#touched up captain picard figure

[eponymous-rose]

So I've been rewatching Star Trek: TNG as comfort TV during/post-move and just got to Yesterday's Enterprise, which I remember liking well enough, but man, it's really unusual in the context of the rest of these early episodes. For one thing, the violence shown is a lot more stark than we've seen in the show thus far - Riker with his throat cut, Captain Garrett with the metal shrapnel in her head, lingering close-ups on dead faces. It's dark and moody and the "happy ending" resolution (as far as we know at this point, anyway) is saving the few survivors of a brutal battle, patching them up, and then shipping them straight back into that battle to be killed.

Given the show's not-so-great track record with its female characters, it's weirdly refreshing that we get a re-do for Tasha Yar. And yeah, she falls in love with a dude and goes off with him on his ship, but she was ready to say goodbye to him and that would've been that - what finally prompts her to step willingly into the meat-grinder is the realization that she had an "empty death" (Guinan had some really raw lines in this one) in the other timeline, and that now her death can have some meaning. It's nicely done, if a bit of a self-flagellating "mea culpa" on the writers' parts.

The alternate timeline isn't the gleeful, campy evil of the Mirrorverse, it's just an exhausted grind through the final days of a losing war. Lots of little touches show how desperate things have become - Wesley's been fast-tracked to a full ensign, Picard is a tactician first and foremost (he takes officers' opinions under advisement, yes, but he's also keeping from them the inevitable, imminent surrender), the bridge is laid out so the captain is front and center with everyone else in the background. As a contrast with the actual Enterprise's chill 90s living room lounge vibe, it's pretty striking. It's like a sneak preview into the bleak and war-heavy sci-fi that would start saturating pop culture a decade or so later, and then it's a firm rejection of that premise - "This isn't a ship of war. It's a ship of peace."

I have a long, long history with TNG - DS9 is my favorite Trek on balance, but TNG is encoded in my DNA. From around ages 3 and 5, my brother and I were watching and rewatching TNG constantly. (My parents would laugh over the fact that my brother didn't know how to read yet but had memorized the episode titles of the first couple seasons.) We had pajamas. We scoured every garage sale and had a giant metal can full of action figures and phasers and tricorders and ships and even, shockingly, that transporter toy that made things disappear using mirrors.

The tactile experience of those toys is burned in my brain - the loose nacelles on the Enterprise model, the click of the left phaser button, the little hole at the bottom of the Borg cube that we once stuck a pencil in and had the tip of the graphite snap off and rattle around forevermore. My brother and I played incessantly with our action figures, to the point where most of them had the paint at least partially rubbed off - we created hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of new episodes over the years. The first time I ever used a touchscreen was at some sort of Star Trek exhibition in Canada in the early 90s that we stumbled across on our way to visit my grandparents.

I'm always fascinated by how kids interact with fictional media - my brother and I were so young, but we obviously knew Star Trek wasn't real. Except... I just always assumed that important people watched it, realized "well, that seems nice", and were actively working to make that future happen. I was (perhaps a little embarrassingly) older when I realized that no, we weren't gonna be out there on science missions to the stars during my lifetime. At least, not in an Enterprise kind of way.

At any given time, there's just this Star Trek filter over how I experience the world - when I got to go to college thanks to scholarships, I had that weighty feeling of responsibility and awe that came with daydreaming about Starfleet Academy. I saw my career shift from the gold of engineering to the blue of science to the red of command. And the older I get, the more I appreciate a show that, for all its flaws, managed to make a utopia interesting and complex.

Because TNG was such a phenomenon when I was a little kid in the early 90s, a lot of my family relationships also have TNG tied up in them. I remember going to my grandparents' apartment and my uncle showing us a fan magazine about the show. I remember another uncle who didn't really "get it" but gifted me and my brother astronaut ice cream because he knew we liked that space stuff. I remember watching most episodes curled up on the couch or my parents' bed with my brother and my mom and dad. When Mom got sick and we talked about death, I remember the way she wistfully brought up the Nexus from Generations or how she hoped she could see the next season of Picard (she didn't, sadly, but she really enjoyed that first season). Hell, one of the first real bonding moments I had with my otherwise hyper-professional and businesslike PhD advisor was when she made a TNG joke, I laughed at it, and she said, "I just love that show, everyone's so nice to each other."

It's just been a lot of fun coming back to this show, is all. I think I periodically forget how much it's affected me and the extent to which it was a fundamental, formative influence. While a lot of it either hasn't aged well or fails to hold up to modern media analysis, so much of it is still lovely, and occasionally there are these moments of shockingly good storytelling.

Star Trek good.

[gaitwae]

Where do you think all of the star trek captains would take their students on a field trip?

Hoooooo boy. What a question. I haven't seen LD, yet, and I'm not touching Discovery. Here we go!

Jonathan Archer: He would take his kids* to the aquarium. He's notoriously known as the "cool" field tripper. He seems to have the kids figured out, but somehow, there's always an accident or a kid missing and he swears he's never going to do it ever again. Someone hits their head on the glass or gets lost in the jellyfish section. 4/10 field tripper.

Christopher Pike: He would take his students to an art or history museum and make a big, scary speech upfront about how there would absolutely be NO messing around and if anyone breaks anything, they're going to get in big trouble, mister! He ends up the one screwing around with students, though, but nothing is harmed and no one is lost. Una keeps him on track so they can see the whole museum. 8/10 field tripper.

Jim Kirk: This guy is a Lugnuts** game field tripper. He wanted to go and there was a discount. He'd say there were math benefits or something and give them all a worksheet to fill out about statistics or safety or etc on the bus. No one is lost, but there might be a fight or two after sitting the wrong kids together in the stands. 7/10 field tripper.

Jean-Luc Picard: 100% to an art museum, no if ands or buts. He'd keep strict attendance and yell at anyone who dares touch any of the exhibits. I think there would be tears at one point but overall an excellent field trip. He'd know some obscure knowledge about every piece and it would be soothing to hear, and he's also really having a fun time with the kids. Tight leash on his students, no fights, no missing kids. 10/10 field tripper.

Benjamin Sisko: Lugnuts gamer as well, but also maybe a capital building or botanical grounds and gardens. Most of his field trips have educational value and he wants his kids to learn something that will stick with them the rest of their lives. He lets them have free reign and usually no one ends up missing. They'd all meet up for lunch halfway through and everyone appreciates how he treats them as if they have their own minds. 10/10 field tripper.

Kathryn Janeway: Also known as the "mom" field tripper, she'll probably take you through a city you've never seen before or the zoo. She's got simple field trips but always always always a dead-set purpose. She's got wiggle room for just-in-cases and lets the kids split into groups with chaperones. She'll yell if you get out of line. Sometimes people go missing but she always gets them back within half an hour. 9.5/10 field tripper. (Would go higher but there was someone crying... so...)

*I'm assuming this is a school-friendly field trip setting, so think average school institution budget kind of field trips. **The Lansing Lugnuts are a minor league baseball team in the American Midwest.

[rocket-sith]

Q GOT TIRED OF MAKING ROBINHOOD LARPS SO HE DECIDED TO OPEN FOUR DIFFERENT CHRONO-TRIGGER SAVE FILES AT THE SAME TIME INSTEAD, but only one needed further progress (non-linear progress of course), two were already complete but were saved in the wrong place and missing a sidequest (lol time being non-linear what?), and the fourth was a big ol' sparkly decoy, a glitched file of nonsensical bits n bites, alluringly named Picard, that nearly crashed the game and took everything with it while you were busy looking for continuity in all the wrong places.

Behold! Season 2 of Picard, AKA Facepalm Theater Presents, AKA "Dude, where's my Tapestry?"

Love it, hate it, WTF it, or some should-be-impossible combination thereof - but somehow, you feel it. Are you in one or both of those last two camps? Yeah, me too. But I think I might have a theory. And no, it's not bunnies. (I rambled a bit about this somewhat in the A/Ns and comment thread of one of my fics a few weeks back, but the proper brain dump belongs here).

Season 2 of Picard is neither episodic, NOR is it one major overarching story with various sub-plots. It's FOUR overarching major stories, well-conceived in theory (mostly), but thrown together as gracelessly and incoherently, with the same abundance of panic and lack of transitions as the night-before-it's-due school essays we're all so painfully familiar with perpetrating. (Admittedly, a lot of us got pretty good at being zero-hour coherent by the time we got to high school, but apparently, this skill does not translate to timetravel via stellar slingshots and demigod trolls.) So that leaves us with - 

Picard Season 2: A Trek in Four Acts Loosely Disjointed and Sloppily Squished Together Parts. Feast your eyes, rub your temples, and buckle up. 

CRIS AND THERESA'S WILD RIDE: (Love story, social commentary, classic Trek shiz focused on the more touching/emotional side of temporal shenanigans.)

RENEE PICARD'S TIME HEIST AND EVEN WILDER RIDE:  (Classic Trek shiz, classic time travel fuckery, focuses on the more action-packed side of temporal shenanigans.)

THE RED HERRING, AKA THE ROCKY HORROR PICARD SHOW:

Supposedly the main plot, but really a completely ridiculous distraction that's the narrative equivalent of dumping sand in the snowglobe and violently shaking it up. Captain Picard takes a wrong turn at Albuquerque and has to go do the Timewarp (again) in some creepy old castle so he can be magically transported back home. Yeah, okay buddy, just don't forget the teddy and the TP rolls to throw around the theater.

Cut this entire arc out, and the season improves substantially in both enjoyability and coherence. (I said what I said.) If any of the four major threads don't belong, don't move the story forward, and only serve to muck things up - it's this one. It's not so much an arc as a collapsible squiggly line that looks like it might go somewhere but never does. Great if you're drunk with a shadow cast and some floorwalkers. Not so great if you're actually trying to figure out WTF is going on. 

TAPESTRY RIDES AGAIN, AKA GRAND THEFT BORG QUEEN LOS ANGELES: And now for the main event, which was literally announced as such in one of the episodes, by two people breaking the fourth wall who were probably the LAST people anyone was expecting to break the fourth wall: Seven and Raffi. So naturally, we viewers took it as a couple of throwaway comments and cute banter to lighten the dark/intense mood of all the other crap. Yeah, oops. We can't say they didn't warn us.

