Spoilers So, what do we think of Season 2 now that it's done?

That wouldn't have worked. If they had approached Sir Patrick like that he would have flat out said no if they had told him they were going to make TNG season 8 or a TNG season 8 mini series. He was literally planning to tell them no even before he met them. The only reason he met with them in the first place was out of respect. He was fully prepared to turn them down. The only reason he didn't turn them down was because they said "Picard is different now, time has passed for both him and for you, and we want to explore this idea". If they had said "we're gonna have a mini series with a TNG cast reunion and you'll be picking up where you left after Nemesis... the old uniform still fits, right?" he would have turned them down at warp speed, and no amount of negotiation whatsoever would have changed his mind. He doesn't need the money they would have offered him. Neither does he need the prestige that comes with being a series lead. He can pick and choose what he does nowadays, and he turned down a lot of Trek-related offers in the past decades because none of them interested him - they were most likely all built the same way, with a "Picard is still in Starfleet in whatever position and he has to go on another mission to save the universe and it's a nostalgia fest and he's basically still the same guy we saw in Nemesis".

He only began to change his mind when they shot "Nepenthe" and he realized how nice it was to have Frakes and Sirtis back, and to explore what the other TNG characters have been up to. That one is btw STILL the premise for season 3. It's not that they're all gonna walk in at the same time like "g'day Jean-Luc old chap long time no see". He has said repeatedly that they appear at different points and stages in season 3 and that every single one of them has had character development and a life of their own and none of them are the same they were when we last saw them on TNG. Yes, it's still TNG season 8 but it does come with this one premise Sir Patrick has always been adamant about - time needs to have passed, the characters are therefore all different (I mean is anyone here still the same person they were 20 years ago? No) and the audience needs to be made aware of it.

He did always say he wanted for the other TNG characters to show up on PIC as well IF there was sufficient reason and room for it, but season 2 obviously had very little room for this (except for Q's return, of course), so, it all HAD to be crammed into season 3, AND they had to find some really good reasons. I don't think they had it all planned out this way when they did the first season tho. I think back then the plan was still "when and if it's necessary to bring the TNG crew back". The fact that it's now all in one season is something that I'm very sure Terry Matalas pushed for the most. It's why he basically abandoned the second season and left it to Goldsman and focused on bringing everyone back for the third season, after all.

 

Let's see....I'll put it like this:

On the streaming service, I'd watched about half of season 1. It took me about 6 months or so to finally convince myself to buy Season 1 on DVD. I've gotten through the first 2 episodes again.

As for Season 2, hey, Q is back! LOVE Q so why not, just jump into Season 2. Again, I've watched about half the season so far. The other day, I saw the new DVD release of Season 2 and mulled over buying it...still am mulling it over.

The characters are great all around from old stalwarts like Picard & Seven to the new additions like Raffi & Rios. However, I wish they had better stories to contend with. I slowly lose interest in the plots of both of these seasons over time till I feel forced (or obligated) to try and finish watching them, a feeling I don't appreciate at all when it comes to Trek.

 

PIC Season 1 needed to happen in order to get Patrick Stewart onboard at all.

PIC Season 2 needed to happen to demonstrate the main cast from S1 had no real reason to all stay together on La Sirena after the storyline from last season wrapped up. It also needed to write out some of those characters, so it won't feel like an abrupt switch. Rios is in the past, Jurati is with her own faction of the Borg, Soji is promoting Android Rights, and Elnor is at Starfleet Academy.

So now we're coming up upon PIC Season 3 where Terry Matalas gets to live out his dream: Giving TNG a proper send-off. Before someone says "All Good Things" was a proper send-off, it was in its own way, but the expectation everyone always had when TNG was on TV was that it would eventually go to Movies. That's what was expected. It's what I thought was going to happen, it's what everyone thought was going to happen, and it was certainly what we knew was going to happen in 1994. All of us who viewed "All Good Things", when it first aired, thought of it as a goodbye to the characters on TV, not to the characters forever. Nemesis looked like it was going to be the goodbye forever after it flopped, and that was pretty shitty. I'm glad they're able to fix this while the actors are still alive and healthy.

