Seriously, I'm just happy we once again have a Star Trek series where people aren't flawless, squeaky-clean, sanitized cardboard cutouts. TOS, TNG, VOY and ENT (I've left DS9 out intentionally) needed the characters to be as bland and static as possible so that we could concentrate on the sci-fi high concept of the episodes instead of them. Really, if Crusher was in focus, it generally wasn't because of her character but because the episode was a 24th century medical drama and we needed a doctor. But in a story that has been telegraphed from its conception to be about the character of Jean-Luc Picard and people he has a connection with, you can't really do that.
I'm glad to see all kinds of characters who are battling their personal demons, Picard included. I like how Raffi's obsession with Romulan conspiracies had cost her her job and alienated her from her family, sending her down the path of withdrawal from society (not unlike Picard, I might add) and substance abuse. I loved to see the flashback with her and Picard and how him giving up visibly broke her inside. The broken pedestal was written all over her face.
I like how Rios, while seemingly just a Han Solo-like rogue on the surface, is actually an ex-Starfleet officer deeply wounded by the loss of his captain and is using bleak existentialist books and holograms based on himself as a really unhealthy way to cope with that as well as how Starfleet swept all of it under the rug.
I like how Seven, after four years of listening to Janeway's spiel about regaining her humanity through altruism and supporting each other, has, upon returning home, realized how it's all empty talk and how it's only true when you are looking out the window of Starfleet Command into Paradise, and how disconnected the civilized core of the galaxy actually is from the lawless fringe where people still struggle, causing her to ditch the creature comforts of Earth for a life of actually going out and helping people... and I love (as in "I think it's good storytelling", not that I want her to suffer) how the most profound betrayal of her trust and the death of Icheb, who she has treated as her own son, has left her so utterly bitter and broken, consumed by revenge. And even so, she still appreciates Picard's morality and idealism enough to spare him from seeing what she knows to be the unfair reality of the frontier.
I've loved Jurati so far for her energy and being adorably scatterbrained, how she seemed (until Episode 5) determined to help Picard out even while completely terrified of what Oh had shown her, how she used her penchant to annoy people by her rambling to try to get under Rios' skin and get to know him, and I'm quite interested in seeing the fallout from her murder of Maddox, not only how the others are going to find out, but also how she herself copes with it, because she was trembling with fear when doing it, and is probably going to be utterly disgusted by herself.
Elnor is just plain adorable with his childlike glee at seeing the others practicing a ruse and always speaking his mind, and I especially loved how dejected he was when he asked Picard, a parental figure who had abandoned him 14 years ago, why he needed him on this quest, and got a defensive rationalizing explanation instead of something personal.
And while many people don't like the Romulan siblings, and I'm still not quite sold on what Narek's game is, I've found Rizzo's character to be quite interesting, to be honest, because she seems to be a deeply disturbed person who's used to terrorize her brother to keep him under her control, and she's just creepy, smug and snake-like enough to make me want to see her be a constant thorn in our heroes' sides. Really, I just love to hate her. As for the other Romulans, I love Zhaban and Laris' loyalty that doesn't prevent them from speaking their mind to Picard, and I'm partucilarly fond of Laris' raw, fiery emotionality, especially when she keeps bickering with Zhaban even as they're interrogating an assasin or when she almost explodes when Picard tells her he's going to space.
Whew, that was a lot. But I really like this supporting cast, what can I say.
