Star Trek Picard Season 2: What the Hell Happened?
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2024
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Star Trek Picard Season 2 has come and gone, and it might be one of the messiest Star Trek seasons of all time... So from Q to Wil Wheaton to the Borg Queen, let's talk about what happened with Star Trek Picard Season 2.
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0:00 - Intro
2:52 - Curiosity Streamin'
6:22 - Messy Timeline
29:56 - Penance
38:29 - Changing the Past
50:57 - Final Thoughts
52:47 - Outro - Фільми й анімація
Welp didnt expect to see me in your review as I search for the most die hard trek fans and how they reacted to this travesty. You are extremely forgiving at every turn, especially with Starfleet rejecting seven of nine, but at least even you can admit that the writing in this series and in this season especially just doesn't give a crap much. You constantly apologize to your audience for not liking this series SO MUCH! lol. Just believe what you want and don't get so offended that me or my friends dislike this show for the EXACT same reasons you do. Too many inconsistencies, too many lazy story choices. The talent put together in the writing room pales in comparison to Strange New Worlds or pretty much any other season of Star Trek. Not sure if you are lumping me into the go woke go broke crowd (i'm a progressive) but you dont need to be from the left nor the right to see how weak and stupid things have been...
Oh wait sorry just got to this point in your video as I was typing, you took issue with me making fun of the writers with the gun as "Ableist" lol, never mind. Can't crack a stupid person joke around Jessie. Or maybe you just took issue with me saying some people just enjoy anything and everything, some just want to be entertained, you are one - you admit it here plainly. That's fine. I'd just apologize a bit less for not liking Picard Season 2. Btw to counter what you said about seven, they handled her getting reborged awfully including the exact same borg implants, meanwhile in this series she's a killer who doesnt even look for alternative ways to solve the borg mercs other than stabbing them in the face slowly. They murder a bunch of dudes (the female mercs mysteriously disappear when they fight cuz they'd have to stab a girl in the face and im sure they avoided that on purpose) They handled abuse really terribly at all instances. They basically butchered all the characters imo making them as unlikable as possible.
I'm just generally curious what series or season of Trek is worst than this season. Let me know.
Wow, the tone of this was very rude. If you hadn’t noticed, I put you in the group of people who I said I agreed with. And yes I did find your joke to be kinda assholeish but it’s whatever, I didn’t disagree with your points. Not to mention that like 60% of this video was agreeing with you. I’m surprised you say I’m “forgiving” when most of the video is me being critical of it. But regardless, I apologize to the audience because honestly I’m tired of the schedenfrueda tone that reviews have on the franchise in general, saying “it’s dead”, yet when they haven’t seen the numerous other shows that are great. I think Discovery is quite good, and Lower Decks and Prodigy are honest fantastic, and Strange New Worlds is showing every sign of being excellent so far. So yeah, Picard season 2 sucks, I agree but to say it’s a dead franchise I think is far from fair.
But anyways, I don’t disagree with any of your arguments in this comment. I found some of the themes to be intriguing but yeah, they most def were not explored well or developed in any meaningful way. Honestly, I’m kinda down on this show in general, though I’ll still give season 3 a try cause it’s the last one and why not.
My issue is with the tone and it’s why Im apologetic, cause I see so many people in my comments upset that to watch a review of this show they always have to deal with people shitting on something. I’m not here to shit on something. It was bad, I didn’t like it. And I share that and try to be critical, but also have some fun and kindness to share too.
Not to mention the unending “go woke go broke” crowd who shit on anything that as even a single POC or queer person. Not saying that’s you, but just showing the state of trying to talk about stuff in big franchises today. It’s all gotta be the best or the worst or “woke nonesense”. “They’re butchering Star Trek, they killed the franchise”. Hyperbolic nonsense. I’m tired of endless over-the-top noise.
I’m not here to fight with you, I don’t want to start shit. I found that so tiring and exhausting. I’d rather have a convo if you’d have one, but yelling hyperbole at each other in combative tones isn’t helpful.
As for worst season of Trek, I’d still give it to TNG season 1. Yeah sure it has better episodes, but I’d still rate a season with a racist episode as worst. Could also toss in season 3 of the original series in there. Or Star Trek Nemesis or Star Trek V. But this is def near the bottom for sure. But Star Trek has always had highs and lows, that’s what the franchise does. It boldly goes, through good and bad. Picard season 2 wasn’t great but I’m here to see what comes next.
Honestly, I find it funny that your issue with me is… my tone, considering you concede I agree with you. So like, I’m not angry enough? That’s not my style or what I care to make, nor what I like to consume. I’m glad it works for you though, I find it tiring personally. But it’s taste and preference.
Also, while I like being entertained, I would hope this video shows that I don’t just sit to passively enjoy something. I have a tone of criticisms and a ton of issues.
My issue with your comment was that it was condescending, telling people that they must not like or watch media if they enjoy this show. I didn’t enjoy it but all the power to people who did and I think it’s kinda rude to say to people who liked a show that they must not watch media.
Certified "sir, this is a wendy's" moment.
Dude. Go back to screaming about EA or whatever you do now. We talk about media like grown ups here
Joe, do you enjoy anything... at all... any more... or have you become so enslaved to your own brand that you can't take a joke?
I thought it was super odd that when dealing with Picard's guilt over his family, his brother and his nephew who died in a fire were never brought up once
Despite understanding that the show wants to focus on mental health when it comes to Picard's mother, I found it downright dystopian that she couldn't get better treatment of her condition in what Sisko referred to as "paradise". All the Picard family memories felt like they'd fit better in Victorian times, not 23d/24th century earth.
Yeah. It seems discongruent. I get that having a ‘utopia’ makes it hard to portray certain types of conflict that better reflect the real world (for the viewers). It doesn’t really fit. I think it could have been done better without the true mental illness angle (not sure how exactly tbh). But I get that the writers were trying to have relatable stuff for the audience.
She could get better help but didn't want it. Which is a problem that people like me and my own relatives who are mentally ill struggle with.
Right, she kept turning down treatment…why? She seemed to understand that she had a mental illness, and that it was negatively affecting her and her family. We heard she didn’t keep up the treatments, but not why, and that could have definitely touched on how not all treatments are effective for everyone. But she was just generically “crazy,” generically psychotic, and needed to be locked up “for her own good.”
just one of the MANY things that did not make any sense in this show.
what you mentioned is a clear indicator that the writers did not know/care about establised Star Trek history - nor the history and relationships of the characters themselfes!
I'm sure mental health would still have been an issue in the 23/24th century. There's been no indication that mental health isn't still an issue in Startrek. But I definitely think that her exact illness should have been explained more/shown treatments or meds that aren't working for whatever reason.
My big issue is that Picard's whole arc - confronting guilt and trauma, accepting his past and letting himself be loved - could have been done with his existing history. If the Q plotline is basically going to be a Tapestry/All Good Things redux, Q could have confronted him about not living up to the lessons he taught him because "the trial never ends."
Picard has plenty of trauma to explore like being assimilated, being held by the Cardassians, and his guilt over the death of Dr. Crusher's husband. And if they were going to shoehorn in a romantic subplot with an "it's never too late" theme, it should have been Crusher. Or Q. I admit, I ship it.
ya missin the point...the trial was never about anything but picard....
Those kind of stories would require research and attention to existing continuity. I'm pretty sure Hollywood writers these days just write template scripts that have nothing to do with anything, and when a franchise comes along they just search-and-replace their TEMPLATE_CAPTAIN to "Picard", TEMPLATE_VILLAIN to "Borg Queen", etc.
I'm truely baffled how many shows seem to insist on serialization without realizing that requires at least half a plan. Hell the star wars sequel trilogy had zero plan despite being guaranteed 3 movies. I'm not expecting every line to be written before shooting but at least have beats like "why did the borg show up in the first place?" figured out when writing the story it's set up in.
Didn't realize folks like JMS were that rare.
@@lordhoot1
Agreed.
I have heard that Covid precautions also made shooting this season difficult, given that Sir Patrick was so vulnerable.
That’s why B5 fans (myself included) won’t shut up about how great B5 is, hahah.
I actually give the showrunners the benefit of the doubt and say that this season is probably is a case of "made sense in the writer's room, but not on screen".
The most basic script writing class, even the ones just trying to scam some kids that will never actually sell a project, tell you to write a through line. Scene by scene. In Spanish we even have a dedicated word for that type of writing, escaleta/escaleteado. It's the most basic thing. I can't see why they'd refuse to do something like that.
Or maybe they actually wrote a conflict finishing by itself and not being addressed again. But I'd rather think that they were dumb and not actively dismissing the audience.
I didn't like Picard Season 2, but I have to say that Annie Wersching's fresh take on the Borg Queen as charming, emotionally-abusive narcissist is definitely a highlight of the season. It gave the Borg Queen a villainy that went beyond what was portrayed on TNG, VOY, or First Contact, where her villain status was basically just a stand-in for the Collective, but sexy.
Yeah, her manipulation was great fun to watch. Horrifying IRL as Jessie says…
There was no Borg Queen in TNG. She was introduced in First Contact.
@@kaitlyn__L no it wasn't. Borg queen would never talk like that. What a pathetic joke
The queen didn't show until first contact but I think that shows how little you know. Those things make for a good villian but the collective was never meant to have so much "personality". Her as a "stand in" is exactly what they intended. She was the face of the collective. Not a personality. That's what made her so alien and mysterious.
