Spoilers Who is the mastermind in Season 3 of Picard?

[Sketcher]

The more mental gymnastics we all do to make the Big Bad some villain from TNG's past, the more I hope it's just some random alien that hid away in Picard, got transferred to Jack, and isn't a villain at all, but another Trek alien that they failed to communicate with.

 

[Yistaan]

The more mental gymnastics we all do to make the Big Bad some villain from TNG's past, the more I hope it's just some random alien that hid away in Picard, got transferred to Jack, and isn't a villain at all, but another Trek alien that they failed to communicate with.

The Crystalline Entity hits just about every checkbox, except the fact that it was killed in TNG.

 

[Scionz]

The problem with your theory is that Jack can do things that no Borg, Queen or Locutus, can do. No Borg has ever been seen to be able to telepathically control someone outside their collective the way Jack did to Mura. If the Borg were able to do that, they'd have steamrolled the Federation very quickly.

Also, if Jack was controlled by a Locutus program and the Locutus program is Vadic's boss and in league with the changelings, why did Jack's powers go all augment and kill a bunch of changelings some weeks back? Wouldn't Jack's visions tell him to go with the changelings, not kill them?

I think I wasn't clear. Jack isn't Locutus or controlled by him. He's unique. He is something that is never supposed to exist because the Borg do not procreate sexually. But the process of making a "Locutus" or "Borg Queen", requires changes to the hosts DNA. That DNA was never supposed to be passed on naturally, because the hosts are recycled or exist until they're destroyed, but since Picard was liberated this happened. So Jack is a chimera in a sense. His abilities are manifestation of this unprecedented interaction of events and genetics.

He can control people's minds because Locutus, like the Queen, could direct the actions of Borg. When this got passed along biologically, its became a form of telepathic mind control, which is far from unknown to Star Trek.

Also Jack isn't Locutus. But being a chimera of sorts, he's a perfect host for the Locutus personality program to move to now that the Picard body is dead. If Picard never died in the first place and Locutus manifested because that was what was actually happening when Picard "died" on Coppelius, he wouldn't have had a need for Jack. But instead he's a biological program of sorts, locked in a dead body, and needing to move in a new "Golem". Jack is that perfect Golem. Picard got a new Golem, so why not Locutus?

 

[Lord Exor]

The more mental gymnastics we all do to make the Big Bad some villain from TNG's past, the more I hope it's just some random alien that hid away in Picard, got transferred to Jack, and isn't a villain at all, but another Trek alien that they failed to communicate with.

If they're introducing the twist villain in the last two episodes, then that threat better be someone we know. A new threat would lack gravity entirely this late in the game.

And it seems we've already been spoiled on the reveal.

Spoiler

The subtitles accidentally name dropping the Borg Queen. My prediction is that Alice Krige will return, which fits the theme of bringing in legacy actors/characters. She's probably next week's Ready Room guest. It would be strange given the plot of the previous season, but whatever.

There are way too many hints dropped for the Borg.

 

[Scionz]

If they're introducing the twist villain in the last two episodes, then that threat better be someone we know. A new threat would lack gravity entirely this late in the game.

Bingo. And with Vadic gone now (a good decision so the last two episodes aren't about the villian), I'll bet that regardless of the identity of the villian, the face of antagonist is Jack (note: not litterally the hand-face-thing, but rather the actor-character we see).

Especially if they're going to spend more than 10 minutes of the next 50 minute episode setting it up. To have Sela or Armus or a Pagh wraith appear as the cliffhanger (and man, do I hope we get a TNG "to be Continued..." cliffhanger at the end) of Episode 9 would give Episode 10 uncoverable territory since the show and TNG saga will need 40 minutes to wrap up. .

Seriously, if there was ever the need for an epilogue episode...

 

[gweeps]

Episode 10 better be as long as TNG's series finale.

 

[Eric Bean]

Bingo. And with Vadic gone now (a good decision so the last two episodes aren't about the villian), I'll bet that regardless of the identity of the villian, the face of antagonist is Jack (note: not litterally the hand-face-thing, but rather the actor-character we see).

Especially if they're going to spend more than 10 minutes of the next 50 minute episode setting it up. To have Sela or Armus or a Pagh wraith appear as the cliffhanger (and man, do I hope we get a TNG "to be Continued..." cliffhanger at the end) of Episode 9 would give Episode 10 uncoverable territory since the show and TNG saga will need 40 minutes to wrap up. .

Seriously, if there was ever the need for an epilogue episode...

This is good. JLP is the father of the next step in Borg evolution. My money is that it also leads to the Borg being subdued. It would make total sense that the Borg and Changelings wound ally to keep Jack out of the hands of Starfleet.

Borg want him because he's a bio-Borg. Changelings want him because he can "connect" outside of the Great Link. Wondering if the love between a father and son creates permanent change to the Borg Collective.

 

[Search4]

Here is a variant of the ancient evil idea that just occurred to me. It's my new favorite leading idea.
Consider the Borg Queen. What is she? We've seen several and know there have been many. When one dies, a drone becomes the Queen. We can say it's a "personality program" which can be grafted onto different individuals (the FC Borg Queen, the Dark Frontier queen who was a different species, Jurati) to fulfil the need of the collective to have a moderator who brings "order to chaos".

But why would that necessarily be the only personality program? We saw them individualize Seven of Nine (hold that thought). We know the Borg can make individuals as needed. Who is to say the Queen is the only personality program they have stored?

Similarly maybe Locutus isn't an ancient evil in the sense of something the Borg assimilated a long time ago that's now free of it's Borg shackles. Maybe Locutus is also "personality program" they load onto a representative assimilate particularly resistant species, and that every time they succeed, Locutus grows in experience to apply forward to the next species it is used on. If the Queen is the program loaded to moderate the collective, Locutus is the conqueror loaded to ensure the collective grows. Maybe Picard was like the 423rd Locutus host and had the invasion succeeded, Picard-of-Borg would have been decommissioned and the Locutus personality program idle until the Borg needed to deploy it again.

