# Star Trek: Picard - S01E04 "Absolute Candor" (SPOILERS)



## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

So far all the Emergency Holograms are the most interesting part of this show I think.


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## Amnesia (Jan 30, 2005)

I liked the whole virtual control setup for piloting the ship.

One thing I've been wondering about this show is that the Federation is supposed to be a post-scarcity economy where they don't use money any more. If that's the case, then how will Picard pay the pilot? For that matter, why did Raffi live in a hovel instead of a mansion?


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Ah, it's the last few seconds, again--she's back! 

The pacing still feels a bit slow for me (as much as I really enjoy it)--I think the reason being, here they're telling a story over the course of a season and taking their time with it, whereas in the original series, the story would be told in 1 or 2 episodes, with that pacing.


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

You owe me a ship Picard!


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

Gunnyman said:


> You owe me a ship Picard!


Picard must be super rich to be affording this quest huh?


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

I'm trying to remember.... Have we ever seen Picard and Seven meet before? Obviously he recognized her, and she's likely a well known figure, but I don't recall them ever interacting in show or movie cannon.


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## Amnesia (Jan 30, 2005)

No, they haven't.


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## jlb (Dec 13, 2001)

Amnesia said:


> No, they haven't.


But Picard was assimilated by the Borg. Could he know 7 from when he was Locutus and part of the collective? Or do I have timing all messed up????

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Amnesia (Jan 30, 2005)

Yes, they were both Borg at the same time, but in different quadrants of the galaxy.


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## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

She looked great. I have seen her doing guest appearances before this and she looks surprisingly young. I don't think we will see a unitard that took 6 people to get on but that's fine. 7 of 9. Pretty cool.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

kdmorse said:


> I'm trying to remember.... Have we ever seen Picard and Seven meet before? Obviously he recognized her, and she's likely a well known figure, but I don't recall them ever interacting in show or movie cannon.





Amnesia said:


> No, they haven't.


Perhaps they met in a meeting of Borg Survivors Anonymous near Starfleet HQ.

I have to agree with the criticism about the slow pacing here.
It's episode 4 and Picard is still assembling his "new crew".
I'd thought that they'd be farther along than this by now. And we still don't have sufficient back story on Raffi yet.

Still, they are keeping things interesting so I'm willing to let this play out.


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## Allanon (Nov 2, 2005)

Amnesia said:


> No, they haven't.





Spoiler



In the comic book _Star Trek: The Next Generation - Hive_ which takes place after ST: Nemesis, Picard and Seven of Nine investigate an attack on the Borg by an extra-dimensional alien.


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## PJO1966 (Mar 5, 2002)

For me, every time the credits roll I'm surprised that the episode is over already. I don't find the pacing slow at all.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

For me, it's just that I'd like it to go on for another 45 minutes/hour and for more to happen. Part of it, I think, is having been habituated, for decades, to weekly episodic shows in which an entire story tends to occur in the space of an hour (with the occasional two-parter (or even longer arc, in the case of Star Trek Discovery in its second 2 years)).


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## martinp13 (Mar 19, 2001)

vertigo235 said:


> So far all the Emergency Holograms are the most interesting part of this show I think.


I laugh every time we see a new one. And I think the actor does a good job of keeping them "separate". I can only imagine what they're planning that will use all of them. 

The show pacing is slow to me too. But I understand this season is backstory and build-a-squad and character camaraderie plus cameos. And as Mikeguy said we're used to Picard-based Trek being mostly weekly self-contained shows.

Think Wesley Crusher will make an appearance?


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

martinp13 said:


> I laugh every time we see a new one. And I think the actor does a good job of keeping them "separate". I can only imagine what they're planning that will use all of them.


Emergency Hologram Dance Party!

(Orphan Black joke, for the uninitiated.)


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

I don't mind the pacing too much except the fact that I feel like it will get to the last episode and they will rush away the ending since the season is so short. 

At least we know there will be a season 2 already.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

I do find myself thinking more about the backstory for Rios and his ship though, I hope we get to know more about that. 

After all, one of the biggest stars of all Star Trek franchises is the ship.


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## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

Patrick Stewart made it clear before the series aired that this is less of a "Star Trek adventure" than it is a "Picard-centric story". While I'm not crazy about the pacing either, it's about what I expected.


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## Malcontent (Sep 5, 2004)

Amnesia said:


> I liked the whole virtual control setup for piloting the ship.
> 
> One thing I've been wondering about this show is that the Federation is supposed to be a post-scarcity economy where they don't use money any more. If that's the case, then how will Picard pay the pilot?


Gold-Pressed Latinum?


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

Yeah the whole "no money" thing was slowly abandoned as Gene lost control and then pretty much tossed out the window once he died.


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## jlb (Dec 13, 2001)

martinp13 said:


> ........Think Wesley Crusher will make an appearance?


I do think we might. I'm assuming if we do it will be as a Traveler.

