Picard season 2 (spoilers maybe unmarked)

[Ryujin]

True. Wil Wheaton interviews the actress playing the younger Guinan, Ito Aghayere, in "The Ready Room" this week, and they discuss that quite a bit. I enjoyed her performance much more this episode than the first time we saw her a few episodes back.

The "anti-Q" gestures both Guinans make . . . that was the actress Ito Aghayere asking if she could add that in! She's a big TNG nerd!

But . . . . the El-Aurians can hold their own against the Q Continuum, but get spanked by the Borg? That's never sat too well with me.

Wrong tools for the job? Someone with a handgun might fare reasonably well against a cougar, but not a swarm of wasps.

 

[Mort]

Sometimes Trek utopianism has to take a back seat to keeping Trek humans as humans we can relate to. And the show was unclear on what treatments were available, only that she refused treatment.

I prefer relatable but hopeful. I dislike that the Federation of Picard (and not the alternate timeline) has barely been presented as anything nearing utopia at all.

Whether forcing treatment for mental health upon unwilling people is utopian or dystopian I will leave to everyone to decide for themselves. I'm just glad they did not trivialize mental health issues by having a perfect, convienient techno-solution.

It should absolutely not be trivialized, sure. But it's sad that there aren't better solutions in the Trek "Utopia" then the extremes "forced treatment" and lock in the cellar.

They're so focused on making Picard (and the rest of the crew) "damaged" that they forget to throw in hope and that humanity had made progress in many things not just tech.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

But . . . . the El-Aurians can hold their own against the Q Continuum, but get spanked by the Borg? That's never sat too well with me.

According to... an El-Aurian. They may not have been sitting at as equal a bargaining table as she portrays it. From a certain point of view humans have also fared much better against the Q than the Borg.

 

[Mallus]

But it's sad that there aren't better solutions in the Trek "Utopia" then the extremes "forced treatment" and lock in the cellar.

We're watching a personal family tragedy, though. I don't think it should be read as a statement about the quality of mental health care in the Federation in the 24th century.

We see a woman who refuses treatment and the effect it has on her family -- which should be noted, seems to be about as rich, landed, and famous as you can be in Trek's quasi-Socialist, quasi-Utopia, meaning there are probably social & reputation concerns getting in the way. It is played a bit too gothic romance for my tastes, but I think it works well enough as a portrait of a family struggling to deal with a mental health crisis, filtered through the memories of a young child.

 

[bloodtide]

Picard's always been flawed. But he's never been worthless (not even in Picard). What's with contemporary fandoms's allergic reaction to humanizing protagonists?

Except that is not what they are doing. They are talking a character that was normal...and now suddenly saying he is a messed up monster and has been all along. He just randomly decided to hide it for...er...60 years or so. And Picard hid it so well no psychologist, test, Betazoid or Telepath could EVER even get a hint anything was hidden.

Because see, if whiney worthless monster boy Picard went to join Starfleet HE would have been kicked out in his first year. And Pathetic Picard would have spent his life crying over flowers to make them grow.

You can't be a member of Starfleet, or really any such group, if you might randomly curl up into a ball and cry about your dumb horror story that happened to you like 60 years ago. People would die if a captain just "shut down" a random.

Remember the scene in TNG when Q walks into Ten Forward and Guinan sticks her hands out like she's going zap his smug as... posterior with some Space Magic of her own?


The idea the El-Aurians could hold their own against the Q has been around for a long time. And it's not like there's a shortage of space gods/demigods in the Star Trek universe...

Sure....but we never see an El-Aurian ever use any sort of 'great power'. And why could they not fight off the Borg then?

 

[MarkB]

You can't be a member of Starfleet, or really any such group, if you might randomly curl up into a ball and cry about your dumb horror story that happened to you like 60 years ago. People would die if a captain just "shut down" a random.

Riiiight, because we've never seen any other Starfleet officer struggle with mental problems, break down in a crisis, or just go nuts on a power-trip on some primitive planet.

Sure....but we never see an El-Aurian ever use any sort of 'great power'. And why could they not fight off the Borg then?

It may not be a matter of raw power. The El-Aurians have particular gifts that may even the odds for them when it comes to the Q, without actually being of much use against the Borg.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

In the very least, you can TALK to a Q. Convince them to do things themselves. El-Aurians have proven very good at talking. Very convincing. Borg (queens aside) have never been very chatty.

 

[Stalker0]

Just binged watched the first seven episodes.

Ultimately, I think is a better season than 1. We don't have quite the distopian problem we had in the first one, and Picard feels more....picardish. I still think the fact he's a robot is just crazy stupid, as it never really comes up in any important way, what was the real point?

I will agree there are more holes in this plot than in a spaghetti strainer, but at least I like the overall concept. Ultimately it feels closer to a Star Trek movie, more a sci fi adventure than "exploring humanity" that the tv series did more of.

 

[Mallus]

Riiiight, because we've never seen any other Starfleet officer struggle with mental problems, break down in a crisis, or just go nuts on a power-trip on some primitive planet.

It's almost like someone didn't watch the original series!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

But . . . . the El-Aurians can hold their own against the Q Continuum, but get spanked by the Borg? That's never sat too well with me.

I guess it depends on what their exact ability to "threaten" the continuum are. Maybe they just really don't like that the El-Aurian can notice changes to the timeline (or any changes to reality maybe even) because that limits their omnipotence. But it's not of much use if someone is just trying to assimilate you.