I love BEY. But that was the least emotionally impacting Enterprise demise of my lifetime. I think I cared more about the real life nuclear aircraft carrier(CVN-65) being decommissioned than I did about the Kelvin Timeline Enterprise being destroyed.
A little over a month later, I'm getting back into this. I already re-watched and re-rated PIC Season 2, so now I'm doing the same with Season 1. Waiting for the food I'm microwaving, and setting up the projector, then we're getting this thing started with "Remembrance"! I gave PIC Season 2 an 8.05 out of 10, and I consider it to be the weakest season of the three. So it'll be interesting to see how Season 1 compares. Will it break a 9?
I'm watching season 1 at the moment (again). Currently watching episode 8. At the moment, probably would grade it 6 or 7.
Unpopular Opinion: I still like Picard Season 1 better than the other two seasons, better than Disco, better than SNW, and better than the rest of Star Trek. This is just as good as I remembered. Great cinematography, great choreography, lots of dramatic layers, and it feels more adult than any other Star Trek. I would've loved seven seasons of this. "Remembrance" --> 10
Nine of the ten episodes of Season 1 got good or great ratings from me. "Nepenthe" was in many ways the peak of the freshman season and the show didn't in my own opinion offer up a real dud until the season finale. The interdimensional AI robot tentacles and the anticlimactic feel of much of Dr. Altan Soong's Synth community were serious strikes against the overall quality of the first season of the series but for the most part I liked it better than either of the first two seasons of DSC and definitely a lot more than PIC Season 2.
I think a big criticism of S1 for me is that a lot of big important things happened to JLP off-screen and we're just told about it. Mainly, the whole thing with his deep connections and work with the Romulans. Apparently in the time in between the events of NEM and PIC S1 we are asked to believe that JLP developed a very strong bond with the Romulan people and affinity for their culture and Starfleet's handling of their plight made him jaded...which, ok, I guess....but it would've been more interesting to SEE this bond being developed and drive the events of the season. His conversation with the nasty admiral would've been better if HE was the one saying "sheer fucking hubris" to HER about Starfleet's handling of the crisis. There are other choices they could have made, though not without their own challenges. JLP had an affinity for the Bajorans, but Sisko is the one who really took up this mantle, and then of course the most obvious choice is the Klingons, but this would've been hard to do without a beat-for-beat retelling of the TNG episodes about this. It was hard for me to be invested in the Romulan stuff because it was all just out of nowhere or obliquely referred to in other things without being something that made sense for JLP. I do give them credit for dealing with the out-of-universe decision to blow up the Romulan sun, which would of course have massive repercussions in-universe.
I mean his speech on Nemesis showed he had a certain appreciation for the Romulans, and their history and the possibilities of a relationship. At least I found that connection sufficient.
Sure, but we always repeat the trope/canard "show, don't tell" as a guiding principle of good entertainment on television/in movies, and...NEM is not a well-constructed or well-conceived piece of the franchise so using things from it as essential/foundational world-building pieces in PIC is like building s skyscraper in quicksand.
Amusing to me given the ongoing calls for acknowledging continuity. Nemesis is part of the story. So, personally I think it is an interesting way to carry forward as well as Picard's more personal investment both because of Shinzon and Picard's connection to Spock.
Well, Shinzon isn't Romulan, they created him for...reasons...and I can't imagine that them doing this would endear the Romulans to JLP. The Spock and Reunification angle is a much stronger one and I think that they missed the opportunity. JLP could've used the refugee crisis as a way to try and advance the Reunification cause (one he'd already been involved with). Even if they went with exactly what they chose, I think it would've been more impactful to SHOW us what happened and how it caused him to sour on Starfleet and his role in it. What they ended up doing was "fine," but it could've been great, and I think they missed the mark a bit. Everyone was already mad and it wasn't clear why other than what we got from a few lines of dialogue.
Missed the memo to be mad again. So? Picard may still feel that responsibility, illogical though it might be.
What I mean is Shinzon was/is not going to be a force that bonds JLP to the Romulan people/culture. ETA: Commander Donatra could have been but she was not well-used in the movie. ETA again: the characters were mad, not the fans....(fans are always mad)
Who said the Romulans would bond? Picard took Shinzon's existence personally and felt responsible. So he would keep trying. And then Spock would also be a strong influence. Could it be better? Sure but it's definitely the least of my objections in the season.
I can't really complain since I would love a strong version of Nemesis since the Romulans rarely get any love
I think that is also a part of my frustration...the Romulans are an OG antagonist and were always interesting...in TOS, TNG, and DS9 most if not all of their appearances were in good/well-regarded episodes and I always felt that they were leaving money on the table by not exploring them more. Heck, Deanna Troi's best episode is a Romlulan one!
Understandable. And, again it would be nice to see more but it's not my biggest issue in Season 1 which built upon past stories.
It definitely remains my favourite season between Picard and Discovery, but I did like SNW much more. Did you read Una McCormack's prequel novel? (Also author of the best trek book ever) I think it did a lot of heavy lifting that really added to the season, and put in to text some of Chabon's really deep ideas for the romulans and their secret-box culture. Well worth reading if you can