AquaCityBoy
Veteran
Spent the weekend binging season three (as well as the second half of season two). I was dreading watching season two for months because I didn't particularly care for season one (I barely remember what happened in it and have no intentions of rewatching it), and I figured season two would be a chore to get through to get to season three. And it was to some extent, but it wasn't bad. I'm always down for some Q and timeline fukkery, and young Guinan was 
.
There are some unmarked spoilers in here because it's been a month since the finale and this thread hasn't had a lot of activity since then.
But season three is definitely the main event. I wasn't expecting to finish this so fast because I had been watching one to two episodes a day on the treadmill, but I pretty much spent all day yesterday binging season three because I could just not stop. It gets a little too fanservicey at times, but season three just feels like a more of a Trek season than the first two, which is obviously helped by the fact that they're actually in space in season three as opposed to being confined to 21st century Earth like in season two.
Patrick Stewart felt a lot more natural and at ease in season three. In season two it felt like he was obviously still the lead, but they gave the other cast members the big subplots while everything else was happening around him. It also felt like they were doing most of the big action scenes while most of his scenes were sitting in a room with one or two people like Talinn or young Guinan, and it made him feel disconnected to the rest of the cast. I imagine some of this had to do with Stewart being in his 80s and them still having to deal with Covid protocols while filming season two. But season three he feels way more in his element. The season taking place on the Titan in literally close quarters makes Picard more the center of the story, and Patrick Stewart feels more at place as the 'Shakespearean thespian in a space opera' that he was during TNG. This is also helped by him having the TNG cast to bounce off of.
Jonathan Frakes hasn't been a stranger to Trek in the Paramount+ era, directing several episodes of all the different shows plus appearing in Picard season one. But he just felt to natural as Riker in this season it felt like he never left the role. The episodes where he's acting captain of the Titan are some of my favorite in the season, and his chemistry with Patrick Stewart is still amazing.
Geordi going from incel in TNG to overprotective dad in Picard.
I'm actually really glad they gave him a family. Those Leah Brahms episodes from TNG did not age well at all, and this ends the debate about whether Geordi deserved to be alone because he had problematic stalker tendencies, or whether the producers didn't want to give him a real love interest because they were afraid to explore black male sexuality. 
Old Man Worf.
Data coming back was the one moment I felt was bit too fanservicey just because Brent Spiner had been a regular since season one, so Data's return didn't have the emotional weight as the other returns. That said, every scene with Geordi and Data is beautiful. Burton and Spiner's chemistry is right up there with Stewart and Frakes's.
Before I watched the season I saw a lot of people talking about how endearing Captain Shaw became by the end of the season, but I don't really buy it. He definitely becomes more likable as the season goes on, especially the scenes of him geeking out meeting Geordi since he was a former engineer and Geordi's a Starfleet legend, or the scene at the end where he recommends Seven to be promoted to captain. But he honestly felt out of place, especially by the second half of the season once the whole Enterprise-D crew commandeers his ship. He reminded me a lot of Lorca in Discovery season one prior to the Mirror Universe reveal: he has to be there because he's the captain of the ship, but the other people on the ship are the main focus of the story, so he ends up pushed to the side way more than he realistically should be.
My biggest nitpick about the season is how disconnected it felt to season two, almost like they were entirely different shows. I don't regret watching season two, but I really feel like you could skip the first two seasons and miss almost nothing in season three. Jurati, Rios and Elnor are all written out, which I get because they would have been out of place in season three and it would have made the cast too bloated with the TNG reunion, but writing out Laris in the way they did was the most jarring. Season two is almost entirely about him reconciling his relationship with her, so for her to be written out in episode one and never mentioned again for the rest of the season just made the whole plot of season two feel pointless, especially once we learn the truth about Beverly and Jack. The only real through line between seasons two and three is Picard dealing with his relationship with his parents in season two, to learning he's a parent himself in season three, but that's hardly anything worth sitting through season two for.
I saw some people on Reddit saying they believed Laris telling Picard that she'd wait for him on Chaltok IV to be an implicit breakup, because she knew he would never come, and she purposely told him to go find Crusher because she knew his heart would be with Starfleet and his crazy adventures instead of her. I can somewhat buy that because it did feel like she wasn't all that enthused about him joining her on Chaltok IV, plus the fact that she seemed uncomfortable with Picard wanting to donate the painting of the Enterprise-D to Geordi's museum, but I initially saw that as them being nagging partners going on a trip together. I also don't particularly buy that because it seems to undermine the main through line of this show being Picard needing to learn who he was and reconcile his relationships outside of Starfleet.
I looked up an interview with the showrunner where he said they left Laris out of the finale because the actress went back to Ireland, and they wanted to leave it open whether Picard ended up with her or with Crusher. My first impression watching the finale is that he and Crusher didn't exactly get back together, but they still fukk on occasion. I'm sure they got Cialis in the 25th century, and apparently Jean-Luc was smashing half the females on the Enterprise-D. It's been a while since I've rewatched any TNG, but there was clearly an implication in this season that he smashed Ro Laren too?!
