Don't do it Fero, here's my list of reasons to recommend Picard S2 from April. (The month, not my partner.)
Star Trek: The Original Series and The Next Generation
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I am not recommending it to anyone. In fact, I think that Picard S1-S3 should be the very last thing that they watch Star Trek wise. Season 3 only hits hard once you have seen all of the TNG-Voyager series, the TNG films, and a couple of the TOS films.
Notably not on that list of things to see to really get the most out of Picard S3? Picard S2 XD
The only thing that Picard S2 has on Picard S3 is that Picard has repaired a lot of his emotional damage in S2 and that impacts the character a bit.
I didn't click any of the Spoiler space stuff. But, really? Picard series is really bad?
Ship in a bottle! I'll have to look it up to see if it's what I think I mean, when it's a self contained ep where the ship is in danger, hehe
I'm at season 3 already so I have to get stuff down before I forget them.
217 Samaritan Snare - it's the Pakleds! They're somehow scarier to me in real life than in Lower Decks. They shot Laforge twice, geez! Also, Picard getting a heart repair seems like a major thing to put in as a B plot.
218 Up the Long Ladder - looooved the silly Irish people. And that daughter seduced Riker, haha. Riker didn't have the chance to fool around with the leader of the women dominated planet before soooo I think this is the first ep where he successfully fooled around with someone? I think?
I hated him and Pulaski killing the developing clones tho. It's weird but aren't they alive already by then?
219 Manhunt - Troia's mom! Silly ep, hehe. I feel that she's faking when she says Picard has lewd thoughts on her.
220 Emissary - Worf's future wife?
221 Peak Performance - loved this episode! Riker vs Picard on an exercise! Makeshifting everything! Weird Ferengi attack. I feel sad for the tester cuz he was looking for a fun game but got frustrated at the end when he couldn't beat Data's Strategema tactic.
222 Shades of Gray - I was wondering why Riker had no beard again but it was flashbacks. Loved that they included his romantic talk with Whoopie Goldberg again, hehehe. Bad season finale though. That's two finales that I'm not too pleased about.
301 Evolution - do we see the nanites evolved in a future ep? Like that ep with the evolved water thingy in the mining planet? The doctor guy who killed the nanites didn't really get punished.
302 Ensigns of Command - Data probably never sees that lady who had a crush on him again? Loved how vicious he is.
303 Survivors - Troia crying at hearing the music was terrifying. Usually the Trek guys don't show much emotion but she was really hurting and crying. It was disconcerting to watch.
305 The Bonding - Worf has a blood brother now. Anything happen to him? He should be grown up by the time DS9 Worf was around.
306 Booby Trap - Laforge was seeing some other girl, who broke up with him. What happened to... Sophia Perez (name?) coffee girl? She's out of the show already and I just missed seeing her in the background?
And Laforge 's Holo engineer girl L Brahm (spelling?) is that lady Rutherford was imagining as his Dream in that Nightmare inducing ore in Lower Decks! I think I remember the same clothes! She's amazing! Hope she comes back.
Ship in a bottle! I'll have to look it up to see if it's what I think I mean, when it's a self contained ep where the ship is in danger, hehe
I'm at season 3 already so I have to get stuff down before I forget them.
217 Samaritan Snare - it's the Pakleds! They're somehow scarier to me in real life than in Lower Decks. They shot Laforge twice, geez! Also, Picard getting a heart repair seems like a major thing to put in as a B plot.
218 Up the Long Ladder - looooved the silly Irish people. And that daughter seduced Riker, haha. Riker didn't have the chance to fool around with the leader of the women dominated planet before soooo I think this is the first ep where he successfully fooled around with someone? I think?
I hated him and Pulaski killing the developing clones tho. It's weird but aren't they alive already by then?
219 Manhunt - Troia's mom! Silly ep, hehe. I feel that she's faking when she says Picard has lewd thoughts on her.
220 Emissary - Worf's future wife?
221 Peak Performance - loved this episode! Riker vs Picard on an exercise! Makeshifting everything! Weird Ferengi attack. I feel sad for the tester cuz he was looking for a fun game but got frustrated at the end when he couldn't beat Data's Strategema tactic.
222 Shades of Gray - I was wondering why Riker had no beard again but it was flashbacks. Loved that they included his romantic talk with Whoopie Goldberg again, hehehe. Bad season finale though. That's two finales that I'm not too pleased about.
301 Evolution - do we see the nanites evolved in a future ep? Like that ep with the evolved water thingy in the mining planet? The doctor guy who killed the nanites didn't really get punished.
302 Ensigns of Command - Data probably never sees that lady who had a crush on him again? Loved how vicious he is.
303 Survivors - Troia crying at hearing the music was terrifying. Usually the Trek guys don't show much emotion but she was really hurting and crying. It was disconcerting to watch.
305 The Bonding - Worf has a blood brother now. Anything happen to him? He should be grown up by the time DS9 Worf was around.
306 Booby Trap - Laforge was seeing some other girl, who broke up with him. What happened to... Sophia Perez (name?) coffee girl? She's out of the show already and I just missed seeing her in the background?
