Story: Broken Pieces
Written By: Michael Chabon
Series: Star Trek: Picard
Year: 2020
After last week's wonderful "Nepenthe" which finally slowed things down, scaled back the dumb overly choreographed action, began to really explore characters in meaningful ways, I can think of no better antidote than an episode filled with dumb overly choreographed action, plenty of murders, and info dumps on a scale so large you can only fear what they have left to discuss in the two-part finale. It's safe to say I didn't care for much of this episode.
I think Elnor was a character with potential, but they've done nothing with him but have the overly choreographed fighting nonsense. Seven of Nine being brought back feels way to quick and easy, she is just there in a matter of moments, as if she is mostly there because the script needed her to be. She does feel under-utilized in some way. I suppose she will be back for the two-part finale...but if not, what a waste. Again, if this show had truly focused in on Hugh de-borging people, Seven could have been just as vital to that plotline, and I would've loved a show that focused in on those characters. Instead this feels like a cameo for a plot device...which is mostly to sort of awake the Borg that haven't been de-Borged to take down the Romulans. But the Romulans are leaving anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter. Seven acts as if she has taken care of the Romulan problem, but they were genuinely leaving to chase down the Synth planet. So her risking becoming a total Borg again is pointless.
This episode spends plenty of time filling in the puzzle pieces of Rios (as Raffi uses his holograms to try and figure out why he is suddenly so down after seeing Soji). It turns out Rios once met someone who looked exactly like Soji - but then his former Captain, idol, and father figure killed her in cold blood on Starfleet's orders (because she was a synth and there was a ban!). Then he killed himself. It really broke Rios. I hate this Synth Ban storyline. It just feels so off to me.
Meanwhile Jurati is now found out, and as I predicted...she is able to overcome her betrayal by explaining how she ended up compromised by Oh and overcoming her need to kill. Hurrah. After the biggest info dump scene in history, Soji suddenly knows exactly who she is, where she is going, and everything that is going on. So her crisis of identity is over I guess.
For positives, I liked the scene between Picard and Rios about how Starfleet and the Federation failed by even enacting the Synth Ban, and all the consequences of that decision. It was at least well acted. I guess that it my list of positives taken care of.
In general I was really disappointed in this episode. Last week now just feels like an anomaly. All the warmth is sucked back out of the room. All our character are back to doom and gloom, and we now are on the trans-warp fast track to the Synth planet and the finale. I'm not terribly hopeful for our chances of it being as good as "Nepenthe."
NEXT TIME: End Times...
Written By: Michael Chabon
Series: Star Trek: Picard
Year: 2020
After last week's wonderful "Nepenthe" which finally slowed things down, scaled back the dumb overly choreographed action, began to really explore characters in meaningful ways, I can think of no better antidote than an episode filled with dumb overly choreographed action, plenty of murders, and info dumps on a scale so large you can only fear what they have left to discuss in the two-part finale. It's safe to say I didn't care for much of this episode.
This episode spends plenty of time filling in the puzzle pieces of Rios (as Raffi uses his holograms to try and figure out why he is suddenly so down after seeing Soji). It turns out Rios once met someone who looked exactly like Soji - but then his former Captain, idol, and father figure killed her in cold blood on Starfleet's orders (because she was a synth and there was a ban!). Then he killed himself. It really broke Rios. I hate this Synth Ban storyline. It just feels so off to me.
Meanwhile Jurati is now found out, and as I predicted...she is able to overcome her betrayal by explaining how she ended up compromised by Oh and overcoming her need to kill. Hurrah. After the biggest info dump scene in history, Soji suddenly knows exactly who she is, where she is going, and everything that is going on. So her crisis of identity is over I guess.
For positives, I liked the scene between Picard and Rios about how Starfleet and the Federation failed by even enacting the Synth Ban, and all the consequences of that decision. It was at least well acted. I guess that it my list of positives taken care of.
In general I was really disappointed in this episode. Last week now just feels like an anomaly. All the warmth is sucked back out of the room. All our character are back to doom and gloom, and we now are on the trans-warp fast track to the Synth planet and the finale. I'm not terribly hopeful for our chances of it being as good as "Nepenthe."
NEXT TIME: End Times...
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