2x08 Mercy

Is that a sequel to The X-Files? To me that whole FBI agent plot (who has encountered a Vulcan reconnaissance team long before Cochrane allegedly made first contact?) seems totally pointless. Is that of any consequence to the main story? Or is Picard just free to go and won't see Fox Mulder ever again? If that's the case this episode is another inconsequential mediocre filler episode for the most part. A 6/10. The other part with the hunt for Jurati and what she tries to use Soong for is probably more important - but that's only a small part of this episode.

The only interesting part is perhaps the Q/Guinan interaction. Since TNG I wonder, where (or when) these two races have crossed each other's paths. I have to admit that I still don't understand Q's game. But Picard and Guinan obviously don't get it either. Jurati (aka the Queen) revealing parts of her plan to Soong is equally mysterious and hard to understand. Let me get this right:

So the Borg, who mysteriously appear from yet another timeline or an extra dimensional pocket of space, summoned Picard in episode 1/2. They almost killed him, so that Q rescued Picard from death (why would the Borg know that's gonna happen?) and hurled him into the alternate "Terran" timeline, that Q branched off from the regular timeline by manipulating Renée in 2024. The Borg knew (Why? And how could they know at this point since Q supposedly created this timeline only after making the decision to rescue Picard?) that in this alternate timeline (which must be yet another timeline than the one the Borg ship emerged from) there was a Borg queen imprisoned by humans. This Borg Queen was the last of her kind in this alternate timeline. She was awaiting her execution. This would mean the total eradication of the Borg in this timeline. They were defeated by mankind. In this alternate reality, this last Borg Queen lured Picard into time traveling to 2024 Earth pretending that's where the timeline could be fixed. She needed Picard to escape from her 24th century execution. For two reasons: she trusted Picard would free her for morale reasons and - of course - alternative Picard was supposed to be her executioner and was the only one who had the chance to liberate her. But in reality this Queen wanted to go back to 2024 to execute her own cunning plan. In 21st century California she wanted to stop Renée (who - for whatever reasons - is a Picard ancestor? It's that important?) so that this dreadful alternative Terran timeline prevails (It's not clear what Q was up to... He wanted to stop Renée, too. Why? Only to branch off the alternate timeline where he'd Picard fling into? His intervention as her shrink must have had the desired effect: before Picard intervened, Q created an alternate path where she was determined not to fly into space and which ultimately led to the universe of in which Picard became this cruel warrior in the first place. Why wanted Q Picard hurl into this terrible version of the universe? I don't get it. And why do the Romulans represented by the watcher try to protect Renée? Or don't they protect - just observe? How do they know that Renée will be important to the future of the galaxy? And if they knew, why doesn't this particular watcher - is she Laris or not? - doesn't have any clue wether it's best to help or stop Renée from being launched into space?) Back to the Queen: She never wanted to revert the timeline back to the timeline Picard came from. That was just a pretense. She wanted to change this timeline in a different way: Her cunning plan is to assimilate Earth before humans will become a threat. Stopping Renée will somehow preserve the Terran timeline (for reasons not known to us 'cause we don't know what the Europa mission will discover) and she knows this (cause she knew what Q has manipulated? How does she know?). Only preserving this Terran timeline will give the Borg Queen the chance to have a 400 years headstart (the other timeline where Renée flies into space won't allow her plan to materialize. Why? Wouldn't that equally allow her to quickly assimilate the whole Earth before Renée is even back from Europa? And if that's so, why didn't she travel to a time in the year 2024 in which the Europa rocket has been launched w/o Renée, who was discouraged by Q anyway?) During this 400 years time period she would have all the time in the world to assimilate humankind. In a couple of decades the rest of the Borg will eventually expand their space into the alpha quadrant (if the timeline we know from TNG and VOY is an indicator when the Borg will be able to reach Earth) and this Borg Queen (or her successors) will reunite with the collective. By keeping the alternate "Terran" timeline intact she would prevent regular's TNG (in which the Borg are also controlling vast stretches of the galaxy) timeline from ever happening. The Borg would dominate humankind in that alternate timeline long before those violent Terrans even started to develop warp technology and ultimately will have had the chance to defeat the Borg. And then there's Soong who seems to be important to both Q and the Borg Queen, right? Why? This part of the story is still shrouded in mysterious fog

Is that the general idea? Hmmm.... probably not even close. But you see my point right? Who is supposed to understand that w/o consulting the Memory Alpha wiki article? When does a plan become too convoluted to be a believable plan? When does a show's plot become too convoluted to be enjoyable?