And Laforge 's Holo engineer girl L Brahm (spelling?) is that lady Rutherford was imagining as his Dream in that Nightmare inducing ore in Lower Decks! I think I remember the same clothes! She's amazing! Hope she comes back.
Definitely some "wait and see"s in there, Leah Brahms for instance very much comes back later. = ]
Having read the Memory Alpha writeup confirms the hunch I had, unless I'm missing something: this is a scenario that I think is analogous to the transporter problem, not in terms of the particular philosophical question, but in the sense that situations that are identical in all the important points come up a lot in sci-fi, and the 20 page philosophical discussions people inevitably have about them are pretty much the same too. Also in that it's a "where is the value of human life located" sort of question. People do be having opinions on it, as it were.
Paradoxically, the third season is somewhere in the range of watchable to transcendentally perfect. I had a mixed feeling on it during the season, highest near the end, and my opinion has soured a little on a few elements since, but this is the only Secret Hideout Trek show that I've heard people outside my friend group talk about in meatspace. The people who most hated Picard seem to agree that S3 is what it should have been all along.
I'm completely serious in saying that you don't need to see the first two seasons to follow it though. Picard is a robot now. All you need to know going in.
It has to be a spin on the idea of a "bottle episode", without the ship, which also has to do with limitations of space and budget. But as the term is used now, bottle episodes are mostly limited to a single location and a small cast. Trek ships have a lot of locations and people in them, so ship-in-a-bottle episodes wouldn't necessarily qualify.
Punch line is, all of this apparently somehow originates from someone in the 60s talking about pulling episodes out of a magic bottle. Corking the people inside came later. Then Trek added the ship.
Meanwhile, Enterprise's "Shuttlepod One", the episode where Trip and Reed get stuck in a shuttle for an episode with no B plot, is a textbook bottle episode, but does it also still qualify as a ship in a bottle episode, or is it disqualified on account of leaving Enterprise? (I do like that the two actors later named a podcast after it together.)
I didn't remember the episode at all - possible I simply never saw it somehow, though I must have caught the cargo bay scene somewhere.
Having read the Memory Alpha writeup confirms the hunch I had, unless I'm missing something: this is a scenario that I think is analogous to the transporter problem, not in terms of the particular philosophical question, but in the sense that situations that are identical in all the important points come up a lot in sci-fi, and the 20 page philosophical discussions people inevitably have about them are pretty much the same too. Also in that it's a "where is the value of human life located" sort of question. People do be having opinions on it, as it were.
I think so, not everyone does. I mean, most people would say so for at least the first season, and I personally think the second is much (much much) worse, but I also think more people would disagree with me about it.
Paradoxically, the third season is somewhere in the range of watchable to transcendentally perfect. I had a mixed feeling on it during the season, highest near the end, and my opinion has soured a little on a few elements since, but this is the only Secret Hideout Trek show that I've heard people outside my friend group talk about in meatspace. The people who most hated Picard seem to agree that S3 is what it should have been all along.
I'm completely serious in saying that you don't need to see the first two seasons to follow it though. Picard is a robot now. All you need to know going in.
I think the idea of a self-contained presentation that doesn't have any outside locations was the important part. Implicitly also a cheap episode to make, with no new sets etc. So I guess in theory the ship doesn't actually have to be in danger, that just happens because of course it is.
It has to be a spin on the idea of a "bottle episode", without the ship, which also has to do with limitations of space and budget. But as the term is used now, bottle episodes are mostly limited to a single location and a small cast. Trek ships have a lot of locations and people in them, so ship-in-a-bottle episodes wouldn't necessarily qualify.
Punch line is, all of this apparently somehow originates from someone in the 60s talking about pulling episodes out of a magic bottle. Corking the people inside came later. Then Trek added the ship.
Meanwhile, Enterprise's "Shuttlepod One", the episode where Trip and Reed get stuck in a shuttle for an episode with no B plot, is a textbook bottle episode, but does it also still qualify as a ship in a bottle episode, or is it disqualified on account of leaving Enterprise? (I do like that the two actors later named a podcast after it together.)
Leah Brahms comes back, woo! Hope she doesn't turn into an evil hologram or whatever, haha
On Up the Long Ladder ep, I thought it was odd that ALL the crew supposedly would never offer genetic material to the scientists to make clones (Picard said so). There has no be some dissenting thought about it. I kinda wouldn't mind having a clone out there. Maybe. But it was just odd and a bit scary when Riker and Pulaski just vaporized their clones when they were almost almost fully formed ish.
On Ship in a Bottle, I don't think I'm thinking about cheaper to produce Bottle Episodes. It's more like... the episode is all about dealing with a threat and using science and brain power. Not a lot of human drama cuz they're operating with peak efficiency. Maybe Bottle eps are on the same track cuz they can't put huge emotional character advancing plots in these almost Monster of the Week eps. Maybe?
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Anyhow, had to re comment early cuz I saw 308 The Price and I got excited cuz they were going to buy a wormhole! And Ferengi were in it! Scheming Ferengi! I thought this was a lead in to DS9!
It wasn't tho, aaaaw. The seller alien was an alien type that I don't recall in DS9. But, wow, this was the episode with the stretchy aerobic workout clothes that Lower Decks previewed, haha! And Troi and Crusher were talking about sex?! Haha, is that what they'll talk about in Lower Decks? Haha. Hmm, Troi gets hit on a lot but I think this is the ep where she's successful.