Under any other circumstances, I wouldn't be too thrilled with one cast being swapped out for another, but Picard is an unusual circumstance. I honesty can't see seven seasons of a situation like PIC Season 1. It would've just gotten sillier and sillier over time for why the original PIC cast was still together. And it looks like the TNG characters have all moved on with their lives. They weren't all just static between Nemesis and Picard.

So, even with a few ups-and-downs during Season 2, it still looks like the series overall is progressing the way it looks like it was meant to be.

 

Please explain why would you want to switch the cast at all after we've gotten to know and like them for Season 1? Mind you, I'm not overly impressed or interested in a TNG reunion. We had "All Good Things" and the movies to begin with.

It's nice to have the crew back but they should be guest stars, not the focus.

 

I'm not re-typing what I already typed, so I'll cut-and-paste: PIC Season 2 needed to happen to demonstrate the main cast from S1 had no real reason to all stay together on La Sirena after the storyline from last season wrapped up. It also needed to write out some of those characters, so it won't feel like an abrupt switch. Rios is in the past, Jurati is with her own faction of the Borg, Soji is promoting Android Rights, and Elnor is at Starfleet Academy.

Not a cut-and-paste: Picard brought Rios, Raffi, and Jurati along to go find Soji. Picard was paying Rios for this mission. Along the way, they picked up Elnor and Seven. Once the mission was complete, that was really it. It was all temporary. It's really as simple as that.

Plus, I figure they'll replace Picard with another 25th Century show. Not everyone is super-excited to see more of the TOS Era (I'm not. Once Discovery went into the Future, I was done with the 23rd Century) and not everyone is interested in DSC's new time-frame in The Future either. That makes the 25th Century the safest bet. So we'll probably see these characters again in some capacity.

 

While I had no issue with the crew staying together, in all honest there was little that kept some of them around, like Elnor or Juranti, in terms of their personal journeys. Now, I am someone who loves the crew, but actually believes strongly in a rotation if the story requires it. I can see both sides, but there is little there in Season 2 that keeps them all there.

Agreed.

 

Picard Season 2:

Start with episode 1 and skip to episode 10 - nothing else in the season matters at all. It was all tosh.

I watched season 1 and apart from the last 2 episodes thought it was ok - possibly needed 2 more shows to round out the story or less padding in the middle.

Season 2 started strong, then just went shark jumping relay. Stupid thing to stupid thing.

Some of the worse:
Leaving a Borg Queen unsecured on the ship awake.
The Mercs just standing there while Soong/Borg Queen injected them with something obviously 'wrong' instead of just shooting them or bugging out.
All of the Soong plot.
Pretending that Our past is Star Trek's past, when its been clear its an alternative timeline since TOS.
Allowing a Borg Queen to fly off in a 25th C ship from an alternative universe in the 20thC!
The idea that there is a 'good guy' Borg faction that will work with the UFP - WTF?
That anomaly in the first place.
Letting Rios stay in the 20thC
Q dying - ascending I could of brought, but dying nope?

There where some nice touches and Easter Eggs, but no amount of fan service could fix this.

If they had gone back in time to the past of the Confederation's dimension and everything took place there before Q brought them back to their proper Timeline then it would have made some sense and also tied into the 'planes of existence' Q mentioned in All Good Things.

To me, this season stunk of Studio interference, writers not having an ending before filming started (again!), and plans screwed over due to COVID.

It was overall bad. 4/10.

My fix would be to lean into a more sci-fi premise for the show- Jurati''s Borg come through the rift and the Queen beams on-board, before she says anything, a fleet (evil Ent-D!) appears and demands they surrender the Deviants- there is a battle and a warp core breech- Q takes Picard and some key people (not Elnor) to the Confederation and tells Picard this is where the Borg came from, but he cannot return them until 'pieces are in place' - Picard meets/rescues the Queen- she is not like the Borg he remembers, time travel, 2024- which is not Picard's past's Earth, but not 'our' Earth either- make it darker, more polluted- what we could be in 2-3 years maybe.

