Q demands “Penance” on latest Star Trek: Picard
Star Trek: Picard enters the Mirror Universe. No, not that one. Or that one. A new one! Time for your “Penance”!
Last week on Star Trek: Picard we found out Rios is captain of the Stargazer. Seven is the captain of La Sirena. And Jurati is a wine mommy. In other news, Elnor and Raffi are both in Starfleet. Meanwhile, Picard talks to Guinan about a super awkward almost-kiss between him and Laris.
No time for any of that, though, because the new Borg Queen is here and she sounds like Picard’s actual mommy. Picard handles that very well by blowing up the Stargazer with everyone on board. Anyway, now Q is here and the world’s all different. Uh oh.
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
The Boldly Recap
Q introduces Picard to his brave new world. Here the Earth never turned things around. Yes, all your favorite global catastrophes from the 21st century are still here, but with added CGI and popped collars! The Earth is on environmental life support. On this world, Picard is a general for the Confederation of Earth – a fascist dictatorship where aliens are hunted and dominated. We’ve seen Q pluck Picard from his timeline before, but this time he seems angrier. This time Q specifies that he’s not offering Picard a lesson, but, rather, a penance.
Picard’s whole team is here, too. Rios is a Colonel leading a war against the Vulcans. Raffi is a security chief. Elnor is a revolutionary. Seven is de-Borged and the current president of Earth. And Agnes is still a lonely scientist. At least she has a computer cat? This just in: the computer cat hates her.
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
The Voyage Home
Agnes is in possession of one other important thing: the (classic) Borg Queen. It’s Eradication Day on Earth and Seven and Picard are set to publicly execute the Queen. On any other day killing the Borg Queen would be rad. However on this occasion she is the only one who can see why the timeline is different. Q changed something and only the Borg Queen knows the when and the where. And she’s the only one with the brain juice for time travel. Too bad Rom isn’t there!
Picard and Seven protect the Borg Queen. Meanwhile Rios, Agnes, Elnor, Raffi shut down security and get everyone beamed on board La Sirena. Jurati hooks the Borg Queen up to the ship so she can calculate their way to the year 2024 when Q changed history. Unfortunately, before time travel fun can commence, the confederates beam aboard and injure Elnor – potentially mortally! Can the crew of La Sirena escape their bonds, save Elnor, and correct the past? We’ll find out the answers to these questions sometime during the remainder of Star Trek: Picard season 2!
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
To Boldly Review
The season two premiere was extremely good. Can “Penance” live up to it? The answer is (mostly) yes, and that begins with the relationship between Picard and Q. Over the years we’ve grown accustomed to Q smirking as he taunts Picard and his crew. And, more often than not, that’s fun! However, we’ve never seen Q be so malicious while doling out one of his patented lessons. Yes, Q put humanity on trial before, and, yes, he put them in the line of sight of the Borg. But, this is the first time we’ve ever seen Q act out of what appears to be rage. And that is also fun, but it’s also scary. For all the neat Easter eggs (which we’ll get to later), the most exciting thing about “Penance” is that even the familiar narrative beats break new ground.
Q almost seems afraid in the opening and that emotion also seems to be the one which drives this entire, new universe. The mirror universe we’re used to seeing on Star Trek isn’t one whose evil is predicated on fear. The Terran Empire is populated mostly by chaotic bisexuals who are horny for evil. The Confederation of Earth, in comparison, takes its offensive position out of fear. The slogan for the Confederacy is “A safe galaxy is a human galaxy”.
The people of Earth are less gleeful about oppressing and dominating other worlds and more terrified that if they don’t they will be the ones oppressed and dominated. Just like in real life!
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
Seven of Nine’s Wee Little Husband Man Is A Metaphor
Everyone has aspects to their identity that are unique to this Confederate Earth. Rios is back on the La Sirena. Picard has a room full of cool skulls. Agnes has that a cat voiced by Patton Oswalt. Elnor has a new haircut (look, man, there’s not a lot to work with). However, it’s Seven of Nine who gets the best update.
Sure it’s a big deal that Seven is the President of the Confederacy. And it’s an even bigger deal that she was never assimilated by the Borg in this world. But, man, we have got to talk about Seven’s husband. No offense to this actor, but they cast him at least partially because Jeri Ryan towers over him, right? All I can think about is how he is so short and how he’s so mad about being shorter than his wife. And I think that’s kind of an analogy for this entire world Picard et al find themselves in. They are trapped on an Earth where everyone is making up for the insecurity they feel because all the other planets out there are taller and cooler than Earth.
