Star Trek: Picard - Episode 9 "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1"
By: Andy Kelly for TechRadar
From TechRadar
Star Trek: Picard episode 9 recap: The first part of the season finale has a major revelation
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
After a bumpy ride, the La Sirena emerges from the Borg transwarp conduit and arrives at Soji's homeworld, Coppelius. Picard notes that by using the conduit, the ship has travelled 25 light years in just 15 minutes. Narek appears, opening fire, but Seven of Nine and her newly-acquired Borg Cube, the Artifact, intervenes. Then, suddenly, giant orchid-like flowers rise from the planet and grab hold of the La Sirena, the Cube, and Narek's Snakehead, dragging them down to the surface of Coppelius.
Everyone survives, but the La Sirena is out of action. Before they leave on foot to find a nearby settlement, Picard tells the crew about the terminal brain condition he learned about in episode 2. He says there's no effective treatment, but he doesn't want to be treated like a dying man. They exit the ship and find themselves in a desert, and later enter the wreckage of the crashed Artifact. Elnor and Seven of Nine are alive, and both say their goodbyes to Picard. He says Elnor must stay there and protect the ex-Borg. Raffi accesses a Borg computer and is troubled by the discovery that a fleet of 218 Romulan Warbirds is on its way to Coppelius.
Picard and the others finally arrive at the settlement where Soji was created. The place is populated almost entirely with matching pairs of organic synths. Some of them – likely earlier models than Dahj and Soji – are closer to Data in appearance, with a golden shimmer on their skin and yellow eyes. A man introduces himself as Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, the son of Noonian Soong, the cyberneticist who built Data. A woman called Sutra who looks remarkably like Soji, but with Data's eyes, has learned how to perform a Vulcan Mind-Meld and uses it on Jurati to see the Admonition that Commodore Oh forced her to watch at the beginning of episode 7.
It seems the Admonition, on which the Zhat Vash based its entire anti-synth philosophy, was never meant for organic life. Sutra, a synth, sees the vision much more clearly. It's revealed to be a message left by a mysterious race of higher synthetic beings, as a warning for other synths. They say that eventually organics will turn on their creations, seeing them as a threat, and if that happens, these beings can be summoned to intervene. "Your evolution will be their extinction." Later, Sutra tries to convince Soji that summoning these powerful beings is the only way they can save themselves, even if it means wiping out all organic life in the galaxy.
Narek is captured by the synths, but is secretly released by Sutra, and he kills one of them in the escape. The last we see of him, he's running towards the Artifact. At a funeral for the murdered synth, Sutra reveals her plan to summon these higher beings. Picard is horrified and pleads with her to reconsider. He says he can keep them safe, make a deal with the Federation, but Soong laughs it off. Soong says they haven't listened to Picard since the attack on Mars. Picard is imprisoned by the synths as the massive Romulan fleet, led by Commodore Oh, approaches Coppelius.
Verdict: This episode sets the board for the season finale, feeling like the calm before an inevitable storm. The truth about the Admonition is a big moment, even if an advanced synthetic race wiping all organic life from the galaxy is hardly an original sci-fi concept. The highlight of this episode is Sutra, the Data-eyed Soji lookalike who has a real evil streak in her. And it's great seeing Brent Spiner again, playing another member of the Soong clan. This is a solid episode, but I really hope they stick the landing.
Extra data
• On the crashed Borg Cube, a former drone seems to recognise Picard and calls him Locutus. In the classic Next Generation episode The Best of Both Worlds (S3E26), Picard is captured and assimilated by the Borg and given this name, which is Latin for "the one who speaks."
• Altan Inigo Soong is the son of Noonian Soong, the brilliant Federation cyberneticist who created Data in his own image. Noonian Soong (played by Brent Spiner) has appeared in Star Trek several times, most notably the TNG episode Brothers (S4E03), where Data meets his maker.
• Altan Soong tells Picard about Sutra's fascination with Vulcan culture, and notes that she can play the ka'athyra. In the original 1960s Star Trek series, Spock could often be found playing this lute-like instrument, which was designed by legendary prop maker Wah Ming Chang.
