Best and Worst of Star Trek: Picard

[Trek Writers Room]

The best thing about season 3 of Picard was hiring Todd Stashwick for the role of Captain Liam Shaw.
The worst thing was killing off his character.
(I don't think any other actor could have captured this character better.)

Feel free to reply with your own best and worst of Star Trek: Picard.

 

[Firebird]

Going by the thread title and not the content of the post, the entirety of season two is far worse than the fanfic-overload of season three.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Best: willingness to tackle question of relevancy and aging (Raffi is a close second)

Worst: season 2, especially replacing the message of progress through human cooperation and effort and bad take on immigration.

 

[urbandk]

Best: what Season one could have been if things hadn't unraveled in the final few episodes. More than any other modem star trek, and perhaps any star trek ever, the first half of season one felt like a real, lived in, plausible future world.

Worst: season 2 finale with Wil Wheaton playing himself. Also season 3 with it's lazy, paint by numbers trek, specifically "again with the borg," starbase Easter egg, and bizarre choice to make the Titan into the next Enterprise.

 

[donners22]

Best: The emotional high points - Data's death, Q and Picard's final moment, Seven and Picard talking about their experiences as Borg, etc.

Worst - undercutting the emotional moments by bringing Data and Q back, casually killing off main characters off-screen, failing to stick the landing on the stories.

 

[USS Firefly]

Season 2 and Beverly Crusher where the worst, I really hate how she treated Picard, especially by not telling him she was pregnant with his child

 

[Pumpkin Bread]

Best:
- The ending scenes from each season. They went through some dark places, but ended in the light.
- Death of Data and Q. Had me in tears both times.
- Elnor. Romulan kung-fu bad-.
- Seven. Liked her much better without the catsuit.
- Riker and Troi and Kestra in "Nepenthe".
- The Borg's surprising change of direction.
- The final flight of the Enterprise D!

Worst:
- Most aspects of Jack Crusher, especially his origin, which character assassinated both Picard and Beverly.
- Not doing justice to Harry Kim.
- Icheb deserved better, too.
- Not using the much better literary explanation for Ro's return to Starfleet.

 

[evilchumlee]

I largely thought Picard was fantastic the whole way through, so this is going to be somewhat of a deep dive and probably more on the nitpicky side. Alot of it is "Best" so i'll really just focus on the "worst" section.

Worst:
Too much time spend in 2024 in S2. I think it would have been better served to have spent some more time in the Confederation. Also on S2, I wanted Maurice to be worse. I'm ok with how Picard's mom went down, but Picard was pretty well known to have had a very bad relationship with his father but as it turns out, he was largely trying to do the right thing. I wanted a bit more on Maurice's breakdown given the situation.

More of a nitpick, but another S2 thing, using the actor who played Joel Ducane of the 29th century Federation... in a story about time travel... as a cop... and not having him be Ducane. That bugged me.

More on the meta side of things, I wish there was a bit more cohesion between the seasons in terms of a connecting story. I would have liked to see the Reaper aliens from S1 addressed and play more of a role later as well as the anomaly from S2.

The copy/paste fleet from S1. So disappointing.

 

[Lord Garth]

Best:
"No Win Scenario". The whole episode but, one thing I want to point out in particular. I love Picard saying "Starfleet is the only family I ever needed" can be read in two such completely different ways.

And, yes, while I already liked the character to begin with, I prefer Seven in Picard.

Dahj/Soji and how they had these seemingly normal lives until they found out all was not as they thought. I also like contrasting Dahj's reaction with Soji's, and how they react to Picard.

In "Imposters", Picard and Ro finally talking about what happened in "Preemptive Strike" and hashing it out.

Another thing from "No Win Scenario". Everyone in the holodeck, at the recreation of Ten Forward. First with Picard and Jack, then Shaw crashing in and sharing his Wolf-359 story, giving a sense of how much psychological damage the battle really did. Sisko forgave Picard, in contrast Shaw didn't. Which colored Shaw's entire view of Picard throughout.

