The only real nitpicks with this ep is the cursing. But everything else was absolute top notch. It was definitely the most TNG ep, not just because of Picard, Riker and Crusher but also the theme and premise of the ep was very TNG too. Just have the Ent-D trapped in the nebula and they work to escape and then see the birth of the aliens. It works. And it was great to see legacy TNG characters working together. I really appreciated the themes of family and how there is always hope if the crew work together and rely on each other. Very Trek. And the revelation that this dangerous nebula was actually an alien womb was very classic Trek to me. Trek always loved to give that different perspective and how the unknown can be dangerous but also beautiful.
All the characters had something meaningful to do. Shaw was used well as the "grease monkey". Seven was great. I especially liked her line about "She calls me Commander Seven, out of respect", telling Shaw that she prefers to be called Seven. We also saw Picard at his best. Taking control, being inspiring. I appreciated the flashbacks and Picard teaching good lessons to the cadets. Riker's speech to the crew was also well done.
We got backstory on Shaw. We also got some backstory on Picard and his friend Jack (Bev's ex). We had some great character moments with Riker and Picard when they apologize but also the scene with Riker trying to record a last message to Deanna. That scene at the end when Jack actually did try to reach out to Picard and he said his only family was Starfleet was heart breaking and powerful.
Overall, I am impressed. It was expertly directed by Frakes, great tension, great emotional reward, great character moments, classic trek, beautiful moment with the aliens. Also, I feel like there is a lot of detail and depth too. There is so much subtext with the characters. I feel like that there is great attention to detail as well.
