User Reviews

And so it is with not exactly a heavy heart that the season season of Star Trek: Picard ends.

Unfortunately, the series took a downward turn halfway through after some really good episodes in the first quarter, and whilst I can happily report a few good things - a resolution to all the plot lines, another Whoopi Goldberg appearance as Guinan, an unexpected cameo from Will Wheaton himself, Wesley Crusher and an answer to the questions posed in the first few minutes of episode one - the finale episode wasn't quite as exciting as I'd hoped it might be.

At least Picard, a tortured soul throughout this season, gains a measure of peace and serenity back on the family chateau in France. But the Borg in the Federation? Even provisionally? Never saw that coming. I'm sure if I Googled, I would find a lot of outrage over that plot development but what's the point? Ultimately, the Borg as the big bad guys has been done and worn out as a plot device. Similar to the bad guys of old, the Klingons, everyone changes, I guess.

A decent episode, if not quite at the heights of some others. I actually enjoyed the fact that there won't be a cliffhanger, that everything got resolved in-season. A nice change.

This has not been a great series of Picard. In truth this was a movie idea stretched out.

However there is a satisfying landing despite the whose season 2 being an incoherent mess that also required a lot of retconning.

Tallinn sacrifices herself by shapeshifting into Renée Picard. Hence the two Renée's.

A dying Q wanted to show Picard the meaning of life. John de Lancie has always been great as Q. Not sure I want to see an emotional Q or that he sees Picard as some kind of a favourite son.

As for the Borg Queen, it could only be Jurati who was underneath the mask. There had to be an anomaly again in Star Trek and the Borg are the new Guardians at the Gate.

The nice surprise was the appearance of Wesley Crusher. There was speculation if Wesley would appear in season 3 given who else returns in the season 3 teaser trailer.

Wil Wheaton has been treated shoddily by some past producers of Star Trek so I am glad he popped in.

Overall the whole series of Picard could had been done as a pacy five parter.

Look, I am not going to advocate for this series or try and convince you to watch it or like it. This was a good swansong to finish out a 30 year story line.

SPOILERS!!

The writers did try their best to a degree, and great to bring Wesley Back and couldn't understand why they "transported" when Wesley just finished saying he could move through space and time? Didn't get that.

The gesture of Q and Picard as they say goodbye, moved me. John Delance i thought really did actually deliver his lines in such a articulate and passionate manner, it was poetry his words and I honestly appreciated that end to that story line.

It was good to explain why Seven didn't enter starfleet and look she may get her command next season and God willing the writers may get a spin off out of it if they do the right thing by Jeri Ryan.

The Rios back story i thought was good that they closed off that.

Orla Brady I really think is an underrated actress, really i think she is brilliant at her part.

Brent Spiner... i Think the end of his story line in this season has set it up for Nicholas Meyer's series to get the greenlight.

But once again again... They just END IT. There was no continuation on, no explanation, no Seven, Raffi or Elnor.. on the bridge, they could of ended it with Seven in command, Raffi as her XO and Elnor as a cadet on the bridge of the stargazer.

This season, had so many down sides, and these two seasons really could of been rewritten as 2h 30min movies and done REALLY WELL, but instead they insist on dragging it out over 10 weeks and having so many down sides that they loose viewership and fanbase over it.

I really feel like this season, and the last, were both seasons to finish up the loose ends of the Picard story arc left open by the TNG writers.

I really hope Season 3 finishes it and does it in a manner befitting to the Original TNG series and we dont have these stupid over acting, under explained, political B/S we've seen over the last 2 seasons and 4 with STDISCO.

I think a lot of us may have missed a big clue that was staring us in the face from the title of the show. This show is about Picard (of Star Trek). The person.

The season finale redeemed, for me, the "what's going on here" questions raised by the last 3-4 episodes.