@@kaitlyn__L The really screwed up part is that in season 2 the Borg are friendly and join star fleet as watchers but in season 3 they are right back to the same old evil borg. It is just screw-ups like this that really get me. Like Picard being put into his new robot-like body in season 1 but in season 2 he has a heart attack, and the Dr says she had to go into his somehow now human body to save him.
the issue I have with this season's ending for picard is like. he *already learned this lesson*, Tapestry covers it to a degree and it was half the entire point of All Good Things, as evidenced by it ending with Picard joining Riker's poker game talking about how he should've done it way sooner. it'd be one thing if they talked about his past interactions with Q and addressed the numerous past relationships he's had - his emotional trauma certainly didn't stop him from building a romantic relationship with Anij, Vash, Kamala, Beverly, Jenice, Louvois, Daren, or Eline, completely ignoring that any of this happened and retroactively pretending all of his romantic attachments were doomed to failure cheapens the original portrayals
like yeah, okay, talking about mental health and portraying it in an open vulnerable way *is* important, but it still has to make sense for the character and this just doesn't
I really feel like/suspect that the extra time they had to write the season took them past perfection and into overcooked. The most glaring problems seem like they must have come from external sources - like someone important saying "There's nothing for Brent Spiner to do in this story, write in a new Soong.", or "The fans really loved Orla Brady, adapt one of the new roles so that she can play it", and a whole lot of "Well now there isn't time to develop that idea/character properly, cut it right down to a vestigial stub".
Wouldn't it have made sense for there to be a character who clearly and explicitly needed the Confederation timeline to happen? Say, a resident of Confederation wanting to ensure the existence of their home? Q wanted the Prime timeline restored. The Borg Queen wanted companionship and rescue. Adam Soong wanted to leave a legacy, but he didn't seem too fussy about what it would be. None of them had a vested interest in the Confederation, but you know who did? Jon Jon Briones' First Husband character. He was even on board _La Sirena_ just before they traveled back into the past.
And Agent Wells. Why cast Lieutenant Ducane, established monitor and fixer of the timeline, with a personal connection to Seven, and not have him _be_ Ducane? "Wells" would be a great alias for him in the 21st century. But as an actual character? Paper thin and pointless.
Argh. There's gonna have to be so much fixit fanfiction.
"The fans really loved Orla Brady, adapt one of the new roles so that she can play it""
Don't be silly. It was just lazy casting.
@@Welcome2TheInternet it would have been easier to justify bringing Laris into the past.
@@Welcome2TheInternet Yeah the casting drives me nuts. Star Trek thinks that every generation of Soong, from 2024 right through to at least the 25th Century, all look exactly the same because they want to do fan-service by bringing Brent Spiner into every damn ST show (surprised he hasn't shown up in Discovery yet...)
Thank god someone said it!! I also HATE the “woman crazy and needed to be locked away” trope and didn’t find that it added anything the way we perceive Picard. Raffi and Seven fought the entire season only to make out at the end, and that’s the most heterosexual treatment of a storyline I’ve ever seen. Talinn’s last monologue on Renee was more gay than their whole season…
Agree totally. One would hope that they won't be using Jane Eyre as a guide to treat life-threatening mental illness by the 24th century. 😬 It was portrayed as if her condition was utterly baffling to everyone and nothing could be done and her death was inevitable. It makes no sense.
Yeah, I was trying not to be cynical about that kiss at the end, but you really nailed it. It was bascially your bog-standard hetero enemies-to-lovers trope which has always made no sense. Would have been nice to see actual romantic development we could see on screen...
@@muticere
I can't say I agree.
Of course they had their differences over the season but I never realised they were supposed to have broken up.
Actually I thought they were pretty cute together.
I think it's good they did a big dramatic end kiss as the focus of the season's climax.
To respond to you and some of the other commenters, they weren’t meant to have broken up per se but they did go long distance as Seven resumed her Rangering. They had their honeymoon period off screen and were running into each other’s flaws more, but still loved each other. Yeah I would’ve loved to see them kiss way freaking more. But for instance the way Raffi got jealous that alternate timeline Seven was married felt very accurate to me, as a lesbian. But maybe my communities are the more dramatic, tempestuous relationship types?
On Talinn and Laris. I believe the travelers selected Talinn knowing the Picard would be coming to the past, and that should would help him deal with his trauma. Welsey looking out for his former Captain. I even like the idea that Laris true mission, unknown to her, was not to watch Renée, but to be there to support Picard when the time came.
Season was a let down but re: Khan, the folder wasn't implying he's gonna create Khan/start the Eugenics Wars.
The date was 1996 which is the final year of Khan's rule during the wars. The folder is hinting at him using old augmentation experiments that will eventually leads to his grandson creating Augments in Star Trek: Enterprise and that will eventually lead to androids like Data.
He didn’t create the Augments, he stole them from Cold Station 12.
It's also possible they're retconning how Khan and the Eugeics Wars played out. It's a necessity when they want to do commentary on modern society, and we didn't have a bunch of genetically engineered superhumans launch World War 3 back in the 90s.
I really enjoyed the first episode because they were in uniform, on a ship, I liked that the Stargazer had been given a successor. It made me stop and think about what about TNG I actually liked, and I'm not sure I can pinpoint it.
I audibly laughed at "borg cube, borg sphere, borg clitoris; they truly seek perfection" my co-workers asked why I laughed so hard and I had to not tell them.
Totes same. Well done joke. Will use said reference.
The Borg Clit Ship is the BEST ship because none of the men commanding star ships to destroy it can EVER find it. It's perfect!
Really? I relayed that joke to coworkers...
@@falsenames they don't like "woke trek" so I try not to bring up the topic so I don't get another earful.
Picard also should have said something like"Now, I remember these skeletons fused into the wall, they were also from the time my ancestors took back the chateau."
One thing that disturbed me in your talk here, was how you spoke of trauma in three ways; unhealthily glorified, shamefully stigmatised, or embraced as is. There was nothing about healing, which is not the same as embracing it, and that deeply troubles me. Trauma always, *always*, results in some degree of lasting harm for as long as it goes unhealed, both to the person who is traumatised and the people around them. It also results in some degree of loss of health and happiness, again both to the traumatised and those around them for as long as the trauma goes unhealed. Sometimes the loss of happiness is absolute. Trauma is not good, it is not beautiful, it is tragic - which I point out as much of what was called beautiful here was, from where I’m sat, just tragic.
After listening to you here, I think I realised what troubled me about this season; the theme wasn’t hope, instead, the theme was resignation and attempting to find peace in resignation to pain and the loss of health/happiness/wholeness.
To go in detail, okay, the over arching story seems hopeful at a glance, but really, it was just about restoring the status quo, which the characters have already been shown to be dissatisfied with - The federation in the time of Picard is not the hopeful utopian one of the Next Gen. Its not about making anything better, there are no goals beyond “I don’t want it to be worse then it already is”. So, resignation to and upholding the status quo - and, doing so out of fear of something worse.
Then there’s the characters.
Yes, Picard did find some healing in his acceptance and new perspective, but that was not the focus, that was the bone to throw a beaten dog, it was the resignation to the beating was the focus. His father’s abuse was glossed over as soon as it became apparent his mother had serious mental health issues, and glossing over abuse is very typical when one becomes resigned to it, because “it can’t be that bad” becomes a mantra to cope, conscious or not. There is a lot that happens that Picard just rolls with, just accepts with no fight. The line about him being too old and to tired sticks in my mind as tiredness, exhaustion, is a precursor to resignation.
Picard's minor healing had as much focus as Jirati loosing most of herself to the borg, becoming a cog in a machine - an important cog, but a cog non the less (no one will convince me that any iteration of the borg is anything less then the destructive loss of the self in subservience to an unhealthy whole, even if there are degrees to the horror depending on the borg faction - the symbolism of them being so grossly cybernetic - artificial - speaks for itself there, as does the rest of the symbolism involved). Abandons her natural self and individuality, resigns herself to artificiality, that speaks for itself.
Next, there was Seven's ultimate acceptance and embracing/resignation of her borg background, a deeply traumatising and scarring phase of her life. For her character I’d say this is good, as I see no other way for her to improve herself, but using it here still ties into what looks to me a deeply unhealthy overarching season message.
Poor Elnor got fridged so Raf could go off the rails and, again, experience resignation (subverted by Q in the end in a literal denial of reality, when they literally escaped from the reality in which he was dead).
Q was resigned to his death, which is kinda weird for him. Q’s death is also a very literal symbol of the death of great power. Gee, that’s on the nose much, now I think of it, as resignation is a surrendering, a kind of death, of power.
Rios was resigned to being unhappy and not fitting in from the beginning, and instead of trying to change it, he literally ran away to another time, never mind the many many problems of said time that he, as per the plot of “be resigned and smile, it could be worse!” ignores, as Jessie pointed out.
Tallinn was fully resigned to the idea of dying for her charge, even when, as pointed out, there were plenty of other ways to do it - which weren’t followed, as they would defy the theme of resignation.
Even that FBI agent was resigned to loosing his job, resigned to not getting any more answers, to not protecting his people anymore, after being presented as a villain, or at least an obstacle, who was not letting go of his past, who was fighting that kind of resignation the story was pushing for.
The one character who refused to be resigned to his losses, Soong, was the villain, where all his attempts to make change and progress are wrong and bad and leading to bad things. While I do think it is wise to know when to quit (and when to fight), I hate how it is used here to say "just roll over and take it, it's for the best". For a time the borg queen fit this role too, and though she experienced some change, she is still a literal walking serious trauma metaphor, so now she is the toxic stagnant state, the trauma that, due to resignation, wont be moved and is, instead, embraced (literally joining the federation).
The one glimmer of hope in all this was Renée, for whom resignation to her traumas was poison, for whom fighting despite her pains offered hope not just for herself, but all humanity. However not only was she not in the main cast, she was a goal, an idea, a plot device, not a true character. Real hope for progress was left to an abstract, not something for the cast, or by extension, us. This is why, now I think about it, I liked Renée the most; she and her hope is what I love about Star Trek, and it hurts as a life long Trek fan that she was the only one to have it. Kore, the other young character in S2, almost falls into this nook too, but her action was, like Rios, to walk away.
Lastly, the theme of resignation to trauma was practically spelled out in the whole "things will get better, we just have to endure these hard times" speech to Guinan, which made no mention of changing the hard times, just enduring them and waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel while distracting yourself with small glimmers here and there. True, this was also about not running away from trauma, which I agree is, if one is in the position for it, important, and a vital step in healing, but the show didn't go beyond not running away and into healing, it just stopped there and said "look, this is your trauma, it is bad, stop running away, and just live with it." Live with it, not actively try to heal it.