307 The Enemy, I hope Geordi gets to see the Romulon he makes friends with again.
309 Vengeance Factor, geez, Riker vaporized that lady he was being romantic with! That was sad. Nobody was doing anything at that scene either. They really could have just tackled her. She didn't have to die. She was being shot multiple times too, poor lady.
On Up the Long Ladder ep, I thought it was odd that ALL the crew supposedly would never offer genetic material to the scientists to make clones (Picard said so). There has no be some dissenting thought about it. I kinda wouldn't mind having a clone out there. Maybe. But it was just odd and a bit scary when Riker and Pulaski just vaporized their clones when they were almost almost fully formed ish.
On Ship in a Bottle, I don't think I'm thinking about cheaper to produce Bottle Episodes. It's more like... the episode is all about dealing with a threat and using science and brain power. Not a lot of human drama cuz they're operating with peak efficiency. Maybe Bottle eps are on the same track cuz they can't put huge emotional character advancing plots in these almost Monster of the Week eps. Maybe?
---
Anyhow, had to re comment early cuz I saw 308 The Price and I got excited cuz they were going to buy a wormhole! And Ferengi were in it! Scheming Ferengi! I thought this was a lead in to DS9!
It wasn't tho, aaaaw. The seller alien was an alien type that I don't recall in DS9. But, wow, this was the episode with the stretchy aerobic workout clothes that Lower Decks previewed, haha! And Troi and Crusher were talking about sex?! Haha, is that what they'll talk about in Lower Decks? Haha. Hmm, Troi gets hit on a lot but I think this is the ep where she's successful.
307 The Enemy, I hope Geordi gets to see the Romulon he makes friends with again.
309 Vengeance Factor, geez, Riker vaporized that lady he was being romantic with! That was sad. Nobody was doing anything at that scene either. They really could have just tackled her. She didn't have to die. She was being shot multiple times too, poor lady.
It was disappointing. The first season had so much hype going into it, but it was a bit of a letdown with a controversial ending. The second season featured Q, time travel, alternate timelines, and some reveals about Picard's personal life and childhood. Season 3 got a new show runner and knocked it out the park. Like seriously, it was epic and worth every single episode that led up to it. When you get finished with TOS, Voyager, and the movies, you need to watch it in order.
I always loved that episode, and as an Irish/American, I took no offense to the stereotypes used. Not to sound like ooo-baby, but what a lady to start off with! Later episodes have laws about that, but the Enterprise crew never seemed to be held accountable.
Yup. She is great, and this episode gives Worf a chance to shine.
This episode came about due to the writers strike, so they had to make a clip show. Its one of the very few if only in Star Trek. It does have an epic scene that I will always remember.
Do you know who you are?
I am captain Jean Luc Picard.
Good, the admiral and I were worried about you.
Captain, I do not believe that you have the authority to promote me to the rank of Admiral.
Nope. Never seen again.
I don't remember Troi that much in that episode. I just remember the mystery of the alien ship and the reveal of the old man at the end with Picard's speech to him. The guy is a Q like being, and one of the few beings that powerful introduced after the TOS era.
Yeah, he is played by Tony Todd, and he even had an episode in DS9 later on after Worf got their family dishonored by not joining Gawron in the war against the Cardassians. He plays a bigger role later on in TNG though.
Yeah, Perez is gone for good. Back stage drama and they didn't like that she cut her hair or something, so she is gone until Lower Decks. Dr Brahms does show up again in person in a future TNG episode and that is the same person from Lower Decks. We can discuss her more after her next appearance.
Booby trap was a great episode to me. I loved that they found this ancient Spaceship, intact, and got to oogle it before they found out what was going on. I also loved that epic flight out where Picard uses gravity to get them out. Such an awesome ending for it.
I will fight you
Lol! What I mean is that for you to properly understand why season 3 is so good, then you need to understand what happened in pretty much all of Voyager and know their characters well. You will also need to know what happened in at least the four TNG films. TOS and their films will help you understand a scene or two from the third season a bit better.
I see X ] I misread that somehow as "and watch it in order", I.e. that Picard S1-2 were obligatory to have in there.
Oh, one actual correction though, Terry Matalas wasn't actually new new as showrunner in S3, he was one for S2 but alongside Akiva Goldsman. Goldsman is the guy who's involved in all the Secret Hideout Trek shows, and who is in turn also showrunning on SNW alongside Henry Alonso Myers. I see two possibilities: there was an ancient baseball glove devil curse with culturally appropriative Native American elements on the first two seasons of Picard; Henry Alonso Myers is an angel of pure light, and if Goldsman wasn't on SNW, the series would transcend all known standards of television and usher in a new golden age for humankind.
Oh, one actual correction though, Terry Matalas wasn't actually new new as showrunner in S3, he was one for S2 but alongside Akiva Goldsman. Goldsman is the guy who's involved in all the Secret Hideout Trek shows, and who is in turn also showrunning on SNW alongside Henry Alonso Myers. I see two possibilities: there was an ancient baseball glove devil curse with culturally appropriative Native American elements on the first two seasons of Picard; Henry Alonso Myers is an angel of pure light, and if Goldsman wasn't on SNW, the series would transcend all known standards of television and usher in a new golden age for humankind.
