Spoilers Rewatching season 3 (after knowing the ending)

[James Cole]

I thought it might be interesting to start a thread regarding a season 3 rewatch after knowing what was in the mystery box, and how it all turned out.

I'm about to cancel Paramount+, so I did a rewatch over the last two days.

Some initial impressions:

• The Borg role is heavily foreshadowed. It's only thinking oh they aren't going to go to the Borg well ~again~ that all the hints would be disregarded.
• Shaw actually has a much smaller role than you'd think binge watching the episodes. His apparent death was too rushed.
• Aside from the M'Talas scenes, the first four episodes flow a lot better pacing wise than on initial impression. The never ending nebula has a faster pace.
• The season really peaks around episodes 304-306.
• 307 either should have been a fast paced 35 minute episode, or included portions with Riker/Troi on the Shrike and Worf/Raffi doing something.
• 308 should have ended with Jack leaving for the cube. With the slow pacing of 307/308, the ending of the Changeling arc does come too suddenly and only has a handwave resolution.
• 309 still remains the most problematic episode for me. The Jack reveal is mishandled in racing through it, the sudden Borg reveal and subsequent bloodshed likewise are not given the room to breathe they need.
• 310 manages to recover from many 309 errors, but it rests on nostalgia to paper over the flaws, which does mostly work and serves to stick the landing character wise.
• Very happy with the Q post-credit scene.
• Considering the time and budget constraints, I'd give the season an 8/10. With an extra month of production time and funding, I'd like to see what the team would have done with a few more resources.

It's far from a perfect season. But it is by far the best season of Star Trek since ENT season 4, and certainly tops some VGR and ENT seasons. I see the season aging well, and becoming much more well regarded than say INS and NEM. Not bad!

 

[WarpFactorZ]

Some initial impressions:

• The Borg role is heavily foreshadowed. It's only thinking oh they aren't going to go to the Borg well ~again~ that all the hints would be disregarded.

I figured this right after episode 1 aired. The very first thing we hear is Picard's log entry from BoBW. In fact, I specifically said:

If he is indeed Picard's son, then I suspect there's something Borgy about his DNA that makes him some kind of genetic goldmine (immortality, maybe -- also why the DNA strand is in the credits). There's a reason the opening scene had Picard's log from BoBW playing (i.e. "Captain's log, stardate 43996.2. The Enterprise remains concealed in the dust cloud. And to my surprise, the Borg have maintained their position, waiting for us to come out of hiding. I have no explanation for their special interest in me or this ship."). I feel like we're going to get a retcon about them seeing Picard as a perfect genetic match for assimilation or something like that. He wasn't just their spokesperson.

 

[vulcancicada]

I rewatched it and felt similarly about 1-5, peak at 5-6 was great, 7-9 obnoxious, 10 is a TNG movie. They should have just gone full borg from episode 1 and forewent the changeling red herring. Season 1 was far less predictable and that was why I was fooled into thinking they wouldn't do the borg...again.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

... that was why I was fooled into thinking they wouldn't do the borg...again.

Each season is essentially a different person's take on how the Picard/Borg story should have been wrapped up. It's unfortunate the planning was too disjoint and didn't build to S3 the way a proper trilogy pans out.