At one point the two of them are joking around, talking about how they're the main event, and all these other side stories are just side stories, but...yeah. Looking back after S3, that was not a joke, and it goes above and beyond the call of foreshadowing. It was a flat-out tell, and with ALL the potential fourth wallbreakers in S2 - Q, the Borg Queen, The Traveller, the Long-Lived Alien Bartender With Multiple Mysterious Powers, The Temporally Flexible Romulan Spy Of Dubious Origin - if somebody's gonna spill some futuristic tea, it's gotta be one of them, right? RIGHT? Nope. Seven and Raffi snuck in the back door.

Basically, the Grand Theft Borg Queen arc was Tapestry, but for Seven (and Raffi and Jurati to an extent). Jurati and Raffi were, IMHO, initially intended to be pieces on the gameboard, not players, but they made themselves into major players. To what extent Jurati's involvement in outsmarting the Borg Queen was meant to be a challenge for her by Q, or part of Seven's trial that Jurati unwittingly assisted in IDK, and ditto Raffi's major role in all the aforementioned drama, but either way - Seven finally accepting herself the way she is, Borg hardware and all, was a direct, not even subtle parallel to the TNG episode Tapestry. 

The most direct link is the scene in Tapestry where Picard realizes he'd rather die as his true self than live as his other-universe self who "corrected" the "mistake" that led to his artifical heart. Seven accepted that she would rather live as her Ex-B true self than die as a fully organic human, and in doing so, passed the test. 

And Jurati and Raffi played no small part in that realization, and passed their own tests in the process - with Raffi embracing Seven (literally and figuratively) while resisting the urge to manipulate Cris out of choosing his own fate, and Jurati outsmarting and merging herself with the damn Borg Queen to protect humanity and her friends. Seven passed the Q Troll test with flying colors, and Raffi and Jurati did too - giving us Elnor and a benevolent Borg Queen in the future as a result. (Q is totally one of those teachers who gives his students rewards for passing the Big Test.)

Fire up S2 of Picard, get your Fast Forward button ready, and follow the Grand Theft Borg Queen: Los Angeles arc and ONLY that arc. Skip over every single thing (other than Q monologing, as that's the one common thread) that doesn't have Seven, Raffi, and/or Jurati. You'll get an entirely different experience. It's Tapestry, but for Seven, and with different tests/opportunities for Jurati and Raffi. (And they all pass). 

Now do it again, but FF anything that ISN'T either part of the Renee Picard Time Heist plotline or part of Cris and Theresa's story. You'll get a classic Back to the Future, MCU, Reset the Timeline, Poke-An-Alternate-Reality's-Doom-Destination-With-A-Stick style story. And they all pass too. Cris and Theresa get their happily ever after and punt the primeline forward through the next generation of temporally paradoxical, adopted and found family members. 

As for the BS at Chateau Picard? It's all a decoy/charade. So come in costume, bring plenty of shit to throw, and chug the wine. You'll need it. 

[yourbuerokrat2]

Ooooh, I have this high school AU where Q is still a Q but goes by Quinn and Jean-Luc is the captain of the football team! Do you think you could do a lunch room scene with them where things get a little flirty? 👀👀👀

Fun fact about Picard: He actually was quite a jock and sportsman in his youth and Academy years so for him to be the captain of the football team is not something entirely unthinkable in an AU and he was also a flirt in his youth.

Surprisingly enough even the Q used to be 'young' once. They don't and never had something like an aging process but when they first came to existence there was a certain immaturity and lack of knowledge and understanding that was typical for the yet inexperienced. Most Qs tended to gain the experience and understanding by observing, understanding that they as Q were different and more powerful than nearly everyone else in the universe. Preferring to eep to themselves for the most part.

Q however was different. He did not so much want to observe the species around them than to interact with them. The first.. interactions of a new Q and the species that have the misfortune to meet them did not go well and Q found out that he did not really like breaking his toys. He found out that he liked simply not understanding his toys even less. So, by what to the human would be the age of ten but vastly, vastly older in Q years, q tried to actually communicate with the other species but that did not work out as planned since they all reacted the same when they saw him in his actual form and being worshipped and feared did lose his touch after a while.

To keep their more chaotic and potentially dangerous youngest sibling from causing too much destruction and disorder because of his ever growing boredom and disssatisfaction, the eldest Qs devised a plan to give him a more.. permanent distraction.

Give him a task and make it seem important. First, there was the question as to what task would be fitting, something important but not important enough that failure would end up catastrophic. How about looking in the future and see what species provides somewhat of a danger to the order of the universe in the long run. A species that would actually fit Qs current need of play and distraction.

Humanity was the one species they came up with. There had of course been others, but many of the alternatives could prove to have a rather influence on Q and humans, in the end, seemed harmless enough of one.

So, the task was to get an understanding of a species that could pose a threat to the universe as a whole. This was not entirely true, but it would be true enough for Q.

Now that the place and the task was clear, for a species like the Q there was also the question of when 'when'. Human history was a rather violent one after all and they would need to put Q someplace and sometime where he would not be able to change the course of the species overtly much.

The 24th century seemed promising enough. Now what time and place exactly? Considering Qs current age and maturity a 'high school' wold be best but which one?

One Q brought up that since they were already planning the Trial for Humanity as Qs little pet project for the future they might as well choose the Defendant now. Someone that actually had a chance of winning and who would be able to hold Qs attention.

Going through various prominent figures of this time period they came to the conclusion that some of them would get along too well or too badly with Q and then they came across Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Incorruptible, always professional, stick-up-his-you-know Captain Picard who could proof to be just the stable rock Q would need.

Captain Picard however wasn't always like this as they found out. Oh well, the Continuum was sure that even in his less than ideal years he would be able to proof to be enough of an entertainment to Q as was currently necessary.

Telling Q that he was needed to go through high school for a couple of years as a human (yes Q a few of your powers will temporarily be taken away but not all) in France.

And.. so at the equivalent age of 15 Q entered high school with a fake, self-made 'family' (because the rest of the Continuum did not really want to be an active part of this). Q was.. utterly bored during lessons. Which was understandable considering even with his lack of maturity he still had to dumben down significantly to even talk to these organics. Quinn, as he decided to call himself, had therefore become a strange bland of trouble maker and star student. Always excelling at everything except for sports while also putting zero effort in his attitude and homework.

There was always something that would go mysteriously wrong around Q whenever the entity was getting too bored or simply felt that an authority figure was getting too comfortable with the idea that Q actually listens to them.

Needless to say, Q was also known not to be the most social of students. Not because he was introverted, far from it. It was his confidence, a confidence that has long since reached the border over to arrogance, that made him a bit unbareable to others except for those who hoped he could provide some help.

There was however one other person whose ego was able to rival even that of Quinn. 'Johnny', whose actually name was Jean-Luc Picard, was the captain of the football team. A star student in everything including sports, a bit hot-headed and a potential trouble maker but it all was within boundaries. Because 'Johnny' wanted to join the Academy and he knew that he needed a good recommondation and marks to reach that particular goa. If nothing to say about training. But all that did not seem to bother the young french man all that much, very sure that he would not only be able to join the Academy, against his fathers expressed wishes, but that eh would also exceed there too and even become a Captain of a starship.

Johnny was also by the time he reached his 18th birthday quite the flirt and although there was a preference for women he was also not all that adverse otherwise.

Years later, when Q would once again be used to be entirely a Q and no longer having a human body that had such horrible things like hormones, Q would blame his behavior entirely on his human body. When he met Picard later, only a few centuries later for Picard but years upon years and millenia later for Q, the entity would call it destiny.

Because Picard proved to be the distraction that the Continuum wanted him to be.

Football games were watched, some flirty cheerleaders routine went bad out of inexplainable reasons and Q somehow always found a way to make himself the center of attenion, including Picards, whenever he wanted to be. Which with the passage of time became more and more often.

It all came to a head in a lunch room, not that Q really ate or even pretended to eat. He was only recently even visiting this horrible room if only to get himself a place at a certain table. Q knew for a fact that today there would at least be two places free at Picards table due to a strong cold and a broken leg respectively.

Q was.. nervous as he went with his food that he did not for one second entertain of actually eating towards Picards table. There were other people there as well, but Q did not really.. care at all about of their names or existence.

Not even bothering to ask wether he even was allowed to sit down, Q simply took the spot opposite to Picards as his own.

The other members at the table looked towards their captain, who was strangely amused by Qs actions.

'I have been wondering when you would do this' was Johnnys greeting to Quinn.

This was and would be for a long time the only time that anyone managed to surprise a Q.

'Because I have been noticing how much you want me to notice you', Johnny said as he leaned forwards towards Q with a charming half-smile.

Jean-Luc Picard just single handedly threw plan A and B of an inexperienced but still self-proclaimed all-knowing being somewhow at the same age as him but also so much older than even earth itself proverbially out of a window,

There were a lot of things, many more suave and clever sounding alternatives, but what actually left Qs mouth was

'And have I succeeded`?' mimicking the human by also moving forwards pushing aside his lunch so there was not much between them aside from the table.

'Enough so that I have left a spot open for you at this table for weeks now even though you never show up here.'

'Why did you never approach me?'

The charming smile of Johnnys turned self-assured and almost arrogant in its confidence. For once, Q did not dislike someone that should be lesser than him expressing such feelings of almost superiority in front of him.

Did not dislike it at all.

'When people want me they come to me, Quinn. Not the other way around.'

'And what do you do when you want someone?'

'I leave them a spot at my table and hope for them to get the hint. And when do they do arrive, I ask them out. So, how about this friday at eight?'

Q, thanks to this strange human body, actually blushed.

'Where to?'

'It's a surprise but trust me. I never disappoint.'

[episodicnostalgia]

Star Trek: The Next Generation, 125 (May 16, 1988) - “The Neutral Zone”

Teleplay by: Maurice Hurley Story by: Deborah McIntyre & Mona Clee Directed by: James L. Conway

The Breakdown

This is one of those “multiple story lines going on at the same time” episodes, so first let’s deal with…

Plotline  #1 – After the Enterprise scanners pick up an old earth space capsule that piques Data’s interest, he and Worf decide to hop over and take a look. There they find three preserved bodies in cryonic chambers, which are beamed over to sick bay.  Turns out these three bodies have been sitting out in space since the late 20th century, y’know, from 25 years ago when people began the common practice of preserving their deceased loved ones (it was like Tamagotchi’s, everyone was doing it) in the hope of reviving them when medical science had advanced far enough.  That’s right, I said deceased.  These three people were frozen at the exact moment of their death (that’s gotta be tricky to pull off), and now revived 300 years by Dr. Beverly Crusher herself; their company is comprised of a Rich Guy who played the stock market, A mother of two, and a drug addicted musician. 

