CONTAINS SPOILERS
Last week's episode saw a straightforward race to get to the synths' homeworld - Picard, Soji and the rest of the La Sirena crew using a Borg transwarp conduit as a short-cut to the planet, quietly followed by an unspecified ship of similar size. Was this Narek, or was it Seven and Elnor? I concluded it was probably the former, but hoped it was the latter. Or maybe Seven and Elnor could use the Borg's transporter to get directly there (if they learned where it was).
The title for this week's episode 'Et in Arcadia, Ego' translates as "And in Arcadia, there I am". The inference is that Arcadia is utopia or paradise, and "I" means death - hence "Even in paradise there is death". So, who's going to die this week?
We resume with the La Sirena flying through the transwarp conduit, which enables them to cover 25 light years in 15 minutes. Normal maximum speed in Star Trek is 1000 light years in 12 months, which is approximately 25 light years in a week, so the Borg transwarp conduit is a real time-saver.
However, the La Sirena was followed by their old Romulan shadow, Narek, who opens fire. It was a relief to not hear, "Shields at 80%... shields at 50%..." which is how battles used to progress on Voyager (the show became notorious for it). Before Narek can do any real damage, though, the Borg cube - "not broken" - comes charging through its own conduit (it seems cubes can produce their own) and into the fray. I cheered with delight at the sight of its arrival. It doesn't have chance to influence the battle, however, as five enormous orchid flowers rise up from the planet and absorb the ships (the cube requires more than one orchid), cut all power and drag them down to the planet surface. It's a bit surreal, but it works for a largely peaceful and pacifist society.
The La Sirena safely crash lands (if that's possible) and the crew are unhurt. Picard remains unconscious, though, and channels a message,"Thank you for coming, everyone." Like many things in this episode, it's not followed up.
Agnes runs a series of scans on Picard and discovers his irumodic syndrome. This is like a form of dementia; progressive and terminal, and has been referenced in the original The Next Generation series (see the series conclusion, "All Good Things") and earlier in this series (the doctor who examined Picard before he set off on this mission reminded him of it). Picard mentions this to the crew and then says he wants to hear nothing more on the subject. Strange that the story brings it up just to close it down.
Anyway, the rest of the story moves along at a very brisk pace. Rising smoke on the horizon shows where the Borg cube crash landed, which is in the opposite direction to Synth City (as Raffi calls it). It doesn't matter, there's plenty of time to do both, but Soji says she'll come along with the crew instead of splitting up. Again, mentioned but not followed up. They reach the Borg cube without any incident, and meet up with the liberated Borg crew, who recognise Picard as Locutus (the Best of Both Worlds). Seven and Elnor have both survived the crash landing, and the Borg have begun makeshift repairs to their cube - including power banks. Picard asks about long-range sensors, and in an unseen discussion, Seven provides Rios and Raffi with a power bank to fire up the long-range sensors on La Sirena. They discover 218 Romulan warbirds on their way to the synths' planet, Coppelia, and about a day's journey away.
Picard and the crew say goodbye (for the last time? I think not) to Seven and Elnor, leaving the Borg to continue repairs to their cube (which will surely feature next time). Picard and crew make their way to Synth City, where they are met by most, if not all, of the synth inhabitants. There is a very strange, alien feel to the city. It reminded me of the village in the movie Star Trek Insurrection (it's one of the weaker films, but still) - an advanced alien population living in a seemingly low-tech environment. They are also greeted by the son of Data's creator. Data's creator was Dr Noonien Soong, and here we meet his biological son, Dr Altan Inigo Soong - who bears an uncanny and almost unrealistic likeness to his father (my children don't look exactly like me). The crew are introduced to another copy of the Dahj/Soji synth model, named Sutra. We assumed that Soji and Dahj were twins, but it seems there are at least three of them. Sutra has studied Vulcan techniques and teachings, and is able to perform a mind-meld on Agnes. Previously, only Vulcans or half-Vulcans could perform mind-melds, but these synths are advanced enough to have learned the skills.
Sutra is able to access the full message that Commodore Oh shared with Agnes, known as The Admonition. From the perspective of organic life, the Admonition is a warning against allowing synthetic, artificial life to proliferate, otherwise a great destruction will come. From the synths' perspective, however, the message reads differently: it says that there are great fleets and armies of synthetics living on the edge of time and space who will come into the galaxy and enable the synths to overthrow their organic masters. The result is the same, the perspective is different. It's a bit contrived, but it works, and when the mind meld ends, Sutra's comment, "Fascinating" was classic Spock.
Picard attempts, unsuccessfully, to make contact with Starfleet - this follows the recurring theme of him failing to connect with them. Agnes visits various places around the village, and comes across the resident cat, "Spot 2" - named after Data's cat on the Enterprise.
Dr Soong calls out Agnes's behaviour in killing Maddox. Agnes is already feeling guilty enough, but Dr Soong is justified in his response to her. He later shows Agnes a new model of a 'golem' - a blank android with no consciousness or intelligence. This would be the perfect way of saving a dying human - by transferring their consciousness into the android body. So, back to my first question: who's going to die this week?