In all actuality, you can skip seasons 1 and 2 of Picard if you want, but I would be curious if you enjoyed them binging them at once as opposed to week to week.
Also, Q's last 2 scenes in Season 2 are epic to me, and for the sake of the actor alone, I would advise that you at least watch those so you understand something in Season 3.
Also, Q's last 2 scenes in Season 2 are epic to me, and for the sake of the actor alone, I would advise that you at least watch those so you understand something in Season 3.
Okay, real talk, while I strongly disagree on that last point, something confuses me about it.
Terry Matalas is clearly not a guy who minds a bit of self-promotion. Picard S3 ends in an elevator pitch for another series, because hey, if SNW could pull it off, why not Legacy, right? During this pitch, a character tells us that names mean everything, and then to set a course for the Matalas system. It's very subtle, in that not at all way. I do not detect the kind of spirit prone to self-deprecation in these choices.
But S3 has like, a very different relationship with S1, which Matalas wasn't on, and with S2, which he was, and it's not the one I would expect. There are plot points from S1 that play a major role in the setup of S3, mostly how Picard is a robot now and how he died for that to happen but some other little ones too. S3 wants to dig into and build on those. And there's some strangeness with the timeline, but I know results not from a lack of care, but from the studio deciding that S3 had to happen the next year instead of a few years after S2 as written, so the flashbacks would have lined up etc. Nothing else contradicts S1, or S2 for that matter.
But.
When S2 does come up in S3, which I feel like there are just a handful of instances of, there's no digging on or building on involved. It's more like those spots Abrams took out to address the audience and apologize for plot holes in The Last Jedi during his much worse sequel. And there are reasons that the S2 events get that treatment each time that have been addressed in interviews and whatever. Raffi and Seven broke up and don't want to spend more than one line of script time on the subject (because of Matalas's future plans for them in Legacy.) Shaw brings up the Jurati Collective while ranting about the Borg just to dismiss them (because this story has real Borg and it'd be confusing if those other folks showed up, better to save them for someone else down the road.) And Q shrugs off the notion of his death as too-linear thinking (because he does after all not experience time in any order he doesn't choose to.)
I understand the reasoning behind these explanations. Two of them are probably even sound.
But it is buck wild that S2 sincerely only seems to come up when there's something a little inconvenient for S3 that has to be dismissed offhand in a single line.
Edit: One counterexample that does come to mind, admittedly, is Picard asking Data about his choice to die in S1. That's an S1 event, but it's treated in the same sort of way the S2 references work, squint at it momentarily and then chuck it over your shoulder.
Terry Matalas is clearly not a guy who minds a bit of self-promotion. Picard S3 ends in an elevator pitch for another series, because hey, if SNW could pull it off, why not Legacy, right? During this pitch, a character tells us that names mean everything, and then to set a course for the Matalas system. It's very subtle, in that not at all way. I do not detect the kind of spirit prone to self-deprecation in these choices.
But S3 has like, a very different relationship with S1, which Matalas wasn't on, and with S2, which he was, and it's not the one I would expect. There are plot points from S1 that play a major role in the setup of S3, mostly how Picard is a robot now and how he died for that to happen but some other little ones too. S3 wants to dig into and build on those. And there's some strangeness with the timeline, but I know results not from a lack of care, but from the studio deciding that S3 had to happen the next year instead of a few years after S2 as written, so the flashbacks would have lined up etc. Nothing else contradicts S1, or S2 for that matter.
But.
When S2 does come up in S3, which I feel like there are just a handful of instances of, there's no digging on or building on involved. It's more like those spots Abrams took out to address the audience and apologize for plot holes in The Last Jedi during his much worse sequel. And there are reasons that the S2 events get that treatment each time that have been addressed in interviews and whatever. Raffi and Seven broke up and don't want to spend more than one line of script time on the subject (because of Matalas's future plans for them in Legacy.) Shaw brings up the Jurati Collective while ranting about the Borg just to dismiss them (because this story has real Borg and it'd be confusing if those other folks showed up, better to save them for someone else down the road.) And Q shrugs off the notion of his death as too-linear thinking (because he does after all not experience time in any order he doesn't choose to.)
I understand the reasoning behind these explanations. Two of them are probably even sound.
But it is buck wild that S2 sincerely only seems to come up when there's something a little inconvenient for S3 that has to be dismissed offhand in a single line.
Edit: One counterexample that does come to mind, admittedly, is Picard asking Data about his choice to die in S1. That's an S1 event, but it's treated in the same sort of way the S2 references work, squint at it momentarily and then chuck it over your shoulder.
Ok. To clear up what I said, Massive Picard Season 2 spoilers
Here is what you need to know about Season 2 of Picard. Picard is back in Star Fleet, and is leading a fleet to a strange signal that has requested him. They get there and are jumped by the Borg that start taking control of their ships. Picard sets the ship to self destruct, and that is where this picks up:
Q has taken Picard to an alternate timeline that is essentially a Mirror verse where Humanity has dominated the galaxy.
