Picard 1x07 - "Nepenthe" [** SPOILERS WITHIN **]

ilovesmybrick

So I may have "acquired" this episode last week due to Amazons snafu with episode 6, so I've been patiently waiting for this thread to be opened!

I thought this was a great episode, though I'm thinking that the last three are going to either have to have a relentless pace to tie up the story, or they'll all have to have the increased runtime that this episode had.

Spear

I didn't know that the episode had leaked previously. It would explain how a major spoiler for this episode was already floating about.

Bit of a high casualty rate for any former borg though.

ilovesmybrick

Spear wrote: »

I didn't know that the episode had leaked previously. It would explain how a major spoiler for this episode was already floating about.

Bit of a high casualty rate for any former borg though.

Amazon prime in Japan accidentally released episode seven instead of six. It doesn't appear to have been widely distributed, but I was sent a version last Friday...I fully intended on waiting to watch a better copy, but barely lasted a day!

I wonder how many of the borg they killed. Was it just those with Hugh, or are they doing a cull of them all?

Agent Coulson

Well a child actor who wasn't annoying and did a great job as Will and Deanna's daughter.

I really enjoyed that episode and a nice way to The Riker's again.

Slydice

Enjoyed that episode. Mind Meld, Tyken's Rift nostalgia!

Was caught off guard with Hugh though Not freakin cool what's happening to all the former Borg! Sure would be something if Elnor could pull off an independence movement or something, maybe move the cube to Vashti, restore some order there and the original intent of the place.

Sad story there about Thad. That moment when Soji said Ardani and they looked at each other!
Deanna was great with the Betazed acting. The way she just looked at Picard.

It was cool how Will had Shields around the house!

More info about what was going on with Aggie! It's wierd.. has me wondering if the head of starfleet security is a Vulcan with the mind meld or a Romulan up to something.. the vision she gave Aggie looks like she might know the future.. so I'm understanding a bit better why Aggie is so conflicted.

Slydice

OMG THAT LAST SCENE FROM NEXT WEEKS PREVIEW! :eek:

Seven Hooked into the Queen interface!

:eek:

helimachoptor

Best ep by far, but next week looks bloody amazing.

The bond between Picard, riker and troí just comes across as so natural.

expectationlost

Troy and Rykers child was super annoying! the wrong child died!

Goodshape

A little too much exposition and the stuff on the cube was a bit pantomimey, but otherwise a good episode!

The scene around the dinner table with Riker, Troi, and Picard was nice

Very sorry to see Hugh go. That seemed unnecessary.

FFS, Hugh. We all fvcking liked him.

Stark

The name of the child was a nice throwback to that TNG episode where Deanna discovered she had a deceased sister who her mother suppressed all memory of.

Spear

Stark wrote: »

The name of the child was a nice throwback to that TNG episode where Deanna discovered she had a deceased sister who her mother suppressed all memory of.

There's an older, weirder throwback in there. Riker refers to having trouble with the Kzinti. That's a reference to a cat like species from The Animated Series.

Evade

While I liked the Picard/Riker/Troi stuff, it really felt like old friends catching up and not an out of place nickname in sight, it was all kind of pointless. I was waiting for it to be a simulation like Future Imperfect. I wonder how they do those without some kind of AI.

The cube stuff, while very dumb, at least moved things along and it looks like Seven will be back. Picard really shouldn't have stopped off for Elrond, that time wasted seems to have made everything worse.

Random episode thoughts as it was playing

• It's been three weeks?
• 300 whole gigabytes? Bring back teraquads
• Commodore Oh's askew rank pip is annoying
• So she is a Vulcan, why the sunglasses?
• Are they going to throw in a time travel plot in the next two episodes or a Vulcans precognitive now too?
• Agnes is going to stay in the Matrix
• 40,000 ly in days
• Where's elf boy?
• So Romulan Super Extra Secret Police respect treaties with the Federation on the cube but conduct black ops on Earth, totally makes sense
• Jaime Romulan will pull a Boba Fett chasing Han Solo in Empire on not Han Solo
• Hugh probably wouldn't be in that mess if Picard went straight to the Cube and picked elf boy up on the way back
• Who could have guessed?
• More elves?
• "I am not a merry man"
• Picard has a d20 on his jacket
• Probably not 40,000 ly away
• Picard and Riker reunion is the best scene in the series
• He's about two ship lengths away
• So no one has functional sensors any more?
• Come Agnes, lets take drugs
• The dead son thing seems unnecessary
• Data head tilt over pizza
• Riker was at least a captain by the time he retired
• Now the dead son thing makes sense, it's still a little forced
• Troi seems off
• Oh, she's trying to read her
• No more Hugh
• Romulan's do have functional sensors
• The dinner conversation seems very fake like Future Imperfect
• Do artificial hearts change rhythms when lying? Seems like a design flaw
• Maybe activate the EMH so he can un blue pill you
• How does killing yourself stop the tracker?

