Star Trek's best days were in the 90s. There may be a hint of nostalgia in that statement, but I personally feel that Trek's Golden Era is the 90s. In my view era peaked in 1996, during the 30th Anniversary. In that year DS9 was well into it's creative stride, Voyager was still getting ratings, and the TNG crew, having already successfully translated to the big screen, put out their best film outing "First Contact." It was also possibly the best time in terms of creativity on the screen (particularly DS9), as well as fan satisfaction. Not that there weren't grump fans then, but in general I think things were generally more positive back then.
So the idea of a new show starring the face of the biggest show of that era makes sense. Discovery certainly divided fans, but it drew in enough numbers to get renewed for another season and warrant CBS decided to put all of their eggs into that basket. And perhaps taking in some of the criticism from the paying fans and the fact that so many were lauding the Orville...the idea of dipping into the 90s fans pockets by bringing back their hero makes perfect sense.
I only wish I liked it.
Don't get me wrong, it isn't all bad. Particularly during the first half I was mostly enjoying episodes in spite of my negatives, though everything on that Borg Cube was an utter bore. The opening episode enticed me just enough, but the next two were less thrilling. When Frakes returned to direct episodes 4 and 5, I felt he injected some life into the proceedings. Seven's character development was a good addition. I had hoped that once Picard and crew got to the Cube, that things might truly inject a spark into that story. Sadly it did not. "Nepenthe" was a true joy (once again jut any presence from Frakes, behind or in front of the camera helps), but that seems to be the outlier for the season.
As we marched towards the ending, I was increasingly less interested in the main storyline, and that is the main issue as I see it. As I definitely felt as the series progressed, the main drive of the story should have been Hugh and the Ex-Borg. Picard trying to go out on a mission to work WITH Borg is a better catalyst than the Data Babies. It still has some fan-wanky weight, but it isn't as eye-rollingly dumb. Plus I can see way more potential in that story than anything Soji and Dahj and the synth ban truly ever offered. Oh and then they made Picard a robot. Sigh.
For all the talk about how the show was going to be about Brexit and Trump and these hot button political issues...it never really was. The synth ban was surface level comment at best. Picard made a comment about how Romulans Life Matter and it felt so on the nose that it didn't really land for me. It reminded me of an X-Men movie where someone used "you didn't ask, so I didn't tell!" in regards to being a mutant. Gee, really tough to figure out what you're commenting on...so clever! But if they had used the Borg story as the main focus, boy that is something you can mine easily, and topical stuff too.
Because as they oh so briefly touched on: it is a story about victims of abuse, people who were violated and now have stuff to emotionally work through. Seven didn't need Icheb to die to work through some trauma...she needed to be learning to deal with becoming more human as her past still haunted her and she has returned to an Alpha Quadrant and Federation that maybe wasn't as excepting of a former Borg Drone as the Voyager crew had been. She could have returned with Voyager and learned that many in the Federation have a lot of baggage when it comes to the Borg, and she wouldn't be so accepted. That's a story that would hit a chord with a TON of people out there. Having Hugh also facing that sort of trouble as he takes on this large scale undertaking would also work well. And since Picard was also briefly a Borg, it would make utter sense that he could become impassioned for the project while maybe Starfleet is less enthusiastic.
But that stuff is all some smaller story that gets utterly wiped out with Hugh killed and the bulk of the Borg waiting to be de-assimilated sucked out into space. They not only didn't give it the time it deserved this year, they pretty much threw it out as an option moving forward, and it was the most interesting storyline of the season. Meanwhile the boring Data Babies plot takes front and center and ultimately ends in an underwhelming finale.
After the season ended, and I was feeling down about the whole thing, I encouraged my brother to watch, mostly so I could talk about it with him. He pretty much binged it in a day (with a quarantine on, what else is he going to do?), and he came away with far more positive thoughts than I did. He then said, if I hadn't hinted that I thought it ended badly, he might not have had the same reaction, as he kept waiting for the thing to derail and it never did. Whereas I stuck it out for weeks wanting it to be great and being disappointed that it wasn't. So it dawned on me. The series is not awful and it isn't amazing. It is thoroughly mediocre, and it is coasting on the brand name and the beloved return of it's star. And maybe that is what I find the most disappointing.
There is potential. It was certainly more sure-footed and had a much stronger structure than either Discovery season. It had some solid ideas floating around. Granted, they weren't explored to my satisfaction and the best nugget in there got shot out out an airdock after slaughtering the main character that represented that plot...but hey...it isn't all bad. So I was ultimately disappointed. I think there was a enough good to carry on...even if Picard is now a flipping robot.
NEXT TIME: Going for the Cartoon Laughs
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