The Ready Room from CBS All Access
Preview of next week's episode "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2"
Welcome back, Brent Spiner, as Dr. Altan Soong, son of Noonian Soong
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Whoa! That episode was loaded with surprises!
The Admonition wasn't really an admonition, but a rescue message for future synth life.
The Destroyer is real -- the bringer of the Galactic Synth Rescue Force
-- but is it Soji or Sutra? Sutra seems downright evil. Soji doesn't, really.
Spiner's appearance was a total surprise for me. Noonian Soong had a real son? I can't remember if that was ever alluded to before.
The Romulans are coming! The Romulans are coming!
Prediction time: With so much emphasis on Picard's medical condition in this episode, and with the introduction of the 'golem' that Alton Soong is working on (hoping to transfer his consciousness into it), I'm betting that Picard is about to become immortal. Somehow, it will be his consciousness that gets transferred to the golem synth, not Alton Soong's.
Why else would they play up his impending death so much, and then show us an obvious way to save him? I mean, this is just the end of season 1. There's no way they're killing Picard off any time soon.
Picard's gonna be a synth!
Who's with me? Anyone? Anyone?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....I was thinking more along the lines that either Soong or the Borg could cure him.
Well, that depends on who's shoes you are wearing, For organic life, it is an admonition and Soji is the destroyer since she indirectly brings that message to her fellow synths. To the synths it is help for them and changes the way they look at organic life. The main message is that fear makes all make bad choices.
The moment I saw the synth in progress I said the same thing. I totally agree with your analysis.
I meant that it wasn't built as a warning against AI by an ancient organic civilization like we were led to believe.
No wonder it drove most people mad. It wasn't designed for our squishy brains.
I totally agree.
Damn I had to work overtime and missed the first 40 minutes, it appears I missed a lot
go to flixtor.to
and rewatch it
I can see that happening. What I can't see is Picard being a willing participant.
I don't know. He might be willing if he thought he could be a bridge between organics and the Destroyer synths and maybe prevent the destruction of organic life. A kind of Locutus 2.0, but in control of his own mind this time.
Or maybe he goes into a pre-death coma and Raffi can't handle it, causing her to perform the transfer without his knowledge, to save him.
Of course, this whole train of thought could be way off base, and nothing of the sort ends up happening.
Quick factoid: The episode title "Et in Arcadia Ego" translates to "Even in Arcadia, there am I", with Arcadia being a region of ancient Greece, far from the sea, which was thought of as being safe, peaceful, and idyllic; and with Death being the "I".
Apparently, it means something like even in paradise (i.e., the synth's home world), you cannot escape destruction.
I love it when Trek uses Latin phrases for episode titles
"Nepenthe" was a mythical medicine to heal sadness.
Ah. Riker and Troi's planet of solace. Good name for it.
Best 53 minutes of entertainment every week so far...
I totally agree... can't wait till next week.
The finale is teed up to be spectacular. Great writing at play here. (And, of course, the effects are first class.)
Looks like we have a rogue synth ... this is interesting.
She must be pissed off and jaded against organics by the killing of her twin, Jana.
Hold on. Jana and Sutra? That's way too close to Kama Sutra to be a coincidence.
Silly writers.
Waiting to see what happens to Narek, looks like he was going to seek refuge on the Artifact.
I wonder how soon Seven can restore it? Will it fly again? Fight again?
Yeah. I wonder if Ramda is still on board, or if Narissa beamed her away after she escaped the xBs? She's his aunt, so there may be some story there. Then again, maybe not. He could just be going there because it's his only option; if his own ship was destroyed, that is.
Elnor should take his head off when he gets there.
Somehow I doubt it will fly again. I can't believe it survived the crash. It might be able to fire lots of weapons at the Romulans when they get there, though.
I think it will likely be repurposed as a land-based weapon, but it will not be enough to prevent the destruction of the planet. Clearly the Angel reinforcements will be necessary.
Soooo... Did Sutra free Narek and then kill the synth girl herself so she could blame it on him, hoping to turn the other synths against organics? Did I see that right?