Stark wrote: »

The name of the child was a nice throwback to that TNG episode where Deanna discovered she had a deceased sister who her mother suppressed all memory of.

Her name was Kestra, what's the connection?

Spear

Evade wrote: »

Random episode thoughts as it was playing

[*]So she is a Vulcan, why the sunglasses?

The writer explained on Twitter that this was her clumsy attempt to look intimidating to a human.

[*]40,000 ly in days

It had a range of up to 40k ly, they never said how far they actually travelled.

[*]Troi seems off
[*]Oh, she's trying to read her

I read that slightly differently. Troi seemed to have a slightly angry or resentful tone there, which makes sense if you consider what a slap in the face Soji's existence is to her. Troi can't get the positronic network needed to save her son, yet Maddox goes and ignores the ban and gets the kids he wanted.

AllForIt

I like the Commodore Oh character. I like baddies. In fiction, of course. The dark sunglasses worked for me as well.

It's interesting that in the far future we still haven't gone beyond airpods for personal music listening, but transparent screen whip ups are a thing. Whatever happened to google glasses?

What's with Rafi's hairstyle lol. I think the style is 'Pigtails', not being a hairstyle expert.

Did you know synths who don't know they are synths have an 'identity'. And it's really hard to come to terms with your 'identity' being changed, says Picard. I though in a federation future all this identity stuff would be done away with. Something about this show doesn't feel quite like the future, rather the present, our present.

All that nitpicking aside, I though it was by far and away the best episode in the series. A bitta nostalgia no doubt, but the episode in itself was more competent than any in the series so far. More of the same please.

Roar

Best episode of the series. I just wish it was all Picard/Riker/Troi stuff.

One thing that really annoyed me was having Jonathan Frakes’ name on the intro credits. Bit of a spoiler obviously, would have preferred not knowing.

TheValeyard

Really good episode. Very well done. Couple of small things annoying me, but overall I liked it. Great to see Riker back on screen!

The Megaphone

Really enjoyed this episode but Rios needs to get a new EMH - the guy is useless!

And the fact that the sickbay is an open room off the open cargo bay off the open bridge makes me question why nobody else witnessed Maddox die. Must have employed the same chippies who installed all the sound proofing in the Fair City sets!

Evade

Spear wrote: »

The writer explained on Twitter that this was her clumsy attempt to look intimidating to a human.

That just makes Oh look incompetent. Agnes is a research scientist Oh's already much stronger than most humans and is the head of Starfleet security she doesn't need anything else to be intimidating.

Spear wrote: »

It had a range of up to 40k ly, they never said how far they actually travelled.

I got that after. I'm too lazy to edit out things I was wrong about.

Aside from the reunion, very much a meh episode for me. Marina Sirtis still looks amazing though.

The Romulan, Narek?, Must be the worst covert tracker in the galaxy. "If I stay three ships behind they won't spot me in all this traffic".

Rikers home looks cool. Even cooler with built in shields.

You can just imagine it:

Riker:"Darn, its raining. Computer, beam the pizza straight to the galley"

TheValeyard

Kiera Vast Bellboy wrote: »

Aside from the reunion, very much a meh episode for me. Marina Sirtis still looks amazing though.

The Romulan, Narek?, Must be the worst covert tracker in the galaxy. "If I stay three ships behind they won't spot me in all this traffic".

Rikers home looks cool. Even cooler with built in shields.

You can just imagine it:

Riker:"Darn, its raining. Computer, beam the pizza straight to the galley"

You're doing it wrong

Riker: Computer, stop rain.

Roar

I got a big kick out of Riker yelling “red alert” when his pizza burned I have to say

TheValeyard

Roar wrote: »

I got a big kick out of Riker yelling “red alert” when his pizza burned I have to say

Yeah was a real feel good reunion episode....excluding Hughs untimely demise. But they are on a Borg cube with Borg tech and presuming Seven is on her way. She might bring him back the way she brought back Neelix.

liamtech

Really liked this episode but far more fascinated/excited/worried about next week!