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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

PJO1966 said:


> For me, every time the credits roll I'm surprised that the episode is over already. I don't find the pacing slow at all.


The pacing of each episode is not the problem, it's that the story is not progressing.

For us, when the credits started rolling it was, like, "Huh? It's over? But nothing much happened!"


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## pgogborn (Nov 11, 2002)

Amnesia said:


> ...
> For that matter, why did Raffi live in a hovel instead of a mansion?


For the same reason as she hates PIcard. When PIcard handed in his resignation to Star Fleet not expecting his resignation to be accepted Star Fleet withdrew her security clearance and fired her because of her closeness to PIcard.

Unlike PIcard she did not have a vineyard / inherited wealth safety net.

She self-medicates (she is a drug addict of long standing).


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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

I find that when "Picard" is reading his lines the pacing is a bit awkward, like he's having difficulty speaking. I thought it was agev related.

But when he was reading to Elnor from a book (The Three Musketeers) the pacing was very normal.

Is he having difficulty remembering his lines? They might want to get some cue cards.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

Yeah I've seen the differences in some scenes too, maybe he just has good days and bad days.


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## Amnesia (Jan 30, 2005)

vertigo235 said:


> Yeah the whole "no money" thing was slowly abandoned as Gene lost control and then pretty much tossed out the window once he died.


Roddenberry died in 1991 and the "no money" thing was explicitly mentioned in 1996's _Star Trek: First Contact_...


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## KungFuCow (May 6, 2004)

vertigo235 said:


> Yeah I've seen the differences in some scenes too, maybe he just has good days and bad days.


Its gotta be written that way. Its only been a couple of years since Blunt Talk wrapped and he wasnt that way through that series.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Well, you never know...age-related issues can come on pretty quickly.

I haven't noticed any pattern to the awkward scenes that would suggest they are deliberate...in fact, it's striking to me how old he seems both in the "current" scenes and the scenes from 14 years ago, when you'd think they'd do something to make him look and act younger in the flashbacks.


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## KungFuCow (May 6, 2004)

There is an interview with him on Youtube from three weeks ago. Take a look and judge for yourself. Its a CBS This Morning interview.

Maybe hes struggling with his lines and he does sound a little older but hes very articulate in the interview.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

Amnesia said:


> Roddenberry died in 1991 and the "no money" thing was explicitly mentioned in 1996's _Star Trek: First Contact_...


Yeah because the writers have been very consistent about everything in Star Trek, especially from TV to Movies.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

KungFuCow said:


> There is an interview with him on Youtube from three weeks ago. Take a look and judge for yourself. Its a CBS This Morning interview.
> 
> Maybe hes struggling with his lines and he does sound a little older but hes very articulate in the interview.


Yeah I've seen him seem to struggle in interviews too, like he gets stumbled up a little.

No big deal, the man is old, I think he's doing great.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> Well, you never know...age-related issues can come on pretty quickly.
> 
> I haven't noticed any pattern to the awkward scenes that would suggest they are deliberate...in fact, it's striking to me how old he seems both in the "current" scenes and the scenes from 14 years ago, when you'd think they'd do something to make him look and act younger in the flashbacks.


To be fair, his character is suffering from a terminal brain disease, and has admitted to experiencing its symptoms.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

ej42137 said:


> To be fair, his character is suffering from a terminal brain disease, and has admitted to experiencing its symptoms.


But he's been suffering from it for 14 years?


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Mikeguy said:


> For me, it's just that I'd like it to go on for another 45 minutes/hour and for more to happen. Part of it, I think, is having been habituated, for decades, to weekly episodic shows in which an entire story tends to occur in the space of an hour (with the occasional two-parter (or even longer arc, in the case of Star Trek Discovery in its second 2 years)).


Did you miss Deep Space Nine and it's multi-seasonal arcs?



vertigo235 said:


> Yeah because the writers have been very consistent about everything in Star Trek, especially from TV to Movies.


If you're saying that Kurtzman and company have been inconsistent, I would tend to agree.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

KungFuCow said:


> There is an interview with him on Youtube from three weeks ago. Take a look and judge for yourself. Its a CBS This Morning interview.
> 
> Maybe hes struggling with his lines and he does sound a little older but hes very articulate in the interview.


Stewart was on James Corden last night as well.
I haven't watched it yet but Stewart seemed fine during his Colbert appearance the other week.


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## cwerdna (Feb 22, 2001)

vertigo235 said:


> No big deal, the man is old, I think he's doing great.


Awhile back I checked on his age via Patrick Stewart - IMDb. He's 79 now, turning 80 in July.

It blows me away that from refreshing my memory at Star Trek: The Next Generation about the TNG dates, that he was 47 when TNG first came on. By the time the TNG show ended, he was nearly 54.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

I'm still blown away that William Hartnell (the First Doctor) was only 55 when he started Doctor Who.


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## trainman (Jan 29, 2001)

Amnesia said:


> For that matter, why did Raffi live in a hovel instead of a mansion?


