Star Trek: Picard‘s “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1”

The first part of the season finale is all setup and a lot rides on the payoff, but on the way we get some wonderful bits (the way Picard’s diagnosis was handled, Picard’s big speech being undermined by Altan Soong) and some head-scratchers (Jurati getting off way too easy for committing cold-blooded murder, the synths possibly being evil). My review of Star Trek: Picard‘s season finale opener, “Et in Arcadia Ego.”

An excerpt:

In addition to Data, [Brent] Spiner has had four other roles in the franchise: Lore, Data’s evil twin, introduced in “Datalore” and deactivated in the “Descent” two-parter; B-4, Data and Lore’s prototype, introduced in Nemesis, and also seen disassembled in “Remembrance”; Noonian Soong, Data’s creator, in “Brothers” (alongside Lore), and seen again as a dream image and a holographic recording in “Birthright Part 1” and “Inheritance,” respectively; and Arik Soong, Noonian’s ancestor, in the Enterprise three-parter “Borderland”/”Cold Station 12″/”The Augments.”

This episode adds a fifth, and it’s in keeping with the others: Altan Inigo Soong, the son of Noonian. (Though it’s not mentioned, his mother is presumably Noonian’s wife Juliana O’Donnell, established in “Inheritance.” I’m also just assuming his middle name is a tribute to the swordsman from The Princess Bride, and if it isn’t, I don’t care, because in my head it is, so there, nyah nyah.)