Star Trek: Picard Season 2 — Mid Season Analysis — The “Golden Girls” Edition?
Star Trek: Picard season 2 is the “Golden Girls” edition in the Trek universe. 70% of the main cast are over 50 and the key characters for this season, such as Q and Soong are in their 70s with Picard, of course, being played by the 82 yo Patrick Stewart.
Why talk about age in relation to the ST: Picard, because old age (by human standards) is the core thread that runs through this experiment in nostalgia.
Bad Move?
Do the producers regret green lighting this project? I think they do, but due to contractual commitments and perhaps respect for Patrick Stewart, they are attempting to save face and offer a decent 3-season show before bowing out. That’s a classy move, since they could have easily killed this particular franchise after the disastrous first season. Let’s face it, there is no shortage of new Trek.
1st Season — Star Trek: Soji
As a Star Trek fan, I’ve written about this new series in the past. I dubbed the first season Star Trek: Soji, because it had little to do with Picard and everything to do with chasing after an android named Soji.
Star Trek Universe is Expanding
Star Trek franchises are hot right now and there are plenty of flashy, brightly lit, neon colored uniform eye candy for fans to choose from. There is even an animated series and talk of a new Trek movie with the 2009 cast. Therefore, there isn’t a shortage of ideas, nor viewing options. It’s obvious that a desperate need for ST: Picard to be a smash is not part of the plan.
Where is Everybody?
Is anyone watching Picard outside of some YouTube reviewers? I am not sure. Only older trekkies who grew up with Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–94) are interested in this series that is basically about 70- and 80-year-olds playing whodunit in modern day Los Angeles. The show pays major fan service to that crowd with overload of references to the past.
Star Trek Timeline 1966–1996
For me, Star Trek universe ended with the Star Trek: First Contact movie (1996). My interest in Trek starts with TOS (the original series), and continues with TNG (the next generation), DS9 (Deep Space 9), Voyager and includes all the movies from 1979 to 1996. Nothing that has arrived after that incredible Star Trek: First Contact movie has gotten my attention. The new Star Trek (2009) film gets a nod for being cute for its clever recasting of the original crew. But the 2 other new Trek movies are just too painful to watch. Khan? Really?
What Motivated me to Write this New Analysis — 3 Reasons
The Borg Queen and Dr. Jurati — Great Duo
1) The interaction and chemistry between the Borg Queen and Dr. Jurati (Alison Pill) are TV gold. This due is stealing every scene and bringing in very enjoyable high-grade performances. Note to their agents, look for a vehicle to put them together in a horror thriller (sci-fi optional), where they wreak havoc on one and all.
The Borg Queen, played brilliantly by Annie Wersching, is a homerun. She is very watchable. She is given a narrow field to operate. The Borg Queen is legless in the first 5 episodes, hence can’t move around easily and she is hung in some type of a net, with her arms outstretched, Christlike. Her memorable performances are executed only with her face. Even her eyes have been digitally blacked out, yet she holds our attention every time she is on. I think of these 2 ladies as the duo that brought Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976) to life, Piper Laurie and Sissy Spacek.
Q
2) One of the most loved characters in all of Trek is Q. This wildly popular personality brought to life by John de Lancie is engaging at any age. Just to see him operate in ST Picard S2 is worth the price of admission.
New Soong
3) Dr. Adam Soong is Brent Spiner’s best Trek personality in a long time. Outside of Data, this new version of Soong is his most interesting performance.
General Reflections on Picard Season 2, Episodes 1–5
Rios
Capt. Rios (Santiago Cabrera) is a likeable character. He shines best as a mercenary. Making him a skipper on a regimented Federation ship isn’t worthy of his charm.
Old Android Picard
Picard has an android body, but can’t walk a few feet without collapsing and running out of breath. To be really blunt, what kind of story telling is this? Even the main characters in the show can’t explain the key plot. Capitan Rios to a guard in S2:E4, “The old admiral is now a flesh and blood robot, but I can’t be sure, because nobody can explain it to me.” Nobody can explain it period, because the writers and producers left logic behind a long time ago.
Seven of Zero?
Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is much more interesting as a Borg (XB). As a former high-ranking Borg, she is wholly an original character.
Raffi’s Faking It?
Raffi’s grief (Michelle Hurd) seems pushed and unauthentic. Star Fleet is a centuries old military organization where the officers and the crew risk their lives every second of every day. Death is part of the game and they are used to it.
Infants of Europa
We are made to believe that a 20 something with acute anxiety, whose Watchers (Picard crew plus Tallinn) treat her like a toddler, is heading the first manned mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa in 2024. “Oh look, she is doing OK, she made it all the way across the room, all by herself.” Why was she picked for this incredible mission you ask? Because she taught herself sailing, by watching how-to videos on YouTube. This is not Star Trek, it is Idiocracy (2006).
Healthy Vampire?
We are made to believe that a girl who has been indoors, in a sealed off environment all her life, is toned, totally healthy, vibrant and has a nicely tanned skin.
Energy Saver Invisibility?
