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Star Trek: Picard: 3.07 - 3.10
Turns out I feel about the three seasons of Picard very much like I do about the Star Wars Sequel trilogy - i.e. I liked the middle installment best, and then the last part throws out everything l loved and/or appreciated about said middle installment as if it didn't happen, not coincidentally story elements, character development and twists that felt genuinenly innovative, in favour of doing a last season that to me feels like a mixture of DO NOT WANT, squeezing the nostalgia well dry and a very very few bits I did like. And ST: Picard doesn't have the excuse of switching storytellers between installments (at least I'm assuming Matalas is responsible for all three seasons?)l. This is of course why I haven't reviewed the last few episodes. I disliked what whas going on so much that I wouldn't have continued watching if this wasn't the last season.
A few more detailed observations, but not too many, because I like these characters and actors, and I don't feel well trashing something they've worked on:
- till the very end, I kept waiting for a single linie of dialogue of someone mentioning Agnes Jurati and the fact her Borg had evolved into a different type, but no; clearly we were pretending the most interesting thing ST did with the Borg since Seven of Nine made her debut never happened
- I, like I guess most watchers, had loved the s1 episode Nepenthe co-starring Will and Deanna (and their daughter Kestra), and Picard's interactions with them; the lesson Matalas evidently drew from this was that he ought to bring back Will full time, Deanna only in the last third, tell us that they were not, as we saw in s1, a family and couple who had gone through terrible times but had managed to face it together and get through it, no, Will never coped and Deanna used her empathic abilities to suppress his pain and that's why they temporarily split up when he found out, and also they didn't really like staying on Nepenthe, they're glad to get away (ugh)
- Laris: forgotten completely after the opening episode, because hey, it's not like Picard is in a long term relationship with her
- I'm all for Seven and Raffi ending up together, that was one of the few things I liked (along with Seven as Captain and Raffi as First Officer - I was all set up to rant at the Jack Crusher as Captain idea, you got me there, Matalas, I admit, and mightily relieved when it turned out to be a fake, so okay, good bluff) , but having them break up off screen twice between seasons feels just to random in retrospect and as if Matalas couldn't think of anything but a getting back together thing (maybe he just sucks at depicting actually functioning long term romantic relationships? I wouldn't know, as I haven't watched the 12 Monkeys series, but that would explain the Will and Deanna rewriting, and the making Laris go from friend to love interest to not mentioned again thing as well)
- Jack as the element missing from Picard's life: look, as opposed to many, I was only mildly fond of Elnor the Space Elf, but since the show introduced him in the first season explicitly as someone Picard briefly bonded with when Elnor was a child and then failed to be the father figure Elnor expected (or any at all, given he withdrew into the hermit life for years), only for them to reunite as adults and patch this up, what did we need Jack for? Right, to be a biological son so they could use the Locutus altered DNA plot device. No, that's not cutting it for me.
- Good for Alice Krige to make a comeback as the Borg Queen from First Contact, I don't begrudge her that last appearance, but still: utterly failing to mention Jurati Queen after the stunning job two actresses did last season as Agnes and the Queen in the best arc this show did in three seasons made me unable to appreciate her return
- just in case anyone found Q's death moving last season and also falling into the category of the show actually doing character development and something that hadn't been done before with Q, we get the post credits scene with Jack and Q. Ugh. Triple Ugh.
- yes, the poker game at the end of TNG was one of the series endings ever after one of the best finales (still for my money the best finale of an ST show), but one of the reasons why it was so meaningful at the end of All Good Things... was that it not only symbolilzed everyone's friendship but actual character development for Picard, whereas this poker game was just another nostalgia squeezing
On the plus side:
- I could see it coming a mile away, but Picard connecting himself to the Collective, thereby facing his greatest fear/guilt, in order to save his son did work thematically within the season
- Seven and Raffi retaking the Titan with a few others was great, and so was the reveal of them as Captain and First Officer of the Enterprise G/former Titan at the end
- in fact, all things Seven in the finale, including her reunion with Real!Tuvok (I mean, I was hoping for Janeway, but Tuvok also works for me)
- Federation President Anton Chekov, son of Pavel, voiced by Walter Koenig, addressing everyone: now that's a lovely and meaningful cameo, which manages to pay homage to two Chekov actors at the same time by the first name (yes, to the playwright, too), though I will admit that Walter Koenig's voice is so much connected to Bester (from Babylon 5) for me by now I thought of my favourite Machiavellian Psi Cop first when hearing it
- Like the TNG gang, I was moved to hear the voice of the old Enterprise D again (i.e. Majel Barrett's voice)
- Worf and Raffi's last scene together, and the reveal that Worf made sure everyone (includling her son) learns about Raffi's heroism (and not just her most recent actions, but her heroic deeds through all the years before), thereby enabling at last a reconciliation for Raffi with her child: awww. Their team up was the best new thing about this season.
