Picard 1x08 - "Broken Pieces" [** SPOILERS WITHIN **]

Spear

Another week, another new thread now that the episode and it's spoilers are out in the wild.

It's exposition galore this week. Though I'm a little disappointed that the Zhat Vash seem to be a group who took the Mass Effect games too seriously. Still it's nice to finally know the main antagonists motivation finally, given that it's 80% of the way into the series.

AMKC

Half way through this episode and have to say its just terrible. I don't really care about all the crap Ryiash is going on about or that crap at the beginning. Te Holograms are just terrible. It just bored me. So I skipped it. Thee only good parts to this episode are Picard talking the Admral and to Soji and the Borg Cube regenerating was cool.
There is am aweful lot of talking in this episode.
It gets very cool from 39minutes 50 seconds on do.

pah

"Our Foremothers" :rolleyes:

velo.2010

Piss poor episode. Diminished the decent job the previous two episodes did. Seems to be a pattern, with the writers, of getting particular episodes just right (like last week) and then meh with the rest.

I don't remember Rios having a previous conversation with one of his holograms that alluded to what happened with his former captain. That link with Soji was just too handy.

Seven becoming a (momentarily) Borg queen should have been more epic. The Borg cube coming back to life just felt underwhelming.

Stewart's frailty impacts Picard's presence and not in a positive way.

Deep Space...N, Deep Space... Ni, Deep Space...12. Argh! Who else was hoping he would say DS9 (just for old times sake)?

I thought we may finally see our first starships this series... but no, we have to settle for a Borg transwarp conduit - which somehow can exist just within the Alpha quadrant alone, with no link to the Delta quadrant. There's an air of trying to shove in as much notable Star Trek nostalgia as possible as we head for the finale.

fritzelly

I liked it - story progressed a bit at least

Slydice

Oh! That was the good stuff! Hook it into my veins!

DID YOU SEE THE LOOK PICARD GAVE AGGIE! I just paused right there! I needed a moment! Then later how inspirational and motivational he spoke. Great performance by Patrick Steward!

All the books Rios has and then the Existensialism by Surak! Brilliant! That's just awesome! Of course he wrote a book on Existensialism!

Then BORG QUEEN SEVEN OF NINE! The transformation was cool. The loss of her Borg.. maybe that was a necessary so she could come back.. Then the line at the very end! Annika still has work to do! YUHS! YUHS SHE DOES!


Anyway then Soji goes and hacks La Sirena, aims for Transwarp corridors and is on her merry way. At that point, combined with the Advanced Threat warning about Artifical Life and it dawns on me... Oh.. the Borg might be already wiped out by that threat. I can definitely see the Borg developing artifical life. The Queen was fascinated by Data.. so of course .. maybe they've already brought this advanced threat down upon them. It was like.. wow.. but at the same time a very wooaaaaah moment!


.. so now to watch next weeks preview and..

Yep.. looks like Maddox reached the level. If this advanced threat exists, I get the feeling we'll see them either in the finale or sometime next season.

pah

I think Picard had a couple of decent character moments this episode. Everything else was muck.

An ancient civilization with the power to defy physics and put 8 stars orbiting a planet as a warning? The Q continuum are an example I suppose but really it's just so clichéd and lazy and uninteresting and boring.

The one person in the whole galaxy who knows what sojis synth relatives look like and was present for the events where they were killed FML, AGGHHH


KHHAAANNN!!!!!!!!!!

Stark

Enjoyed the episode for the most part though the Borg stuff was a huge anti-climax Also somewhat disappointed that it seems Hugh is gone for good

expectationlost

admiral ****

Evade

Plot moving forward again but like I wrote elsewhere it's three hours of story spread over eight hours and it's suffering a lot because of it. When it's over I wouldn't be surprised if someone edits it down into something much more coherent like the fan edit of the Star Wars prequels.

Raffi wasn't 100% insufferable this week and rightly pointed out Picard being an idiot blindly believing Soji. Was that Rios bit in the recap in a previous episode?

