Spoilers What if Picard is totally wrong about all of it?

[Citiprime]

In all of TNG, Q was a jerk, and could be indifferent to human suffering. But it was in the way that a person has no feeling for an ant that it may step on. And, moreover, Q had moments where he seemed to genuinely care about Picard and Janeway, and show compassion.

In the latest episode, this version of Q was built up to be more outright malevolent.

However...

One way I wonder as to how all of this might pivot is that maybe Picard and the crew are totally WRONG about all of it. Similar to how Picard inadvertently creates the anti-time anomaly in "All Good Things...," the corruption of the timeline to create the Confederation is all a massive time loop that's Picard's fault, and was set in motion by time-travel/multiverse shenanigans after it was induced by the Borg at the destruction of the Stargazer. We're seeing things out of order and Q's initial intervention is actually benevolent.

Maybe Renee Picard was never meant to go on this specific mission, maybe a later Europa mission, and Q may have been instrumental in helping to preserve the Federation timeline by keeping her off the launch. It would also explain the Adam Soong story. Q gives him the means to keep his daughter alive, while using him to kick Renee from the launch, and thus makes sure the Soong family line keeps going in order to make sure a future with Data and Picard happens. Maybe all of this is to reveal, just as the Prophets intervened in time to create Sisko, Q's connection with Picard was always meant to be since he made sure a future with Picard and the Federation happened in the first place.

Moreover, everything about Picard's choices has been informed by the Borg Queen (i.e., seeking out the watcher, going to 2024, etc.), and I could easily see it being that the Queen is doing a variation of First Contact and trying to undo Earth history. Picard and the crew were dumb enough to listen to her. And when Q first visits Picard in the Confederation timeline, he calls it their punishment for the choices Picard made.

 

[gweeps]

Picard also refuses Q's offer of help.

 

[Finn]

Q never went to see Picard in 2024.

 

[Paul755]

I was thinking this exact thing as the episode wound down.

And when Q first visits Picard in the Confederation timeline, he calls it their punishment for the choices Picard made.

this is the key for me. He says it’s Picards fault, like the anomaly in AGT.

 

[Brainsucker]

You're right, OP, maybe it is Picard's fault.

 

[gweeps]

Q never went to see Picard in 2024.

Not yet anyway.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

This is my take as well. (That it’s all Jean-Luc’s fault and Q is going to some quite extreme measures trying to set things right, that is.) Q has always tried to help Jean-Luc, in his own way. And he does the same this time also, as John de Lancie has stated numerous times. Because (also John de Lancie’s words) Q loves Jean-Luc, and cares about him.

I think people are overlooking a big plot point that gets lost in all the time travel hullabaloo and the speculation about who does what that messes up the timeline. That point being that Q basically tells Jean-Luc that all of this is happening because Jean-Luc refuses to “change in the one way that matters”. He’s not referring to Borg Queens or fascist governments - he’s referring to Jean-Luc not facing his feelings.

What Sir Patrick has said repeatedly in interviews before season 2 is the fact that Jean-Luc will face his emotional difficulties (and overcome them) by confronting his past, where not everything was the way it seemed. He even said in one interview that Jean-Luc’s mother was the one at fault for what was going on and that his father tried to help her but Jean-Luc misunderstood the whole thing and ran away to Starfleet and became the emotionally distant guy we know. The producers of the show have said repeatedly that the message of the season is that love can heal everything, including time. What I therefore think is that the entire time travel thing is one hell of a smoke screen. It’s not what everything is actually about, it’s just window dressing to distract from the actual focus of the story, which is ultimately about Jean-Luc confronting his feelings for Laris.

This is why I wasn’t surprised at all to see that she’s The Watcher. I would also not be too quick to dismiss the idea that The Watcher and Laris aren’t the same person - when Orla Brady wrapped season 2 (and sounded pretty final about it, she said she was ditching her Romulan ears, or words to that effect), she posted a picture on her Instagram as Laris with Romulan ears BUT with Talinn’s hair. And we have already seen that Talinn’s gadgets seem to be Romulan in origin or at least have Romulan markings and letters on them. This all ties into things somehow. If I had to make a guess I’d say Q is trying to get Jean-Luc to confess his feelings for Laris because if he doesn’t she’ll go back to (or start? Temporal mechanics are fun) being Talinn and this somehow messes around with Q’s own immortality that is suddenly no longer immortality, which causes him to act the way he does (he is “not well”, as Jean-Luc put it).

