My only issue with how it ended for Rios is the whole being detained by ICE subplot. While I think it was a good idea to have some political allegory in Season 2, the idea that a man who had just been interned/tasered would immediately pivot to "the 21st century is the best EVAR!" is ridiculous.
That's my point. Which you still seem to be mussing. He didn't immediately pivot to it. He loved aspects of it already. The music. The medium. The writing. The cigars. He didn't think it was the best EVA! He thought he was happier there than where he was. He was miserable in his present and happier there, with Teresa. Without her, he comes back.
I liked the original cast, but I also don't think there's reasons for them to go on multiple adventures together anyway. Picard hired Rios for a job that was resolved at the end of season 1. Soji is basically a new life form and found out there were others like her - why would she want to hang out with Picard, Rios, Raffi, etc... Rios could have either kept on doing what he was doing was his own ship, or as we saw in season 2, rejoined Starfleet. With him in Starfleet there could have been potential to keep him on board like they kept Raffi or at least kept him in the 25th century universe. Elnor completed his duty with Picard's cause and then joined the academy. No real story reason to keep him around. Jurati had her own career-unless she was going to become Picard's science officer no reason to keep her around either and I actually like the way her story resolved.
I have to say that after Season 2 I think I would agree. There was pretty thin reasons to have them back together and I think that the natural conclusion of Season 1 was a good wrap up and a reminder that some team ups are just temporary.
I really wish they would have done more with Laris though. I really liked the actress and think it would have been better had that character gone to the past and been the one to help Picard with his trauma in season 2 instead of having someone in the past who looked just like her.
No, never. Nemesis made no mention of who the XO of the Titan was supposed to be, while Lower Decks has shows the position held by two individuals, a Saurian male in season 1 and a female of a new species in season 2.
While I love S2 for exploring Picard's trauma and handled that quite well, the mechanism for doing so too complicated for my liking. A different Q fantasy style with Laris as well.
Jurati was a phenomenal character played by a world class actor. I've come to terms with letting them all go. Picard Seasons 1 and 2 are the kind of high concept half baked weirdness we probably will never get in Star Trek again.
There's no plot reason Elnor, Soji, or Laris couldn't reappear. Borg-Agnes is probably tied up in Federation-Borg Commonwealth* politics, but there's nothing per se preventing her from returning either. Guinan was pretty firm that Cris died in the 21st Century though. I wish Elnor were posted aboard the Titan or assisting with Raffi's mission on M'Talas. * The name I made up to distinguish her band of consensual Borg from the oppressive Borg Collective we saw in TNG and VOY. I for one would love to watch Star Trek: Seven of Nine starring Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, and Evan Evangora. Nope. Exactly. Bringing back the Next Generation cast was something Terry Matalas decided to do after he took over. It was never Michael Chabon's original plan. I mean, I think the idea that they had all come to love Jean-Luc -- particularly Soji, who had adopted him as a sort of ersatz grandfather -- would have been reason enough for them to stay aboard La Sirena and get into some sort of adventure together. But it's very much about his relationships with them. In particular, the climax of S1 was Soji and Jean-Luc coming to accept one-another as ersatz grandfather/granddaughter. That scene was a promissory note that the Jean-Luc/Soji relationship would be the cornerstone of the entire series going forward. And then they completely threw Soji overboard next season. C'est la vie. 100% agreed.
I have no desire to see Elnor again - the character was quickly reduced to mild comic relief and the actor was very limited. The loss of Laris, Rios and Jurati is huge, though - I'd much rather see them than the rest of the TNG crew.
I don't think it's a matter of Evangora being limited. I think it's a matter of, they never quite figured out what Elnor wanted out of life, what made him hungry, what parts of him were strong and what parts of him were broken. If they'd done that, I think the character would have worked better. I for one think it's an absolute crime that we never got to see Elnor and Soji building a relationship -- what would they have been like together, these early-20s young adults surrounded by people in their 40s or more? Would they have become ersatz siblings? Lovers? Rivals? Friends? Enemies? Wasted potential there.
Elnor reminded me so much of Elrond that I kept referring to him by that name accidentally. A poorly written character and frankly a bore. I don't miss his character at all.
I have to agree here. They introduced the Kowat Milat or whatever the spelling is and shoehorned it into Discovery as well. They never addressed that he was apparently the only male ever in the order and the fact that Picard, from his persepctive, had abandoned him. It is just suddenly fixed. Then he decides to help Hugh and Seven. Apparently, you can switch quests midway through? Season 2 also never gave him an ending. He is just suddenly alive and happy to be so. Another problem is the need for each season to be its own contained story. It forced the majority of storylines to be done by the finale & didn't carry a lot from season to season. Even if the series is supposed to be about Picard, you can't have a bunch of poorly developed characters for him to play off of. Both Rios and Raffi had some pretty significant PTSD. In Rios' case, he seems to be cured at the end of season two. In Raffi's case, it defines her character and informs what she does, but it causes to fly off the handle. And who decided to put an obviously mentally compromised person in the intelligence bureau? The only character they did right by was Soji, who really should've been an ambassador for her people upon their introduction to the rest of the universe. It felt like Isa Briones was shoehorned into season two as an excuse to bring back Brent Spiner in yet another Soong role (don't get me started on how much I've hated forcing him into the storyline in the first two seasons).
Almost as if they didn't have a roadmap or plan for S2, and were just winging it as it went on. I liked Rios. He would have been the one character I would have liked to continue into S3. Hell, I think the M'Talas storyline may have been a bit more fun and watchable if it was Rios and his holograms going undercover.
At the very least, you could have Rios come back as some sort of sentient hologram who is a member of Starfleet. It would be a first, especially if said hologram was in a command position. Short of that, but less likely, Rios comes back as a synthetic being. Like Picard did, whi h would be ironic.
Star Trek Online did that with a copy of Stamets from the Mushroom Kingdom, and haven't used him since lmao.
I don't think any characters should be tossed away and forgotten. I don't see them bringing them back as a team, because they were never really a crew to begin with. But individually, all the characters could be used again, and used well. Rios' story feels wrapped, and I'm ok with that. Jurati's fate is basically a cliffhanger. Elnor is pretty cool and needs to have a team up with Worf. Soji should appear if they decide to jump into a synth storyline again. Kore is a Traveler and could show up on Discovery.