Welp didnt expect to see me in your review as I search for the most die hard trek fans and how they reacted to this travesty. You are extremely forgiving at every turn, especially with Starfleet rejecting seven of nine, but at least even you can admit that the writing in this series and in this season especially just doesn't give a crap much. You constantly apologize to your audience for not liking this series SO MUCH! lol. Just believe what you want and don't get so offended that me or my friends dislike this show for the EXACT same reasons you do. Too many inconsistencies, too many lazy story choices. The talent put together in the writing room pales in comparison to Strange New Worlds or pretty much any other season of Star Trek. Not sure if you are lumping me into the go woke go broke crowd (i'm a progressive) but you dont need to be from the left nor the right to see how weak and stupid things have been... Oh wait sorry just got to this point in your video as I was typing, you took issue with me making fun of the writers with the gun as "Ableist" lol, never mind. Can't crack a stupid person joke around Jessie. Or maybe you just took issue with me saying some people just enjoy anything and everything, some just want to be entertained, you are one - you admit it here plainly. That's fine. I'd just apologize a bit less for not liking Picard Season 2. Btw to counter what you said about seven, they handled her getting reborged awfully including the exact same borg implants, meanwhile in this series she's a killer who doesnt even look for alternative ways to solve the borg mercs other than stabbing them in the face slowly. They murder a bunch of dudes (the female mercs mysteriously disappear when they fight cuz they'd have to stab a girl in the face and im sure they avoided that on purpose) They handled abuse really terribly at all instances. They basically butchered all the characters imo making them as unlikable as possible. I'm just generally curious what series or season of Trek is worst than this season. Let me know.

I thought it was super odd that when dealing with Picard's guilt over his family, his brother and his nephew who died in a fire were never brought up once

Despite understanding that the show wants to focus on mental health when it comes to Picard's mother, I found it downright dystopian that she couldn't get better treatment of her condition in what Sisko referred to as "paradise". All the Picard family memories felt like they'd fit better in Victorian times, not 23d/24th century earth.

My big issue is that Picard's whole arc - confronting guilt and trauma, accepting his past and letting himself be loved - could have been done with his existing history. If the Q plotline is basically going to be a Tapestry/All Good Things redux, Q could have confronted him about not living up to the lessons he taught him because "the trial never ends." Picard has plenty of trauma to explore like being assimilated, being held by the Cardassians, and his guilt over the death of Dr. Crusher's husband. And if they were going to shoehorn in a romantic subplot with an "it's never too late" theme, it should have been Crusher. Or Q. I admit, I ship it.

I'm truely baffled how many shows seem to insist on serialization without realizing that requires at least half a plan. Hell the star wars sequel trilogy had zero plan despite being guaranteed 3 movies. I'm not expecting every line to be written before shooting but at least have beats like "why did the borg show up in the first place?" figured out when writing the story it's set up in. Didn't realize folks like JMS were that rare.

the issue I have with this season's ending for picard is like. he *already learned this lesson*, Tapestry covers it to a degree and it was half the entire point of All Good Things, as evidenced by it ending with Picard joining Riker's poker game talking about how he should've done it way sooner. it'd be one thing if they talked about his past interactions with Q and addressed the numerous past relationships he's had - his emotional trauma certainly didn't stop him from building a romantic relationship with Anij, Vash, Kamala, Beverly, Jenice, Louvois, Daren, or Eline, completely ignoring that any of this happened and retroactively pretending all of his romantic attachments were doomed to failure cheapens the original portrayals like yeah, okay, talking about mental health and portraying it in an open vulnerable way *is* important, but it still has to make sense for the character and this just doesn't

I didn't like Picard Season 2, but I have to say that Annie Wersching's fresh take on the Borg Queen as charming, emotionally-abusive narcissist is definitely a highlight of the season. It gave the Borg Queen a villainy that went beyond what was portrayed on TNG, VOY, or First Contact, where her villain status was basically just a stand-in for the Collective, but sexy.

