The fourth episode Star Trek: Picard season three had some big moments, and showrunner Terry Matalas continued them to add some information.
Change from hand to bucket
One of the creepiest moments in episode 4 featured the villain Vadik cutting off his arm to talk to a new character who appears to be her superior. Her hand transformed and was used to communicate with what was called “The Face”. It’s already been revealed that the Changelings were part of the storyline driving the season, with Changeling characters appearing on Titan and M’Thalas Prime alongside Worf and Raphy.
A scene in Episode 4 with Vadik seemed to confirm that she is also a Changeling, but some fans thought that maybe that’s not the case and it’s just some weird function of her arm, or maybe it’s just her arm – Replaced. Terry Matalas made it clear on his twitter that Vadik is indeed a replacement…
Vadik and her gang are changelings. She does not have a special hand. https://t.co/3Hqj27XPuc
— Terry Matala (@TerryMatalaa) March 10, 2023
He confirmed that Vadić’s gang are also substitutes. We have yet to see any of them take off their masks, and there are theories that they could be a new species of Jem’Hadar, or possibly even Bryn (the masked aliens who joined the Founders during the Dominion War). As for who she was communicating with, the jury is still out on whether “The Face” is another replacement or something else.
They are all changes
Several fans (and TrekMovie’s review) noticed another aspect of Episode 4 regarding Changelings, specifically why whoever took over as Ensign Foster on the USS Titan had a bucket that was an exact replica of Odo’s bucket, even though it was supposedly Cardassian or baharon design. In this case, Matalas didn’t have a specific answer, but did (jokingly) promise that there would be a comic book miniseries that would explain the backstory and bucket of this Changeling.
This particular Changeling will have a 12-issue backstory for IDW that ends up in his Bajoran bucket (even if it’s really a Boungelliki construct, you’ll see!) on Deep Space 11. It’s tribal. https://t.co/2Guj75sNDb
— Terry Matala (@TerryMatalaa) March 10, 2023
Why changelings and not “Conspiracy” gods.
A popular theory that surfaced even before the season started was that the main villains were going to continue the story from TNG Season 1 episode “The Conspiracy”
In an interview with Collider, Matalas explained why he chose to go with shapeshifters:
They were the perfect villains because they can look like anyone, and there’s an episode about halfway through where it’s absolutely critical when you’re not sure if the person sitting across from you is a changeling or not, and the only way you can know is is to have an emotional catharsis with that person. It gives you such incredible drama. And it wouldn’t have worked… I like conspiracy gods, I actually thought for a hot minute, conspiracy gods. The problem with conspiracy fallacies is that they kill the host. So that would mean anyone you saw with a bug was dead and you couldn’t star in the paranoia thriller you wanted to make if it was someone you loved that meant they were dead . So there were (were) about three storylines where I couldn’t do without killing off the aging characters.
Stay tuned for new replacements
The third and final season Picarsky It premiered Thursday, February 16, 2023 exclusively on Paramount+ in the US and Latin America and February 17 on Paramount+ in Europe and other countries, with new episodes of the 10-episode season available to stream each week. It also debuted on Friday, February 17 internationally on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s sci-fi channel CTV and is streamed on Crave.
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