Star Trek: Picard - Season 3 Episode 8 'Surrender' - Review

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Popcast Brothers Episode with writer Matt Okumura and Robert Meyer Burnett: kzbin.infoBTeLy9vhukk?feature=share

[@raoulmpoe7218]

Hi Jamie, a little off this topic, but after watching your "Wrong reel Q&A" ive got a JFK podcast recommendation for you, KZbin "America's untold stories " ...no overall straight jacket theory, but a series of guides to all the rogues gallery of interlinked pantomime villains & their relation to JFK & or LHO (& each other)

[@OmegaMouse]

Gene would be proud. Picard Season 3 is something I NEVER expected to be made. I've often day dreamed about a continuation of TNG, but never had serious expectations. Then, suddenly, here we are. Where did this come from? Simply outstanding writing and proves that Hollywood can make good art when they choose to.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I was totally done with Trek and happy just to watch old school episodes so this whole season has been like a giant present that I had no idea was coming.

[@amcaesar]

Yeah, they got me with Spot right in the gut, took me by surprise as well.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

We're getting sentimental in our old age.

[@misfit0313]

James, the Popcast guys with the help of many others, have a theatrical release planned. They are plugging an event for later in April, in Las Vegas, where all 10 episodes will be played back-to-back at a luxury theater. They have stated that there will be cast and crew members in attendance. That event is probably what RMB was referring to.

[@NoMoneyG]

It was CANCELED! Paramount/CBS shut them down! I know because I had tickets & got a refund for the event. I'm not getting a refund on my $750 plane ticket! As you can tell I'm a little pissed. Not the event coordinators fault.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Sounds like one helluva day at the movies.

[@Ekkis25]

Worf crushing on Deanna with Riker standing right there was great!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Pure poetry.

[@mwmw2748]

Everything you said about Kurtzman und Matalas I 100% agree!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Thankfully Kurtzman was too busy to work on Season 3 and stepped aside giving Matalas the opportunity to create this amazing season of television.

[@wavion2]

The whole episode I kept thinking that Troi was going to be revealed as a changeling.

[@schneefeuer8477]

Maybe the boss? That can still be disclosed. Because I'm not sure how smart it is to open the door before the database is evaluated.

[@wavion2]

@@schneefeuer8477 Yeah, that would fit.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I definitely felt that way in ep 7.

[@SimonLeicester]

Another cracking episode. Loving this season.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

My understanding is that the best is yet to come.

[@SimonLeicester]

@@geekinwithJamesHancock it’s such a sea change in quality compared to the first 2 seasons. Can’t wait for the final 2 episodes

[@grogthegrolie]

When I saw the title of the episode, I thought there might be a scene where Jack walks in on Jean Luc and Beverly rolling on the couch.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

They'd have to change the title to "Busted".

[@grogthegrolie]

​@@geekinwithJamesHancock 😂😂😂

[@jcwoodman5285]

More of this S3 style Trek! I had written it all off until I watched your reviews on S3!🤗

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Very cool! I would have totally ignored it as well if not for Robert Meyer Burnett.

[@ondrejmarek1980]

down with Kurtzmeh, bring on Legacy

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I co-sign this statement.

[@SimonLeicester]

A malevolent entity on board the ship? - Could it be Armus from The Skin of Evil episode. Troi would certainly recognise the creature as she was down on planet in the crashed shuttlecraft.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

That would be a serious blast from the past but it works for me!

[@NoMoneyG]

The 10 Forward Fest was supposed to happen on April 25th & It was a planned all 10 episodes event from 12 noon to 11pm. However it was CANCELED! Paramount/CBS shut them down! I know because I had tickets & got a refund for the event. Not the event planners fault. Plus it was a charity event. Great review by the way!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I would give my right arm to see all 10 eps in a row on the big screen. Thanks for listening to my rants!

[@MinPhase]

Yeah, I was really sad to see the Vulcan officer go. If they ever do a Titan series, she would have been a good cast member I feel as she played a Vulcan character very nicely. Also, the Raffi sword scene was just stupid. How can you fight changelings with swords? It's like cutting water with a sharp knife. In fact, thinking more about it, this has happened many times in the series, where the Changelings were defeated by hand-combat. Maybe an explanation is that it takes them more time, energy and focus to change shape because they are genetically modified?

