Star Trek Picard Season 2 Episode 4 Watcher

CONTAINS SPOILERS

Finally, the tempo of Star Trek Picard has slowed down.  There's been transwarp; old adversaries; phaser fights; semi-controlled landings; bloodshed and fist-fights.  Episode 3 left us on a cliff-hanger as Rios was taken into custody by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), while the Borg Queen kept staring menacingly at Agnes.

We start at a slower pace:  Picard has indeed taken the Sirena 'home' - he's parked it in the grounds of the currently-abandoned Chateau Picard.  Nice touch; I'm sure this will become a significant plot point in the future (instead of just providing Picard with flashbacks).  However, his attempts to contact the rest of the team are futile.  In the meantime, however, Picard engages the cloaking device and makes sure he remembers where it's parked (Kirk did the same with a Klingon Bird of Prey in Star Trek IV).  He and Agnes visit Chateau Picard, and while he reminisces about the old times, Agnes's subconscious keeps throwing up the number 15.  Data's 'subconscious' did something similar in a time loop during an episode of TNG - Cause and Effect  - I won't spoilt it, it's a great episode.  This all seems a bit heavy-handed - the last thing Agnes said while she was connected to the Borg Queen was 'fifteen', but still, Agnes's subconscious is going to become a key part of this extended plot.  So, since the team landed on 12 April, they have until 15 April to find and fix the timeline problem.

It's all a bit arbitrary, but it makes sense.  A lot of the activity on the Sirena follows this pattern in this episode.

Raffi and Seven track down Rios's comm badge (I am slightly concerned that they didn't actually find it and collect it, but hey, that's only a minor detail that was hammered home repeatedly last episode).  There is a wonderful scene played out on the bus in Los Angeles, with a punk playing a song called "I Hate You" - it's a little-known tune recorded by Edge of Etiquette, their only song in fact, which featured in an almost-identical scene in Star Trek IV with Kirk and Spock.  I howled with laughter throughout the scene (which went in a very different direction than it did with Kirk).  They eventually get to the LA Police Department, where Raffi and Seven form a comedy double-act as they clash with the bureaucracy of 21st century law enforcement.  They aren't successful in their discussions with the LA PD, but they get directed to ICE.

Comms are offline, but the transporter is working... but only well enough to transport Picard.  With Picard gone, the Borg Queen wastes no time in starting on Agnes's mind.  That really isn't going to end well, and I fear Agnes is going to be the victim, again.

Agnes beams Picard to the location provided by the Borg Queen, and he finds himself transported to San Francisco, and to Number 10, Forward Avenue.  The bar lounge on Picard's Enterprise D was called Ten Forward.... nice touch.  The barkeeper was none other than Guinan, one of Picard's crew, and an El Aurian who can detect major shifts in the timeline (as seen in previous TNG episodes, notably Yesterday's Enterprise).  This is a younger Guinan, cynical, uneasy, edgy and unsettled - unsettled by time-travelling old men who appear out of nowhere.  Picard knows he has to convince Guinan to help him, but he also knows that he can't pollute the timeline by telling Guinan too much.  Guinan, for her part, is going through a particularly cynical time, and is preparing to leave (the planet, or LA, or whichever) and is mourning humanity's misuse of its planet: "They got one tiny ball in the entire galaxy, and all this species want to do is fight."  Picard tries to convince her to stay and help: "Distance offers no protection from time."

Rios, meanwhile, is also clashing with the rough end of the bureaucracy of 21st century law enforcement, having been arrested and now incarcerated (and tasered).  

Seven and Raffi (Thelma and Louise?) decide to step up their efforts to track down Rios, and Raffi has an interesting idea: as Seven describes it:  "You're proposing we steal a vehicle from the same people whose job it is to prosecute theft?"  Yes, they're going to steal a police car (with a phaser, no less) - in order to obtain the data from the computer inside it.  They access the car and the computer, and find that - interestingly - there are a very large number of tall, dark Hispanic men in the system.  They're able to contact Agnes (comms are back up, transporters are down) to get a location and start their pursuit of Rios.  We get more of the fish-out-of-water comedy that served so well in Star Trek IV, culminating in "Do you want to drive and I'll hold the map?"  Seven can indeed pilot a shuttlecraft... but there aren't other cars blocking the way in space.

