What the frell happened?

[Lord Garth]

Forget all the reasons you heard about why the Klingons shaved their heads. I know the real reason. Are you ready for it?

The Klingons had their own version of Michael Jordan. Mi'Kal Jor'daN. When Jor'daN shaved his head, it caught like wildfire, and then then everyone else did it. It was a fad for a little while, but we all know happens to fads. Eventually they fade away. Except for General Chang. Even in the '90s -- the 2290s -- he was stuck in the '50s.

"You haven't experienced Basketball until you've played it in the original Klingon."

 

[Tosk]

and that kind of narrative is being shared about Terry Matalas getting away with making S3 as if it was under Kurtzman’s nose.

Some fans seemingly feel a real need for heroes and villains behind the camera. A savior responsible for all the stuff they liked, and an asshole for all the things they didn't.

 

[Tuskin38]

I think Worf's ridges in Pic Season 3 look better than the SNW Season 2 ridges. but they're both upgrades from the TMP to ENT era ridges.

 

[Firebird]

Some fans seemingly feel a real need for heroes and villains behind the camera. A savior responsible for all the stuff they liked, and an asshole for all the things they didn't.

Whilst conveniently ignoring that their savior was partially responsible for the mess that was season 2.

 

[DonIago]

I feel as though S2 would be remembered more fondly if the journey to the past had been 2-3 episodes shorter and the before/after had had more room to breathe, especially the 'galaxy-threatening anomaly from outta nowhere' that pops up at the end, rather unnecessarily. I was far more interested in what might become of the Jurati Borg than I was a random plot device, and I never expected so much of the season to be stuck in the past.

 

[Lord Garth]

I feel as though S2 would be remembered more fondly if the journey to the past had been 2-3 episodes shorter and the before/after had had more room to breathe, especially the 'galaxy-threatening anomaly from outta nowhere' that pops up at the end, rather unnecessarily. I was far more interested in what might become of the Jurati Borg than I was a random plot device, and I never expected so much of the season to be stuck in the past.

The main thing I was wondering about when first watching Season 2 was, "Where the Hell are they going with this?" There was only one episode I had an issue with, the one where Picard and Guinan are interrogated by the FBI Guy, and I enjoyed the episodes on an episode-by-episode basis, but on a season-level there are cracks.

It wasn't the story, it wasn't the scale, it wasn't any of that. They glossed over things that shouldn't have been glossed over like, "What's so important about Renee Picard's mission?" and "What does Adam Soong do that stops the Federation from forming?" That's some critical stuff and they only devoted one line to each. Basically Renee Picard finds a substance that cures pollution and Adam Soong creates domes that don't stop pollution but keep Earth shielded from things becoming worse. Moral of the story: Pollution turns Humanity evil. Pretty weak.

Then there's Q. What does Q have to teach Picard after "All Good Things"? Love yourself. Also pretty weak.

Then there are the Watchers. "Assignment: Earth" made Gary Seven, the Supervisors, the people and hidden world they all reported to seem so interesting. Assignment: Earth was never picked up as a series and Picard Season 2 was a second chance to see what that could've been like. And they dropped the ball.

All of those things could've been handled better. The result is a season that was less than the sum of its parts. Say what you want to about Season 1 but it knew what it wanted to be and went all in. Say what you want to about Season 3 but it also knew what it wanted to be and went all in. Season 2 didn't.

Complaining about "The stakes are too large!" is such a fucking cliche around here. There's no way to say it but to say it. That's every season of Picard. Discovery too. But Picard Season 2 had problems that were very specific to Picard Season 2. Things that weren't problems with any other seasons.

 

[Firebird]

I feel as though S2 would be remembered more fondly if the journey to the past had been 2-3 episodes shorter and the before/after had had more room to breathe, especially the 'galaxy-threatening anomaly from outta nowhere' that pops up at the end, rather unnecessarily. I was far more interested in what might become of the Jurati Borg than I was a random plot device, and I never expected so much of the season to be stuck in the past.

I've said elsewhere that Picard's second season has a pretty good two- or two-and-a-half movie buried within it. Just cut down a lot of the pointless detours that feel more like an inexperienced novelist pumping up the page-count, and it would emphasize the main plot and themes way more.

 

[DonIago]

I've said elsewhere that Picard's second season has a pretty good two- or two-and-a-half movie buried within it. Just cut down a lot of the pointless detours that feel more like an inexperienced novelist pumping up the page-count, and it would emphasize the main plot and themes way more.

It occurred to me that in a way the overall plot ends up being distressingly similar to First Contact as well (there's even a Borg Queen involved who assimilates a member of the crew!), where Our Heroes have to stop a villain who's trying to prevent another historic journey into space from occurring.

That's not even counting the fact that, more broadly, "Our Heroes must prevent an event from occurring that changed the past and wrecked their own timeline" was classically done in COTEOF.