[Petrarch]

Episode Discussion

"Dominion"

US Airdate: 30/03/2023 (Paramount+)
International: 31/03/2023 (Amazon Prime/Paramount+)

This thread is for the pre and post discussion of the seventh episode "Dominion" - this will be a spoiler filled discussion so if you've found your way past the warnings in the activity stream and the spoiler tag on the thread, this is your last chance to turn back, or at least it will be at the end of this first post. You have been warned!

Crippled, cornered, and out of options, Picard stages a gambit to trap Vadic and reveal her true motive – a gamble that puts the Titan in the crosshairs and forces Picard and Beverly to question every moral code they’ve ever held.

Written by: Deborah Kampmeier
Directed by: Jane Maggs

You can find a sneak peek of the episode here.

Dominion is the seventh episode, 7 of 10.

[Jestersmith]

First 5 minutes and I am like OMG then the whole episode had plenty of OMG moments in not as good as the last 2 episodes this one was essentially a filler episode to get us to something that we wont see till next week i guess

[Bridger]

Evil Starfleet is back, they twisted a lot of things.

[WelshAvenger]

Didn't think that they could make me sympathise with the evil changeling but, sure enough, they did. Also, Levar Burton's performance brought a tear to my eye.

Lastly, creepy version of Three Blind Mice is creepy.

[Solace]

Hmmmm, interesting episode. Anybody got any predications on what we’ll see next week?

[RavenSplat]

Very creepy episode and I'm not sure how they managed it so well but I sort of sympathise with Vadik. Like not join her cause levels but I can very much see where she is coming from levels.
This Jack thing is getting more interesting with these Telepathic power he's now got. That scene with him controlling the motions is pretty cool action sequence with some rather frightening complications going forward depending on what's causing it. It is reminding me of discovering Dal's power in Prodigy but I doubt they will go augment route again so soon.

[WoorLord]

Every series seems to have one episode where they almost pause to breathe - before letting out an action packed run to the finale. For me this episode was that. Not as many easter egg moments, not so many action packed space scenes or visually stunning moments as other episodes, but what it lacks in epic scale, it more than made up for in story line clean up, future plot line placement and pure acting moments. LeVar Burton - give that man an award for the most heartfelt sequence of acting ever in a Star Trek show. There is something so believable in his performance, so sincere and genuine. But then emotionally contrast that with Vadic, and the sensational performance of Amanda Plummer - giving a truly chilling and uncomfortable performance, showing the Federation isn't all sugar and saccharine pleasantness. This was an episode of contrast and context that helped move the story on, we now know what the motivation of Vadic is here, we just don't know exactly how Jack and Picard fit into it all yet.

So we've all had our pause for breath... now I think we should all strap ourselves in for what promises to be an emotional rollercoaster final few episodes.

(P.s.- I have to admit it was so satisfying to see Tim Russ back on screen as Tuvok (albeit as a changeling) - him talking to Seven was a wonderful moment for sure.)

[timverbesselt]

Also we now know this is no canon with STO as Tuvok is rear admiral (or was it vice?) in STO.
Or is the timeline in STO more forward in the future?

[RavenSplat]

Also we now know this is no canon with STO as Tuvok is rear admiral (or was it vice?) in STO.
Or is the timeline in STO more forward in the future?

STO Story starts in 2409 and is currently around 2410 or 2411. Picard is set in 2401. The bigger issue with ranks is that Geordi La Forge is a commodore in Picard but a Captain in the stories we see him in, and that the Enterprise F seems to be very damaged (enough to want to it being decommissioned) where as it isn't meant to be changed from an Odyesey to Yorktown class until 2410 after the Iconian attack on Earth. Although the Twitter for STO still says Prime Timeline I am starting to doubt that more and more with each episode of Picard we get and it almost feel's like the Picard people are trying to distance themselves from it while taking all the ship designs they can.

[Petrarch]

STO is a little further ahead, however STO itself is not canon and it never has been - while I think they've used certain elements of it or tried to tie it in, ultimately they're not beholden to it so the writers, showrunners, CBS/Paramount can ignore it entirely if they chose to do so.

Cryptic have tried to follow events of canon, but what you have to remember is that at time it launched, the Kelvin Timeline seemed to be the direction in which Trek was heading and the franchise itself was otherwise largely dead in the water with no realistic prospect of another series appearing. Now that's changed and there's probably already too much alteration from the STO events for them to be able to cleanly integrate changes.

[RavenSplat]

STO is a little further ahead, however STO itself is not canon and it never has been - while I think they've used certain elements of it or tried to tie it in, ultimately they're not beholden to it so the writers, showrunners, CBS/Paramount can ignore it entirely if they chose to do so.

Cryptic have tried to follow events of canon, but what you have to remember is that at time it launched, the Kelvin Timeline seemed to be the direction in which Trek was heading and the franchise itself was otherwise largely dead in the water with no realistic prospect of another series appearing. Now that's changed and there's probably already too much alteration from the STO events for them to be able to cleanly integrate changes.

Oh. I was under the impression they were at least trying to stay canon with the Prime Timeline mention in the twitter bio. I suppose it was lot easier to be canon when the movies were in a different time and the new shows were 250 years before your game is set and not 10-15 years ago and blowing everything up.

With the creeping up of the shows to the 2400's (and Prodigy and Lower Decks in the 2380's making waves themselves and only 25-30 years before STO) I imagine at some point they just accepted at some point they are no longer going to be Prime Timeline when one show finally makes a change they can't worm themselves out of. To me at least it's looking like Picard 3 might be, in a weird twist on what I expected when I first saw the Enterprise F in the trailers, the show that causes them to no longer be able to argue they are in the Prime Timeline.

[timverbesselt]

Yes you are correct, I also mentioned this about laforge in a previous post but I wasn’t sure of the date in the picard series anymore

STO Story starts in 2409 and is currently around 2410 or 2411. Picard is set in 2401. The bigger issue with ranks is that Geordi La Forge is a commodore in Picard but a Captain in the stories we see him in, and that the Enterprise F seems to be very damaged (enough to want to it being decommissioned) where as it isn't meant to be changed from an Odyesey to Yorktown class until 2410 after the Iconian attack on Earth. Although the Twitter for STO still says Prime Timeline I am starting to doubt that more and more with each episode of Picard we get and it almost feel's like the Picard people are trying to distance themselves from it while taking all the ship designs they can.

[Sul-Matuul]

Vadik is an exceptionally good villain. She's played so well by Amanda Plumber; almost but not quite tipping over the edge of insanity with her giggling and nervous ticks.
Nice back story for her as well and one of the darkest looks into the Trek universe we've seen I think. I mean we know S31 is rather iffy and not opposed to morally questionable decisions but those experiments were pretty nasty. I guess the Dominion War pushed a lot of bad ideas to the fore of Starfleet's thinking; but tbh even back in TOS there were specific orders for destroying whole planets so it's not that new really.

Kinda intrigued what they want to do with Picard/Jack's clone/bodies though. I mean creating a fake Picard doesn't get them anything they don't already have surely? They already control all of the fleet it seems if they can outlaw and hunt down the Titan at will.

I predict the illness Picard/Jack have is actually not what it seems; feels more like an alien presence within them to me. Could it be something that allows then to detect Changelings? Perhaps something left over from and old enemy of the Dominion?