So now, it's transporters down, comms up.  It's like there's a ghost in the machine or something... and there is; it's the Borg Queen, who is most definitely manipulating the ship's systems to her own ends, and thereby manipulate the entire plot.  It feels somewhat bit arbitrary, but I am sure that the Borg Queen is working everything to suits her ends.

Rios, after an unpleasant discussion with an ICE guard, and a lengthier discussion with Teresa, the senior doctor from the clinic, finds himself being transferred.  Rios is playing for time, hoping that the rest of his 'rag-tag' crew will find him eventually.  And they are tracking him down:  Raffi's access to LA PD laptop shows his updated status and location.  Although it seems like Rios is out of time, Agnes (after some tense and dangerous negotiation with the Borg Queen) is able to restore transporters, and beam Seven and Raffi to a position where they can intercept Rios's transport bus.  (Naturally, they have to bring their stolen police car to a screeching halt before they can beam). Except that now they've beamed, they're stationary pedestrians, about to face a 55 mph bus on a freeway.  I wonder if Raffi will have to use her phaser again?  We'll find out next time.

Picard continues his negotiations with Guinan, who sees nothing but despair and hatred among the human race.  "The hatred here doesn't go away, it just swaps clothes."  Eventually, Picard reveals his name and identity to Guinan.  Guinan still doesn't know him, but recognises his name (for some reason).  and agrees to take him to the Supervisor, otherwise known as a Watcher.  I sincerely hope that this doesn't turn into The Matrix, where there's the Architect, the Key Maker, the One, the this, the that... it was all overly complicated.  

Anyway, I digress:  Guinan (who is wonderfully acted and conveys all the character of the Whoopi Goldberg incarnation, in a youthful version) is not The Watcher.  She agrees to take Picard to a Watcher for a face-to-face (sort of) meeting.  It seems The Watcher will want to meet Picard (perhaps somebody's been forewarned).  The Watcher meets Guinan and Picard by possessing various passers-by who direct Picard to the Watcher.  This looks about as weird as you can imagine, as people with white eyeballs take turns to guide Picard through the local park.  

And who is The Watcher?  Well, she looks like Laris, who was Picard's Romulan assistant back in his present time.  Except she's human, and in the 20th century.  The two of them disappear in a box of smoke.

Meanwhile, Q, instead of making trouble, appears to be having trouble of his own.  It seems that he was intending to prevent a human spacecraft from launching by persuading one of its lead astronauts that she isn't capable of commanding the flight.  He commments to her, 'You can't do it.  People are going to die.'  Q's trademark click of the fingers has no effect - the astronaut laughs out loud - and he declares 'That's unexpected.  And most unfortunate'.  Was Q trying to save humanity?  Or back it into a corner?  He is so unpredictable and confusing that it's hard to say what his motivation was, and what his comments mean.

This episode has been full of confusing comments, intrigue, far more dialogue and less action than any of the previous episodes (apart from the police car chase, which was action comedy) and has benefited from the change of pace.  As I said, I hope the Watcher/Supervisor doesn't descend into existential twaddle, but otherwise I was very impressed with this episode.

So:  Seven and Raffi have to stop a coach (I strongly suspect the use of a phaser, because acting like hitch-hikers isn't going to work).

Picard has to get his instructions from Laris The Watcher.  Why is Laris being so secretive?  And, just out of interest, why did the Borg Queen direct Picard to Guinan instead of the Watcher?  Just curious.

Agnes has to keep the Borg Queen out of her mind.  I really don't rate her chances.  Sorry, but I don't.

And all Rios has to survive his rescue attempt!

Have we seen the last of Guinan in this series?  I doubt it.

And how has Q come to lose his powers?  Who's caused that?

All will be revealed... (I hope)

Star Trek Picard Season 2 Episode 3 Assimilation

CONTAINS SPOILERS

So, Episode 3 of this series is called Assimilation.  I wonder what will happen in this episode?  Apart from the time travel to Calfiornia 2024, what else could possibly happen with a newly liberated Borg Queen?

Episode 3 picks up exactly where Episode 2 left off: Starfleet security (including Seven's husband) have boarded the La Sirena, and things are going badly.  Seven attempts to bluff her way through, and when that fails, the crew have no choice but to disintegrate all the security officers.  Elnor is still lying injured; Agnes is connecting the ship to the Borg Queen (or vice versa).  I wondered if the Borg Queen would assimilate him, to cure his wounds, but the story goes in a very different direction. 

