Season 1 of Star Trek: Picard has gone the odd route, where he's sad

Season 1 of Star Trek: Picard he was threatened, and not at all what we expected. It starts out as a sunny, thought-provoking series about retired Starfleet Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, meeting his failures and Starfleet's problems. But it becomes a very personal story, and a very trivial story about a ragtag group of fairy tales fighting the good fight against the bad guys.

And then, in its last episode, the series moves on to the humanitarian process once again, looking at why death is so important to humanity, and endlessly good to a beloved character. (All right, a maybe lasting beauty, under no circumstances. We'll see.) There was nothing about the beginning that predicted the end, and it was a very pleasant road from one to the other, with lots of exposure between action and imagination, between scripted boats and a Star Trek movie stand. Finally in the middle of the season, we sat down and watched what seemed to be falling in the wrong direction. After the finale, we regrouped to see if it was Picard refined by course.

(Vol. Note: Spoilers ahead throughout the first season of Star Trek: Picard.)

Tasha: Well, I think we both have a lot to say about this time of year – how far it has come, the new characters and windows that Starfleet has given us, where it might be from here. But we really have to start with the end, right? How do you feel about the end of this season, Susana?

Personally, I go back and forth between the things I found to be completely useless, and the features I really enjoyed. I'm glad this episode took the time to revisit a little bit to explore some thoughts about death, but I have no doubt it got those thoughts. I'm glad the authors remember you Picard Maneuver and I reversed the claim, but the only way it spent so much energy on the gamble would have failed and it didn't seem like it had bought a while. It was a pleasure to see the Data again and I completely abused that after a terrible death inside. Star Trek: Nemesis, Picard they took him back to kill him again soon, before we heard the impact that he & # 39; s alive & # 39; in a way.

And that's a yes – but the feeling extends to just about everything about the end! I was relieved that the Federation finally realized its mistake and appeared to defend the core. But I lost track of what made it happen, or why they took the time to put together a couple of ships, but they couldn't save one moment to have someone, or a student, answer Picard's call and say, "Stay there, we're coming!" Having The Admonition be a straightforward synthetics message is a cool idea, but I don't see why everyone thinks "We want organic recovery" means "split the whole organic life," not "Let's just Bring Your Party a small amount of things to do to make it safer. ”For the most part, much of it happens at a seemingly endless funeral, just in time to settle it.

Susana: I still have to flag my “Picard is a good show ”hill, and parts of this episode worked well for me. However.

Most of the original end of the whole structure is dead – too many last-minute swings, too little support for a structure like Starfleet & # 39; s shipping fleet, too much plan in advance promises to discard skiing, much more "But how?" moments to let us hit the floor and say, "Yeah, it's Star Trek, have fun." How did Agnes know that "Make it so" was Picard's voice? Why didn't he and Sonong tell Raffi, Elnor, and Rios that they would resurrect Picard, before they all complained on those beautiful hills?

The last reminds me of a Star Trek movie, rather than a Star Trek episode, not in a weird way. No one comes to Star Trek to get a whirlwind of space wars, but it's something many movies show up to achieve, due to the need to increase stats and the understandable flow of sudden revenues from the weekly TV series. The best parts of Star Trek are actually when ships, robots, and costumes fall, and the whole thing just focuses on the two players sitting in their room.

Which is why I think, it really doesn't matter if Data objects are unreadable. A piece of fan service that really worked on the episode, curing the tragic death of data in the film's most hated film The Next Generation series, and worst of all, the last. Those scenes even inspired life for Picard's resurrection, a move that I had imagined from the moment it was clear that his brain would suddenly be the first variant. And it was all in the power of Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner sitting talking to each other. I was driving “Blue Skyies” to me all night.

(Did you also know that Isa Briones, who plays Dahj, Soji, and Sutra, sang that cover? sign. Also, what a wonderful word.)

But I'm curious how you feel about the second death of data here.

Tasha: I'm sad! I am all the entertainment that allows our heroes express it other than anger and fear, but I absolutely hate it "Disney death" trope, when a beloved character dies too high for long enough for everyone else to cry a little or talk a bit about how he / she will be remembered. It puts death and grief and recovery, and it is lazy. Picard's death here is equal to the bill.

But Data Death is like a mirrorless version of Disney's death. The show does not put how his consciousness ended up in the virtual reality matrix, or anything about how his experience was there. Was he able to communicate with the outside world? Could he have been in touch with Picard and Riker and Geordi and all his old friends all the time? Or was he a ghost by accident on a machine, which was evoked by any process used to create all those Data children? Any choice will be attractive, and the authors just don't seem to care. They are just about to get a cheap cameo and the cheap air of him dies. Again. It makes me happy that anyone thinks "Hi, I'm surprised, I'm alive, kill me!" good reasons for a moment of frustration. (Looks like Han Solo's confusion again inside The rise of the Skywalker It was finished for him to ask Kylo Ren to catch him again.) But the "I know you love me, Admiral" moment was really fun, and it's a sweet reminder that not every single act on TV needs to be toxic or bro-y and distant.

