Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 3x05 - "Imposters"

[Sketcher]

Personally, even back in the 90s I couldn't stand shows like Trek or Xena switching one week from drama to light-hearted, borderline comedy. Sure, episodes don't need to be as heavy in tone all the time, but doing things like In the Cards, Prophet and Lace, or Take Me Out to the Holosuite just killed the momentum of DS9's war arcs for me.

 

[Gepard]

Different strokes, I guess. For myself, I loved that shows like The X-Files or DS9 could be something different every week. It doesn't play to the strengths of the medium to have the same tone and style week in and week out – being able to experiment and try different things, even if they fail, is something a weekly TV show can afford to do that things like movies may not be able to.

 

[Orac Zen]

The problem is, those are 26 episode seasons with a arc running through it but all separate episodes. Picard's seasons tell one long story over 10 episodes. To suddenly say, mid season, 'let's have a holodeck episode' makes no sense at all.

This. It's all very well - and something of a relief as often as not - to have a light and fluffy episode in a season that's 20 or more episodes long. In a 10 episode season it would be ridiculous, and something of a momentum-killer as well.

 

[Farscape One]

I mean, of course comedies are light and whimsical by definition.

Russian Doll is a show that deals with parental abuse, death, suicide and mental illness. It has a dark humour to it, but I’d hardly call it a comedy.

It might be better to watch stuff rather than just go off of reviews?

Regardless, there are plenty of shows in production that manage to strike a balance.

The thing I took issue with is the idea that modern TV is not light or whimsical as a rule. I know it’s not you that said that. It’s clearly nonsense though. Television is a broad church and there has never, ever been such a wide range of shows as there are now. There’s something for everyone.

The only example of yours that I have seen was GUARDIANS, and most if the others I hadn't even heard of.

As far as TED LASSO and RUSSIAN DOLL are concerned, I'm going by the fact they are nominated in comedy categories, so of course I'm going to think it's a comedy.

But SHE-HULK... I was originally wanting to watch only because of Tatiana Maslany, who I loved in ORPHAN BLACK. I never even heard of the character before. But close people I know who are very familiar with comics and have also watched the show have really not had much good to say about it. And their tastes on those kind of shows/movies have been pretty spot on, so I trust their judgment. And precisely why I'm not going to waste my time.

The problem is, those are 26 episode seasons with a arc running through it but all separate episodes. Picard's seasons tell one long story over 10 episodes. To suddenly say, mid season, 'let's have a holodeck episode' makes no sense at all.

Which is exactly why I said it won't occur in PICARD. It's not a slight on the show, particularly when this season has been stellar thus far.

I was just echoing a fact.

 

[Lord Garth]

IMO, this is literally the best season of New Trek. Bar None. Period. I say this as someone who loves Disco and PIC Season 1. Picard Season 3 is better.

I do not want the momentum stopped by anything. At all. Run with it and don't stop.

 

[Farscape One]

The best season of the current era, in my view, is SNW season 1. Hands down.

By a good deal, and in comparison to the other live action shows, by a very, very, very wide margin. It's not even in the same galaxy.

But season 3 of PICARD is really close to competing it with that title. It will all come down to the back half, though.

 

[Orac Zen]

On the whole I enjoyed the hell out of SNW's first season, and I'm enjoying the hell out of this season of Picard. Hopefully the next five eps will live up to the promise of the first five.

 

[Mage]

IMO, this is literally the best season of New Trek. Bar None. Period. I say this as someone who loves Disco and PIC Season 1. Picard Season 3 is better.

I do not want the momentum stopped by anything. At all. Run with it and don't stop.

The best season of the current era, in my view, is SNW season 1. Hands down.

By a good deal, and in comparison to the other live action shows, by a very, very, very wide margin. It's not even in the same galaxy.

But season 3 of PICARD is really close to competing it with that title. It will all come down to the back half, though.

For me it would be really hard to choose between either. I loved SNW S1 for giving me all the great things I loved about earlier Trek, the more episodic stuff. But there were a few 'meh' things there as well.
Picard S3, sofar, is the best of the serialized Trek ever. I mean, I'll await my final verdict untill it's all aired. But I can't wait to take a free Sunday and binge all episodes like one complete story.

 

[Farscape One]

As far as the serialized seasons, which is every live action season except SNW since that was not serialized, PICARD season is immeasurably superior to all of them thus far.

Best way I can describe my feelings...

With DISCO seasons 1-4 and PICARD seasons 1-2, I can find a number of scenes that are outstanding, but I can maybe only think of 5 full episodes that really stand out as very, very good. Outstanding... one? Maybe two?

Season 3 of PICARD... all 5 episodes have been very, very good or outstanding.

 

[Crewman6]

Not 'NuTrek'. All Trek has goofs, all the time.

What's Kirk's middle name again? What class did Data attend at SF academy? And exactly how many torpedoes did Voyager have?

True!

 

[Crewman6]

So it is unclear if “Starfleet Intelligence” is a part of “Starfleet”?

Hmmm… interesting…

It's unclear if Worf is a member of Starfleet, yes. He could just be an operative/asset of Starfleet intelligence without being a commissioned officer. Worf even says he's a "subcontractor."

"Hmmm" indeed.

 

[Mage]

It's unclear if Worf is a member of Starfleet, yes. He could just be an operative/asset of Starfleet intelligence without being a commissioned officer. Worf even says he's a "subcontractor."