The episode follows the newly resurrected boomers, as they grapple with the fact that they’ve jumped 300+ years into the future, and that their loved ones are all dead, etc. The Rich dude (Ralph ) has a particularly hard time coping with the fact that his fortune is both nonexistent and (even if it weren’t) meaningless, since the pursuit of wealth and power no longer holds any sway in the post-scarcity 24th century. The mother (Clare) understandably spends most of the runtime being depressed, until Troi points out that she has a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson, who will undoubtedly welcome his displaced ancient ancestor with open arms. Lastly, the musician (Sonny) pretty much stays a lecherous, sexist, alcoholic, but he’s mostly having a good time enjoying the replicators and hanging out with his new guitar. At various points they inconvenience Picard (who’s dealing with more important things in the other plotline), but mostly they kind of sit around as the Enterprise crew smugly judge them for being ignorant and confused, until they’re transferred to another ship that will take them back to earth and become someone else’s problem.

Plotline #2 -  Starfleet outposts along the Neutral Zone (the established border between the Federation and the Romulan Empire) are being destroyed, and Picard has been ordered to check out if the Romulans are to blame.  Most of the Episode deals with Picard getting the bridge crew to study the Romulans so they can form a strategy, but that’s easier said than done, since it’s been decades since anyone has heard from them.

Anyways, when they finally arrive along the edge of ‘the zone’, Worf makes a shocking revelation that their outposts aren’t destroyed, but rather completely missing, since there would be some sign of debris otherwise.  Shortly thereafter a Romulan ship decloaks, and their captain explains to Picard that their outposts are also missing, and figured it was the Federation’s doing, but now realize it must have been someone-or-something else. Thankfully cooler heads prevail, and both sides agree to collaborate on solving this mystery later on, and then leave, but not before making a thinly-veiled threat that they’ll be back to cause more trouble down the road.

So, on that disconcerting note, the Enterprise optimistically heads back to its regular business because this is the finale, and we need to wrap things up until next season!

The Verdict

The thing is, both plot outlines have plenty of potential, in their own right.  A story about displaced-wealthy-20th-century-folk struggling to fit into a society that has no place for their ideologies, is a perfect theme for Star Trek. And I’ll admit, there’s every chance that the execution of such a story would come off as pretentious and out-of-touch as anything else the show put out during this season, but even a failed attempt would be interesting to watch… provided of course that it was the primary focus of the episode.  My biggest issue wasn’t how hilariously proud of itself the Hurley's script is for criticizing capitalism (while we’re at it, did you know slavery and genocide are also bad? Follow me, for more deep insights!), but rather that the story doesn’t really go anywhere, or do anything with the subject matter.

Ralph (the survivor with the most screen time) is arrogant and demeaning to the crew because he’s used to getting his own way, and we are made to understand that his love of money is directly tied to his character flaws, which is fine, but then what? At one point there’s a scene where he disregards Picard’s orders (to calm the fuck down and stay out of the way), and chooses to intrude on bridge just in time to see the Romulans being space-jerks, but there are no real consequences or thematic correlation, rendering the moment pointless. In the end Ralph seemingly resigns himself to accepting his new lot in life, but has nothing in the way of a meaningful epiphany to help him reach that point. Clare and Sonny both have similarly meandering “journeys” as well. Clare ultimately takes comfort in knowing she has living a descendant (who doesn’t know her, or share any cultural values), while Sonny just happily concludes that since everyone he knows is dead, he doesn’t need to worry about facing any accountability for his past (and seemingly hurtful) life choices.  Remember kids, the secret to finding inner peace is in outliving everyone you've ever wronged!

Meanwhile, the “Romulans-are-back” story line is conceptually more exciting, but it takes almost the entire episode for anything to happen. The most intriguing development is the revelation that some other unknown entity may pose a threat big enough to challenge both the Federation and Romulan empire simultaneously, but then it’s quickly tossed away in favour of a generalized tease about the Romulans stepping up as the show’s primary antagonist. It’s not so much that it’s bad, but like the “boomers-in-space” story, it doesn’t really go anywhere, leaving us with what is essentially a promise that more interesting episodes will continue the story “some other time.”

Now before anyone gets up in arms, yes I am aware that this episode was originally intended as the first in a multi-episode arc, before the writers strike forced them to rework their plan [more on this below].  Be that as it may, even if part 2 had both A) existed, and B) rocked hard, this is still a weakly structured episode.  That’s not to say I hated ‘the neutral zone’ altogether, but I certainly can’t say I thought it was good. 

Nice try guys, maybe next time.

1.5 stars (out of 5)

Parting Thoughts

Apathetic utopia: One thing that doesn’t sit right with me is the sheer disregard that Picard and many of his crew show for the space-boomer’s safety and well being. For starters, Riker was barely willing to let Data check out the capsule to begin with (even after Data points out that it could have historical value, if nothing else), but even after Data and Worf discover the bodies, Riker seems put out by Data’s insistence that they be preserved.  Then, to make matters worse, when Picard hears that the SB’s have been revived he’s downright irritable with Data, arguing that he should have left the survivors behind because “they WERE dead at the time.”  But like… here’s the thing, Dr. Crusher examined their bodies and discovered that all of them could be revived with relative ease, which suggests they were only clinically dead, and it’s commonly accepted that the window of revival in the Trek universe is significantly larger than our present day reality.  So yeah, they were technically dead, I suppose, but not irretrievably, which I would argue comes with a clear moral responsibility. The context for Picard’s ambivalence toward the situation is that he’s stressed about the upcoming Romulan mission, but that’s still an oddly callous stance for a man who professes the sanctity of life.

Silly things I find interesting: Introducing, the Borg! …kinda.  I can’t remember if the missing outposts are ever mentioned again in the show, but the intended continuation of this story was originally meant to serve as an introduction to the Borg, who would have been revealed as the true culprits. Obviously that didn’t pan out, but it’s interesting to think what might have been.

In fairness to the writers, a big part of why the script was so lacklustre is, once again, due to the strike. Basically, once a writers strike is underway, productions aren’t allowed to make any changes to a script until the union signs an agreement. Knowing the strike was imminent, it seems Maurice Hurley had no choice but to whip up a completed script based on the first draft, in only a couple days time.  Needless to say, the results speak for themselves.  Ultimately, I think it would have made more sense for the studio to keep the script for the following season; ‘Conspiracy’ was already a much more exciting episode, and would have served as a stronger season finale.

Did you know that... in Canada (where I'm from) our "Universal health coverage" still doesn't cover cryogenic suspension. So reach out to your MP and let them know we demand better comprehensive coverage before the next federal election! [All kidding aside, we should be doing that anyway. Seriously, how is dental not inherently included in that?]

[thegeminisage]

time for a star trek update. sunday we watched ds9's "dax" and tng's "tapestry," and last night* we watched ds9's "the passenger"

*times changed as always i am actually typing this up at 1am and scheduling it to go up later

dax (ds9):

i feel like we sorely needed this episode bc we havent gotten much out of dax yet, except for how she (he? to refer to the old one right) and sisko fucked twins together or something (and good for them)

i like the ethical questions it presents. IS jadzia responsible for crimes curzon committed? she both is and isn't the same person, but who she is can't be split down the middle, so how can you be fair to both halves?

WWWILD that people fight for the honor of being possessed by a worm. i think that sounds horrible. not everyone has to agree with me, of course

i like whatever sisko and dax have going on. "you used to be way older than me and my father figure and we fucked twins one time but now you're a SUPER hot young woman who i both know very well and also don't know at all and one time you touched my face oh So gently." like, what the hell was that, firstly, and secondly, he can't even decide if he's attracted to her or not. the upshot of it all being that if jadzia was only jadzia she would, hilariously, be way too young for him

kira didn't have much screentime in this episode but i like when she and sisko instantly and nonverbally worked out that she was gonna be a shit about bureaucracy simply to get dax's ass out of the frying pan. and she smiled the whole time she did it!! i love i love i LOVE that she smiles when she's angry. one hundo percent my fav thing about her

they didn't exactly answer any of the questions they set up in this episode bc dax got off on a technicality (didn't do the murder) but i kind of like it better that way. like, you really CAN'T answer where dax ends and jadzia begins, that's the point of it. if i was ranking ds9 characters from most to least favorite (adn trust me i WILL get to that), dax would probably be near be near the bottom, not bc i don't like her but because usually she's very closed off and not interesting, but this was fascinating af. good for her

tapestry (tng):

this episode fucking sucked ass

firstly, q didn't add anything to this episode. like he didn't save picard from danger, or affect change in any way whatsoever. picard coded but lived. that's the exact same thing that would have happened had q not interfered. so what did he even do that for? normally he gives a reason even if it is a bad one but this time it's ???

way too few moments of q wanting desperately to fuck picard while picard wants desperately to be away from him bc he a wretched little man. i bet he watched picard fuck that girl though

which by the way is sooo weird. she's too young to be kissing sir patrick stewart, love and light

the story picard told about getting stabbed to wesley was actually one of the cooler moments of that episode, but seeing it acted out, especially by the actor who played young picard, made it...less cool. sir patrick stewart did a better job because he's sir patrick stewart, but i was so done with the episode by the time we got there that i didn't care

what was the message of this episode exactly? it's dumb to have regrets? you should always get into bar brawls that can kill you and you're a bad friend if you don't do it? don't attempt to initiate a romantic relationship with a girl you've been crushing on who has stated that she likes you back? picard's like "hey maybe we shouldn't provoke these guys who can kill us over a fucking game" and suddenly everyone in his life thinks he's a bad person?? like he was afraid for his life and his friend was just bulldozing over all his concerns THAT GUY is a bad person. not picard?? for once??

johnny nickname stupid. actually picard's whole younger self persona sucks. it's like what society thinks captain kirk was, because of KIRK DRIFT. he's a caricature. and old present day picard is a pussy who never leaves the ship and told worf to kill himself?? is there no middle ground???

oh yeah and isn't it a little insulting to be like...my god, this LOSER who carries around papers all day and does nothing else, this life is a fate worse than death! it's better to be DEAD than in a body of a low ranking science officer. If You Don't Get Stabbed In Bar Fights No One Will Ever Notice You You Will Never Be Offered Opportunities

like sorry who did they think watched star trek...surely not people with day jobs which involved carrying papers to superiors

at least we have dom jot. it look sooooo fun i was utterly captivated by it i wanna play it in REAL LIFE

anyway. bad episodes when we not only don't have the side characters doing nothing but they straight up arent even here. SIGH. i want tng to be good so bad please please please let the next ones be good

the passenger (ds9):

HELLOOOOOO this one served SOOO much cunt. like, first of all, i want that twink obliterated

it's increasingly funny to be watching julian get shot down by dax. it's like the vibe q and picard have but more grounded and less horrible. and you can tell she really likes him but not Like That, more like a "aww this is my pet twink who keeps hitting on me hes so funny" kind of way. she thinks he's adorable but wouldn't fuck him.