Picard and crew reunite and steal a borg Queen to travel back in time and reverse what changes were made to the time line. They spend way too much time doing this.
Q is dying in season two of Picard. Picard has lived his entire life with keeping the people, specifically the women, of his life at a distance. Q knows why he does that, and its due to the Childhood drama of him blaming himself for his mother's suicide. Its the reason why Picard left for the stars, why he can't commit to a single place, and why he can't ever stay in love with anyone for too long. So Q wants Picard to not be alone in the end like Q is. So he setups everything for Picard to go back in time, fight a battle at their French estate, and leave the key hidden in the false brick so he can find it later as a child, and let his mother out so she can hang herself. Q needed Picard to forgive himself, his father and to understand that his mother was sick, and there was nothing that Jean Luc could do. All that leads up to these two scenes:
One of the crew gets turned into a new Borg Queen, and takes their starship to form a new collective of willing people that want to join the borg for either medical or personal reasons. So Q has to use all of his power to send the crew back to their present day where they are encountering the new Borg, that Picard learns to trust in the process averts a huge natural disaster. The new collective petition for Federation membership.
All that said, Q last two scenes are epic, and make for a great finale for the character even though we will see him again. When he says that Picard matters to him, I get a little emotional.
Q has taken Picard to an alternate timeline that is essentially a Mirror verse where Humanity has dominated the galaxy.
Picard and crew reunite and steal a borg Queen to travel back in time and reverse what changes were made to the time line. They spend way too much time doing this.
Q is dying in season two of Picard. Picard has lived his entire life with keeping the people, specifically the women, of his life at a distance. Q knows why he does that, and its due to the Childhood drama of him blaming himself for his mother's suicide. Its the reason why Picard left for the stars, why he can't commit to a single place, and why he can't ever stay in love with anyone for too long. So Q wants Picard to not be alone in the end like Q is. So he setups everything for Picard to go back in time, fight a battle at their French estate, and leave the key hidden in the false brick so he can find it later as a child, and let his mother out so she can hang herself. Q needed Picard to forgive himself, his father and to understand that his mother was sick, and there was nothing that Jean Luc could do. All that leads up to these two scenes:
One of the crew gets turned into a new Borg Queen, and takes their starship to form a new collective of willing people that want to join the borg for either medical or personal reasons. So Q has to use all of his power to send the crew back to their present day where they are encountering the new Borg, that Picard learns to trust in the process averts a huge natural disaster. The new collective petition for Federation membership.
All that said, Q last two scenes are epic, and make for a great finale for the character even though we will see him again. When he says that Picard matters to him, I get a little emotional.
I don't wanna sound all "debate me!" here, but I still don't follow which parts of S2 enhance the viewing experience of S3. Like, the Q at the end of S3 knows about his death in the past, but I'm still working on the assumption that that's his own future and he hasn't directly experienced it yet. If that's not the case, it's worse, because his death was undone by a handwave. Either way it adds nothing (or less) to Q in the present.
I feel like the closest S2 comes to contributing meaningful character or thematic material to S3 is in relation to Picard and fatherhood. But Picard showing some vulnerability to the idea of regretting not having children has been around since Robert's death. In S3, Picard and Crusher fight about whether there was any chance he would have accepted having one in 2381ish, and I feel like that would be at least an open question if S2 hadn't told us he definitely wouldn't have, and then had him change his mind. So S2 changes that scene a little, but only by making it a little more awkward.
The key thing S2 revealed was that part of Picard's reluctance was the worry that he'd be an abusive father. He dealt with it and decided he wouldn't be. But we didn't know anything about that before S2 in the first place. It's self-contained.
And S3 is building its own independent framework for all of this that doesn't fit at the edges with S2. At the beginning of S3, Picard tells Laris that he wants another adventure, not a legacy. For the purposes of S3, it's foreshadowing the fact that he's exactly wrong about what he wants, but it's a significant backtrack on where he was at the end of S2. Then, whatever conflict he still has, it's steamrolled flat once the children he might have had become the son he did have, and the regret of not having children as a concept is replaced with the regret of not being involved in Jack's life.
You could even say that Picard's misunderstood childhood trauma revealed in S2 was the ultimate cause behind the feelings that caused Crusher to feel he was so resistant to the idea of having a child, which is how she justified keeping Jack away from him to protect Jack. In that way, maybe you could stretch really hard and see Picard's attitude as having been the reason he never knew his son. The trouble is, S3 doesn't spend a lot of time on what Beverly Crusher thinks, to be honest - the attention in S3 turns immediately to why Jack didn't seek out his father. Ultimately we get that dramatized in the 10 Forward Avenue flashback, and it hinges on Picard just being the same old Picard we've always known (since later TNG at least, when he started to warm to the crew as a kind of family.) We didn't need a childhood trauma explanation for that ever before, and we don't need one now.
I just don't think S2 contributes anything to this arc. At best it's an awkward cul de sac. It awkwardly attempts to explain a vague notion about the origins of Picard's standoffishness without meaningfully moving the character past the point he'd already grown to. It only matters if the story ends where S3 begins, with Picard and Laris as a happy couple making wine and unbothered by any ghosts of their pasts. Instead, that's chucked in a bin immediately to introduce the main conflict and we've forgotten about it by the time Picard's feelings matter again, so much that we don't even see him and Laris get that drink on Chaltok IV in the epilogue.