I tell you, I would pretend that all of this was just a visual impression of Picard & # 39; s, who just continued to process Data's death in his dreams. After that, he calms down… hm, let's say, who's funny when he quotes Shakespeare, and the rest of the broadcaster agrees and he smiles and makes him think he's actually putting Data to rest in some way. He's an adult, he has been through a lot, if he wanted to move the station Tornado when I make the air on our planet a little dry, that's okay.

But what do you do in the end? Say, it's a joint Matrix camping space, or "Hey by the way, Raffi and Steven are in love now" a handshake moment?

Susana: Why are there always tents? As someone said, "Love, but make it robots." Star Trek feels too late to go for a trope of femvolent post-singularity Machine intelligence found over space and possible time. This aspect of the season – unintentionally, I think – feels like a rip-off from the Mass Effect franchise, itself built on the bones of Star Trek and Borg.

It doesn't help that much of my 2019 year is spent reporting on how the X-Men began to prepare their entire community to deal with the genius of post-apocalyptic machines that last beyond space and time. When I took the lead on the edge, I came across the fact that Picard they went there. Yes course Picard will communicate for the first time with foreign intelligence, I guess, and maybe save the day with talk and diplomacy Check. But what revealed that all that shocking a horrible machine was a cososmic field filled with robotic arms… paralyzed.

I can talk a lot about the quiet attempts to establish Seven of Nine as a character online. PicardThe first season is unclear he said anything about it, in a way that divides us (sighs at a thousand Disney movies) line times only.

But take City and Bjayzl's link to "Stardust City Rag." All about them means to cry "Bjayzl is a creature of a woman who is close to a military leader who drinks hard to seduce him to achieve great secrets, now the suspect will avenge himself on this betrayal itself." If the seven were a person, we would take it quite plainly, in genre meetings, that he and Bjayzl were very much in love. The same goes for the end of the season holding hands with Raffi. If they weren't both women, we would take that as confirmation of Wikia's entry – that they would be a canon couple.

As a queer lover named in the Star Trek fandom that has been among queer fans, I am well aware that saying that "Queering Seven of Nine will have a huge emotional impact on that community" is the fulfillment of a decade. And I'm frustrated between wanting the show to convince you in a way no one else can pay attention to, and seeing that in a perfect world where the love talks met were as commonplace as this straightforward, "Stardust City Rag" and how this last scene played exactly I wanted them to play.

So my question to you is… I'm right be influenced

to see these moments in a particular way. Do you think Seven out of nine in Picard Is it a malicious cyborg?

Tasha: Oh, of course. Or a bad badass cyborg. But he and Bjayzl were quite a couple – co-founder / writer Michael Chabon he confirmed that in a recent multi-part interview in which he mostly mentions that it is "natural" for the characters to focus on their relationship only. Similarly, he assures Raffi he was acquainted with the officer Starfleet, who is simultaneously asking for help.

So a handshake moment seemed to me a crazy way of confirming the line for both of them, and I appreciated the relationship. But it sounded like a gentle test of water, to see how the fandom responded. I guarantee there will be “SJW pandering!” sounds from the usual "I want to see only myself and people like me directly in my entertainment, or you sell!" employees. But that discussion of Chabon appeals to his feelings of disregard for what he calls a "sad little place." He reveals that there will be more character moments in season 2, hopefully it will be a booth.

Susana: It's nice to know that those were Cabin's intentions – he's a company builder himself – but there's nothing quite like confirmation within the text itself!

Tasha: Yup! And kudos to the interviewer, Adam B. Vary, for successfully pointing to the double standard of labeling lesbian relationships as “organic” because the participants never accept them verbally, while the het act is too big for the front and center. But that gentle handshake is a little more extreme than I expected, and it sounds like a good first step for a baby. Aside from the more verified cyborg credentials, what do you want to see in season 2? I actually wondered how season 1 felt like a wrap, how little I felt unsettled by the end. Do you see any free goals that you care about?

Susana: Uhhhhhhh… Picard is an android now????? That sounds like there should be at least some official or emotional confirmation.

Tasha: Is that so? Agnes and Soong Jr. they go to such trouble to give Picard a fake body that looks like indeed like its predecessor, complete with built-in aging and dead-end, that it looks like something in the show that can easily be ignored forever. It would be great fun if Picard returned to the Fed for an illegal body and challenged his anti-laws, or just spent the rest of his life fleeing the Federation who wanted him dead. But the conclusion gives us only an open advantage of those laws. Oops, everything is ready now, Federation & # 39; s fine synthetics.

