Antimatter Pod

Anika and Liz had such strong feelings about episode 7 of season 2 of Star Trek: Picard, Monster, that they organised a quick out-of-schedule catch-up to rant.

Accordingly, this episode (and its show notes!) contains much fresher spoilers than usual.

We discuss:

• Our concerns about the Yvette Picard plotline came true, with a fun domestic violence fake-out twist!
• Multiple ableist tropes: the tortured artist whose creativity depends on their mental illness; the "having a mentally ill parent is SO traumatic" story
• Imagine being a bipolar Trekkie right now
• Brief mention of suicide from 8:14 to 8:26
• This is not AS egregious, but they got Freud all over our Picard/Crusher

Anika and Liz cut the lights, grab the mike, and discuss episode 6 of Star Trek: Picard's second season: "Two of One".

• The casting announcement! 
• Will we get a Star Trek: Stargazer?
• Poor Kore, and poor Isa Briones, who has to spend every season playing a woman facing an identity crisis
• The pacing on this show is SO BAD, but at least it's bad in a different way to Discovery? Through trial and error, we will eventually get to a place where the pacing is good?
• Someone at Tesla GAVE APPROVAL for their car to be used in scene where it runs over Picard and that is AMAZING
• How much Twilight fic do we think Kore has written?
• We are CONCERNED about next week's Yvette plotline
• Tallinn could be played by Gates McFadden and literally nothing else about the story would change

Put on a nice dress and bring your imaginary friend, Anika and Liz are here to talk about Star Trek: Picard's "Fly Me To The Moon"!

• We have a bit of a scheduling change coming up!
• Tallinn: is she now or has she ever been a cat?
• Liz is overthinking things like it's her job
• Renee Picard and Kore Soong: not so much characters yet 
• Liz has this whole THING about Persephone, aka Kore, and the Egyptian goddess Isis, and look, she doesn't get to use her Classics degree that often, just humour her like Anika does
• Expositional cleavage
• Stop Possessing Agnes 2k22 Challenge
• Depression, like the Borg Queen, is a liar OH IT'S A METAPHOR

Liz and Anika take a trip [a couple of weeks] back in time and into another [section of the] universe: season 2 of Star Trek: Picard.

• We really loved the first two episodes
• Although Liz suspects she may have once said something about Laris and Picard having a father-daughter relationship, which, yikes
• The other two episodes…
• It's hard to be invested in relationships when the foundations are weak
• To borrow a phrase from another podcast: Where's Beverly?
• Do Raffi and Seven actually like each other?
• Having Picard and Seven out here tone policing Black women was A Choice
• We share some dental trauma stories from 34:43 to 36:67 if you'd rather skip that
• Hey, remember when Soji was the main character?
• Picard's mother! Is a person! Who exists! We are excited yet afraid…
• Are we MEANT to be shipping Agnes and the Borg Queen? Because we're not waiting for permission!
  

 

We have a finale! Anika and Liz put on a lightshow, blow up a techbro, and discuss…

• We get our nitpicks out of the way first
• Michael is a hard act to follow when it comes to big speeches
• Ndoye has taken the final step to becoming a fully fledged character, and we love it
• We find opportunities to compare TWO characters to Admiral Cornwell #ourbrand
• The "emotions? In my Star Trek?" argument comes up again; Liz makes snoring noises
• Wait, did we know Federation HQ was mobile???
• Anika talks about The Abyss
• Stacey Abrams! Liz has a hot take; Anika has a much better one
• Liz accidentally quotes Ronald Reagan and owes Anika a MASSIVE apology

Anika and Liz meet the 10-C, shout enough to scare Grudge, and contemplate…

• What can Book's fate possibly be? Liz has a theory!
• Tarka is WORSE THAN GUL DUKAT, YOU GUYS
• A VERY brief digression into matters Picard related (note spoilers)
• "Why is Star Trek about feelings all of a sudden?" We cannot believe this is even a point of discussion, but since it's come up, we have a rant we prepared earlier!
• We do enjoy a nice puzzle…
• Some WILD SPECULATION about the possibilities for season 5
• Wait, why haven't they just chucked a spacesuit on T'Rina and sent her out to mind meld with the 10-C?

Trekapalooza begins! Anika and Liz put Picard on hold to talk about episode 11 of Discovery's fourth season: Rosetta. Join us as we visit a new planet, huff some feelings dust and discuss…

• It's been a while since we had a nice landing party on this show!
• Star Trek should never, ever try to be cool 
• If you are tired of hearing Liz complain about Detmer, good news: she has completely changed her opinion!
• 10-C, anthropology 101 and the elephant's graveyard in The Lion King
• Sometimes a little knowledge about reality can impede one's enjoyment of Star Trek, which is apparently not a documentary or something…
• So we can safely assume by now intelligence isn't the number one trait that attracts Michael to a man…
• The delegates: a linguistics nerd, Space Wordle, Rillak's pantsuits and Earth's Brexity vibes

It's the episode where Cleveland Booker is on THIN ICE, you guys, THIN ICE.

Discovery enters the Galactic Barrier, and while real world physicists weep, Anika and Liz turn down the saturation and discuss:

• Just when we thought Disco had mastered pacing...
  
• The Tarka problem endures
• Saru! T'Rina! Their love!
• "Insecurity is universal." Discovery is a deeply insecure show.
• Is MURF Species 10-C?!
• Translation, alteration and unconscious bias
• Liz's next door neighbour does a bit of yard work, which is great…
• We have started shipping Vance/Rillak, which means we are also VERY concerned that Rillak's gonna go get herself blown up or something

And more!

If an episode is titled Rubicon, you can bet some sort of ... line is going to be crossed. Anika and Liz discuss:

• We have some prurient speculations about Saru's … experience; also, we ship Saru/T'Rina A LOT but please never make us look at his hands again
  
• Nahn is back! Is this … emotional continuity? Gosh!
• Book and Michael are sort of spinning their wheels, narratively and emotionally
  
• Ruon Tarka is the Elon Musk of the 32nd century, and we do NOT mean that as a compliment! But it's okay, we took a break from fixing Good Sam to offer notes
  

Discovery is back, baby! With hijinks! Maybe even SHENANIGANS! Anika and Liz beam down to the Karma Barge to discuss...

• An update on our giveaway
• Captain Picard Week is coming…
• Wanna make a place seem dodgy in 2022? Fill it with a crowd of people!
• We are on the record as loving terrible dads in fiction, but we also love good dads! And also … dadmirals!
• We know you know this, but it bears repeating: Sonequa Martin Green is very, very good at the whole acting business!
• A bridge crew subplot that … hangs together and doesn't feel jammed in? In OUR Discovery?