That is NOT a lesson I want, I do not want to simply roll over and accept trauma. No, I can't change what has happened before, but you don't have to to heal, if not fully then party, and more so then this depresso-fest states. And, true, some healing can come from acceptance by way of letting go, but letting go itself is not the focus here, the resignation is, or else Jarati, whom given the focus on her is the second protagonist, would not be borgified.
There is no real hope in Picard S2, only an entering into a state of stagnation - toxic stagnation, given the trauma still there.
I need to say it and yes I realize I'm gonna need to dodge the tomatoes everyone will throw at me
The weakest part of picard is patrick Stewart and it pains me to say that
I just feel like the cast is continually trying to carry the series ... except wesley
yep, he is fully disinterested in exploring Picard, he might as well be a completly different character. I get that SirPatStew is old and it's harder to write episodes around that, but if I have to hear one more over-indulgent speech about the stars and hope and our scars, I think I might never watch an episode of Star Trek ever again.
I agree and I don’t even think it’s that he’s old, he just has enough clout now to project things Patrick Stewart actor wants to pursue as big themes onto Jean-Luc Picard. Rather they fit the character of Jean-Luc or not. Season 1 I still like. But the major justification for season two meandering plot with Picard’s Mom is that it is somehow deeper because of a very moving story that belongs to Patrick Stewart. And that story with him negotiating his feelings about his father and having adult perspective on it, beautiful…for a documentary about Patrick Stewart not for the Picard series.
@@TheDawnofVanlife agreed
Yeah, you get the feeling that Stewart doesn’t want to play Picard but Kirk & they just let him be that.
It started with the Movies & he just continually devolved away from his core characterisation without anything in-universe motivating that change. Now Picard is action-man with tragic backstory & not the ambitious diplomat.
@@TheDawnofVanlife
Just so.
It really is very self - indulgent storytelling.
Borg Cooperative -
I was a little surprised that the discussion of timeline changes didn't touch on the largest one of all: A second Borg queen being introduced 400 years in the past. Does Jurati-Queen merge with the past queen, do they fight? More importantly, since Jurati-Queen wins at some point and is now speaking for the entire Cooperative (yes, I'm going to keep pushing that ;^), how many entire systems' history has been massively changed??? If Borg at some point only assimilated willing people, doesn't that change massive arcs of history? No Locutus, Seven's family could still be alive, the Borg would presumably have been offered Federation membership decades ago, in fact Q's entire arc would be changed because they would need to find a different threat to scare Picard with. Or is this just another in the line of arcs they are just going to stick a little bow on and call good? Say that Jurati-Queen ran off, grabbed enough tech to time travel, went forward 399 years took over the Borg while noone was looking, built the Vagina Flagship and then popped in to say hi?
Word of God is the Borgati and her new Collective simply hid until the OG Borg were taken out.
The Galaxy is a big place after all.
For this part in my own understanding this new borg queen didn’t connect nor interact with the original borg collective. Meaning though they were there they just didn’t participate. The original borg just went their normal course keeping everything else intact explaining why Most of that storyline was still intact. These borg weren’t the borg we knew from the next generation rather these are just a different group of borg that stayed hidden
I figured they hung out in the alternate timeline from the past until it was time to deal with the incursion.
@@litchtheshinigami8936 like the Cooperative in Voyager or the Unimatrix Zero group! There’s been lots of Borg sub collectives over the years
I think this is one of those things that doesn't need to be implicitly stated. We know the timeline continues as it had before so the Borg still existed as this galaxy wide threat that was then more or less halted by Janeway in Endgame. THis cooperative meanwhile likely found somewhere out of the way where it wouldn't drastically impact the timeline and likely assisted the dying and the broken like Jurrati suggested until this crisis came up where they could emerge. I don't really find that's something that needs an answer because it's already kind of laid out.
I thought it would have been a good moment if, when Jurati explained she had removed the cop's spleen, someone said "you can't let him back out there! They have imaging technology in this century!" only to be told "yeah, but in this century no one can afford it"
I’m glad to see a honest review without all the hatred and vitriol. My issue with Picard has been that there are no stakes. Like you mentioned they setup these major plots or issues that never go anywhere or are just explained away in a sentence. There were good things in the season but it keeps getting muddled. I think they feel compelled to add a major action battle instead of actually making commentary or tie ins
I agree because you can have an honest review without being an ass about it
I get tired of every criticism used against the show being treated like it's vitriolic and full of hatred. It seems like Picard season 2 was a turning point for a lot of fans but that doesn't mean people who criticized the show before that were all in bad faith and quite frankly I'm sick of pretending they were. There's so much toxic positivity in this fandom.
And I've lost a lot of respect for some people who will explicitly say if you don't like x iteration of Star Trek, you're a bigot. Like if anything I want the show to be more woke, but just because I really didn't like Picard, I get lumped in with all the hateful mouth breathing bigots and that's just not cool.
People see all the criticism as hatred up to this point. The problem isn't just the show. It's the fans.
I prefer the negativity.
There's nothing good about this show.
@@agenerichuman huge same, I’ve been reticent to even attempt to discuss the writing failings, the character’s lack of internal consistency from season 1 to season 2 even within its own framework, the “unearned emotional moments” comment from RLM was a really good way to sum up my feelings towards the progressive attempts. It’s just not well written, but if I say that I get bombarded with people calling me an idiot and an asshole for not enjoying what I see as ham fisted attempts at translating todays issues into Star Trek.
I was truly devastated it was soooo bad!!!
Jessie, you don’t know how much hope you’ve inspired in me this morning. I needed this. Thank you for sharing your talent with the world.
Picard certainly had some awkward moments, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially season two. As a STNG fan I can't wait for the next season. I geeked out with Wesley Crusher as the Traveller, and of course Q. I also loved the idea of a partnership with the Borg.
Oh I loved the Wesley Crusher cameo!
I loved it too.
I wish this youtuber could have been an adviser in the writing room for Picard, someone with this much knowledge from the series history, well spoken, intelligent about story narratives - this series could have been saved!
I'm reminded of my own trauma. When I was six, I began to be bullied, then abused by an uncle. It left me with dysthymia as a child, transforming into full clinical depression in early adulthood. I've often thought of how my life would have been different if I'd not suffered that abuse (and I've contextualized that my uncle had also suffered some level of abuse). Would I have accomplished more in my life without the self-critical artifact? More importantly, would I have had as much empathy for others without it?
I actually made a video (in french) about something that seems to be the source of many of Picard problems : Serialisation.
Star Trek is a show that was made for an episodic format. One episode, new planet, new story, the other episode, another planet, another story, and sometime big event that change the main plot. But at the time where many shows are produced on VOD's plateform like Netflix and Amazon Prime, more and more shows, event those who were originally episodic, goes to a serial format to encourage bingewashing and so writters frustrated to do 20 episode per seasons with an episodic format can do a show entirelly concentrate on the story they want to tell. But that bring NEW problems with the format, instead of making everything better.
My main example for my videos was the Netflix adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, a show that originally was episodic and was really thought and construct as such. But puting the same story and events in the serial format brought problems like secondary plot that goes nowhere that were there just to put more of a important characters, like the useless plot about Vicious's conspiracy that goes the all series, and even goes to justify stuff from the original series that work in himself, by saying that "It was vicious all along", making the stories weaker.
So unfortunatly, Picard's problems are not something specific to this show, it's a general problem with the serial format.
You have a good point here. Compare Picard this year to Strange New Worlds which has so far embraced the episodic. I am loving strange New Worlds so far. I grew up watching ToS (old enough to remember its first run showings).
I don’t believe this to be true, while DS9 started out in the regular format it morphed into what it was and was 100 times better for that fact. Enterprise also did though to a much lesser extent due to the writing though it itself also got better nearer the latter seasons. I believe both are capable but I don’t think such a short episodic season is capable of doing, it just does not give the time to tell a story in 10 episodes.
@@pakese30 Because DS9 was made at a time where it was an excepton and that they really wanted to do it. Now they do it because that is what is expected for a VOD time for tv show, not because they really thought of a real serial story.
The problem is not "Serials are bad" or "Episodics are bad", but "a format that is not really appropriate for your concept are bad".
I trace this all back to Breaking Bad. It fundamentally changed the way television was made, for good or for bad.
It`s not just DS9. The best storyline in ENT was the Xindi arc. Both episodic and serialized stories can work in Trek and none of them go "against the concept". Serialized shows just need more ressources, time and effort to work out properly. The best advantage of older Trek was the fact that these shows had more time to breathe and had enough episodes for stand-alone AND long-term-content. They had roughly double the amount of screentime per season.
P.S.: a good example for "bad serialized show before VOD": does anybody remember LOST?
Everybody's been pointing it out, especially lately, but seriously- So much of modern Trek is just wallowing in nostalgia. Wigglin' around in that mud like a happy pig.
To Boldly Retread Familiar Ground.
Honestly Picard's inspirational speech to Rene was the best part of the season. As someone who deals with depression it felt deeply personal to me.
i loved the part in which he said "fear is just fear, it shows that you're intelligent and aware of the risks" was so GOOD. as a just recently out trans guy, that really really helped me.
I only got into star trek as an adult in the past couple years-and as much as I love the older shows, I’m pretty sure people who claim that the new era of trek is garbage are wearing some sort of rose-tinted glasses (nostalgia maybe). Part of the charm for me is seeing how each series features the (sometimes cheesy) tropes of that decades’ scifi and gives insight into what issues people were on people’s minds in a really tangible way for a youngin’ like me. Watching TNG and Discovery simultaneously, I definitely can see how they’re different, but I was actually impressed how well the trek spirit was carried over such an absurdly long period of time for a tv franchise. It feels like people who love trek are the ones making the new series and I love to see it.
Similarly, I feel like a new comer, even though I've been watching now since 2010. I watched a lot of Trek before the new shows came along and similar to you I don't feel a significant difference between the two eras. I wish the seasons were longer, I wish there were more filler, more room to breathe. I have plenty of critiques for the new shows, but I had critiques for the old ones, too. I don't understand the closed-mindedness of these Trek fans who dismiss the new shows. For me, it's like, I watch the show, I hate some stuff, I love some stuff, I'm ambivilant about everything in between, overall I have plenty of notes. Why can't they just do the same thing? Just watch it, take away what you like, complain about what sucks and move on. Again, ALL of trek has had plenty of suckage. Why does THIS era in particular need to be the one they all have decided doesn't count? Why is this NOT trek all of the sudden?