Guinan is not the same here (she never met Inquisitor Picard in the 19thC). They try to figure out what Q wants to happen. Rios gets injured so Severn and Raffi go to find him. Jurati and the Queen talk/merge while they are away. Rios gets busted. Picard finds out about his ancestor's space flight on Europa and realised he needs to make sure it happens. Gary Seven of his reality picks him up and warns him about interference, but Picard mentions Q and Gary realises there is a Paradox at work.

Other forces want Europa to fail however- Captain Green of the US military is bribing Astronaut Picard's Doc to sign her off as medically unfit which would scrap the mission at this late stage. Green is vehemently against anything 'space' as the thinks the money should go into military spending. With help from Gary, Picard and co realise they have to delete the medical recommendation and help Picard gain confidence. They crash the launch party. Seven and Jurati handle a little local hacking in a NASA control room. Raffi and Rios run distraction for Green and security- Seven gets called to help, and Jurati has to accept the merger with the Queen fully to succeed. Picard does an epic speech to Picard. Files are deleted. Picard tells her flight director she is good to go. Green realises Picard and co are in on it, but things they work for the 'Euro Hegemony'.

On launch day Green tries some last second BS which is prevented by the Doc from earlier punching him out. Europa flies. Green tracks Picard and co to France and launches an attack on the estate; JuratiBorg demands command of the Ship to defend them and gets it - she then hacks the 'primitive' Smart tech the troops are using to overwhelm them with 'white noise'. Picard realises he needs to give her the ship as that closes the circle back in his own universe. He does and Q appears, then with a smile takes them back to their own time.

Picard and co appear on the Stargazer moments before the attack starts. He ask the Queen to sync the fleet and she plugs into the ship, using its the fleets Borg communications to co-ordinate them and her ship to fight the invaders at a speed the organics cannot. The Confederation fleet retreats and the Rift is sealed. Queen JaffiBorg introduces herself properly, and requests asylum. Roll credits.

 

For something even more different:

Stargazer responds to an anomaly - Borg signals, fleet starts shows up. Seven and Raffi sort out their relationship - 1 episode

Q shows up and messes with Picard's head - shows him his Mum and encourages him to form relationships and then ascends - 2 episodes

Anomaly opens, ripping a hole in reality- Stargazer sucked in. It’s an Alt 2024 where Soong needs to be stopped before he wakes up some Borg bits found in the Arctic/merges then with some Augment DNA. Juarti makes a sacrifice and infects herself with the mixture. Rio’s breaks Prime Directive and brings a family onto Stargazer to save them after Borg wake up. Jurarti escapes in a DY-500 with Borgified mercs. Seven gets Stargazer back to reality. - 3 episodes

Rios is in poop for bringing people forward, but Picard takes pity. Rios helps them adjust and romance blooms. Something is coming in rift. More fleet arrives Inc La Forge, Martok, and Elinor on various ships. Picard calls Crusher- 1 episode

Borg-ish ship rips its way out of rift. Queen Juarti begs for UFP asylum/help. In the Alt universe Soong ascended to political office, augmented all Humans and founded the Confederation of Humanity (flashbacks) Jurati’s CyBorgs are not the Collective. Jurati beams to Stargazer and offers a link with Severn, no firewalls, unlimited access. Picard is hesitant, but Severn steps up. - Jurati is telling the truth, they are the last of their kind. A debate ensures. - 1 episode.

Something is detected in the Rift. It’s a huge fleet of Confederation ships. Picard orders a line- Inc the CyBorg ship. Commander on the other side is DarkData - no other ‘dark’ duplicates are present due to changed history. DarkData demands the CyBorg, but Picard refuses. HUGE SPACE BATTLE! At the end La Sirena is rammed into the huge World Crusher Enterprise with Severn and Elnor just escaping - 1 episode.