Under this theory, it's manifesting in Jack now, because it was (unintentionally) passed down biologically (remember: Borg are biological and technological) giving the Locutus personality program - mostly trapped inside Picard's corpse' parietal lobe - a way out of an immobile corpse and back to the collective. Vadic was going to load the Locutus personality program she harvested from Picard's corpse onto the ready-made host in Jack, which would be familiar to Seven who had her own personality loaded back onto her body when the Borg chose her as a representative, and would be familiar with the nature of the Queen. This is what Vadic was referring to when she said to Seven that it's "good she witness this".

In summary:
-Locutus is another "program" the Borg keep making versions of like the Borg Queen, and it is ancient in that they just keep making new ones and passing the knowledge down to the next version.
-Picard wasn't the first host for the Locutus personality and wouldn't have been the last.
-It's trapped in Picard's corpse parietal lobe, communicating by manipulating nanoprobes in Vadic, and looking to get out. It "awoke" when Picard moved his mind to a synth golem.
-Jack was born accidentally as a ready made host for Locutus since the Borg are also biological and aspects of Locutus were passed down in Picard's DNA. Once "awake", Locutus sense him and wants to merge with him.
-That's what Vadic was about to do on the Bridge of the Titan and wanted Seven to see it because Seven would understand that Borg individiduals are loaded programs (basically) and that Locutus was just a misplaced one.
-The face of the antagonist in the last two hours will be Locutus with Jack's face (and not some new actor or a CG creation), and the plot will revolve around stopping Locutus without killing Jack. A father/mother save their son from demonic possession story, but with Starships.

Interesting and complex. But wouldn’t Seven know this already?
And why does ghost Locutus care about Frontier Day?

 

[SG-17]

The fact that there is no solid evidence for the identity of The Face with only two episodes left is fantastic. This season is really well written.

 

[Eric Bean]

Interesting and complex. But wouldn’t Seven know this already?
And why does ghost Locutus care about Frontier Day?

I liken it to the idea that not every drone knows everything. There's got to be a hierarchy of information / function.

For that matter JLP would have known about the Locutus personality matrix (if such exists) or what happened to his parietal lobe if he knew "everything" while connected to the collective.

He didn't even remember the queen until First Contact.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

What if both a Pah Wraith and something from the Borg (a remnant of Locutus or the Queen) have taken residence in Jack and both things fighting each other is the reason why Jack is still in control of his body.

Maybe both entities together are the reason for his powers...

 

[Eric Bean]

What if both a Pah Wraith and something from the Borg (a remnant of Locutus or the Queen) have taken residence in Jack and both things fighting each other is the reason why Jack is still in control of his body.

Maybe both entities together are the reason for his powers...

Not enough time to flesh that out on screen in 2 episodes.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Not enough time to flesh that out on screen in 2 episodes.

Actually that's true for all the theories so far. May it be Pah Wraiths, Borg, Armus or Scottish Candle Ghost (Really?? ).

Another possible clue for my new theory is the voice in Jack's visions telling him to "connect the branches".

 

[BBC 2 6pm]

One thing though, 2 episodes is a movie! 90min+

movies certainly manage to introduce a villain in that much time.

 

[Yistaan]

If it's a Borg and everyone's saying it's a Borg, how come someone who saw the episode said "most online theories are wrong"?

 

[BBC 2 6pm]

If it's a Borg and everyone's saying it's a Borg, how come someone who saw the episode said "most online theories are wrong"?

The one I saw said something like, it's not a surprise and the online theories are wrong, meaning as I understood it that all the complex online theories about the PW and so on are wrong, and it is simple, the good old Borg.

 

[Tuskin38]

Episode 10 better be as long as TNG's series finale.

It's only an hour long.
But the last 2 episodes will feel like 2 parts.

 

[Yistaan]

Let's say Jack is a Borg and the changeling infiltrators have evidence to prove it.

Why try to arrest Jack through shady people like Vadic? They could've just recalled him to Federation space, have Starfleet personnel say that Jack has Borg DNA and is a danger to society, then take him into custody legitimately, promising to cure him while in reality using him for their plans. Heck, Jack might even turn himself in if they went this route.

 

[Stuart Wilson]

Let's say Jack is a Borg and the changeling infiltrators have evidence to prove it.

Why try to arrest Jack through shady people like Vadic? They could've just recalled him to Federation space, have Starfleet personnel say that Jack has Borg DNA and is a danger to society, then take him into custody legitimately, promising to cure him while in reality using him for their plans. Heck, Jack might even turn himself in if they went this route.

So the movie can happen.

With apologies to Pitch meeting

 

[Yistaan]

If they're introducing the twist villain in the last two episodes, then that threat better be someone we know. A new threat would lack gravity entirely this late in the game.

And it seems we've already been spoiled on the reveal.

Spoiler

The subtitles accidentally name dropping the Borg Queen. My prediction is that Alice Krige will return, which fits the theme of bringing in legacy actors/characters. She's probably next week's Ready Room guest. It would be strange given the plot of the previous season, but whatever.

There are way too many hints dropped for the Borg.

Spoiler

S2 and S3 were filmed back to back I believe. In which case depending on Annie Wersching's health at the time and how much the producers knew or didn't know, it's possible she would be playing the Borg Queen. Which makes me think there isn't any Borg Queen guest for the Ready Room next week, Annie's death is too recent and the tone of bringing in a Borg Queen actress to interview would still be too raw for the Ready Room I think.