Spoiler Warning: There will be spoilers ahead for the first eight episodes of Star Trek: Picard, as well as for other iterations of the Star Trek franchise including Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 and the trailers for Season 3.
Broken Pieces saw several theories from previous weeks blown out of the water – finally! As Star Trek: Picard begins to draw the story of its first season to a conclusion, that was to be expected. As fun as it has been writing up these theories every week, I love that the show has been surprising and taken its story to some genuinely unpredictable places.
This is something I’d like to write about in more detail in the future, but getting overly-attached to one’s own theories (or other people’s theories found online) is not a good thing. Theory-crafting is a bit of fun, something to get the old grey matter working and to spend a little more time with the franchises we love. If you’ve been following along with these posts over the last few weeks, I hope you’ve taken these theories with a healthy pinch of salt too, because it was always the case that almost all of them would end up debunked – especially the more outlandish ones!
We have at least eight debunked theories, so as always, let’s start with those.
Debunked theory #1: There’s a Starfleet-Zhat Vash conspiracy.
This was a great example of a double-bluff in my opinion. From the first time we met her, Commodore Oh’s Vulcan persona was difficult to read. It seemed unlikely that the Romulans, clever though they are, would have been able to plant an operative at such a high rank in Starfleet – but we didn’t know that they’d been playing a really long game, one that went right back to the activation of Data even prior to the events of The Next Generation.
Commodore Oh is not the Vulcan co-conspirator I had assumed, and is in fact a Zhat Vash operative – a senior one, too, judging by the role she played in the Zhat Vash initiation ritual we saw in Broken Pieces. This changes the dynamic of the series from one where Picard could have conceivably faced off against half of Starfleet to one where Starfleet itself gets to retain its status as being one of the “good guys”. Commodore Oh may have been able to corrupt parts of Starfleet from within, and her ability to seemingly recruit new people to her cause with a simple mind-meld, as she did with Dr Jurati, may mean there are some compromised officers, but we know for a fact that Admiral Clancy is not among them, and that Starfleet itself did not aid the Zhat Vash.
The Zhat Vash engineered a situation where the Federation’s only option would be to shut down research into synthetic life. It’s true that the Federation took the bait, but in the aftermath of a massive attack that killed over 90,000 people and has seemingly rendered an entire planet uninhabitable and unusable, it’s an understandable reaction even if some of our main characters criticise the Federation and Starfleet for it.
Debunked theory #2: The captain of the USS Ibn Majid was a character from a past Star Trek show.
This was a complete stab-in-the-dark, but I had speculated that Chris Rios’ deceased captain would turn out to be a character we’d met before. Instead we got a new character, Captain Alonzo Vandermeer. I doubt we’ll learn much more about Capt. Vandermeer in the current season now that the story of his death – and how it ties to the overall plot of the show – has been uncovered.
Debunked theory #3: The USS Ibn Majid was a Section 31 ship/Rios used to work for Section 31.
A few weeks ago, I had several possibilities for how Section 31 could potentially fit into the plot of Star Trek: Picard, but now I don’t have any!
When Rios told Picard that the USS Ibn Majid had been “erased” from Starfleet’s records, only one organisation sprang to mind as having the ability and willingness to do so: Section 31. Given that the captain mentioned above died under unknown but clearly dramatic circumstances, it was not unreasonable to theorise that the Ibn Majid could’ve been involved in the kind of off-the-books operations that Section 31 were known for. However, all indications are that this was not the case. Rios did not work for Section 31, and the Ibn Majid appears to have been a normal Starfleet ship in regular service with the fleet. The cover-up was a result of Commodore Oh attempting to keep the synthetics from Soji’s homeworld a secret.
Debunked theory #4: Section 31 (or anyone other than the Zhat Vash) were behind the attack on Mars.