Worst:
The copy-and-paste fleet at the end of Season 1.

No Q/Guinan scenes in Season 2. There was never any follow-up with them after "Q Who" and "Deja Q", this was the perfect chance to correct this mistake, and they never did.

Zhaban's off-screen death. I don't mind that he died, just that it was off-screen and they didn't say why.

Picard being in a relationship with Crusher five times. Five times? Really? Once or twice, maybe even three times, okay. But five? Come on!

Not really a "worst", just a pet peeve. I wish Guinan remembered "Time's Arrow", so we could definitively say the Punk remembered Star Trek IV. The version we saw, not some crazy alternate reality version. It plays like the Punk remembers what we do, and that's how I would've preferred to interpret it. "I just like the song!"

 

[TroiFan4ever]

Worst: A good majority of Season 1. I know a lot of people enjoyed Season 1 but for me things just happened all over the place and I didn't get it, like, at all. Hard to follow.

Best: The last two episodes, especially the return of the Enterprise D and the whole TNG main crew reunited on the bridge. Despite the awkward "engines and nacelles" line the whole thing could not have been more perfectly and beautifully executed. Truly felt like Star Trek: The Next Generation all over again. Chef's kiss!

 

[DarKush]

Best:
-ST: Picard gave us life after ST: Nemesis
-TNG reunion. TNG has the crew I love best, and it was great seeing these actors and characters again.
-Other legacy characters. I didn't like how each was used, or how all of their stories ended, but it was still cool seeing them again.
-ST: Picard characters like Raffi, Rios, and Laris
-Seven of Nine's arc. It was quite a way to take a legacy character and deconstruct them in a way that gave them new dimensions and a new life.
-Annie Wersching's Borg Queen
-Romulan culture/world building: I still would've preferred using more of Diane Duanne's ideas, but still, I was glad the Romulans finally got more development.
-The xB concept
-Most of Season 3
-Worf making it to captain. Though unfortunately we never saw him in charge of the Enterprise-E or another starship. Geordi making it to commodore.
-Mid-2380s uniforms and 25th century uniforms
-Many of the starships in Seasons 2 and 3

Worst:
-A lot of the writing for the first two seasons
-Using the tired synth storyline over one about the Romulans or even xBs.
-"Magic" synth technology in Season 1
-Alternity being tentacles in space
-Season 2 after the third episode
-Not going back to the Jurati Borg and what was on the other side of the rift
-2390s Starfleet uniforms looked lazier than a tribute/homage to the DS9/VOY uniforms. I really wished they had used the mid-2380s uniforms instead and if necessary, using the 2390 ones for the flashbacks
-Picard's traumatic backstory
-Too little of Laris, Zhaban, and Number One; I could throw in Oh as well here.

 

[Paul755]

Worst:
No Q/Guinan scenes in Season 2. There was never any follow-up with them after "Q Who" and "Deja Q", this was the perfect chance to correct this mistake, and they never did.

there was a Q/Guinan scene in S2. It was young Guinan but it still counts.


Best:
All the different Rios holograms
The ship designs from Krause, Eaves, etc…in S2-3
All the stuff in the Confederation timeline
Worf and Raffi as a crime fighting duo
nu-Guinan
The Picard/Ro scene
Liam F-ing Shaw
S1 Laris
Ranger Seven
Scared/sad Riker in S3
Jurati singing at the reception in S2
A classic Connie being at fleet museum and not the Discoprise version
Everything Geordi
Q

Worst:
The brutal killing of Icheb. Don’t mind him being killed just too ugly.
Seven and Raffi as a couple. Just zero romantic chemistry IMO.
Picard now having a tragic back story
Beverly naming her 2nd son after her first husband
Re-naming the Titan the Enterprise
The overuse of STO ships. Especially the fugly Enterprise F
Incestious Romulan brother and sister duo
Shaw dying
Everything Rios in S2 except for him being Captain of the Stargazer
The Soongs looking pretty much identical for 400 years.
Project Khan

 

[aquova]

I'll admit to you all that I haven't seen Season 2. I was planning on waiting until it finished airing to watch it in one go, but the reviews were so negative I never did. Likewise, I only returned for Season 3 because the reviews were so positive.