One thing that disturbed me in your talk here, was how you spoke of trauma in three ways; unhealthily glorified, shamefully stigmatised, or embraced as is. There was nothing about healing, which is not the same as embracing it, and that deeply troubles me. Trauma always, *always*, results in some degree of lasting harm for as long as it goes unhealed, both to the person who is traumatised and the people around them. It also results in some degree of loss of health and happiness, again both to the traumatised and those around them for as long as the trauma goes unhealed. Sometimes the loss of happiness is absolute. Trauma is not good, it is not beautiful, it is tragic - which I point out as much of what was called beautiful here was, from where I’m sat, just tragic. After listening to you here, I think I realised what troubled me about this season; the theme wasn’t hope, instead, the theme was resignation and attempting to find peace in resignation to pain and the loss of health/happiness/wholeness. To go in detail, okay, the over arching story seems hopeful at a glance, but really, it was just about restoring the status quo, which the characters have already been shown to be dissatisfied with - The federation in the time of Picard is not the hopeful utopian one of the Next Gen. Its not about making anything better, there are no goals beyond “I don’t want it to be worse then it already is”. So, resignation to and upholding the status quo - and, doing so out of fear of something worse. Then there’s the characters. Yes, Picard did find some healing in his acceptance and new perspective, but that was not the focus, that was the bone to throw a beaten dog, it was the resignation to the beating was the focus. His father’s abuse was glossed over as soon as it became apparent his mother had serious mental health issues, and glossing over abuse is very typical when one becomes resigned to it, because “it can’t be that bad” becomes a mantra to cope, conscious or not. There is a lot that happens that Picard just rolls with, just accepts with no fight. The line about him being too old and to tired sticks in my mind as tiredness, exhaustion, is a precursor to resignation. Picard's minor healing had as much focus as Jirati loosing most of herself to the borg, becoming a cog in a machine - an important cog, but a cog non the less (no one will convince me that any iteration of the borg is anything less then the destructive loss of the self in subservience to an unhealthy whole, even if there are degrees to the horror depending on the borg faction - the symbolism of them being so grossly cybernetic - artificial - speaks for itself there, as does the rest of the symbolism involved). Abandons her natural self and individuality, resigns herself to artificiality, that speaks for itself. Next, there was Seven's ultimate acceptance and embracing/resignation of her borg background, a deeply traumatising and scarring phase of her life. For her character I’d say this is good, as I see no other way for her to improve herself, but using it here still ties into what looks to me a deeply unhealthy overarching season message. Poor Elnor got fridged so Raf could go off the rails and, again, experience resignation (subverted by Q in the end in a literal denial of reality, when they literally escaped from the reality in which he was dead). Q was resigned to his death, which is kinda weird for him. Q’s death is also a very literal symbol of the death of great power. Gee, that’s on the nose much, now I think of it, as resignation is a surrendering, a kind of death, of power. Rios was resigned to being unhappy and not fitting in from the beginning, and instead of trying to change it, he literally ran away to another time, never mind the many many problems of said time that he, as per the plot of “be resigned and smile, it could be worse!” ignores, as Jessie pointed out. Tallinn was fully resigned to the idea of dying for her charge, even when, as pointed out, there were plenty of other ways to do it - which weren’t followed, as they would defy the theme of resignation. Even that FBI agent was resigned to loosing his job, resigned to not getting any more answers, to not protecting his people anymore, after being presented as a villain, or at least an obstacle, who was not letting go of his past, who was fighting that kind of resignation the story was pushing for. The one character who refused to be resigned to his losses, Soong, was the villain, where all his attempts to make change and progress are wrong and bad and leading to bad things. While I do think it is wise to know when to quit (and when to fight), I hate how it is used here to say "just roll over and take it, it's for the best". For a time the borg queen fit this role too, and though she experienced some change, she is still a literal walking serious trauma metaphor, so now she is the toxic stagnant state, the trauma that, due to resignation, wont be moved and is, instead, embraced (literally joining the federation). The one glimmer of hope in all this was Renée, for whom resignation to her traumas was poison, for whom fighting despite her pains offered hope not just for herself, but all humanity. However not only was she not in the main cast, she was a goal, an idea, a plot device, not a true character. Real hope for progress was left to an abstract, not something for the cast, or by extension, us. This is why, now I think about it, I liked Renée the most; she and her hope is what I love about Star Trek, and it hurts as a life long Trek fan that she was the only one to have it. Kore, the other young character in S2, almost falls into this nook too, but her action was, like Rios, to walk away. Lastly, the theme of resignation to trauma was practically spelled out in the whole "things will get better, we just have to endure these hard times" speech to Guinan, which made no mention of changing the hard times, just enduring them and waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel while distracting yourself with small glimmers here and there. True, this was also about not running away from trauma, which I agree is, if one is in the position for it, important, and a vital step in healing, but the show didn't go beyond not running away and into healing, it just stopped there and said "look, this is your trauma, it is bad, stop running away, and just live with it." Live with it, not actively try to heal it. That is NOT a lesson I want, I do not want to simply roll over and accept trauma. No, I can't change what has happened before, but you don't have to to heal, if not fully then party, and more so then this depresso-fest states. And, true, some healing can come from acceptance by way of letting go, but letting go itself is not the focus here, the resignation is, or else Jarati, whom given the focus on her is the second protagonist, would not be borgified. There is no real hope in Picard S2, only an entering into a state of stagnation - toxic stagnation, given the trauma still there.