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
Transporter Malfunction A.K.A. Quick Stall For Time
Before we talk about the many references to other episodes and the theories I have for the future, let’s critique what is worth critiquing. Once the crew figures out that Q changed the past, we know where the story goes next. We just have to get the Borg Queen on La Sirena, zoom to the past, and Bob’s your uncle. Unfortunately that would make for a short episode. So, instead, we wind up trapped on Earth for an extra act – and some of that feels like stalling for time.
The silver lining is that we get a very tense scene with Picard, Seven, and the Borg Queen. Picard is supposed to execute the Queen live on stage, but he can’t because they need her. However, you can see that both Seven and Picard really want to kill her anyway. The Borg Queen is responsible for so much of both their trauma. It’s genuinely powerful watching Seven and Picard quietly consider killing the Borg Queen even though it would screw everyone.
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
Question Starts With The Letter ‘Q’
When Picard demands that Q cut to the chase and explain what’s going on, Q has a very intense response. “The chase is cut Picard, the chase is bleeding. The chase is dying in your arms and I am but a suture in the wound.” What the heck does that mean?
Q insists that this shift in the timeline is about penance. He also insists that Picard knows exactly what this is penance for. Certainly Picard is guilty of some pretty major mistakes since last he and Q met. After all, wasn’t it Picard who abandoned the Romulans at the first sign of trouble? And wasn’t it Picard who said nothing as synthetic life was reduced to emotionless slave labor?
But if we know anything about Q, we know that he doesn’t care about any of that mortal stuff. But what if Q’s existence was under threat? What if the Q Continuum itself is in danger? Last episode, the Borg asked Picard for help but we don’t know why. This time Q is the one who seems afraid. What could both the Borg and the Q Continuum be so afraid of? And might it have something to do with that portal Picard and the synths opened at the end of last season? What if those synthetic lifeforms are enemies of the Q and now Picard has woken them up?
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
Who Is the Watcher?
When the Borg Queen reveals that Q changed the past in 2024, she mentions that there is a “watcher” who can help. This presents a question: who is the watcher and have we met them before? I want to posit an answer to those question. Yes, we have met the watcher because the watcher is Guinan.
Think about it: we know that Guinan is on Earth in the 19th century from the TNG story “Time’s Arrow”. What is to say that Guinan isn’t still on Earth in the 21st century? Why is her bar on Earth part of a historic district? What are all those strange instruments surrounding the bar? If you put it all together, it seems obvious that Guinan is the most likely answer to the question of who the watcher is.
But hold on to your hats, because I’ve got one other possibility for you to consider. How do we know Guinan is an El-Aurian? What if I told you you there was another possibility? What if I told you Guinan is a Q?
Think about it. Q and Guinan know each other and seemingly have for centuries. Q and Guinan both make themselves appear older for the sake of mortal comfort. And Guinan seems to know a lot about this quest Picard is on this season before he even begins it. It could be nothing, but since Patrick Stewart himself revealed Guinan will return later in the season, there’s ever reason to assume there’s more to her story. And, moreover, the mystery of how Q and Guinan know each has remained unanswered for nearly 35 years. Maybe this year is the year we finally get our answer.
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
Stray Observation Deck
The Q scene alone is packed with references. Q namedrops the classic TNG episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise” for example. But that room of skulls is absolutely bananas. There are skulls of Borg and Ferengi just to start before Q specifically names Sarek, Martok, and Gul Dukat as former owners of some of those skulls.
Gul Dukat is a big reference because of his connection with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. We also hear mention of Benjamin Sisko in “Penance” which has so many fans hoping Avery Brooks may make an appearance. We wouldn’t hold our breath, but who knows!
Evil Picard drinks his coffee black and the way our earl-grey-loving Picard spits that roast out is hilarious.
Seven gets some great stuff in this episode. It’s nice that the person Seven thinks of first when she wakes up in this strange, new world is Raffi. Jeri Ryan’s scenes with the Borg Queen are absolute dynamite and it’s especially cool when Unimatrix Zero gets referenced.
We see a holographic image of someone named Adam Soong (played by Brent Spiner). It’s clear he is the genesis point for Q’s changes and a relative of Dr. Noonian Soong.
Man, remember that time Q was shocked because Ben Sisko punched him? Good times. Anyway, Q fully slaps Picard in the face in this episode and I think I might have felt deeply gratified? Is that bad?
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
Questions, Queries, Quibbles
There are tons of questions still, but the immediate one regards Elnor’s fate. Could Elnor die? Will anybody care if Elnor dies? There’s a weird moment between Jurati and the Borg Queen this episode — will that amount to something later? And who do you think the watcher might be? Tell us what you think will happen next!
Until then, this is your humble recapper signing off. Computer: end program.
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
