Spoilers Star Trek: Picard General Discussion Thread

Change “neutral” to “OK” and that’s exactly how I rate them. 1 terrible, 5 OK, 7 good, 10 outstanding. A 5 is like two stars in the four-star movie rating system.

 

So I've had some time to digest what I've seen, and while I would by no means call myself a PIC hater, when you really, really analyze what happens in the show, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, or at best, there are plot elements that are really unnecessary to the overall story.

And one has to actually start by asking, just what was the plot, story, point, etc. of PIC? Was it about the aftermath of the Romulan supernova? Was it about the ultimate fate of the Borg? Was it about the Federation 'losing it's way?' Was it about F8 and his fellow android slave laborers? Was it about the synth ban? Was it about a deep psychological introspective about Jean-Luc Picard? Well, in my honest opinion....no, it was none of those things, even if some of those plot points were actively advertised as what the show was about.

So what was PIC actually about? After four TNG films whose plots entirely revolved around Picard and Data to the detriment of the other cast, PIC is really just a continuation of that trope, taken to the extreme: PIC is about Picard on a quest to be reunited with his one true love, Data. The rest of the TNG cast sans Riker and Troi aren't even a part of this story because they have zero place in it, just like in the films. And the only reason why Riker & Troi were able to worm their way into the story was because Frakes is a director and Sirtis has a knack for inserting herself in Trek shows since Voyager (heck, she's even in The Orville.)

But this isn't a Riker/Frakes & Troi/Sirtis bashing post. Let's get back to Picard. The entire plot of the show is focused around Picard trying to find Data's daughter in the hopes of finding a part of his friend that he'd lost, but the audience already knows that he's going to actually find Data by some convoluted sci-fi means since they first saw Spiner in Picard's dream one minute into the first episode. The Romulans, the Borg, Seven of Nine, Admiral Pottymouth, Hugh, the Zhat Vash, the Fenris Rangers, the Qowat Milat, the _____ (fill in with any other Chabonesque pulling-funny-sounding-sci-fi-names-out-of-my-ass proclivity), were all nothing more than plot devices to move the story along to the point where we get to "the meeting." Like Picard meeting Kirk in the most convoluted way ever, Picard meets Data by similar means, and like Picard/Kirk, there's about ten minutes of exposition before one of the heroes dies and the other one is better for the experience (literally, in PIC's case, as Picard gets a new clone body which for some reason looks like his 90+ year old original body.)

Conclusion: PIC (at least season 1) was just a continuation of the Picard & Data Show from the movies. Hopefully season 2 will have a bit more substance than that, now that "the meeting" has concluded.

 

Because it's pretty damn obvious. Picard wants to honour Data by trying to protect his 'daughter(s)'.

 

Did you actually read what I wrote before quoting one sentence of my post?

 

Yes.

 

Then you either entirely missed the point of my post or you're just being obtuse for some reason.

 

Or people just see the plot and experience it. When you asked those questions I was like "Yeah, Picard was about a lot of those things, wrapped together." I found it very interesting the different threads woven throughout, but it was capped off by Picard's experience of mortality, highlighting what Data's desire to experience humanity.

But, Picard now has the opportunity to go back and revisit his personal mistakes and resolve them.

 

It was about the Federation losing its mojo, retreating into a darker place and then rehabilitating itself with the lifting of the synth ban and the defeat of Romulan intrigue. After the first episode or so I thought the Data angle incoherent and silly.

 

It was obviously all about Laris and Zhaban, plus Number 1 as he needs his walkies every day, not to be confused with the other Number 1 who ate all the pizza's, or a Number 2 which is something else entirely.

 

Eat enough pizza and you'll do a Number 2 every 1 hour.

 

Its the opposite for me, I cant touch Pizza or any kind of bread for that reason.

 

Haven't hit that threshold yet

 

I see what you did there.

 

See, to me all of that stuff was just exposition and plot device to enhance the real story about Picard meeting Data again.

 

You mean about giving Nemesis a do-over?

 

Data certainly bookended the season. But he was largely missing from the body of the season by my mind.

 

He was there in the form of Soji.

 

Sure. But it's not a signal that I myself received whilst watching it.

 

With Picard introducing her as "Data daughter" and the subtle Data nods by the actress I'm not sure how you missed it. Might check your antenna/wifi/connection.

 

References were there but they didn't make an emotional impact on me beyond the first episodes or so. Her nods were clumsily shoehorned in more than anything.