1.06: Star Trek: Picard - The Impossible Box

[.matthew.]

No, Picard is a diplomat. His hope was to be able to use his mouth, his skills and knowledge to be able to walk Soji out and not end in a battle. That's why he left the assassin in the ship. Fighting is last resort.

So the Borg turned a diplomat into their military leader Locutus? And Starfleet made a diplomat an Admiral? You see diplomats in various Treks, and pretty much all of them are useless political types. Just because he tried to solve problems with words first doesn't override strategy, as diplomacy is often the first step any strategist will take before the gloves come off. Picard was always a mix of the two which is what made him so successful.

Also, he left the assassin in the ship because the Romulan's literally told him he had to board alone.

None of it changes the fact that according to their own timeline (assassin still on ship after the alarm goes off) that they could have beamed out (which is second nature to Picard) instead of 'hoping' that Hugh had a secret escape portal hidden in the cube that nobody knew about solely so they could have the next episode with the crew split in two.

... Or why half of them stayed to hold back the guards... The door closed before the guards turned up and you're telling me that a Borg Queen's chamber couldn't stand up to hours of assault? (bearing in mind that multiple Treks list various materials that take hours to cut through that are regularly used on doors, and that the Queen's chamber would be the most heavily fortified part of the cube.

 

[ctg]

So the Borg turned a diplomat into their military leader Locutus? And Starfleet made a diplomat an Admiral?

Maybe you don't get diplomats. They are the last line before the military action. War is an extension of politics. Soldiers are just tools.

Also, he left the assassin in the ship because the Romulan's literally told him he had to board alone.

He could have argued that he could not get rid of his bodyguard but to my eyes, he didn't want to take anyone with him. He wanted to go, and he told the assassin off as soon as he arrived, and then he was glad that he had come to rescue. Bigger question is how Elnor found Picard so quickly?

None of it changes the fact that according to their own timeline (assassin still on ship after the alarm goes off) that they could have beamed out (which is second nature to Picard) instead of 'hoping' that Hugh had a secret escape portal hidden in the cube that nobody knew about solely so they could have the next episode with the crew split in two.

Beamed out and get chased by Romulan patrols? You cannot beam out if the shields are up, and if he would have beamed, it would have left a transporter lock and again caused a problem. Using the unknown technology there might not be any transport logs. The Romulans were already in an alarm state when Soji broke out.

... Or why half of them stayed to hold back the guards... The door closed before the guards turned up and you're telling me that a Borg Queen's chamber couldn't stand up to hours of assault?

What is better, standing in a locked room, waiting for them to break the door, find the technology, and possibly solve the problem by using grenades or facing the enemy in a place that you have chosen to do battle? Elnor is better outside the chamber than inside it in my honest opinion. So can you please explain why the Queen's chamber is better than outside it? Also how is that going to solve the problem outside the Borg cube?

 

[.matthew.]

Maybe you don't get diplomats. They are the last line before the military action. War is an extension of politics. Soldiers are just tools.

Which is what I said, strategists will always use diplomacy first. But, Star Trek has actual diplomats, as an actual profession. Picard was a starship Captain (which required diplomacy but more importantly military experience - the academy actively trains their officers in combat). However, starfleet would never make a diplomat a starship captain, and certainly not an Admiral of the fleet. Picard is an exception by being both, but his main training and competence is in command.

He could have argued that he could not get rid of his bodyguard but to my eyes, he didn't want to take anyone with him. He wanted to go, and he told the assassin off as soon as he arrived, and then he was glad that he had come to rescue. Bigger question is how Elnor found Picard so quickly?

That's a fair point, kindof. Picard probably did want to go alone, but the Romulans aren't the type to capitulate to demands like letting someone bring an armed escort into their territory. As for the bigger question there, they clearly had a scanner lock on him (otherwise impossible to search the whole cube)... which means they could have beamed him out.

Beamed out and get chased by Romulan patrols? You cannot beam out if the shields are up, and if he would have beamed, it would have left a transporter lock and again caused a problem. Using the unknown technology there might not be any transport logs. The Romulans were already in an alarm state when Soji broke out.

And if the Romulan patrols don't chase the ship he arrived on anyway (since they'd have no way of knowing about the portal and would assume he's either still on the cube or on the ship) that's another waiting plot hole for next episode. It's also established that you can be beamed out if you have a strong enough lock, but that beaming in is what can't be done (because you don't have one of the transport enhancers). The alarms weren't going off (I don't think) until Nerek called in on the communicator (Elnor still on the ship even after alarms sounded audibly though).