Seven and Picard operate the bridge stations; Rios is in command.  The ship takes damage, as the Confederation engage in battle, knocking the Borg Queen over and out of her secured pod.  At this point I was convinced she's going to assimilate Agnes soon... surely.  However, the Borg Queen hooks herself into the ship, fully assimilates it, destroys the pursuing ships in blazes of green Borg flames, and takes the ship on a slingshot path around the Sun.  The way Rios yells out the warp speeds reminds me of Sulu doing the same during Star Trek IV, as they do indeed achieve time travel.

And that's just the pre-credits sequence.  Did I mention that Q turns up briefly to ask Picard how far his fear will take him?

In a mirroring of Star Trek IV, Picard asks 'did we succeed?'  And in Star Trek First Contact style, they look at the level of radioactivity in the atmosphere to date their arrival.  As always, there's no chance of making a smooth landing, so Picard makes a 'targeted crash' into a forest near 'home'... as Agnes points out, they can't go crashing into Los Angeles.  So where are they?  Somewhere on the outskirts of LA (the forests reminded me of  the site of First Contact, but that's in Montana; surely Picard's navigation is better than that?

First things first:  Elnor is still in critical condition, and with power failing, his biobed isn't working and he'll die.  However, the Borg Queen has control of the ship, and she's using the power to restore herself after the time travel jump.  Rios draws a phaser - Picard points out they still need her (to get home).  Consequently, Elnor dies in Raffi's arms.  This is not going well.  I strongly suspect that there'll be a time-travel twist where fixing the past brings him back to life - it's standard Trek lore, and it's called a Reset Button Plot.  Agnes and Raffi debate it... what do you think, Trek fans?  

And the worst of it is that they do need the Queen - not just to get home, but to understand what's broken in the timeline, where to go, and at what exact time, and how to fix it.  And it's all Picard's fault for not asking for Q's help; instead Picard is stubbornly going on with his mission without Q's offer of assistance.  Raffi nails it when she says that Q and Picard 'joust' and that they 'screw up people's lives'.  Let's not forget that each time Q and Picard meet, somebody dies.  In the case of "Q Who", when the Enterprise meets the Borg for the first time, there were 18 deaths.  This all comes down to Picard's stubbornness, drawn out by Q and exacerbated by the Borg (see Star Trek First Contact  - "The line must be drawn here!").

Raffi - emotionally charged - decides to set off for 'The Watcher' who is presumably some kind of alien life-form keeping track of the timeline.  Seven, Agnes and Rios debate about who will go after Raffi - I was concerned that she was going to go off without them. The crew discuss the potential effects of altering the timeline: for example, by leaving a phaser or other technology behind on a pre-warp planet:  Doctor McCoy did it once at the end of an episode.  As Agnes puts it, 'We have to look out for butterflies' (The butterfly effect - even tiny changes to a starting situation can have drastic consequences, and these get larger as time passes).

Seven and Rios will pursue Raffi and search for The Watcher; Agnes and Picard will take care of the Borg Queen - I didn't ever expect to write that, and even Seven is unconvinced. 

Agnes uses the smashed-up transporters to beam the away team - in appropriate 21st century clothing - into central LA.  Except it goes badly wrong; the team are beamed into separate locations, and Rios arrives 12 foot off the ground, falling badly (via a fire escape stairway) and landing heavily on the ground.  He gets transferred to an 0ff-the-radar clinic; after all, the last thing he needs is to get scanned, identified, arrested or anything else that might disturb the timeline.  He's separated from his communicator - just like Doctor McCoy - and it gets picked up by a young boy.

Seven and Raffi beam in and join up fairly easily; they acclimatise very quickly to 2024 and even manage some humour (Seven:  "2024 likes me."   Raffi: "You and 2024 should get a room".)   They are able to find a possible location for The Watcher, and also track Rios's communicator while the young boy plays with it.  Rios, suffering from concussion, does his level best to retrieve it, and yet it all seems to go wrong, as circumstances accelerate beyond his control.

On the subject of 'all going wrong'; Agnes attempts to convince Picard to let her communicate with the Borg Queen.  It's all so very inevitable: Picard can't do it as he's been assimilated before, so that only leaves Agnes.  How could this possibly go wrong?  Let me count the ways.  Even after Picard says, "No," you know that it's going to happen - it reminded me of Kirk's line in Star Trek III ("The word is no; I am therefore going anyway").

