Star Trek Reviews: Picard

A couple weeks ago, I finished watching Star Trek: Picard. I put off watching Seasons 2 and 3 for a couple years, but since I was planning to cancel Paramount+ during this summer’s “streaming service massacrefest”, I thought I should at least get some value out of the account. And since I also rewatched Season 1 not too long ago, I want to revise my opinion of the series.

Reconsidering Season 1

Refreshing my memory of what I said in my original Picard review, I’m shocked that I said that Star Trek: Picard was better than TNG. Maybe I was comparing the worst episode of Picard Season 1 to the worst episodes of TNG? It’s certainly better than some first and second season TNG episodes. And I said I liked it better than Voyager? Maybe some episodes of Voyager. And maybe the overall objective quality is better, as objective as you could be about such things.

But I didn’t enjoy Picard Season 1 all that much on rewatch. I think on first watch, I was impressed that there were several interesting moments and some enjoyable ones. But my original opinion hasn’t aged well.

The main warning sign that I longer felt the same way was that none of the scenes really stuck with me between the original viewing and the rewatch. I had forgotten almost everything except the basic three-or-four sentence summary of the Season 1 plot. Being forgettable has become a strong sign for me that a show or movie is just OK, maybe with stand-out good or bad elements.

I stand by my statement that Star Trek: Picard is better than any of the TNG movies, though. Really, none of the Trek movies are as good as any live-action Trek shows I’ve seen.

Season 2 Thoughts

I was kind of looking forward to Season 2, though, even though I put it off for so long. I knew Q would be in it, and I always liked Q, although there’s maybe one or two Q episodes I didn’t like. Would Picard Season 2 keep the old magic?

A bit. But there were problems.

Let me interrupt this review to make a general statement about Star Trek in general. The three recurring Trek concepts or story lines that I hate the most are, in order of decreasing hate:

1. The Mirror Universe
2. Section 31
3. The Borg

The original series episode “Mirror, Mirror” was OK, but I did not enjoy any other mirror universe episodes except the two-parter from Star Trek: Enterprise, probably because it’s treated like a one-off that doesn’t affect the rest of the series. Similarly, one or two Section 31 episodes where Section 31 is the villain are OK, but I hate that the franchise now tries to sell us the idea that Section 31 is cool. I feel the same way about the Borg. Trek keeps going back to the Borg whenever the number of views drops, but that rarely works.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was to see that Picard Season 2 brings back the Borg again. And really, it’s too soon. Technically, Season 1 included the Borg, although more as a background detail instead of an important plot element. But Season 2? The Borg Queen is back. How many times has she died, now?

The Borg storyline isn’t too bad, but I do have to count it against the series. The alternate timeline feels sort of mirror universe-ish, but we’re only there briefly, so I won’t count it as a flaw. And I actually like the wrap-up of Q’s story a bit, so I enjoyed this season more than Season 1, although I’m disappointed in what they did with the callbacks to the Gary Seven episode of TOS. I don’t think they handled that well at all.

Season Three Thoughts

Picard Season 3 started out OK, but felt a little flat. We’re seeing some of the same things again: Picard goes rogue, there’s a heist, lots of nostalgia callbacks. The return of the Dominion changelings isn’t too bad, although I did not like the performance of the main changeling.

Oh, look. Section 31 is back again! And they’re trying to make them cool again! Not evil!

Oh, look. The Borg are back. They are the secret real villain. This means that every season of Picard is about the Borg in some way.

Oh, look. Data is back. Even though he died in Season 1. And in one of the movies.

Oh, look. Q is back, even though he died, too. We had a good ending for Q last season, but let’s undo it at the end of this one.

Doesn’t that seem like the franchise is out of ideas and they’re just trying to keep pumping out content?

Summary

I have to rate Star Trek: Picard as just OK, with several flaws. If you just want something to watch to kill time and anything will do the job, but you happen to like Star Trek in some form, watching Picard will do the trick as well as anything else. But I can’t recommend Picard for any Trek fan who is looking for more from Trek than just filler, and certainly can’t recommend it for anyone not currently a Trek fan. It’s on the low end of the OK range.

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