I love the Inner Light for sure, but I think it has one glaring weakness: the b-plot of Riker and Co. trying to revive Picard. It kept interrupting the far more interesting Kamin plot, which was interesting because it built up that emotional connection first through Picard and then through the rest of the village.
The other thing, too, is that we don't need to see those scenes anyway. They add nothing to the overall plot. Riker and Co. could've been kept as bookends, with the final moments of the episode just being Picard's eyes opening to see the crew, and then they explain the true passage of time and how they've been trying this whole time to revive Picard. But the strength here was Stewart and the guest cast, by far. By contrast, the bridge scenes not only yank the story out of the reality that Picard's experiencing, but they stop the flow and rhythm of the episode.
I imagine this was producer decree to make sure the episode was more "sci-fi," but frankly, a man inhabiting someone else's body, living his life, seeing how his own life is affected by that change, and then finding out that it was all due to his neighbors trying to save their culture via alien probe -- that's way more sci-fi than any of the bridge scenes, in the classical sense.
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I'd also have to join the others in throwing in Endgame as well. The episode is so-so but rushed (why no scenes of the crew actually landing on Earth as closure?). I feel like it clouds a lot of peoples' judgement because of things like the Batmobile Armor and the One-Shot Anti-Borg torpedoes. From a narrative standpoint, it's overly complicated but derivative of past Trek (Future Imperfect, All Good Things, ST: First Contact) without very much calling it its own. Also, a Starfleet observatory can, apparently, serve as Starfleet Command in an emergency -- which is like a planetarium turning into NORAD just because the Joint Chiefs of Staff were taking a guided tour.
All of the DS9 Mirror universe episodes. Always found Visitor's Intendant to be a little too hammy and that ruined these episodes for me. Plus, by the last one, it just felt as if they were taking them for the sake of fan popularity.
My primary problem with the DS9 mirror episodes is that they seemed to have gotten the fundamental premise wrong. The Mirror Universe in TOS was one where, for once, Humans were the evil alien race. If humanity in the Prime universe was so considerable that it became a major force for good in the galaxy, the Mirror Universe would have evil humans be just as widespread because of that violence. But no, DS9 instead just made humans grumpy but ultimately good, to the point where we now had human heroes with names like "Smiley" (seriously, it's supposed to be a universe where humans aren't just dominant, but also murderous, conniving bastards).
So I was a bit relieved when In A Mirror, Darkly came about. Every human was evil. (Except for Forrest, and so I chalk that up to plot hole). The other species were tired of their subjugation, so they're the ones who staged a rebellion. It was an extension of Mirror Spock helping the TOS crew, but it also emphasized that humans -- and not simply "good" races -- were the ones who were reversed.
Unification. Am I allowed to say this was a total waste of Nimoy? The first episode is flat out bad. I don 't really have a problem with the story idea of Spock seeking connections with the Romulans, but I found the story pooring executed, with the first episode largely being a lot of pointless filler (with a particularly poorly acted Klingon Captain) and the second to be mostly Nimory strolling around spewing out dry dialogue. Relics is so much better an example of how to feature a TOS character in my opinion.
I hear you. Part 1 was a giant tease where he'd pop up right before the end credits. Part 2 was so slow and boring and didn't really give Spock much to do anyway.