The Least Disliked Episode 2023: PIC Season 2

[BlueStuff]

Our addictive biyearly game of rapid elimination returns - now with more shows than ever. It's generally a lot of fun, providing a chance to mentally revisit those episodes you may not have thought about in a while. With that in mind, why not play again?

So, here's the game. The basic idea is your standard elimination game. I'll provide a list of the episodes for each season and you need to eliminate your least favourite or the one you deem the 'worst.' Please provide an EXPLANATION for why you are eliminating your choice and be sure to copy and paste the list with your choice removed. Finally, leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

No tactical voting! You cannot remove an episode just because you feel it would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Star Trek: Picard
Hall of Champions
2021 - Remembrance
2023 -

Season 2

The Star Gazer
Penance
Assimilation
Watcher
Fly Me to the Moon
Two of One
Monsters
Mercy
Hide and Seek
Farewell

 

[Farscape One]

I don't even know where to begin with this season. I could eliminate almost every episode... I consider this the worst season in the franchise. (Even worse than the mess of DISCO season 2 and the mostly boring ENT season 2. And yes, also worse than either TAS season.)

I guess I'll start with "Monsters".

I hate that this episode basically makes Picard out to be just another hero who does good only because of trauma. I'm tired of that trope. What happened to being moral and doing good just because it's the right thing to do? Like a number of heroes back then. And how Captain Pike is now. I miss seeing heroic people doing good just for its own sake rather than the root cause be a personal tragedy or trauma. While it may make them more relatable or identifiable, I feel like we are losing inspirational people to aspire to.

This episode completely undercuts the heroism of the Picard I have known since childhood.


The Star Gazer
Penance
Assimilation
Watcher
Fly Me to the Moon
Two of One
Mercy
Hide and Seek
Farewell

 

[Seven of Five]

I much preferred the first season, despite some of it being stretched.

The hijinks in the past were fun at first, but I was itching to get back to the meatier story they left behind in The Star Gazer.

Watcher is easily my least favourite of S2 because of the awful way that Guinan was portrayed, and Rios' arc also amounted to some stereotypical nonsense.

The Star Gazer
Penance
Assimilation
Fly Me to the Moon
Two of One
Mercy
Hide and Seek
Farewell

 

[James Cole]

"Assimilation"
For trading allegory for agitprop. I found it anvilicious and counterproductive.

The Star Gazer
Penance
Fly Me to the Moon
Two of One
Mercy
Hide and Seek
Farewell

 

[Farscape One]

Taking out "Two of One".

It just didn't work as well as it should have. Plus a ridiculously short episode time. (Even under broadcast standards.)


The Star Gazer
Penance
Fly Me to the Moon
Mercy
Hide and Seek
Farewell

 

[Seven of Five]

I think everything that's left is average at worst now. I'll go with Fly Me to the Moon next as I remember feeling a bit bored with the latest version of Soong in S2.

The Star Gazer
Penance
Mercy
Hide and Seek
Farewell

 

[James Cole]

"Hide and Seek"... for the "hung herself", Seven magically getting back her exact same prior implants, Starfleet saying no to Seven joining, the semi-assimilated mercenaries that tie into the MacGyver reboot, and I'm sure more that would come back to me if I thought about it for more than two minutes.

Luckily credited episode writers Chris Derrick and Matt Okumura were both able to contribute to excellent season 3 episodes, so I don't blame them for getting stuck with the plot outline here.

The Star Gazer
Penance
Mercy
Farewell

 

[Farscape One]

Taking out "Mercy".

Easily the worst of what's left.


The Star Gazer
Penance
Farewell

 

[Sakonna]

Oh, this flew by. I'll ax "Penance." It love it, but the premiere/finale are better.

Though I will say "Penance" was quite harmed by the obvious re-editing of the end, moving the end of "Penance" to the start of "Assimilation." ("Assimilation" was also harmed by that) It really threw off the pacing. Bad call in editing.

Overall, I do adore this season. Despite being possibly the most hacked-together-in-post season of television I have ever watched (it might set a world record for amount of ADR in a single season), somehow they ultimately pulled it off. It seriously wobbles in the middle there, yet recovers and lands with a powerful wrap-up -- marking the first time in Streaming Trek that the serialized narrative pulled itself back after beginning to fracture. All the seasons that preceded it, once they started to lose it, they never got it back and the failure just compounded exponentially until finally we were dragged across the finish line in a pathetic & slapdash finale. (I'm looking at you, "Will You Take My Hand?", "Such Sweet Sorrow", and "Et In Arcadia Ego"...)

The Star Gazer
Farewell

 

[James Cole]

"Farewell" -- for the last minute Soong dispatching of Tallinn thinking it was Renee Picard in a building that must have cameras everywhere, the transwarp conduit leading to nowhere, and never explaining what was really going on with Q (ref the anger in "Penance").