[@dwaynebrietzke]

I'd say that while they can now pass the blood test with replicating organs, they are also more susceptible to edged weapons. So an enhancement also comes with a weakness.

[@MinPhase]

@@dwaynebrietzke you're right, but that still doesn't explain why they wouldn't revert to their liquid form during the combat. That would certainly give them an advantage in these fights. That's why I said maybe it's not as easy for them with this augmentation.

[@kewlztertc5386]

You can't have both a Borg and a Vulcan, they'd occupy the same roles on any future show.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Good call on the sword but I believe it when they get fried down to their atoms.

[@StardustX24]

NO THANKS TO ACADEMY, YES TO LEGACY!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Hell yeah. Bring on Legacy. I need more Captain Shaw in my media diet.

[@kac5318]

Beverly has to be thinking, “What the hell is going on inside my vagina?! Both of my children keep getting superpowers!”

[@yjdaniel8237]

I heard Denise Crosby didn’t think the show would go anywhere and she asked to be killed off only to realize what a mistake she made later. You know what they say about hindsight lol

[@susansokoloski2233]

She was more upset that the character she was promised didn't get written well, had only horrible and offensive storylines when her character was focused on and that the character was going nowhere. The other women on the show agreed as they experienced the same treatment...until late in the series when they were written respectable stories. Tasha has the most interesting backstory of any of the characters to start with and had incredible potential for development but was thrown trash by the writers and production. In 7 seasons, the women chatacters had little or late development with all the focus on the male characters development. What a waste.

[@yjdaniel8237]

@@susansokoloski2233 yea this is true and there was production problems as well. Yea Deanna’s appearance with the mini dress was a little much as well. The women rarely got really story lines and they were almost always related to the men in their lives at the time.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Ouch. Definitely a decision she must have come to regret over time. She missed the best seasons from 3 onward.

[@cedarledgepublishing]

@@yjdaniel8237 Loved Deana's look in the pilot. So much better than the bun-head of many seasons.

[@Thedeepseanomad]

Is the new Data "fully functional"?

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

lol, we'll have to wait for the porn parodies to learn the answer to that question.

[@ttanza4004]

I really liked Episode 8.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Best reunion I've seen in years.

[@LB-gz3ke]

Can Troi actually detect when the changelings are impersonating someone? I got the idea that she recognized that it wasn't Will right away, but that is her husband. She has a special connection with him. Would she necessarily be able to do the same with strangers?

[@hallking7441]

She needs to work on throwing some make up on that catchers mit of a face.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I'm sure there'll be some massive payoff where we learn the full extent of her ability to detect changelings. I'm assuming there's still one major reveal of a character in disguise.

[@LordLOC]

The ONLY thing that bugged me about Spot, was Data kept saying Spot was a male cat, when Spot literally gave birth to kittens on TNG lol I know they retconned Spot already in TNG (the cat was originally a male tabby, then made into a female) but it just bugged me for some reason. Overall, it's pretty obvious at this point Jack has Borg nano-tech in him etc and the bad guys want to use that to control the fleet and either make them destroy themselves (ala Prodigy) or attack other ships in the quadrant or attack other planets.

[@good_teanice_house6789]

Spot can identify as whatever he wants. 😉

[@LordLOC]

@@good_teanice_house6789 Of course Spot can, but Spot is also very dead at this point :D

[@good_teanice_house6789]

@@LordLOC lmao 🤣 very true.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

All valid theories. Fingers crossed the show still has a few more curveballs up its sleeves.

[@ttanza4004]

Why does Data calling Spot "him" really matter ? Data has come back to life and we finally got to see Picard, Riker, Data, Geordi, Worf, Deanna, and Dr. Crusher all together again. Why is Data calling Spot "him" matter more than that ?

[@PatrickKadian]

Mark my words -- that's not Beverly

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

That would be an epic plot twist but if she's a changeling wouldn't Troi be able to detect something is off?