Best:
- They had good ideas of what to focus each season on to move the universe forward. The Borg post Voyager, the Romulans post JJ Abrams, the Changelings post Dominion War.
- Some of the TNG crews' life trajectories were solid - the Trois, Geordi, Worf, and their entire reunion in S3 was well done.
- I really like Rios, easily my favorite of the new cast.
- Ro Laren's return was really well done, and I liked Tuvok's inclusion as well
- I'm not as crazy about Shaw as others, but I did really like him
- I like the Next Next Generation in Season 3 quite a bit (Geordi's kids and Jack)

Worst:
- I hate Raffi. I don't find her compelling or interesting, and thought she constantly blamed Picard for things that were her fault.
- Seven was really mixed for me. I think Jeri Ryan did well, but her I don't find her post-Voyager arc fitting with her character or circumstances as portrayed on that show.
- I always think Elnor is just the silliest character imaginable
- I think this show did serious damage to some aspects of the world forever more, such as how they portray androids.
- Too many changes in priority throughout the seasons. Season 1 ended up shifting between several mysteries, abandoning older ones, and season 3 dropped the Changeling threat halfway through.
- Picard as a golem raises serious questions the show doesn't want to even think about
- In the first season, he never felt like Picard to me, instead it was Patrick Stewart on my screen. Likewise, I don't believe the Crusher we knew would make any of the decisions they gave to her.
- Minor one: I really dislike holograms and don't think they look good or practical. A lot of the visual design went the wrong way for me

 

[MrPicard]

Best:

- The Picard/Q scenes, they really nailed those
- The general idea to take things somewhere new in the first two seasons

Worst:
- The lack of more Picard/Q scenes and Q in general - their promotional stuff for season 2 made it look like as if Q was going to be a major character
- The executiion of the idea to take things somewhere new in the first two seasons
- Season 3 being nothing but a glorified fanboy's TNG badfic (sorry but not sorry)

 

[evilchumlee]

Not really a "worst", just a pet peeve. I wish Guinan remembered "Time's Arrow", so we could definitively say the Punk remembered Star Trek IV. The version we saw, not some crazy alternate reality version. It plays like the Punk remembers what we do, and that's how I would've preferred to interpret it. "I just like the song!"

It could be both, at least to an extent. The Punk from S2 probably doesn't remember STIV as we know it.

Guinan wouldn't remember Time's Arrow because that almost certainly didn't happen... Confederation Picard probably never travelled to the 1800's. I think time travel is more complicated than "timeline split at x event". Other time travel would be affected by that as well.

In the case of the Punk... the whale probe was coming no matter what. Regardless of what happened in 2024, the whale probe was coming to Earth. It stands to reason that Confederation Kirk may have still time travelled to 1984, but it probably didn't play out the way we saw it.

With the time travel chicanery, even that version of 2024 is probably not quite the same as OTL Picard's, but is probably close enough.

 

[cal888]

More of a nitpick, but another S2 thing, using the actor who played Joel Ducane of the 29th century Federation... in a story about time travel... as a cop... and not having him be Ducane. That bugged me.

I think there's a strong behind the scenes reason for this. Matalas has said that the higher ups made season 2 "less Star Trek-y". I'm guessing the character is somehow a stub of a storyline tree branch that got cut off after the actor was already cast and under contract.

Zhaban's off-screen death. I don't mind that he died, just that it was off-screen and they didn't say why.

The easiest handwave would have been the acid blood that got on his hand couldn't be shaken off so easily. Would have also explained why Picard didn't have them try and catch up once his mission started getting more and more complicated. But I can see why TPTB wanted PS1 to be in the rear view mirror asap.

Guinan wouldn't remember Time's Arrow because that almost certainly didn't happen... Confederation Picard probably never travelled to the 1800's. I think time travel is more complicated than "timeline split at x event". Other time travel would be affected by that as well.