Wheras the last episode standing set up something far better that the rest of the season could deliver, and, break out the scare quotes, "felt like Star Trek".

The Star Gazer

 

[Seven of Five]

I heartily approve of this result.

 

[BlueStuff]

I don't even know where to begin with this season. I could eliminate almost every episode... I consider this the worst season in the franchise.

I quite agree - my least favourite season. That's why I didn't play: all I know is that I really liked the first two episodes. The rest were just a blend of awfulness all around to the point where I can't distinguish them.

 

[James Cole]

Yeah PICARD season 2 isn't the best, but I find it far better than season 1 (which is structurally toxic and couldn't be easily fixed with a fan edit) and far more watchable than the ahem 23rd century quasi-pseudo-reboots.

I think 80% of season 2's problems could be sanded down with some ADR to clarify the plot, a few new scenes with John de Lancie, and going down to 6-8 episodes.

 

[Vger23]

No, S2 of PIC is absolutely terrible. And I really like the other two seasons, but this is by far a low-point for the franchise. I’m not sure there’s a worse season in all of Star Trek. It’s even worse than Insurrection as far as comparing it to movies goes.

 

[Sakonna]

It's interesting to me when I encounter such a clean split of opinions between the people I talk about Star Trek with in the real world vs online.

On most matters, real world & online opinions are broadly in sync, but opinions of Picard season 2 is one of the outliers. Every Trek fan I know in real life really likes it and considers it a huge improvement on season 1, before an even bigger step up in quality in season 3.

I'd speculate we maybe all just have a particular affinity for Trek time travel to contemporary Earth (I do!), but my real world fan crowd includes two who absolutely can't stand that trope usually, so that's not it.

I cannot deny that PIC Season 2 had more construction scars than any other season of television I have ever seen. All the seams show, it is obvious how frantically this was stitched together, and that it was a torturous production process. I just think somehow it all landed at the end. For me, it is one of Trek's most improbable successes.

 

[Vger23]

It's interesting to me when I encounter such a clean split of opinions between the people I talk about Star Trek with in the real world vs online.

On most matters, real world & online opinions are broadly in sync, but opinions of Picard season 2 is one of the outliers. Every Trek fan I know in real life really likes it and considers it a huge improvement on season 1, before an even bigger step up in quality in season 3.

I'd speculate we maybe all just have a particular affinity for Trek time travel to contemporary Earth (I do!), but my real world fan crowd includes two who absolutely can't stand that trope usually, so that's not it.

I cannot deny that PIC Season 2 had more construction scars than any other season of television I have ever seen. All the seams show, it is obvious how frantically this was stitched together, and that it was a torturous production process. I just think somehow it all landed at the end. For me, it is one of Trek's most improbable successes.

I feel this way about DSC S2, where that one also seems to be very polarizing. But, where I seem to come down as very negative and unforgiving on PIC S2 and all it’s woes, it’s DSC S2 that I am more forgiving of. I could take your quote above about all the production issues on PIC2 and transfer them to a post hypothetically written by me on DSC2, inclusive of my amazement of how it actually all came together in the end, despite all the force’s working against it, and it would fit seamlessly!

Very interesting indeed..!

 

[Farscape One]

What's interesting to me is that, with the exception of ENT, the second season of every ST series that was not heavily serialized was either better or about equal to its first season. (TOS season 2 is the one that's roughly equal to season 1... I hesitate to call TAS season 2 a 'season', given that it was only 6 episodes, but it was also roughly equal.)

Both shows that are heavily serialized... DISCO and PICARD... have a second season that was just abysmal. Until PICARD season 2 happened, DISCO season 2 was unquestionably the worst season in the franchise (to me, anyway)... and I am including both TAS seasons. I found it frighteningly impressive that PICARD managed to be worse than that.

 

[Uhura's Song]

I thought the start & finish of PIC2 save it from worst status.

I recently watched DISCO S1 again, and the finale wasn't as bad as I remembered, and E14 was actually pretty darn good. Though the premise of the resolution in the Finale is ridiculous.

For me, S2 fell apart after a strong start (New Eden, If Memory Serves). Still, it spawned SNW so it cannot be bottom for me.

ENT2, TNG1, TAS2, DISCO3, DISCO2, PIC2, and a big hunk of VOY are all worthy entrants in my view. TOS3 ain't so hot, either.

But the ending here really was the first time NuTrek stuck the landing. And I think they have pretty consistently done so since: DISCO S4, PIC S3, PRO (mid season & finale), and LS 2 & 3 have all had strog finales. SNW pretty strong as well.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

structurally toxic

Genuinely interested. What exactly do you mean by that?