Having a synth body that emulates your human body doesn't give you an ai brain that can perform 90 trillion calculations per second. Even if he had the hardware to do it, his mind is still human and thus lacks the software.
Star Trek: Picard
- Thread starter SHIELD Agent 47
- Start date
I do. I wish he was here now.
Yeah, Shaw is just complying with the terrorists in a hostage situation where he is himself a hostage. If he didn't do that, Team Fat One wouldn't have had time to bring Data online to retake the ship. If he resisted and had the crew do the same, the best case scenario is one where they retook the bridge while losing a lot more people. And while Shaw didn't know about the Data plan, he did know Jack could come to the bridge and have a little showdown, which is also what happened. So I don't blame Shaw for not being the hero here.
But he didn't do ANYTHING. He didn't tell the terrorist to talk to him, not his people. He didn't try to stall or start a dialog to keep Vadic's attention on him and not his subordinates. If he had Jack's plan to get Picard's codes entered might have worked.
He could have asked questions or offer up some fake info about how the ship works. If he was already willing to be spaced by Seven he should certainly have been willing to do a "if you're going to kill someone it should be me" act. Especially since he's obviously still burdened by survivor's guilt.
It's no wonder Seven was constantly frustrated. Shaw was utterly useless from the moment Vadic got on board.
From a writing perspective I understand wanting to let the legacy cast shine on their way out.. But I feel like they took it way too far with how ineffectual the made Shaw.
If all we knew about him was what we learned before they gave us a reason to have sympathy for him via the holodeck scene I'd just write him off as a character that was always meant to be bad. But what I feel like is they just undid all that.
They might as well have left him knocked out on the floor
He could have asked questions or offer up some fake info about how the ship works. If he was already willing to be spaced by Seven he should certainly have been willing to do a "if you're going to kill someone it should be me" act. Especially since he's obviously still burdened by survivor's guilt.
It's no wonder Seven was constantly frustrated. Shaw was utterly useless from the moment Vadic got on board.
From a writing perspective I understand wanting to let the legacy cast shine on their way out.. But I feel like they took it way too far with how ineffectual the made Shaw.
If all we knew about him was what we learned before they gave us a reason to have sympathy for him via the holodeck scene I'd just write him off as a character that was always meant to be bad. But what I feel like is they just undid all that.
They might as well have left him knocked out on the floor
Yeah, I see what you're saying, fair points. We should at least have the sense that he's taking charge and taking responsibility, and he just doesn't show that kind of spine.
Really ever since the first time things went south weeks ago, he's generally been kind of the "Well, we're doomed and I'm pretty irritated that I'm just gonna die here" guy. He is not your "Snatch victory from the jaws of defeat" guy. He dislikes Riker and Picard for parts of situations they've been in and he has certainly read the logs of the whole story on these things. Every single past event he has thrown in their faces happened on a day that one or both of them saved the day. But he does not believe that snatching victory is what a good officer does if it is risky and expensive.
He's a Geordi fanboy, but he surely knows that Enterprise-D was destroyed because an enemy exploited a weakness in Geordi's VISOR. That wasn't Geordi's fault, but it certainly wasn't Picard or Riker's fault. He doesn't blame Geordi, I guess. Similarly Picard being captured by the Borg wasn't Picard or Riker's fault either. They were following orders and were overpowered by a stronger enemy. The same enemy that overpowered Shaw and thousands of his friends at Wolf-359. He knows there was nothing Picard could do to stop it and that he didn't do it willingly. I can certainly see why being around the guy that was Locutus would make you feel some disgust, but this guy's general approach to them can only be summed up (as far as I can figure) that people who keep being in the middle of giant sized situations just aren't my kind of people.
He's a Geordi fanboy, but he surely knows that Enterprise-D was destroyed because an enemy exploited a weakness in Geordi's VISOR. That wasn't Geordi's fault, but it certainly wasn't Picard or Riker's fault. He doesn't blame Geordi, I guess. Similarly Picard being captured by the Borg wasn't Picard or Riker's fault either. They were following orders and were overpowered by a stronger enemy. The same enemy that overpowered Shaw and thousands of his friends at Wolf-359. He knows there was nothing Picard could do to stop it and that he didn't do it willingly. I can certainly see why being around the guy that was Locutus would make you feel some disgust, but this guy's general approach to them can only be summed up (as far as I can figure) that people who keep being in the middle of giant sized situations just aren't my kind of people.
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Yeah. I thought about that a bit as I was writing it. His entire shtick since the very start seemed to be play it as safe and dull as possible and avoid any notion of conflict at all costs. Which for day to day operations is fine. It wouldn't be an interesting show but he doesn't want his reports to read as interesting.