To be honest, same. I started Star Trek with Discovery, and easter eggs are often lost on me (or told to me after the fact by my lifelong trek friends). Often when I ask people why they dislike Disco or Picard, they can’t talk about it without talking about the past, without talking about what is essentially they’re nostalgia-based expectations of the series. Meanwhile (perhaps not surprisingly), if I go back and watch older Trek, I see flaws. I can still see the Trek spirit and I’m able to identify that these are flaws that are of that era, but I think it’s essentially reverse-nostalgia, like “oh yeah. The 90s were really A Time, huh”.
@@muticere "Why is this NOT trek"
Emotional language gets used as a stand in for problem solving.
The complete lack of any sense of professionalism from members of a quasi-military organization outside of situations that require it in order to create unnecessary drama. Which is often immediately forgotten about the second the "drama drip feed" has reached its quota.
The never ending parade of galaxy destroying problems.
Saying what is happening on screen is cool or something to be cared about rather than showing it.
Trying to have their cake and eat it too by mixing in throw away adventures alongside the overarching plot. This works when the stakes are low, this does not work when all life in the universe is in peril.
"Why can't they just do the same thing?"
Because we want Trek to be amazing and something which can stand the test of time. We also value our time and aren't thrilled that each new attempt at modernizing the franchise results in (more often than not) a bunch of time wasting, meaningless guff.
I mean, check this out, "I hate some stuff, I love some stuff, I'm ambivilant about everything in between".
Two thirds of your response to the shows are negative. Ambivalence about what is happening in a show is a negative thing. Most shows that I like keep me relatively engaged throughout. Is this not the case for you?
I think the better question to ask here is, are you really satisfied with these shows? Or are you getting something else out of it?
I stopped watching Trek at the end of Enterprise season 1. I didn't stop watching because I thought the writing was rubbish but just drifted away never to return. There is nothing in modern TV shows that makes me want to return. These shows just don't want to make me care about the characters. The death of Yarr in TNG's 1st season episode Skin Of Evil came as a shock and I grieved the death of the character at the time. If a main character in any of the modern shows died I wouldn't and couldn't give a four X about it. The story telling is poor. The writers are crap. And I apply this to all TV not just modern Trek.
I think this is the way I watched the modern era of Doctor Who. I never saw any of the older shows and just started with the 8th doctor. So I didn't get all the Easter eggs but I enjoyed it. Then when I did go back and watch some of the other episodes I saw what the others were taking about.
Exploring trauma can make a good and valuable storyline, but picking a 100 year old Picard suddenly cracking under a newly developed childhood trauma was just a bad choice. The man has endured so much traumatising stuff (The Inner Light, The Best of Both Worlds, Chain of Command, etc. etc) that it just felt very forced and out of character. Same problem goes for Season 1 and his never ending mourning of his surprising best friend (a relationship that was never there in TNG) Data. Thats basically what annoys me most: the show is called Picard, but we dont get Picard, we get Patrick Steward playing Shakespear in space.
For the RLM review they really did want to give Picard another chance, stating the review for the first episode episode that it wasn't that bad.
I also think that Mike is very genuine in his reaction, and really hasn't liked much post-TNG
I said as much oh in my own comment earlier but yeah it's really a more reaction and catering to the audience that they have on UA-cam I remember even on you Twitter where they complain that they won't watch certain things just because they don't want to go out of the way.
I mean they still haven't done that Batman review that people have been bugging them for. And quite honestly I think they're at the point where they can say no to people even with the their bugging patrons.
What I was shocked was the outright misinformation that Jay was spouting with Doctor strange. Like he said the last third was a weird CGI battle I don't know what he was talking about it was very Sam Raimi!
It's what it is I mean like I kind of joked they should just stick to the reviewing either the bad stuff or stuff that is niche there's plenty out there that they could stream as well.
@@Planag7 god, RLM is so frustrating, there's a reason I unsubbed several years ago and haven't gone back despite still really liking the guys overall. Way too often they critique stuff that just straight up wasn't in the movie or is a deep misrepresentation of what actually went down on screen.
As for Mike, I feel for him, but also I kind of get annoyed with this clip she showed as well, Picard being bad doesn't hurt TNG. The TNG movies did more harm to TNG than Picard and he already reviewed those a long time ago.
@@muticere "Picard being bad doesn't hurt TNG".
You seem to be able to put up "a wall of separation" as Mike put it. I envy you.
I'm more along Mike's feelings about it. I cant look at Picard or hardly anything from ENT and prior in the same way. It's like I have this friend who I care for but I uncover something about them which permanently changes how I see them from then on.
@@muticere
His reaction did seem a little excessive to me.
It's just a bad season of TV.
It's not the end of the world.
@@alanpennie8013 2 bad seasons of Picard, and 3.9 bad seasons of Discovery.
He's not whining about a bad season. He's whining about a dumbed down franchise which used to have a shred of intelligence in it.
Now it caters to...
Well, you.
I know how much Star Trek means to you, so my heart goes out to you in your time of pain.
The Queen mentions that she's sensitive to changes in time, and this is why/how she knows to travel to 2024 to correct the timeline, so possibly this is why she mentions there being one Picard who must live and one who must die, but it equally works as a thematic reference to Picard accepting his mother's death so he can move on.
I can accept the Borg Queen being sensitive to the timeline, but I was honestly hoping the "Renée who dies" thing turned out to actually mean Picard's nephew René, since they NEVER REFERENCED PICARD'S BROTHER'S FAMILY AT ALL.
Alison Pill was once again the actual star of the show, and her Consensual Collective was the best lore development for the Borg since First Contact.
It was a really good story.
But necessarily overshadowed by the Picard family drama since he's the title character.
I'd be interested in knowing how you'd imagine life in a consensual collective. Are they drones with no individuation or are they free to do their hair how they like, choose their clothes or leave if they wish to?
@@tombaker8132 We are Borg, but also we are Mary, Adam, Peter, Francois, Conchita. Resistance is welcome, let's have a chat about it.
@@lkupiec1978 Agnes: "Hey, can we cut your arm off and replace it with this neat cybernetic component? No? Oh, for heaven's sake we really need for someone to do it...Hey Bob, Susan, would either of you like to have your arm cut off? I think it would be super neat, right?" 👌
I don't believe the negativity is about schadenfreude, which implies that the quality of the show is irrelevant. Star Trek means a lot to a lot of people, so when many of the newer shows, films, characters, and stories fail to live up to the spirit of what Star Trek has been and could be, it feels like a a betrayal of sorts. The wave of nostalgia reboots has more misses than hits, so Star Trek has become no different than the other cynical corporate cash grabs that are made with more ego and arrogance than the love and intelligence we're accustomed to. We don't ask, "Don't make Star Trek anymore because it can't be good," we ask that more talent and care is put into the writing. We ask that starships do more than park in one spot and shoot pew pew lasers weightlessly; they should move around and have some cinematography to showcase their detail, power, speed, and beauty.
Most importantly, we should have character stories that are impactful. We should have stories that are smart and interesting told with nuance and subtlety, and not a series of undercooked, unrelated ideas smashed together by a chimp with a hammer. Alex Garland has been telling the kind of thoughtful and intelligent stories that stay with you. He's where you can get actual sci-fi that's reminiscent of Star Trek at its best. One person might find Picard's story of childhood trauma beautiful, I call it lazy, unoriginal, uninteresting, too thin to be stretched out, and awkwardly shoehorned into the main plot, which consists mostly of their current template of, "We have to do X, or else Y happens!" and not once exploring Y happening with lasting consequences. Picard hanging onto this trauma into his 90s also implies that this so-called utopian society that values mental health enough to have a counselor aboard starships isn't doing a very good job at being therapeutic, or maybe Troi is even worse at her job than we thought.
They say Rich & Mike going insane watching Picard to this day
All the Writing problems with Picard Season 2.... are generally also present in *All* seasons of Discovery. 👈 Picard S2 just placed a giant magnifying glass on them.
I don't think this is true.
This season reached a level of incoherence which was all its own.
@@alanpennie8013 Some specific examples are in Discovery's serialization; the mystery boxes that never pay off in a satisfying or logical way, the plots that should generally be 1-2 episodes.. dragged out for 13, using 'emotional' melodrama and sentiment plots to pad everything out like a CW show etc. SNW so far has been much better paced and balanced.
maybe you convinced me on Jurati… maybe a new borg could be interesting, I still think her becoming an evil borg queen would have created a strong tragic arc that could be explored later.
My problems with Picard season 2 are the exact same problems you had with it. My criticisms of the modern era of Star Trek as a whole are similar to yours, apart from a few things with Picard and Lower Decks that I know you either don't have an issue with, or it's not something you've thought about. I didn't connect with the Picard's trauma storyline, simply because I thought it should've been for another character. The thing about it being Picard's storyline is that, we've known him as a character for so long, that it's hard for me to accept it when it doesn't really fit into what we already know about Picard's childhood from what we learned in TNG. And Picard already had other things they could've dealt with that is considered to be trauma. Like, the problems with his father which led to them not speaking once Jean-Luc joined Starfleet, the death of Jack Crusher while on a mission with Picard, and the destruction of the Stargazer. They were all mentioned in TNG, but never dealt with beyond establishing them. So they didn't need to invent something when there are already things within Picard's character that easily could've been delved into more. Also, Robert was never mentioned in season 2 of Picard either, and you'd think he would've played an important role within that dynamic of the Picard family during Jean-Luc's childhood. Like you, I want Star Trek to take risks, but I don't trust these writers to take those risks and pull them off well. Even Adira and Gray have been squandered in both seasons 3 and 4 of Discovery, which sucks because I liked what we got of them.
Imagine a future where we lost all star trek episodes and movies, but have all the videos of Jessie talking about it.
