Picard 2x07 - 'Monsters' ~~ { ** Spoilers Within ** }

ilovesmybrick

Picard 2x07 - 'Monsters' ~~ { ** Spoilers Within ** } Warning: This thread will contain spoilers 

ilovesmybrick

Couldn't wait until the episode ended to post

What a great cameo after the discussion in the general trek forum! I was struggling to place the voice for a moment!

ilovesmybrick

So, I enjoyed that more than I thought I would. Probably because the subconcious part with Picards father was far more interesting that it had right to be. The kid stuff, meh, but a better kid Picard than in TNG.

I also said before the series came out that I hoped they wouldn't go into Q and Guinans back story. I think they mostly did that well, though the genie in a lamp stuff was too much. They nodded towards a history and gave the basics, but not too much, which I enjoyed.

Rios immediately going "I'm a spaceman, come see my ship" was a bit stupid, but not something that Trek doesn't constantly do in the past, and to be honest I could see myself doing the same if I was trying to impress someone I had a crush on! Giving her the medical device was stupid though.

Not much on the Jurati front. I was hoping by episode 8 we would be heading back to the future, but I don't really see how this will be done before the end of episode 9 at this stage. They just have far too many ends to tie up in this timeline. I'm somewhat annoyed at the end. Unless they do something really spectacular with it it just seems like another somewhat pointless obstacle. For a moment I was hoping that the agent was actually a different Q f**king with them, but alas no.

Despite my quibbles, I really liked this episode. My major fear now is how they'll wrap all this up in three episodes.

The Traveller being Laris's ancestor....yeah, not gone on that. Doesn't seem to be any particular reason why they would choose a Romulan in the first place. It would be somewhat forgiveable if she was the only identical ancestor, but with so much focus on the Soong the progenitor it's a bit much to be honet.

AMKC

Well that was not great. Could have worse I suppose but could have been a lot better too. All that nonsense inside Picards head made no sense at all just wasted time. Who was that interviewing him? Not Will Wheaton was it? That would be gas if he played Picards father lol.

That bit with the back story to the guineas race and the Q was OK that was about it. I was expecting to see LA assimilated and they would have to turn it around. No such luck. Maybe next episode.

liamtech

This was a very interesting experience for me. When it began, i couldn't place the voice (similar to @ilovesmybrick ) - Then as it continued i came up with various theories in my head. Locutus, Picard's father is a wife-beater - etc etc etc - all of these seemed obvious, and a bit contrived. I had written the episode off in my head.

Penny in the air - penny drops

No that was actually superb. James Callis was excellent, great to see him. And the twist was excellent, and i didn't see it coming. And they kinda dripped it out.

• Picard and Mommy are running away from violent father
• Kid Picard gets his foot caught - first indication something is wrong here - mommy keeps running - My brain was twitching, and assuming wow, Picard's dad must be HORRID - but for sanity sake mom, look after your kid too!!!!
• Father appears, (almost turned away expecting to see him smack the kid) - but no. Tender, concerned, picks picard up and carries him to safety
• Then the reveal. The poor women is not well. Shes ill. And the father, seems (at least as far as we can see) to be dealing with it as best he can- and probably getting no thanks by the looks of it - i like to think that while JL blames his dad - but Robert, well. I have a nice thought that Robert loves his father deeply, empathizes with this awful situation - and that this explains Robert's life choices to emulate his dad - very emotional

That was an emotional roller-coaster - had you described that to me before watching i would have moaned and groaned about it being silly - a waste of time in a short season.

But that was excellent - no complaints here - well, one gripe - THE SEASON IS TOO SHORT

Im glad they included this, but wish we have 13 episodes - so much more to cover and 4 episodes left

OF COURSE we have Strange New worlds in a mere 3 weeks too! Much to look forward to! I still cant fathom how Picard can be awesome, SNW can look terrific - and Discovery can be as Dull as watching a video seminar entitled 'the future of plumbing'

ilovesmybrick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118925668#Comment_118925668

had you described that to me before watching i would have moaned and groaned about it being silly - a waste of time in a short season..