We are told that a crashed spaceship that is so low on power that can’t heat its interiors, has magically plenty of power for a cloaking device to be activated. In Star Trek lore, cloaking devices (invisibility shields) take so much energy that you can’t fire phasers, engage a threat or (on certain ships) beam people in and out while it is activated.
Tending Bar for Only 400 Years?
Poor Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg/Ito Aghayere) has been tending bar in the same location, at the same exact building with the same façade, on some dilapidated, graffiti-ridden alley in LA, for over 400 years. Yet, she is supposed to be wise, ageless and can go anywhere she wants in the galaxy. But somehow, she has “chosen” to work at 10 Forward Ave in 2024 as she does in early 2400’s. And the producers wonder about all the backlash.
Star Trek: Idiocracy
To put the unpopular first season behind them, the creators decided to introduce a new timeline for Season 2. This could have potentially saved the show had they thought it through a bit more. We are told due to events that take place on April 15, 2024 in Los Angeles, the current timeline of Star Trek changes and the Federation is turned into a totalitarian regime. That’s the reason for the Picard crew to go back to April 12, 2024 in LA to try to prevent this divergence to manifest.
Yet, throughout the 2nd season they ignore all the events that have happened prior to the date of divergence. For example, Guinan not knowing Picard. After that blunder, the show producers now claim that all of history has changed since the beginning of time. If that’s true, what is the Picard crew doing in LA in 2024, since the change in the timeline happened eons ago? They in turn should have gone back to before that divergence, whenever that might be. The reason nothing makes sense in Picard, is because no one cares about this show. It’s obviously a rushed job.
Elvis was Never in the Building
Allow me to repeat myself, Elvis left the building a long time ago. This show was obviously put on autopilot. They just wanted to get the 3 seasons over with, to move on to bigger, better and younger new Trek projects that need their attention pronto.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8000?
Star Trek Picard’s salute to Samsung. The show uses the latest Samsung mobile devices as tech that’s supposed to be used 400 years into the future. These devices include, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3 (as the Tricorder) and S8 Ultra Tablet. That’s quite a nod to Samsung.
3 Seasons and You’re Out
At the time of writing this editorial. the Star Trek Picard will be a 3-season show and all the episodes have already been shot.
UPDATE 1: APRIL 5, 2022–3RD SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT
Today it was announced that for the 3rd and final season of Star Trek: Picard the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation will be joining Patrick Stewart for a worthy sendoff and by all accounts a final wrap for this legendary crew. That’s very smart. It’s obvious that they are paying attention to the fans. However, by releasing the trailer for Picard season 3 right in mid-season 2 is a sure sign that the show (not surprisingly) is not popular, so they might as well make it a reunion of the old cast and gracefully bow out.
Trek is Special — Star Wars it is Not
Star Trek that I love is not an ordinary, run of the mill sci-fi. It belongs to a very special caliber of space adventures that do not cater to an audience of 6-year-olds. George Lucas famously said that he made the Star Wars with 12-year-olds in mind, with the Disney-Aladdin like story of evil Jaffar (all in black), a princess in distress and colorful team of characters that come to her rescue. Today’s Star Wars has sadly lowered the bar even more and they’re now catering to 6-year-olds.
Exceptional Sci-Fi
Star Trek, follows in the footprints of the best adult sci-fi stories ever told, incredible movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), This Island Earth (1955), Forbidden Planet (1956), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Star Trek is the only high-caliber, adult themed future forward franchise on this planet. This is why, us fans, take any attempt as stupefying it very seriously.
UPDATE 2: APRIL 7, 2022 — EPISODE 6
This is the final update to this particular article. Picard Season 2, Episode 6 was released today.
Focusing on the Positive First:
The performances of the duo Borg Queen and Jurati continue to be engaging. However, the Borg Queen is less menacing now that she is walking about.
Adam Soong, may be the sleeper character for this season. We take Brent Spiner’s childlike performances of Data as granted, but here we get to see him play the villain quite convincingly. It becomes him.
Everything else just falls flat for this episode.
Why would be a globally recognized wealthy geneticist (who is already on the board of the space program that decides who gets to go on this mission) in the midst of a high security event with cameras everywhere, use his own car to try to run over a guest of honor for the event. Wow! Sad piece of writing. However, I don’t blame the writers, it’s obvious they want to spend the least amount of time on this disaster of show and move on. What surprises me is that no one else in the production seems to care either.
Why not let Seven and Raffi take a couple of episodes off. Send them on a vacation. They got nothing to do with the story any more, at least for now.
Picard, the robot, whose biological body died and buried long ago in either of the timelines, is even more vulnerable now than he was before. Yawn!
The Kore/Soji time loop. How many times is this person going to realize that she is not human in the same exact manner. First in season 1 and now in season 2. I’d love to see a YouTube spoof of this where Soji, every 10 seconds wearing different clothes and assuming different names, realizes that she is not human. A new funny catch phrase could also be added, like in Home Alone. Have her palm her cheeks every time and say, “oh sh*t, I’m not human, again?”
The Savior is You
You are the source of all that is. ETs will not save you. The savior is you.
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