The third remaining ship to have been pulled down to the planet belonged to Narek, and he's had a rough landing - and been picked up and imprisoned by the synths. To quote Sutra, "look who the cat dragged in." He is placed in a makeshift cell, and guarded by a worryingly naive synth. Narek takes his best shot at manipulating his way out of the cell, but fails. However, Sutra has another plan for Narek, and she allows him to escape - she's devious: "I was afraid my desire to kill you would outweigh my need for your services." She wants to use Narek in the same way as the Romulans used the synths on Mars - to spark a war. She doesn't want a peaceful resolution between the Romulans, Starfleet and the synths; she wants to trigger a full-scale conflict and bring in the extra synth armies apparently waiting on the edge of time and space (or wherever). Narek, being Narek, kills the naïve synth on his way of out of Synthville, and heads off towards the Borg cube (or at least out into the wilderness). Point to consider: if the Borg cube and Synthville were in opposite directions from the La Sirena, is there a chance that Narek will find the La Sirena on his way to the cube??
The synths congregate for the funeral of the guard, with Picard and Agnes, and decide that the time has come to act. The death of the naive guard (as mainpulated by Sutra) has set up a crisis point. The synths want to put Picard and Agnes under house arrest and prepare for the impending Romulan attack. Picard pleads his case, that he will be an advocate for the synths with Starfleet and that they will listen to him. Really? "No, they won't," says Dr Soong - echoing my thoughts exactly. They've not listened to Picard at any point along the journey, except to send a fleet of ships to Deep Space 12 (presumably too far away to be of any use now, but who knows?). House arrest it is, then.
There are some interesting discussions along the way, but these are largely designed (I fear) to pad out a single-story episode into two full episodes. Soji considers the concept of sacrifice and Picard says, "It depends if you're the one holding the knife." This points back to the time when Data sacrified himself for Picard (Nemesis) - Data understood sacrifice even if Soji doesn't yet.
The episode closes with Commodore Oh (no less), on the bridge of a Romulan warbird heading towards the synth planet at maximum warp, 24 hours away.
So the pieces are all in play. Picard and Agnes seem to be out of the picture, so it's down to everybody else to play their part The Borg cube, undergoing repairs; the Starfleet ships at Deep Space 12 (are they too far away?); the synths' defences - the orchids - surely useless against 218 ships; the 'golem' - the blank android - somebody's going to die, so who's that for?
Last week's episode saw a straightforward race to get to the synths' homeworld - Picard, Soji and the rest of the La Sirena crew using a Borg transwarp conduit as a short-cut to the planet, quietly followed by an unspecified ship of similar size. Was this Narek, or was it Seven and Elnor? I concluded it was probably the former, but hoped it was the latter. Or maybe Seven and Elnor could use the Borg's transporter to get directly there (if they learned where it was).
The title for this week's episode 'Et in Arcadia, Ego' translates as "And in Arcadia, there I am". The inference is that Arcadia is utopia or paradise, and "I" means death - hence "Even in paradise there is death". So, who's going to die this week?
We resume with the La Sirena flying through the transwarp conduit, which enables them to cover 25 light years in 15 minutes. Normal maximum speed in Star Trek is 1000 light years in 12 months, which is approximately 25 light years in a week, so the Borg transwarp conduit is a real time-saver.
However, the La Sirena was followed by their old Romulan shadow, Narek, who opens fire. It was a relief to not hear, "Shields at 80%... shields at 50%..." which is how battles used to progress on Voyager (the show became notorious for it). Before Narek can do any real damage, though, the Borg cube - "not broken" - comes charging through its own conduit (it seems cubes can produce their own) and into the fray. I cheered with delight at the sight of its arrival. It doesn't have chance to influence the battle, however, as five enormous orchid flowers rise up from the planet and absorb the ships (the cube requires more than one orchid), cut all power and drag them down to the planet surface. It's a bit surreal, but it works for a largely peaceful and pacifist society.
The La Sirena safely crash lands (if that's possible) and the crew are unhurt. Picard remains unconscious, though, and channels a message,"Thank you for coming, everyone." Like many things in this episode, it's not followed up.
Agnes runs a series of scans on Picard and discovers his irumodic syndrome. This is like a form of dementia; progressive and terminal, and has been referenced in the original The Next Generation series (see the series conclusion, "All Good Things") and earlier in this series (the doctor who examined Picard before he set off on this mission reminded him of it). Picard mentions this to the crew and then says he wants to hear nothing more on the subject. Strange that the story brings it up just to close it down.