But it opened a big gaping plot hole: If for the last 400 years the Borg were lead by the Agnes Queen, then what of all the Borg encounters in the TNG timeline? Did they never happen in this new timeline? Then... did TNG never happen the way we know it? Q hurled the Enterprise D to the Delta Quadrant and on to the Borg. Did that never happen now?

Presumably this will be answered in the third and final season... But I have no problems with the way they resolved Picard's personal story and the presence of Q in his life since Farpoint.

You would think after twenty episodes, a pretty low rating and most of the fan base with their backs turned that the writers would learn from their mistakes. No, no they haven't. Shows aren't supposed to feed the writers ego, they're supposed to be fan service. That's what keeps ratings up, that's what keeps food on the table. No, instead they chose to completely tarnish a beloved Star Trek character. Have you ever had those people ever called your house pretending to be from the IRS or Publisher's Clearing House? Some people call them "robo-calls". It's a huge money making scheme, an unsuccessful one. That's what the writers have done to what they call "Star Trek". They're using our beloved characters to make a quick buck, they don't care if what they're writing is crap or not, which incidentally, it is. That's not to say there weren't good elements to this, just not enough. What a mess of a script, as usual. Sure, it was good to see Crusher, and I loved the Q sign off. I've known for thirty five years. He's only done nothing but help. The episode should have ended in the bar, as they were, as a family. That's Jean Luc Picard; but noooooooooooooo, they just couldn't leave well enough alone.

I can't reward these producers (21!)/writers/streaming execs for this season by giving this a better rating because it was slightly better than the episodes before. No way.

I also can't give any points for Q finally showing up for a SECOND scene where Q and Picard talk to each other. And I'm so confused and angry about this season that I don't care if there's some quality in those lines. This show didn't earn anything. All that might be good is because of TNG or the movies and NOT because of "Star Trek: Picard" season 2!

Remember when people thought of Starfleet officers as aspirational figures? Who wants to be like THIS Picard? Who wants to be an over-emotional and irrational nag like Raffi? Rios doesn't behave like a Starfleet captain at all and Seven just stumbles around - a mere shadow of the hyper-intelligent but socially awkward character from Voyager. Elnor was a trained killer from a Romulan religious sect, now Starfleet Academy graduate who just enjoys killing with a big smile on his face. Bravo!

Picard forgot how his mom died but instantly remembers and blames himself for it. That was the whole arc of Picard this season! He always tried his best on TNG not because it's the right thing to do but because his mother hanged herself? And why does it feel like it's the 1940's in the flashbacks? Because Patrick Stewart grew up then?

For whom is this made? It's apparently catering to TNG fans and is about old legacy characters like Picard in his elder years but the storytelling seems to be tailored for very casual non-fans who don't retain information and use a series just for background noise while they're on tiktok. It doesn't make sense to me. I can't believe some teenager would cheer "yay, let's watch this old dude limping about and some middle-aged lesbians bickering!"

There's only material here for maybe four episodes and that's being generous. There also seems to be a budgetary issue here. Many episodes look cheap and static (locations or sci-fi scale). I even could spot some glaring VFX mistakes here and there or half-finished effects.

It's like the writers set up this "no interference" rule for time travel but somebody said "but it's super boring!" and then it gets dropped. The same goes for Talinn's time travel rules. A two minute talk and they're discarded.

But his is par for the course.

Witchcraft, 2-minute therapy sessions, making characters geniuses who astound with impossible leaps of logic or making them absolute imbeciles whenever needed. Soong, brilliant scientist - has no backup files! (but keeps his secret project on paper just in a drawer next to his computer)

Produced by people who desperately try to legitimate their twisted version of Star Trek by having nostalgia references left and right in it. Let's play the First Contact music or push the button for the TNG fanfare to legitimize our weak script! I don't care about Wil Wheaton's useless cameo where he shows the same acting range like in the Ready Room infomercials.

