[Petrarch]

Attachment 12178

Episode Discussion

"Absolute Candor"

US Airdate: 13/02/2020 (CBS All Access)
International: 14/02/2020 (Amazon Prime)

This thread is for the pre and post discussion of the 4th episode "Absolute Candor" - 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!

This episode is the first one of the series directed by TNG veteran Jonathan Frakes.

Absolute Candor is episode 4 of 10. (Borg puns still not intended...)

[Bridger]

WTF

[WelshAvenger]

My $0.02. I'm getting a little tired of the Emergency X Hologram being rolled out to show off the actor's range. EMH, ENH, EHH and ETH so far (did I miss any?). I get it, he's talented and can speak in lots of accents and languages, now leave it alone.

Romulan warrior monk is a concept I can get down with but unless he has a personal shield about him, a sword is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. As a wise man once said, "Laser swords and hokey religion are no match for a good blaster."

Also, I don't know if it was just me but did anyone else feel like Picard totally provoked the fight with the senator? He knew that he wasn't welcome and that there was open hostility and yet he tore down their sign, stepped all over it and sat down where he wasn't wanted. TBH if I was an angry Romulan, I'd probably have just shot him there and then.

I did like the bird of prey's visuals and that they were using dual beam bank disruptors. Incoming T'liss T6 skin in 3...2...1

[Pedigo]

It seems so lazy, the writing that is. Picard needs some badass to protect him. Picard flashes back to a time when he hung out with warrior nuns. Picard goes there and the kid he abandoned there has become warrior monk. Kid is grown and badass but is butt hurt because Picard left him there. Picard trashes some random Jim Crow sign because he wants a Romulan tea and gets Pikachu faced when they confront him. When he's about to get lanced, bad ass warrior monk kid comes in and chops the dude's head off.

Then Seven comes in?!?!?!?!

[Eaglesg]

Gotta say I enjoy the show so far. It's way better than the chaotic launch of Discovery. It's the star Trek I was looking for, not perfect of course, but that mirrors today's world (as Trek always done).

[Morris]

Gotta say I enjoy the show so far. It's way better than the chaotic launch of Discovery. It's the star Trek I was looking for, not perfect of course, but that mirrors today's world (as Trek always done).

I'm not trying to pick on you, or how you feel about Star Trek, but Star Trek didn't use to mirror today's world. Star Trek would thoughtfully address contemporary issues through good writing and story telling, from the perspective of a future humanity that had already overcome most of those issues. It was hopeful and empowering. New Star Trek...pretty much all of it, does mirror contemporary society, along with it's issues and angst. It is no longer hopeful, or aspirational. It's just a modern day soap opera, dressed up very casually to remind us of something like Star Trek

[Shadowmeph]

Picard always was a woose he needs someone to protect him which is why I was always a Kirk Fan and was having issues when STNG came out allot of changes and wooseyness and also the Klingon all of a sudden changed lol, but Iworked past it and I will work past the issues I am having with all of the newer Star treks
the ep was again a bit of a yawner I was really hoping that things would get going but as I predicted it is always going to be a little slow until the cliff hanger at the end of the season .
the one thing I always liked about Star trek especially the original was things like they were the first TV show to ever have multi multiculturalism they didnt though have females as equals because it was still the 1960s but they did do allot more

[Michael]

It's painful for me how little the story progresses each episode , though it seems like that's the new norm now, as we saw also in SW: Mandalorian. I think his new sidekick, ninja Rommy, will be useful, but also Seven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Josh Broughm]

The one question I have is......WTF is Sev's problem with JLP? I mean......She looked ROUGH!

[Sul-Matuul]

1) Really liking the way we are getting tonnes of info on the Romulans and their history, society, culture etc. Some very welcome development of a species and way better that the monolithic big-shouder-pads Romans we had throughout every other iteration for ST. The new shows seem to be trying to move away from the silly "planet of the hats" trope that ST suffers from terribly in many of the past series.
Also in true Romulan style they are still somewhat suspicious that the whole rescue and possible supernova was a Fed plot to split them up and reomve a rival....I wonder if the Tal Shiar have bee out spreading propaganda?

2) Warrior nuns who speak only in absolute truth and openness. I like that, seems to go well as a foil to the usual Romulan secrecy and sneaky tricks.

3) Nice to add in a son type figure for Picard; especially after he lost his whole family in Generations. Plus it makes him seem more like an actual human being and gives some flaws to his character.

4) Seven of Nine eh...well nice to jumble up characters from various shows at least, draws it all together a bit. I just don't want too many characters or it all starts feeling too small a galaxy.