Anyway, the rest of the story moves along at a very brisk pace. Rising smoke on the horizon shows where the Borg cube crash landed, which is in the opposite direction to Synth City (as Raffi calls it). It doesn't matter, there's plenty of time to do both, but Soji says she'll come along with the crew instead of splitting up. Again, mentioned but not followed up. They reach the Borg cube without any incident, and meet up with the liberated Borg crew, who recognise Picard as Locutus (the Best of Both Worlds). Seven and Elnor have both survived the crash landing, and the Borg have begun makeshift repairs to their cube - including power banks. Picard asks about long-range sensors, and in an unseen discussion, Seven provides Rios and Raffi with a power bank to fire up the long-range sensors on La Sirena. They discover 218 Romulan warbirds on their way to the synths' planet, Coppelia, and about a day's journey away.
Picard and the crew say goodbye (for the last time? I think not) to Seven and Elnor, leaving the Borg to continue repairs to their cube (which will surely feature next time). Picard and crew make their way to Synth City, where they are met by most, if not all, of the synth inhabitants. There is a very strange, alien feel to the city. It reminded me of the village in the movie Star Trek Insurrection (it's one of the weaker films, but still) - an advanced alien population living in a seemingly low-tech environment. They are also greeted by the son of Data's creator. Data's creator was Dr Noonien Soong, and here we meet his biological son, Dr Altan Inigo Soong - who bears an uncanny and almost unrealistic likeness to his father (my children don't look exactly like me). The crew are introduced to another copy of the Dahj/Soji synth model, named Sutra. We assumed that Soji and Dahj were twins, but it seems there are at least three of them. Sutra has studied Vulcan techniques and teachings, and is able to perform a mind-meld on Agnes. Previously, only Vulcans or half-Vulcans could perform mind-melds, but these synths are advanced enough to have learned the skills.
Sutra is able to access the full message that Commodore Oh shared with Agnes, known as The Admonition. From the perspective of organic life, the Admonition is a warning against allowing synthetic, artificial life to proliferate, otherwise a great destruction will come. From the synths' perspective, however, the message reads differently: it says that there are great fleets and armies of synthetics living on the edge of time and space who will come into the galaxy and enable the synths to overthrow their organic masters. The result is the same, the perspective is different. It's a bit contrived, but it works, and when the mind meld ends, Sutra's comment, "Fascinating" was classic Spock.
Picard attempts, unsuccessfully, to make contact with Starfleet - this follows the recurring theme of him failing to connect with them. Agnes visits various places around the village, and comes across the resident cat, "Spot 2" - named after Data's cat on the Enterprise.
Dr Soong calls out Agnes's behaviour in killing Maddox. Agnes is already feeling guilty enough, but Dr Soong is justified in his response to her. He later shows Agnes a new model of a 'golem' - a blank android with no consciousness or intelligence. This would be the perfect way of saving a dying human - by transferring their consciousness into the android body. So, back to my first question: who's going to die this week?
The third remaining ship to have been pulled down to the planet belonged to Narek, and he's had a rough landing - and been picked up and imprisoned by the synths. To quote Sutra, "look who the cat dragged in." He is placed in a makeshift cell, and guarded by a worryingly naive synth. Narek takes his best shot at manipulating his way out of the cell, but fails. However, Sutra has another plan for Narek, and she allows him to escape - she's devious: "I was afraid my desire to kill you would outweigh my need for your services." She wants to use Narek in the same way as the Romulans used the synths on Mars - to spark a war. She doesn't want a peaceful resolution between the Romulans, Starfleet and the synths; she wants to trigger a full-scale conflict and bring in the extra synth armies apparently waiting on the edge of time and space (or wherever). Narek, being Narek, kills the naïve synth on his way of out of Synthville, and heads off towards the Borg cube (or at least out into the wilderness). Point to consider: if the Borg cube and Synthville were in opposite directions from the La Sirena, is there a chance that Narek will find the La Sirena on his way to the cube??
The synths congregate for the funeral of the guard, with Picard and Agnes, and decide that the time has come to act. The death of the naive guard (as mainpulated by Sutra) has set up a crisis point. The synths want to put Picard and Agnes under house arrest and prepare for the impending Romulan attack. Picard pleads his case, that he will be an advocate for the synths with Starfleet and that they will listen to him. Really? "No, they won't," says Dr Soong - echoing my thoughts exactly. They've not listened to Picard at any point along the journey, except to send a fleet of ships to Deep Space 12 (presumably too far away to be of any use now, but who knows?). House arrest it is, then.
There are some interesting discussions along the way, but these are largely designed (I fear) to pad out a single-story episode into two full episodes. Soji considers the concept of sacrifice and Picard says, "It depends if you're the one holding the knife." This points back to the time when Data sacrified himself for Picard (Nemesis) - Data understood sacrifice even if Soji doesn't yet.
The episode closes with Commodore Oh (no less), on the bridge of a Romulan warbird heading towards the synth planet at maximum warp, 24 hours away.
So the pieces are all in play. Picard and Agnes seem to be out of the picture, so it's down to everybody else to play their part The Borg cube, undergoing repairs; the Starfleet ships at Deep Space 12 (are they too far away?); the synths' defences - the orchids - surely useless against 218 ships; the 'golem' - the blank android - somebody's going to die, so who's that for?
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