prose & passion

I was prepared for Molesley to make a fool of himself, because the movies have always prioritized comic relief over character for him, but it usually comes from a place of harmless over-excitement.

But his delusions of grandeur here are coming at the expense of Baxter’s feelings of self-worth - the whole “I’M a servant” “well I told you you didn’t have to be anymore” bit made me so uncomfortable, and the movie doesn’t have time for him to offer anything more than “I’ll try to be more grateful for what I have” as an apology or statement of his love and respect for her.

Heaven forbid we had cut the gag about him being a terrible driver, we could have had that amount of screentime to devote to something that felt like an appropriate resolution.

Me two weeks ago: I’m not expecting much Baxter in the new promotional material, but it’ll be enough just to see a shot of her with her wedding ring on.

1. Picard shows up to Beverly’s new home on Earth with a housewarming gift of things he’d had boxed up at the Château to help make up for what she lost on the Eleos. Not only mementos of their relationship (like the photo she passes on to Jack that he takes with him), but souvenirs from his friendship with the first Jack Crusher, his invitation to Jack and Beverly’s wedding, photos of the three of them together, baby pictures they’d sent out for Wesley’s birth and first milestones, and programs of the different plays she’d had the Enterprise crew do. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to look at them after her disappearance, but unboxing it all in her living room with her as they share the story of each item with their son, they finally become happy memories again.

2. Picard becomes super excited about celebrating Jack’s birthday for the first time, and it ends up turning into a massive party with not only the Picard S3 characters, but all of the extended friends and family that weren’t able to be part of this adventure.

3. Kestra’s life on Nepenthe leads her to a Starfleet career studying the natural healing potentials of unexplored worlds and undiscovered plant life, and her Aunt Beverly becomes her mentor.

There’s the theory that Jack is a “changeling” in the traditional sense of a child replaced by an imposter, and not really Picard/Beverly’s naturally conceived child, but I love the idea that it’s reversed. The Borg had a plan for a Locutus/Borg Queen child with organic Borg DNA or whatever, but Picard’s altered DNA ended up creating Jack with Beverly instead, and Jack is the changeling in the Borg’s nest. Vadic is coming to take him “home” so he can be tempted by all the glorious power he could wield, but he knows who he is and where he belongs, and he can use the powers they gave him for good instead.