows what goes on in a creature like that, and whether rehabilitation by our standards is even possible? Data aspired to be a living being; does Soji? Apparently not, as she's ready to eliminate life. It may not fit with the Roddenberry view of the future, but I personally would never trust it again. It's kind of like being around a bear at close quarters. Sure, it's beautiful, but at the drop of a hat it can decide to charge at you, and you don't know what caused that hat to drop.
And yet, at the end, they're all smiling and looking forward to a bright future.
Season 2 of Picard will be a string of grown up Berman era child characters slowly marched into an airlock and spaced to death in slow mo, while Picard delivers a long soliloquy about his failures and triumphs as a man, scored to a cello and french horn played by Twin Brent Spiners. He will finally leave on a fleet of 10,000 duplicate ships moving in the same direction in unison, followed by a Borg cube that seemed like it was going to have an effect on the plot but ultimately didn't.
Again, from your point of view. Didn't find it pointless from mine, as now we have the chance to see what happens from there.
Nice try. Again, there's nothing to suggest that he wanted it.
Again, nothing changes for the story, and nothing changes for the character.
Nice try. Saying I'm wrong doesn't make me wrong :-)
What are they supposed to do? Be grim and depressed at the end?
So far, the show runners have stated there will be follow up for Juranti and more exploration for Soji.
The fear of living beings by synthetics is exactly like Species 8472 or the Founders towards nonfluidic life and solids respectively.
It's not the fear of living things that bothers me. It's that I saw no motivation for the transition from...let's say indecision, to "kill them all." Frankly, I think that should have been the season arc, what drives her to that decision. Then it would have been both (hopefully) understandable and interesting. As it is, it happens very quickly, with no discernible motivation for the change, while 9/10s of the episodes range from "yawn" to "waste of my time." They had a compelling story to tell there, similar to Roy Batty's story in Blade Runner, but they lacked either the will or the ability to tell that story. I'm not certain which.
More information. Like Species 8472 they synths assumed, based upon the Admonition, that all biological life wanted them dead. When proven that's not the case there was a willingness to stand down and to learn.
It was like defeating a computer with logic, except presented with more information to challenge a preconceived notion.
1) Picard having to live the rest of his life as a member of a marginalized community is not "nothing."
2) If you don't understand the thematic importance of death and resurrection, of new life in the face of mortality, and in how this new life comes from the metaphorical "wretched of the Earth," then I don't really know what to say to you. PIC is not subtle about its thematic elements, but the willful blindness to its themes is bizarre.
Too many plot points to resolve in both Picard and Discovery means the series is often on fast-forward from a narrative (and character development) point of view.
The Borg need to be jettisoned for forever if possible.
I am looking forward to them dealing with Picard as after the synth ban is lifted.
I am looking forward to them dealing with Picard as after the synth ban is lifted.
Both of those might have been interesting...if they had done them. Indeed, just like the Soji arc (or lack thereof) they could have had him proclaim "I am now 'Woke Picard,' Champion of the Wretched, and I will now stop all bad things.'" He could also have said "I am now Synth Picard, and I too want to destroy all organic life!" It could have been "I am now Synth Picard, formerly human, and I now stand as a bridge between organic life and synthetic life!" There's at least a dozen other ways they could have approached the situation, maybe hundreds. Again, like Soji, those things could have BEEN the season. I Instead of 7 dull episodes up front, kill him in the first episode instead of Doj and have Doj and/or Soji revive him as a synth, and spend the season exploring what that means, in and around the action/adventure elements.
Instead, we hear in a long expository that aside from now being a synth, he's going to be the same, i.e., nothing has changed for him, at least through the end of the episode. I'm surprised that they didn't say "Yes, you still have to have your daily Space Metamucil, Jean Luc." You're right that they might do all sorts of intriguing things in the future, and they might even have planned them already. For what we saw onscreen, nothing like this happened.
I'm indifferent to the "thematic importance" of anything in fiction until I see a character experiencing it's ramifications. Saying that life and death have thematic importance is putting forth a philosophical treatise; great fiction then explores that treatise, and Picard did not. The closest that they came to any philosophical exploration was Riker's and Troi's daughter's discussion with Soji on the nature of being sentient.
The problem with your logic here is, Soji is not a Federation citizen committing a crime. She's a foreign leader, taking an action she believes is necessary to save herself and her people from an immediate threat of genocide, after having been subjected to trauma and abuse on the basis of her status as a synth from someone she had loved and trusted.
Her motivation changes when Jean-Luc persuades her that there is a real and meaningful possibility for connection and empathy, that all organics are not in fact like Narek. Thus she is persuaded to refrain from summoning the Admonition Makers and accepts an alliance with the Federation.
You don't get to "rehabilitate" a foreign leader who makes a decision based on how to protect their people. You do what Jean-Luc proposed: You prove that you're a reliable partner instead of trying to control them.
And she would never trust you again with that kind of de-humanizing language.
They did do them. Jean-Luc faced his greatest fear -- the possibility of being genuinely vulnerable to another person whom he loves (Soji, and, yes, the love is paternal) -- and in doing so sacrifices himself to save her and her people. Sacrifice thus made, Jean-Luc symbolically passes through the Underworld, meets a beloved deceased person, and is rewarded for his sacrifice with new life, a reprieve from death.
Oh, I see. You want the writing to be bad.
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