The Battle continues- Starfleet is losing until Reinforcements arrive from a huge ‘fold’ in space; Enterprise-E with Captain Worf, and Wesley Crusher (in full Traveller garb), the Cube from S1 with Soji and the D-B’s; Riker captains the Zheng-He; Captain Crusher brings the Pasteur; there is an unnamed California class at the back. The Confederation forces are pushed back and Crusher shuts the rift with help from Jurati’s CyBorg. It is agreed Jurati’s people can claim asylum in the UFP on Coppelius with Soji. A UFP team will study and watch this site. Picard and B. Crusher get together at the end- 1 episode

 

IMO, the worst season of a Star Trek show ever.

 

Including DSC S4? That was sssoooo bad.

 

A well thought-out revision; nice.

 

IMO, that's TNG Season 1. Maybe Discovery Season 1.

 

All day, every day.

 

DIS S4 wasn’t bad. It did feel like two distinctly paced shows though, specifically the final four episodes compared with the rest of the season.

PIC S2 was something that showed promise up to the end of episode 4 and then just fell apart.

 

It was the best season of the series IMO

 

I actually don't agree. I think they had all really bonded and could well have stayed together as a sort of "found family" with Jean-Luc as patriarch. I also very much miss the "life after Starfleet" vibe that PIC S1 had, and I think we still could have seen the TNG cast join the PIC cast in S3 (except for, y'know, budgetary limitations).

Some of that, I'm okay with. I'm upset that the most important relationship of S1 -- Picard and Soji -- has been ignored. Picard finding Soji, their building trust, and accepting one-another as ersatz grandfather/granddaughter was the emotional core of S1. The climax of the entire season was Picard and Soji accepting one-another as family: "That's why we're here: to save each other." It was a promissory note to the audience that this was going to be Picard's emotional core going forward as a character. And then... nothing.

If no other character from S1 was to be kept, it should have been Soji.

 

It’s certainly up there. Although I frankly think I’d rewatch PIC s2 before ENT s1-2. Not that I intend to watch any of them.

No, it wasn’t. While it certainly had its issues I found DSC s4 a solid, engaging and enjoyable season of Trek and one that beautifully captured the spirit of my favourite Trek movie, TMP. I did really miss Tilly though, the show needs her.

 

Nah. ENT S2.

 

TNG S1 was rough around the edges.

DIS S1 was a controversial mess.

ENT S2, like PIC S2, started off good with its first 4 episodes. Then “A Night in Sickbay” happened, which began a stretch of either uninspired or terrible episodes - outside from a handful of good episodes - that did not end until “Azati Prime” in the second half of S3. Afterwards ENT was quality viewing for the rest of its run, but the damage was done, and took both the show and the franchise off the air.

 

Ok, an alternate opinion. I've seen Discovery seasons 1 and 2 twice (plus the first three episodes of season 3 before I gave up on trying to continue onwards with that show), most of SNW season 1, Picard season 2, and all of Lower Decks and Prodigy. Of all the live action NuTrek I've seen, I'd argue Picard season 2 was the best, and it's the only one I could see myself re-watching multiple times.

"The Star Gazer" comes the closest to feeling like a classic Trek episode. Continuity, tone, the characters mostly feeling like professionals, verisimilitude, production design...

The rest of the season is a bit of a roller coaster... but far less so than Discovery seasons 1 and 2, which also saw shifting showrunners and the derailing of serial season arcs. Q and Guinan are great. Connecting Gary 7 and the Travelers is a serviceable idea. Yeah there's yet another Soong ancestor, but it is a workable tie to ENT season 4. Aside from Guinan / Times Arrow, the continuity is mostly solid. The work was at least put in to have the Picard's mother storyline fit into what had already been established. And they really do honor what has already been established about the early 21st century in the Star Trek universe. Granted, "Watcher" and "Hide and Seek" are horrible--horrible. It needed more Q, but if you have the Blu-ray, make sure you see the Q waiting at the restaurant deleted scene.

If Terry Matalas could somehow make his own cut of Picard season 2, cut it down to 6-8 episodes, and try and sand down the roughest edges, it might be legit great.