What started two seasons ago as a clear attempt at a reboot/alternate world story has turned into a super sequel wrap up epic summation. I’m not a massive Trekkie - too much US civil service space force for me - but this is great. Granted, I’ve binged voyager meantime and fallen in love with seven, but better late than never.
This episode felt like a series of easter eggs duct taped together with the thinnest of plot. The nostalgia was laid on way, way too thick. Great fan service, but I'm at a loss for how they'll make sense of this and wrap it up in 4 more episodes.
The promise of nostalgia was promised just by the name "Picard." For those complaining about nostalgia, that's on you...everyone knew what we would get. I love it.
Certainly after the previous episode this was a bit of a comedown, but I have no doubt we're in for a ride the rest of the season.
yeah, definitely the weakest of all so far, but they had to get data, geordie, and deanna back somehow. writers probably realized they were running out of show after the nonstop fun of the first episodes. still: this season is delivering exactly what i want overall from a fan service angle.
Finally caught up this morning. Without giving any spoilers I never expected to see a certain character again(Imposters). But I have to say, to me, she was absolutely stunning. She has aged well and is a very beautiful woman and it’s unfortunate it appears to be her only appearance.
I don't mind nostalgia, and they'd done a fine job up until this episode for the most part. But I felt like here things began to fall apart a bit and frankly got a bit silly. Spoiler: Potential spoilers and speculation Would Daystrom really be that lightly-guarded, and by a wonky AI at that? Doesn't seem remotely plausible. They could have worked around this - easily. Have the Vulcan gangster reveal the Daystrom breakin was to cover up another breakin at an obscure Section 31 black ops site, but he doesn't know what the target was. Riker, Raffi and Worf go to the site - which is lightly guarded - and discover the reconstituted Data/golem, and that Picard's body is what was stolen. It just felt like a bunch of the episode was nostalgia for nostalgia's sake, and the threadbare plot got really silly. They also have very little time left to wrap everything up. What do the Changeling renegades want with Picard's body, and Jack? Borg nanoprobes? There are a slew of XB's wandering around - including Seven. Seems like Borg nanowhatever is pretty easy to come by. They specifically want what Locutus had? What did he have that was different? And what's the deal with Jack? And who's actually calling the shots, since the Changelings seem to be puppets of some other force. They've hinted it's the Borg, but aren't the Borg pretty down on their luck after what Janeway did to them? And what would they need with Picard and Jack? I can't imagine there are many forces we've encountered in the Trek universe capable of bossing the Changelings around. There's Species 8472, the Iconians, the Voth, the Borg and not many others, and of those only the Borg would really have a grudge with the Federation...and they prefer assimilation to annihilation. They sure have referenced Wolf 359 a lot on this series. Most people are assuming the big event is going to be some sort of takeover of the fleet, with it being used to wreak havoc. But this whole kidnapping Picard's body thing has me wondering if the real intent isn't to create a copy of Locutus. The Enterprise stole Locutus from the Borg in "The Best Of Both Worlds, Pt. 2" and later used Data's access to the collective thru Locutus to destroy the cube. This timeline resulted in the Borg eventually being at least nearly wiped out by Admiral Janeway. But what happens if another copy of Locutus is dropped onto the Borg cube from the future, one which knows the vulnerability the Enterprise crew would exploit? Maybe the remaining Borg are behind this entire plot, and the fleet is needed for some kind of time travel shenanigans. Maybe Jack is needed for that as well, hence images of doors opening he keeps seeing, although it's still not clear how he'd be connected to all that, which feels like sloppy storytelling. If he's somehow the key, they should have revealed how by now. Anyhow, maybe the story ends with our hero ships fighting the Borg in the battle of Sector 001, in a kind of do-over of "The Best Of Both Worlds", which was arguably the high point of TNG.
Just watched Episode 7, which was so good that it went by in a flash. I'm really curious about what comes next.
episode 7 was another kind of "meh" episode. i think that's because there was no frakes or dorn. i love sir pat, but he just absolutely doesn't hold the show together. even if it is supposed to be all about picard.
I think they did a great job of tying up some of the fan service with the plot in this latest episode. I do agree that the episode where they broke into Daystrom was too simple and tied up too rapidly as well. That was a very flawed episode to my mind compared to what came before. Your observations about Picard and what you stated gets answered here. A bit mundane IMHO and the weak link of the episode.
I love how they discharge weapons on the ship and they never really do any damage unless they hit the target. I guess it's apart of the science fiction "majic"
Oh I disagree and there was a brief Riker (n0th(ng beyond that will I say) moment of sorts. I thought it was a well executed episode.
