1. I accept and respect that TNG fans need and deserve a nostalgic episode where their favorite characters get to spend some quality time together. (For me, Riker is warmer and more endearing than I used to find him, and Troi is even less. But these have always been some of my least favorite ST characters, so.) But this season is chugging to a close a mere three episodes from now, and there's a lot of plot to wind up, so I can't help resenting this long detour away from the main story. Also, it doesn't really do Picard any favors that his first thought when on the run from the most dangerous secret police in the galaxy is to hide out at the quiet, bucolic home of his dear friends and their sweet kid. Yeah, Picard's arrogance is a thing in this series, but I don't think the writers were entirely conscious that this choice would make Picard look so much worse.
2. HUUUUUGH!!! Honestly, I enjoy a heart-wrenching character death as much as the next person, but really, this was a waste. If it had happened in Picard's presence, so that we could experience his reaction and see the effect on him, that would have been something. But with Elnor? They only just met. Worse, there's this weird vibe that we're supposed to feel like Hugh and Elnor became deeply bonded in, like, ten minutes, so we're meant to think Elnor was profoundly traumatized by this. But...nope. I got nothing, except for the sense that I really wanted to see more Hugh, and now I won't.
3. So Agnes -- not a synth (that's me wrong, yet again), but shown a synthpocalypse by Oh that freaked her out enough to just swallow a tracking thingy. Not that I can really blame her. A mind-meld apocalypse must feel like -- well, an apocalypse. But what is that vision? Is it a real future? Did some time traveler give the Zhat Vash future intel, which the ZV have dedicated themselves to preventing, like ENT's Sphere Builders did to the Xindi? Or is it a mythical future, some kind of prophecy? Narissa refers to ZV operatives all across the galaxy, so presumably, that includes Oh. Anyhow, I'm glad Agnes redeemed herself, even if she had to put herself in a coma to do it. OK, maybe "redeemed herself" is a little strong, given the whole killing Maddox thing. But then again, we don't know that Maddox wasn't going to cause a synthpocalypse, so maybe Agnes did the right thing? But is it ever right to kill someone to prevent a future event that might not happen? Paging Chidi Anagonye.
4. Did Rios really suspect Raffi, or did he suspect Agnes, and he was trying to get her to confess to being the one with the tracking device? I prefer to think the latter, but it's probably the former. Poor Raffi can't catch a break -- everyone is shitty to her. Also, if you suspect someone on your ship is being tracked by someone who's trying to destroy you, wouldn't you try to do something more effective than have a chat about it?
5. The best part of this episode: Soji. Her reactions and feelings seem authentic and really touch me. So it turns out Maddox probably did make her, and others, on the planet with two red moons. (In my previous speculation, I'd dismissed the idea that Maddox actually made Soji and Dahj because I neglected to consider that he'd been missing for a long time, and he would have had ample opportunity to continue his work after leaving the Daystrom Institute. Still, it's pretty crazy to think he made a lot of them. Why? Did he have an ulterior motive, or was it just because he could? Was he the one who gave them the false memories and let them think they were human? Isn't that unethical? Paging Chidi again.) So Soji is in a sense Data's "daughter." But was Dahj so strongly imprinted on Picard that she sought him out without even knowing him, while Soji remains suspicious? Is it just because Soji is more traumatized?
6. I'm starting to get the feeling that the Borg/synth connection isn't going to be some clever plot twist, but just a loose thematic parallel, more's the pity. Still, there must be a reason why the Borg can't successfully assimilate Romulans, and it must have something to do with why Ramdha called Soji the Destroyer. Mustn't it?
7. Can we pleeeaaaaase get Rios' backstory now?
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