When I first formulated this theory after Children of Mars and Remembrance, I speculated that several factions could’ve been responsible. A couple of candidates were the Borg and the Dominion: the Borg because their technology may have been involved, and the Dominion because an attack designed to sow discord between Alpha Quadrant powers was something they’ve done before. However, the two main culprits I had were Section 31 and the Zhat Vash.
We now know that the Zhat Vash were responsible, presumably with Commodore Oh leading the charge. There were a couple of good reasons to suspect Section 31, though. Firstly, with Section 31 having prominently featured in Star Trek: Discovery and with a new series based on the organisation in the works, their presence in Star Trek: Picard would be something to tie all the shows together, and be a frame of reference for new and casual viewers. Secondly, from an in-universe point of view, Section 31 have always been militantly pro-Federation and willing to do anything to achieve their goals. In Deep Space Nine they were willing to commit genocide, killing the Founders of the Dominion with a virus. In Discovery they were operating outside of normal Starfleet jurisdiction, even building an artificial intelligence. It seemed at least plausible that Section 31 would have opposed Picard’s plan to help the Romulans, as they had long been an enemy and the rescue mission could’ve led to some members seceding from the Federation. They would have had no qualms whatsoever about sabotaging those efforts, even if that meant killing Federation citizens.
Debunked theory #5: The Romulans’ fear of synthetic life is caused by their own past experiments with synths/AI going horribly wrong.
I speculated that the Romulans had once created their own AI or synths, and that something went wrong, causing the Romulans to fear and hate synths. There were a couple of ways this could have manifested: firstly is that the Romulans had simply arrived at the conclusion that there’s a flaw in all synthetic life which means rebellion is inevitable. We have seen rogue AI in Star Trek before, in episodes like The Ultimate Computer, Discovery’s second season arc, and even in a way in Star Trek: Insurrection where Data himself goes rogue.
The second possibility had been that the Romulans had somehow been involved in the creation of the Borg. We got a few hints at how the Romulans viewed the Borg, particularly in the way the xBs were treated and prohibited from leaving the Artifact. But mostly why I felt this was at least possible is because Star Trek: Discovery’s second season, with the Control AI mentioned previously, seemed to be moving toward a Borg origin story. When that aspect of the story didn’t materialise I was surprised, and when we seemed to be seeing Romulans and the Borg in Star Trek: Picard, I wondered if the creators of Star Trek had chosen to go with a different Borg origin story while Discovery’s second season was in production.
However, we now know that the Zhat Vash believe that when a certain threshold is reached in the development of synthetic life, a hitherto unseen race or faction arrives and destroys not only the synths but those who created them. It’s not the synths themselves that they fear – it’s who will follow.
Debunked theory #5A: The Romulans were keeping the ex-Borg on the Artifact for a reason connected to their own past synthetic experiments.
If the Romulans created the Borg, they would have wanted to keep that a secret, and prohibiting xBs from leaving might’ve helped them keep that secret safe. They may also have been studying the xBs, trying to see how synthetic technology has evolved since they abandoned their own experiments. However, with the Romulans so easily abandoning the Artifact and murdering the xBs, it seems as though they really didn’t care about them or about anything they could learn from studying their technology, and were simply harvesting their components to sell.
Debunked theory #6: Picard’s decision to tell everyone their enemy is the Tal Shiar (and not the Zhat Vash) will come back to haunt him.
Star Trek: Picard has been great in almost every way, but one area where I felt there was an issue that stretched across several episodes was in the naming of the faction of the series’ main antagonists. We knew as early as Maps and Legends that the Zhat Vash were responsible for Dahj’s murder, and were a secretive Romulan faction hidden within the Tal Shiar. Yet most of the characters for much of the series insisted on referring to the faction as the Tal Shiar.
In a way there is an understandable in-universe reason why: Picard may not have fully believed in their existence, and many other characters may not have known about them at all. But from a storytelling point of view, having a named antagonist and being consistent with that, especially when dealing with made-up terms like Zhat Vash and Tal Shiar, can be a great help to casual and new viewers. One reason why people end up switching off a show is because it’s hard to follow, and Star Trek: Picard has been inconsistent and potentially confusing because of the way it’s dealt with its antagonists.