"It's only a partial assimilation," says Agnes.

Yeah, right.  About that...  please see Star Trek Voyager: Dark Frontier.

As predicted, the link between Agnes and the Queen works both ways, and while Agnes is poking around in the Queen's database, the Queen is probing Agnes's mind - part from Agnes's emotions, which are directed at Picard without filter (in humorous and touching ways).  Agnes makes contact with the Queen's central core, and Picard has to disconnect Agnes, just in time, before the Queen fully assimilates her.  Agnes seems to do okay, but we'll see how that works out for her... I mean them... or do I mean her?  Subroutine failing, intrusive presence detected; assimilate.  A great scene, acted scarily well as Agnes occupies the Queen's body, and the Queen speaks to Locutus through Agnes.

Yes, Agnes does get the co-ordinates for The Watcher, and apparently they no longer need the Borg Queen.  So why not disconnect her and switch her off?  I wonder.

Raffi and Seven, meanwhile are more successful.  They get to the top of the highest tower in LA, with very little difficulty and with some humour - and start scanning.  They identify one alien power source - probably the Watcher - and also locate Rios's comm badge.  Considering how much difficulty Kirk and crew had in the 1980s, it's remarkable how quickly everybody acclimatises into 2024.  

Rios makes multiple attempts to retrieve his comm badge, to no avail.  Circumstances consistently work against him - it would be funnier if it wasn't so critical - to the point where he does everything possible to stay out of history's way.  In the end, the unofficial clinic is stormed by immigration police, and Rios makes the heroic and flawed decision to help Theresa, the head of the clinic.  His plans continue to fall apart, despite all his ongoing efforts - including pretending to be a doctor (Kirk also did this in Star Trek IV) as he is arrested and taken away by the police, still without his comm badge.

Raffi and Seven - making steady progress.  Rios - going to prison, with no means of support.  The Borg Queen - minus her legs and also with no means of support - wants full control of the ship (and a pair of legs).  However, Picard and Agnes have been successful in extracting (in fact, removing) the Watcher's location from the Borg Queen, and surely they have no further use for her?  But no, she knows when the divergence in time takes place.  And is it just me, or is she looking more human - she's not the Borg's pale white colour, she's looking more flesh-coloured. 

Either way, the Borg Queen still looks dangerous.  This excellent episode (which has moved the series from action to psychological thriller) might have concluded, but this is NOT over.

Star Trek Picard Season 2 Episode 2 Review Penance

CONTAINS SPOILERS

Star Trek has an even longer, wider and richer history than Star Wars - there's a wealth of characters, events and plot points that can be mined for ideas for new stories, and this is precisely where the current series of Picard is heading.

Way back, in the The Original Series episode, "Mirror, Mirror," a transporter accident launched Kirk, Scotty, Uhura and McCoy into an alternative universe which became known as the Mirror Universe.  Here, the 'Federation' is an ultra-right-wing organisation bent on conquest and destruction and the supremacy of the Human Race.  Torturing is an acceptable interrogation technique, Nazi-style salutes are the norm, and assassinating your immediate superior is an approved way of achieving a promotion.  The episode is one of the best of the The Original Series, and is well worth a watch (although you'll smile at the costume designs - Spock in a goatee, for example).

Picard's first series, The Next Generation, never visited the Mirror Universe, but it featured repeatedly in Deep Space Nine episodes - Crossover (Season 2), Through the Looking Glass (Season 3), Shattered Mirror (Season 4), Resurrection (Season 6), and The Emperor’s New Cloak (Season 7).  The Terran Empire is battling against the combined forces of almost everybody else - the Klingons, Vulcans, Cardassians, Ferengi and so on.  It also featured in the Enterprise series (with two standalone episodes) and much of Star Trek Discovery.

And it is in this Mirror Universe that Picard finds himself, courtesy of Q.  It's not clear why Q is not his usual self - as Picard points out, he seems unwell and unstable, even by Q's own unhinged standards.  Q drops some key hints as to Picard's location:  his line, "This is no Yesterday's Enterprise." is directed to the audience more than to Picard:  Yesterday's Enterprise was an episode of The Next Generation, and possibly one of the best.  A previous version of the Enterprise, the Enterprise NCC-1701C is thrown forwards in time and out of a key battle between the Romulans and the Klingons.  In the correct order of history, the Enterprise C makes a valiant sacrificial stand to protect the Klingons, and this leads to a lasting peace with them.  When the Enterprise C ducks out of this battle, history takes a different turn and the Federation and Klingons are mortal enemies.  

