History Recap / StarTrekPicardS2E02Penance

** The Confederation of Earth is more successful than even the Terran Empire, conquering or exterminating the Cardassians, Klingons, Romulans, and Borg. (By the 24th century in the MirrorUniverse, the Terrans have been conquered by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance and their Empire is defunct.)

* CrapsackWorld: Picard himself referred to this version of reality as a "hellhole" and a "polluted, totalitarian nightmare". The Earth's atmosphere barely looks like it is hanging on with that security field. Alien races who are not destroyed are enslaved. And the Confederation society celebrates "Eradication Day".
* DecapitationPresentation: General Picard's office has the bleached skulls of his fallen enemies on display.

We catch up with our crew: Elnor in a band of Romulans executing terrorist attacks in Japan, and Raffi as a police chief sent to capture him; Capt. Rios of ''La Sirena'' helping Gen. Sisko besiege Romulus; Dr. Agnes Jurati working for the federal government, and Annika Hansen, the never-assimilated still-human Seven of Nine once was, as Madam President. The only refugees from the Prime Timeline, they gather at the Presidential Palace, where Pres. Hansen is to cap off Eradication Day by murdering one of Jurati's most prized specimens: the Borg Queen, imprisoned against her will. They decipher Q's cryptic hints and determine that the timelines diverged during 2024, and that they must conduct a slingshot time-travel maneuver... which they will need the Borg Queen to do, as her greater computing power will make her an excellent WetwareCPU. The Borg Queen, who is aware she's in an Alternate Continuity and doesn't like it, agrees to help; she also informs them that they will want to make contact with someone in 2024 Los Angeles called "The Watcher." Now all the crew needs to do is 1. Navigate the social and political conventions of a dimension they've never been to before; 2. steal the Borg Queen out of the most secure place in the galaxy; 3. travel back in time; 4. Find the Watcher, 5. SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, and 6. make it back to their own time before the season ends.

We catch up with our crew: Elnor in a band of Romulans executing terrorist attacks in Japan, and Raffi as a police chief sent to capture him; Capt. Rios of ''La Sirena'' helping Gen. Sisko besiege Romulus; Dr. Agnes Jurati working for the federal government, and Annika Hansen, the never-assimilated still-human Seven of Nine once was, as Madam President. The only refugees from the Prime Timeline, they gather at the Presidential Palace, where Pres. Hansen is to cap off Eradication Day by murdering one of Jurati's most prized specimens: the Borg Queen, imprisoned against her will. They decipher Q's cryptic hints and determine that the timelines diverged during 2024, and that they must conduct a slingshot time-travel maneuver... which they will need the Borg Queen to do, as her greater computing power will make her an excellent WetwareCPU.

We catch up with our crew: Elnor in a band of Romulans executing terrorist attacks in Japan, and Raffi as a police chief sent to capture him; Capt. Rios of ''La Sirena'' helping Gen. Sisko besiege Romulus; Dr. Agnes Jurati working for the federal government, and Annika Hansen as MadamPresident. The only refugees from the Prime Timeline, they gather at the Presidential Palace, where Pres. Hansen is to cap off Eradication Day by murdering one of Jurati's most prized specimens: the Borg Queen, imprisoned against her will. They decipher Q's cryptic hints and determine that the timelines diverged during 2024, and that they must conduct a slingshot time-travel maneuver... which they will need the Borg Queen to do, as her greater computing power will make her an excellent WetwareCPU.

Trapped in a new, darker timeline, Picard has to gather the crew and figure out how to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong set things right]].

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: The Confederation of Earth is one to the Terran Empire in the original MirrorUniverse. Like the Empire, the Confederation is xenophobic and fascist and subjugates or destroys alien races. However, the Confederation seems to be more stable than the Empire and less prone to treachery and backstabbing, with its citizens fiercely patriotic and loyal to the point of ultranationalism. The Confederation is also more successful than the Empire, having successfully conquered the Klingons and the Cardassians, whose mirror counterparts, the former presumably looking to avenge their decimated homeworld, teamed up, conquered the Empire, and subjugated the Terrans. The Borg Queen also puts the point of divergence that caused this alternate timeline as in the early 21st century, while the Empire dates back much older.