I speculated that there might be a story reason for why this was – perhaps a character like Elnor would react negatively upon learning of the involvement of the Zhat Vash, or perhaps being unprepared for an encounter with them would cost a character his or her life. However, none of this materialised and the characters now seem to know who they’re dealing with.
Debunked theory #7: The Control AI from Discovery’s second season is why the Romulans fear synthetic life.
Despite getting very excited about this last week, when a few CGI sequences from Discovery’s second season were incorporated into Dr Jurati’s mind-meld, it seems as though this was simply a production decision – saving money by recycling those brief shots of exploding planets. I had noted in my theory post last week that this was a possibility, and it certainly isn’t the first time we’ve seen recycled shots in a Star Trek show. One particular sequence of a Klingon bird-of-prey exploding must’ve been used at least half a dozen times across various Star Trek productions!
Given that Discovery and Picard are in production simultaneously, we haven’t really seen very much crossover between the two shows; certainly far less than I might’ve expected. Thematically, the current season of Star Trek: Picard and Discovery’s second season both look at artificial intelligence and the prospect for it going awry, but in terms of actual plot elements like factions, locations, or even characters, there’s been almost nothing that’s crossed over. We’ve had a few minor references, but those were little more than easter eggs. I do think that finding a way to tie the shows together is a good idea for Star Trek as a whole, especially as the Star Trek timeline and broader universe is pretty convoluted. There’s Picard, at the dawn of the 25th Century; Lower Decks, which is taking place 15 years or so prior; Discovery, which may be in the 32nd or 33rd Century; the Section 31 show and possibly a Captain Pike/USS Enterprise show which would be in the 23rd Century; and another alternate reality film which would be in a parallel 23rd Century. It makes for a pretty complicated franchise, and if all of these projects do go ahead – which some of them admittedly may not – having crossover points will be important to helping viewers know what’s going on and to tying the disparate shows together.
However, it seems pretty clear that Discovery’s Control AI is not going to be the way to do that, at least not at this juncture.
Debunked theory #8: The Trill doctor from Maps and Legends will end up assimilated.
While this could still happen somehow, I suppose, with Seven of Nine and Elnor in control of the Artifact and almost all of the ex-Borg and Borg who had been in stasis dead, it seems incredibly unlikely.
In Maps and Legends, Soji befriended a young Trill doctor. While the two of them were getting ready to head into a more dangerous part of the Artifact, there seemed to be a great deal of horror film-style foreshadowing that this character may not survive. However, given that we haven’t seen her since and that the story has moved on in leaps and bounds over the intervening six episodes, I’d be surprised if we even saw her again and I’m officially striking this theory off my list.
So those theories were debunked. We did also get some confirmed theories, so let’s look at those next.
Confirmed theories #1 and #2: There’s a machine civilisation on Soji’s homeworld and there are other synths that are identical to Soji.
While it may seem a bit of a stretch to call the four synths we know existed (Soji, Dahj, Jana, and Beautiful Flower) a “civilisation”, there was a key word Rios used during his encounter with the latter two synths nine years before the events of the series. Beautiful Flower and Jana were described as “emissaries”, and Captain Vandermeer contacted Starfleet to officially mark first contact with these new synthetic beings.
Only a larger group would sent emissaries, and Starfleet would surely only consider marking an official first contact with a species that had a larger population than just a handful of individuals. Regardless of how many individuals there may be – and it could be in the millions after nine years of continued building of new synths – I think we can consider the fact that there is a machine civilisation there. Or at least there was nine years before the events of the show,
We also got confirmation of the existence of other Soji-type androids (a term I’d been using for synths who share Soji and Dahj’s appearance). At least one other existed: Jana, who Rios met aboard the USS Ibn Majid. While we didn’t see a Soji-type android in the flash of images from either the mind-meld or the relic on Aia, given that Data’s face was present it’s at least possible that Soji’s face was shown there too, which would explain how Ramdha recognised her. It’s also possible that Ramdha had another encounter with a Soji-type android that we’ll see in another flashback, or that someone else who had been assimilated by the Borg had encountered one, and that that information was conveyed to Ramdha during her assimilation.
