This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 1.
Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 1 subtly hinted at a major Borg twist. Jean-Luc Picard has a long and troubled history with the Borg. Under his command, the USS Enterprise was the first Federation vessel to encounter the alien race; what's more, he was assimilated into the Collective and transformed into Locutus, launching a series of devastating attacks upon his own people before he was freed. This experience seems to have transformed him into the Borg's greatest threat.
That perhaps explains why the Borg targeted Jean-Luc in Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 1. Responding to what seemed to be a first contact of some kind, Picard found himself confronted with a whole new type of Borg - a spaceship unlike any seen before, and a Borg Queen who possessed atypical weaponry. The Borg have clearly evolved, which makes sense. After all, they have always claimed to absorb the technological and biological distinctiveness of other races into their own, meaning they should really be in a state of constant change. But, even as Picard and the crew of the USS Stargazer reeled under the unexpected Borg attack, the script subtly hinted at a major twist.
The Borg typically travel through transwarp conduits, but in Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 1 the mysterious vessel is using a different method of travel. It appears to create some sort of tear in spacetime, and according to the Stargazer's sensors, this aperture caused a release of Hawking radiation. In the real world, Hawking radiation is released from black holes, and it's theorized to be connected to wormholes in particular, with physicist Stephen Hawking even suggesting these wormholes could be used to travel in time. Science fiction typically builds upon this idea, using Hawking radiation as a signature energy associated with time travel. Thus the Hawking radiation may well be a hint the Borg are now traveling in time.
This potentially explains why the Borg seem to have evolved so much—because they come from a distant future timeline. What's more, it's reasonable to assume they chose their moment of arrival very carefully, precisely drawing the attention of former Borg drone Seven-of-Nine, scientist and Borg expert Agnes Jurati, and Admiral Jean-Luc Picard himself. It feels as though they have chosen the timing of their first strike to ensure any potential threats are removed.
Time travel is integral to Picard season 2, with Q continuing to test Picard by revealing an alternate timeline—one in which human civilization seems to have evolved in a very different direction. As inscrutable as Q may be, it's likely he has chosen to conduct this test for a very specific reason, perhaps even because the experience of time travel will be necessary to stopping the Borg and saving the Federation. Hopefully, he'll provide some more clues in Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 2.