Q makes another overt reference to their new location when he comments about 'mirrors and smoke' - this is definitely the Mirror Universe.

And what a bleak place it is for mankind.  Global warming has made it almost impossible to grow crops; the planet has a defence system of some kind surrounding it and worse of all, Picard is the key military leader who has made all this happen.  His chateau now sports trophies of all macabre types:  there are the usual weapons of war, portraits and military imagery, along with the skulls of some of mankind's greatest 'enemies':  Gul Dukat (the Cardassian antagonist in Deep Space Nine); the Vulcan Sarek (who was executed in front of a crowd that included his son - Spock); General Martok (in our universe, a key Klingon who supported peace with the Federation).  Things here are very, very wrong.  But Picard is sick and tired of Q's interference, and wants none of his help.  Ah, Picard, still as stubborn as ever.  However, Q has still arranged for support for Picard in this universe, as we discover.

Seven awakens in the Mirror Universe, and we eventually realise that she's not Borg.  Maybe the change in the timeline meant that her parents never flew off in search of the Borg; maybe humanity never encountered the Borg in this timeline.  Maybe I'm being optimistic: the truth is a lot worse.  This episode piles on the darkness and is relentless in making a bleak place even worse.

Seven very quickly runs some personal diagnostics, and concludes that she is still herself, in a strange environment: she is married, and no less than the President Of Earth (a role which the Emergency Medical Hologram once took on in the comical Voyager episode Bride of Chaotica!).  She handles the transition with apparent ease, and after acclimatising to being married, sends her husband off and makes contact with Rios.  Her husband suggests General Sisko (from Deep Space Nine, no less, but Seven knows exactly what she's doing.

This is a great scene; Rios is in the middle of a battle with the Vulcans (apparently near their homeworld) and accepts Seven's hail.  Is the Rios in this universe the same Rios we know from our universe?  Is Seven?  After a few guarded comments, Rios asks:  "Seven?"  to which she replies, "Chris!" and they know that they are indeed in the same situation.  He is given a presidential order to return to Earth - the team must reunite.

Raffi and Elnor meet in less than ideal circumstances.  In this xenophobic, fascist, supremacist environment, aliens such as the Romulan Elnor are less than nothing.  Elnor in particular is a terrorist, with a specialism in setting off bombs in high-rise buildings. He gets captured; his terrorist partner is shot dead.  Fortunately, Raffi is now the planetary head of security.  She's able to rescue Elnor; but who is able to rescue them?  There are security troops all around and Raffi has to hand Elnor over to them - but he is to be kept alive as he possesses key intelligence and is to be interrogated.

Today is Eradication Day; in a grand ceremony presented by President Hansen and General Jean-Luc Picard, the last member of humanity's greatest enemies is to be executed.  Vulcan?  Romulan?  Cardassian?  Again, this episode makes a dark situation as dark as possible:  as Doctor Agnes Jurati discovers, the species to be eradicated today is none less than the Borg.  Humanity have driven the Borg to extinction: we are in a very grim situation.  Agnes is still mentally unstable, and she makes a complete mess of acknowledging her transition to this new universe and of getting into character here. She's so clumsy that she almost blows the team's cover before she's even said a word.  Seven brings her into line, as the two of them (plus Seven's husband) meet the Borg Queen - the final Borg in this Mirror Universe.  Meeting a Borg Queen is always scary, and this is no exception - this one is alone, lost, slightly insane, but aware of the divergence in the timeline.  She also still recognises Seven.

Picard and Seven meet up - they in turn are reunited with Raffi and her 'prisoner' Elnor.  On whose authority is Raffi meant to keep hold of Elnor?  On General Picard's, no less.  Who else?  The four of them all catch up on their situation:  "I'm the human president of a xenophobic authoritarian regime."  Sums it all up, really.  This is an alternative reality, and the Borg Queen here can help the team understand the cause of the divergence.  Hence, time travel is going to be necessary, to go back in time and 'put right what once went wrong' (to quote Quantum Leap).  Time travel is very complex, but it can be done by sling-shotting a ship around a star at warp (Kirk did indeed do it on multiple occasions, in particular in Star Trek IV).  The calculations are extremely complicated, Kirk was able to do this, because 'He had Spock', and the team realise they can use the Borg Queen, who will surely want to help them in order to rejoin her collective in the Beta Quadrant.