The existence of Jana may very well mean that there are dozens, hundreds, or perhaps even more synths who are identical to Soji and Dahj. Maddox clearly favoured that design when building them, paying homage to his friend Data, and while he may have used other designs too, I would not be at all surprised to see a veritable army of Soji-type androids when La Sirena reaches her homeworld.
Confirmed theory #3: The next part of Dr Jurati’s mission was to kill Soji.
When meeting with Soji in La Sirena’s sickbay, Dr Jurati confirmed that she had been tasked with killing Soji if she came into contact with her. However, seeing the realisation of her life’s work seems to have broken the spell that Commodore Oh put on her with the mind-meld, and she didn’t go through with it.
Confirmed theory #4: The synths who attacked Mars were hacked.
While we don’t know exactly how the Zhat Vash were able to pull off the attack on Mars, we can confirm finally that the synths did not act of their own volition. They were being controlled or directed by someone else, and it’s likely that Commodore Oh had a major role to play.
This confirms a theory that I’d had going way back to Remembrance at the beginning of the season; it was actually one of my first theories. The fact that no explanation had been found for the attack, even some fourteen years later, seemed to indicate we were dealing with some kind of outside influence. When we got flashbacks involving the android F8, seeing how he went from his usual robotic self to hacking the Martian defence net in an instant, as well as the particular focus on his eyes as he seemed to be downloading new orders or information, strongly suggested he was not acting independently.
The fact that the attack had to be coordinated, and that it was a very deliberate strike against a chosen target, both added to this. If the synths had been overcome by a powerful urge to kill or rebel, attacking the humans in their vicinity would have made more sense. And given their ability to take down planetary defences, and the powerful ships under their command, why didn’t they attack Earth? That would’ve been a crippling blow to the Federation, far more so than simply destroying a shipyard. Finally, the synths’ suicide after their attack meant it would not have been possible to study them to learn what happened – further evidence that they were hacked.
All of these factors built up over several episodes – really beginning with Star Trek: Picard’s prologue, the Short Treks episode Children of Mars. I loved the way it was done, and the fact that we’ve had to wait till now for confirmation that the Zhat Vash were behind it was excellent and really kept me guessing.
So those theories were confirmed in the episode Broken Pieces. I know these posts have gotten a little complicated and unwieldy, but hopefully now that we’ve done some major pruning the main list can be less complicated as we head into the two-part finale! Let’s look at the remaining theories, as well as a handful of new ones that came out of this week’s episode.
Number 1: With confirmation that there are other female synths who look like Soji, at least some male synths built by Maddox will resemble Data.
Broken Pieces confirmed a theory I’d had for several weeks: that there are other synths who look like Soji and Dahj. Nine years prior to the events of the series, Rios encountered such a synth – named Jana – while serving aboard the USS Ibn Majid. That synth was killed, but her face was something Rios never forgot.
But Jana was not alone. Rios described her companion, named Beautiful Flower, as being male. Given that we know Bruce Maddox was responsible for building at least some of these synths, and that he was drawing on Data as his inspiration (Soji and Dahj were modelled on a painting Data painted over thirty years previously) I think we’re about to meet a male synth who looks like an older Data.
When I first saw Brent Spiner reprising his role as Data in the trailers for Star Trek: Picard, without wanting to be too rude I felt he’d definitely aged out of the role of the non-ageing android. Fortunately, in the series itself the way Data was presented in Picard’s dreams did look significantly better than in the trailers, so giving him a bigger role – albeit as a new character and not as Data himself – is at least a possibility. Knowing what we know about Maddox, and how the theme of Data’s sacrifice and legacy has been portrayed in the series so far, I feel that it’s at least a possibility. We know Brent Spiner has been involved in the series, so it isn’t completely outlandish.