_Everyone_ can't live in a mansion. Presumably anyone can get the 24th-century equivalent of public housing (e.g., a small apartment in some high-rise in some city), but Raffi apparently didn't want to live anywhere near anyone. But if you have extra wealth from selling a scarce good -- say, wine -- you can have a better living situation.


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## Amnesia (Jan 30, 2005)

trainman said:


> But if you have extra wealth from selling a scarce good -- say, wine -- you can have a better living situation.


Except that they are supposedly living in a post-scarcity society. You can, I imagine, just replicate some Chateau Picard whenever you want.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Amnesia said:


> Except that they are supposedly living in a post-scarcity society. You can, I imagine, just replicate some Chateau Picard whenever you want.


The irony is, the vineyards at Chateau Picard are just for show. He secretly makes the wine using replicators. But rich wine snobs insist they can taste the difference.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Amnesia said:


> Except that they are supposedly living in a post-scarcity society. You can, I imagine, just replicate some Chateau Picard whenever you want.





Rob Helmerichs said:


> The irony is, the vineyards at Chateau Picard are just for show. He secretly makes the wine using replicators. But rich wine snobs insist they can taste the difference.


Wine snobs may be correct about replicators not being able to match "real" high quality wine.
(Replicated wine does taste better than Boone's Farm or box wine.)

But my source tells me that "JL" actually gets his wine from California vineyards and slaps the Picard label on them.
And they can't tell the difference.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

JYoung said:


> But my source tells me that "JL" actually gets his wine from California vineyards and slaps the Picard label on them.


Well, considering we know his vineyard is actually IN California, that's not too surprising.

Do you suppose he has a transporter at the gate of his French facility that secretly sends people to the real vineyard in California? I guess he'd need something to simulate the time of day in France to really fool them...


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## pgogborn (Nov 11, 2002)

Can a replicator replicate a Chateu Picard without PIcard's permission? Do copyright laws exist in the Federation?


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> Well, considering we know his vineyard is actually IN California, that's not too surprising.
> 
> Do you suppose he has a transporter at the gate of his French facility that secretly sends people to the real vineyard in California? I guess he'd need something to simulate the time of day in France to really fool them...


Holographic technology is quite advanced in the late 24th Century.
And this does explain why he has two former Tal Shiar members on staff.


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## cwerdna (Feb 22, 2001)

vertigo235 said:


> Yeah the whole "no money" thing was slowly abandoned as Gene lost control and then pretty much tossed out the window once he died.


I'll just chalk it up to YATI (Yet Another Trek Inconsistency).

Gene died in 1991 and the whole no money thing came up even in Star Trek: First Contact (1996) - IMDb. And, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine which ran from 93 to 99 had gold-pressed latinum.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

cwerdna said:


> I'll just chalk it up to YATI (Yet Another Trek Inconsistency).
> 
> Gene died in 1991 and the whole no money thing came up even in Star Trek: First Contact (1996) - IMDb. And, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine which ran from 93 to 99 had gold-pressed latinum.


For the Ferengi.
From In the Cards.



> NOG: It's my money, Jake. If you want to bid at the auction, use your own money.
> JAKE: I'm human, I don't have any money.
> NOG: It's not my fault that your species decided to abandon currency-based economics in favour of some philosophy of self-enhancement.
> JAKE: Hey, watch it. There's nothing wrong with our philosophy. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity.
> ...


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## cwerdna (Feb 22, 2001)

The Ready Room ep near the end had a brief look at some of the effects work on ST: P. Skip to that if you don't care about the Q&A w/the actor involved.

Also, every Ready Room ep has had a sneak peak scene from the next ep.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

cwerdna said:


> I'll just chalk it up to YATI (Yet Another Trek Inconsistency).
> 
> Gene died in 1991 and the whole no money thing came up even in Star Trek: First Contact (1996) - IMDb. And, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine which ran from 93 to 99 had gold-pressed latinum.


Yeah I mean it's still there, but once Gene was gone the inconsistencies started, and it returned for story telling purposes.


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## jeremy3721 (Feb 16, 2002)

I like the show but I really don’t like the characters of Raffi or Elnor.


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## martinp13 (Mar 19, 2001)

I like Raffi, mainly because Michelle Hurd knows how to act. She's been a staple character on countless TV shows. Elnor not so much: Evan Evagora's acting credits include Picard, this year's Fantasy Island movie, and being an uncredited extra in a TV series. I know his character is supposed to be wet behind the ears, but he really doesn't seem to know how to act.


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## DougF (Mar 18, 2003)

kdmorse said:


> I'm trying to remember.... Have we ever seen Picard and Seven meet before? Obviously he recognized her, and she's likely a well known figure, but I don't recall them ever interacting in show or movie cannon.


They haven't, but they almost did. I've read a few times how Ryan was offered a part in Nemesis and turned it down.


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## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

And I would have sworn they were on the same ship! I guess I've watched too much Trek too long ago plus my brain is getting old.


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