President Hansen, General Picard, Security Chief Raffi and their prisoner

So that's the plan:  lower (or make a hole in) the planetary shields to enable communication and beaming, so that Rios can beam the crew up to the La Sirena, along with the Borg Queen, who is in cold storage in Agnes's lab.  What could possibly go wrong?  In this universe:  everything.  After all, today is Eradication Day, and security is tight.

President Hansen delivers a speech, reminding her bloodthirsty audience that a human galaxy is a safe galaxy, and that mankind shows its merciful power in mercilessly annihilating all the other, non-human, life forms in it.  Picard slowly takes his place on the stage, which is literally spotlight in the darkness.  This scene stands in sharp contrast to his presentation to Starfleet Academy's graduates in the last episode - the Human Empire flags stand in the darkness; Starfleet Academy has flags from multiple races, positioned in a bright sunlit window.

Picard plays for time; he plays to the crowd.  He's running out of time, and running out of ideas and options.  Agnes is trying to create maintain an open comm line with Rios, while Raffi and Elnor are trying to punch a hole in the Earth's shields so that they can all beam out - with the Borg Queen - at a time when security is tight and getting tighter.  Nobody is making any progress, and Picard's crowd are getting impatient.  In the end, he improvises and shoots the guards on the stage.  As ever, just at the last possible moment, Seven, Picard, Agnes, Jaffi, Elnor and the Borg Queen are beamed aboard the La Sirena.  Everybody runs to their stations: Seven takes the bridge and prepares the getaway, while Agnes starts preparing the La Sirena for a connection with the Borg Queen.

Does anybody else find the way that the Queen looks at Agnes disturbing?

It's all futile: Seven's husband beams aboard, followed by more armed security officers who seize the ship and place everyone under arrest as traitors.

Does anybody else think that the Queen will provide the escape route for the crew?

I thought the first episode was good, but this was even better.  It had a completely different tone - last week's was romantic, with whimsical 'what-ifs' and bright optimism (harvest and graduation are celebrations of a long, successful effort); this episode was dark:  Q isn't well; the celebrations are around death, extinction and eradication, and even the rebellion against the Confederation seems doomed to failure.  The only hope in this grim universe is the Borg Queen - the epitome of darkness - which shows how dark the situation really is.  Whatever happens, I shall be watching with great anticipation next week. 

Star Trek Picard Season 2 Episode 1 Review The Star Gazer

CONTAINS SPOILERS

Star Trek Picard Season 2 kicks off with a huge cliff-hanger.  There's no preamble or prelude as we are launched into the interior of a Starfleet vessel under heavy attack, intruders on board and casualties mounting.  It's not immediately clear where or when this is, or if it's real.  While watching it, and observing the La Sirena crew on the bridge acting as bridge officers, I thought that this was a dream or flashback sequence.  But no.

The story settles down to "48 hours earlier" so the disaster scenario wasn't a dream sequence.  And, 48 hours earlier, Picard is in his vineyard, in the grounds of his chateau, while his gramophone plays, "Time is on my side, yes it is..."  I sure hope so.  It's harvest time, and he's checking his crop while his workers bring it in - by beaming it into the carriers.  It's 2401, and it's good to see Picard's Romulan housekeeper, Laris, is assisting with the harvest.  Harvest time is a key time on the calendar, and Picard's favourite; as Laris points out, "Sieze today, for we know nothing of tomorrow."  Laris decides to take her own advice and make a play for Picard; Romulans don't grieve in the same way as humans, and she hints that she would like to love him; he's spent his life in the stars and perhaps it's time to settle down.

But would that make for a good Star Trek TV series? The writers seem to think so, and add a layer of 'missed opportunity' to the plot.

Picard disappears into a flashback sequence in his castle, recalling his mother, and the arguments and domestic violence between his parents.  It seems his mother, Yvette, was responsible for setting young Jean-Luc on his path to the stars, as a way of escaping an unhappy home life. 

Oh, and out in the stars there's a luminescent green spatial anomaly out in space that has bashed the USS Avalon off its axis.  It's Borg green, but doesn't look Borg at first sight.

