Season 2, Episode 8: ‘Mercy’
Martin Wells, an FBI agent in 2024, is one of the most important people in the history of the galaxy, we discover in this episode of ‘Picard’. It turns out that he is the one who made the first contact with an alien, and not Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), as we do believe in “Star Trek: First Contact.”
And the Vulcans Martin met? They tried to erase his mind. My first reaction to this revelation was, “Wait a minute. Can Vulcans use mind melds to do that?”
Indeed, it appears that they can! Spock did with Kirk in the episode “Requiem for Methuselah” of the original series. Mind melds are traditionally seen as an intimate telepathic connection of minds – but they can also erase memories, such as widgets in ‘Men In Black’. What if Vulcans were the biggest criminals in the Alpha Quadrant, but no one knew it because they keep erasing everyone’s mind? But we digress.
More specifically, how long were Vulcans chilling out on Earth?
Guinan is the one who rightly concludes that Martin is more than a zealous FBI agent – that there was something personal to the exchange. Picard notes that the FBI could disrupt the launch of the EU mission, which will break the future timeline. (These concerns remain funny: in the previous episode Guinan almost blew her bar to display on Q Hardly a subtle gesture to an alien presence hide Rios irradiated 2024 people to the ship where they learn all about the future.! and he does it with one of them! the timeline is shattered, Admiral!)
The work of our favorite bartender is not done. They finally met Q, she has never met in this timeline. And here the story is still warriger. Guinan tells Q that when the notice stopped, they “emptiness and fear” felt. That’s quite perceptive, and in line with the character of Guinan. (Unlike when Picard first met and nothing can touch.) Q is dying and wants to give his life meaning. He seems to be afraid of death.
And Q gives Guinan a few key bits of information.
“The trap doesn’t matter,” says Q. “It’s the escape that counts,” says Q.
We seem to have deviated from the storyline of the first half of the season, which is that something happens in 2024 that sets off a future where the Federation becomes the bloodthirsty Confederacy. There early in the season suggests that Q is the one who has caused Picard to learn about humanity.
But how does this relate to the plan of the Borg Queen? She wants to start the earth and then assimilate the whole galaxy, in 2024, which is the same plot is essentially as ‘First Contact’. It continues to astound me Picard his previous experience not exactly the same brings forth. The Queen wants to collaborate substantially with Jurati order to achieve this, they rather wanted to do with data.
This feels like relevant information to bring to the rest of the crew. It happened! It was a huge deal! It would be like Paul McCartney writing a memoir about his life without mentioning the Beatles.
Anyway, let’s say Picard stops the Borg Queen from doing her thing, and no one gets assimilated – although, as we see at the end of the episode, the assimilations have already started. How does this align with a future where people become the angry, hateful versions that Q presents?
What remains unclear to me is why the queen Jurati needs to achieve its goals, or Adam Soong that matter. (The queen can vote mimic computer overtake and assimilate at will. She would Soongs help no need for that. Unless her earlier fascination dates here comes into play.) The goal is to Renee Picard Europe mission to sabotage what seems to fit the mission Q. now Soong will also sabotage the mission so that the world will turn to him for his genius – or at least that is what the queen sells him.
(Why does the Queen need Soong’s help to take over La Sirena when she’s shown she’s perfectly capable of owning the ship without anyone’s help?)
If you lose track of what’s happening here – who needs what and why – you’re not alone.
There’s a moment when Soong says to his quasi-daughter, “You exist because I wanted to,” which ties in well with this season’s emphasis on patriarchal views. But more broadly, it says why Soong might be tempted by what the Borg Queen has to offer: a path to conquest.
Even so, Jurati – possessed by the Queen – has become a terrifying figure who nearly chokes Raffi to death, right after Raffi and Seven have a dispute over whether Raffi is too manipulative – incidentally, while they try to get the Borg Queen stop accomplish her mission to manipulate everything.
Manipulation is key this season. Jean-Luc wants Renee manipulate to create a space where it is not yet ready. He also manipulates Martin to free him and Guinan. (Martin has of finding alien life work. He finds them and finally frees them almost immediately. It was a bit absurd.) Q manipulates all the time lines, etcetera, etcetera. Soong manipulates his daughter to believe that she is human.
Guinan ends the episode with more optimistic about humans than ever — that they’re “doing the job and wanting to evolve” despite being given no real reason to do so. No one can be trusted in this “Picard” universe. And maybe that’s the key to how the future goes wrong.