Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 3x10 - "The Last Generation"

[firehawk12]

It's entirely possible that you've changed over time. I know I have. Several years ago, I rewatched TNG in its entirety. It's the first time I've seen most of the episodes since the 90s! I came to realize that while I loved it at the time, it was very much comfort food TV. I'd be a lukewarm fan of it now. Basically, they were kind of laid back stories where I was mainly catching up on what some of my favorite characters were doing in each episode. Most weren't overly deep or thoughtful.

I certainly enjoyed my rewatch but it wasn't quite what I was expecting.

That's not to dump on TNG or the cast. I was different. TV was different. You were different. And it would land differently now.

I guess that's entirely possible. I do still like the episodes of TNG I watch from time to time, but maybe that is purely nostalgia and familiarity that's doing it for me.

I'm not sure, because I like the obviously derivative Orville and the more "traditional" Strange New Worlds, so it's for me it's hard to pin down. Someone mentioned that it's like watching your favourite band get together for a reunion and being disappointed after going to their new concert and yeah... I guess that's it.

 

[Scionz]

I think Matalas makes a great point in that interview that the remembrance of things past is earned through the characters who are NOT the same people they were. They're all different people from the TNG at the beginning of the season. They all learn something new about themselves by being reunited with each other. And they all grow from the experience. So it's not just putting them on the Enterprise-D and going: "Isn't that cool?"

Deep Space Nine is my favorite Star Trek series. Its been that way since I was teenager in the 90s. And part of the reason I love it is that it decided to use the universe and history of Star Trek as a playground to say well what does it mean for "X" if we know that "Y" lives over there and "Z" happened in the past.

When Kor, Kang, and Koloth show up at DS9 in "Blood Oath," is that "member-berries," or is it the jumping off point to wonder how old characters exist within a new era, explore how their lives have changed, and watch everyone be changed or grow from the experience? I think that's the same dynamic that happened here, and it's the reason I really liked Picard season 3.

Bingo. Perfectly put.

 

[Is It Over Yet?]

This was a good episode. I'm not quite sure how to feel about it though. I enjoyed it. It was entertaining. No one that I cared about died. The ship survived unscathed actually. I liked the poker game book end with the TNG crew. The SFX looked great. Seven gets promoted. Tuvok lived. Q returned! Data and Worf were fun. But...

They really stretched in spots. They had the massive Enterprise-D whipping better maneuvers than the Millenium Falcon. Titan vs The Fleet with a 100 year old cloak that just happens to interrupt the very modern Fleet Command system. The Borg Queen was a total dipshit from Delta. She lowered her defenses, let the heroes in, let them wander around unmolested virtually, allowed Picard to start unhooking Jack rather than just re-assimilating him immediately or killing him. Renaming the weak ass Titan-A the Enterprise-G? C'mon. We spent half the season fearing the mega portal weapon and Changelings only to wind up at the very end fighting a battered Borg Queen who did nothing at the end except scream and die.

It was a decent ending for our TNG crew. A happy one at that which are few and far between in modern cinematography. We'll never see the TNG crew in this capacity again. This was their Undiscovered Country. I'm ok with that.

Episode: 8/10
Season: 9/10

P.S. Matalas needs to be running this franchise.

 

[fireproof78]

Kinda can't believe we're still smoking the "all opinions are equally legitimate" peyote in 2023 after the shit the human race has been through the past 10 years in particular, but hey, whatever. You are entitled to feel like you want. For now, it's still a free country.

In entertainment absolutely.

IDIC. Not just for jewelry anymore.

 

[Amaris]

I guess that's entirely possible. I do still like the episodes of TNG I watch from time to time, but maybe that is purely nostalgia and familiarity that's doing it for me.

I'm not sure, because I like the obviously derivative Orville and the more "traditional" Strange New Worlds, so it's for me it's hard to pin down. Someone mentioned that it's like watching your favourite band get together for a reunion and being disappointed after going to their new concert and yeah... I guess that's it.

I tend to think it's just the passage of time fucking with our perceptions. We want to recapture what we can't have: the best parts of our childhood, our innocence, and our wonder. The belief that the universe is just and that all things bend towards progress. It's not that there isn't some truth to it, it's just learning all of the heart breaking things around it that kind of dampen things.

I'd love to be that 11 year old kid again, sneaking into the kitchen on a school night to watch TNG on our old portable 12" black and white TV, the sound so low I'd have to put my ear up to the speaker just to hear what was going on. Those days are gone, and the young people who were on that TV are gone. We have their images, and our memories, and that's it, because everything around all of us has changed so much.

