Star Trek Picard: 2x01 (The Stargazer)
Mar. 7th, 2022 04:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
4thofelevenIn which you rarely get a second chance to make a first impression.
So there's a lot going on here, especially since the show's decided to do practically a full reboot, upending pretty much everyone's status quo from last season. So now instead of everyone having wacky adventures together on La Sirena, everyone's back in Starfleet again – which you'd think would be setup for a more conventional Star Trek setup, except everyone's on different ships, and none of it matters anyway, since we're going to an alternate universe and most of this setup isn't going to be directly relevant. That's a lot of changes to character's lives, most of which happened off-screen, and the show's clearly struggling to fit everything in.
(I had to laugh at Dr. Juranti having to quickly explain in passing that “Oh yeah, the ban on synthetics got lifted. Also, I got cleared of murder.”)
I'm honestly not sure how much time is meant to have passed since last season. It's at least a year and half, since that's when Zhaban (RIP) died, but it could have been longer. Given that Elnor's graduating Starfleet Academy, it could well have been four years or more.
(I did like that they specified that Elnor's the first 'full' Romulan to graduate – I've never been that much of a fan of the idea of Saavik being half-Romulan, but it's nice for people that do take that as canon that it's still possible.)
I'm cautiously interested in where they're taking Picard. On the one hand, I'm not convinced that giving him some great tragic backstory is really necessary, nor do I feel that every emotionally reserved character needs to overcome that 'flaw'. On the other hand, it's always been well established that Picard never saw eye-to-eye with his family, and it's certainly been strongly implied that he and his father were greatly at odds. So seeing how that develops could work well to add some depth to the hints we were given in the Next Generation.
(And, of course, Patrick Stewart has talked about his own struggles with his abusive father, so if he's bringing some of that context to the character, that could certainly be interesting to see.)
It does feel a little odd to be dealing with Picard's lack of lasting romantic relationships if they're not bringing Dr. Crusher back, though – especially since there is an obvious parallel between her and Laris; both widows who's husbands worked for Picard. I understand that the show doesn't want to be just a TNG reunion, but at the same time, it's an obvious absence, and it feels like Crusher should at least have been acknowledged in dialogue.
I did like the detail that Romulans have arranged marriages, the same as Vulcans. It makes sense that this would be a tradition that pre-dates Surak, and I've always liked the idea that when the Romulans and Vulcans finally reunify, they'll find that they haven't diverged quite as far apart as they had believed for so long.
Meanwhile, the Borg are back! Maybe! My speculation at this point is that these Borg are the Borg from the alternate timeline Q's thrown Picard into; that would explain why they address Picard as Picard, not Locutus, and why their behaviour seems so different from what we're used to. It was really nice to see an old-school style briefing room scene, with everyone debating the options and morality of the various approaches they could take to the Borg, with nobody presented as out and out wrong; Seven's hard-line stance is clearly seen as excessive, but still an understandable approach. Between this and Discovery, it's nice to see Star Trek once again avoiding having obvious villians. There is an interesting story idea in the Borg proposing an end to hostilities with the Federation; sadly, I doubt we're going to get it, as there's clearly a bigger story being setup with the Borg merely a prologue.
At this point, I have no idea where the story's going; I've avoided spoilers, previews or anything else – whether we're going to stay in the 'bad' timeline we see right at the end, swap between universes, or what. The return of Q certainly has me intrigued, but I hope this season is better planned out than last season. I do understand some people's criticisms that the show is relying too much on nostalgia rather than doing anything new – on the other hand, the show is literally called 'Picard', and it was really never meant to be a standalone series. (I can only imagine how confused a causal viewer would be if they weren't well-versed in TNG!) I think revisiting ideas and concepts from TNG is the obvious choice for the show to take – as Picard says, it's about his life coming full circle.
So there's a lot going on here, especially since the show's decided to do practically a full reboot, upending pretty much everyone's status quo from last season. So now instead of everyone having wacky adventures together on La Sirena, everyone's back in Starfleet again – which you'd think would be setup for a more conventional Star Trek setup, except everyone's on different ships, and none of it matters anyway, since we're going to an alternate universe and most of this setup isn't going to be directly relevant. That's a lot of changes to character's lives, most of which happened off-screen, and the show's clearly struggling to fit everything in.
(I had to laugh at Dr. Juranti having to quickly explain in passing that “Oh yeah, the ban on synthetics got lifted. Also, I got cleared of murder.”)
I'm honestly not sure how much time is meant to have passed since last season. It's at least a year and half, since that's when Zhaban (RIP) died, but it could have been longer. Given that Elnor's graduating Starfleet Academy, it could well have been four years or more.
(I did like that they specified that Elnor's the first 'full' Romulan to graduate – I've never been that much of a fan of the idea of Saavik being half-Romulan, but it's nice for people that do take that as canon that it's still possible.)
I'm cautiously interested in where they're taking Picard. On the one hand, I'm not convinced that giving him some great tragic backstory is really necessary, nor do I feel that every emotionally reserved character needs to overcome that 'flaw'. On the other hand, it's always been well established that Picard never saw eye-to-eye with his family, and it's certainly been strongly implied that he and his father were greatly at odds. So seeing how that develops could work well to add some depth to the hints we were given in the Next Generation.
(And, of course, Patrick Stewart has talked about his own struggles with his abusive father, so if he's bringing some of that context to the character, that could certainly be interesting to see.)
It does feel a little odd to be dealing with Picard's lack of lasting romantic relationships if they're not bringing Dr. Crusher back, though – especially since there is an obvious parallel between her and Laris; both widows who's husbands worked for Picard. I understand that the show doesn't want to be just a TNG reunion, but at the same time, it's an obvious absence, and it feels like Crusher should at least have been acknowledged in dialogue.
I did like the detail that Romulans have arranged marriages, the same as Vulcans. It makes sense that this would be a tradition that pre-dates Surak, and I've always liked the idea that when the Romulans and Vulcans finally reunify, they'll find that they haven't diverged quite as far apart as they had believed for so long.
Meanwhile, the Borg are back! Maybe! My speculation at this point is that these Borg are the Borg from the alternate timeline Q's thrown Picard into; that would explain why they address Picard as Picard, not Locutus, and why their behaviour seems so different from what we're used to. It was really nice to see an old-school style briefing room scene, with everyone debating the options and morality of the various approaches they could take to the Borg, with nobody presented as out and out wrong; Seven's hard-line stance is clearly seen as excessive, but still an understandable approach. Between this and Discovery, it's nice to see Star Trek once again avoiding having obvious villians. There is an interesting story idea in the Borg proposing an end to hostilities with the Federation; sadly, I doubt we're going to get it, as there's clearly a bigger story being setup with the Borg merely a prologue.
At this point, I have no idea where the story's going; I've avoided spoilers, previews or anything else – whether we're going to stay in the 'bad' timeline we see right at the end, swap between universes, or what. The return of Q certainly has me intrigued, but I hope this season is better planned out than last season. I do understand some people's criticisms that the show is relying too much on nostalgia rather than doing anything new – on the other hand, the show is literally called 'Picard', and it was really never meant to be a standalone series. (I can only imagine how confused a causal viewer would be if they weren't well-versed in TNG!) I think revisiting ideas and concepts from TNG is the obvious choice for the show to take – as Picard says, it's about his life coming full circle.