Oh being half Vulcan half Romulan answers a few questions, the sunglasses were still stupid. The very prominent Idic on her desk must have been to remind everyone she's definitely 100% Vulcan.

It would be a little ironic if Picard's arguments in the Drumhead lead to Oh being more easily able to downplay her Romulan ancestry and get to where she is now.

If the Zhat Vash's sole motivation is touch energy, get visions or go nuts it is monumentally stupid. It could be an ancient holonovel interface for all they know. They're basically the aliens from Galaxy Quest.

The threat Rios captain got is unbelievable. I'm sure Oh would order that ship destroyed but I have a hard time believing most Starfleet officers would carry it out. Defiant vs Enterprise B Lakota and the fate of the Horatio seemed like exceptional events so why would the captain believe her?

Assuming that was Nerak's ship at the end, where was his cloaking device last episode?

Episode thoughts

• Not a Picard thing but I wish Prime could figure out I only need subtitles for things not in English
• Is that the horsehead nebula?
• I really don't like the mystical stuff in Star Trek
• Oh is Romulan again, ok
• That is one dumb secret ritual. Touch a glowy thing and go insane or totally believe the visions
• Everyone calls it Mars that's its name
• Are the Super Secret Tal Shiar all women too?
• Raffi has a point, Picard's being dumb
• That's 7 circles. It's 8 dots
• The old Borg sets were cooler
• Not very nano nanoprobes
• Limited until he got the emotion chip. Why does everyone forget that?
• A good captain then
• I can't imagine Seven would not want to release the Borg
• Stretching it a bit but janai means is not
• The hologram scene was good. Could do with more of them.
• It's getting very burn the witch
• Walkman?
• Starfleet getting a bit too grimdark. No way they'd destroy a ship with all hands
• Damn Reman knock off disruptors
• Not sure how Seven will get over re-enslaving all those people and than getting them all killed
• 200,000 years? Iconians?
• More like 60 years
• Oh, Oh's both.
• No drumhead for Oh being half Romulan?
• Ok boomer
• The Romulan ships have red engines too
• Reliant A/B or a mistake?
• That compass bit is dumb
• Why didn't Jaime Romulan use his cloaking device last episode?

Spear

Evade wrote: »

[*]Reliant A/B or a mistake?

This is apparently correct. There was a deleted scene in TNG, in which Picard mentions earlier service on an incarnation of the Reliant. Some of the throwbacks and references are obscure, like captain Marta Batanides, but a deleted scene reference is maybe a tad far.

Evade

Spear wrote: »

This is apparently correct. There was a deleted scene in TNG, in which Picard mentions earlier service on an incarnation of the Reliant. Some of the throwbacks and references are obscure, like captain Marta Batanides, but a deleted scene reference is maybe a tad far.

There's a line from the SG-1 episode Ripple Effect that sums up a lot of Picard, "it's like they got the hard stuff right and the easy stuff wrong."

From what I understand Star Trek scripts used to have <insert appropriate technobabble here> notes. I wouldn't be surprised if Picard had the same for references and whoever has that job it is is dying inside because they're not allowed to change the big contradictions.

Stark

Evade wrote:

Limited until he got the emotion chip. Why does everyone forget that?

I remember he got rid of it after First Contact. It didn't seem like he was able to deal with the emotions effectively. Lots of problems with erratic emotions in Generations and he had it turned off for most of First Contact until the Queen forced it back on. Some time prior to Insurrection, he had it removed permanently. Guessing Soong some progress in fixing some of the issues that caused Lore to be so unstable but wasn't able to fully resolve them all.

Evade

Stark wrote: »

I remember he got rid of it after First Contact. It didn't seem like he was able to deal with the emotions effectively. Lots of problems with erratic emotions in Generations and he had it turned off for most of First Contact until the Queen forced it back on. Some time prior to Insurrection, he had it removed permanently. Guessing Soong some progress in fixing some of the issues that caused Lore to be so unstable but wasn't able to fully resolve them all.