I can talk all day about why this disrespects Star Trek, but this is also very bad tv. I could talk about making Guinan some shotgun-wielding, bad tempered witch or giving Q conveniently inconsistent powers so their story works. Or the incredibly stupid Ocean's Eleven copycat episode (where just everything falls apart if examined closer) or Picard just suddenly remembering important things from his past during a gun battle, or Seven of Nine getting rejected by Starfleet because she was Borg and so on - I have done all that in my other reviews.

The lack of internal logic is lamentable. Talinn says she never met Renee - but then says to her that they've met years before. Borg mercenaries disappear, the Borg Queen from episode 1 couldn't just explain herself in a rational manner? Why introduce the power of Talinn to control people (white eyes, remember?) when she just could do this to Soong to stop him to end the threat? Did the writers forget? Etc ad infinitum.

It's not intelligent - it only SOUNDS like there's some layer beneath it, it's not on point, it's blunt and stupid, it's lazy and muddled, therefore it fails in its ambitions completely.

It fails to do intelligent social commentary on every level. As one example there is "Guinan" complaining that Earth is falling apart. Great job! Maybe you shouldn't just serve alcohol to people in a bar, one wants to say.

It fails both in delivering an exciting season-long arc AND do individual episodes with singular themes. Problems get only pointed out and not examined in any detail (pollution, forest fires, racism, police brutality, poverty). And after 9 episodes, the crew hasn't achieved much of anything.

We've been tricked by the producers! We all tought this was sci-fi with Q in the mix but it was just a marketing ploy. It's really shameful.

It fails because the marketing was all about Q but in 10 episodes we get only TWO episodes with Picard and him together.

It fails as sci-fi because the writers/producers don't care about space and technology - they only think in categories like magic, witchcraft, prophecy and destiny.

It fails because it introduces characters (mid-season even) and then forgets about them frequently. So I don't care about them.

It fails because it's confusing for casting the same actors as completely different characters(Talinn/Laris, Soong/Soong, Soji/Kore).

It fails in building up to this great all important Europa mission with Renee Picard and then drops her from the show for several episodes.

It also fails as a good time-travel show because the "no interference" that is introduced gets violated at every turn by our heroes who should know better. And at the end, nothing mattered anyway. Oh thanks, maybe you should have said that in episode 1 so I could have avoided this mess!

I've really come to loathe that these writers/producers can only deconstruct things but can't expand the lore and mythology in a beautiful and meaningful way.

Already people promise a different season 3, "more true to..." yada yada yada. My goodwill is spent. Why would I want to see these stories:

What kind of trauma makes Geordie a broken person?

What horrible thing happened to Beverly?

What's Worf's embarassing secret?

How much did Deanna suffer?

No thanks!

More rehashing of old stories? More meaningless nostalgic references? More pointless fan service to trend on social media? No thanks!

Do yourself a favour and skip this at all costs. Especially the next season. Sure, the critics will praise it again after having only watched 1-3 episodes. But it's as clear as day that this is just a marketing strategy.

Count yourself lucky IF you can separate this drivel from the classic episodes and you can move on. This is a generic Paramount action show that sacrifices the things that made Star Trek special to tell a muddled story that could have been told in three episodes.

Farewell indeed. And please don't come back.

The first season of Star Trek: Picard was no great shakes, to be sure. But at least that assemblage of episodes featured a little fun and a few rousing moments. In this sequel effort, it becomes clear that whatever formula or strategy used to produce this show is severely lacking in capturing any true storytelling or character spirit further than hollow or saccharine themes and circumstances. From beginning to end, Picard: Season Two might just be the worst season of Star Trek TV ever created.

For a very basic overview, this season sees the titular character (Patrick Stewart) visited by old "friend" Q (John de Lancie), who shows him a dystopian future--where the universe is far less benevolent--that will transpire unless a certain past spaceflight mission goes off without a hitch. So, Picard & and his new (from S1) crew head out--and back, in time--to try and save the known future, tangling with the Borg and other adversaries along the way.

