Picard Season 1

2020, CTV SciFi - 10 episodes

(Note: I originally wrote this review after episode 6, and then forgot to save it.  Then I wrote it after episode 8, not knowing how downright awful the finale would be...so bear that in mind reading the following words)

I've had a few conversations with a few different people about Picard at this point and it seems like everyone had different expectations about what this show should be, and now that we're pretty deep into the season order, those differing opinions seem to now be about what's working and what isn't.

My expectations were something more character-specific, after all, this is the very first Star Trek show that is named after one specific character.   Episodes of the various shows do often center around one figure or another, but never have they been dedicated to following one journey or one point of view.  The first season of Discovery did that a bit with Michael Burnham, but it was still very much and ensemble show that did share the spotlight.

The first half of the inaugural episode of Picard seemed to be giving me what I want.  It caught us up on the character's current status (retired from Starfleet in protest many years ago, living at his familial vineyard full of trauma and regret).  The last Star Trek film, Nemesis, was a defining moment for Jean-Luc, his attempts to lead Starfleet's efforts at rescuing and relocating the Romulans (their most hated enemy) was aborted after synthetic beings went rogue and assassinated everyone at a Mars colony destroying the rescue fleet in the process. This not only was detrimental to the Romulans' desperate plight but also caused a ban on all synthetic life across the Federation.  Both of these decisions were a slap in the face to everything Jean-Luc thought Starfleet was about.

But these scars have started itching again when Jean-Luc learns of Data's twin daughters and the secret Romulan cabal that is determined to destroy them. Obviously, this is all connected.

The pilot builds this story very well, and centers it around Jean-Luc's anger, shame and trauma.  When one of the daughters of Data is destroyed on Earth, he must venture off world and find her twin.  But without Starfleet's support he must find a new crew to help him.  Up until this moment, the pilot, shot in widescreen format, was very cinematic, letting the emotions and weight of history settle in on Picard.  It took its time, and it felt like a small, personal story with a very grand scope was ahead of us.  But as soon as the show dovetailed into "getting the crew together" it lost all its intimacy and just seemed like another TV show ahead of us.

The subsequent episodes (I'm up to episode 8 as of this writing) have all been fine, but the show's focus on Jean-Luc Picard is not there.  In some episodes it's very much like Picard is a supporting player in his own series. (Patrick Stewart is very much looking like a fragile senior at this point, which may be why he isn't in complete focus. Getting old sucks.) Episode 6 finds Picard returning to a broken Borg cube (now a Romulan reclaimation project) which has a potent effect on him, which is then followed by his hasty escape to his old crew.

We've seen a few returning characters.  The spectre of Data in Jean-Luc's dreams in the pilot, Seven-of-Nine pops up as a badass vigilante, Hugh the ex-Borg is around, and in episode 7, Deanna Troi and Will Riker help counsel their mentor and friend in a very emotional reunion. But that return, while catching us up on the beautiful existence of old friends, is still so much about Picard, how others see him and how he sees himself.

I was worried the show would get lost in nostalgia, and thankfully it does not, but at the same time it too often gets lost in the weeds necessitated by being a TV show.  I wish the series was instead a movie, one with dedicated focus and a streamlined story.  It's not that I dislike the new cast of characters (in fact I think Captain Rios may be one of my favourite all-time Star Trek character at this point, and his ship, La Sirena, may be my all time favourite Star Trek ship at this point as well).  I recognize that were this a movie we would have been robbed of the beautiful reunion of the Picard, Riker and Troi, so there are aspects of it being a series that have paid off, yet I feel it's taking more time than necessary to tell it's story.  (In this age of over-saturation on TV, who has time for shows that are biding time to fill out an episode order?)

I enjoy the series for how it ventures outside the conventions of Starfleet, which is, from what I gather, what some people really don't like about the show.  Some people want more nostalgia, others want less.  Some want more focus on what's familiar, others want more that's new.  I've fielded complaints that the technology has advanced too much from when last we saw this universe, while some think it hasn't advanced enough (given Moore's Law).  A lot of that is just background, however, and the ultimate point is whether the show is telling a compelling story or not.  

I would say it is, but it's definitely not perfect.

[POST SCRIPT: contains SPOILERS]

Way to not stick the landing.  The, effectively, two-part finale was a big ol' whiff at bat, if we're using tired sports metaphors.  They forgot to get a target lock before firing phasers on this ending.  Jesus it's bad.  Real bad.  It's trying not to be that bad, but it is one of the most manipulative things I've watched in some time. 
 

And another thing...he doesn't even take
the dog with him. He just abandons it on
earth.  We need a space dog, dammit!!!

The series establishes early on that Jean-Luc has something wrong with him, terminal.  Once or twice, and once or twice only, we see signs of that terminal affliction affecting him.  Jean-Luc is too stoic and won't comment further on what's happening.  Then in episode 9 it comes back in full force, all of a sudden, meaning Picard has to fight through the symptoms of this disease ex machina in order to fight for (and against) the synthetics.  I'll get to where this all leads in a moment.

The planet of the synthetics is quite the let-down, yet it feels almost a part of the 60's Trek, complete with the hippie commune mentality.  The orchids that La Sirena first encounters defending the planet are terribly cool and inspired, but the society down below is much less so.  Just a group of weirdos standing around awed by everything.  Certainly not what we'd been led to believe we'd be encountering, but that was the point.  The stories were of terrors in the unknown, instead we find a band of pacifists whose survival is suddenly threatened.

In the span of one episode, there's a mini-rebellion and the threat of "old god synthetics" who the Romulan Prophecy warned about.  For fear of getting too nerdy, this whole angle doesn't jibe, but I won't get into it.  A Romulan Armada shows up, threatening to eradicate the planet, but Jean-Luc saves the day with ingenuity, guts, determination and powerful diction.  Then he dies.

Yep, they kill off Picard.  We get to see everyone be sad an mourn him.

Except moments later they resurrect him as a synthetic, but in the same body he's known, with the same life expectancy otherwise.  Why?  There was no reason for any of this beyond sheer audience manipulation.  And we don't see those same characters who were in such mourning discover his rebirth.  It's cursedly stupid and I hate it so much.