What is better, standing in a locked room, waiting for them to break the door, find the technology, and possibly solve the problem by using grenades or facing the enemy in a place that you have chosen to do battle? Elnor is better outside the chamber than inside it in my honest opinion. So can you please explain why the Queen's chamber is better than outside it? Also how is that going to solve the problem outside the Borg cube?

They wouldn't be in the locked room, they would have gone through the portal. They justified it by saying they'd need a few minutes to make sure they couldn't be followed, but they left the room straight away so they clearly didn't need to be at the portal to make sure it was wiped or whatever.

Either way, if the purpose was to wipe the records completely, and stop pursuit, they would have a better chance of dealing with any issues if they were in the room. Plus, having the big thick doors to block them would give them possibly hours to ensure that Picard couldn't be followed. In that way Hugh would be the only one required to stay behind. Also, the Queen's chamber would probably have a direct control link to the rest of the cube, allowing them massive tactical control (even if all they did was vent atmosphere in the corridor). Though they didn't need to do any of that, they could have all walked through after locking the door, and I can't imagine Picard wanting to let the Romulans have that technology after he left either, he should have destroyed it.

-

Nothing about the escape made any sense lol. By Trek logic it made no sense. Even by the episode's own logic it made no sense. It was nothing more than a cheesy way to split the crew up for the next episode.

Had they done something like left Elnor on the ship the whole time, and had Hugh show Picard and Soji to a ship they could use to escape, that could achieve the same result, perhaps having the Romulans chase off their own starship first, giving Picard a chance to evade them while keeping them separate for the next episode.

Other than the stupidity of the ending, I actually quite liked the episode, much better than the last one.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Well, after all my griping and frustrations last week the story hasn't just moved forward but it's ramped up a gear. Very much enjoyed the gradual build-up of tension throughout this episode and the gripping climax.

The question is - where have Picard and Soji gone? More specifically, have they simply moved through space, or have they moved through time as well? After all, the Borg Queen went back in time in that ST:TNG film.

In which case, if the writing is good, that's exactly what has happened and now Picard will start fixing things from the past backward - that would excuse all the backstory we saw and lend a complete reason to it. In effect, we've been introduced to a broken future and now Picard could have an opportunity to fix it - everything from the Romulan evacuation, to Raffi's maternity, to Samurai's Elf's abandonment, and 7 of 9's dark development. And, ultimately, save Dahj.

Just a thought.

Alternatively, they'll just move him across space and take up the plot build up from there, which I suppose is okay but could be missing a trick.

 

[Overread]

The Queen used time travel only through the Starfleet approved method of flying a ship at warpspeed at a large gravity body. Interestingly they only did this after their initial attack. I would assume that if the Borg knew of time travel methods before this, and in general, they'd have used them already to conquer everything long long ago.

I would guess that they only gained the knowledge during that attack and that communications with the rest of the collective were interrupted during the battle, preventing the information from getting back to the main body.

It's the only way to explain how they were able to use time travel then, but never displayed a use of it later. They didn't even use it when encountering Species 8472 which was a serious thread to the Borg of sufficient magnitude that if they had time travel you'd have expected them to use it to warn their former selves. However as I noted, if the Borg had time travel they'd have used it many times already.

 

[Trek123]

The Queen used time travel only through the Starfleet approved method of flying a ship at warpspeed at a large gravity body. Interestingly they only did this after their initial attack. I would assume that if the Borg knew of time travel methods before this, and in general, they'd have used them already to conquer everything long long ago.

I would guess that they only gained the knowledge during that attack and that communications with the rest of the collective were interrupted during the battle, preventing the information from getting back to the main body.

It's the only way to explain how they were able to use time travel then, but never displayed a use of it later. They didn't even use it when encountering Species 8472 which was a serious thread to the Borg of sufficient magnitude that if they had time travel you'd have expected them to use it to warn their former selves. However as I noted, if the Borg had time travel they'd have used it many times already.

After watching episode 6, I came up with this theory. I think Agnes Jurati is the contributor of Soji because if you remove the makeup and color her mom's hair she could be that image. Dahj and Soji do not have the same mom, I noticed this in episodes 1 and 3. Agnes shows all the signs of being a Synth herself. 1. She constantly references information like Data, Soji, and Dahj. 2. Her contributions were referenced in Episode 5 when she killed Maddox. 3. She and Soji were both constructed with Borg memory engrams but deliberately made imperfect by Maddox who said on his death bed perfectly imperfect. I also think that Commodore Oh planted the memories in Jurati to aid in the scheme of the Romulans to travel back in time to change the history of the destruction of Romulus with the help of Borg technology. Also when Soji was interviewing Ramada, she remembered Soji from tomorrow which means she reference future events. With time travel it's happened before and the plans were foiled by Soji who is named the Destroyer, remember this is Star Trek and that's why the Romulans have hated synthetics for centuries and their plans are to eliminate all of them before attempting to travel back in time again.