The first two episodes of this season are passable, setting up a scenario that seems to hold at least a kernel of promise. Sadly, nothing ever sprouts--and I mean absolutely nothing. There is not one sensical, well-planned-out-or-executed idea present here. Instead, the new Paramount Plus Trek crew is content with their odd mix of almost family-friendly platitudes mixed with much too on-the-nose political references to the current environment. The characters are no better, either turning in substandard performances or mired in such ridiculous situations that no one could act their way out of such a morass.

There are just so many ways in which this season makes little sense or underwhelms in embarrassing fashion:

-The continued dumbing-down or uneven treatment of the Borg. Not every Picard story needs a Borg presence, but that seems to be the modus operandi these days.

-Clearly the writers struggled to utilize holdover cast members from Season One, and to this very moment I have no idea exactly what characters the actors were playing here. A lot of shoe-horning, to be sure.

-An arc involving Adam Soong (Brent Spiner) seems to have no point or place in the overall season other than to include the former Data actor in the main cast.

-Legacy characters like Q, Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), & Wesley Crusher (Will Wheaton) are fun to see, for sure, but not a one of them is given an interesting or meaningful arc (or even line of dialogue, in some cases).

-A plot thread with Rios (Santiago Cabrera) and a new past-Earth friend Dr. Teresa Ramirez (Sol Rodriguez) is teeth-gratingly inane.

Perhaps the worst--and saddest--failure of this season: either Stewart is now a bit too aged to give a convincing Jean-Luc Picard performance, or the writers/producers simply let him play himself and not the former U. S. S. Enterprise captain. This is not the TNG Picard, but rather the benevolent real-life Stewart.

Essentially, Picard: Season 2 is a mashup of all the old Picard/Borg tropes, a riff on Star Trek IV's current-day time travel routine, and the appearances of a few legacy characters. Not one ounce of it works or produces any real emotion. It is lost in the void of airing on a streaming service (where anything is possible) but coming off as a trite, almost family-friendly bore. I'm not saying that Trek has to be edgy all the time, but episode themes and characters should be able to appeal to all/most viewers and retain some semblance of quality. That's the TOS/TNG legacy.

As it is, though, Picard's second season does none of that. It knows it has an audience and instead of cultivating such a base, it panders to watered-down themes, eye-rolling political references, and a focus on action/visuals over any really creative story/character avenues. A true shame for Trek fans--like I--who revered TNG for its ability to successfully navigate all of those areas in a TV climate far harsher than anything Picard has had to face.

Ah yes, the finale. What I said in my last statement of my previous review still counts in this review. Near the time I was going to watch the finale, I was genuinely worried about how is the finale going to wrap MANY things up. The Borg, Agnes - Queen, Soong and his "daughter", the Europa Mission, how they're gonna return to 2401, Q's last trial, Rios' relationship with Teresa and her son, etc. Well? It kinda did. The pacing was definitely better than in the previous episodes which I am glad of. What bothered me the most as a space enthusiast is the inaccuracies of the Europa Mission. The rocket we saw wasn't anything like the SpaceX Falcon 9 "containing" the Crew Dragon. It's a "manned" rocket, but it has a casing? That's pretty unrealistic. A casing is supposed to deploy payloads. Second, the astronauts are not in the rocket one hour before launch although they are supposed to in which the people behind the launch check if the launch will go as it takes hours. Also, the launch site is in California?! That is extremely unusual for the conditions of a rocket launch when it comes to temperatures close to and above 100 degrees F.

When Wesley appeared, I immediately got up from my couch saying: "Oh my god." It's funny that the actor still looks like his 80s self but with a beard and wrinkles. Although, I do question what the hell was the point of this scene? Don't tell me there's going to be a wacky spin-off that will be the weirdest ST spin-off. Heh, at least Wesley finally matured. He is still my least favorite TNG character ever, not in the whole of ST. That would be the crew of ENT, but Charles was half-decent. There, the Soong subplot ended with an unsatisfying conclusion.