I HOPE. i'll be crushed if he has any romantic entanglements because i want to exclusively imagine him with garak but also because whatever he has going on with jadzia is really funny

also, whatever speech he was making to kira in the shuttle about how fucking great he is when this is his first field assignment. he is so unwell and also funny. her giving up in sheer incredulity and playing along for the bit because he's so stupid you can't even be insulted was like. really good.

odo my beloved...he was really autistic in this episode. he was like, i need to know exactly what my duties are and who's in charge and know that i won't be undermined here. considering the xenophobia he's dealt with i absolutely get it. AND!!! he gave that annoying yellowshirt guy full credit where it was due even though he was being annoying and a big meanie earlier. i loved also that sisko was straight with him, said he liked him, AND!!! stood up for him behind his back. picard never supports his people like this he's too busy telling worf to kill himself ro whatever it is that he does

i also like, of course, all that he has going on with quark. "i'm always watching him" or whatever he said. so true. not to be space racist, but if you'd told me before i watched ds9 i'd have so much fun with the ferengi i'd have thought you were out of your fucking mind

anyway, i haven't decided if anyone in ds9 is my specialest little princess yet but odo, sisko, and kira are currently my top contenders.

oh, speaking of that annoying yellowshirt guy, i was SOOO sure the bad guy had jumped in him bc of his personality transplant but he really did just get his act together and the bad guy was in bashir instead. LOVED that twist bc star trek so rarely manages to trick me, but also i solved it ahead of time because of Clues so i got to feel tricked AND feel smart

the guy who plays julian certainly did act. in those scenes. he opened his mouth so wide to enunciate. he spoke so slowly. it was so fucking hilarious

i like when he got back and he was like it's me, don't shoot! they shot his ass anyway. i literally want that twink obliterated

anyway 9/10 great episode the only thing i missed was o'brien

NEXT TIME: tng's "birthright," parts i & ii, hopefully at the same time lol

[yourbuerokrat2]

@pepperchipper

I really do think that if Q remained human longer that Picard would end up chastisizing him like he does in the first picture of dialogue maybe even having said in the exact ssame thing the day before. Just a whole lot less fond and very clearly frustrated about now having to add Q of 'things I am apparently somewhat responsible for'.

I really love the lightning and the plants making it clear that in Qs dream they are not on the Enterprise but instead somewhere warm and bright.

Qs want for Picard to protect him must be rather humiliating for him but it's also understandable since Picard really has the vibe of some really stable to rely on most of the the times but Picard clearly does not want Q to rely on him in reality because there are already a ship full of people who do that. And even if Picard personally did just care even a little bit about Q and Qs situation the entity-turned-human is just pretty, very low on his lists of priorities because Q is now just one person who during his last few 'visits' to the Enterprise posed a great danger to his crew.

I also like the way Q is very touchy in his dreams while when he wakes up there is both a literal and a figurative wall between them and Picard spends most of his time on the Bridge where Q clearly is not allowed on or in his office where Picard makes it very clear to Q that he does not want him there. And now he can't even just materialize right behind or next to Picard and the few times he does end up being in Picards company and he tries to get close the Captain immediatly puts some distance between or looks at him in a bit of a cold way.

And then of course there is the 'I need you' which is incredibly ironic in this situation because Q is the one in desperate need of Picard and whatever charity he is willing to give Q.

I like to think that he is on the Brig of the Enterprise because that would be so painful. To have to deal with the dream version of Picard that loves him back while having to dealwith a Picard that ignores him in favour of more important things most of the time and who makes it clear that he considers Q an unnecessary burden whenever they meet.

Pretty sure that Q has committed enough horrible crimes in his long, long life for him to deserve prison but still the pan out to show just how alone he is and feels is such a nice touch.

Simply adore the difference in colors.

Also may I suggest the same kind of angst continuing even after Q is once again a Q? Just that this time he 'inflicts' these fantasies upon himself then. Maybe thinking back on his dream and how wonderful he felt in that dream with a fantasy about Picard loving him back that he briefly conjures up a reality like this, telling himself that he won't feel as empty and desperate as he did when he was a human and that this is just self-indulgence this time.

And for a brief moment it works because Q can create and make this 'dream' last longer since he is in control but it all ends up being even more empty than the dream because he knows/is aware of the Picard who kisses him with a 'mon armour' is fake and that the real one hasn't so much as thought about Q in a month.

Only this time he willfully exits his fantasy only to find himself alone in the vast emptiness of space.

Anothger interesting aspect about qcrd with a human Q is that even if Picard did feel something for Q he would not allow himself to do anything about it because I am very sure that there is an ethical code in Starfleet about not engaging with a prisoner/asylum seeker in a romantic or sexual relationship because of the power dynamic. Especially since Picard is the Captain and Q already has shown an attachment to him. So I can see a Picard who may feel some kind of attraction/affection for human Q rejecting him with the logical reason that a relationship between them would be unhealthy right now and that he does not want to further Qs reliance on him by adding more emotional weight to it.

sweet dreams are made of this...WAKE UP, Q

[startreklogicoftheforce]

Star Trek: Logic of the Force - Chapter Five

STARDATE 57898.9

Two months had elapsed since Sonal's arrival on the Enterprise. In this time, Picard had witnessed unparalleled efficiency and dedication to duty. Whenever a problem arose, Sonal promptly resolved it. And amidst interpersonal tensions among crew members, Sonal imparted ancient Surakian wisdom, fostering reconciliation. To all appearances, he was a Vulcan through and through.

However, beneath the surface, he was so much more. Beyond being a fusion of human and Vulcan heritage, a product of a half-human, half-Vulcan male and a full-blooded Romulan female, he harbored a profound power that had slumbered for eons. Immersed in deep meditation, he heard the voice of his newfound spiritual guide.

"PICARD'S HATRED OF THE BORG WILL TURN OUT TO BE USEFUL IN OUR PLANS TO BRING BACK THE GALACTIC EMPIRE…"

Sonal opened his eyes. Now, he was Darth Chaos, his eyes radiating an incandescent orange as the Dark Side's hold on him deepened. "He is a remarkably useful pawn, my master," Chaos declared. "His abhorrence of the Borg is deeply rooted." A surge of anger engulfed him, his raised eyebrows evoking an uncanny resemblance to the malevolent entity depicted in ancient Earth's religious beliefs—a figure synonymous with evil and darkness. Chaos's voice assumed a low, guttural tone. "Yet, my animosity...runs even deeper…" His gaze shifted to a wall-mounted portrait above his bunk—a striking woman with dark tresses. "I shall avenge you, Caitlin Yar…"

Abruptly, the door chime resounded. Hastily, Sonal concealed his inner turmoil, his eyes reverting to their usual hue. "Enter." The door slid open, and Counselor Troi stepped in. Sonal stood up. "Counselor Troi, your presence is most welcome."

Troi regarded Sonal with a trace of concern in her eyes. "Is something troubling you, Sonal?"

"I strive to emulate Vulcan perfection to the best of my abilities," Sonal confessed. He guided Troi to a picture on the wall. "Yet, there are moments when I struggle to release the grip on the memory of the only woman I've ever loved."

"Who was she?" Troi asked.

"Her name," Sonal continued, "was Caitlin Yar. She happened to be the niece of one of your former colleagues, Tasha Yar. We crossed paths on Turkana IV. I was accompanying my mother, Saavik, during our visit to the planet. It was there that we encountered Caitlin and her mother, Ishara." Sonal's expression softened. "Caitlin was the only person I ever allowed myself to express my emotions to. Contrary to common misconceptions, Counselor, Vulcans aren't devoid of sentiment or warmth. We simply opt to employ logic in shaping our decisions."

Troi inquired with a touch of sorrow, "What happened to her?"

"Two years ago," Sonal's voice began to waver, "they were en route to visit me on Vulcan. They happened upon a Borg cube. Ishara lost her life while shielding Caitlin from danger, and Caitlin…"

"Caitlin was assimilated," Troi murmured softly.

"Yes," Sonal replied, a chill lacing his tone. "Since then, I resolved to lead my life guided solely by logic, eschewing the affliction of human emotions."

Troi gently placed her hand on Sonal's shoulder. "Sonal, would you be willing to join me in Ten Forward? Will, the Captain, and I would appreciate the opportunity to spend some quality time with you and perhaps enjoy your lyre music."

Sonal's eyebrows arched as he regarded Troi. "I would gladly accept your invitation." Retrieving his lyre, he walked alongside Troi to Ten Forward—a venue that offered refreshments and camaraderie to the entire crew around the clock.

"Welcome, Commander Sonal," greeted the Captain. "How about a taste of Romulan Ale?"

"Yes, please," Sonal responded.

Seated together, Picard, Riker, Troi, and Sonal savored their drinks. Troi's words were slightly slurred from the effects of the intoxicating blue beverage as she proposed, "Captain, Sonal has his Vulcan lyre here. Perhaps he could treat us to some music."

Riker chimed in, "I'd love to hear that."

Picard's voice resonated with enthusiasm, "How about it, Commander?"

Sonal stood, clutching his lyre, and addressed their anticipation with a hint of irony, "Such eagerness is an illogical trait. However, yes, I shall oblige."

Taking a seat on a solitary stool upon the small musical stage, Sonal launched into an Earth tune from the twentieth century:

"REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG? YOU SHONE LIKE THE SUN. SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND! NOW THERE'S A LOOK IN YOUR EYES, LIKE BLACK HOLES IN THE SKY. SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND!"