[@kewlztertc5386]

"he's got Troy to help him...", Lol you must not have seen the next week's preview. Troy took one look inside that boys mind, and ran. Lol

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

lol, I have not yet seen the preview. I'll hunt it down now.

[@lisasellsproperty]

Rewatched the season and Raffi is better around the second time.... almost feel like too much next gen is relying on history too much...always a voyager fan and last episode had seven of nine and tuvoc.... Needed more of that and deep space and next gen together 👍

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I'm hoping that if we get Star Trek: Legacy that a lot more veterans from Voyage and DS9 will be making appearances.

[@Calculon1712]

Only Starfleet Academy you should watch are the cutscenes from the 1997 PC game

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Works for me!

[@DrDetfink]

The Star T-renaissance continues. I’m gonna guess that we find out the villain has been steering Star Fleet in the wrong direction for some time which absolves season one of all its flaws.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I would be absolutely hilarious if at the conclusion to this season we were find out that the main villain behind the scenes controlling Vadik and the Changelings is actually Alex Kurtzman.

[@DrDetfink]

@@geekinwithJamesHancock with a ST: Disco shirt… 😂

[@schumi9xwdc]

Seven of 9, Captain of the USS Federation Borg Cube Icheb

[@stlloyd1]

They had me until this episode. Lack of a proper budget reveals so many plot holes. The crew has been at battle stations since Ep 2…Capt doesn’t order the ENTIRE crew to arm themselves to repel boarders? Especially since they practically invited Vadic to their ship. Can’t afford props. Ok, no phasers. So you have to evade capture, right? So the crew hides …in the corridor? Not in Engineering, which we’ve never seen (set never built), or a Jeffries Tube (ditto), or in Ten Forward…I mean the holodeck, a cargo bay, science lab. Anywhere besides the damn hallway! Hey, come to think of it…did the Captain or XO lock command functions in the event the intruders captured the bridge? Nooo. If they did, then all Vadic’s goofy ass monologues, threatening to execute the crew would’ve made sense. She would have used that threat to force Shaw or Seven to unlock CMD functions. But she had already won!!! Vadic was in control of the ship! There was nothing stopping her from beaming the entire crew into space, beam Jack into the brig (or better yet, hold his pattern in the buffer), and bounce with the Titan and the Shrike. The End! So disappointed.

[@schumi9xwdc]

Red Door = Pah Wraith’s , 8472, Borg, Iconian’s ?

[@kevz2474]

the first romulan in starfleet would have been a more convincing partner for worf

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Could have been cool. Romulans are total badasses. That said, I like seeing Worf train Raffi but her skills definitely leveled up dramatically since we last saw her in action.

[@CircusOfFive]

TBH I still don't get what Vadic's goal was, so her sudden spacing wasn't the punch the air moment i'd been waiting for, but, unlike the other "Nu Trek" live action series, I'm already re-watching from S301 to uncover any layers I missed upon 1st viewing.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Definitely one of those seasons that it very rewarding the second time through.

[@ryanmonument3992]

All-consuming....unite us....captain's log from Best of Both Worlds....the many voices...Seven being an apt witness....c'mon, the big baddies are the Borg (likely something to do specifically with Locutus). Again. The over-used, long ago de-fanged antagonists. These rogue changelings are just lackeys to whatever variant of the Borg they're going with this time. This is mystery box storytelling: always disappoints with Act 3 and never sticks the landing. I'm enjoying the show, but let's be real, the reveal of who/what Jack is will disappoint and be eye-rollingly underwhelming to out-right ludicrous. The show will still have been worth watching, and I'm certainly not going to regret having watched it. The rogue changelings here are just lackeys, Vadic included. They've been denied the Great Link (the changeling collective essentially)....so this/these Borg likely dangled a type of new Link/collective in front of Vadic et al. The changelings only purpose is to serve as supremely useful infiltrators/thugs, as that's all they've been presented as. Beyond that, they're irrelevant (which is what the Face has as much said to Vadic without directly using that word). The amount of red Jack sees during his visions very much lives up to the 'red' in red herring. It's the Borg. Again.

[@brucer2152]

The show is so much better than the Mandolorian 3rd season. IT is the way....grin.