 Picard prepares to give his speech to the graduating class at Starfleet Academy, and before he sets off, he's trawling his library for a specific book - Loris finds it in seconds.  Clearly these two are good for each other, but clearly he's not not prepared to take the chance.  I wonder how many second opportunities he's going to need.  Picard, however, has apparently made his mind up and delivers his speech, with the theme of siezing the day and making the most of every opportunity - and highlights the first Romulan graduate from the academy, his friend Elnor (as seen in season 1).  After delivering the speech, Picard heads over to find out where Elnor has been assigned; the graduates are all getting ships with names that are well established in Trek history.  There's the USS Excelsior, which has featured in Star Trek III and Star Trek VI;  USS Grissom, which featured in Star Trek II, and the Stargazer, which was the name of Picard's first command - see The Battle, TNG Season 1 Episode 9.  

This whole episode plays on the pun of young Picard gazing at the stars, and the current vessel, the USS Stargazer. 

The USS Stargazer, Picard's first command.

After paraphrasing Spock's advice and encouraging Elnor to 'live a little', Picard finally takes his own advice and speaks to Guinan.  Guinan was the bartender on the Enterprise D as we saw throughout TNG, and as an El Aurian, she has the ability to detect shifts in the space-time continuum.  She's also a long-standing friend of Picard's and an inexhaustible supply of good advice.  Picard again skirts around the issue of not following his heart (he followed his head to the stars, and left his heart unexplored) but Guinan holds up an accurate mirror to his feelings.

Seven, meanwhile, is using the El Sirena to ship Federation medical supplies on behalf of the Fenris Rangers (we heard of them in series 1).  She's having to defend the ship from boarding pirates, which she does with the assistance of the holographic crew, all based on Rios.  His holographic personality enables him to dodge phaser fire, then rematerialise to strike the pirates over the back of the head when required.  She continues her run through interstellar space, and detects the same, green spatial anomaly as Starfleet - it's time to take a look, with the assistance of holographic Rios.

The real Rios is now captain of the current USS Stargazer, which has been sent to investigate the bright green spatial anomaly.  The special effects for this anomaly are light years ahead of anything I've seen in sci-fi, and are amazing.  After a few minutes probing the anomaly, the crew are interrupted by a full-spectrum blast of radiation, which turns out to be a signal - or a three-word message, repeated by thousands of voices, "Help us, Picard."  I'm calling this:  thousands of voices calling for Picard, by name... in unison?  Must be the Borg ;-)

What do you get if you cross the Enterprise with an X-Wing?  The Stargazer

Picard is back on Earth, where he is visited by a Starfleet Admiral - he has no hesitation in following her to the USS Stargazer and the anomaly.  Contrast Admiral Picard, who is ready to jump on a shuttlecraft with zero notice, and Jean-Luc, who is hopelessly unable to develop a relationship with Laris (or anybody else, for that matter).  I wonder if that's what Laris is thinking as she watches the shuttlecraft depart.

Agnes and Soji, meanwhile, are partying and dining on an obscure part of the Beta Quadrant - in Soji's case, enjoying not being hunted as a synth.  Agnes and Rios have had a relationship which has ended badly, and Agnes is still recovering, and, to add insult to injury, is attracting the attentions of a flirtatious synth.  She is invited aboard the Stargazer, and immediately accepts (the second of this week's character to seek an escape in space).  Picard comes aboard and is greeted by Seven, who explains that this new Stargazer is the first ship in Starfleet to have been constructed with technology adapated from the Borg artifact (see last series).  I wish I could remember which series it was where a ship was built with alien technology which suddenly activated and siezed control of the ship; it's a classic sci-fi cliche.

So, the crew of the La Sirena converge on the spatial anomaly, and are reunited on the Stargazer.  Picard responds to the mysterious message, and after a brief delay, receive an additional reply.  It is indeed the Borg, and they're asking to join Starfleet.

Picard on the bridge of a starship - where he's at his best.

Is this an opportunity to make peace with the Borg?  Is it a ruse to win the trust of the Federation and then assimilate them?  For all the talk of missed opportunities, this is probably one that should be missed - especially if you ask Seven.  But no, the Borg, now in a cruciform vessel, decide its time to act and there's no more time to wait.  They are going to beam an emissary over - here comes the Borg Queen.  There is still an opportunity for Starfleet to respond with force, while the Borg Queen's transporter signal slowly materialises on the bridge of the Stargazer, but Picard decides against.  And suddenly we're back where we were at the start of the episode:  it's the Borg Queen (looking like something out of Doctor Who, with a faceless, black armoured helmet) who is attacking the bridge, firing assimilation tubules at the bridge consoles and shooting stun blasts at the Starfleet security officers.  It's all going horribly wrong - terminally wrong, in fact, as Picard activates the auto-destruct sequence while the Borg Queen continues to gain control of the ship, using the Borg technology that was already installed in it - and then using that link to take control of the entire fleet which has assembled.  No more, "Resistance is futile," from the Borg - this is now, "You are out of time."