If so, then something is definitely wrong with Sutra. She's devious and evil. She must be the Lore in this series.
I know, that is really bugging me. The writers deliberately show Narek eyeing that pin so naturally one would expect that he would eventually use it. That was a bit dishonest.
I believe it was Sutra, the synths can be incredibly strong and fast and the killed synth had already been warned not to trust Narek. So Sutra would have had the physical abilities and surprise to pull it off, besides the death of one of their own at the hands of an organic does suit her objective and could be seen as a necessary sacrifice for the cause.
Yeah, I doubt Narek could have killed her without the element of surprise. We know Data was very strong, and I would assume all synths had the same fighting abilities Dahj showed in the opening episode. All that points to Sutra.
If Dahj and Soji are Data's daughters, Sutra is Lore's.
Why do you say that, Sandy? I didn't hear anything about Lore... but then again, if she is, she is working a whole different way, and not in a good way.
Just a metaphor (I think, unless it turns out that Lore actually DID have daughters created in the same manner that Data did). Lore was manipulative and evil - the flip side of Data, although Data envied him his ability to feel. Sutra seems to be the same.
Just a quick reminder for anyone who was waiting for the end of the season to get the free week's trial at CBS All Access: It's binge time. You can get it now and be all caught up by Thursday's finale.
A little distraction in uncertain times.
CBS All Access has been really glitchy for me the past two days. Too many people stuck at home streaming TV, I suppose.
Hmm. I haven't used it since Thursday.
It would suck if streaming services can't handle the increased demand from all of the stay at home orders. It would make it even worse for people.
Oh yeah, that would truly suck.
I've been working my way through "Discovery". Just started season 2, and I've had to restart both my Blu-Ray and desktop, whichever I was using to watch, several times to get access. And on my Blu-Ray, any attempt to rewind a part I'd missed took me back to my Amazon Prime watchlist. Very annoying.
If you have the Speedtest app, do a speedtest next to your fireTV to estimate your effective wireless speed.
My WiFi signal is very strong. I just installed a WiFi mesh a few months ago, and love it. As far as speed - well, we have lousy internet service here, and few choices. It's been better since I got cable internet, which wasn't available until last year, but with so many people stuck at home, I'm sure speeds aren't what they should be. I wouldn't be surprised if they throttle down speeds after a certain amount of data usage, too.
There are only two things in your control (it seems).
Other than that, you are at the mercy of the infrastructure.
I'm using CBS All Access via Amazon Prime, with the Prime app on my Blu-Ray player. Prime didn't play well with my smart tv at all - I had to log in and get a security code every single time I watched. I couldn't find the CBS app on my tv's app store, so this was the only way I could get it to work.
If there's another way you can think of, I'll give it a try. The tech who installed my tv recommended running most apps via a Blu-Ray or gaming console. He said the software updates tend to be better on those than on televisions.
Oh, and the speedtest app shows about 30 Mbps. That's right next to the primary node (doesn't that sound Borgish?) of my WiFi mesh, and also next to the node near my tv. So that's as good as it gets.
30 Mbps is insufficient for streaming. Bummer. Is that the best your cable company can offer? For example, I have 400 Mbps and I could have gone higher.
I usually can stream, so I'm assuming the current speed is a temporary issue. I'm supposed to be getting 50 Mbps, which was the best they could offer a year ago when I had cable internet installed. I just checked their available services, and they offer a 300 Mbps package, which I might look into, if this continues. They also have a 1 Gbps package, but it's pretty pricey.
Funny story - I think it was 3 years ago that they showed up laying conduit in our subdivision, and the workers told us that it was for cable tv and internet. A year later, the cable was laid, but service wasn't available. I was having a lot of trouble with my internet, and called, and the tech who came out asked about the pedestal near my driveway. He checked, and said it was cable internet, and had strong signal. They had installed the infrastructure months earlier, and then just forgot about it. It took probably 6 more months and a call from my friend who's a county supervisor to get cable internet hooked up from the pedestal to my house.
It's a local telecom cooperative that almost has the market cornered here. They have terrible service, and the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. But lack of competition lets them get away with it.
I recommend getting the 300Mbps package.