Welcome to a great board! I too am a fan of both seasons! I prefer season 1 as it has a more TOS-like style with some innovative sci-fi with some TNG-like sci-fi, character development, and intrigue thrown in, of which the latter most pays off rather beautifully in season 2. Season 2 did get stale, and given how many plot threads and running themes it was almost insulting that they would waste no less than two episodes on filler fodder like a smartphone - rendered worse in that any future technology interfacing with it will be hindered by limitation of said smartphone. All shows require suspension of disbelief but for me I couldn't roll with the sheer level of bypassing technical issues just to get to some soppy maudlin 21st century soap opera, in a show featuring 25th century characters that act as if 400 years and theorized human evolution haven't gone by as a result* rendering it even more overly underwhelming as a result. The episode also took precious time away from some fairly serious material, a lot of which remains up in the air or not given proper closure. Even the one scene where the computer removes the fake woman's fake boyfriend creating (surprise) a whole different fake life (which wasn't half bad) lacked the weight to overcome the episode's deficiencies. I apologize for sounding like Isaac or Sheldon or Spock. I've been tested...
* which is part of its charm, for season 1's motif anyway). That and the Bortus pee-pee escapade (whose subplot with Earth kids being far more compelling instead of whizzing away a whole episode based on an exceeding superficial lampoon of "Amok time" into the toilet like that, literally... just imagine Isaac's log back to Kaylon Primary as a result of that episode. Why couldn't viewers get treated to that? Probably because it would spoil one big season arc because the viewers would want to do it first. And based on the season's ratings, that's what happened...