[@Ketraar]

well its a rather low bar to cross so doesnt mean much, as its also better then Season 2. Still bad though.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I had to give up on The Mandalorian and judging from everyone's reactions to the latest episode, it appears as if I made the right call.

[@Ketraar]

@@geekinwithJamesHancock Yeah, well I still watch it like with Star Trek, feels like I'm an addict and hope the next one will be good to just get more bland and bas writing. Both the Picard and Mandalorian are just a waste of time and money tbh, both shows have nothing to say or inspire, they exist for the sake of existence in a twisted self-sustained fashion where pushing nostalgia buttons seems to be enough.

[@ProvidenceNL]

@@Ketraar Youre saying this about Picard, even though season 3 has been praised by literally everyone, including harcore trekkies? Just hating for hatings sake.

[@Ketraar]

@@ProvidenceNL What are you trying to say? That if a arbitrary amount of people like something it means my opinion is invalid? Seems like you have skipped the logic class or are just baiting. Many like things that are shit, the bachelor like many "reality" shows are very popular doesn't make them good. So please spare me your idiotic comment unless you can actually engage in a conversation while following basic argumentative rules.

[@TheGodsEye82]

Spot had kittens, yet Data called Spot "him" this episode... see males can get pregnant too. 🤣

[@ttanza4004]

Data has come back to life and we finally got to see Picard, Riker, Data, Geordi, Worf, Deanna, and Dr. Crusher all back together again and instead of being Happy about that, you are more concerned about Data calling Spot "him" ?

[@TheGodsEye82]

@@ttanza4004 Seriously, your feelings are hurt from my inconsequential observation, and lame joke poking fun at our out of control woke society. If your offended, good, makes me smile at your absurdity. 🤡😝

[@schumi9xwdc]

Spot broke Lore!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

lol, the true secret weapon of Season 3.

[@mrtrent100]

Armus

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

That would be a serious blast from the past but it works for me!

[@valueofnothing2487]

So you are on a podcast that interviewed the writer of this episode? Isn't that a blatant appearance of a conflict of interest? Did you grill him on why the Federation in Star Trek Picard season 3 allows torture? That it - according to Geordi - tracks down your family? That it hires captains like Shaw that make Seven want to quit the Federation?

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

It would only be conflict of interest if I were interviewing the writer of a film or show I was producing. Commentators interview filmmakers all the time to gain deeper insights into their craft.

[@valueofnothing2487]

@@geekinwithJamesHancock Well that would be one limited case. But the appearance of a conflict of interest is far more general. The question is, are you benefiting from interviewing him during his PR rounds? The answer is yes. So the question is how can you be objective in criticizing him if you are benefiting from interviewing him? But you were certainly right to imply that many channels do this.

[@scoutiii8893]

I gotta echo what you said here - I will NOT be watching another awful Kurtzman/Goldsman Nu-Trek show, especially one that will feature their Teen-Drama writers up front & center... Star Trek Academy? i didn't want that even when they spoke about this 25 years ago!

[@mbrando4403]

lol, you're not gonna watch Star Trek: Tilly?

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Hard pass. My least favorite character from STD.

[@chrish6725]

Yeah star trek academy sounds pretty cringe. Ill most likely pass on that too.

[@Smhallways]

Oh no no no... The Raffi action scene was not the worst part of the episode. Have you even seen Vadic vomit inducing acting and monologues? Cringe above cringe.

[@autdelux]

u are absolutly right i will avoid kurtzman awful hateful woke content as well. he openly said he makes media that is specificly made to piss ppl off and make them feel bad and im not gonna take that thats for sure. Hes not just bad at his job he spreads hate and loves it. And i cant support human beeings that are like that. fu alex fu wokeness

[@DenkyManner]

"woke" has nothing to do with why Kurtzman's work is terrible

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

He's pure slime but at least he stepped aside and let Matalas be showrunner for this season.

[@colinhopkins8009]

Stop the swearing foul mouth!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I'd love to comply. It would certainly help my channel. But the profanity just flows through me.

[@Firenutz]

@@geekinwithJamesHancock Yeah. Fuck that shit!