Picard Theory Suggests A Massive Change To Star Trek’s Borg In Season 2

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 5 – “Fly Me To The Moon”

The Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) assimilating Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) in Star Trek: Picard season 2 suggests a massive change to the Borg going forward. Jurati allowed the Queen to enter her mind in Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 3, “Assimilation,” so that she and Jean-Luc Picard could gain the coordinates to the Watcher, who turned out to be Tallinn (Orla Brady), a Supervisor linked to the Star Trek: The Orginal Series episode, “Assignment: Earth.” Although Agnes tricked the Borg Queen, “stole a bunch of s***,” and severed their connection, the sinister cybernetic tyrant kept her hooks in Jurati.

The bond between the Borg Queen and Agnes Jurati could have major consequences for the future of the Borg. In Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 5, “Fly Me To The Moon,” the Borg Queen decided turnabout was fair play and she conned Agnes in retaliation for being outsmarted. The Queen’s elaborate plot had her impersonate Picard’s crew to summon a policeman to the abandond Chateau Picard in La Barre, France. The Borg’s ruler then held the cop hostage, which forced Agnes to shoot the Queen to save the policeman. But it was later revealed that the Queen wanted Jurati to open fire with a shotgun and kill her mutilated cyborg body, which limited the Queen’s ability to act. The Borg Queen actually reassimilated Agnes, who didn’t actively resist, and the duo now shares Dr. Jurati’s body, with none of Picard’s crew suspecting the truth.

With Picard and his motley crew focused on stopping Q (John de Lancie) from using Jean-Luc’s ancestor, Renée Picard (Penelope Mitchell), as the time distortion that creates the dark future ruled by the Confederation, no one realizes the Borg Queen and Agnes are now one and the same. Everyone believed Jurati’s story that she shot and killed the Borg Queen, even though this means that they’re now stranded in 2024 Los Angeles without the Queen’s ability to calculate time warp. But the Borg Queen could be cunningly using Agnes as more than a mere vessel and she could have plans to dramatically change the Borg thanks to Dr. Jurati.

The Borg Queen Has Evolved Because Of Agnes

The Borg Queen admitted she underestimated Jurati but she now knows why Agnes is “special.” The Queen mocked Agnes for being insecure and always “alone,” but this was manipulation. The Borg Queen used Jurati’s innate loneliness as a weapon to trick her into being re-assimilated. The truth the Borg Queen discovered is that Agnes may be the key to the Borg’s future as well as her own. Jurati happens to be one of the galaxy’s most brilliant cyberneticists. Although Agnes’ ex-lover, Dr. Bruce Maddox (John Ales), and Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner) created Soji and Dahj (Isa Briones) from one of the late Commander Data’s neurons, Star Trek: Picard season 2’s premiere delivered a minor retcon where the Deltans on Raritan IV gave Jurati greater credit for the achievement of building Soji.

Agnes’ genius receives greater emphasis in Star Trek: Picard season 2 and the result is the Borg Queen realizing Jurati is the most important person among Picard’s crew, at least in terms of furthering her plans to resurrect the Borg. The Queen’s assimilation of Agnes is unique because she’s not following the Borg’s usual strategy of turning the human Jurati into a cyborg. Rather, the Queen sacrificed her own damaged cyborg body to infiltrate and nestle within Agnes’ mind. Jurati and the Borg Queen now function as one, which is a new iteration of the Borg’s assimilation process and could herald the future evolution of the Borg.

The Borg In Picard’s Season 2 Premiere May Be Because Of Agnes

In Star Trek: Picard‘s season 2 premiere, when the Borg Queen beamed onto the USS Stargazer’s bridge, it was Agnes who quickly noticed that the cyborg’s ruler’s appearance was “new.” Indeed, from claiming they wanted to join the United Federation of Planets to their new, non-cube-shaped starship, the Borg were behaving very differently, and some Trekkers theorized that these Borg actually came from the future. The Borg’s breach of the space/time continuum wasn’t confirmed as time travel, but the fact that the Borg Queen’s face was shrouded could mean that it was actually Agnes as the Borg Queen who attacked the Stargazer. In a way, when Agnes realized the Borg Queen’s appearance was “new,” she may have inadvertently recognized herself.

Whether or not it was Jurati’s face under the hood, the Queen successfully played Admiral Picard and the Borg nearly defeated Starfleet in Star Trek: Picard‘s season 2 premiere. In hindsight, knowing that the Borg Queen assimilated Agnes Jurati in 2024, it’s very possible that this was a Borg Queen/Jurati hybrid who nearly took down Picard and the Stargazer, which was Captained by Agnes’ boyfriend, Cristobal Rios (Santiago Cabrera). It’s also possible that through her union with Dr. Jurati, the Borg Queen was able to rebuild the Borg Collective and return to power with even greater technology derived from Agnes’ genius.

Will The Borg Become Synthetic Like Picard?

The Borg Queen’s partnership with Agnes Jurati may only be the beginning and it could result in a new iteration of the Borg. The cybernetic monsters have been the most popular Star Trek villains since they were introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation but they have been largely unchanged since their debut in the 1989 TNG episode, “Q Who?” The Borg Queen (Alice Krige), who was created as the main villain of Star Trek: First Contact in 1996, was really the last major update to the Borg. The Federation’s greatest antagonists are due for a significant upgrade and Star Trek: Picard season 2 may be setting up Dr. Jurati as the key to the Borg’s evolution.

Dr. Jurati is an expert in cybernetics who helped create Soji and placed Jean-Luc Picard in a synthetic body. The Borg Queen could see becoming synthetic as the next stage of the Borg.  Now that the Queen shares Jurati’s mind, the evil tyrant may be planning a long game to use Agnes’ genius to redesign the Borg Collective so that they take the form of advanced synthetics like Soji and Picard. After the Borg Queen survived the experience of the Borg being wiped out by the Confederation, she may have realized her people need to be resurrected in another form. Thanks to Agnes, the Borg of the future may leave their classic half-organic/half-machine design behind and become fully synthetic. This may be the next evolution of the Borg Star Trek: Picard is setting up because of Dr. Agnes Jurati’s union with the Borg Queen.

Star Trek: PicardSeason 2 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

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