Yup, this was almost exactly the type of episode I feared would happen after last week, and I said it in my post for the last episode. But I do think they pulled it off very well.

The pacing is a bit off, there are some jumps that are a bit much, but I want another three episodes in the season. Not just to give space to wrap it up, but because it's enjoyable.

nudain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118924546#Comment_118924546

I'll go one better, I mixed up the two doctors and thought he was the one who played Bashir. "How the f*ck can he be Picard's dad?" is a fairly mild summary of what I was thinking until I looked up imdb.

corkie

Alexander Siddig & James Callis do look similar. But knew it wasn't Bashir in the episode. I recognized Callis, but he has been in allot so wasn't sure where from.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Monsters_%28episode%29

sioda

Right red dress and now Baltar the BSG vibes can't get any stronger.

Overall not a bad episode moves the story along. How are they going to unbutterfly the visit to the ship. Had expected random Q to be summoned tbh.

fritzelly

Torn on that - liked the episode for the most part (different from the typical in to the mind storylines) but just kept thinking "get on with the story, I'm here for Trek"

Spear

I'm quite satisfied where they went with the well worn "enter someone's mindscape" trope. They managed to reverse it nicely, twice arguably, since not only do they turn it around by revealing the mother was mentally ill (bi-polar?), but it looks like Picard actions may have led to her death or suffering as it suggests at the end.

The thread about revealing things to the doc and her kid felt dumb though. They stick to the avoid butterflys mantra all season, then piss all over it.

Slydice

My reaction to the episode: Ha! Suckers! Shoulda studied up on your 21st Century History! 😁

My first google: OH YESSSS!!! Baltar! Of course! Damn I knew he was familiar!

I swear, Picard's father reminded me of a cross between the most Section 31 crossover of Alexander Siddig and William Sadler! I had to google who the actor was. It nagged at the back of my head. James Callis makes total sense.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118924546#Comment_118924546

I knew I recognised it straight away but couldnt think who. Thought it might have been Steven Merchant but as soon as I saw a hint of the side profile my brain was screaming so much that I had to rewind the scene just to listen to the dialogue

eadrom

I liked that! Some awful dialog in parts and the scenes with the doctor feel a bit flat but otherwise pretty good.

3 left (right?) and I'm still interested.

ilovesmybrick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118926882#Comment_118926882

I was the exact same when I heard the voice, thought it was Siddig initially.

Evade

For a delving into someone's mind episode it wasn't bad and the revelation of Picard's mother is better than the set up lead me to believe. Guinan happening to have the one and only Q summoning device stretches credulity as well as Picard happening to be caught on camera as he beamed in. Rios must have read Kirk's detailed biography and I'm sure he'll bring that up as a defence when Temporal Investigations shows up.

Is the future safe now and the Renée Picard bit solved?

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118930576#Comment_118930576

The Guinan bit was odd. It sounded like that was the only one but also that El Aurians are summoning Qs all the time. Also the whole genie in a bottle look was a bit stupid.

eadrom

Yeah I thought Guinan was better overall in this episode but that plot device bottle was daft, or at least poorly explained. I assume/hope we're not expected to believe this is the only bottle of screaming black Q-juice but the dialog seemed to suggest it was.

The scenes with Rios and his doctor friend were also really clunky.

And I wish they got Stewart even just 5 years earlier. Dude is old. Like, bless him, but it's difficult to watch at times. Just left thinking that both the fictional characters and the real world production crew should give the guy a break. Some scenes are fine, plenty of others he looks and sounds like he'd rather have a nap.

Rawr

I initally thought Siddig had changed his screen-name again, but now I’m embarressed to find this to be one of the guys in BSG I liked the most. (God damn I’m not good with faces)

The uniform kind of threw me off a few times. Occasionally it looked like the First Contact uniform (I spotted a blue band on the arm), then it appeared to be the early DS9 / Voyager uniform with department colour. But the lighting was really odd, so I started to think that the shoulders were grey and this was a 3rd uniform varient that was half-way between Voyager and First Contact.