And the whole fleet goes up in a cloud of proverbial smoke, with a bright flash of light and a final message from the Borg Queen: "Look up."  Wasn't that what Picard's mother said to him?

Except this isn't the end, as Picard finds himself back at his chateau, where something's changed.  His comm badge is different - larger and pointier (changing a comm badge is a quick shorthand in Trek for a different or parallel universe).  His orangery/conservatory is mostly intact, instead of being wrecked with broken glass all over the floor.  The sky is now filled with the hexagonal grid of a planetary defence system - Earth is probably at war. Picard's house is now decorated with the spoils of war - the portrait on the wall is of him on a battlefield.  And Laris has gone, replaced by an inane android.  

There are so many details in the conversation between Picard and Harvey the android that I can't go over them here, but I hope they'll all be revisited in future episodes.

"What is happening here?" asks Picard.  And that's where it all kicks off.

Q, who has addressed Picard as "Mon capitaine" since they first met, appears and explains that this is a new timeline - an alternate reality, or 'the end of the path not taken'.  Q loves messing about with time, and with the Borg, and with a click of his fingers he's flung Picard and his crew into a new alternate reality.  As with Back to the Future II, the question will likely be "What historic event has been changed, and how do we fix it?"  Who knows?  This is the real cliff-hanger of this episode, and of the series.

I'm looking forward to it.

 

 

Chess Game: Co-ordination

I know, it's been a long time since I published a Chess game on this blog. It's a bit disappointing for a website called daveschessgames.blogspot.com, but that's the way it goes sometimes! I played this blitz game on chess.com last week, and even as I was playing it - at high speed - I realised how well co-ordinated my pieces were, and how poorly my opponent's were. Rooks are better when they're either connected or doubled (covering each other horizontally or vertically) and are of no benefit when they're disconnected (on different ranks and files). Bishops, meanwhile, work best on long, open diagonals. Long, or open, but ideally both. hernin1 vs David, 19 February 2022, 10 mins per player.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 I was taught to always capture towards the centre, and it makes sense here.

6. Qf3 Bb7 7. Bc4 d5 8. exd5 cxd5 9. Bb3

9. ...  Bb4+ 

10. Bd2 Qe7+ 

11. Qe2 Qxe2+ 

12. Kxe2 Ba6+ 

13. Kd1 Bxd2

White loses castling rights, and strands his king in the centre of the board.  Still, that can't be too dangerous with the queens off the board, right?
 

14. Nxd2 O-O 

15. Re1 c5 

16. c4 d4 

...and I've blocked White's bishop out of the game - at least temporarily.  If I can move my bishop to b7, then it will have an uncontested view of the long diagonal.  And with c4, I've also created a passed pawn.

17. Ne4 Nxe4 

18. Rxe4 Bb7 

19. Rg4 

A strange but necessary move to protect the pawn on g2.  White's rooks are now completely separated from each other - it would take several moves to get them on the same rank or file, and white has also vacated the central e-file. I'll be looking to take ownership of that e-file...

19. ... Rfe8 ... and there's no time like the present.

20. Bc2 Re7
21. a4 Rae8 

I'm not sure what a4 was aiming for, but I now have doubled rooks on the open e-file.  My bishop stands unchallenged on the long diagonal, while white's pieces are in disarray.  And the worst of it?  I'm threatening to capture white's rook with with 22. ... Re1+ and Rxa1

22. Kd2 Re2+  white plays the best move (avoiding the loss of the rook on a1), but is heading for trouble.

 23. Kd3 Rxf2

 24. Rd1 Re3# 0-1

White moved the rook to a safer square, but neglected his open king.  Yes, this was as blitz game, but I was very pleased with how I handled the pieces.  I was also surprised at how my opponent failed to co-ordinate his pieces, which were spread across the board with no clear aim, and subsequently fell to a direct attack in the centre of the board.