Also, this kind of undermines the post-credits Q cameo at the end. Since the whole second season was pretty much just a stopgap for season three, Q coming back at the end was
. And unless we get more novels or comics dealing with the Enterprise-G crew, it'll never be followed up on. I sincerely doubt we will ever see any of these cast members on screen again beyond a cameo here or there like they did with Tuvok this season.
.There are some unmarked spoilers in here because it's been a month since the finale and this thread hasn't had a lot of activity since then.
But season three is definitely the main event. I wasn't expecting to finish this so fast because I had been watching one to two episodes a day on the treadmill, but I pretty much spent all day yesterday binging season three because I could just not stop. It gets a little too fanservicey at times, but season three just feels like a more of a Trek season than the first two, which is obviously helped by the fact that they're actually in space in season three as opposed to being confined to 21st century Earth like in season two.
Patrick Stewart felt a lot more natural and at ease in season three. In season two it felt like he was obviously still the lead, but they gave the other cast members the big subplots while everything else was happening around him. It also felt like they were doing most of the big action scenes while most of his scenes were sitting in a room with one or two people like Talinn or young Guinan, and it made him feel disconnected to the rest of the cast. I imagine some of this had to do with Stewart being in his 80s and them still having to deal with Covid protocols while filming season two. But season three he feels way more in his element. The season taking place on the Titan in literally close quarters makes Picard more the center of the story, and Patrick Stewart feels more at place as the 'Shakespearean thespian in a space opera' that he was during TNG. This is also helped by him having the TNG cast to bounce off of.
Jonathan Frakes hasn't been a stranger to Trek in the Paramount+ era, directing several episodes of all the different shows plus appearing in Picard season one. But he just felt to natural as Riker in this season it felt like he never left the role. The episodes where he's acting captain of the Titan are some of my favorite in the season, and his chemistry with Patrick Stewart is still amazing.
Geordi going from incel in TNG to overprotective dad in Picard.
I'm actually really glad they gave him a family. Those Leah Brahms episodes from TNG did not age well at all, and this ends the debate about whether Geordi deserved to be alone because he had problematic stalker tendencies, or whether the producers didn't want to give him a real love interest because they were afraid to explore black male sexuality. Old Man Worf.
Data coming back was the one moment I felt was bit too fanservicey just because Brent Spiner had been a regular since season one, so Data's return didn't have the emotional weight as the other returns. That said, every scene with Geordi and Data is beautiful. Burton and Spiner's chemistry is right up there with Stewart and Frakes's.
Before I watched the season I saw a lot of people talking about how endearing Captain Shaw became by the end of the season, but I don't really buy it. He definitely becomes more likable as the season goes on, especially the scenes of him geeking out meeting Geordi since he was a former engineer and Geordi's a Starfleet legend, or the scene at the end where he recommends Seven to be promoted to captain. But he honestly felt out of place, especially by the second half of the season once the whole Enterprise-D crew commandeers his ship. He reminded me a lot of Lorca in Discovery season one prior to the Mirror Universe reveal: he has to be there because he's the captain of the ship, but the other people on the ship are the main focus of the story, so he ends up pushed to the side way more than he realistically should be.
My biggest nitpick about the season is how disconnected it felt to season two, almost like they were entirely different shows. I don't regret watching season two, but I really feel like you could skip the first two seasons and miss almost nothing in season three. Jurati, Rios and Elnor are all written out, which I get because they would have been out of place in season three and it would have made the cast too bloated with the TNG reunion, but writing out Laris in the way they did was the most jarring. Season two is almost entirely about him reconciling his relationship with her, so for her to be written out in episode one and never mentioned again for the rest of the season just made the whole plot of season two feel pointless, especially once we learn the truth about Beverly and Jack. The only real through line between seasons two and three is Picard dealing with his relationship with his parents in season two, to learning he's a parent himself in season three, but that's hardly anything worth sitting through season two for.
I saw some people on Reddit saying they believed Laris telling Picard that she'd wait for him on Chaltok IV to be an implicit breakup, because she knew he would never come, and she purposely told him to go find Crusher because she knew his heart would be with Starfleet and his crazy adventures instead of her. I can somewhat buy that because it did feel like she wasn't all that enthused about him joining her on Chaltok IV, plus the fact that she seemed uncomfortable with Picard wanting to donate the painting of the Enterprise-D to Geordi's museum, but I initially saw that as them being nagging partners going on a trip together. I also don't particularly buy that because it seems to undermine the main through line of this show being Picard needing to learn who he was and reconcile his relationships outside of Starfleet.
I looked up an interview with the showrunner where he said they left Laris out of the finale because the actress went back to Ireland, and they wanted to leave it open whether Picard ended up with her or with Crusher. My first impression watching the finale is that he and Crusher didn't exactly get back together, but they still fukk on occasion. I'm sure they got Cialis in the 25th century, and apparently Jean-Luc was smashing half the females on the Enterprise-D. It's been a while since I've rewatched any TNG, but there was clearly an implication in this season that he smashed Ro Laren too?!
Also, this kind of undermines the post-credits Q cameo at the end. Since the whole second season was pretty much just a stopgap for season three, Q coming back at the end was
. And unless we get more novels or comics dealing with the Enterprise-G crew, it'll never be followed up on. I sincerely doubt we will ever see any of these cast members on screen again beyond a cameo here or there like they did with Tuvok this season.
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