Unbeknownst to the Enterprise crew, Sonal kept his eyelids firmly shut, concealing the dark orange hue that manifested when Darth Chaos held sway. He was immersed in communion with the Force, his animosity toward the Borg pushing him to his breaking point.

At the zenith of his disdain for the Borg, Palpatine's voice reached Sonal's consciousness. "Use the Force, Lord Chaos, and you shall exact...your...vengeance." He harnessed the full extent of his Force powers, conjuring a wormhole into existence that ensnared the Enterprise.

Abruptly, emergency klaxons blared, plunging the ship into red alert. Crew members scrambled to their feet, rushing to their designated stations. Upon reaching the bridge, Picard, Riker, Troi, and Sonal collaborated to make sense of the situation.

Then, as swiftly as it had appeared, the wormhole vanished. Picard sensed an eerie presence. "Sonal," he addressed quietly, "where are we?"

"In the Delta Quadrant, sir," Sonal answered without glancing away from his station. His attention was captured by an old Earth radio signal. "Sir, I'm detecting an ancient Earth radio signal."

"Display it on the main screen," Picard ordered. The screen depicted what appeared to be a partially constructed ship of staggering proportions—impeccably symmetrical and astonishingly immense. The scale was beyond comprehension, rendering the Enterprise minuscule by comparison. Instinctively, Sonal recognized the vessel. Memories of his father's tales from his childhood resurfaced.

"V'Ger," Sonal murmured.

Picard's expression was one of astonishment. "The V'Ger encountered by James T. Kirk. So, that planet of living machines…"

"The Borg homeworld," Sonal interjected, his smile taking on an eerie cast as his eyes began to radiate an orange hue. Darth Chaos had ensnared Picard as he intended, and Palpatine's influence over Darth Chaos was equally effective. Palpatine understood that the annihilation of the Borg would seal Sonal's descent into the Dark Side.

"Inquiry about our arrival seems irrelevant," Chaos remarked. "Our current location is the only pertinent fact. And now," he continued, his voice adopting a sinister timbre, "your opportunity for revenge presents itself." Chaos gestured with his hand, a command infused with a sense of dark power.

Picard's gaze became fixed on the machine-infused planet, his consciousness manipulated by the Force. "Yes," he agreed with a slither of malice, "revenge is within reach."

"Your nanoprobes will not malfunction," Chaos asserted, his hand commanding the unfolding scene.

Entrapped by Chaos' influence, Picard echoed, "My nanoprobes will not malfunction."

Chaos delivered the ultimate directive, "V'Ger and the Borg home planet must be annihilated. Focus all phaser power on the dish."

"Commander Worf," Picard issued the directive, "redirect all available phaser energy toward the dish and initiate an attack on V'Ger and the Borg homeworld."

However, Worf expressed his concerns, "But Captain, this action could cause the nanoprobes to malfunction. It defies the Prime Directive, altering history."

Abruptly, Darth Chaos whirled around, revealing his enraged countenance and his blazing orange eyes to the entire crew. His voice surged with rage, carrying a guttural and venomous tone, as he addressed Worf, "Your Captain has given you an explicit command, Klingon!" He pointed his fingers at Worf, discharging scorching lightning that coursed through Worf's body, inflicting excruciating torment. Chaos' malevolent smile grew as he extended his hand towards Worf's terminal. With a deft wave, he orchestrated the obliteration of the machine-infused planet and the Borg-constructed vessel—originally created for the ancient Earth probe Voyager VI—reducing them to nothingness.

With the eradication of the Borg collective, Picard sensed the gradual fading of the nanoprobes. Sonal's promise about the nanoprobes not malfunctioning had held true.

Chaos had executed his vengeance. As Sonal began to resurface, he focused on the remnants of the parasitic race that had inflicted tragedy upon his cherished Caitlin. "Finally," Sonal intoned, "you can rest, knowing the Borg's reign of terror has been extinguished."

Picard regarded Sonal with a gratified smile. "You've altered history. That implies I never endured assimilation by the Borg."

Commander Sonal gestured once more, conjuring the reopening of the wormhole, which subsequently transported the Enterprise back to its original point in Federation space and time, prior to Sonal's manipulation that had transported the ship to the Delta Quadrant.

"Indeed," Sonal affirmed, "and your cybernetic heart shall remain impervious to malfunction." Picard and Sonal's attention turned towards the incapacitated Worf. "What... what happened here?" Sonal inquired.

Riker, embodying his characteristic sense of responsibility, stood up resolutely. "You're well aware, Commander. This was your doing." He signaled for two security personnel to advance towards Sonal. "Commander Sonal, on behalf of Starfleet, you are under arrest. Pending further instructions, you are to be confined to your quarters."

[therealaves-blog1]

I want the void to hear my takes on Star Trek: Coda

Okay 2nd book time: The Ashes of Tomorrow by James Swallow (I am unfamiliar with his work). I enjoyed this one more than the first, despite some choices made here which bum me out. Still kind of feels like the Picard show ft. those other characters rn, kind of surprised how little Voyager’s crew have shown up tbh. Like we get a lil Paris and Torres this and Tuvok is hanging around on Titan but thats it. Like did everyone fuck off with Janeway into the galactic void? Comics ass issue with mixed continuity. Anyway.

We open with Sisko (wise choice) now captain of a galaxy class and responding to a time snake attack in cardassian space, he gets a vision in the middle of it and sees ruined bajor. He kills it with a time generator strapped to a torpedo (thanks Prophets). On Bajor, Kira sees her mother who shows her the same vision and disappears, the wormhole is being fucky and has been for a few weeks so she looks up in concern.

Picard and Co show up at Starfleet HQ to give the whole time war info, Riker has more nightmares and sides with the people saying ‘we deal with the time snakes because how the fuck do we deal with time war’ Picard is dissapointed as is everyone else. He talks to Riker and Riker has picked up the villain ball so hes like ‘you cant make this choice,’ before going off to have more weird dreams. 

Picard says fuck that and recruits a ton of people including Tom Paris who is supposed to be spying on him. They plot a heist and Geordie texts Data. Spock is meditating about reunification on Vulcan when he feels someone he mind melded with going through some shit and tries to figure out who it is. Pulawski (remember her? from TNG?) texts Bev some confidential files to help with Rene’s whole aging nightmare. Garak informs a semi comatose Bashir that Dax is dead which snaps him back to lucidity. Garak seems to be in charge of cardassia which isnt the worst option, but still not good. He smuggles him to Bajor to see Sisko (Sisko is heading to Bajor quietly)

Someone tries to steal the Enterprise from spacedock so Riker shuts it down (they apparently learned from Kirk lol). He boards the ships while being a lil paranoid and unstable and discovers Paris and Torres had stolen it and Picard and co escape in the Aventine. Riker is getting hot, meanwhile Spock figures out he’s getting brain touched by Worf who is being haunted by Time ghosts (of himself, from dead timelines), and decides to help him out. Alexander has joined with Worf and the renegades and is enjoying being with his terrible dad. You deserve better kid, which I guess he had because hes federation ambassador to Qo’Nos and had a hot Klingon lady wife who works with him. 

Data and Lal watch different species get got by the Devidians on some kind of turbo range sensors while hiding in the lab Soong built Data in. A ship comes out of orbit and Data’s like ‘what the what’ and Lal says she texted Geordie their address cause they’re too disconnected and need to do something. A time snake attacks the Klingon temple planet with the time crystals. Its wounded and so crashes into normal time, but splits into thousands of little snakes and attacks. Chancellor Martok, who was leading the defense of the planet climbs out of his busted Bird of Prey and charges the horde of snakes with his crew. Like Dax he dies off screen, tho with a much more appropriate end.

Data meets with Picard and Bowers (Dax’s XO now captain) and he manages to talk Data into helping. Lal is great shes very much on team ‘lets fight the wave of apocalypse.’ good kid. They detect a ship (The Titan) and Data reactivates his cloak. Worf gets hailed and Riker is being weird and references the shadows which makes Worf thinks hes having the same dreams. He opens fire and the Worf’s malaise gets the better of him and hes slow enough to respond that he takes some licks. Data interferes, launching drones from the moon that Tholian web the Titan so they can escape. Data explicitly says ‘I did it better than them lol’ They beam out and Riker is pissed, to the point of busting open the bubble in spite of the risk to the ship. Its too late they’ve already cheesed it. And hes pissed and calls Titan’s captain the wrong rank before going down to the holodeck and being confused about his history including how many kids he got. Wow, messy.

Will we get an answer for why hes being such a prick? Will it be satisfying? Altogether liking this part. There’s some references to some great machine ressurecting Data and Lal which I guess was a prior series. I will not be doing research on that. Sounds cool or whatever. Really enjoyed Tom and Belanna being lil shits to wacky Riker, feels like something they would do. Tuvok hasnt gotten too much to do other than be profiled by Riker at any moment anything goes wrong. Which is fucked up dog. Excited for when Cap Vale and Tuvok throw him in sickbay for acting crazy. More DS9 so far which is neat too. We love the Emissary, we love based terrorist Kira Nerys (even if she has taken the cloth).

Nice that they’re incoporating stuff from the new series (like the time crystals on klingon temple planet) ((assuming that wasnt already a thing and I forgot). Nice to throw in Spock to make it extra delineated from the main canon timeline. But also, lol lmao, of course Spock is going to get involved.

[marymoss1971]

Random thoughts, Picard 3.10 "The Last Generation

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As a tribute to the TNG crew--this was beautiful. Matalas was right--this ending was much more satisfying than Nemesis.

As a conclusion of the season though--I thought it was anticlimactic.

 So, Jean-Luc hooks himself up to Jack so he can "speak" with him. Jack frees himself from the Queen's control because of Jean-Luc's little pep talk. I know I'm supposed to be touched at how beautiful this moment is and reflect on the power of a father's love. But, I'm sorry, it just seems too easy.

 I also feel bad for all those young officers who have to live with what happened when assimilated. There had to have been a lot of counseling going on that year.

 I did LOVE the Enterprise flying into the Borg cube to destroy the transmitter. It brought back memories of the destruction of the Death Star in Star Wars. It was fantastic. In fact, every scene on the Ent-D and the Titan was fantastic. I don't know why Geordi doubted Data could do it. Data's an android who can calculate and amazing speeds.

