Conner’s Critique’s – Picard Season 2

While we normally talk about a complete season when we do reviews of shows, every once in a while we get a preview of only the first three episodes, or less. We loved the first season of Star Trek: Picard so we didn’t mind checking out just the first few episodes of the second season. Are you ready to see what’s changed with the new adventure?

As always, we break down all of our reviews with the topics of story, acting, and overall. Let’s boldly go where no one has gone before… Also if you are completely lost you can always check out our review of the first season here

Story 8/10

The new season of Picard picks up with quite the time jump. Everyone is in a different place. Picard is back on Earth having been reinstated in the Federation. Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker are still in a relationship, but are currently separated by their life goals to make the Universe a better place. Captain Cristobal Rios is also reinstated and has been placed in command of the U.S.S. Stargazer, unfortunately he is now separated from Dr. Agnes Jurati, but Jurati is on a mission with Soji as she tries to be an ambassador to secure the future of her AI race.

However when the Borg resurfaces the world turns to Jean-Luc Picard for help. All of his prior season’s members are reunited but will it be soon enough?

No… not it won’t be soon enough, because before things can become catastrophic Picard is whisked away by an adversary from a long time forgotten. The trial never ends…

Acting 8/10

While the cast makes its return to the series, some members bow out early, or are completely left behind for the story of the season. Once more the story of the characters are almost forgotten with regards to their struggles and issues of the past season. Some mentioned in passing, some treated like it never was even broached. There is still time in the season to see where the journey takes the characters, but it’s frustrating to see where they are left with the characters after having finished last season all together on the bridge as if they were about to go on another adventure. If I can give a couple people shout outs for their amazing performance so far, Alison Pill as Dr. Agnes Jurati and Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine are always amazing.

Moving on, of course, to the more important aspect of the new season of Picard is the performances by Patrick Stewart and Q, played by John de Lancie. Their ability to not only jump back into these characters, and their banter is a true testament to their acting skills. Stewart doesn’t falter once in the performance of Picard, a character who can’t help but thrust himself into a mission no matter the cost to his personal life.

There’s also just something fun and manic about Q. Especially the way that de Lancie plays him. It’s hard to tell when he’s gonna be your enemy, or if he might even be a friend. The bits of levity between bouts of aggression are what makes the role so impressive, and could only be provided by de Lancie.

Overall 8/10

While the first episode does take a deep deviation from the final episode of the prior season, it is still doubling deep into the lore left over from the Next Generation series. Fans of Star Trek are going to enjoy this season as much as they enjoyed the last, if not more.

I will say that while the last season felt a lot less space battle, The first episode makes up for some of the feeling, and then immediately takes it all away again. This season, like the last, is a lot less about the trek through the stars, and a lot more about the character’s journey.

Conner’s Final Thoughts

It was interesting seeing Whoppi Goldberg in the first episode reprising her role as Guinan. While she currently is on suspension from the view due to her recent comments about the holocaust, It’s important to note that this scene and season were shot well before any of that occurred. It would be very hard and weird for Paramount to remove her from the role and the series. Additionally the character has a long standing and history within the series, and frankly I think her role will be very important to the story, but we might be seeing her played by a younger actor later in the show. Especially since I wouldn’t imagine Paramount being happy to jump back into bed with the actress for future projects.

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