The first episode gave me such joy. I felt like Star Trek was entering my life again in a positive way. Then this turns up. If you told me an entirely different team stepped in, I'd believe you.
It's an exposition-laden mess. They want to explain so much it's like a hose of information. The first ten minutes is just tell, tell, tell.
Sadly, it didn't settle down. It then did another lazy writing trendy of mystery. Characters going around going "You know the thing, that thing.. yeah the thing. It's time to enact the thing. We talked about. The thing. Please speak to you know who about that thing." In no way does it make the viewer feel part of the journey, it's just fake mystery.
Picard feels sidelined almost. His Romulan friend went from quite interesting to shouting Irish woman. Irish Romulans I'm not sure I can get on board with. It just seems an odd choice. Make her an Irish human if that's what you want. But why this mish mash?
Swearing. Why? I got into TNG when I was 9. It was the most formative show of my life. My outlook of life, my career path... just so much. Why must Star Trek now be an adult-only affair? People should be watching this with their kids to give them a positive hope for the future. If you take that away, what do kids have? Where is the show that inspired the scientists of today that saw Trek as children?
Even the admirals are just nasty. Where has this positive vibe gone from Star Trek? I hated Discovery as it's now not proper TV unless you want to go away and self-harm from the experience, and I fear Picard will go the same way.
If the future is basically crap, with a pointless Starfleet and cynicism and even the cream of Starfleet via its top brass is corrupt and negative... well shall we just call it a day now with planet earth?
I think I may just fire up my TNG Blu-rays. The first episode of Picard I watched twice, I felt a flicker of hope. Episode two, I am close to giving up already.
P.S. yes writers you've mentioned Earl Grey now 17 times in 90 minutes. We get it. You watched Star Trek. But clearly you didn't understand it.