Spoilers Did Picard finally ''right the ship'' with Picard season 3?

Season 1 if Picard was damn near perfect up until the last three episodes, basically when they suddenly decided to go all Galactic Apocalypse. Season 2 is flawed but largely enjoyable. Season 3 is so far shaping up to be fanwank and memberberries.

 

So far and I know we’re just a tenth of the way in, it’s going exactly the way I expected: the TNG fan in me is squeeing over the return of all of things 90s Trek. The let’s explore new things in me says, “Shaw, Seven and Raffi are doing interesting things. Everything else? Meh.”

 

It's too early to say if it "Righted the ship".

Seasons one and two are objectively bad. It's going to take more than one good season to fix this things.

BTW, the first two seasons aren't bad because they're different. They're bad because the writing is bad.

 

Season 1 had a much greater budget and suffered from shear fucking hubris.

FWIW, I'm actually somewhat sympathetic to season 2. They had to deal with constant Covid changes, early studio interference, and having to shoot almost everything on location. Most of the season 2 writing staff will have episodes in season 3. As the showrunner of season 2, Akiva Goldsman could have done a much better job in the editing bay and tried to fix many of the inconsistencies that cropped up.

 

IMO, this is Trek at its finest. The work of human hands.

There's no shortage of boilerplate "franchises" out there whose sole purpose is to make as much money as possible from an IP. It's very rare that you see the human element woven into the fabric.

Disco went to Iceland.

 

Seeing as how this is the last season I guess Star Trek is ruined. It's good to know this is completely objective and no one will ever question it again.

I knew disco wasn't dead!

 

I disagree that season one was near perfect. It was bad throughout. Best part was probably the Riker/Troi scene.

 

I'm lukewarm to Season 1 and actively dislike Season 2 and still I think this is a stupid statement.

 

Some good food at Iceland

 

Let's discuss this after maybe 5 episodes instead of 1...?

 

It is too early to tell. The first couple episodes of S1 & S2 were damn good as well. As were S1 & S2 of DISCO. Nu Trek tends to struggle more in the end and the middle.

Though I will say that I thought most of S1 was pretty darn good. I just rewatched it. And the Data death scene buys me a lot of goodwill towards the finale's other flaws.

S2 ended stronger, though it had a lot more "Come ON!" moments, particulary the action sequnces, fight scenes, and such. I don't have a big issue with Rios, Jurati, Elnor, getting written out the way they did. If that is the price to pay for sending the TNG crew out properly, so be it. If we continue on in the 25th (or 21st), perhaps we see them again.

 

Agree in the main, especially on the S3 conpared to S2 & S1.

TOS: S1 > S2 > S3.
TNG: S3 > S2 > S1.

I know there may be some who disagree with that, but probably not many. And I am not talking about ordinal rankings, I am talking a change in overall quality. I'd use an = if appropriate.

I don't have as good a memory on DS9 or VOY. I remember DS9 being pretty good pretty fast. VOY was so up and down for me, IDK if any seasons were THAT much of a jump. Maybe S4?

I'd put S3 of ENT as a leap from 1&2. And S4 yet again. Though my favorite episode is in S2 (Carbon Creek). More like:
S3 > S2 = S1.

I'd put Disco on the TOS trajectory. I really liked S2 until about halfway.

I thought S2 of LD was my favorite, and S3 probably the weakest. Though the finale was REALLY good. As was S2's.

For me, Pic S1 was demonstrably better than S2. Though I liked the S2 finale more. Though I get why Rios/Jurati/Elnor stans don't.

 

One thing I will say that has been righted is Picard himself. Which maybe the reason, or part of the reason, that things feel "right" again for many viewers.

I mean, in S1 he had survivor's guilt about Data's death and felt bitter and resentful towards Starfleet about the Rimulan evacuation and likely a bit ashamed of himself for abandoning the Romulans.

In S2 he is dealing with commitment issues. Which stem from childhood issues. On top of that, it was mostly a ground bound season.

S3 finds him whole again.

 

Except for TNG season 3 being stronger than seasons 1 and 2 and DS9 season 3 being weaker than season 4, I disagree with your entire post.


TOS season 3 - while I have come to appreciate it more, overall, as the years have gone by, I still feel it is the weakest of the 3 seasons. For every good episode, there are two bad-mediocre ones... 1/3 of a season being good is hardly a win.

TNG season 3 - fully agree with you about the jump in quality between 2 and 3 being equivalent to between 1 and 2. You're hard pressed to find a bad episode here... "Transfigurations" is really the only one I feel is a clunker, but it's more that I find it boring than bad.

DS9 season 3 - I actually love this season, and feel it is an improvement from season 2. You have some more focus on Sisko, you have some good fun and comedic episodes here ("THE HOUSE OF QUARK", "FASCINATION", "EXPLORERS"), you have big game changers here ("THE SEARCH" and "IMPROBABLE CAUSE"/"THE DIE IS CAST" two-parters) that really push the overall series forward, and you have a lot of wonderful episodes that focus entirely on (or have one of the two main plots) recurring characters, giving them forward momentum. (Garak, Nog, Dukat, Winn) It isn't as strong as DS9 season 4, but that's because it is the closest thing to a perfect season the franchise ever got... of course it will be considered weak in comparison.

VGR - season 3 was definitely a decline from season 2, almost entirely in the middle of the season. It started off strong ("THE CHUTE", "REMEMBER", "FUTURE'S END", "WARLORD") and ended strong ("DISTANT ORIGIN", "DISPLACED", "WORST CASE SCENARIO", "SCORPION"), but the middle was full of so much mediocrity, you can tell Jeri Taylor was the head writer that season. (Like she was with TNG season 7, which was full of even more mediocrity. While I really like many of the episodes she has written for TNG and VGR, I don't think she was a good showrunner. Sort of the same way I feel about Brannon Braga, though he did very well being the showrunner for VGR season 5.)

ENT season 3 - definitely an improvement from season 2. There were some clunkers, but at least there was more focus on what they were trying to do. A far cry from the very bland season 2.

DISCO season 3 - anything would have been an improvement over season 2, which frankly the main saving grace was Anson Mount as Pike. While it didn't stick the landing and kind of meandered in the middle, at least it wasn't the train wreck of the previous season.

LD season 3 - superb season overall, and I would say it's an improvement to what I felt was a very good season 2. Without question, one of the best third seasons in the franchise.

PIC season 3 - again, impossible to tell from only the season premiere airing, but I loved the premiere. I simply hope it doesn't nosedive like season 2 and lose itself like season 1.


These are, of course, my opinions. But I do find it interesting how we have virtually polar opposite opinions on many things in the franchise while being the same age. (If memory serves me, you were also born in 1979.)

Since I have a goatee, I am forced to wonder... am I the one from the mirror universe?

 

Season 1 of PIC was generally underrated like S4 of DSCO, and I didn't even mind the Reaper AI subplot of being one of the possible destroyers the T'Kon and Iconian civilisations, as it made the Trek setting feel bigger, deeper, and darker - it felt more crowded than S2.

Season 2 felt like busywork and padding around an alternate 2020s LA, though it had a better ending episode than S1.

I'm still looking forward to S3 and my opinion of Picard is that it's less a TV show and more a TNG version of the Kelvin films in terms of quality.

 

The opinions online are that yet they did right the ship, but that they did not light the ship

 

No.

 

It's only one episode.

 

I think so! I can't stand facial hair!