Spoilers for episode 8 - "Surrender" follow... So, they drug out the "what's up with Jack" thing for yet another episode, and they got rid of Vadic, who kinda propelled the show for the past couple of weeks. I think she was a lot more interesting than the Jack puzzle box, which feels increasingly nonsensical. Good to see the Rikers reunited - once again Frakes is delivering among the best if not the best acting in Picard, and Marina Sirtis rose to the occasion as Gates McFadden did earlier in the series. And there was a funny bit on the Shrike with Worf. Raffi just seems to be along for the ride, like Geordi's kids. It feels like they have too many characters now to do any of them much justice in the remaining episodes. Vadic's demise was one of the better-rendered baddie death sequences in Trek history, so at least there was that. However, she departed without being able to explain WTF was going on, including who the heck the "face" is, leaving them with just two episodes to resolve everything. Which really doesn't seem like enough. I did adore it when Datalore called her "monologuing protoplasm". That's a very Lore insult to hurl. Nice to see that kind of scathing wit on the side of the good guys, now. I've frankly never been a fan of Lore, although the way that got resolved in this episode was very Data. So at least the writers got that right. And it was great to see Data and Geordi together, which is what we should have gotten in Picard Season 1. The scenes with Data and Geordi and the scene in the Titan's conference room right before the end packed an emotional wallop. But I feel like we should have gotten here an episode or even two earlier, and I'm increasingly worried about the pacing and the big puzzle box reveals, because it really feels like they've left too many characters and too much resolution until the 11th hour. Given the pacing problems in the previous two seasons and the reliance on so many puzzle boxes yet to be opened I'm concerned Season 3 is really gonna go off the rails at the end. On the other hand, in spite of the issues it's still likely to go down as better than the first or especially second seasons. We finally got the reunion with TNG characters we were craving in the first two seasons - where "Nepenthe" with the Rikers was the emotional spine of the entire first season - and all involved brought their A game to their performances. It makes me wish the OG cast had partially or largely turned up in the parallel universe of the second season. It might not have had the emotional impact, but it woulda been hella fun, and TNG's cast never got to do any sort of "mirror universe" episode (I realize S2 wasn't set in the actual "Mirror" universe, but you get the point).
Just watched Episode 8. Spoiler I was glad to see the annoying "monologuing protoplasm" go away. The way the character delivered her lines, as well as her facial expressions, felt forced and exaggerated, like a "crazy villain" stereotype. I was hoping for a better "enemy". This season is much better than the previous ones, but I feel the most exciting part has been reached: the characters from TNG overcame a series of obstacles and finally got together, which is what most viewers wanted to see. Whatever comes now (including the truth about Jack) are just the necessary final touches to reach the conclusion of the series. I won't be surprised if Picard ends up dying in order to save his son's life and Jack joins Starfleet... oh, and a special appearance by Beverly's other son, who perhaps has something to do with Jack's secret
I think season 3 is going well. But... I don't get how Troi now speaks with that English accented twang now. I think Marina has forgotten the strange accent she used back in the day
I don't know about the accent but she's really shown that she has some great acting chops during the times she's been on Picard. I really wish they would have used her in a better way during TNG.
I’ve never been a fan of Lor (the evil twin syndrome bores me to tears, not just in Trek but in all fiction) so I was bummed to see him return. His only purpose seemed to be to throw a wrench in the ship’s controls so that the crew couldn’t deal more effectively with the villains. Lame. I’ve loved the first six episodes of this season but the previous two, meh.
The accent was something she cooked up for TNG but got tired of doing and backed off on even in the later seasons. I think in the films it was largely gone. She's living back in the UK now tho after her American husband passed unexpectedly, so her native accent is coming to the fore. She's always been a good actress. I saw her on an old Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes years ago and she more than held her own. I'm not surprised she's doing good work on Picard. Probably the biggest surprises on Picard have been Gates McFadden - who's doing really well for someone that hasn't had a slew of acting gigs the past couple of decades - and Johnathan Frakes, who has been tearing it up as Riker. Michael Dorn has also been fantastic as Zen Worf. He's managed the nifty feat of evolving the character while still maintaining an essential Worf-ness.
I’ve never been much of a Data fun, but it was fun to see the whole crew together again in the conference room. And I completely agree on Worf - he’s definitely changed, but the change makes sense. I think this season has been a lot of fun. I’m not sure they needed 10 episodes for all of this, but it’s entertaining. And I suspect it will send the TNG crew out on a better note that Nemesis did.
They could have done a lot more with the Vadic character, but I think Amanda Plummer deserves and Emmy nod.
If I'm going to be negative about ONE point...it's Data's appearance. I'd have rather a motion capture attempt or at least a reasonable explanation for his aging.
