I should be sleeping but instead I’m thinking of Star Trek: Picard.
I’m tired. Sleep is needed but right now my (almost) three year old Grandson is fast asleep, sprawled out across my side of the bed and I’m not about to disturb him. Instead I’m watching foxes playing via my CCTV monitors, perusing Twitter and thinking about what’s going on in season 3 of Star Trek: Picard.
There are a few thoughts going through my mind right now. Spoilers aren’t my intention but please be aware some of those thoughts coming out may include them.
After watching Star Trek: Picard seasons 1 & 2 I almost, almost didn’t bother watching season 3 but I’m glad I did.
Let’s see if I can get these out coherently.
Let’s re-cap
So far we’ve seen:
- The new meatier Changelings want to get their hands on Jack Crusher.
- Jack Crusher appears to have some kind of powers to enter, and control, others minds.
- They’ve stolen Picard’s original fleshy corpse from Daystrum Station where Section 31 have been carrying out various experiments.
- While investigating the stolen items from Daystrum, Worf, Riker and Raffi discover a golem Data/Lore/La’l/B-4/Soong hybrid.
- The golem consciousness is primarily a tug-o-war between Data and Lore, the other occupants delegated to mere memories.
- A partition exists between Data and Lore because Soong was unable to integrate them successfully into a single consciousness before he died.
The Changelings want Jack Crusher and have also stolen Picard’s human body. Based on what we’ve seen so far Vadic wants to unlock Jack’s powers for reasons still unknown. We know the Changelings have been digging around in Picard’s brain, specifically something related to his “Irumodic Syndrome” which we have now found out from Daystrum records may have been misdiagnosed. Jack Crusher has also supposedly inherited this from his Father, Jean-Luc Picard.
In Star Trek: TNGs season 4 episode “The Best of Both Worlds – Part 2” Dr Crusher explains that she has removed the technology implanted by the Borg which made Picard into Locutus but states that some of it had re-written his DNA. This is prior to his diagnosis of Irumodic Syndrome.
Irumodic Syndrome and re-written DNA
What if the Irumodic Syndrome diagnosis is actually down to the re-written DNA? Symptoms include visual and audio hallucinations (ST:TNG S7 – All Good Things pts 1&2), like those experienced by Jack Crusher which led into his diagnosis of the same disease. We’ve since found out that Jack is actually hearing the thoughts of other humanoid species around him.
In Star Trek: First Contact we find out that Picard can still hear/sense the Borg during their attack on the fleet while heading to Earth. How? He no longer has implants. The Irumodic Syndrome/DNA re-writes? What if the re-writes created a hive mind link via organics? Jack inherited that DNA so potentially could have the ability to link organically to, or even create, a hive mind.
What do the Changelings want with Jack?
We learn from Vadic that Section 31 was experimenting on the PoW Changelings in order to use them as sleeper agents. Having the ability to become anything, or anyone, would be a very useful tool but they would need a way to control them. What if the plan was to make them meatier in an attempt to control them using Section 31 operatives “inflicted” with Irumodic Syndrome DNA changes? An army of shape-shifting avatars infiltrating anywhere Section 31 wanted without having to give up information of who they really were, or without loss of their own people.
This obviously didn’t happen because the Changelings escaped but they may still have an interest in Jack because the one thing we’ve not seen these Changelings do is link, as in the Great Link (ST:DS9). Maybe they can’t link and want to unlock Jack’s abilities in order for them to be able to form a mental link with their new meaty forms?
Partitions and Connections
We have Data and Lore partitioned in the golem, we have a red door in Jack’s mind keeping something at bay. The whole Daystrum Section 31 experiments could potentially be connected, Picard’s body, the DataLore golem, meatying up the PoW Changelings.
We have also learned that the Federation have now networked all of their ships together and will be assembling them for Frontier Day.
I’m not entirely sure where it’s all heading but I think we could be potentially looking at some kind of Borg related birth/rebirth.
Enough of my rambling. I’m tired, this probably doesn’t make a lot of sense and I really should get some sleep because I’ve not been well. My Grandson has somehow taken up more of my bed space, an impressive amount for such a small form, so I’m off to the sofa.
G’night.