For Q, oh man. We finally get a real answer on why Q kept bothering Picard. "Even Gods have favorites, Jean-Luc, and you've always been one of mine." which struck me because that was a great reason. The whole Q departure was beautifully sad with meaningful dialogue. It's just two old fellows having a conversation together without any interruptions that would ruin it, followed by a nice soundtrack in a well-decorated room. Such strong performances between the two and the chemistry as well.

Following this convo, I love how Q interacted with the 2D characters here. And of course, Rios wanted to stay with the woman she loves LMFAO. Man's has come to be one of the worst Starfleet captains in Federation History. So, a 3/10 for him. There are some good parts of his humor, hologram shenanigans, and his chemistry with Teresa (( not the romantic parts )) and her son. I liked the moment when he said: "Time is a funny thing." and Q immediately reacted with his finger pointing: "Yes, it is." lol. As soon Q said: "Farewell, mon Capitaine. It's time for me to go." My eyes started to get watery. Then Picard hugged him. Q snapped letting them return to 2401 which was a well-handled way to go back.

Oh, poor Agnes. I couldn't take it seriously with the scene of the last time we see the Jurati-Queen. The special effects of her face showing are ugh. The Borg joins the Federation...? That is 100% against their motion at ALL COSTS. This is the EXACT problem with the Borg. "My general opinion on the Borg is that they got boring the more they were used". Oh hey, who remembers that continuity error that Renee found an organism living on Io? Isn't it supposed to be a Europa Mission? MISSION TO EUROPA, ONE ASTRONOMICAL OBJECT. NOT TO IO. Io has very poor conditions to sustain life as extremophiles. Still sad Seven is still stumbling around, god knows what she will do in S3. Yes, she is confirmed to return which Jeri Ryan has stated.

Back to Q. I will admit that I have three problems with the farewell scene and something else. First, I found it extremely frustrating that Seven didn't have any dialogue to say about Q since the events of Q2. Like what the hell? Second, how do you explain the farewell with Q slapping Picard and giving him a bloody nose? Third, he was HORRIDLY underused in the season.

Oh, Q. He is one of the best characters to exist in Star Trek. He can steal the whole show whenever he appears like he was the best part of that horrid Pilot "Encounter at Farpoint". Hell, if Q had an episode in ENT or DIS. I would be having a good time with his shenanigans. John de Lancie is a criminally underrated actor who didn't get any Oscar at all! He gives so much depth to the character, was BRILLIANTLY written, and was one of the BEST-casted people to play a certain TNG character. It never gets old with Q at all.

For Agnes, I will miss her. I won't explain how great of a character she is since I stated it countless times in my previous reviews, an 8/10.

This season was cursed from the start. All those attempts of nostalgia, but it feels like it's doing too much with bringing back old characters. It's as if The Voyage Home and First Contact mixed together. It's a god damn mess. We still have many questions like what is the actual cause of Q dying? Again, what was even the point of Wesley coming back? I get that Modern Trek uses advanced tech since the episodes would look ridiculous with the 60s to 2000s sets when it comes to 2022. Soong's tech is way too advanced for 2024. There is a good video on "Star Trek Enterprise and Discovery are set in a NEW timeline created by Time Travel and Temporal War" which has blown my mind and I would love to believe that, but I'm not one of those crazy "OMG THIS IS NOT CANON!!! 1111" people.

The finale was between an okay and alright finale of wrapping up stuff, but like I said there are many things wrong. MULTIPLE of plot threads going nowhere. You can't feel any threats, especially when it comes to the lack of tension of the drones. Soong and Kore could have character development, you know. They had the time for FIVE episodes. It's embarrassing that one individual known as FBI Agent Wells has more character development than any of the main crew. The fact that Q dies in this finale makes the title sadder which is well done. Bravo. What can I say about the ending? Not well done since the journey has been all over the place. We spent a long time in 2024 which was painful. The whole thing is extremely complicated followed by not good storytelling and awful pacing. It hurts my mind looking back at PIC S2. I would rather watch TNG S1. Barely anything was interesting in the last few episodes. What does Q's plan have to do with the Europa Mission? Just, ugh. This is already confusing as it is.