I'm sure this is an altered timeline because how would Soji know about technology from the Borg in the Delta quadrant when Janeway destroyed the Borg hub and the queen when Voyager returned to the Alpha quadrant. The Borg implants Soji have was supposed to be destroyed then, and Hugh clearly said this technology was obtained after Picard was assimilated.

 

[Overread]

The destruction of the Borg Queen is one of the major oddities in this series. It can't be fully alternate time-line because we've got Seven of Nine and the other Borg from the Delta Quadrant. We can only make the assumption that the destruction of the Borg Hub was not as complete as Janeway thought it was at the time.

Now this might mean that he primary hub was destroyed, but that fragments of the Borg managed to isolate themselves and remain active. Allowing them to restore their own operations, if at a reduced rate after the loss of their primary Hub. It's a story area that I suspect we won't learn of until we discover more about Soji. Heck it might even be that she and the sythetics are related to that event.

 

[REBerg]

The cube reclamation project gives me the creeps.
I don't believe that the Romulans or anyone else understands the Borg well enough to authoritatively assert that the cube is permanently disabled. Who knows what might trigger a reactivation? Maybe pulling the wrong implant from a key drone? Maybe just a delay in the rounds being made by the Borg repair and salvage cube?
The project indicates the desperation, perhaps buoyed by vestigial arrogance, of the surviving Romulans.

 

[Blake00]

I haven't posted here since I blew up a bit over Ep5 haha (although I see you guys have kept things going on without me thankfully haha). I have kept watching the show though but was less invested in it to continue posting my episode round ups. I said after ep 5 that they'd really need some good eps to undo the damage that did, so...

Yeah.. they sort of did as Ep6 was really good. I love any story line that deals with Picard's trauma from the Borg, eg some my favourite powerful moments in classic Trek include Picard braking down in front of his brother at the chateau after Best of Both Worlds and Picard loosing it and smashing the ship glass case in First Contact. THE LINE MUST BE DRAWN HERE! So that moment when he saw his own face as locutus and his reaction was cool. Seeing him on the cube and the way the ex-Bs reacted to him was interesting too. I'm glad Soji got activated as I was getting a bit over the innocent girl on the cube with her cool badass lying boyfriend storyline. The queens chamber was cool and I liked the nod of the head to Voyagers Sikarians and the Borg using their teleporter tech after assimilation.

However the next few eps.. ugh.. I go vent there lol..

 

[Dave]

after all my griping and frustrations last week the story hasn't just moved forward but it's ramped up a gear.

Yes, the quest has finally begun (after 7 episodes!)

I was totally surprised by Picard's encounter with the Project Leader and him recognising Picard as the Locustus.

It's Hugh. Hugh from the episode I, Borg though I wouldn't have recognised him either.

Soji has discovered she's a replicant with implanted memories.

But has she? For someone as intelligent as her and with such a vast knowledge, she shows very poor intuition, and little emotional intelligence either.

In First Contact it was Borg technology that allowed Data to have skin.

I forgot that. Good call!

I liked the nod of the head to Voyagers Sikarians and the Borg using their teleporter tech after assimilation.

I forgot them too!

instead of opening portal after portal and disgorging thousands of Borg across hundreds of worlds, with absolute no defense possible...

I hate the writers so much.

Well, all sorts of reasons why not, as @Overread has said better than I ever could.

Picard is a diplomat. His hope was to be able to use his mouth, his skills and knowledge to be able to walk Soji out and not end in a battle. That's why he left the assassin in the ship. Fighting is last resort.

While that is true, it does make you wonder why Picard spent so much time going off to find a warrior to join his quest, if he was never planning to ever use one. I mean, the quest is complete now, is it not, they went to find Soji, and now they have found her? So, why did Picard think he would need a space elf, if not in this episode?

 

[ctg]

So, why did Picard think he would need a space elf, if not in this episode?

Because he also has intuition. He kind of knows what's going to happen, even if he cannot put his finger on it. And he knows that he's last guy who should fight. Elenor however has everything to live for. He has his whole life and everything in the galaxy to experience. So Picard trusted him to survive and fulfil his mission. He's like that old man who knows everything and annoyingly remind people about it, but his timing can be well off.