This is why Q is actually helping Jean-Luc - partly out of his own interests and partly because he wants and needs for Jean-Luc to admit his feelings. This also works well with an interview that Orla Brady gave where she said - when asked about the future of Laris and Jean-Luc - that Laris “isn’t going to stick around” and she’d be “having her own adventure” because she’d be leaving Jean-Luc since he didn’t want her. What if THIS is what Jean-Luc messed up and this is what sets it all in motion, and not Borg Queens and starships and whatever else there is. This show IS ultimately about Jean-Luc and his inner workings as a character, and I think people are forgetting that among all the other shenanigans. The show is very subtle about it but the first episode is FILLED with hints about Jean-Luc’s inability to confront his feelings for Laris being the actual issue.

This is all just speculation on my part of course but I’ve literally watched every single interview Sir Patrick gave before season 2 and these points were what he went on about the most, and I think it’s worth looking into.

 

[Finn]

Not yet anyway.

Yeah, but we usually see Q pop up to taunt or annoy Picard for a brief, fleeting moment in most of the Q episodes on TNG (he didn't on Q'Pid).

 

[Gov Kodos]

Yeah, but we usually see Q pop up to taunt or annoy Picard for a brief, fleeting moment in most of the Q episodes on TNG (he didn't on Q'Pid).

Q's not showing up to Picard because he knows that will annoy Picard all the more. Waiting for the taunting.

 

[Deks]

I was always curious as to how Picard was responsible for the anti-time anomaly in All good things.
If you think about it, Q created the whole problem with Picard retaining memories of his time jumps, and it was only because of that he went to the Devon system to look for it and scan the area using a modified beam which created the anomaly in the first place.

Sure, Picard was technically responsible for creating the anti-time anomaly... but if you think about it, if Q didn't make a fuss over things, Picard wouldn't have gone looking for it in the first place and wouldn't have scanned Devon system using a modified beam which created the thing in the first place.

And Q did mention in 'All good things' to Picard 'well, I was the one who got you into it' at the end.

PICARD: Thank you.
Q: For what?
PICARD: You had a hand in helping me get out of this.
Q: I was the one that got you into it. A directive from the Continuum. The part about the helping hand, thought, was my idea.

So, the way I see it... it was Q who was actually responsible for prompting Picard to create the anti-time anomaly in the first place.

But I do agree that here in ST: Picard, Q was portrayed as a lot more... manevolent. He even showed something akin to 'disgust and anger/rage' towards Renee Picard in the previous episode (where he noticed his powers don't work).

 

[Bad Thoughts]

From episode 2 , I've said the fix the timeline solution would be a canard. I'm still convinced it is. No, I regret nothing.

ETA:It would be interesting if Q was trying to expose something of Picard's Irumodic Syndrome in Renee.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

The whole season is a dream. That's why everyone in 2024 looks like someone from 2499. In Episode 10, he'll wake up on the operating table right after Soong has implanted his consciousness in the golem...

 

[Dukhat]

The whole season is a dream. That's why everyone in 2024 looks like someone from 2499. In Episode 10, he'll wake up on the operating table right after Soong has implanted his consciousness in the golem...

2401, not 2499.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Jean-Luc’s mother was the one at fault for what was going on and that his father tried to help her but Jean-Luc misunderstood the whole thing and ran away to Starfleet and became the emotionally distant guy we know.

Really? That's interesting. So Maurice was not in fact an abusive father or husband, as was the scuttlebutt early in the season? There were those bits in the Picard family home which definitely implied that there was violence going on but you couldn't really tell who was doing what, or to whom.

If things really are going down this way I assume we will see the Picards again before the end of the season, amirite?