With the crew of TNG coming back in S3, God will know what will happen. I don't want to imagine. Although, it's nice to see them return, still. My expectations for S3 are extremely low. See you all until Early 2023.

All Good Things... > PIC S2.

Ten - Hide and Seek = 1-2/10.

Nine - Monsters = 2-3/10.

Eight - Two of One = 3-4/10.

Seven - Mercy = 4-5/10.

Six - Watcher = 5/10.

Five - The Star Gazer = 5/10.

Four - TO BE REVEALED.

Three - Assimilation = 8/10.

Two - Fly Me to the Moon = 8/10.

One - Penance = 9/10.

For this finale, 5-6/10.

EDIT: After watching the S3 Sneak Peek. My expectations are still low as ever. AT LEAST, THEY KEPT THE CLASSIC LOOK FOR. WORF and he looks more badass as ever. I have to thank god that it will be the final season.

Although since Seven is now.an commander of The Titan. Please... please change her S2 character.

Strange New Worlds S2 will WITH no doubt will be better than Picard S3.

See you all until February 2023, if my "problem" doesn't continue because I would really hate being behind from writing reviews when it comes to Star Trek with all of its intellectual "stuff" that is worth remembering. Only time will tell.

A nice neat little bow the wrap up the season. A boring bow but a bow all the same. No where near enough Q, the best parts of the season was the interaction between Q and Picard. Rios was probably the stand out character who I would have liked to see in his own series as Captain of the Stargazer. Its alright, but I'm glad I didn't pay for the subscription service to watch it.

Everyone found love. Even the Borg Queen (of all creatures) 😛 pain and guilt that saved planets and the final acceptance of what was in order to move to what will be. I see why others might find this repulsive, but sometimes it's about healing and inspiring hope. Picard deserves to explore his own weaknesses and find love!

I have mostly enjoyed this season of Picard, but the writers have a pacing problem. We got about three episodes of fluff, followed by a finale that felt rushed. The space mission just kinda happened. The Borg Queen was very obvious but their purpose and final destiny seemed tacked on, not a natural outgrowth of the series.

Bonus points for the surprise guest star.

... and ask some knowledgable fans and critics.

This all felt like logic, events and physics got bent in many ways to accommodate all the tiny subplots.

Star Trek was always about answering answers in a logical scientific way, and you left us with many.

How and why does Q die?

How can there be 2 Borgs?

Why does Guinan remember this after all, but the Guinan in the past didn't remember the other time Picard visited?

How can time be exactly the same when you rampaged through history?

Why does Wesley recruit someone who didn't show and travellers skills yet?

What extreme future tech does Soong have? How?

Why is Tallis a 100% clone of the one in his current time?

Why does light go faster then light with these anomalies as anyone can see it immediately?

Etc etc.

Why did no one of the crew ask these answers before filming? Is it so hard, a sanity check instead of just thinking about your salary check?

There is a third season right? I hope by Q you did read the reviews, el Capitans.

I've reviewed several episodes of the recent various incarnations of ST, but maybe it would help (or not) to give some perspective. I'm 70 years old. I watched the first episode of TOS on a black&white TV when it debuted (Yes, September 8, 1966.) I've watched every episode of every incarnation since, except for the animated series, which I'm getting to. I loved the first season of Picard, and I was very disappointed in the second season - Until 21 minutes into this finale.

At 21 minutes in, I was thinking it was a 5/10 at best. Then Wesley showed up. (Not a big fan of Wesley, but I've never been down on his character like so many Trekers.) From that point forward, this season finale was just perfect ST for me. Resolving and weaving together SO many issues - Q, Borg, Agnes, Guinan, Picard....

I started watching this episode wondering if I would even continue next season. Yeah, I will.