Number 2A: Romulan minds have a very particular reaction to the vision in the relic on Aia.
Soji was told that all of the ex-Borg who were “disordered” – i.e. insane – were Romulans. This was back in The End is the Beginning, when she first met Ramdha. We now know that Ramdha’s intense reaction to the vision from the relic on Aia is at least a contributing factor to the xBs’ insanity, but it’s interesting that no other species reacted as intensely as the Romulans did. As Raffi noticed last week, many of them were obsessively drawing the octonary symbol – a clue which led her to figure out the meeting place of the Conclave of Eight and the Zhat Vash – and as far as we know, only Romulans have experienced the vision contained on the relic there.
My theory is that there’s something very particular to Romulans – perhaps to do with their telepathic skills or paranoid nature – which causes them to have such an extreme reaction. Of the Zhat Vash initiates who took part in the ritual seen in Broken Pieces, only Rizzo and Ramdha came out alive – and I’d argue both had their minds “broken”, albeit that the brokenness manifested in radically different ways. If this is the case, other species may be able to experience the vision without being driven insane – and the vision may not even mean what the Zhat Vash have interpreted it to mean.
Number 2B: Picard and his crew will travel to Aia to experience the vision for themselves – and will have a different, less intense reaction.
If it’s the case that Romulans are especially badly affected by the relic on Aia, Picard and his crew may find that they react differently when exposed to the vision. Either before or after defending Soji’s homeworld, it makes sense that someone like Picard would want to see Aia and the relic for himself – he’s an explorer at heart, and given all the trouble this relic has caused and the potential ramifications of a synthetic apocalypse, wanting to see what triggered that makes sense.
I don’t know yet whether Picard and his crew will go to Aia, but it seems like a reasonable guess. If he does see the vision for himself, he and the other humans on the crew may find that it makes more sense, or even that it doesn’t show what the Zhat Vash believe it to show. Either way, the relic on Aia is at the centre of this whole conspiracy, and I would expect Picard would want to see it for himself.
Number 3: Picard spoke to Admiral Clancy too soon – potentially tipping off Commodore Oh.
When Picard spoke with Admiral Clancy, relatively early in Broken Pieces, it was before Raffi and Rios had put together what happened with the USS Ibn Majid and who gave the order to kill the synths. And just as importantly, it was before Dr Jurati woke up and confessed to Picard what Commodore Oh made her see in the mind-meld.
At the time Picard and Clancy spoke, no one knew of Commodore Oh’s role as a spy, nor of her role in the Zhat Vash – as far as Clancy was concerned, she was a Vulcan and head of Starfleet Security. Given her senior position, it makes sense that she would come to know of the dispatching of a fleet to Deep Space 12, especially given that station’s proximity to the Vayt Sector – where Soji’s homeworld is located.
Commodore Oh would certainly be on the lookout for anything suspicious. She knows Picard is out there trying to help Soji, and she must know by now that Soji was able to escape the Artifact. Putting two and two together will not be difficult, and Starfleet’s forces may find that the Romulans are two steps ahead of them thanks to Commodore Oh’s spying. Furthermore, given that La Sirena entered the transwarp network immediately after the conversation in which everyone pieced together the timeline of events – including Commodore Oh’s involvement – it may not be possible for Picard to warn Starfleet that she is a spy.
Number 4: The post-apocalyptic 32nd/33rd Century seen in Discovery’s third season is related to the vision the Zhat Vash experienced.
This is less of a theory for Star Trek: Picard and more related to Discovery’s impending third season, but I wonder if there will be some connection between the seemingly post-apocalyptic future seen in the trailers and the storyline of this season.