That would be, confusing.
@@graced1338 That's happened in reality: we have ancient books referencing other ancient books that we don't have any known copy of...
@@rsr789 ugh...
It's a rare gift to be able to "separate the gold from the garbage", so to speak, in any work of any form of art. In my not-so-humble opinion, you showed that gift in this video. "Star Trek" is not the only franchise to suffer from poor writing, presentation and 'front-office' decisions. It's all over the place, unfortunately. Keep up the good work and best wishes for your surgery and recovery afterwards. In the words of my 1950's namesake, "Good luck in Time and Space".
For me I hated the fact it was all resolved in 15 minutes of the last episode. It was so slow all season and then BAM it is over.
Also how is Q dying?! There was a whole episode on this in TNG
I also hated the lock a woman away for her mental illness trope. Its just wild that this is supposedly ok in Picards time period
Since the resolution hinged on Q's death I do think we should have seen more of him over the season.
I don't think they should have made his behaviour mysterious.
It would have been better if they'd told us earlier what his motivation was.
Then he could have been better integrated into the season.
she definitely needed to be locked away though. she was batshit crazy.
@@Welcome2TheInternet Also in 2022 we don't do it anymore. We have TREATMENT
It was indeed ok when Picard was a child! We are talking the '50 here!
@@antonellamR2D2 sadly, many mental hospitals do just lock people away still :(
I just think the time travel plot went on tooooo long. There was nothing overall wrong with the ideas except that this show is fully committed to having a full season arc and there was a point where the show was just dragging to fill space in an episode of TV that needed to end. They did know the ending, I 100% feel like they planned the ending. What they didn’t know was entirely what to do in the middle to fill ten episodes. And half the stuff they threw in to fill space is the extra stuff we didn’t need to have in there anyway. Much of it, if cut out, wouldn’t change anything and would tighten up the story if they were cut. It isn’t that they don’t have enough time, they had Toooo Much time for a plot that at most would have been a 2 part special in the past.
Anyone else think Jessie would make a great addition to the on-screen Star Trek world?? Like she absolutely rocks EVERY. SINGLE. UNIFORM! How can we make it so???
Looking good doesn't equal acting ability.
You nailed it. The whole storyline could have fit in a 2 parter.
I think the biggest REAL reason to have problems with Discovery/Picard is that it’s not portraying a utopia future. It’s what hurts me a bit. The world nowadays is so dark, I don’t like it as much reflected in ST. That being said, there is good stuff in it. Discovery has definitely grown on me (though it stumbles a lot), and I enjoyed Picard (more for the actors than it’s quality). Lower decks is amazing. Prodigy is great. And the new Strange New Worlds is very promising. I can criticize a bunch of the specific choices made, but at the end of the day, it’s more adventures in my favorite sci if worlds. And I can’t be mad at that (I’ve also read just about every Star Trek book, so maybe I’m easy)
Pretty much. I don't care if utopias are unrealistic to some viewers or uninteresting to the writers. Star Trek is about what humanity could achieve if we worked hard to look out for each other and embrace our differences. If you want the dark themes because they're popular you can go somewhere else - Discovery painfully wants to be The Expanse but can't even compete.
Trek should do what they're best at and we're seeing that come through in Strange New Worlds and to a lesser extent Lower Decks.
Personally, almost everything I’ve heard about new Trek is utterly uninteresting to me. I watched Discovery season 1 and since then have satisfied my curiosity listening to reviews. The blunt themes, crude characters, and lack of allegory or much sci-fi beyond the setting just doesn’t hold up for me with new Trek. I go to things like The Expanse for that sort of dramatic sci-fi with echoes of today’s problems and predictions of tomorrow’s and I go to The Orville for the fun adventure with sprinkled allegory.
But for those who enjoy this, I willingly hand it over. It’s just not for me.
I love how much nuance you pour into this and every other topic you make. More critics should follow your example
I can't shake the suspicion that they had unexpected budgetary constraints during or just prior to shooting, or some other similar production problems that ruined their original plans and forced them ro scramble to fill time. I 100% agree that there were things to appreciate here, especially on a big-picture, thematic level, but this season just isn't what it looks like when writers have EXTRA time to polish their scripts and then the whole production goes according to plan. Paramount might not want the creatives involved talking openly about it anytime soon, but I think eventually we'll hear that they ended up having to deviate significantly from the scripts for whatever reason.
A few pieces of evidence to support my as-yet unsubstantiated theory:
1) Some of the sets were fairly gorgeous (La Sirena, Chateau Picard, the gala venue) while others were barely even sets at all (like that one B-plot with Seven, Raffi and Queen Agnes that took place... in an alley, and then in the parking lot right next to that alley).
2) There are massive, unexplained character shifts that seemingly happen between episodes (Rios deciding that actually the past is awesome, Raffi going from seeing Elnor everywhere to cracking jokes about which of the crew's romantic relationships is the "important" one), while at the same time there are entire episodes that could've been removed (Picard and Guinan's X-Files throwback) without the plot being affected much at all; Again, this just isn't what finished drafts look like---especially not on a TV series, where the standard practice is for EVERY writer to eventually take a pass on EVERY script before the showrunner's final approval, so they can all check their co-workers' scripts against their own to ensure consistency.
3) There appears to be an entire action set piece (Seven and Raffi's supposedly suicidal dash to the La Sirena in the penultimate episode) that's just... missing, technically making their downtown LA car chase (in the fourth episode, I think?) the last big set piece of the season, unless you count the bland Sci-Fi Energy Beam in the finale. Contrast that to basically anything that happens in the last two episodes of season one; Love or hate or REALLY love the giant space orchids, they were a hell of a lot more interesting than a bunch of green laser pointers and some squibs, which are notably cheaper than CGI. And I don't know EXACTLY how car chases compare to fight scenes in terms of cost, but I'm sure stunt drivers don't get paid nearly as much as lead actors, whose time is often too valuable to have them spend it perfecting a tricky piece of fight choreography.
4) As for the actors who got lazily shoehorned in, that's partly just a quirk of TV scheduling; If you want to guarantee you'll have an actor available for your next season, you have to pay them for the current season even if you don't use them in it. So why not solve that problem by having Laris in particular ALSO travel back in time? I present to you: Budget ProblemsTM, which could've forced them to axe an entire storyline involving Laris, Soji and others on short notice. I also wouldn't be surprised if eleventh-hour contract negotiations played into it in some way.
In conclusion, I'm not saying we should necessarily exempt anyone from creative criticism here (although let's PLEASE not harass anyone either), I'm just saying I have a hard time believing that any writer with any amount of experience could've written the worst parts of what we got this season and sincerely called it good---not while sober, anyway. So either my theory is correct or the entire writer's room was on drugs the whole time, I guess? That's probably too harsh. Either way, Trek is far from ruined for me just because one show had one bad season. Hardly a first for this wonderful, bizarre franchise.
the thing that bothered me the most was the Dr. saying his daughter had NEVER seen the sky, and the show made a big deal about how she couldn't go swimming in the outdoor pool...
But then she's outside waiting to take the shot, surrounding by drones that filter out the sun, so.... what was stopping her from hanging out outside the house even if only close, she could at least see the sky jezz haha
If Mike & Rich from RLM and Jessie agree on this, we must take it as an absolute certainty.
- Bruce Wayne to Alfred, Batman v Superman.
EDIT: Well, maybe they don't agree thaaaaat much.
What I also loved about season two was the relationship between Seven and Raffi. Trek has gone a long way in exploring how to represent same sex relationships. They knew that they didn't want negative or stereotypical representation anymore like always killing one of them. So it was very refreshing to see an already separated couple having their problems. They were very cute and well played. While Discovery had the problem with first killing Culber, then bringing him back und then showing an over harmonic queer happy family with no dimension, Picard did so fine.
Yes. Disco season 4 having queer family representation is great, except it was SO SACCHARINE. Like watching old Full House. Especially Gray's storyline.
They tried to do everything, only for most of the threads to be undercooked and not coelesce together satisfyingly. They should have cut at least several plot threads, maybe saved them for Season 3 if they wanted to, and maybe the season would have turned out better.
The Borg Redemption in particular is something that really should have been it's own season rather than be relegated to one of the several plotlines jabbed together.
I really like "new trek" however this is probably the first time in my life where I did not enjoy a season of Star Trek. I was miserable for most of S2 whereas S1 was generally enjoyable for me. Worldbuilding is what I like about Sci-Fi so S1 was interesting to me, whereas S2 was mostly just "memberberries". The writing on this season was also quite bad and inconsistent. There were many times when I knew what the character was about to say because the dialogue was cliche and predictable. I like your reviews in general, but with this season I got the impression that you were using kid gloves in your critique when you have been much harsher on other shows, even other Star Trek shows. This caused me to seek out Angry Joe's and other reviewers on the last few episodes because I really needed that catharsis.
So much in this season did not make sense for Starfleet officers, for Picard, Star Trek lore, and even what was already set up in the show. It was constantly throwing me out of the moment. I cannot except that 7 was rejected from Starfleet when we literally saw a Starfleet officer who was former Borg last season. If you're not going to explain or explore the inconsistency, then don't present it to the audience. I cannot except giving Guinan magic powers (appearance changing, magic jar, thought projection, etc.) like some Harry Potter McGuffin. When you already have Q, the Watcher, and the Borg manifesting abilities for the sake of convenience then the show becomes less about "science fiction" and more about magic. Even "trauma" was handled far better and more natural in Discovery whereas in Picard *every single character* suddenly has to deal with trauma at the exact same time even if that trauma was 85 years ago. Even Guinan had trauma about the modern world being awful even though she was around during Jim Crow and possibly slavery. So instead of a person's trauma being thoughtful and weaved into the story, it became this ham-fisted repetitive plot device. They could have spent that time flushing out the story. Instead, they let Patrick Stewart tell his own story instead of telling Picard's story which I thought was a disservice to the character.
It seem fairly clear to me that STP is little more than an expensive vanity project for Patrick Stewart.