At least PS2 has the literal built in deus ex machina of "Q did it" for everything that happened between the first and last finger snap. It'd make sense why Q wanted to somehow temporarily alter Guinan's memory so she wouldn't be an easy go to for help, shortcutting his planned scenario. Even Picard's memory of his mother's death is a subjective recovered memory, so it's somewhat easier to handwave away.

 

[evilchumlee]

I think there's a strong behind the scenes reason for this. Matalas has said that the higher ups made season 2 "less Star Trek-y". I'm guessing the character is somehow a stub of a storyline tree branch that got cut off after the actor was already cast and under contract.

Totally plausible.

At least PS2 has the literal built in deus ex machina of "Q did it" for everything that happened between the first and last finger snap. It'd make sense why Q wanted to somehow temporarily alter Guinan's memory so she wouldn't be an easy go to for help, shortcutting his planned scenario. Even Picard's memory of his mother's death is a subjective recovered memory, so it's somewhat easier to handwave away.

I don't think it even needs to go that far. It's just a different timeline where Picard never went to the 1800's.

Although in the grand scheme, this might go into the "worst" bin... like... what was Q's point in sending Picard back to that point in time? In the beginning, Q goes on about how it's all Picard's fault... I get that Q wanted to force Picard to confront what happened with his mom, but... why send him to 2024? And why orchestrate the whole thing with Adam Soong? The best I have is that it was the usual Q being a bad guy... but not really... and he knew the Space Vagina Anomaly was coming, so he had to work things into position to make Jurati-Borg happen.

 

[fireproof78]

Although in the grand scheme, this might go into the "worst" bin... like... what was Q's point in sending Picard back to that point in time?

This is my biggest frustration is the seemingly purposelessness of it all. Picard has to go back in time to save history, and meet his relative to confront his past trauma? He meets a Romulan who looks like Laris but isn't Laris because...Q did it?

Even with the positive trauma work I appreciated with Picard, it was quite the head scratcher.

 

[evilchumlee]

This is my biggest frustration is the seemingly purposelessness of it all. Picard has to go back in time to save history, and meet his relative to confront his past trauma?

Yeah... I never quite understood all of it. And then de-powered Q in 2024 is still for some reason trying to push Adam Soong into killing Renee for... reasons?

He meets a Romulan who looks like Laris but isn't Laris because...Q did it?

That's one of those things I can excuse because I see at least a real-world reason for doing it. They had the actor, so why not? I do think Not!Laris is also an artifact from the original vision of S2... Matalas did suggest there would be Romulans. I think initially the connection with Laris was going to be more important. Instead it just became "Oh, this Romulan might be related to Laris. Neat."

I should watch S2 again. Add another to my "Best" list, the inclusion of Watchers of all things was pretty cool. Was not expecting that. It's something that totally makes sense given the lore, just never expected to see that.

 

[cal888]

In the beginning, Q goes on about how it's all Picard's fault... I get that Q wanted to force Picard to confront what happened with his mom, but... why send him to 2024?

One thing to keep in mind is the season was shot out of order (anything on the Stargazer was the last shot). "Penance" was mostly shot in the first block. So they might have had a different arc in mind as to why Q was so angry towards Picard that got rerouted.

That's one of those things I can excuse because I see at least a real-world reason for doing it. They had the actor, so why not? I do think Not!Laris is also an artifact from the original vision of S2... Matalas did suggest there would be Romulans. I think initially the connection with Laris was going to be more important. Instead it just became "Oh, this Romulan might be related to Laris. Neat."

Original plan was to have the Laris of the alternate Confederation timeline travel back with them to the 21st century. The Gary 7 connection was always baked in, as Michael Chabon contributed to that plot, but was soon out.

Maybe we should try and crowd source a what really happened to season 2 timeline and accounts? Eeh, it would just be hijacked by bad faith hot takes denouncing anyone for listening to what Terry Matalas had to say...