It seems a bit of a stretch to think that something which happened at the very end of the 24th Century could in any major way still be causing problems a full 800 years later, but it’s possible that we’re seeing the seeds of what happened in the years prior to the arrival of Burnham and the USS Discovery. It could very well be the case that the Zhat Vash are correct in their interpretation of the vision contained in the relic on Aia, and that the creation of sentient synthetic life does cause some kind of apocalyptic invasion or event, in which case this may occur at some undetermined future point between the end of Star Trek: Picard and the beginning of Discovery’s newest season.
Number 5: Seven of Nine and Elnor will fly the Artifact to Soji’s homeworld.
I fully admit that I didn’t really enjoy this week’s scenes with Seven of Nine and Elnor aboard the Artifact, but one way to make up for that would be to give them a great reason for staying behind. What could be more exciting – not to mention visually stunning – than a fully-repaired Artifact, crewed by the surviving ex-Borg, warping in at the last moment during a battle between Starfleet and the Romulans to save Soji’s homeworld? The thought of seeing a Borg cube used for good and to see our heroes fighting alongside the powerful vessel would be something unique in Star Trek and genuinely interesting.
There will have to be some way for Elnor, at the very least, to rejoin Picard and La Sirena before the season is over. I’m disappointed with how underused Elnor has been, and if the season ends with him and Seven on an overblown side-quest I think that will be quite unsatisfying, regardless of what happens with the xBs or what potential stories are set up for future seasons or Star Trek productions.
Number 6: Narek is going to go rogue.
Narek has several potential reasons for going rogue. He obviously cares deeply for Soji and has developed feelings for her; it was only because he believes wholeheartedly in the stakes of the Zhat Vash’s mission – averting an apocalypse that would end all life in the galaxy – that he was able to go through with trying to kill her. Secondly, Rizzo in particular, despite being his sister, is aggressive and condescending to him, treating him incredibly badly and like a subordinate. He clearly has no real love for her.
If the Zhat Vash are proven to be wrong about synthetic life being a danger – which surely, somehow, they will be – Narek will have no reason to continue his crusade. If he learnt that Soji no longer posed a threat, given how he feels for her he may switch sides – and if he does, he could bring valuable information to Picard and his crew about the Zhat Vash’s plans.
Number 7: Borg technology was used to create Soji and Dahj, and Maddox was the main buyer of Borg components from the Artifact.
Star Trek: Picard has gone out of its way to explain that there is a huge market for Borg technology and harvested Borg components. Icheb was murdered so that his implants could be extracted, and the technology taken from the xBs when they’re de-assimilated is sold by the Romulans.
It’s possible that lots of factions and organisations might want a piece of Borg tech – for study, research, or defensive purposes, among other reasons. But given that the main story has been deeply connected with the development of synthetic life, I can’t help but feel that Maddox may have been buying up these pieces to use in his research and construction of the synths on Soji’s homeworld.
There’s also the point that F8, the android seen in the flashbacks to the events on Mars, was incredibly basic, even compared to Data in his earliest appearances. By contrast, Soji and Dahj are so human that they fooled all sensors and scanners and were able to work undercover for around three years – they even believed themselves to be human. Rios encountered a Soji-type android – Jana – nine years before the events of the show, which means in the five years since F8 was active on Mars, Maddox not only managed to improve on that basic model, but create something so lifelike that they were able to be artistic and emotional and even outperform Data in many respects. How did he accomplish this? Cloning Data’s neurons is one explanation – but surely that would just result in a clone of Data. To surpass Data, better technology would be needed – and no faction in Star Trek has more advanced technology than the Borg.
Finally, Soji seems to have knowledge of some Borg technology herself. Not only was she assisting in the de-assimilation of drones aboard the Artifcact, she had innate knowledge of the location of parts of the Borg transwarp network, as well as how to allow La Sirena to safely navigate it.
So those are the theories either new from Broken Pieces or that the episode advanced. Now, as always, let’s look at the remaining theories from previous weeks that haven’t been confirmed or debunked.