And because I can't, one more unrelated thing:
This is referenced in a single line in S3, summed up as "that weird shit on the Stargazer." Nobody asked Shaw his opinion, he just brought up Jurati's Collective specifically to dismiss them.
And not for nothing, the portion of S2 involving the Stargazer and Jurati's Collective in the present is the only part anyone who didn't time travel even knows about. For anything else, if Picard, Seven, and Raffi don't talk about it, it can't affect the plot.
I feel like the closest S2 comes to contributing meaningful character or thematic material to S3 is in relation to Picard and fatherhood. But Picard showing some vulnerability to the idea of regretting not having children has been around since Robert's death. In S3, Picard and Crusher fight about whether there was any chance he would have accepted having one in 2381ish, and I feel like that would be at least an open question if S2 hadn't told us he definitely wouldn't have, and then had him change his mind. So S2 changes that scene a little, but only by making it a little more awkward.
The key thing S2 revealed was that part of Picard's reluctance was the worry that he'd be an abusive father. He dealt with it and decided he wouldn't be. But we didn't know anything about that before S2 in the first place. It's self-contained.
And S3 is building its own independent framework for all of this that doesn't fit at the edges with S2. At the beginning of S3, Picard tells Laris that he wants another adventure, not a legacy. For the purposes of S3, it's foreshadowing the fact that he's exactly wrong about what he wants, but it's a significant backtrack on where he was at the end of S2. Then, whatever conflict he still has, it's steamrolled flat once the children he might have had become the son he did have, and the regret of not having children as a concept is replaced with the regret of not being involved in Jack's life.
You could even say that Picard's misunderstood childhood trauma revealed in S2 was the ultimate cause behind the feelings that caused Crusher to feel he was so resistant to the idea of having a child, which is how she justified keeping Jack away from him to protect Jack. In that way, maybe you could stretch really hard and see Picard's attitude as having been the reason he never knew his son. The trouble is, S3 doesn't spend a lot of time on what Beverly Crusher thinks, to be honest - the attention in S3 turns immediately to why Jack didn't seek out his father. Ultimately we get that dramatized in the 10 Forward Avenue flashback, and it hinges on Picard just being the same old Picard we've always known (since later TNG at least, when he started to warm to the crew as a kind of family.) We didn't need a childhood trauma explanation for that ever before, and we don't need one now.
I just don't think S2 contributes anything to this arc. At best it's an awkward cul de sac. It awkwardly attempts to explain a vague notion about the origins of Picard's standoffishness without meaningfully moving the character past the point he'd already grown to. It only matters if the story ends where S3 begins, with Picard and Laris as a happy couple making wine and unbothered by any ghosts of their pasts. Instead, that's chucked in a bin immediately to introduce the main conflict and we've forgotten about it by the time Picard's feelings matter again, so much that we don't even see him and Laris get that drink on Chaltok IV in the epilogue.
And because I can't, one more unrelated thing:
This is referenced in a single line in S3, summed up as "that weird shit on the Stargazer." Nobody asked Shaw his opinion, he just brought up Jurati's Collective specifically to dismiss them.
And not for nothing, the portion of S2 involving the Stargazer and Jurati's Collective in the present is the only part anyone who didn't time travel even knows about. For anything else, if Picard, Seven, and Raffi don't talk about it, it can't affect the plot.
Allow me to clarify.
You don't need to know all of what I wrote about Season 2 in my last post for Season 3. However, I would say that if you are skipping season 2, then you need to know that part and watch those clips, as it's the best part of Season 2, and John Delancie kills it in those scenes. Think of it as more a Cliff notes for Season 2 than anything else.
The only thing that you need to know from that is that there are two different Borg collectives now and that Q died in the past, but he isn't a linear being so that is Q at the end of his life. I do agree that those aren't even heavy points, but it might clear up some confusion. Really, though, I would still advise them to trudge through S1-2 of Picard though, that way they can make up their own mind about it. However, they can really just skip all of s1 as well, as it doesn't really impact Season 3 that much either.
Season 1 spoilers
The only thing that you need to know from that is that there are two different Borg collectives now and that Q died in the past, but he isn't a linear being so that is Q at the end of his life. I do agree that those aren't even heavy points, but it might clear up some confusion. Really, though, I would still advise them to trudge through S1-2 of Picard though, that way they can make up their own mind about it. However, they can really just skip all of s1 as well, as it doesn't really impact Season 3 that much either.
Season 1 spoilers
If they do skip season 1, then Raffi is a former First officer of Picard's during the Romulan evacuation, that was foiled by a secret Romulan organization(One that hates artificial life) that attacked the federation shipyards using their own androids. Raffi becomes an addict after she drops out of Star Fleet with Picard in protest f them not helping the Romulans after the attack, but later helps Picard uncover all the truth about the attack and becomes a Federation Operative. Dr Soong has a son that is on a remote world making new types of androids, and golem bodies to transfer people into. Picard dies of his illness that they discovered at the end of TNG, and they transfer his mind into the golem body and delete Data's consciousness to allow him to rest in peace.
