Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Review
Image Source: Picard and Q
“You see, I thought to myself, I thought, I really must see Jean-Luc. So I simply sought out the nearest explosion.” -Q
Picard Season 2 heralded the return of Picard’s most notorious nemesis/frenemy, Q, who was introduced right from the start of Star Trek: The Next Generation and plagued him and his crew throughout the series, then appeared in a cameo on the spin-off series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and again as a recurring character on Star Trek: Voyager. In this season, Picard, along with most of the crew of La Sirena (sans Soji) with a (the?) Borg Queen, in tow, have to travel back in time to 2024 to fix an alternate dystopian future created by Q as a “penance” for Picard.
However, Q is also working behind the scenes in 2024 to thwart Picard and his crew’s efforts, but, as we discover throughout the season, Q seems to be ailing and his powers are not working right. The season also features the return of Guinan, the Enterprise-D’s former barkeep, and El-Aurian mystic, both in the present and in the past, to try to help Picard and his crew with their mission.
RELATED:
Picard and Guinan reunite at her new “Ten Forward”
Image Source: JoBlo
The Good:
Picard Season 2 tries for a Star Trek: First Contact-esque time travel story, albeit with Q pulling the strings on this adventure instead of the Borg, which made for a more interesting storyline/mission than the first season, and it mostly works. The movie also includes a clever homage to the other major Star Trek time travel story, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, with the punk on the bus listening to his loud rock music in that movie reprising his role (with the same actor, Kirk Thatcher), who seemed to have learned his lesson from the aforementioned movie, to turn down his music when asked to do so.
There are some truly standout moments in this season, namely the opening of the season, where Picard and company board a brand-new Federation starship named for and resembling Picard’s first starship command, The Stargazer. Agnes assimilated/possessed by the Borg Queen, belts out a lounge version of Pat Benatar’s “Shadows of the Night” at a later moment in the season to distract security and allow Picard and the rest of the crew to infiltrate a gala to speak to one of his descendants, whose fate is key to fixing the future. Q, who we learn is dying, has a touching and emotional farewell scene with Picard at the end of the season.
There is also the final scene, where Picard and company return to the events at the beginning of the first episode and resolve the crisis that led to the entire mess, along with the reveal that Agnes has become part of a “new breed” of Borg that is there, not to conquer the Federation, but to assist the Federation in dealing with a massive space anomaly that could threaten everybody in the galaxy. There is also a substantial amount of backstory for Picard revealed throughout the season, specifically about his late mother, who had severe mental health concerns, and his father’s efforts to try to keep her from harming herself, which Picard, as a child, did not understand. As with the first season, the visual effects, score, etc. were well-done.
The Bad:
The major issues with the season were mostly in terms of execution, which seemed all over the place, with random stuff occasionally happening that did not feel organic to the plot or characters. Like with the first season, the pacing was excruciatingly slow at times. Elnor was killed off early on while escaping the dystopian future the crew was escaping from, sidelining him from the rest of the season until the very end when he is returned to life in a deus ex machina. It was also hard at times to figure out whether Q was trying to help or thwart Picard’s mission, even though Picard and Q ultimately reconcile at the end of the season. Also, some fans had been very excited to learn that both Q and Guinan were going to be featured in this season and were hoping that some of their backstories together, hinted at in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, “Q-Who”, would be explored Unfortunately, it was not.
Moreover, it was confusing that they reused many of the actors from the first season, instead of playing different characters. While there seems to be a Soong for every season in the Star Trek series of the past and present, it seemed strange that they would use the same actresses for Tallinn and Kore as Laris and Soji, respectively. Perhaps, the real-world explanation was simply that producers needed to save money, but it also makes it confusing to determine whether this is an alternate past or the actual past.
Seven and Raffi attempt to find Rios
Image Source: TrekCore
The Ugly:
No disrespect intended whatsoever to Wil Wheaton or anything, but his sudden appearance at the end of the season to recruit Kore to become another “Traveler” just like him felt totally out of place and random, unless, of course, that was meant to set something else up involving him. We have been waiting to see him again since 1994’s Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, “Journey’s End”, and his cameo barely lasted more than a few minutes. Also, some fans were disappointed in Rios’ final fate, sticking around in the 21st Century with his love interest and her son instead of returning with the rest of the crew, and dying what seemed to be an empty death, as revealed by Guinan at the end of the season.
Rating: 9/10 (Recommended)
This review is dedicated to the memory of Annie Wersching (The Borg Queen), who recently passed away. May she rest in power.
READ NEXT:
Source(s): YouTube
Latest News
Featured