Here are my problems with Picard confronting the death of his mother :
1- it comes out of nowhere, never has it ever been suggested the Picard familly was troubled by anything other than his sibling rivalry with Robert. Wouldn't Robert have brought their mother up when they argued, after he recovered from the Borg, if that had happened ? Come to think of it where was Robert in THIS story ?! He was 8 years older than him ! Shouldn't HE have been the one to care for their mother ? That's something Jean-Luc could have brought up against him. Why wasn't he in JL's flashbacks ?
2- how are the events linked to Renée supposed to make him think about his mother's death and bring him to try and create bonds with people like Q wants him to ? It happens because, like in season 1, he HAPPENED to have dreams about it at this moment. Someone being insecure like Renée is NOTHING like the mental health issue of his mother. Many people lacked self-confidence in Star Trek TNG and that never brought him to say "well, funny you should say that, it happens to remind me of my mother's suicide ! And you know... that means you should trust yourself more. Engage !".
All she needed was a motivational speech, all this drama with Picard's mom feels like a huge stretch. Every time we cut to this storyline, it felt like a second season being told parallel to this one. It was never brought on by the main danger towards the Europa Mission, he just happenes to think about it, and...
3- ... this is linked to that last point : how has Picard's resolution of his trauma brought anything to the resolution of the main storyline ? How did anything he discovered about his mother helped take a decision that helped ? Why was that plot the focus of so much story when it had nothing to do with it and never impacted it ? I feel like you could cut all of it from the show, just focus on the events, and the seaosn would still work.
Well, I mean not work but you get the point : as bad as it would be, the story would be the exact same and you wouldn't feel that storyline missing.
4- Picards are a long line of explorers, he grew up hearing of their exploits, but it's his mother loving to watch the stars (like ANYONE) that pushed him to go to Starfleet ? And that trauma is the reason he never tried a love story (even though he did) ? F*ck this basic shit... It was so much more impactful to see he could have relationships but he knows his life might bring his partner a cost he judges to high. That made him tragic, not because he was closed to others, but the exact opposite, he loved them to much to impose on them (and him) the risks of his lifestyle choice. It was noble.
Now all that was is daddy issues and decisions based on false memory that would have been more than easy to verify was false, making me wonder why make it a false memory at all ? It doesn't make sense in this universe, either technically or thematically ! Another way in which current writter have abandonned the hopeful dream for the future of Star Trek : domestic violence could still be a thing that is not adressed in the 24th century ! (by the way don't bring up DS9, it is and has always been an insult to ST XD ).
This all thing is so stupid and basic.
Oh, and 5- he gave all those speeches about humanity bettering itself all his life while thinking he came from an abusive household ?! Hypocrite much ?
EDIT: 6- did he... ever... brought up that Renée made him think of his tragically dead nephew René ? Did they seriously give her his name and never referenced it in the story ?!
I don’t have a lot to say about this rant but as for part one they literally said he was at boarding school and as for part five it’s the opposite of hypocrisy
TLJ is kino dude
@@adrenalynn1015 Well of course in real life those things can be really difficult to accept (and I'm sorry for what you and those close to you went through), but we are talking about script logic here.
The whole point of audiovisual storytelling is that even if a character doesn't talk about something, the acting choices or the camera can reveal to us something deeper, burried, hint at something.
Nothing in the storytelling of TNG ever hinted at a problem, we actually saw his mother and they had to retcon the meaning of it. Don't you think he would have bursted into tears at her sight if he had felt responsible for her death back then ?! Wouldn't that be a huge trigger ? Instead it's a happy vision, warm and cosy, and nothing else is even implied.
Also, that's using real life problems to justify screen writing lasyness. Just because people can bury these things doesn't justify it coming out of nowhere.
Especially given the importance it takes. This is always gonna be in the back of our heads now when we watch TNG. "Oh, that's Picard, the emotionaly scared man who hides it under bravery and went to Starfleet because his mom watched the stars, not because he is driven". That's such a huge change to bring out of nowhere, and given it's feeble relation to the plot's events, it's a hard pill to swallow for me.
As you say, there were better ways to do this, if it has to be done. But then again, there was a better way to do a lot of things in this season...
@@jewishautisticnerd3874 "literally said he was born in school"
I'm sorry, is that a mistake ? I don't remeber anyone being born in school nore do I see what's the relevence.
Did you mean "boarding school" ? I don't remember that either, is that said here, in STPicard ? If so it's really bad writing to put the spotlight on Patrick Stewart.
For the story to work, both the vision of his mother as an old lady, and his brother's anger at being the one who had to take over Chateau Picard have to disapear ! (maybe only the vision, I don't remember boarding school in TNG but maybe it was there).
And you know, if we are still biggoted towards mechs to the point of drafting laws against their existence, or toward romulans which we resent helping (when we helped Klingons), or toward ex-borgs (when there is NO REASON to fear a de-converted Borg and they trusted Itcheb), if we use cursewords like f*ck every two sentence, if people like Rafi can still end up as parias living in a small RV next to a famous sci-fi set in a world with no money, if loneliness is still a problem like for Jurati, and if there is still domestic violence....
*HAVE WE evolved past our current problems ?!* Isn't it super hyprocitical to say such a thing if you've even been a victim of one such problem ? Just because he made it as a somewhat stable adult doesn't mean we handle it beter in the future, people today manage to turn out fine despite a violent family history.
So yeah, I'm sticking with it. Picard is a hypocrite. If our future is what is depicted in STP, we HAVEN'T progressed. AT ALL. And all other shows are guilty of hypocrisy for having told us as such.
That's why I also hate DS9. These greyer/darker Star Treks are absolute nonsense. Completly antithetical to what the show stands for. Now it's even canon that it'll crumble between the 24th and 30th century thanks to DISCO... Huray for the future of mankind enlightened : the exact same shit as today.
I personally loved the scene of "momam" (mom) in TNG. It was one of the highlights of the first season (or second?). This beautiful woman who said this profound thing and yeah it was a hallucination, but he recognized the vision immediately. (supposedly this was just an image her he created of her aging--although my understanding is this never happens). I don't like them not respecting the story as it was (also Robert is the older child, where was he in this whole thing?).
Marc Bernardin finally commented on his time on Picard. He basically said he did 33 weeks and then moved on to another show. Not everything stayed that he worked on and he was happy with what did stay (more or less). That was basically all his comments. I thought it was an interesting take from a supervising producer.
yeah he said as much on Fatman on Batman podcast with Kev Smith. I found it uh very diplomatic, but he can be critical so I was hoping for a bit more insight. But, to be honest he was professional about it.
Is this what happens when you have 2 dozen people all with some kind of "producer" credit? 😒
When Soong pulled out that Khan folder I assumed it was a connection to his descendant in Enterprise's time working with genetic augmentation. Your take makes more sense with how the Picard series is going, but I'm just gonna assume later Soong found a random folder in his ancestor's crap and decided to make some bad life choices, as one does.
So now the question is, if all of Adam Soong's other "daughters" died, how does he have descendants who all look exactly like him? Clones? 😅🤔
1)I just subscribed this second. Good on you for your well articulated video essay. 2) I have learned in my time that if someone loves a bad story, that is because their own creativity is plugging up the holes. "The rest of the art is in you. You should be proud of that. For you have more skill at being happy than I have" I often say. 3) Discovery (the 2 seasons I gave a chance to) had good characters in a story I hated. Picard had characters I hated in a story I hated, but they were riding my nostalgia as a hostage and mount. Lower Decks and Prodigy are both more thought out and thus much more Trek to me. And 2 episodes in, Strange new worlds is proof the Original Recipe of Star Trek still tastes so good. 4) I want to throw Kurtsman and all his friends into active volcano and hear them scream as they sizzle on the surface of lava for half a minute. I am not being literal, but damn if that does not feel good to say.
You could find sunshine in a hurricane. I won't be subjecting myself to any more of Picard or Discovery (the perpetual rewriting of Picard and Star Fleet's backstories is a headache tangle), but I love hearing your enthusiasm for - and critiques of - both. Started watching Lower Decks because of your other vids and I'm loving it. ♥
I love how you at least try to understand the thematic choices of Picard without exclusively focusing on the obvious pacing issues (that - sadly - every modern Trek show has to an extent). I loved the first episodes, as they reminded me a lot of TNG storytelling (yes, yes, nostalgic nerd ...). Those episodes belonged actually my favorites among modern Trek episodes. But all those themes and story beats tragically just went nowhere.
There were too many things that just happen in between the supposedly urgent/important events that the season is built around. The back and forth of urgency constantly robbed the show of its momentum.
The problem with season 2 is simple: "Too many cooks spoiled the pot". Season 2 started out strong but became directionless plot-wise. And, based on the reaction to SNW thus far, it seems that ST works best in an episodic format, rather than serialized.
My main problem with PIC S2 is that it was BORING. I loved episodes 1 and 2 it was a great start but episodes 3-9 could have been cut into 2 episodes. Surprisingly, I actually really liked episode 10, but it felt a bit rushed. I mean what? They didn't really do anything between episodes 3-9 but put everything into episode 10??
if i had any skill with video editing i would do it myself, but i really hope that somebody out there creates a star trek picard abridged series--and not in the comedic team four star dbz abridged sense but in a literal sense--where they edit out all the bloat and repetitive stuff so that it's (hopefully) a better watching experience. i'm very curious to see just how short it would actually be.
Guessing three episodes.
Maybe four if we allow a little bagginess.
Totally agree. The concepts were good but the execution rather amateurish. Almost as though the show runners were undergraduate students on their first practical project, learning to find their feet.
The most frustrating “easter egg” to me was the Reckoning Tablet in Picard’s office right at the very start of the story. I was expecting some link to DS9 / Bajoran prophets but - at least for season 2 - it served no purpose whatsoever.
Sadly, once the crew had arrived in 2024 the writers literally had no plan of what to do with Seven, Raffi, Rios or Elnor. Which is, let’s face it, HALF THE KEY CAST MEMBERS 😳
That being said, I think the best way to enjoy this season is to binge watch the whole ten episodes as if it were a rather long film and try not to “over think” it. Grab a bottle of Chateau Picard (or 2 or 3 . . . . ) a pizza and just chill.
