Picard Season 2 Episode 8 is the eighth chapter of the 2nd season of an American science fiction television series created by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, and Alex Kurtzman for the streaming service Paramount+. The series is a spin-off of Star Trek: The Next Generation (STTNG) with the titular character Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) as its central focal point.
S P O I L E R S
Entitled “Mercy”, Picard Season 2 Episode 8 is filled with non-sensical, illogical plot points that while superficially building up tension and conflict towards the end of the season, does so at the expense of the suspension of disbelief. There are entire sequences that have no significance to forwarding the plot whatsoever, except perhaps nostalgic fan-service of sorts.
Let’s try to break them down, shall we?
The main plot now seems to be concerning the Borg Queen – now possessing Dr. Jurati – as she seeks to assimilate the galaxy 400 years ahead of schedule. How that is even possible is unexplained. All we see is one short scene where the dying Queen somehow takes over Jurati’s body. How does that even work? Wouldn’t Jurati need to have cybernetic parts in her system in the first place? Nothing we have seen in the previous Star Trek film or TV shows indicate that the Borg can assimilate another species without performing some kind of physical surgery on the subjects. Unless this is an alternate universe Borg Queen that has magical powers! Lame.
Then there are the meaningless plots with the FBI agent who had an encounter with a Vulcan in his childhood – so what? And the revelation that Q is dying (?) – also no details provided. Similarly, this era’s evil Dr. Soong teams up with the Borg Queen for some reason and this sets up a kind of showdown for the future of humanity in the last two episodes. Poor writing. Sigh.
Now streaming on Paramount+.
… still there’s more …