 I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED Shaw's glowing recommendation, before all this even started, of Seven being promoted to captain. I also absolutely LOVED the Titan being rechristened as at the Enterprise-G. Captain Seven in command with her first officer, Raffi-- it warmed my heart. Ditto to Worf hugging Raffi. Oh, and the voice cameo for UFP President Anton Chekov was awesome!

 Well, Matalas was right--no Janeway. Not a surprise to me because I believed him when he said so. I am bummed we didn't at least get Harry Kim. All the cameos this season were great. I just wished we'd ha a few more from Voyager and it would've been great to have at least one from Deep Space Nine! (and, no, Worf doesn't count)

 Wow. Jack was fast-tracked to ensign. I guess I could see that--he does have the life experience from working with his mother. Plus, if Seven can be fast-tracked to first officer, Jack can be fast-tracked to ensign. I did love the part when he beams onto the Ent-G and starts giving orders. Jack is fun. I wish Seven had given him a specific duty instead of just creating one. However, I’m sure since he's on the command track and he'll be trained in other things. (I'm thinking of Worf's line in TNG Season 1 "the captain wants his junior officers to learn")

 I liked Picard's statement that "names mean almost nothing" when Jack mentioned nepotism because I ALWAYS think that when someone brings it up. Yes, having a name could very well get somebody in the door, but they need to have the talent as well.

 No mention of Laris. We know she has important work but what of her and Picard? You'd think she'd be mentioned in passing at least at the end. [Full disclosure: This comment only occurred to me because I've seen other people complain about lack of Laris this season. I don't know if I would've thought of her if left to my own devices]

Speaking of Laris, I've seen comments on Twitter like "She's waiting for Picard." Yes, she was, I'm sure, but she knew the score. She recognized Jean-Luc had feelings for Beverly. So, I highly doubt she was pining for him. When he didn't show up, she knew the reason. (plus, he may've contacted her off-screen after everything was over)

I've seen lots of people bringing up lack of mention for Kestra but I never saw the big deal. Riker says "I knew you and Kestra were safe" Deanna doesn't contradict so she's safe. I just used my imagination and figured she was either at the Academy or visiting her grandmother on Betazed. 

Lack of Seven/Raffi didn't bother me, neither did lack of Picard/Beverly (or even Picard/Laris) since I cared more about the story than any romance. However, I do feel a sad on behalf of others that it did bother. Matalas said there wasn't room for romance, but he should've been able to squeeze in some kind of meaningful moments--especially for Saffi. 

I think it's for the best that we didn't learn Geordi's wife's name. That way, people who ship him with Leah can imagine it's her and others can imagine it's someone else.

 That ending shot of the old crew playing poker--OMG, that was a pitch perfect ending!

 I've seen some reviewers saying that this finale "stuck with the landing." In terms of the season's arc, I disagree. The whole Borg/Changeling plot just didn't work for me and neither did the resolution with Jack. However, in terms of wanting a satisfying last hurrah for the TNG cast--it definitely succeeded!

 I could've done without the Q cameo though. I get that he's a beloved character and it was a nice call back to Encounter at Farpoint. But, still, it's overkill.

 In closing, I really, really hope we get Star Trek: Legacy. We need another 25th century show.

[diamondot]

hey hey, this episode was directed by Adam Nimoy!

love it when Dr Crusher lectures a crew member about a minor flesh wound that she can instantly heal

wait do you think that this guy also asked Geordi to help him with his interspecies mating ritual research

HE JUST KEPT TALKING IN ONE LONG INCREDIBLY UNBROKEN SENTENCE MOVING FROM TOPIC TO TOPIC SO THAT NO ONE HAD A CHANCE TO INTERRUPT IT WAS REALLY QUITE HYPNOTIC

at least Geordi had a good time

uncomfortable to be the only one not caught up in a temporal anomaly. hurts the feelings, you know? makes you feel excluded

i also scream in fear and pain when i touch moldy fruit

the Enterprise and the Romulan warbird caught in temporal amber mid-fight is actually pretty neat

oh good! we're coming up with a way to handwave away the paradoxes

yes let's split the party

hey! there she is! it's Patricia Tallman! Romulan Lyta!

Picard got the temporal bends

good on them for being able to just read alien computer readouts

hmm are the Romulans getting in trouble with experimental technology again

oh nooooo Geordi got knocked out

"this man is not a Romulan" every turn in this episode is a left

so not only do they have to figure out how to save the Enterprise from certain destruction, they also have to save a bunch of alien babies

the alien babies are incubating in the Romulan engine core

Romulan Lyta isn't a Romulan either

it is very funny to watch everybody move backwards

"Captain??" "NO TIME TO EXPLAIN, NUMBER ONE"

they saved the Romulans AND the babies! hooray!

do you think it's actually possible for Data to turn his internal chronometer off

well hello there! have a seat! it's

Star Trek night

Timescape: it's 10pm. do you know where your starship is? it's 10pm. do you know where your starship is? it's 10pm. do you know wh

[hellodarjeeling]

August 1995 Playboy TNG Drinking Game

Prime Directive: Have one sip of beer per successfully met condition:

Anybody says: - "Open hailing frequencies." - "Medical emergency." - "Belay that order." - "Energize." - "You have the bridge." - "Hell," "damn" or any other profanity (see Riker's special swearing rules that appear later in this list).

Picard says: - "Make it so." - "Engage!" - "Proceed." - "Come" (two sips if it is said in his personal quarters). - "Captain's log"; two sips if it's supplemental.

Worf says: - "Impressive." - "Admirable."

Data says: - "Fascinating." - "Interesting." - "Accessing."

Riker: - Swears (two sips if it's "hell," whole beer if he asks, "What the hell is going on?") - Walks forward as if he were trying to knock down an imaginary door with his forehead. - Brags about his trombone.

Picard: - Straightens his uniform. - Tries to speak French.

Data: - Performs a self-diagnostic. - Reveals his innards. - Pets or holds Spot.

Geordi: - Sees something other people can't. - His VISOR is taken or is knocked off.

Beverly: - Can't figure out some bizarre medical problem.

Troi: - Talks about chocolate; two sips if she eats something chocolate. - Has an empathic insight about something that's really obvious.

Wesley: - Talks back to his mom.

O'Brien: - Speaks.

Anybody: - Drinks; four if it's Picard drinking Earl Grey tea. - Reads a book. - Is addressed by first name; two if there's some kind of sexual tension going on. - Appears in dress uniform (one sip per scene per officer). - Appears in casual clothes (one sip per scene per officer); two of it's Beverly in a sweater or Picard in his chest-revealing bedwear. - Plays an instrument; two if it's Data. - Preaches the Prime Directive; two if it's not Picard. - Preaches about "humanity's unique potential." - Implies that Ten Forward is a happening place.

Alerts: - Yellow alert: one sip. - Red alert: two sips. - Intruder alert: three sips.

Any time: - There's an argument in a turbolift. - A shuttle craft seems like an unsafe place to be. - Something goes wrong with the holodeck. - An "old earth saying" is brought up; two if Data has to have it explained to him. - Klingon is spoken; two sips per scene in which Klingons are alone and have no obvious reason to speak English but do so anyway. - A female character has flawless makeup after she's been through the wringer. - There's a token alien in the background with no lines; two if it's a Vulcan. - A communicator isn't working or is blocked. - Somebody uses a communicator or intercom without going to a panel or touching anything. - There's a countdown. - The Enterprise does battle (shots must be fired): two sips per scene. - The living quarters of the Enterprise separate from the ship before battle: the whole beer.

[jesternene]

Why is Sub Rosa about Addiction?

*** WARNING: Explicit content ***

When I first saw The Next Generation, I was warned about a certain episode in Season 7 called Sub Rosa. It was depicted as Beverly falling for a ghost and the erotic behavior was out of character and falls in the line of jokes because of how off hand it is. Even on IMDB, it is considered the 2nd worse episode of the entire series. I went in already with a bad frame of mind because of what I was told; however, when I first saw it, I ended up having a completely different view on what some called it the “sexy ghost episode”.

It is always nice to have a Beverly Crusher episode. I have enjoyed all of them and I think it is because of how Gates McFadden plays the character. She uniquely plays Beverly off as a strong independent woman but with a softer and more vulnerable side when needed. Example: In Lessons, she is curing Daren of a strain in her arm due to to much playing the Piano. Daren, unknown of Beverly’s feelings for Picard, begins to talk about how the Captain and her have been spending a lot of time together and how they seem to enjoy it. This moment is key because of how Beverly reacts. She talks to Daren professionally and even lends a little bit of advice, but the way Gates approached the character, you can tell just how much it hurts Beverly hearing Jean-Luc is growing closer to someone else; Almost as if someone had punched her in the gut. She remains pose but definitely inside she is hurting. It is brilliant and I think this is why so many fans love Gates and Beverly. Attached came 6 episodes before Sub Rosa and, as everyone knows, that is the episode where Jean-Luc and Beverly express (and turn down) their feelings to one another. This was a pivotal moment for the characters because after this they treated each other just a little bit differently then before; now enter Sub Rosa.

We all know the story: Beverly’s Nana has passed away and she is back to her home world to find out that her Nana’s lover is now interested (or shall I say obsessed) with Beverly. This is important because this is where I think the fans get confused on just how the context of the story is read. Yes, there are scenes about a lover and erotic moments but when you really think about what Ronin was doing, it actual comes off as an abuser who is using the women in this family for his own benefit; to the point they become addicted to him. As Beverly said, anaphasic energy is completely unstable and it needs an organic host to survive. He clearly figured out the Howard Women had what he needed and made sure he touched on their vulnerability (possibly loneliness) to trick them into doing exactly what he wanted. 800 years later, he has passed his obsession to every woman in her family, including her Nana. With Felisa Howard gone, it is now Beverly’s turn to enter the “Family Tradition” -- one thing Ronin did not expect was Beverly wasn’t as lonely as he thought. Her love for Jean-Luc and her crew helped her fight him off.

Of course, she almost didn’t fight him off. He was able to seduce her by telling her how much he loved her and how he will always take care of her. All she had to do was leave everything she knew behind and once they were together, she would always feel “loved”. This love isn’t sexual love, it is abuse and because they are molecular compatible, his seduction is like an addiction for her. If anyone knows someone who has had an addiction or has been an addict of some kind themselves, the addiction is a problem because of how well it makes you feel good that you have to have more. Addiction isn’t for the weak and even a Doctor like Beverly can fall short.