Great critique as always Jessie 💕
Totally agree with everything you said, the biggest issues I have with Picard and a lot of NuTrek, aside from SNW, is that there’s a lot of illogical stuff going on that make little or no sense. I spend half the shows wondering where something is going as they start a new plot thread, and then just find it going nowhere, or it’s just forgotten. As the series goes on it gets more and more complicated and there’s so many plot threads criss crossing each other and I’m just hoping they’re going somewhere, but they just go nowhere. Also, the NuTrek films are more like Transformers, mostly explosions and action, not much else, and the NuTrek series make Star Fleet seem evil and the entire future is dystopian, which is depressing. I used to watch Trek because it’s uplifting and hopeful, and now I find it frustrating and dark. I have no problem with tragic back stories, but that seems to be a constant theme through all the new series, nearly every character is traumatised. I also have issues with Star Fleet Officers acting like impulsive, moody teenagers. It’s just not realistic. I know a lot of people who joined the military, including myself and one of my daughters, because they really liked the professionalism and the team work shown on Trek, but it’s just bizarre they way they have these officers behave. Picard actually had good character development, but Disco is just a showcase show for one actor. I also loathed the way the Picard writers handled the story of Picard’s mother. For goodness sake, surely in the 24th century they must have had better ways to deal with mental health than locking people in rooms. More dystopian future stuff from these writers. It appears that SNW has a more upbeat feel, and they are really developing the characters well. They also handle tragic back stories in a realistic way, rather than someone blurting out their trauma at some awkward moment. Picard had some good moments, but over all it was confusing and disappointing.
Thank you for this, it clarified a lot of my thoughts on this season of Picard. How, while it was an enjoyable season, it left me underwhelmed as a whole.
The main problem was, I felt, that the new characters were poorly served and the most interesting ones ejected from the show. I would've watched a Star Trek: Stargazer with Rios and co, without Picard. I thought, like how S2 of Discovery lead into Strange New Worlds, we could bootstrap another show off of Picard, but now, I'm less interested in that.
Sadly, the 3 most interesting spinoffs from Picard season 2 that I'd watch probably won't ever get made because the writers have written themselves into a corner: Rios Stargazer, Seven Rangers, and 400 years of socially awkward Jurati Borg Queen.
_Picard_ S2 would've been good enough if it were 8 episodes of Jean-Luc & Q engaged in a _My Dinner With Andre_ tête-à-tête.
Loved S1. S2 was rough: Childhood flashbacks, alternate timelines, Borg queen, new Borg queen, new new Borg queen, Renée Picard lift-off, Q's dying, Guinan scream, "Hey, it's that time travel guy from _Voyager_ - oh, nevermind", clone girl, genetic engineering B-plot (or is it the A plot?), Rios' timey-whimey future-family side-quest that should probably matter more, Supervisors - all on what felt like a _Baywatch Nights_ budget. Baffling stuff.
Well balanced review Jessie! I also appreciate the attempt to explore trauma and it’s affect on us - and how to move on- but it can be hard to successfully weave into a show!!
Good luck with surgery, rest well❣️
Thank you for this video. I thought this season was indeed messy but most of Star Trek is. I have faith it'll get better if they continue making more. My main concern is Stewart's age and him being in such an action-oriented show for possibly a few more years. I would've preferred something where they sort of tie up some plot threads and have the character actually say goodbye to the galaxy while he still can.
You hit the nail on the head with the meandering plot.
I wanted to mention my two favorite moments from this season, one of which you glossed over and the other of which you didn't like:
My favorite lighthearted moment was Bus Punk. That scene was just really fun, with a twist ending that I wasn't expecting and which in its own way supports the perennial Star Trek theme of personal growth (both for Bus Punk and for Seven). You mentioned you didn't like this scene because it makes the timeline messy, but personally my view on timeline consistency is the same as my view on canon: It's not sacrosanct. Mess with it whenever there's a good reason to. The tonal palettes of Star Trek IV and Star Trek: Picard are night and day different, but moments like these really help bridge the gaps between installments and make the Star Trek franchise as a whole feel more unified.
My favorite dramatic moment, by far, were the two final scenes with Q. I'm surprised you just glossed over this! The subplot this season of Q dying was completely unexpected, something I never would have cooked up on my own, and for all of us who were TNG fans as kids it reinforces the transition from youth and its boundless arrogance to middle age and its keen realization of our own mortality. Of course Q would die someday; everything ends; but I had never thought of this. In my headspace I had always read Q as eternal. Q being dissatisfied with his life rings true for many as they approach the end of their days, and serves as a cautionary tale to the rest of us.
The Q subplot was shamefully in the background of the storytelling this season, but the two scenes at the end make up for it. Throughout his history in Star Trek, we never get too much Q all at once, because he's a god and those are hard to write and hard to watch in heavy doses. Q just pops in and out, dropping trials and snippets of wisdom, and that's probably for the best. And here he comes at the end of Picard Season 2, and at the end of his life, and gives us the most beautiful and unexpected closure to his character arc across Star Trek-it's the ending I never knew I needed. It's a treasure-one of those cosmic treasures Q spoke of all those years ago-and it instantly became one of my favorite moments in all of Star Trek. Nor would it have carried the weight it does without John de Lancie's incredible acting. Patrick Stewart has really lost his acting chops, I am sad and embarrassed to say, but de Lancie is as strong as ever. He delivers lines like "I am dying alone. I do not want that for you" and "Farewell, mon Capitane" with unbelievably lifelike élan and gravitas, and with timeless emotional precision that will still hit people in the feels a hundred years from now, for all that our customs will have changed by then. I think Q's scenes really hit home for those of us who have "faced death," as Savvik once put it-especially the deaths of emotionally distant people whom we nevertheless cared about.
One of your criticisms of Picard Season 2-and not an unfair one-is that the plots don't come together very well, and all we are left with is beautiful moments. But Q himself once intimated, at the end of TNG, that a moment is enough. In that context he was talking about Picard and Data recognizing a paradox, but the lesson can be generalized: ~Life~ is a messy narrative, whose plots don't usually come together very well. Sometimes all we get...are beautiful moments. Those moments, together with the dreams we have between them, are why we are alive.
Anyhow, good review! You give the hater-critics much more lenience and patience than I do, probably to your credit. I'm sorry the season didn't hit as well (for either of us) as I hoped it would.
EDIT: Oh, and a shout out to the allusion at the end to "Where No One Has Gone Before," one of my absolute favorite TNG episodes, where Picard mentions he used to imagine his mother living a full life and growing to old age. Really well-done reference and bit of canonical clean-up.
I enjoyed this season a lot. It was confusing at times with the story line. But, I generally liked this season more than
the first season..
Agreed. Like The Last Jedi, I feel there were some really interesting ideas, some great moments and some long-needed resolutions, but it was handled rather clumsily and had some things that didn't work too.
I really like the idea of the Borg evolving, not destroyed and done away with, but simply being presented with a better way of achieving their goal. In many ways, echoing Data in First Contact - "Comforting words. Use them next time instead of 'Resistance is futile.' You may elicit a few volunteers." - and a problem with the Borg, that their top-down approach usually means they ignore things until it's too late, and do not seem to have any interest in using the skills of they have assimilated like, say, hand to hand fighting styles.
I like the idea that Jurati, and by extension the federation, "beat" the Borg by offering them what they actually want, instead of what they think they want, and that the co-operation will benefit them more than domination. It's a far better send-off to a really strong villain than Janeway or Picard going all action hero in the finale.
TLJ kino tho
@@JCOdrjones after a quick trip to urban dictionary, yes, TLJ Kino. I learned something new today, thanks!
@@Sinewmire based. Raw. Peak fiction. At least the second best Star Wars. Nerds trying to be clever are unfun
@@JCOdrjones could be worse, I could be being unpleasant in UA-cam comments.
Pacing was such an issue this season. I had been saying that they could have made a really amazing six episode season here or a really amazing 20 episode season. But 10 episodes didn't work.
But I loved seeing Kirk Thatcher reprise "Punk on Bus". I can forgive the inconsistency.
I really enjoyed this season better than the last one. It keep me intrigued week after week. Always waiting for Thursday weren't come back soon enough. I prefer serialized stories, it's like reading chapters from a book. I didn't get bored from Picard, on the contrary I enjoyed it a lot.
I am enthusiastic with SNWs, but I am not waiting for it like with Picard every week. So far it is okay , and hopefully will get better.
It's always so refreshing to listen to you, Jessie! The way you articulate your opinion and present concrete reasons for why you liked/disliked parts of the show is just so...calming honestly? (Even if in my eyes you can be a bit too forgiving:D) I really like RLM and strongly disliked this season of Picard, but when Mike talks about Jurati's singing and says something along the lines of "it's meant for the dumb people to say "that scene is iconic!", it just puts me off from watching their review...
they're 100% right though.
Your point on not knowing where they are going before they start filming (7:55 to 8:25) is *so* spot on. This is the soft underbelly of so much serialized fiction (see: Game of Thrones), and it really makes me long for the sweet medium between contemporary serialized fiction in Trek and purely episodic Trek as we had in TOS. In other words, TNG. If you want to know why TNG is still the most popular Trek ever, look no further than the fact that the characters *did* develop and change over the course of seven seasons, and that their prior experiences were incorporated, *and yet* you can always sit down and watch a single episode.
I thought DS9 was a good balance between episodic and serial - not as episodic as Next Gen, DS9 is what I call semi-serial, with focus split between the over arching plot with some eps devoted solely to that, but many eps also being either entirely self contained or semi-contained with only minor knowledge of the over all arc needed. My epically inclined story brain found it damn near perfect, like getting to eat popcorn while watching a long drama.
Jurati and Boimler, the only ones who taught empathy to the Borg Queen
While I think the season overall was pretty interesting despite its meandering plot points
But my biggest gripe of this season was the Sisko-baiting lol
So many DS9 Easter eggs even name dropping the emissary only to not give us a Sisko cameo. That was the biggest let down in my opinion
But seeing Wesley kinda makes up for it soooo 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
Full disclosure, I am a big trekkie, but I'm not blind to issues/valid criticisms of an episode/movie
We want The Sisko!!!