But in this case I feel he pushed it a bit too far
But in this case I feel he pushed it a bit too far
and one of his bridge crew got murdered right in front of him. I rarely, if ever use the word cuck for anything unironically but...
On a different note,
Apparently there's some reviews floating around form people who ahve seen the whole thing, and they've said the major fan theories on Jack and the big bad are all wrong, but some are close. It's supposedly something out of left field that makes perfect sense in retrospect. Seems to rule out the Pah Wraith or Borg, at least directly. Since then I've seen suggestions of it being some entity that was the actual Locutus and co-opted by the Borg, Redjac, Beverly's candle-ghost, and even that big black tar thing form Skin of Evil. I'm wondering if they're gonna do a nod to the Destiny novels here and whatever is in there is related to the origin of the Borg.
Redjac makes sense, but is a pretty deep dive. Candle Ghost and Armus make no sense to me. Some kind of left-field Locutus could fit the facts, but I would find it pretty irritating, I think. I reviewed today and the Borg WERE specifically asking for Jean-Luc Picard when they captured him. He wasn't just a lucky find. If Locutus needed a brain with Iromodic syndrome to live in and the Borg had already diagnosed him and not had the courtesy to let him know, they may have needed the corpse to get Locutus and then need a new brain with Iromodic syndrome for him to possess. But that would all be, to me, an unnecessarily over-complicating premise change when the straight read that they just wanted an officer with extensive knowledge of Starfleet operations makes perfect sense and was pretty clear.
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I am still a little fuzzy on Wesley's job. I think if you can go to 2024 to recruit someone, then you can fit anything into your schedule. But maybe he can only show up if the good guys here aren't going to win on their own. Saving his mom and brother seem like something that could be reasonable, but I haven't met his boss.
Speaking of Wesley, could Jack be Kwisatz Haderach? Iromodic Syndrome is an important key inherited from Jean-Luc, but someone could have been watching Jack his whole life to see if he inherited both that AND genes from Beverly that made Wesley Traveller material.
Speaking of Wesley, could Jack be Kwisatz Haderach? Iromodic Syndrome is an important key inherited from Jean-Luc, but someone could have been watching Jack his whole life to see if he inherited both that AND genes from Beverly that made Wesley Traveller material.
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I would rather it be none of those.
Yeah, that's one of the few throughlines or constant presences in this series other than "Picard" and "Picard is old".
It's possible that we're overlooking someone else who's been namedropped meaningfully, at least in the sense I know I'd be very able to forget about it if someone else had been. But I still have that scene in mind where Unknown Evil refers to a commonality with the changelings by saying that those other species are weak because they're attached to a single flesh body, but then taunts Vadic by saying that her people are "malleable". That really does limit us to robots and ghosts.
It's possible that they haven't namedropped the enemy at all, eschewing foreshadowing specifically to avoid us guessing, and are planning on our reaction being based entirely on what we know about this enemy and their history with our heroes. But so many of the enemies we know that well are represented by a single humanoid face. Hell, even the Borg - they can't even get a gasp out of us pulling out the Borg Queen again when they've done it so recently.
So my guess is Lwaxana Troi after merging with the Crystalline Entity
It's possible that they haven't namedropped the enemy at all, eschewing foreshadowing specifically to avoid us guessing, and are planning on our reaction being based entirely on what we know about this enemy and their history with our heroes. But so many of the enemies we know that well are represented by a single humanoid face. Hell, even the Borg - they can't even get a gasp out of us pulling out the Borg Queen again when they've done it so recently.
So my guess is Lwaxana Troi after merging with the Crystalline Entity
Extremely weird too that Crusher talks about him like he died.
So I really don't think that the BBEG is anything to do with the Borg. Other than Shaw mentioning them, they really haven't been hinted at. Also, Vadic was clearly doing a ritual to contact the BBEG, where as she could just call the freaking borg or even Slipstream/transwarp over to them. The BBEG is clearly something different, powerful, but can't act on their own yet for some reason. That makes me think paranormal or something like a powerful being that is trapped liked in Star Trek 5. If that is the case, then I want to see Kirk show up with the Enterprise A to blow it up again. Regardless of all that though, Jack is the key to the BBEG for some reason, and I hope that we find out this episode.
As for this past episode:
As for this past episode:
I liked it! I was seriously concerned that we were about to lose Shaw or Seven. Instead we lost our Vulcan and eventually Vadic herself. I wonder how many people are left on the Titan at this point?
Worf rescuing the Rikers was awesome! I loved how Worf immediately starts with Dianna, who is milking it up, and Riker is just going nuts.
