ST: Picard doesn't have the excuse of switching storytellers between installments (at least I'm assuming Matalas is responsible for all three seasons?)
Michael Chabon did S1, Akiva Goldsman and Matalas did S2 (with Matalas working on only the first half), and S3 is all Matalas. It seems like he basically decided to pick and choose what to include from the previous seasons, which I found downright confusing. I kept wondering where Jurati's Borg was. I still don't know. Are we supposed to assume that's an alt timeline? And also, Will and Deanna being so content in "Nepenthe" and broken up here was also just really confusing, timeline-wise. They're both sad about Thad's death in that episode, but don't seem to be the kind of grieving where Deanna would try to suppress Will's pain after we saw them. I guess you could squint and say Will fell into a funk after "Nepenthe" because grief isn't linear? But I'm not really sure.
For me, it's been fascinating to see the disconnect between fannish reaction and normie Trek-viewer reaction (critical vs elated, respectively). Personally, I'm on both side of it. I didn't like S3's emphasis on biological family as something inherently meaningful and felt they needed to earn the Jack-Picard relationship more than they did. (They should have done a time loop ep with them to let them actually spend time together and form the bond that is the resolution to everything at the end.) And I still don't think Beverly made the correct decision to hide Jack away. But I also liked seeing all the old favs and I like the new characters and I actually wouldn't be opposed to Seven getting her own show to continue these adventures. So, mixed bag.
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Michael Chabon did S1, Akiva Goldsman and Matalas did S2 (with Matalas working on only the first half), and S3 is all Matalas. It seems like he basically decided to pick and choose what to include from the previous seasons, which I found downright confusing. I kept wondering where Jurati's Borg was. I still don't know. Are we supposed to assume that's an alt timeline? And also, Will and Deanna being so content in "Nepenthe" and broken up here was also just really confusing, timeline-wise. They're both sad about Thad's death in that episode, but don't seem to be the kind of grieving where Deanna would try to suppress Will's pain after we saw them. I guess you could squint and say Will fell into a funk after "Nepenthe" because grief isn't linear? But I'm not really sure.
For me, it's been fascinating to see the disconnect between fannish reaction and normie Trek-viewer reaction (critical vs elated, respectively). Personally, I'm on both side of it. I didn't like S3's emphasis on biological family as something inherently meaningful and felt they needed to earn the Jack-Picard relationship more than they did. (They should have done a time loop ep with them to let them actually spend time together and form the bond that is the resolution to everything at the end.) And I still don't think Beverly made the correct decision to hide Jack away. But I also liked seeing all the old favs and I like the new characters and I actually wouldn't be opposed to Seven getting her own show to continue these adventures. So, mixed bag.