Well, I'm suitably impressed. As @Lord Garth says, this is Star Trek as prestige drama.
That's not to disparage Discovery. They're just so different. Discovery is a wide-eyed, technicolor dash sideways and upside down through outrageous strangeness, joy, and sorrow, and it's a delight. Picard is, so far, a warm but bittersweet exploration of one man's life in his later years, and perhaps his reclamation of himself. It's interesting that Trek's two lead dramas are both built around the character study of a particular person.
There's an attention to world-building that I really enjoy here, with beautiful establishing shots of the Archives, Okinawa, Paris, Boston, and La Barre. I really appreciate how, during the fight on the rooftop, you can see the futuristic skyline glimpsed far-off. They could have shot that fight so that the skyline was never visible, but it's there, and it grounds the world. This is the most present and real Star Trek as a place has ever felt to me.
I'm pleased to see Stewart in this role again, and I'm pleased with how he plays Picard. That's not much of a surprise, but I'm also really pleased with what Briones, Pill, and Treadaway bring to their roles. It's easy to care about Briones' character, although I hope they don't make her a magic box of plot-convenient skills. Pill promises to be one of those people who can handle Treknobabble believably, and I like the down-to-earthness she brings to her role. Treadaway is clearly playing the spy, but there's something unsettlingly disarming about his performance that makes him seem like someone I want to trust. That's important if we don't want Soji to seem naive for trusting him.
I did find some of the exposition about Data and the androids somewhat clunky, but only mildly so. I accept it, especially give the generally crisp dialogue throughout this episode.
On a lighter note, Data's hairline in the painting scene looks loads better. And before anyone complains, it's blurry because of the lens effect, not the CG, which is to say it should be blurry.
That's not to disparage Discovery. They're just so different. Discovery is a wide-eyed, technicolor dash sideways and upside down through outrageous strangeness, joy, and sorrow, and it's a delight. Picard is, so far, a warm but bittersweet exploration of one man's life in his later years, and perhaps his reclamation of himself. It's interesting that Trek's two lead dramas are both built around the character study of a particular person.
There's an attention to world-building that I really enjoy here, with beautiful establishing shots of the Archives, Okinawa, Paris, Boston, and La Barre. I really appreciate how, during the fight on the rooftop, you can see the futuristic skyline glimpsed far-off. They could have shot that fight so that the skyline was never visible, but it's there, and it grounds the world. This is the most present and real Star Trek as a place has ever felt to me.
I'm pleased to see Stewart in this role again, and I'm pleased with how he plays Picard. That's not much of a surprise, but I'm also really pleased with what Briones, Pill, and Treadaway bring to their roles. It's easy to care about Briones' character, although I hope they don't make her a magic box of plot-convenient skills. Pill promises to be one of those people who can handle Treknobabble believably, and I like the down-to-earthness she brings to her role. Treadaway is clearly playing the spy, but there's something unsettlingly disarming about his performance that makes him seem like someone I want to trust. That's important if we don't want Soji to seem naive for trusting him.
I did find some of the exposition about Data and the androids somewhat clunky, but only mildly so. I accept it, especially give the generally crisp dialogue throughout this episode.
On a lighter note, Data's hairline in the painting scene looks loads better. And before anyone complains, it's blurry because of the lens effect, not the CG, which is to say it should be blurry.