I loved how Picard proves to Geordi that its him. "Your tastes are pedestrian at best!" I love that Picard is and should be a wine snob.
Also, I freaking loved how the Data/Lore merger happened. That was so epic! Perfectly played too, as the rest of the cast just sells it that Data is gone. I love this new Data too! His messing with Geordi about contractions to his announcement to the bridge, absolutely perfect! I also love how the Titan's crew jumps back into action to blow up the Shrike. I really hope that they give us a Titan spin off series, if the ship survives the last two episodes.
The Ready room meeting with all of them around the table for the first time in 20+ years was great! I can't wait to see more of this crew too.
Worf rescuing the Rikers was awesome! I loved how Worf immediately starts with Dianna, who is milking it up, and Riker is just going nuts.
I loved how Picard proves to Geordi that its him. "Your tastes are pedestrian at best!" I love that Picard is and should be a wine snob.
Also, I freaking loved how the Data/Lore merger happened. That was so epic! Perfectly played too, as the rest of the cast just sells it that Data is gone. I love this new Data too! His messing with Geordi about contractions to his announcement to the bridge, absolutely perfect! I also love how the Titan's crew jumps back into action to blow up the Shrike. I really hope that they give us a Titan spin off series, if the ship survives the last two episodes.
The Ready room meeting with all of them around the table for the first time in 20+ years was great! I can't wait to see more of this crew too.
Star Trek: Picard - The IMAX® Live Series Finale Event Page
go.redirectingat.com
Apparently, some folks are getting the chance to see the final two episodes in IMAX early! Sadly, it's not available in my area.....
I got the same message about no screenings in my area. Bleh.
Well, it's this or the next. We're cutting it rather close. I don't think a reveal with due impact, a satisfactory end to the conflict, and anything but the most abrupt resolution could fit into one episode, and although the next episode might jump away to some other character for a scene or two, it's going to have to get back to Jack's door before the first commercial break. So just structurally, I think it's kinda obligatory that we're about to find out. Then again, I also just really hate rushed endings.
The ritual is quite strange and I love that the first time we saw it was before we found out that Vadic was a shapeshifter, to make it extra viscerally unpleasant. That said, it seems entirely possible that Vadic didn't choose the form of communication and that for BBEG it isn't any less convenient than a viewscreen call. Maybe it's an interociter with a big torture button on their end. It's definitely a form of communication that relies entirely on Vadic's own body rather than anything to do with the ship (and seems to be the BBEG taking direct control of her hand goo, since she couldn't control her detached hand herself any more than any other changeling, and if the BBEG can do that, it might also explain the torture beam mode.) The vibes of dark cultic ritual certainly would suit some unphysical superbeing, and perhaps they would be best suited to create a form of communication that works over interstellar distances without requiring external hardware. Technically we've already seen Vulcans do that in Discovery but I don't think even CBS considers that season relevant canon anymore.
Edit: Still a possibility it's a technology of some kind, though. Just something that BBEG had to have put into Vadic at some point.
Well, it's this or the next. We're cutting it rather close. I don't think a reveal with due impact, a satisfactory end to the conflict, and anything but the most abrupt resolution could fit into one episode, and although the next episode might jump away to some other character for a scene or two, it's going to have to get back to Jack's door before the first commercial break. So just structurally, I think it's kinda obligatory that we're about to find out. Then again, I also just really hate rushed endings.
The ritual is quite strange and I love that the first time we saw it was before we found out that Vadic was a shapeshifter, to make it extra viscerally unpleasant. That said, it seems entirely possible that Vadic didn't choose the form of communication and that for BBEG it isn't any less convenient than a viewscreen call. Maybe it's an interociter with a big torture button on their end. It's definitely a form of communication that relies entirely on Vadic's own body rather than anything to do with the ship (and seems to be the BBEG taking direct control of her hand goo, since she couldn't control her detached hand herself any more than any other changeling, and if the BBEG can do that, it might also explain the torture beam mode.) The vibes of dark cultic ritual certainly would suit some unphysical superbeing, and perhaps they would be best suited to create a form of communication that works over interstellar distances without requiring external hardware. Technically we've already seen Vulcans do that in Discovery but I don't think even CBS considers that season relevant canon anymore.
Edit: Still a possibility it's a technology of some kind, though. Just something that BBEG had to have put into Vadic at some point.
Interesting! In that scenario Picard's DNA might be a key to releasing him, and the Frontier Day plan might simply need BBEG to be free rather than needing Jack as a weapon somehow. If that's true, though, I don't think Vadic knows. She expected BBEG to write Jack off when the Titan was going to be crushed by the living nebula.