Fair enough! While we're at it, I'm going to expand on the S1 recap a bit:
Picard's last big actions with Starfleet involved spearheading a push to evacuate Romulans from their star system when the star went supernova in the 2009 movie in the main timeline. It's something the Federation as a whole was comparatively callous about, and Picard lived and worked with Romulan refugees and advocated for them in the decades in between then and now. So in the present, he's partnered with a couple of Romulan refugees to run his family vineyard, one of whom (named Laris) sticks around and is his romantic partner at the beginning of S3.
Back in the immediate post-Nemesis with the Romulan supernova, Soong-type androids other than Data (referred to as "synths") had been mass produced but weren't sapient. Like The Predaking said, a double-secret Romulan organization did a sabotage to end the evacuation of Romulus and also get synths banned in the Federation. Later, Riker and Troi had two children, the older of whom eventually died of a condition that could have been cured with the positronic tech that had been banned (think a less extreme version of Vedek Bareil.) In the season, Picard is eventually led to a secret planet full of fully sapient synths, some of whom are mostly organic, as well as the latest human Dr. Soong and a reconstructed Data in a box; the synths have been sending out occasional sleeper agents into the Federation, but they invariably get discovered and murdered.
So there have been an awful lot of tensions around synths that may or may not apply to Picard in the present. However, the Federation also conveniently lifted the ban in the last thirty seconds of the series for Picard's benefit and seem to have forgotten about it completely since.
The reconstructed Data in a computer, drawn from quantum doodly-doo recovered from the end of Nemesis by the latest human Soong, is a kind of irrelevant late reveal, doesn't consider himself the real Data, and opts immediately to die to see what that's all about. But it does get referenced once later.
Picard's irumodic syndrome from All Good Things has manifested at the beginning of S1, and the main ticking clock for the season is that whatever else happens in between, he's going to die at the end. He ultimately goes out like Alex Kamal in The Expanse, doing some cool ship stuff in the climax when something in his brain finally pops. He's lucky that the otherwise impossible technology to transfer his consciousness into a synth body has just been invented by L.H. Soong, who makes Picard a decrepit organic synth that will continue aging, and promptly dies offscreen himself sometime during the next season. So as of S3, Picard no longer has a metal heart, but has a metal brain instead.
There's also some stuff with ex-Borgs that may or may not matter. The term ex-Borg is introduced, and they seem to be held somewhat suspect in the Federation, while they're treated as guinea pigs at best and organic cereal boxes with fun prizes inside at worst by anyone else. Some of Seven of Nine's angst comes from this. Ex-Borgs may or may not have unusual abilities like the ability to interface with Borg tech, enhanced sensory capabilities, or the dual-wielding feat, based on what tech they retain inside. Most retain at least some implants that can't be removed without killing them.
Back in the immediate post-Nemesis with the Romulan supernova, Soong-type androids other than Data (referred to as "synths") had been mass produced but weren't sapient. Like The Predaking said, a double-secret Romulan organization did a sabotage to end the evacuation of Romulus and also get synths banned in the Federation. Later, Riker and Troi had two children, the older of whom eventually died of a condition that could have been cured with the positronic tech that had been banned (think a less extreme version of Vedek Bareil.) In the season, Picard is eventually led to a secret planet full of fully sapient synths, some of whom are mostly organic, as well as the latest human Dr. Soong and a reconstructed Data in a box; the synths have been sending out occasional sleeper agents into the Federation, but they invariably get discovered and murdered.
So there have been an awful lot of tensions around synths that may or may not apply to Picard in the present. However, the Federation also conveniently lifted the ban in the last thirty seconds of the series for Picard's benefit and seem to have forgotten about it completely since.
The reconstructed Data in a computer, drawn from quantum doodly-doo recovered from the end of Nemesis by the latest human Soong, is a kind of irrelevant late reveal, doesn't consider himself the real Data, and opts immediately to die to see what that's all about. But it does get referenced once later.
Picard's irumodic syndrome from All Good Things has manifested at the beginning of S1, and the main ticking clock for the season is that whatever else happens in between, he's going to die at the end. He ultimately goes out like Alex Kamal in The Expanse, doing some cool ship stuff in the climax when something in his brain finally pops. He's lucky that the otherwise impossible technology to transfer his consciousness into a synth body has just been invented by L.H. Soong, who makes Picard a decrepit organic synth that will continue aging, and promptly dies offscreen himself sometime during the next season. So as of S3, Picard no longer has a metal heart, but has a metal brain instead.
There's also some stuff with ex-Borgs that may or may not matter. The term ex-Borg is introduced, and they seem to be held somewhat suspect in the Federation, while they're treated as guinea pigs at best and organic cereal boxes with fun prizes inside at worst by anyone else. Some of Seven of Nine's angst comes from this. Ex-Borgs may or may not have unusual abilities like the ability to interface with Borg tech, enhanced sensory capabilities, or the dual-wielding feat, based on what tech they retain inside. Most retain at least some implants that can't be removed without killing them.