 

[NCC-73515]

This is my take as well. (That it’s all Jean-Luc’s fault and Q is going to some quite extreme measures trying to set things right, that is.) Q has always tried to help Jean-Luc, in his own way. And he does the same this time also, as John de Lancie has stated numerous times. Because (also John de Lancie’s words) Q loves Jean-Luc, and cares about him.

I think people are overlooking a big plot point that gets lost in all the time travel hullabaloo and the speculation about who does what that messes up the timeline. That point being that Q basically tells Jean-Luc that all of this is happening because Jean-Luc refuses to “change in the one way that matters”. He’s not referring to Borg Queens or fascist governments - he’s referring to Jean-Luc not facing his feelings.

What Sir Patrick has said repeatedly in interviews before season 2 is the fact that Jean-Luc will face his emotional difficulties (and overcome them) by confronting his past, where not everything was the way it seemed. He even said in one interview that Jean-Luc’s mother was the one at fault for what was going on and that his father tried to help her but Jean-Luc misunderstood the whole thing and ran away to Starfleet and became the emotionally distant guy we know. The producers of the show have said repeatedly that the message of the season is that love can heal everything, including time. What I therefore think is that the entire time travel thing is one hell of a smoke screen. It’s not what everything is actually about, it’s just window dressing to distract from the actual focus of the story, which is ultimately about Jean-Luc confronting his feelings for Laris.

This is why I wasn’t surprised at all to see that she’s The Watcher. I would also not be too quick to dismiss the idea that The Watcher and Laris aren’t the same person - when Orla Brady wrapped season 2 (and sounded pretty final about it, she said she was ditching her Romulan ears, or words to that effect), she posted a picture on her Instagram as Laris with Romulan ears BUT with Talinn’s hair. And we have already seen that Talinn’s gadgets seem to be Romulan in origin or at least have Romulan markings and letters on them. This all ties into things somehow. If I had to make a guess I’d say Q is trying to get Jean-Luc to confess his feelings for Laris because if he doesn’t she’ll go back to (or start? Temporal mechanics are fun) being Talinn and this somehow messes around with Q’s own immortality that is suddenly no longer immortality, which causes him to act the way he does (he is “not well”, as Jean-Luc put it).

This is why Q is actually helping Jean-Luc - partly out of his own interests and partly because he wants and needs for Jean-Luc to admit his feelings. This also works well with an interview that Orla Brady gave where she said - when asked about the future of Laris and Jean-Luc - that Laris “isn’t going to stick around” and she’d be “having her own adventure” because she’d be leaving Jean-Luc since he didn’t want her. What if THIS is what Jean-Luc messed up and this is what sets it all in motion, and not Borg Queens and starships and whatever else there is. This show IS ultimately about Jean-Luc and his inner workings as a character, and I think people are forgetting that among all the other shenanigans. The show is very subtle about it but the first episode is FILLED with hints about Jean-Luc’s inability to confront his feelings for Laris being the actual issue.

This is all just speculation on my part of course but I’ve literally watched every single interview Sir Patrick gave before season 2 and these points were what he went on about the most, and I think it’s worth looking into.

I'm also pretty sure it's gonna be something like this

 

[Warped1]

"You just don't get it, do you, Jean-Luc? The trial never ends. We wanted to see if you had the ability to expand your mind and your horizons, and for one brief moment, you did. For that one fraction of a second, you were open to options you had never considered. That is the exploration that awaits you. Not mapping stars and studying nebulae, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence." — Q

 

[Warped1]

The whole season is a dream. That's why everyone in 2024 looks like someone from 2499. In Episode 10, he'll wake up on the operating table right after Soong has implanted his consciousness in the golem...

If it WERE a dream, wouldn't John Luck Pickard have to be in every scene so that he's consciously aware of everything that's taking place?

 

[Warped1]

Or maybe not in every scene, but he would have to know everything we're seeing since it's his dream.

 

[Warped1]

Well, unless we're going Inception style with multi-layer dreams.

 

[Crusher Disciple]

The masked Borg Queen from the Stargazer is a resurrected Elnor with a voice modulator.

You can all thank me later when I'm proven right on episode ten.

Anything else you need solved?