Does anyone have any opinions on these possibilities

• does it seem that Seven is being turned into a BORG QUEEN of sorts (very end of trailer)
• Does it look like there is a Borg Sphere in the back of this Cube? (right after romulan agent stats 'something far worse is coming")
• Does that look like a Transwarp Conduit opening (while someone is saying 'must react quickly)

Come here, are we discussing next week' episode here?

Trailer or no that is massive spoiler territory above

velo.2010

Spear wrote: »

I read that slightly differently. Troi seemed to have a slightly angry or resentful tone there, which makes sense if you consider what a slap in the face Soji's existence is to her. Troi can't get the positronic network needed to save her son, yet Maddox goes and ignores the ban and gets the kids he wanted.

I have to watch the episode again but yeah, I got the felling Troi was actually about to slap the face of Soji for a moment. I don't know if Sirtis conveyed exactly what Troi was supposed to be feeling at that moment. The performances from both Sirtis and Frakes were slightly stilted but that's to be forgiven as both have not been active as actors recently.

Two questions:
1. Was that mind meld some sort of Discovery related time travel arc (I haven't watched DSC but know they jump to the future in season 2) or the Vulcan Tal Shiar agent simply seeking to freak out Jurati and bend her to her will?

2. Seven's calling card... I thought she gave that to Picard? Did he give it to Elnor? Whatever the case, it was very handy to suddenly find it hanging there on board a huge Borg cube!

I thought Riker was talking about trouble with the Xindi. That had me thinking there was definitely going to be some sort of time travel plot later on. Phew, he was just mentioning a catlike species that appeared in the animated series!:D

Good episode. Nice to see Riker and Troi (the Troi-Rikers?). Like I said, I will have to watch again to pick up on some more details.

Evade

velo.2010 wrote: »

Two questions:
1. Was that mind meld some sort of Discovery related time travel arc (I haven't watched DSC but know they jump to the future in season 2) or the Vulcan Tal Shiar agent simply seeking to freak out Jurati and bend her to her will?

Knowing what will happen in the future implies time travel but nothing to do with STD as far as I know. As for why a mind meld? Probably to show the watchers she's actually a Vulcan not a secret Romulan. But mind melds are usually to gather first hand accounts so is Oh a time traveler or did she meld with a time traveler?

liamtech

Deleted User wrote: »

Come here, are we discussing next week' episode here?

Trailer or no that is massive spoiler territory above

OK well genuine apologies - however in my defense, this thread is labeled [**SPOILERS WITHIN**], and also makes no reference to not discussing the trailer for next weeks episode

Could Mod perhaps make a call on this? Or if one has already been made could my post be deleted or re-posted in a separate discussion about the trailer for next week

BTW i am genuinely apologizing folks - i would NOT have posted this if i thought anyone had not watched the trailer - OR - if it was against policy

That said, i am eager to have a discussion on the trailer if anyone is interested in doing so

EDIT: I have attempted to spoiler tag my post but am unable to do this - could mod assist with this? Thanks and again my apologies

Slydice

liamtech wrote: »

EDIT: I have attempted to spoiler tag my post but am unable to do this - could mod assist with this? Thanks and again my apologies

if you still have the edit button, the advanced button brings up the regular posting screen and it has the spoiler button (in case that's what you're missing)

Sad Professor

I have added spoiler tags to liamtech's post.

To be clear, the spoiler warning in the thread title applies to the current episode only. Discussion of previews/trailers for future episodes should be hidden behind spoiler tags.

ilovesmybrick

liamtech wrote: »

OK well genuine apologies - however in my defense, this thread is labeled [**SPOILERS WITHIN**], and also makes no reference to not discussing the trailer for next weeks episode

Could Mod perhaps make a call on this? Or if one has already been made could my post be deleted or re-posted in a separate discussion about the trailer for next week

BTW i am genuinely apologizing folks - i would NOT have posted this if i thought anyone had not watched the trailer - OR - if it was against policy

That said, i am eager to have a discussion on the trailer if anyone is interested in doing so

EDIT: I have attempted to spoiler tag my post but am unable to do this - could mod assist with this? Thanks and again my apologies

I think it'd be worthwhile to have a trailer-spoiler-thread. There's a lot to unpack! I'll create one now