 

[Scionz]

In entertainment absolutely.

IDIC. Not just for jewelry anymore.

About a fifth to a quarter of America's favorite entertainment is virtulently anti-LGBTQ entertainers and entertainment.

Just sayin. Not liking Picard Season 3 ain't remotely that level. But there is no "entertainment carve out" .

 

[fireproof78]

Not liking Picard Season 3 ain't remotely that level. But there is no "entertainment carve out" .

I don't see the benefit in telling people they're wrong for daring to disagree on an entertainment franchise.

 

[Belz...]

Objectively, Matalas' choices are dramatically bone headed.

I'm not sure you know what "objectively" means.

 

[USS Artorius]

So much happened in one hour! Now they can rename a random Luna Class back to the USS Titan and we can forget all that renaming rubbish. I don't mind that they renamed a ship to the Enterprise, but it's not fair that the honour of the name Titan has to be quashed in favour of the almighty Enterprise. Didn't Riker command that ship for at least several years? Don't you think he would have had a problem with it? Aside from that it was great! Data's psychopathic smile as they entered the Borg Cube was pure gold! Geordi must have souped up those maneuvering thrusters because boy can that thing move (especially when it's saucer impulse engines aren't lit up ) like someone else said it looks a wee bit to agile for my taste. Reminded me of The Force Awakens, you know the bit. I agree that Worf is still an absolute force to be reckoned with - Dorn smashed it and deserves his own spinoff Movie! Picard actually felt like Picard this season rather than like Stewart himself. All the acting performances were top tier tbh. I just wish the mystery was solved quicker so the finale could have had a little more room to breathe. To all the people moaning about Q coming back.. Time doesn't go in a straight line for his kind, why do you think he keeps using the word linear to mock Jack and Jean-Luc. This is Q before he died at the end of Season 2. I gave this episode a 9. Solid! I believe this Season has pleasantly surprised most of the Trek Fandom and just goes to show that all the memberberries wouldn't have been worth jack if none of the plot points made sense. Now the writers suddenly realise if you take your time to write a decent plot with setups and payoffs it makes the overall show a better experience. Great work guys, I am excited for some Nu NuTrek!

 

[Yistaan]

• Shelby? Not dead. Badly hurt but not dead. Matalas takes the "no body, no evidence of death' stance to all fictional deaths.
• Dr Pulaski is passed by this point.
• As we've known for years, Patrick Stewart took the role mostly as money making gig and to advance his career in hollywood. Worked hard. Got bored of the character by Season 5 or 6. Hoped it would lead to a flourishing Hollywood career (which didn't come outside X-Men, though I kind of think it did just not in the way he wanted - he's an icon), and came to accept his role as Picard as defining his career in more recent years. Wasn't easy.

I mean, the USS Pulaski could be named after Casmir Pulaski. And Diana Muldaur is still alive, not to mention ships have been named after living people in real life. I find it funny that he's insisting Shelby could be alive when she took 2 point blank full phaser shots to the chest while saying Pulaski is dead.

Honestly, no offense to Patrick but he never had, even when he was younger, the Bradley Cooper or even mid-level star looks like Chris Pine that a male Hollywood star demands (and I say this with complete respect for the work Patrick's done in his legendary acting career and as someone who wouldn't even get cast as homeless goon number 3 as a dorky looking Asian guy). The X-Men role was the best he could hope for having been born literally looking like Charles Xavier, and if he hadn't been on Star Trek he probably wouldn't even have gotten that.

 

[Dee1891]

This was a good episode. I'm not quite sure how to feel about it though. I enjoyed it. It was entertaining. No one that I cared about died. The ship survived unscathed actually. I liked the poker game book end with the TNG crew. The SFX looked great. Seven gets promoted. Tuvok lived. Q returned! Data and Worf were fun. But...

They really stretched in spots. They had the massive Enterprise-D whipping better maneuvers than the Millenium Falcon. Titan vs The Fleet with a 100 year old cloak that just happens to interrupt the very modern Fleet Command system. The Borg Queen was a total dipshit from Delta. She lowered her defenses, let the heroes in, let them wander around unmolested virtually, allowed Picard to start unhooking Jack rather than just re-assimilating him immediately or killing him. Renaming the weak ass Titan-A the Enterprise-G? C'mon. We spent half the season fearing the mega portal weapon and Changelings only to wind up at the very end fighting a battered Borg Queen who did nothing at the end except scream and die.