There were tons of obvious cameos they dropped the ball on. Ducane being the obvious one. And I personally really wanted to see Sarah Silverman as her voyager character.
@@stardusty yeah I felt that was a bit of a let down as well. But tbh him being an FBI agent would've been a bit too obvious if they played it out
Didn't Avery Brooks retire?
@@pabonismygod last I heard he retired from acting, but he teaches at a college in my state of NJ
I really disliked the trauma aspect. Turning aspects I liked of the character into coping mechanisms felt weirdly insulting, like you need to be fixed if you had found him aspirational. And adding trauma for conflict and character development is a bit cheap in general.
Thank you for this essay. It helped me search my own feelings about this season. I liked seeing your view in this. Thank you again.
Ok, I laughed at "discount Agent Mulder"
Personally I thought Season 2 was better than Season 1 but from episode’s 6 to 9 it felt like the story was dragging majorly.
I think the young Picard flashbacks weren’t needed (although I appreciate why they are there)and Rios wasn’t given enough to do.
But the Jurati and Queen Borg storyline was the best part of Season 2 as well as Q.
This season of Picard led me through what is probably the most rapid and dramatic change of opinion I've had of any season of Star Trek. I was super into it in the first half, until it started to appear that it wasn't going to pay off. Even when it started to dip, I started each episode with an ever-shrinking amount of good faith that maybe it was just a blip, until it became narratively improbable to turn around. In the end, I'm not _spiteful_ or _angry..._ just disappointed
On that note, I honestly can't bring myself to be excited by Season 3. The writers and producers of Picard have yet to convince me they can put together a good show, and now they're gonna run the entire cast of TNG through the wringer (again!). I'll probably still watch it, though, out of my unfailing hope that maybe this time it will work out. After all, I've lived through more than enough bad Trek to give up completely
I completely agree. The amount of wasted potential this season had is staggering.
@@stardusty
Several posters have stated (correctly I think) that the Borgati arc should have been front and center of this season with Picard and Q integrated into it.
@@alanpennie8013 Personally I'd switch the two, focusing more on Picard and Q (it is Star Trek: Picard after all), but yeah, those two threads were clearly the most compelling narratives of this season, at least the most compelling that actually completed a narrative arc
Yeah, I was a bit miffed after Picard S01E5 and just settled into a mood of disappointment and resignation for the state of any new Trek now. I did watch Lower Decks and found it fun but forgettable and Prodigy was actually feeling more Trek than any other series before SNW, maybe because of Janeway just espousing the Starfleet and Federation virtues all the time.
You seem like a really good person, I am loving your take & commentary, you got a a new fan and I wish you my best!
This season reminded me a lot of an old TNG comic book, "the Gift". Picard is sitting in his office brooding while the rest of his cast have a party, when Q comes around to dick with him a bit, eventually taking him back to his childhood home and daring him to convince his parents that his old bald guy is there son and not the teenager in their house (who is really Q) a challenge he loses when he mocks Picard for letting his little brother die playing in a well.
Then as a "gift" for winning, Q undoes that event, showing Picard how his baby brother would have grown up to lead a xenophobic fascist movement to take over Earth, reject the Federation, and ultimately murder Picard himself. Q freezes time when that happens, and at Picard's nod, resumes the normal timeline, dead kid in a well. Then Picard joins his officers at the party while Q reveals to the reader that the real gift he'd planned all along was to get Picard over his guilt.
It's in many ways a shallow comparison, but there are enough similarities to make me wonder if they didn't get a bunch of ideas off the comic.
You forgot about the holy El Aurian summoning wine. WTF? I like that they added a bit of history there but the wine was a total Spock’s-Brainer. Also not much much of season 1 mattered in S2. Q was fine that Picard has a synthetic body now and could live indefinitely and retcon the end of TNG and the trial. Although I liked that Picard and Q reconciled. Maybe it was sentimental but it made sense within the context. Also it seemed like nothing mattered since it was one big time loop. It was a nice ride but it was filled with dubious creative choices and provided more questions than answers. Sometimes I think the producers are lazy because they know that fans of the franchise will loyally consume whatever they will provide for them.
I really wanted to like this season. In the end, I think I preferred season one. It had more of a coherent plot (relatively speaking), plus the episode Nepenthe was awesome.
"I really wanted to like this season. In the end, I think I preferred season one"
my thoughts exactly
😟
Really enjoyed how many positives you were able to throw in along with the criticisms. Everyone seems to be so one note these days. A lot to like in this show but also a lot to criticize. Subbed!
Regarding strange new worlds and taking risks, it's apparent they are taking all kinds of risks with their other installments. I don't see anything wrong with there being some comfort food along with that
Well there is a quote by Elanor Roosevelt, that sums this all up:
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."
Star Trek TNG discussed ideas (and sometimes events). ST Picard discusses people. They say so themselves. it's just cheap drama.
And this is why it hurts us so much. Its like watching a dear old friend, whom you admired a lot, decline into dementia.
So very much this.
This video is really good. I like that you make sure to bring reassurances and validations for people's preferences when it comes to Trek. I haven't seen all of Trek, but definitely have my preferences. Lower Decks is my favorite; TNG is good, but feels like a worse Stargate SG-1; DS9 has some great characters, but Sisko's "the-AH-ter" voice takes me out of the show; TOS is campy fun, but I have difficulties understanding how it grew into this extensive franchise; JJ Trek looks great, has some really good actors in it, and the third one feels like an episode of the tv series; and Voyager is, well, Gilligan's Island in space(like no more serious as Lost in Space). I still need to try out the newer series, but Trek isn't worth getting another streaming service. Thanks again for the thoughtful and entertaining video!
I have a mixed relationship with modern Trek. Some of it I like, some I love, and some I can't stand. For example, I'm not the biggest fan of serialized storytelling, but my biggest issue with it in Star Trek has more to do with the fact that it locks a show into a single primary storyline for an entire season. When it doesn't work for someone, that's the whole season gone. Now I haven't watched Lower Decks or Prodigy. I hear good things about both, but I'm not fond of the style of comedy in Lower Decks so it's a pass for me. Prodigy just loses me.
For Discovery, I bounced hard off season one because it wasn't what I wanted to see in Star Trek. That's not a mark against it, that's just me understanding my own tastes and being able to recognize when something doesn't match them. A serialized show telling a story that doesn't interest me is a hard pass. I enjoyed season two, watched the first half of season three (I couldn't get past Su'Kal--it just didn't work for me at all.), and enjoyed season four.
Picard season one wasn't great, but it held enough of my interest that I watched the entire thing. For season two, I watched part of the first episode and all of the last. I'm not fond of alternate timelines, and I cordially despise using Star Trek to tell stories set in what is essentially contemporary California. I couldn't put myself through watching eight episodes of that. I'm still open to season three, but I don't know if I will watch and enjoy it or not.
Strange New Worlds is exactly what I want from Star Trek, but that's because I've wanted to see more Pike stories since I first saw "The Menagerie" back in the seventies on Sunday afternoon reruns.
For me, the problem isn't that they're trying new things. Just some times they try new things I already know I dislike. Aspects like overtly progressive story beats, or a more inclusive and diverse cast have never been an issue for me. Half the time I barely notice, and when I do I generally approve. I have only one problem with Michael Burnham, and that's that her voice is often so quiet that I need closed captions to tell what she's saying.
Modern Trek is like everything else. A mix of things I like and things I don't.
Thanks for a solid review, and all the very best with your surgery.
I think that Star Trek is by now such a big franchise that consists of so many series and pieces of media that CONSISTENCY is by now the biggest problem.
Getting timelines and plots to overlap perfectly is such a hassle I reckon. And fans complaining about it is just unnecessary.
Instead of complaining people just actually appreciate the fact that a decades old series can be "fixed"/update in terms of representation of minorities or silenced groups.
Thank you for this honest review!
There's a real simple solution to all of that though.
Stop tying the hands of new shows by forcing them to rely on in-universe reference.
The setting of Trek is "aboard an exploratory star ship crewed by members of a quasi-mililtary who hail from a society which has achieved fully automated luxury communism".
You don't need an endless circle jerk of reference and nostalgia to make interesting stories from that setting.
Yet somehow that's all that the new shows can seem to pull off when they aren't fumbling around with "something is going to destroy the whole universe" plots.
"Instead of complaining people just actually appreciate..."
We can do both. It's not hard. See, "Wow, a series which has always been progressive within its real world context has continued that trend. Shame it sucks so bad in almost every other capacity."
There's a big old gap between the end of TNG era and where Discovery ended up in the future.
Picard, as with Discovery, is more about the journey within. I think they both do this very well.
Really love your points in this video. Thank you for your hard work in this video :)
After watching Star Trek : Prodigy, I do see that a whole season arc with self contained episodes with stake, themes and the classic star trek of hope can be done in a really good way, so I see no reason why Picard can't do the same. As you said, there are good storylines and ideas to explore, right on the table with S2 Picard as it exists. If other treks can do it, so too can Picard! They really to get their heads in the game
This was a great critique and mirrors a lot of my own feelings on the season. I had a friend ask me what I thought of it and my response was: Overall its very messy, has a lot of pacing problems but the emotional core is solid and moving. I just really wish it had done less of the meandering and kept to a straight line to get to where it needed to go. Thank you for another fantastic overview of a Trek Season. Keep it up!
I don't think Rios getting beaten up really contradicts his statement that the 21st century is "so intense". Also I quite liked the FBI interrogation episode as a kind of standalone thing, despite its insertion into the serial story being super clumsy. Not a very good season overall (& if there's a Trek show that needed to get over its early teething problems quickly it was the one with a set 3 season run) but honestly I still think it's getting a little more flak than it deserves
Indeed, it does not. Intense can be also "bad" intense, and you take the bad for the sake of the good.
this is the best time to be a trek fan, with all of the great shows coming out, even films, I do accept the positive and negative things per show but above all else its still Star Trek and I love it for what it is. despite what other people would say. I am inspired by this franchise all my life.