And… why would that be true? The problem was there was never a fear that all synthetics were bad because one of them exploded on Mars. The problem was that the Romulans apparently could sift through the synthetics of the people and use them for mass destruction. Between this and Sjiji (who ceased to be a man and became a forerunner shortly after Narek's assassination attempt) almost released the name of the robopocalypse, it sounds like the Federation should think carefully, re-evaluate the life of the deal, not remove the ban. If nothing else, I would expect Bruce Maddox's next version to explore Picard and take into account the philosophical effects of the veteran in the artificial body.

Susana: That is my point. It sounds so good me for others to be followed. This wouldn't be the same when Voyager encountered another similar Voyager and "our" Harry Kim died, so they replaced Harry Kim of Voyager, then was never mentioned throughout the series, or once.

And it sounds like, hey, maybe Starfleet has to deal with the fact that a Romulan spy manages to become a Starfleet Security Director, and Riker simply lets him escape the Romulan space! But maybe that's something Narek can help them with.

Tasha: So, what, if anything, should we feel about Narek right now? I feel weird that I should get her loyalty to the compelling Soji, and believe that she really does love him, and for that he is willing to betray her "muahahahaha even worse

”My dear sister in sex, or something. As always we should be on the edge of our seats whether he is honest when you ask him to love and trust him.

But we've seen him start to care less and go to the shameful comfort of big souls so many times during this time I think he made the right call the next day: it really doesn't matter even if you love him, he owes you nothing bad after trying to kill him and selling his home in Zhat Vash. I expect more of "Will they meet?" angst in season 2, and hopefully the answer is "You know, the atmosphere is right it is completely packed and miserable burners with goofy eyes it is not so much for a meaningless test that I don't put down, and I think I should try hundreds of them before I get back to you. “I know, bad boys have big dreams or anything, but anyone who tries to kill you should get permanent barking.

Susana: Narek, get some life. Narek, come out and let Shenji live his life. Soji, the day Elnor, will not lie to you, and capable of killing anyone.

Tasha: Do you him, anyway? (I can play this fiction game all day. It's fun.) I liked a lot about the first season Star Trek: Picard, starting with the slow build and appreciation of Picard's retirement, and continuing with the big questions about what it means to be healthy, what it means to die, and how much we should consider the consequences before creating the past or making the past. But in my opinion, the show's greatest asset is its characters.

Broadcasting is awesome, it does a lot to inject in the most common material. Thanks to the energy and tenacity of Michelle Hurd, I have truly invested in Raffi's struggle to redeem herself. Santiago Cabrera's excellent performance attracted me completely to the uncomfortable combination of Rios & # 39; s Han Solo swagger and the devastating effects of PTSD that he just discovered his personality in a holographic crowd with funny instruments. And I'm all about Action Star Jeri Ryan, hitting the universe, putting on his two guns. Unexpectedly, I was really touched by Riker and Troi's visit, and the opportunity to see them again as he retired, even though the huge masses of their lost sons and his secret languages ​​probably seemed to us as more explanation than we really needed.

But my biggest beef in Season 1 is how incredibly herky-jerky the writing sets out to throw these characters into sound arguments, and then they keep listening to them. And poor Elnor is the biggest victim here. Introduced as a game-changing badass, a merc with an ethos and a need to prove himself to a distant father, he was not allowed to develop much personality, or contribute meaningfully to any part of the story. He spent the last part of the season standing on various corners, waiting to be useful. His obvious 60-minute interview with Steven about leaving her when he passed away is the most exciting thing he has done since his last installment.

Susana: He wholeheartedly agreed. Picard Season 1 was a bunch of secondary characters and one bridge party, and for everyone who wasn't a fan the show was named after it was tortured. Elnor, Raffi, Soji, and Rios are all really fun characters – and fun charactership within a Star Trek setting. Season two me doing everything to set up the writers managed to misuse Season 1 wherever they could, or it would be the same thing again.

Tasha: Anything else you hope to see in season 2? Personally, I expect what the show will do Star Trek: Discovery has made, and introduced a new plan for the fullness of the new season, which may be designed for another legacy character. And I'm not all that eager to see that happen. Season 1 opened up a host of interesting controversial topics, and then covered its face. I would rather see a second season focus on all these ideas about artificial life and living more peacefully.

Well, and maybe we can actually find out what's been going on with Dahj's message and Shenji's last secret? Do you feel like that now when you have an idea of ​​what their purpose was, who brought that plan, or how it was set?

Susana: Not at all. I'll give it to you Picard this: Season 1 was such a good thing about distracting me with a good and fashionable Loyalty outfit that I never thought about it, but there are so many pieces that don't fit together.

I'm looking for Season 2 which focuses on the thesis of the show's first thesis: Picard was just waiting to die with a brain tumor in his garden, advising on his failure to rescue the Romulan people and Starfleet's fame. Now, she has a 20 year contract in life and is surrounded by a small, vibrant group of people she loves. There is a great universe to explore, and I love to see these actors do it.

Also, Guinan should appear. Make it so.

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