And that's it. I didn't hate all of it, but I disliked enough to ensure I will never rewatch this season again, which is not wh at I expected from a season starring all of my beloved TNG crew.
A few more detailed observations, but not too many, because I like these characters and actors, and I don't feel well trashing something they've worked on:
- till the very end, I kept waiting for a single linie of dialogue of someone mentioning Agnes Jurati and the fact her Borg had evolved into a different type, but no; clearly we were pretending the most interesting thing ST did with the Borg since Seven of Nine made her debut never happened
- I, like I guess most watchers, had loved the s1 episode Nepenthe co-starring Will and Deanna (and their daughter Kestra), and Picard's interactions with them; the lesson Matalas evidently drew from this was that he ought to bring back Will full time, Deanna only in the last third, tell us that they were not, as we saw in s1, a family and couple who had gone through terrible times but had managed to face it together and get through it, no, Will never coped and Deanna used her empathic abilities to suppress his pain and that's why they temporarily split up when he found out, and also they didn't really like staying on Nepenthe, they're glad to get away (ugh)
- Laris: forgotten completely after the opening episode, because hey, it's not like Picard is in a long term relationship with her
- I'm all for Seven and Raffi ending up together, that was one of the few things I liked (along with Seven as Captain and Raffi as First Officer - I was all set up to rant at the Jack Crusher as Captain idea, you got me there, Matalas, I admit, and mightily relieved when it turned out to be a fake, so okay, good bluff) , but having them break up off screen twice between seasons feels just to random in retrospect and as if Matalas couldn't think of anything but a getting back together thing (maybe he just sucks at depicting actually functioning long term romantic relationships? I wouldn't know, as I haven't watched the 12 Monkeys series, but that would explain the Will and Deanna rewriting, and the making Laris go from friend to love interest to not mentioned again thing as well)
- Jack as the element missing from Picard's life: look, as opposed to many, I was only mildly fond of Elnor the Space Elf, but since the show introduced him in the first season explicitly as someone Picard briefly bonded with when Elnor was a child and then failed to be the father figure Elnor expected (or any at all, given he withdrew into the hermit life for years), only for them to reunite as adults and patch this up, what did we need Jack for? Right, to be a biological son so they could use the Locutus altered DNA plot device. No, that's not cutting it for me.
- Good for Alice Krige to make a comeback as the Borg Queen from First Contact, I don't begrudge her that last appearance, but still: utterly failing to mention Jurati Queen after the stunning job two actresses did last season as Agnes and the Queen in the best arc this show did in three seasons made me unable to appreciate her return
- just in case anyone found Q's death moving last season and also falling into the category of the show actually doing character development and something that hadn't been done before with Q, we get the post credits scene with Jack and Q. Ugh. Triple Ugh.