5) Antique Romulan BoP getting it's arse handed to it was funny. Clearly everyone has scrabbled to grab a piece of the power vacuum and any old warship is viable. It was probably good for taking on the local rival pirates but against a top of the range ship like i assume Seven had it was no match.

6) Nice to also see that the loss of Romulus has left a nice bit of mess behind with various power plays, piracy, lawlessness etc. Makes the galaxy more real feeling than the rose-tinted perfection we always saw previously. Space should have parts like this, Star Wars has shown it can be done well.

7) I'm intrigued even more about the wider plot. Seems that Bro & Sis Rommie are part of something bigger, looking for a group of Soji's pals but other than that we don't know what they are all about. The Romulans assimilated on Ramada's ship were clearly special and caused the Cube to collapse think; I wonder if they were Zhat Vash and some knowledge they possess scares the hell out of the Borg?

[Shadowmeph]

1) Really liking the way we are getting tonnes of info on the Romulans and their history, society, culture etc. Some very welcome development of a species and way better that the monolithic big-shouder-pads Romans we had throughout every other iteration for ST. The new shows seem to be trying to move away from the silly "planet of the hats" trope that ST suffers from terribly in many of the past series.
Also in true Romulan style they are still somewhat suspicious that the whole rescue and possible supernova was a Fed plot to split them up and reomve a rival....I wonder if the Tal Shiar have bee out spreading propaganda?

2) Warrior nuns who speak only in absolute truth and openness. I like that, seems to go well as a foil to the usual Romulan secrecy and sneaky tricks.

3) Nice to add in a son type figure for Picard; especially after he lost his whole family in Generations. Plus it makes him seem more like an actual human being and gives some flaws to his character.

4) Seven of Nine eh...well nice to jumble up characters from various shows at least, draws it all together a bit. I just don't want too many characters or it all starts feeling too small a galaxy.

5) Antique Romulan BoP getting it's arse handed to it was funny. Clearly everyone has scrabbled to grab a piece of the power vacuum and any old warship is viable. It was probably good for taking on the local rival pirates but against a top of the range ship like i assume Seven had it was no match.

6) Nice to also see that the loss of Romulus has left a nice bit of mess behind with various power plays, piracy, lawlessness etc. Makes the galaxy more real feeling than the rose-tinted perfection we always saw previously. Space should have parts like this, Star Wars has shown it can be done well.

7) I'm intrigued even more about the wider plot. Seems that Bro & Sis Rommie are part of something bigger, looking for a group of Soji's pals but other than that we don't know what they are all about. The Romulans assimilated on Ramada's ship were clearly special and caused the Cube to collapse think; I wonder if they were Zhat Vash and some knowledge they possess scares the hell out of the Borg?

I agree with you on the most part as for seven she is the only CHartactor in the story that is actually Borg or fully understands there way so she is probably going to be an essential part of the story line because she is probably the only person that would understand what the Romulans are trying to do in secret

[DeWolfe]

So...

Picard has a black hair Romulan Legolas now.
Looking more like that whole Control thing from Discovery is coming back.
Nothing more to say.

[Terrell]

Not too bad, I loved seeing the T'Liss at the end. Been a very long time indeed since we saw one of those on the screen.

I agree with the bar scene though, when he drops the sign and walked over it I was thinking to myself "seriously, that's just asking for trouble". Picard knew there were ethnic issues, pro-Romulan factions and a lot of tension regarding his presence. Yet he chose to do it anyway out of what, spite? To assert it "Federation" views where it wasn't welcome? Because of that his swordsman friend killed them when they confronted him.

If they had set upon Picard in the square while he was waiting to beam out I could understand, however Picard was the antagonist in this instance. Very odd.

Seven still looks sexy as all hell though lol.

[Spade]

I enjoyed it overall more than the other episodes. The multiple versions of the captain as holograms is kind of annoying and is, IMO, clearly a way for CBS to cut cost. Please CBS, you are a multi-billion dollar a year company, stop being cheap.

Picard antagonizing the Romulans was very weird in that particular situation and not really in line with his character IMO. It seems that Picard's long established skills of being a legendary diplomat have been tossed out the window with this scene. Maybe he was just trying a different tactic, who knows, but him biting the head off of Space Legolas was a bit weird considering that Picard was about to get gutted as there was no way he was getting out of that on his own in one piece.

The T'liss was a beautiful sight to behold with its glorious dual beam banks firing away. A++ here.

Seven appearing here was pleasantly unexpected and I assume that she was on the planet (or nearby the planet) and got a copy of the message going around about Picard jaunting around Vashti. I am really excited to know what she was doing there and what the relationship between her and Picard is. Is it just a passing friendship or have they worked together since Voyagers return?

So far this is the first episode to get me excited for the next episode.