But here is the problem... it was the wrap up season of a show that didn't need any real wrap up. It's not like TNG had any overlying story arcs that needed resolution. The last half of DS9's 7th season contained a 10-parter leading up to the end of the Dominion War. Even the last episodes of Voyager showed a lead up to them getting home at the end. But with TNG, there was nothing to finish, no goal to reach, no conflicts to resolve. So instead of ending with a "Mission Accomplished" bang, it was more of a "We'll just keep playing poker like always" fizzle.
(though that final poker scene still gets me emotional
)
If it gets you emotional, is it a fizzle? Seems contradictory, since the point of the scene seemed to be to put a cap on the series. A final "hang out with your TNG friends" moment before the show is completely finished. So, didn't it succeed?
Sure, TNG didn't have a story arc to wrap up, but it still had to
end. And I much prefer getting a proper send off in the form of AGT to the show just suddenly
stopping one day, the way TOS did.
Anyway, I like season 7, but I do think it's not as good as season 3-6, in terms of consistency. However, when it's good, it's
fantastic; several of my favorites from s7 are among my favorites from the entire series. And when it's bad... well, the fact that it's "bad" at all makes it worse than seasons 3-5 in my book, since those bottomed out at "okay, kinda boring", at worst. Season 7 having several actually, truly BAD eps (a.k.a. "stinkers") makes it worse by default. Season 6 has some of those as well, but not as many. My breakdown ("Everyone else was doing it! I just wanted to be popular."):
Fantastic eps:
-Parallels
-The Pegasus
-Lower Decks (serious contender for "best episode of the franchise")
-Preemptive Strike
-All Good Things...
Good eps:
-Liaisons
-Gambit (both parts)
-Phantasms
-Thine Own Self
Okay eps:
-Interface
-Dark Page
-Inheritance
-Eye of the Beholder
-Firstborn
-Bloodlines
Truly Bad eps:
-Descent (both parts)
-Force of Nature
-Homeward
-Sub Rosa (one of the worst of the entire series)
-Masks
-Genesis (though it's almost kinda entertaining if you COMPLETELY turn your brain off!)
-Journey's End (the Cardassian/DMZ politicking is actually kind of interesting, but the idiotic "Emo Wesley/Return of the Traveler " plot ruins the entire ep)
-Emergence
So yeah. Not exactly a favorable line-up in terms of quantity, but those five eps at the top of my list are easily among the series' best. And for all its faults, s7 is still better than s1.
I don't know that if a person's DNA is being re-sequenced, they die. I will leave you to that and neither agree or disagree because I don't know that.
But
Tina Lawton is explicitly
telling you that. You can't "disagree" with it, because it's true.
According to what's established in the episode, the crew is de-evolving into various prehistoric forms of life on their homeworlds.
Right. That, itself, is the problem. "De-evolving" is a nonsense word in this context; an individual cannot "evolve" or "de-evolve." Additionally, even if they
could; if we are to try and make any sense of the premise at all, shouldn't people at least be "de-evolving" into animal forms that are their direct evolutionary ascendants? Humans did not evolve from spiders, nor did cats evolve from lizards. (As Phil Farrand said in the old "Nitpicker's Guide" back in '95: "Spot should probably be a saber-toothed tiger, not a lizard. (I am absolutely certain that
this would have made the episode more interesting!)").
I wouldn't say "half" the crew because don't forget the Conn Ensign that was found dead at the helm. He was either Worf's or Riker's lunch. I failed to see what you mean by "eaten by the other half". Clarify that, please?
I'm not sure what you're getting at here (what does the dude at conn have to do with anything?), but I believe what
Tina was getting at (and please correct me if I'm wrong) was what had been mentioned also: that the events of this ep have some unfortunate implications. Even if under the effects of a virus, people are going around
murdering and eating each other. That's going to leave some people seriously screwed up, psychologically... those that weren't mauled to death and/or eaten, that is. It's one of those things that is a direct consequence of the premise of the ep, yet is given barely half a mention. Instead, at the end of the ep, everything is fine and dandy, everyone is back to normal, guess we can get on with our normal lives now!
Please. Imagine the letters Picard will have to compose to the loved ones of crew members EATEN BY OTHER CREW MEMBERS.
Trek in general has often had a problem with serious issues being used in a "fire & forget" manner, with seemingly zero consequences once the episode in question has finished. In many cases, we can simply sigh, maybe grit our teeth a little and mutter "I wish they wouldn't do that, but eh," while accepting that it's part of the show's formula, and move on. But "Genesis" is a case, I feel, where they went a bit too far over the edge with something truly horrific, that simply shouldn't have been allowed to air if they weren't willing to deal with ANY fallout from the event.