** Agnes is still a scientist.

* AndThisIsFor: The insurgents on Okinawa set off explosions for Andoria, Cardassia, Quo'nos, Vulcan and Romulus.

** A FreezeFrameBonus shows that the Ferengi skull is Grand Nagus Zek.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: The Confederation of Earth is one to the Terran Empire in the original MirrorUniverse. Like the Empire, the Confederation is xenophobic and fascist and subjugates or destroys alien races. However, the Confederation seems to be more stable than the Empire and less prone to treachery and backstabbing, with its citizens fiercely patriotic and loyal to the point of ultranationalism. The Confederation is also more successful than the Empire, having successfully conquered the Klingons and the Cardassians, whose mirror counterparts, the latter presumably looking to avenge their decimated homeworld, teamed up, conquered the Empire, and subjugated the Terrans. The Borg Queen also puts the point of divergence that caused this alternate timeline as in the early 21st century, while the Empire dates back much older.

Trapped in a new, darker timeline, Picard has to gather the crew and figure out how to repair the timeline.

* GaiasLament: As Q explains, Earth in the main timeline learned to reverse the environmental damage to their world. The Confederation, on the other hand, simply papered over the problem with solar shields and other methods to sidestep the devastation rather than deal with it.

** Elnor is part of LaResistance on Romulus.

** The Confederation of Earth is more successful than even the Terran Empire, conquering the Cardassians, Klingons, Romulans, and the Borg. (By the 24th century in the MirrorUniverse, the Terrans have been conquered by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance and their Empire is defunct.)

* Beleaguered Assistant: In the alternate timeline, Seven's husband is one of these, with a dash of HenpeckedHusband to boot.

* MirrorUniverse: Not ''the'' Mirror Universe, but certainly an alternate history where the good guys are monsters.

* {{Foil}}: The Confederation of Earth is one to the Terran Empire in the original MirrorUniverse. Like the Empire, the Confederation is xenophobic and fascist and subjugates or destroys alien races. However, the Confederation seems to be more stable than the Empire and less prone to treachery and backstabbing, with its citizens fiercely patriotic and loyal to the point of ultranationalism. The Confederation is also more successful than the Empire, having successfully conquered the Klingons and the Cardassians, whose mirror counterparts, the latter presumably looking to avenge their decimated homeworld, teamed up, conquered the Empire, and subjugated the Terrans. The Borg Queen also puts the point of divergence that caused this alternate timeline as in the early 21st century, while the Empire dates back much older.

* CrapsackWorld: Picard himself referred to this version of reality as a "hellhole" and a "polluted, totalitarian nightmare. The Earth's atmosphere barely looks like it is hanging on with that security field. Alien races who are not destroyed are enslaved. And the Confederation society celebrates "Eradication Day".

* {{Foil}}: The Confederation of Earth is one to the Terran Empire in the original MirrorUniverse. Like the Empire, the Confederation is xenophobic and fascist and subjugates or destroys alien races. However, the Confederation seems to be more stable than the Empire and less prone to treachery and backstabbing, with its citizens fiercely patriotic and loyal to the point of nationalism. The Confederation is also more successful than the Empire, having successfully conquered the Klingons and the Cardassians, whose mirror counterparts, the latter presumably looking to avenge their decimated homeworld, teamed up, conquered the Empire, and subjugated the Terrans. The Borg Queen also puts the point of divergence that caused this alternate timeline as in the early 21st century, while the Empire dates back much older.

** Same goes for the Borg. As pathetic as the Queen looks [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen reduced to half a torso awaiting execution]], the main timeline Borg have been the terror of the Milky Way for centuries. Picard and his crew are well aware that teaming up with her is a risky EnemyMine at best.

** Same goes for the Borg. As pathetic as the Queen looks [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen reduced to half a torso awaiting execution]], the main timeline Borg have been the terror of the Milky Way for centuries. Picard and his crew are aware that teaming up with her is a risky EnemyMine at best.

** Elnor is part of LaResistance.

* TheCameo: Agnes' digital cat assistant is voiced by Creator/PattonOswalt.