"Star Trek: Picard" Season 2 Talkback (Spoilers)

[Fone Bone]

Star Trek: Picard "Hide And Seek"

I had mixed feelings.

I thought the stuff with Picard and his mother was great. Patrick Stewart was amazing. And Seven's stuff was good too.

I think my problem started and ended at Jarrati trying to get the Borg Queen to embrace "A New Kind Of Collective". It was hoary and cheesy. And yeah, I know it was totally on-brand for Star Trek, and The Next Generation specifically. But that's the part of Star Trek I find dated and the part I don't believe in anymore. I was always sort of skeptical of that message deep down, but I wanted to believe it. Now it's not remotely credible or something I'm willing to shut my brain off for anymore. Last week I complimented the show for finding selling points in humanity I believed in. The idea of "A New Kind Of Collective" is just claptrap, and this show is usually better than that.

Seven tried out for Starfleet and was denied because she was a Borg? Wow, 24th Century Starfleet sucks.

I also should probably concede that even if I didn't dig this specific episode, nothing in it diminished my admiration for this season and this arc. This show is allowed an occasional dumb episode. Being infuriated when a great show gives you a bad episode is the unreasonable reaction in my mind. I can think the non-Picard stuff here is stupid. That doesn't change the fact that I love this season and this show. **1/2.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 20 - "Farewell" May 5, 2022
In the season two finale, with just hours until the Europa Launch, Picard and the crew find themselves in a race against time to save the future.

 

[Fone Bone]

Star Trek: Picard "Farewell"

I personally loved it, but I suspect it's gonna get some blowback. Before discussing the things I love I feel like defending the thing that people will go into conniptions over.

It's the Khan foreshadowing. This takes place in 2024 and the Eugenics Wars supposedly occurred in 1996. Let me just state that Star Trek: The Original Series was WRONG to set the wars in that early timeframe and maybe this episode is wrong for suggesting the beginning of them now. But I don't feel like that is something that should be given a definitive date for since it supposedly either is about to occur or already did. And the reason TOS was wrong to set them in 1996 is that we all lived through 1996 and they never happened. The Reeves-Stevens have tried to retcon that idea in Star Trek novels that they happened and we just weren't aware of them, but the better answer is that TOS made a continuity mistake that can and should be ignored. And Soong being the genesis of them makes a TON of sense given Noonien Soong's first name and Arik Soong's history with the Augments. So I don't want to hear from canon nitpickers about this. I actually agree with you guys about how fast and loose they are playing things with Picard and Guinan's history. This however is fine.

Wil Wheaton's joy at playing Wesley as the Traveler is infectious. Literally the first time I've loved and enjoyed that character. It's very cool Star Trek managed to keep that under wraps.

I also LOVE the implication that Wesley as the Traveler was the guy Gary Seven reported to in "Assignment Earth". It's especially cool to think about because Wesley was (obnoxiously) created as a stand-in for Gene Roddenberry. It would be kind of neat if he was the dude who had actually always called the shots on the aborted spin-off Gene tried to get off the ground but couldn't.

Rios stayed in the past. Does this mean Santiago Cabrera is off the show? Depends on how many Rios holograms are still running around in the future.

The second Agnes did her whole hoary "new kind of Borg" speech at the end of the last episode I knew she was gonna be the Borg Queen we saw at the beginning of the season. I just didn't say so in case I was wrong.

But the REAL thing that made me squeal in delight was of course Picard and Q's hug at the end. How rewarding was that? And of course, it's not that Q is evil this season. He never was. He was doing Jean-Luc a favor and Picard did him one in kind as he died. That damn hug. This show is worthy to exist just for that. I just wish he and Picard interacted more this season.

This season was amazing, and the finale really got to me. My current favorite show on the air. I will be sad to see it go after next season. *****.

 

[Yojimbo]

Comments from Patrick Stewart.

 

[Fone Bone]

I love him and this show.