Does however look like the early DS9 / Voyager uniform, which I guess is the first reappearance of it since Voyager. I wonder why they / Picard’s mind went for that era? (We don’t know much about what happened to Picard between Generations & First Contact. Something happen there?)

Evade

It was more like a early DS9/Voy jumpsuit cut in First Contact/late DS9 colour scheme.

ilovesmybrick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118931522#Comment_118931522

I initally thought Siddig had changed his screen-name again, but now I’m embarressed to find this to be one of the guys in BSG I liked the most. (God damn I’m not good with faces)

Not the only one who did that. I initially was thinking that Siddig had aged really weirdly!

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118931522#Comment_118931522

It's definitely not the Voyager uniform because that didn't have a sleeve stripe and this one had extra bits of black on the neck trim. It's just a new uniform we have never seen before that fits into that era. Could be a ground crew or station uniform as Trek has had those before or maybe just something Picard dreamed up.

corkie

https://screenrant.com/star-trek-picard-maurice-ds9-uniform-generations-explained/

https://trekmovie.com/2022/04/14/recap-review-star-trek-picard-faces-its-fear-in-monsters/

Jay Karnes who played FBI agent Martin Welles previously appeared in Star Trek: Voyager as the 29th-century time traveling Starfleet officer Ducane, but he also worked with Matalas on 12 Monkeys… as an FBI agent.

Can't find the link but some post I read, referred to the uniform as been a confederate design?

Rawr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118932160#Comment_118932160

Seems to lend some weight to my earlier pondering that this was a reference to the time between Generations and First Contact. So, this Grey-ish uniform could be an intermediate design before they went for the full on, padded grey shoulders with department colour collar. They are also suggesting that Picard's evaluation happened in his Enterprise E ready room. We never got a really good look at that room, so I guess it could be that.

You know, if they wanted to make me a particularly happy Trekkie...a revisit of the Enterprise E wouldn't be a bad way of doing that....just saying...

_Kaiser_

Well that was very cool..

- Callbacks to various TNG episodes with the voices in the dungeon - BOBW ("I am Locutus.."), Tapestry ("I'd rather die as the man I was than live the life I just saw"), Chain of Command ("There are 4 lights!!")

- Two big guest stars who played great roles previously - Baltar (BSG) and Dutch (from the Shield - greatest cop drama ever imo. It would be funny if he was the same character.. Finally got his FBI job!)

- I seem to be in the minority, but I really like the Rios bits (nice nod to the Voyage Home with the "no, I'm from x, I only work in outer space" line). He and the doc have a nice chemistry

- Good twist with Picard's father too. Also I'm guessing that Talinn is somehow Laris before they met in the future

- The Queen plot moving along nicely too

Really enjoyed that one again.

Evade

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118932413#Comment_118932413

I like Rios as character this season but some of his storyline is a little generic. If we were to get a series set in the 25th century Rios on the Stargazer would have be my number one choice.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118932429#Comment_118932429

Yea those scenes in the first episode this season left me wanting more alright. The show finally found itself - updated but still with the classic Trek feel underneath that was missing from season 1 and Discovery never found.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118932429#Comment_118932429

Yep. After the little tease at the start I do wish we could get a bit more of a captain and his starship rather than all this time hijinks.

pah

At the credits now. Yawn fest so far

AlmightyCushion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118932413#Comment_118932413

I literally just finished watching the shield a couple of weeks ago.

TheValeyard

Was a different kind of episode. It felt it worked for the most part.

Great seen Baltar in a Trek uniform. Probably give Starfleet defence codes to the Borg lol.

I liked the twist at the end and wrapped up most of the mom storyline.

Did feel beaming the doc and her kid onto the ship was a bit silly. No need for it. Rios is a ships captain, why would he break all those rules?