"Hmmm" indeed.

We got promo shots of Worf in a yellow/mustard uniform and captain pips, right? Or am I misremembering that?
So, rank of captain but not in command of a ship.

People often forget that having the rank of captain doesn't mean command of a starship. Look at Sisko, he was removed from the Defiant and worked with Admiral Ross to plan strategies for the war. Worf could have that the rank of Captain, but work for Starfleet Intelligence.

 

[Paul Weaver]

Scotty was captain from TSFS onwards but never even temporarily commanded the ship

 

[thribs]

Maybe this proposed Picard movie will be more lighthearted

 

[dinzy]

Really wonder about what Ro and Worf's working relationship was like, considering both having being colleages on the Enterprise-D under Picard.

And not to forget her becoming his superior

Are handlers always someone's superior? In my company, managers often have technical people under them that make more and are of a grade equivalent to director. Similarly large projects are lead by people who are lower ranked than some of the experts working it. The experts have the responsibility to make sure the project lead adjusts whenever they find issues that require more work to resolve. Leadership isn't always who is in charge of who, sometimes it is who is in charge of what. And this what looked like it is off the books.

Or it is just that Worf took the assignment out of interest and doesn't care who leads it.

This series is losing me. And, god, it's just ugly to look at.

It's gotta suck when most fans are loving it and you can't extract any joy from it.

never seen it, but
- never heard of them.

Why comment on a list of shows you know nothing about?

We got promo shots of Worf in a yellow/mustard uniform and captain pips, right? Or am I misremembering that?
So, rank of captain but not in command of a ship.

People often forget that having the rank of captain doesn't mean command of a starship. Look at Sisko, he was removed from the Defiant and worked with Admiral Ross to plan strategies for the war. Worf could have that the rank of Captain, but work for Starfleet Intelligence.

This is true, but I think they need to be capable to lead a ship. Didn't Troi have to pass command tests to be a commander? I would expect the rank of Captain requires demonstrating the ability to be a Captain of a small ship under some minimal set of challenging scenarios. Worf was commander of the Defiant during a war so he has that.

The rank doesn't give them command of a ship, but it has to mean that in a pinch, they could be given a command.

 

[Pauln6]

Myopia...impacting Trek villains for decades.

Yup. Technology to block transporters but not communications?

 

[The Master of Tarquin Hill]

She wasn't allowed command until she was ready to kill Geordi.

 

[Mage]

Are handlers always someone's superior? In my company, managers often have technical people under them that make more and are of a grade equivalent to director. Similarly large projects are lead by people who are lower ranked than some of the experts working it. The experts have the responsibility to make sure the project lead adjusts whenever they find issues that require more work to resolve. Leadership isn't always who is in charge of who, sometimes it is who is in charge of what. And this what looked like it is off the books.

Or it is just that Worf took the assignment out of interest and doesn't care who leads it.

This is true, but I think they need to be capable to lead a ship. Didn't Troi have to pass command tests to be a commander? I would expect the rank of Captain requires demonstrating the ability to be a Captain of a small ship under some minimal set of challenging scenarios. Worf was commander of the Defiant during a war so he has that.

The rank doesn't give them command of a ship, but it has to mean that in a pinch, they could be given a command.

Well, I remember something very cool from the DS9 novels. Elias Vaughn was a commander but his work for Starfleet Intelligence was so deep that they kept him at commander rank to keep a low profile, while in the meantime his authorization levels were higher than most admirals. Perhaps the same thing happened to Ro.

And yes, ofcourse to 'pass the bar' so to say, Worf CAN command a ship. His posting is just not that of a commanding officer.


Also, pet peeve about this episode..... Ro is the family name, Laren her given name. It felt odd that in their sharing moments, Jean Luc kept saying Ro instead of Laren.
BTW, fun fact....
In the DS9 novels, after the war, Ro got a commission in the Bajoran militia and became Constable on DS9. When Bajor finally joined the Federation and Militia officers could join Starfleet, she was considering leaving all together. She and Picard had interacted at that time, he was aware of her being their. She had all but decided to leave, but it was a box that was deliverd to her that changed her mind.
The box held two things.... A Starfleet uniform, security division and a note that said 'In case you needed encouragment. JLP'.

I cried a litte at that. She rejoined the Fleet. Several years later, she was in command of Deep Space Nine.

 

[TedShatner10]

Huh? It’s not a fan consensus, it’s my personal view. I thought Broken Pieces was awful, I thought Nepenthe was never a great episode (outside of a few nice scenes) and I thought season 2 never “rallied” as you say.

I certainly think with this moment Season 2 rallied here, and that's the hill I will die on:

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Season 3 of PIC is arguably the best season of NuTrek so-far and Star Trek was always variable in quality, with comparisons to Piller/Berman Trek being hard, because so much time has elapsed and the TV landscape had changed drastically after the mid 2000s (and Berman/Piller Trek took a similar amount of time to get as consistently good, when TNG S1/S2 had a lot of experimenting and jank like early Discovery).

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

IMO, this is literally the best season of New Trek. Bar None. Period. I say this as someone who loves Disco and PIC Season 1. Picard Season 3 is better.

I do not want the momentum stopped by anything. At all. Run with it and don't stop.

I don't know exactly why but I'm surprised you are liking this season so much.