I've finally watched this and I'm happy to say it was worth all the wait, even though it was much, much more understated than what I expected; it felt almost like a cross between a Spielberg historical drama and a Darabont Stephen King-adaptation, taking place in the Star Trek universe. Emotional, intrigueing, exciting, saturated with an all-encompassing feeling of wistful, longing nostalgia. Almost as if something were missing, which proved a perfect backdrop to how Picard feels in his retirement. He's not at home in Burgundy at all, and it shows.
Seriously, at first I was afraid that I'll be watching Sir Patrick be, well, Sir Patrick with all his grumpiness and snark, and then the interview happened, he raised his voice and he instantly sublimed into Captain Picard all over again. The passion, the strength, the moral high ground, it was all there and I almost cried, which was a relief after watching the intro with Old!JLP being basically indistinguishable from PatStew. But the moment he said 'Because it was no longer Starfleet.', he become Jean-Luc Picard for me again. Not to mention when he was asked whether he ever lost faith in Data. There was only one answer he could say, really.
In fact, I almost cried multiple times over the episode. While I've felt absolutely excited with Discovery when it first came out, Picard gave me a feeling of being home. The dream sequences with NEM and TNG Data, the Enterprise-D and the recognizable LCARS (with both Voyager and TNG sound effects!), the Stargazer and Enterprise-E in the archives as well as the old (TNG and movie) and new uniforms, they all radiated a sense of belonging. Picard's dreams were also eerily beautiful, projecting an aura of familiarity while remaining just a lil' bit creepy, and they kinda-sorta felt like Data's dreams from TNG, the only thing missing was the fish-eye lens from the camera.
And the interview was beautiful. That Dunkerque analogy, and how he insisted it wasn't about 'Romulan' lives but simply
lives, it pulled me right in. It felt like a typical news TV interview with an antagonistic reporter where I'd end up siding with the interviewee. The parallels between our current political situation and the 24th century were showcased beautifully without being too heavy-handed in my opinion.
I was really intrigued by the plot's apparent connection to Dr. Soong's work and specifically Data, and I was glad how readily Picard accepted Dahj's being a progeny of Data. He definitely remembered Lal and Dr. Tainer. I've found Dahj really sympathetic despite not learning much about her; she was just a normal twenty-something way in over her head, and afraid, so very afraid. I was surprised that she died and only time will tell how I'll feel about her having a twin. Seeing something posing as her mom (considering that her mom knew about Picard despite her not speaking to her for days) and imploring her to seek Picard's assistance also piqued my interest immediately... could it be something similar to Book!Control, by any chance? If not, what was it? And last but not least, what was it about Data's essence being 'stored' in all his descendants? I'm intrigued, very intrigued. Me likey. Do want.
Random observations:
- Poor Picard has to order Tea, Earl Grey, decaf. Being old sucks.
- De Niro the Pitbull is awfully cute! I had to rewind the episode just so that I could watch his mouth flap in the wind as he was running, OMG.
- I loved the news report using random TNG and movie screencaps, like If Memory Serves. Just to drive home the fact that while DSC- and TNG-era productions might look different, they still depict the same things.
- Speaking of the news report, the QWERTY keyboard the typist was using was also neat, not to mention the civilian clothes being similar to 21st century norms - I still think it's better to project an air of familiarity rather than invent ridiculous future fashions out of the whole cloth just for the hell of it (I'm looking at ya, 24th century jumpsuits).
- Not to mention finally seeing some of the end products of Federation news media. I've been intrigued by future TV since Babylon 5's ISN and their occasional episodes framed as in-universe news reports.
- I love how Paris looks wildly different in every single Star Trek production. It's almost like a staple of the franchise now.
- I was glad Picard readily recognized the assailants as Romulan, because their transporters sounded like Romulan ones from TNG, only much, much quicker.
- 'Synths.' I just love that word, being a Fallout fan. Even better, Dahj is basically a Generation 3 Synth from Fallout 4, being indistinguishable from Humans.
- And of course, you can't speak about Soong-type androids without namedropping our friend Bruce. I missed him.