Picard s1 and S3 spoiler
How did I forget about Riker and Troi's son? That actually is a big part of Season 3. That line at the end of S3 with Riker saying that he will meet her on the other side with their boy. Hits harder than a Sovereign class ship on an ramming course.
I'm not reading any of those stuff above until months from now. Might forget tho. But anyhow, I finished season 3. Jumped through a whole bunch.
Oh, Worf's blood brother from 305 The Bonding was a human boy who's mom died and an alien tried to take care of him by taking him away. Worf said he'd be the kid's blood brother so he'd be cared for instead.
310 The Defector, dang, poor Romulan. Lost everything.
313 Deja Q, Q was naked?! And we see another person as a Q. I dunno, I expected all Q's to look like John de Lancie.
315 Yesterday's Enterprise, Yar came back, to die again. This kinda made me tear up. Great ep.
316 The Offspring, what in heaven's caused Lal to malfunction? Gaining feelings messed her up to the point of brain death? Horrible that Data had to experience this. But what's to stop him from making another child?
317 Sins of the Father, so that's how Worf's family gets dishonored. And it really was just the corruption on their court. Geez. Screw that other son of the traitor.
319 Captain's Holiday, how did the fandom react when Picard fooled around? My goodness, I didn't expect that. Vash, Vash... I haven't looked her up but she's the archeologist in DS9 where Q appeared in? And she can't be the artifact looter that Mariner teamed up with at the end of Lower Decks Season 3 (or which). That lady is too young.
321 Hollow Pursuits, wow, that Barclay guy was a bit of a sleaze at the start. But I'm actually very glad that Orville did that Bortus uses the holodeck for porn ep. Weird but why give this side character a whole episode to himself?
322 Most Toys, oh screw that collector guy for killing his servant. And he said it was the most painful way to die too. They really hinted that Data fired the gun? That's not logical for him.
323 Sarek, meh on the ep but why did Picard say Spock when he was in the emotional mind meld? And who in the world is Amanda?
324 Menage a Troi, these Ferengi are turning into the DS9 versions already. Also, this is the source of the Picard with his hand out meme? When he was reciting Shakespeare to fake woo Laxamana (spelling)? Also, I'm totally not used to seeing Wesley in an actual red Starfleet uniform. Congrats to him tho, haha
326 Best of Both Worlds, part 1, ok now THAT'S a good season finale. Except I don't really care for this Shelby lady who's after Riker's job. I predict she dies at the end but whatever. I saw the tiny preview pic that Picard gets Borg'd but it was still a shock to see. He didn't need the plastic abs tho, haha.
Whoa, I kinda breezed through these. It's been a cool trip! I'm 12 13 eps away from the halfway point.
Oh, Worf's blood brother from 305 The Bonding was a human boy who's mom died and an alien tried to take care of him by taking him away. Worf said he'd be the kid's blood brother so he'd be cared for instead.
310 The Defector, dang, poor Romulan. Lost everything.
313 Deja Q, Q was naked?! And we see another person as a Q. I dunno, I expected all Q's to look like John de Lancie.
315 Yesterday's Enterprise, Yar came back, to die again. This kinda made me tear up. Great ep.
316 The Offspring, what in heaven's caused Lal to malfunction? Gaining feelings messed her up to the point of brain death? Horrible that Data had to experience this. But what's to stop him from making another child?
317 Sins of the Father, so that's how Worf's family gets dishonored. And it really was just the corruption on their court. Geez. Screw that other son of the traitor.
319 Captain's Holiday, how did the fandom react when Picard fooled around? My goodness, I didn't expect that. Vash, Vash... I haven't looked her up but she's the archeologist in DS9 where Q appeared in? And she can't be the artifact looter that Mariner teamed up with at the end of Lower Decks Season 3 (or which). That lady is too young.
321 Hollow Pursuits, wow, that Barclay guy was a bit of a sleaze at the start. But I'm actually very glad that Orville did that Bortus uses the holodeck for porn ep. Weird but why give this side character a whole episode to himself?
322 Most Toys, oh screw that collector guy for killing his servant. And he said it was the most painful way to die too. They really hinted that Data fired the gun? That's not logical for him.
323 Sarek, meh on the ep but why did Picard say Spock when he was in the emotional mind meld? And who in the world is Amanda?
324 Menage a Troi, these Ferengi are turning into the DS9 versions already. Also, this is the source of the Picard with his hand out meme? When he was reciting Shakespeare to fake woo Laxamana (spelling)? Also, I'm totally not used to seeing Wesley in an actual red Starfleet uniform. Congrats to him tho, haha
326 Best of Both Worlds, part 1, ok now THAT'S a good season finale. Except I don't really care for this Shelby lady who's after Riker's job. I predict she dies at the end but whatever. I saw the tiny preview pic that Picard gets Borg'd but it was still a shock to see. He didn't need the plastic abs tho, haha.
Whoa, I kinda breezed through these. It's been a cool trip! I'm 12 13 eps away from the halfway point.
Oh put a pin in that because it's too goddamn precious
Edit:
It's not explained, but it's emphasized again later that even if all of Soong's magics are performed exactly right, this just happens more often than not, and did in the process of creating Data and Lore too. So it's nothing specific to Lal. Why Data doesn't try again doesn't really get much more explanation than that either.
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