Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x01 - "The Star Gazer"

No it's not completely unrealistic but I just don't buy it. He's 96 in a universe where humans can't live longer and still be in Starfleet past their century mark if they choose to be, and now he is an Android so his cognitive impairment is gone. The "what do we do?!" Moment from last year's finale annoyed the heck out of me, but this time.... He's informed that he is the admiral in charge of the fleet, people are looking at him to make a decision as someone who has had 35 years experience with the Borg...and..... "I don't know."

I just sighed. Captain Picard wouldn't do this. I wanted him to....command again, because that was his moment. But I guess they were waiting for the Q moment to give him his piss and vinegar back. I just don't want to see this become a trend.

 

They should have listened to Seven... Five minutes later it's AUTO-DESTRUCT time!

Yup, the Borg are back and more frightening than ever. And we only see one of them!

 

I get that. Let's see if it is a trend or not. Hopefully, we will see Picard step up and take charge later in the season. Like you said, maybe the writers just wanted Q to give Picard the kick in the butt he needs.

 

Oh man, it's good to be back.

That new music in the opening credits is gonna take some getting used to, but I have a feeling I'll warm to it as the season unfolds.

Not quite as cohesive as the season one premiere episode perhaps, but I think the questions it sets up and the seeds it plants are so much more exciting to think about. And this is coming from someone who loves the first season.

I don't think that's the last we'll see of Whoopi, but just in case it is, that's a great send-off for her. Picard continuing to right the wrongs of Nemesis is my favourite thing in the world.

I gotta go watch the next episode of Disco now, but I think I'm a little too hyped after this to watch it. I might just go ahead and rewatch this instead.

 

Wow much preferred this to season 1 and I liked season 1. Feels like the showrunners heard the things fans were not keen on and course corrected. Much respected.

 

That was great. I think it might be the best season premier of any Trek series (barring maybe Way of the Warrior). It was not quite a perfect episode, but it was so "next level" compared to Season 1's slow start.

As expected, this is largely a "soft reboot" of Picard with the new showrunner. We get all of the cast back (with Laris apparently jumped up to a main character). There were a handful of references to things that happened last season (like Picard's synth body, the end of the synth ban, what happened with La Sirena, etc) but none of it really mattered that much, as this is is a new story which happens to (for contrived but understandable reasons) involve the same characters. The decision to let a year plus of real time pass was a good one...though I was a bit confused about how much time passed. Laris said Zhaban died a year and a half ago, while Soji seemed to indicate the synth ban ended just a year prior. I guess the ban wasn't lifted immediately after the events of Picard Season 1? Maybe two full years have passed?

I really, really loved the use of the themes of time in this episode. One thing modern Trek has been lacking IMHO is strong thematic cores - the episodes and season arcs tend to be sloppy and all over the place. But so much of what Picard is talking about in particular revolves around issues of time, regret, and second chances - something which I am guessing will be reinforced across the season. While the decision of the writers to give Picard an outright abusive childhood is a bit cliched, it does make so much of Picard's own onscreen history make more sense - his lack of long-term relationships, discomfort around children (and choice never to have them himself), his leaving home and never looking back, his frosty relationship with his brother, and even the general distance he attempts to hold everyone to.

I was less a fan of the scenes which involved everyone other than Picard, because they seemed to be perfunctory "let's check in with everyone and see where they are." I was disappointed they chose to have Rios/Jurati and Seven/Raffi have zero development offscreen in the 1-2 years that passed, though I know it's often a conceit of television that nothing of import happens in relationships when we can't see it. While most of the main cast were reunited in the area right around the anomaly by the end of the episode, I note Soji and Laris were not. We know from trailers that they will be involved this season - which leads me to wonder if we'll be spending time with the "prime" versions of them, or their alt-universe duplicates.

The use of the Borg Queen was also intriguing, because neither her nor her ship looked like anything we had seen before. I suspect that this is the Borg from the other universe (where we know Earth defeated them) and they were reaching out to this Picard in an attempt to...cross universes?

And then of course there's the entrance of Q himself, which was done in a picture-perfect manner. It was of course spoiled already by trailers, but it was still a great moment to end nonetheless, leaving me already hungry for next week.

 

I need to watch this again but my 2am brain enjoyed it a lot.

 

God damn that was exciting for a set up episode.

I didn't know we'd see "young" Q. A late bit of work I'd imagine.

I hope the complainers liked that we got several different ships this time.

Four STO starships appeared. https://twitter.com/trekonlinegame/status/1499293626463096838

 

IGN gives the episode a 8 and says the episode fixes a lot of the problems of S1.

Here is their very positive spoiler review:

 

So, I really liked this episode and the promise that this season offers. But I’m going to be honest and say that Picard and Rios returning to Starfleet? To me? Doesn’t really feel earned. Both seemed to have come to terms with leaving by the end of season one. I don’t know maybe I need to rewatch season one. Raffi definitely was hurt about losing her commission though, so her return was earned.

Rios’ return did provide the most (likely untitentionally ) funny moment in the episode. At around 40 minutes when the Borg ship started coming through, the big eyes and running up to the command chair? I don’t know if it was how he ran, the number of steps, the reaction on his face, or that he could easily have delivered the line from where he was, but it made 3am Campe laugh.

Still, like what they’ve done with Picard/Laris, Raffi, Elnor, Jurati and Seven here. The appearances of Q and Guinan definitely made me smile. And the seasons story is an intriguing question mark.

8/10.

 

Having not seen the episode fully yet, is there anything to imply that the Excelsior is meant to be a refit of the original ship?

 

Well, Picard is Chancellor of Starfleet Academy. So he is not really back in service, like commanding a starship. Picard may have been willing to serve as Chancellor of Starfleet Academy in order to "give back" to the cadets. Also, Picard was close to Elnor. So Picard may have taken the job at the Academy to help Elnor. I think Rios was former Starfleet. He may have been called back to duty. So maybe he did not have a choice. In any case, I really like Rios being a Starfleet captain. He seems like an interesting captain for sure. And having some main characters in Starfleet makes the show more grounded in Star Trek IMO. So I like the change.

 

No. I don't think the episode says anything about that. But we do see the ship briefly from a distance and it looks like the classic Excelsior design.

 

Was April Grace playing her TNG character as a Admiral?

 

Doug Drexler said on Facebook "The Excelsior (R) is a brand new upgrade.".

 

Different character. Would have been amazing had it been the same.

 

Nope, that character was named Maggie Hubbell, this character is Sally Whitley.

 

So, like the Obena class from LDS.

 

Having seen the episode, I had the same question.

At one point Picard says that this wasn't the same Stargazer that he was captain of, and then later he refers to it as a refit.

 

A pity. Fans live for that kind of deep cut Easter egg.