Star Trek: Picard 1.07 - "Nepenthe"

[lizbee]

I was on a really nice post-ep high this morning, and then I made the mistake of looking at Michael Chabon's Instagram, where he answers fan questions after every episode. There was a query about the lack of queer characters, and he gave a bullshit "it needs to be organic to the story and the character" answer (I screencapped and ranted about it on Twitter).

I'm so glad he's moving on after this season, but I don't expect that to actually solve the problem. Thank heavens for the Disco writers, who, for all that they sometimes miss the mark, actually make an effort to think about this stuff.

ANYWAY.



I loved this ep a lot, and FINALLY they've figured out that they can take advantage of streaming to throw in an extra ten minutes of pure character development. But oddly I found myself enjoying the La Sirena scenes more, as Agnes's motivations become clearer, along with the fact that Rios is as thick as two planks.

Okay, that's not fair -- given the circumstances, it's not unreasonable to suspect Raffi. It's that he keeps on suspecting Raffi even after Agnes all but tells him it was her with the tracker -- well. (White privilege really is magic, eh?)

Some dot points before I start my day:

• I was ABSOLUTELY shipping Hugh/Elnor and then ... well.
• Anyway, judging by his reactions to Seven and Hugh, Elnor is Borgsexual.
• I'm slightly brokenhearted over Hugh's death, but at the same time Elnor is alive and that's all I wanted.
• Raffi's idea of kindness is offering drugs; Agnes's idea of getting high is eating cake until she pukes; I LOVE THEM SO MUCH
• Honestly the most mysterious thing about Agnes at this point is that she joined Starfleet? And they let her in????
• So what Commodore Oh showed Agnes was the Prothean beacon vision, because synthetic life is eternally at war with organic in an endless cycle of destruction until Shepard Picard finds a new solution. I hope Bioware's IP lawyers are having a nice day.
• Like, Mass Effect is very into mugging other SF franchises for their tropes, but the pile-up of similar or identical ideas is getting a bit ridiculous.
• I really need to finish up my Inquisition replay so I can replay the ME trilogy. Maybe I'll finally open that copy of Andromeda I bought before I even had an XBox.
• I bet Chabon chooses Synthesis every time.
• The whole Riker-Troi situation is AMAZING and HEARTBREAKING BUT IN A GOOD WAY
• Man, the TNG writers really wasted Marina Sirtis
• All those years they kept trying to get Frakes to act, and she was RIGHT THERE
• I mean, Frakes is fine
• BUT SIRTIS
• I can't tell you how disappointed I am that the entire La Sirena crew didn't wind up on Nepenthe, because by comparison Picard is a pretty low priority in the list of people who need therapy
• Maybe Deanna should have gone with him

Comments

[starlady]

I am also very sad about Hugh but very relieved about Elnor, whose actions in this episode made a lot of sense to me--he has the skills, but he doesn't have the experience to predict Nerissa's tactics.

I think I am coming around to the opinion that this show should have been eight episodes rather than 10. I'm less than thrilled about Chabon writing two episodes next season, but I'm glad he won't be in charge anymore.

Marina Sirtis was SO GOOD in this episode, and Frakes was quite good too. Their daughter was also A+.

I initially thought the scene with Rios in the sickbay was Rios and Raffi knowingly trying to get the truth out of Agnes…and then it kept going and it revealed that Rios apparently can't take Agnes seriously, at best. There are obvious reasons for that, but come on dude!

[lizbee]

I think I am coming around to the opinion that this show should have been eight episodes rather than 10. I'm less than thrilled about Chabon writing two episodes next season, but I'm glad he won't be in charge anymore.

AGREED. (I think I'd have not spread the first two eps out to three -- but given every episode an extra ten minutes to breathe -- and merged Vashti with Freecloud so that Elnor's introduction didn't feel like a sidequest.)

I initially thought the scene with Rios in the sickbay was Rios and Raffi knowingly trying to get the truth out of Agnes…and then it kept going and it revealed that Rios apparently can't take Agnes seriously, at best. There are obvious reasons for that, but come on dude!

RIGHT? (Apparently, going by my Tumblr notes, Rios fans don't like it when you suggest their boy isn't so bright. And I rewatched with the "Raffi and Rios are in it together with suspecting Agnes" theory in mind, but it doesn't hold up.)