Number 8: Riker will return to active duty.
Admiral Clancy will send a fleet to Deep Space 12 to assist Picard in his mission to defend Soji’s homeworld. Even though Riker’s name never came up, I wonder if he’ll be leading it? He is in the vicinity, after all!
When Riker was with Picard in Nepenthe he mentioned that he was still on “active reserve” in Starfleet – something which seemed to be a major hint that we’ll see him back in uniform sooner or later. However, this could be setting up something that won’t pay off until next season, so if we don’t see it happen in the finale, we can consider it our first Star Trek: Picard Season 2 theory!
Number 9: Commodore Oh is a synth.
Commodore Oh has played a very long game to get the Zhat Vash so close to victory. Her work seems to have commenced years before the events of The Next Generation, as she established herself as a figure in Starfleet Security, eventually becoming its senior officer by the time of the current season. She was instrumental in the attack on Mars, the murder of Dahj, and the mission to interrogate Soji – and those are just the events we’re aware of.
It’s possible, however, that she’s actually a double-agent, someone who is working to bring about the very apocalypse she claims to want to prevent along with the Zhat Vash. It seems as though a trigger is needed in order for the apocalyptic event – which seems to involve the arrival of an unknown faction – to occur. Could Commodore Oh be a synth, perhaps part of this unknown faction, conspiring to push synthetic life in the galaxy to this threshold and beyond? Maybe this is too much of a stretch, but there would be something greatly ironic in learning that the Commodore – who has been on an anti-synthetic crusade – is herself a synth, especially if she is unaware of it!
Number 10: The synths on Soji’s homeworld are already dead – killed when Maddox’s lab was destroyed.
At the beginning of Stardust City Rag, it’s established that the only reason Maddox travelled to Freecloud was because his lab had been destroyed. Given that Bjayzl is clearly dangerous, and he would have known that, it really was an act of desperation and a destination of last resort for him. I can’t see any other explanation for Maddox being there, so I’m assuming the story he told her about the destruction of his lab was true – if not, it opens a sizeable plot hole.
But if Maddox’s lab had been destroyed, it raises several questions. First is where Maddox’s lab actually was. Everyone from Picard and Riker to Rizzo and Narek seem to have been assuming that his lab, where Soji was created, is the synthetics’ homeworld. But if that’s the case, and it’s already been destroyed, why did Rizzo and Narek need to keep interrogating Soji to learn the location of a planet their colleagues had already visited and destroyed?
While I don’t consider this theory very likely, one possible outcome that squares this circle is that the Zhat Vash had indeed destroyed Maddox’s lab and killed the synths who were living there, and that Picard and his crew will find nothing but wreckage when they finally arrive. This would be a pretty bleak direction for the story, because even if Picard manages to exact revenge upon the Romulans they would still have essentially “won”.
Number 11: The father figure from Soji’s dream isn’t Maddox – and could be a synth.
In order for there to be a large number of synths on Soji’s homeworld – assuming they are still alive – it would mean more than just one person would need to be there to build them. Once Maddox had built his first fully-functional synth, there’s no reason why that synth couldn’t have built more, and why those synths couldn’t have built yet more copies of themselves.
This could explain why the faceless figure in Soji’s dream is faceless – rather than being Maddox, her “father” is actually another synth – one that Maddox had built earlier. I guess this would make Maddox her grandfather!
To connect this to another theory, I wonder if this figure will be a Data lookalike.
Number 12: Picard’s illness is Irumodic Syndrome.
In Maps and Legends, Picard’s doctor brought him the bad news that he’s suffering from a terminal illness – albeit one in the early stages. There were several hints in this conversation that the disease is Irumodic Syndrom, which was first mentioned in the finale of The Next Generation. Riker and Troi both hinted at Picard’s illness in Nepenthe, but it has not yet been referred to by name.
