But, the way we designed the transformation of Sam, we called it sort of colloquially in the writers room, “Sam 1.0” and “Sam 2.0.” Sam 1.0 was just a couple months old and was a baby in so many different ways. And the contrast that you start to see in episodes 9 and episode 10, but in a big way in season 2, is that Sam 2.0, while she does carry the memories of Sam 1.0, she really is a totally different person. She feels things that Sam 1.0 never felt.

I'm very curious to see how this plays out.

Why it didn’t really register that SAM will now be the Doctor’s daughter — formed by an environment where he shared his preferences and 800 years of experiences — I can’t say.

That’s on me. But surely, this will be a wild ride for all.

It also follows that we will be seeing a different EMH Doctor going forward. Parental, warmer, probably overprotective...? Looking forward to see Picardo flex his acting chops a bit further with that change!

Sidetrack: What would that be in terms of personality, EMH version 5 or 7 as seen on screen so far, or potentially in the hundreds depending on what happened in the centuries we haven't seen?

This was quite interesting, especially confirming how moored the writer's room is in the lore of Trek, going way back. But also the really wild swings they're willing to go for:

"You know, let's just add in a 17 year extra growth that will deeply affect two central characters' personality profoundly from one episode to the next". And even that isn't such a radical departure from, say, "The inner light".

Somehow though, this fact sticks out to me, that Gaia Violo is "the first solo credited creator of a [live action] Star Trek series since Gene Roddenberry"... 🤯 And TBH she is a complete blank sheet to me as a viewer.

Anybody familiar with Violo's previous work? I've been on IMDb for facts and reviews, now I'm curious about the trekkie feedback.

I'm not really familiar with her past stuff - I think "Absentia" is probably the best-known?

What interests me is that she got that sole "created by" credit, and yet isn't a showrunner. That seems...very unusual.

You’re right!

And I’m very curious to see where this takes the curmudgeonly Doctor we’ve come to love as fans.

After the Doctor’s rapid development in Voyager, his relatively frozen state of psychological evolution — through Prodigy and on for 8 centuries — needed an explanation.

At a meta level, I don’t think that fans would have accepted a very differently tempered Doctor at the beginning of the show. So, this allows both the writers and Picardo to take the character into new experiences and development.

As an aside, American screenwriters are so stuck on trauma being necessary for character development that it sometimes feel they are celebrating it or suggesting it is necessary for greatness. It’s good to see instead a situation where a significant trauma causes a lasting paralysis in development that might never be overcome without taking emotional risks.

On your aside — yes, from the setting down to individual character arcs, SFA is proving very good at recognising past trauma, but not allowing it to define the path ahead. Like I said elsewhere, it's wild how well it addresses our current time, given it's written a few years ago.

I’ve watched most of the first season of Absentia. It’s intense and dark. It’s also more of a British or European style thriller in that it keeps you in the dark with genuine ‘who done it?’ rather than ‘how done it?’

Interestingly Violo was co-creator and senior writer of Absentis but didn’t get as much producer credit. Seems her talent moved her up into creative control more quickly than the WGA stepwise progression in titles allows.