It was a decent ending for our TNG crew. A happy one at that which are few and far between in modern cinematography. We'll never see the TNG crew in this capacity again. This was their Undiscovered Country. I'm ok with that.

Episode: 8/10
Season: 9/10

P.S. Matalas needs to be running this franchise.

God no. I found some of his writing contrived and I think had depended too heavily on the nostalgia factor.

 

[NCC-73515]

Don't worry I guarantee the next trip to the 25tf century or beyond will have a ship or class called Shaw.

A Shawttlepod.

Interesting how the Borg cub was outside the atmosphere when it went up. Much better visual that way I guess.

A Borg cub must be cute

Seven’s phrase should be,
“Delta V.”

"Warp will now commence."

 

[Mr Awe]

But I feel like one of the basic rules of serialized TV is that the decisions characters made in the prior seasons have to mean something in order for the ultimate payoff to be worthwhile. As flawed as the previous seasons were, Season 3 actively makes them worse, because the entire emotional cores of both seasons are rendered totally meaningless by the choices that Matalas made here.

My biggest criticism of streaming Trek is that it falls short in the serialized TV department. They're behind other shows in this regard. They just don't quite get it.

I actually think Picard S3 showed a lot of improvement in serialization, but only when you look within the season itself. As you point out, it doesn't play well with the previous seasons. And S3 is only a relative improvement. It's still behind other prestige serialized shows.

 

[Mr Awe]

Me too. The tone is all happy because the main characters survived. In-universe, thousands are dead, the spacedock crewed by thousands are all dead, etc.

Agreed. And you can blame Jack for all of it by voluntarily going to the Queen. But yet, there's the big happy ending.

I'm glad there's a happy ending but there's a definite disconnect between the events of this episode and the happy ending. Poor writing.

I get it. They wanted a fun, happy ending. Well then write events that warrant that!

 

[Scionz]

Patrick Stewart's face when he sees NCC-1701-G is one of the most beautiful pieces of acting I've seen in Trek. And that moment with Riker on the cube. Good lord.

 

[TRON JA307020]

God no. I found some of his writing contrived and I think had depended too heavily on the nostalgia factor.

We needed this nostalgia after a second season that had picard rummaging around in a dark chateau and seeing his mothers suicide. No thanks to that depressing carp. ill take the tng crew and the return of the D any day of the week, month or year.

 

[TrekE]

I ended the TNG portion of the finale with a giant smile on my face. Was the episode perfect? No, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! Well done to the cast and crew of Picard. You ended the series on a definite high note.

And I have no idea whether it’s in the plans, but I’m down for a Captain Seven series.

 

[Scionz]

Found an interesting insight on TVTropes: the fact that the Q meeting Jack is from an earlier point in his life than the one we saw in Season 2, should mean that the Q who helped Picard come to terms with his family history and especially with his reluctance to have a family, did so because he had already met Picard's son, and wanted to help prepare him for the inevitable encounter as a parting gift. Picard learning to accept himself in spite of all his traumas, faults and fears led him to be able to make the connections he was missing his entire life, that allowed him to accept Jack in his life and the both of them to realize they don't have to be alone ever again, which allowed them to overcome the Borg hive mind. Thus, Q played a long game that allowed both Picard and Jack break free from the Borg once and for all, and break the Collective's stranglehold over the galaxy as well for good.

IT was clear from Q Who, but certainly by "All Good Things...", that Q plays his games and has his fun, but he was defending humanity the entire time. As a immortal, non-linear being (who up until now, always appeared in out frame of reference of time linearly), who probably really hasn't changed in Eons, it's likely his behavior in Encounter at Farpoint was nothing more than a role he played, no different than any other costume he wore.

The Q that died, the Q that appeared to Jack... the "real Q", may have been lurking there in 2364, laying the foundations of his plan to save humanity from a threat that might have utterly destroyed it.

 

[TRON JA307020]

I loved the ending. The D saved the day and survived and now safe in the museum. All the original crew survived and most look to still be in starfleet to guide the young as senior officers. Picard got his moments with his son and even saw him to his first day on the job. The poker end was perfection. Life for the TNG crew will go on.

We got Tuvok!
We got Q! His death sucked in season 2. Thank God they reversed it.

The only thing I didn't really like is the Titan of the Enterprise G now. I would have preferred a new ship.

 

[Fateor]

Patrick Stewart's face when he sees NCC-1701-G is one of the most beautiful pieces of acting I've seen in Trek. And that moment with Riker on the cube. Good lord.

Yea, those were really some perfect bits of acting.