Number 13: Soji and Dahj’s necklaces were a deliberate symbol from Maddox to signal or communicate with someone.
It’s possible that this will never be explained, but the choice for Maddox to give Soji and Dahj necklaces that hinted at their synthetic nature is strange. It could be a case of showing off, but it may also be how the Zhat Vash first came to suspect Soji and Dahj. If Maddox were using the symbol on purpose to communicate with someone or signal someone it would make more sense as to why he took that risk.
Number 14: Section 31 are involved… somehow.
I haven’t entirely given up on the idea of Section 31 involvement, for the reasons outlined above. I still feel that bringing the organisation into play – somehow – would make a lot of sense from a production point of view, as there are other Star Trek projects currently in production that have Section 31 involvement.
However, with my three main Section 31 theories having been debunked (those were the USS Ibn Majid being a Section 31 ship and Rios having been a Section 31 operative, Seven of Nine working for Section 31, and Section 31 having been behind the attack on Mars) I’m really not sure at this stage how the show could bring the faction into play.
Furthermore, with Star Trek: Picard now headed into its finale, any Section 31 involvement would have to be relatively minor, as a major revelation at the last minute could end up feeling like a deus ex machina.
One possibility could be a kind of epilogue, perhaps with Section 31 taking control of the Artifact now that the Romulans seem to have abandoned it. But that’s a complete guess.
Number 15: Something Maddox did or didn’t do made it possible for the synths to be hacked and Mars to be attacked.
While we now know that the synths who attacked Mars did not act on their own and were hacked or otherwise controlled by the Zhat Vash, the question remains as to how they came to be so easily controlled. It’s possible that there was some kind of flaw in the way F8 and the other Mars synths were build or programmed that made them more susceptible to this kind of hack, and that could explain why Maddox left Earth determined to continue his work.
So that’s it. We finally saw the “theory massacre” that I’d been expecting for a couple of weeks, as several potentially interesting theories dropped like flies! We had some confirmations, too, but mostly what we got from Broken Pieces was a genuinely interesting setup – albeit not a wholly original one – for the finale. However, before we draw everything to a close, there is unfortunately one production-side theory that I want to put out there given everything going on in the world right now.
Production theory: Star Trek: Picard’s second season will be delayed by many months.
The current coronavirus pandemic has seriously disrupted production and release schedules across cinema, television, gaming, and all other forms of entertainment. This disruption looks set to continue for at least the next few weeks, pushing back almost everything currently being worked on. Even if things get back to normal relatively quickly, there will be knock-on effects throughout the industry which will take months to sort out, and Star Trek’s production schedules are just as susceptible to being affected as everyone else’s.
I’m hopeful that Star Trek: Picard’s second season will be able to film either later this year or early next year, but with Los Angeles and much of California currently quarantined (or “locked down”) as a result of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, it will take major rearranging to re-book filming locations, make sure actors and directors and production staff are going to be available for the new dates, hire the necessary equipment, etc. It will also be incredibly expensive to essentially reschedule the entire production, which must already be in the latter stages of planning. It’s possible, though I hope it doesn’t happen, that some upcoming Star Trek projects may be scrapped entirely as a result of costs going up across the board. Given the incredibly positive reaction to Star Trek: Picard, I doubt its second season will be cancelled outright, but I do expect significant delays.
It’s possible that Star Trek: Discovery’s third season and Lower Decks’ first season will also be delayed, either as a result of post-production and animation work not being able to take place on schedule, or simply because ViacomCBS decide not to release them too early to avoid long gaps between shows. Both Discovery and Lower Decks had been expected to premiere later this year – with Discovery possibly arriving soon after Picard’s first season has drawn to a close. While I think we’ll still get Discovery this year, it may be later than originally planned.
The first eight episodes of Star Trek: Picard are available to stream now on CBS All Access in the United States, and on Amazon Prime Video in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories. The Star Trek franchise – including Star Trek: Picard – is the copyright of ViacomCBS. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 