It just seems odd not to bring it up when talking about Data's feelings.

Goodshape

Really enjoyed this episode too.

[Deleted User]

Gore levels?

tromtipp

QUOTE=Evade;112819967]

The threat Rios captain got is unbelievable. I'm sure Oh would order that ship destroyed but I have a hard time believing most Starfleet officers would carry it out. [/QUOTE]




Raffi does an odd thing with her hand, pressing her fingers against her face and temple in this episode and a previous one. Is she using pressure points to resist a mind meld order? Or to try to fight back against something?




I wondered whether that last ship following La Sirena was Seven and Elnor getting ready to ride to the rescue.

tromtipp

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Gore levels?

No graphic close-ups. People get deaded but no eye-extraction - I glanced aside a few times but didn't feel the need to skip.





And it was a brilliant episode, moving things forward in a very satisfactory way, giving us a sense of crew on La Sirena, and explaining a bit about various people's motivations.

[Deleted User]

tromtipp wrote: »

No graphic close-ups. People get deaded but no eye-extraction - I glanced aside a few times but didn't feel the need to skip.





And it was a brilliant episode, moving things forward in a very satisfactory way, giving us a sense of crew on La Sirena, and explaining a bit about various people's motivations.

Cheers. I’ll give it a watch now so.

pixelburp

A bit of a so so episode. Bad accents aside, I like the holograms; the 7of9 was a bit superfluous but had a bit of heft given her history; Picard felt a bit more the spiritual leader too. Linking Rios' tragic backstory to the synth plot however was needless over elaboration. I've liked Rios as this Trek form of Han Solo (and god knows they've tried that template before), and has been played with an understated sense of swagger. But the coincidence in being part of the grand conspiracy too, was just too stupid to ignore. Easily avoided.

[Deleted User]

I have to turn the sound down for the holograms. It was a ridiculous idea.

Stark

I like the holograms

The only let down in the episode for me was it was just about to get "OMG Epic" with 7 of 9 and the dormant Borg drones and then they all get blown into space and it's over.

Admldj

Anyone else think the borg being sucked into space just inconveniences them? We've seen borg operate in a vacuum without the need for space suits before.

[Deleted User]

Stark wrote: »

I like the holograms

The only let down in the episode for me was it was just about to get "OMG Epic" with 7 of 9 and the dormant Borg drones and then they all get blown into space and it's over.

Seemed like that 7of9 thing was done purely for the short preview clip and nothing else. Worked too.

Evade

Admldj wrote: »

Anyone else think the borg being sucked into space just inconveniences them? We've seen borg operate in a vacuum without the need for space suits before.

Without some kind of thruster they'll be floating in space for a while.

Admldj

Evade wrote: »

Without some kind of thruster they'll be floating in space for a while.

The cube can just beam them aboard?

Stark

They got rid of problem drones in Voyager (Chakotay blows a bunch of them into space in "Scorpion") and First Contact that way. Bit of a ****ty way to go given they don't die quickly.

[Deleted User]

Stark wrote: »

They got rid of problem drones in Voyager (Chakotay blows a bunch of them into space in "Scorpion") and First Contact that way. Bit of a ****ty way to go given they don't die quickly.

They’re Borg, there’s no end ****ty enough.

Evade

Admldj wrote: »

The cube can just beam them aboard?

I didn't think of that and clearly Seven and the writers didn't either.

Stark

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

They’re Borg, there’s no end ****ty enough.

Hey, Borg drones are victims, not monsters

Evade wrote: »

I didn't think of that and clearly Seven and the writers didn't either.

I was thinking that and hoping Cersei's plan would backfire that way but alas no .

pixelburp

Hugh and 7of9 aside, I've never quite warmed to this whole "ex Borg" idea. Mostly down to the instinctive distrust of anything touched by the Collective. They're such a destructive, corrupting influence, the notion of redemption feels unattainable or unrealistic. I wouldn't sit in a room with Hugh. I liked the character but he still made my skin crawl.