This scene is VERY important. When I first saw this, I thought to myself “She is tweaking!” and on some level she is. She is desperate for his touch and his feeling that she would do anything, like abandon Starfleet, to keep her addiction going. Unlike the women before her, however, she did have people that cared for her and intervened. As much as I felt Deanna was funny in this episode, going off on what Beverly was telling her, she did (later on) become concerned for her friend, feeling that Beverly was not thinking rationally and knew it was a mistake; but as a good friend, she needed her to make that mistake in order to learn from it. But Jean-Luc wasn’t going to sit back and let Beverly get hurt. After 25 years, and loving her for so long, he couldn’t let her do this alone. When Jean-Luc interrupts the merge with Ronin, this scene is also important because you can see how conflicted Beverly is. She tells him this is the new me and to leave her alone but Jean-Luc let’s her know that he loves how she use to be and he isn’t going anywhere. Even after Ronin steps in, Jean-Luc lets him know he isn’t going to make this easy for him, to the point where he harms Jean-Luc, thinking Beverly will go with him to stop Data and Geordi from unearthing Felisa’s coffin. Cue in another key moment, she doesn’t. She fights him and you can tell the effects are wearing off and she stays to save Jean-Luc. Her love for him is still evident and no addiction like Ronin can stop that.

The very end is the best part because of how bravely Beverly fights off Ronin and destroys him. Not only to save herself but to save her friends and crew. When Geordi’s life was in danger, she put herself in danger to save him. Like I said before, this is what Ronin didn’t expect; her love for other people. Just like some other addicts, they are to come out the other side because of the support and love of their friends and family and because of that support they are able to fend off the addiction. Even after she kills Ronin, she collapses and burst into tears. Not because she lost Ronin but because she felt ashamed of what she got herself into; even though part of it was not her fault (just like any addict). This is why in Picard’s log he states that her recovery will take more of a personal nature. It was going to take Beverly a long time to overcome what had happened to her; she was used and abused for someone elses benefit and she was going to have to come to terms with that.

Now can you see why this is more about addiction then just a sex driven crazy love story? Ronin was a fucking abuser, plain and simple. He only cared about himself and he didn’t care how much he was actually hurting the women as long as he got what he wanted. He made them think it was love by expressing those “erotic” feelings and because it made them feel so good, they did whatever he wanted. It is kind of a horrible way of thinking about it but it explains how Beverly can easily fall victim to it. Someone is addicted to something in their life, no matter how strong willed they may be. It can be drugs, alcohol, food, and in our day and age, even screen time. It is our way to suppress the feelings we may not want to feel; like loneliness that Beverly was probably feeling after what she and Jean-Luc went through in Attached. She was an easy target at this point.

I hope when people now see Sub Rosa, they can see it in a whole new light. Yes, some scenes are a little uncomfortable to watch and I am sure where uncomfortable to film (this is why Gates is an amazing actress and why Jonathon is a phenomenal director) but the story is there, you just have to look pass those oddly made scenes.

So, to recap here is why I love Sub Rosa:

Beverly looks AMAZING in her scenes. Her hair, her outfits, just perfect

The Love of Jean-Luc and Beverly are very important in this episode and it explores more on just how they truly feel about each other

The way Jonathon directed the episode, made it more hauntingly beautiful and the way Gates performed it just added to the mystery and the sadness.

Do you agree? Do you still see it as a funny oddly made Sexy Ghost Story? I would love to hear your thoughts!

[yourbuerokrat2]

@stellarred requested a story where Q possesses Beverly or Laris in order to 'have' Picard and it made me think of two stories. This one is with a darker version of Q who actually posses Beverly after the TNG finale since I never really fully watched PIC

Q was .. desperate for a lack of a better word. Desperate, angry and frustrated while the rest of the Continuum was having a good laugh at his expense. He had specifically shown Jean-Luc a future where he and Beverly got divorced, where his former crew was spread out and where even his previous Number One would end up treating him like a demented old man. To show Picard how meaningless they were in the end. How the only one who would be, who had the right to be, the constant in his life was Q.

And to make it clear to Jean-Luc Picard that he should look for other options, one specific other option, aside from Dr. Beverly Crusher.

Yet here Picard was. Kissing her. Smiling at her.

'Well, at least he has figured out that there is no future set in stone and that time is a lot less linear and rigid than humans think.', one Q (dared to) approached him.

'I don't care what he thinks about time.'

The Qs don't have mouth. Neither do they have ears in their actual forms and communication generally works on a level no human would really comprehend but one would have to imagine a sort of giant wave omitting from Qs form and going and shaking the entire Continuum as Q did the equivalent of screaming this at the other Q.

And in this wave was Qs anger and his pain, which caused the amusement of the other Qs to stop. Not because they particuarly cared about Qs pain, but because a Q in such an emotional turmoil could in the end promise nothing more than trouble and chaos for them.

Trying to distract Q in the following 'days' did, however, not work. It was as if Picard had decided to not only ignore Qs advice from the timeline Q had shown him and what he had told Picard in the Courtroom but to actively do the complete opposite of what Q wanted him to do. And it made Picard .. happier. More content with his crew and during the poker nights Picard now participated in Beverly had the audacity to make it a habit to sit next to Picard and to 'accidentally' brush against him and touch him and, worst of all, Picard liked it. Giving her a half-smile and raised eyebrows and .. there were now quite a few additional black holes spread throughout the universe.

It was on an evening in Beverlys quarter, the good doctor having invited his Jean-Luc for a dinner between friends or more if that's what Jean-Luc wants it to be that Q has had enough.

Both Beverly and Picard were having a grand ol' time together and after their second glass of wine neither of them particuarly cared about the concept of personal space.

They kissed and between kisses Picard said

'I love you. I always have.'

It was not fair. Like a child throwing a tantrum about having their favorite snatched away. It's not fair. It's not fair.

Q was supposed to have him. Q was supposed to be the one to hear these words, to have Picard look at him like this.

To know what it was like to be loved by him.

The first time it happened it was an accident. Truelly.

Barely a conscious decision on Qs part.

One 'second' he was in the Continuum from the outside looking in and the other one he was kissing his capitaine.

Completely ignoring the fact that he was in another humans, her, body when Picard broke the kiss in order to answer a comm message he was getting from Riker.

Apparently the Captains attention was very much needed right now.

With an affectionate 'goodbye' from Picard and an

'I love you too.'

from Q through Beverlys lips the meeting was adjourned.

And Q was standing before a dilemma. He could of course, leave Beverlys body immediatly, his own consciousness having Beverlys so far down that she would 'wake up' simply with no memories of the last few moments. Never really knowing that it was Q.

And Q could just remember this short moment in time and simply wait for this relationship to run its course.

Or.. he could enjoy this a little longer. Keep good ol' Dr. Crusher conscious asleep and well a little while longer to get a taste of what Q already considered his no matter what Picard might profess to dear Beverly now.

In the end, Q chose the most selfish option.

(Do you want Picard to find out or for Q to actually do the right thing?)

[deepspaceclawstation]

I watched Discovery S4 Episode 2 that came out today and I have to say, they are really stepping up the game here. I don't know if there have been any behind-the-scenes changes in the writers' room but whatever it is, it's working great!

(Discovery S4 spoilers, please skip to avoid. Blacklist tags are "#ST Discovery spoilers" and "#ST Discovery S4")

This season on a whole has better dialogue and the plot narrative flows really naturally. I like that they seem to have paid special attention to character beats - their actions and motivations, and even their reactions are a lot more natural now. I also like that they have further established distinct emotional maturity levels and technical skill sets for each character, yet there is no disbelief involved in seeing this diverse cast come together to solve problems. This has been my complaint with Discovery since day 1, that the plot and character actions seem convoluted, so I'm very happy with the vast improvement.

I like the way they represented Federation and allied authority figures! We see Admiral Vance's family after the Ep 1 Archer Dock scene, which was a nice touch. President Rillak is an interesting character (and my wife) who is at odds with Michael without (yet) being presented as outright wrong or 'evil' and I'm really excited to see her dynamic with Michael grow and how her storyline plays out. Really like that President T'Rina of Nivar was present at the anomaly threat analysis meeting, it solidifies Nivar as a strong ally to the Federation (I'm keeping an eye out on the Rillak/T'Rina tag on ao3, I have a strong feeling about it).

When did Saru get so wise? He's really stepping into that Space Dad role and I love it! Tilly's facing some existential crises but I'm sure she'll get through. Adira and Gray are adorable as always and have some fun stuff going on. First Trek on-screen mention of transitioning Let's Go!!!! Book suffered a tragic loss and ngl I had tears in my eyes in the Ep 2 private comm link between him and Michael. I don't like Stamets much but they toned down his gruffness a bit so he's tolerable now. I don't know who had the galaxy brain idea to pair him with Book but their scenes together were unexpectedly touching and the attempted parallels between them make so much sense.

And now to the star of the show - Michael! I have always been pretty indifferent towards Michael Burnham, mainly because I could never get a sense what the show wanted to do with her. Was she a criminal, a child stuck between two cultures, someone struggling with parental expectations, or just someone trying to deal with loss the best way she can? Of course, all these identities need not be mutually exclusive but somehow Discovery never managed to bring them together in a cohesive manner. Until this season, that is. S4 Michael is more emotionally mature than her earlier counterparts, while still having that mischievous spark in her eyes. She's responsible, she's self-aware, and she now has Character FlawsTM. I don't know what exactly it is that has shifted, but I can finally get behind Captain Burnham.

There were also some nice easter eggs like Hugh referencing Picard (I'm not tagging for Picard spoilers so won't go into detail), and the reveal of Archer Space Dock with Archer's theme playing in that scene. I am pleased that Discovery has finally learned how to poke fun at itself as is evident in Stamet's airlock joke, and Saru acknowledging the convenience of Bryce's unexpected sky-surfing (?) hobby. Some may feel that Stamets letting go of his resentment so soon was a cop-out but I am satisfied with the way it was handled, it had just that touch of awkwardness involved that made it plausible.

That said, I was scared for a bit when I started Ep 1 because tbh the butterfly people planet scenes were excruciating to watch. I was not a huge fan of the humour and the whole trade exchange didn't seem well thought out in-universe ans it really took me out of the scene. It seemed like they were trying to imitate the beginning of Into the Darkness and it just didn't work for me. Thankfully, it lasted only till the 'cold open' (pre-theme song) and I've not encountered a single awkward scene since then, a far cry from the embarrassing maudlin sentimentality of S2.