- yes, the poker game at the end of TNG was one of the series endings ever after one of the best finales (still for my money the best finale of an ST show), but one of the reasons why it was so meaningful at the end of All Good Things... was that it not only symbolilzed everyone's friendship but actual character development for Picard, whereas this poker game was just another nostalgia squeezing
On the plus side:
- I could see it coming a mile away, but Picard connecting himself to the Collective, thereby facing his greatest fear/guilt, in order to save his son did work thematically within the season
- Seven and Raffi retaking the Titan with a few others was great, and so was the reveal of them as Captain and First Officer of the Enterprise G/former Titan at the end
- in fact, all things Seven in the finale, including her reunion with Real!Tuvok (I mean, I was hoping for Janeway, but Tuvok also works for me)
- Federation President Anton Chekov, son of Pavel, voiced by Walter Koenig, addressing everyone: now that's a lovely and meaningful cameo, which manages to pay homage to two Chekov actors at the same time by the first name (yes, to the playwright, too), though I will admit that Walter Koenig's voice is so much connected to Bester (from Babylon 5) for me by now I thought of my favourite Machiavellian Psi Cop first when hearing it
- Like the TNG gang, I was moved to hear the voice of the old Enterprise D again (i.e. Majel Barrett's voice)
- Worf and Raffi's last scene together, and the reveal that Worf made sure everyone (includling her son) learns about Raffi's heroism (and not just her most recent actions, but her heroic deeds through all the years before), thereby enabling at last a reconciliation for Raffi with her child: awww. Their team up was the best new thing about this season.
And that's it. I didn't hate all of it, but I disliked enough to ensure I will never rewatch this season again, which is not wh at I expected from a season starring all of my beloved TNG crew.
no subject
I’m shocked at the poor quality of the writing. It’s one badly-written cliché after another after another. Beverly shows up with her 20-something son: what would be most cliché? He’s Picard’s son. And yep, he is indeed Picard’s son. The first time Shaw refused to call Seven by her preferred name, I thought, “He’s going to die and the last thing he’ll do before he dies will be to call Seven ‘Seven’” – and yep, that’s exactly what happens.
Borg-Jack is about to destroy the world, so Picard will risk his own life to find him, he’ll give Jack a hug and everything will be okay – and yep, that’s what happens.
(I do agree with you that: “Picard connecting himself to the Collective, thereby facing his greatest fear/guilt, in order to save his son did work thematically within the season” - and it could have been done well - but it was written so badly, it didn’t work for me at all. I should been moved; I wasn’t.)
I, like I guess most watchers, had loved the s1 episode Nepenthe co-starring Will and Deanna (and their daughter Kestra), and Picard's interactions with them; the lesson Matalas evidently drew from this was that he ought to bring back Will full time, Deanna only in the last third, tell us that they were not, as we saw in s1, a family and couple who had gone through terrible times but had managed to face it together and get through it, no, Will never coped and Deanna used her empathic abilities to suppress his pain and that's why they temporarily split up when he found out, and also they didn't really like staying on Nepenthe, they're glad to get away (ugh)
Yes.
Throughout the season: the characters’ choices don’t make sense; their mistakes don’t grow out of their particular histories and circumstances and flaws but rather seem randomly pasted-on by the writers; the interpersonal conflicts don’t ring true and their resolutions don’t ring true. Nothing is earned.
TNG was groundbreaking in its exploration of the repercussions of trauma. But here, instead of superbly-written episodes like “Family” and “Chain of Command” we get Riker behaving unprofessionally and endangering everyone because of the grief and trauma of his son’s death, which if well-written might be a powerful story but instead it’s just random nonsense, then Riker and Deanna being tortured and according to Vadic “not breaking” (because of course Good Guys Don’t Break) and instead of believing they can see five lights they use their captivity as a terrific opportunity to work on their relationship.
The one really interesting idea in the season was the young people being assimilated. That could have been such a good story, holding up a metaphorical mirror to intergenerational conflicts...it could have been brilliant. It would have been even more brilliant if it had been integrated into a story about Jurati’s Borg: it could have been a fascinating, complex, nuanced story about generations and cultural change. Instead it was just a plot device so the TNG crew could save the day, which, fine, I certainly liked seeing older characters be the heroes for once, but...it could have been so much more. And then the repercussions are never explored: Seven gives Sidney a hug and that’s it.
I feel terrible for the actors. They deserved so much better than this.
no subject
Borg-Jack is about to destroy the world, so Picard will risk his own life to find him, he’ll give Jack a hug and everything will be okay – and yep, that’s what happens.
So much of it was so predictable! Which was bizarre, because I loved 12 Monkeys, Matalas' earlier show, and that was tightly plotted. But a lot of the personal conflicts and even the bigger plotlines were so....cliched.