I never thought I'd be praising Discovery this much, but it seems it has kept up with the time-honoured Trek tradition of falling into stride after S3. I just hope they don't stretch out the season-long arc too much or they risk losing steam halfway through the season like in S2, which started similarly strong plot-wise. Very excited to learn more about the anomaly and the emotional and political ramifications of the Kweijan tragedy.

[procrastinatorproject]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Trek: Picard Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Agnes Jurati/Cristóbal Rios Characters: Agnes Jurati, Cristóbal Rios Additional Tags: Meta, Developing Relationship, my take on Agnes and Cris's relationship, and why i think it works, Minor Character Death (Mentioned), Psychological Trauma

Title Inspired by @regionalpancake‘s glorious Downtime Drabble “You’re Light On Me”

A while ago, a friend confessed to me that they didn’t really understand what Agnes Jurati and Cris Rios see in each other. They felt the relationship seemed unmotivated and forced, and they didn’t really see why other people thought it worked.

I’ve seen this sentiment a few times since the show came out, and I’m not here to tell anyone they have to agree with the show-writers’ choices or like a relationship if it doesn’t work for them. But I recently reread the little essay I sent that friend in reply (after making sure they’d want to read it ;9 ), and I really liked it, so I thought I’d share it here.

When people say that the kiss between Agnes Jurati and Cristobal Rios at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 1 blindsided them, I understand where they're coming from. I think the showrunners could have done more to make the developing relationship between these characters truly obvious, but for me, it didn't feel like the mutual attraction between Cris and Agnes came completely out of nowhere. Let me explain.

One of the big things about Rios’s character I find striking is that he wants to be stoic and cynical and misanthropic, but he just... can't do it. He tries! He's short, he hides behind his books, and he pretends he doesn't care about politeness. But the only people he ever swears at are Raffi, a very good friend, and the holos (which are a whole other matter, because there is all this self-loathing tied up in Cris's relationship with them). Over the course of season 1, it's pretty clear that Rios is rather good at reading people, and he wants to do right by them. He defers to Picard pretty much immediately and Soji looks at him pleadingly once and he decides to put his ship at risk for her.

Rios doesn't want to like people, he just can't help himself. He wants to be annoyed by Agnes interrupting his reading, but I think he finds her quirkiness disarming and charming. It's already visible in the way he looks at her on the bridge, when they talk about paper books. And then they go to the holodeck to discuss Picard's detour to Vashti. Since Agnes is the audience stand-in, she asks a bunch of questions, and instead of being annoyed or short, Cris patiently explains everything to her (after offering her a seat). Later, when Cris asks Agnes what she thinks about his outfit for the Stardust City caper and she says he's killing it, there's a beat there. He seems almost a little taken aback, either by her sincerity, or maybe by realizing he values her opinion. It's yet another thing they connect over it. (Also robot boxing. That scene is adorable)

With regards to Agnes… I think partially, she's leaning into her natural humour and quirkiness to appear non-threatening and not give herself away, but I also have another read on her behaviour. (This may partially be me projecting WAY TOO HARD, or, to put it more generously, applying some lived experience to what we see of Agnes's character, so your take on this might be very different. But this is what I see.)

When Agnes and Cris talk before they go off to have sex, Agnes is making jokes and smiling. To me, that doesn’t read as fake or a ploy to manipulate Rios, it seems real. And then when he asks, really asks, how she's feeling, suddenly there is this chasm of pain right under the surface. For me, the idea that Agnes has this intense psychological trauma and is dealing with it by finding joy in little things, like watering the plants, and reading papers, and flirting with the hot captain by completely wrong-footing him with a comment about her dad... it feels very authentic. And I can see how this guy, who pretends to be all uncaring and edgy but is actually a big softie not very far under the surface, and who smiles at her jokes and takes the time to explain stuff to her and listens to her babble, that's a nice distraction from the horrible things happening in her mind. Not in the sense that she's manipulatively using him, but in the sense that this kind of human connection gives her moments of light and gives her reasons to keep going, even through so much pain.

After Agnes kills Maddox, she is deeply, deeply conflicted over what she's done. To the point where when they’re leaving the Artefact, she basically says "I don't care if the world ends if I don't kill Soji. Let it all burn. I just can't do this anymore". And then here is this man, who's kind and caring and, yes, hot, and at first it's "I just want to feel something, anything, and he's here, he's half-naked, he's gorgeous". And Rios isn't necessarily opposed to a no-strings-attached fling. Because he keeps telling himself he doesn't get attached and he hates people and he's only ferrying them around because they're paying him. So it's a distraction with a woman who is quirky and witty and pretty, but it won't mean anything, and that's okay.

And then Agnes changes her mind, because she realizes having sex with Rios will make things more complicated. Or maybe because she thinks Rios deserves better. Or that she shouldn't have sex to distract herself from horrible emotional pain because that's kinda unhealthy.

So she pulls back.

And Rios, instead of being annoyed at missing out or feeling like she led him on, or any number of things, asks her how she's feeling. In a way that makes it clear (at least to me) that he really cares about the answer. And for a moment, Agnes lets him see the true darkness inside her. Because she can pretend it's about Maddox dying, she can pretend it's just about being a lonely nerd. She doesn't have to tell him how bad it really is, but she lets herself feel all of the bad emotions for just a moment.

And then she kisses him again, maybe to shut herself up or to distract herself, or because she needs the connection. And he doesn't have any illusion about what it is they're doing. He knows she's trying to feel better, he essentially tells her he knows it's a way for her to deal with her devastation, and he's okay with it. Maybe because he knows what it's like to feel hollow and terrified and need something, anything to cling to.

And at this point, I think they're both still telling themselves that they don't actually care about each other. Cris because he doesn't want to care about anyone ever again so he won't get hurt. (Which, again, he fails miserably at, but I think that's how he wants to see himself and why he treats his holos with so much disdain that Emil tells Picard "He doesn't get any nicer", even though we see Rios being kind to all the people on board.) And Agnes doesn't really have the brain space to allow herself to fall for anyone. She's just taking little moments of light and human connection where she can get them. And they both decide to have sex as a one-night-stand, just to make Agnes feel better for the night, just because they're both lonely and in pain. No deeper meaning behind it.

And then the whole tracker debacle happens. It takes three days to get to Nepenthe and by the time Agnes goes into a coma, they're still a couple days away at least. She doesn't wake up until Picard is back on board, which means she's out for a long time. Even though we don’t see much of the medical drama, we can assume she was very much at death's door. So, now Rios is faced with once again losing someone he feels somewhat responsible for. Someone he has actually gotten close to. And I think that moment and the fear it causes him might make him start to realize how much he actually cares about her.

And then when Picard and Soji are on board, they all sit down together and figure out the big mystery at the heart of season 1. And here is another thing Cris and Agnes find out they have in common: Both of their lives and minds got destroyed by Oh's machinations. Cris went against everything he believed in when he covered up what Vandermeer had done. He didn't actively kill anyone, but he feels like Vandermeer's death is his fault. His belief in the fundamental goodness of Starfleet was shattered when they threatened to blow up his ship. For Agnes, this kind of shattering of a truth she had clung to comes when she realizes she wasn't acting on the directive of the Head of Starfleet Security in a black-ops mission sanctioned by one of the most important institutions of the Federation. Instead, she was nothing but a pawn, used by Oh for nefarious purposes that had nothing to do with the greater good. The exact circumstances of their traumas are different, but they were both caught up in the same catastrophe and cover-up and it has marked them in similar ways.

I think this is one of the reasons Rios doesn't blame Agnes for killing Maddox. If anything, he gets more protective of her, e.g. by trying to stop Sutra from forcing another mind-meld on Agnes. You can see this in a more subtle scene, too: when Cris says goodbye to Agnes at Coppelius station, he reaches out to touch her face, but then he hesitates and proceeds with extreme gentleness and care. To me, that reads like someone very, very aware of the other person's trauma and possible triggers (forced mind-meld) and caring deeply about making sure she feels safe and has something good to counterbalance the horrible memories.

And finally, we clearly jump quite a bit in time at the very end of season 1. When our motley crew sets out from Coppelius, the Synth Ban has been lifted. Just imagine the bureaucracy that must have taken! That’s not something that can be overturned in a day. Also, Raffi and Seven have had time to connect, so I imagine in that time, Cris and Agnes, too, will have slowly figured out whether they're compatible and whether this relationship is something they might, very carefully and gently, endeavour together.

Because they have a compatible kind of humour, because they understand what it's like to feel deeply broken but to keep going regardless, because she's witty and quirky and he's caring and kind and they went through a very specific hell together, and they might be able to hold each other's hands as they slowly make their ways towards healing.

I’m going to do a metatextual thing here and quote an absolutely gorgeous drabble by @regionalpancake that, to me, encapsulates one very important aspect of the relationship between Cris and Agnes.

     Your Light On Me  

You’d forgotten just how it felt. To feel like you. A stranger, Last seen aboard the Ibn Majid. Proud, red trimmed shoulders, Bright pips, a polished combadge. You signed aboard, And found A different man signed off. You’re old enough to know, She cannot fix you. You wouldn’t want her to. That’s between Pops and you. That’s your work to do, Not hers. But Agnes? Preciosa. Something in her, Shines a light. Reminds you who you are. You have to find, Your own way home. But god, It’s nice, At last, To find, A gentle soul, To hold the lamp.

 Chapter 74 of Downtime

That. Right there. A gentle soul to hold the lamp. I think for me, that's what the relationship between Cris and Agnes boils down to.

They are broken people in a broken world, but by the end of season 1, they have found that they can hold each other while they try to put themselves back together. And what starts out as a fun, distracting flirtation, then turns into "meaningless" sex to stop feeling lonely and sad, finally becomes the beginning of a relationship built on shared trauma, but more importantly on kindness and charm.

I have no idea whether these two can make it work long-term, but I am very much on board for what we've seen so far, and I hope this can help a bit in explaining why.

NB: After I finished writing this a few weeks back, I remembered that there was a fic that came to very similar conclusions. Upon reread, I realized it essentially hits the exact same points I do here and does so absolutely beautifully. So if you want a truly touching in-universe perspective on this relationship, go and read Love Comes Softly by Be_Right_Back (@smhalltheurlsaretaken, or listen to the Podfic recorded by Thimblerig. I cannot recommend this fic highly enough!