Season was a let down but re: Khan, the folder wasn't implying he's gonna create Khan/start the Eugenics Wars. The date was 1996 which is the final year of Khan's rule during the wars. The folder is hinting at him using old augmentation experiments that will eventually leads to his grandson creating Augments in Star Trek: Enterprise and that will eventually lead to androids like Data.

I really feel like/suspect that the extra time they had to write the season took them past perfection and into overcooked. The most glaring problems seem like they must have come from external sources - like someone important saying "There's nothing for Brent Spiner to do in this story, write in a new Soong.", or "The fans really loved Orla Brady, adapt one of the new roles so that she can play it", and a whole lot of "Well now there isn't time to develop that idea/character properly, cut it right down to a vestigial stub". Wouldn't it have made sense for there to be a character who clearly and explicitly needed the Confederation timeline to happen? Say, a resident of Confederation wanting to ensure the existence of their home? Q wanted the Prime timeline restored. The Borg Queen wanted companionship and rescue. Adam Soong wanted to leave a legacy, but he didn't seem too fussy about what it would be. None of them had a vested interest in the Confederation, but you know who did? Jon Jon Briones' First Husband character. He was even on board _La Sirena_ just before they traveled back into the past. And Agent Wells. Why cast Lieutenant Ducane, established monitor and fixer of the timeline, with a personal connection to Seven, and not have him _be_ Ducane? "Wells" would be a great alias for him in the 21st century. But as an actual character? Paper thin and pointless. Argh. There's gonna have to be so much fixit fanfiction.

I really enjoyed the first episode because they were in uniform, on a ship, I liked that the Stargazer had been given a successor. It made me stop and think about what about TNG I actually liked, and I'm not sure I can pinpoint it.

On Talinn and Laris. I believe the travelers selected Talinn knowing the Picard would be coming to the past, and that should would help him deal with his trauma. Welsey looking out for his former Captain. I even like the idea that Laris true mission, unknown to her, was not to watch Renée, but to be there to support Picard when the time came.

Thank god someone said it!! I also HATE the “woman crazy and needed to be locked away” trope and didn’t find that it added anything the way we perceive Picard. Raffi and Seven fought the entire season only to make out at the end, and that’s the most heterosexual treatment of a storyline I’ve ever seen. Talinn’s last monologue on Renee was more gay than their whole season…

I’m glad to see a honest review without all the hatred and vitriol. My issue with Picard has been that there are no stakes. Like you mentioned they setup these major plots or issues that never go anywhere or are just explained away in a sentence. There were good things in the season but it keeps getting muddled. I think they feel compelled to add a major action battle instead of actually making commentary or tie ins

Picard certainly had some awkward moments, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially season two. As a STNG fan I can't wait for the next season. I geeked out with Wesley Crusher as the Traveller, and of course Q. I also loved the idea of a partnership with the Borg.

I audibly laughed at "borg cube, borg sphere, borg clitoris; they truly seek perfection" my co-workers asked why I laughed so hard and I had to not tell them.

Anyone else think Jessie would make a great addition to the on-screen Star Trek world?? Like she absolutely rocks EVERY. SINGLE. UNIFORM! How can we make it so???

I wish this youtuber could have been an adviser in the writing room for Picard, someone with this much knowledge from the series history, well spoken, intelligent about story narratives - this series could have been saved!

Jessie, you don’t know how much hope you’ve inspired in me this morning. I needed this. Thank you for sharing your talent with the world.

Borg Cooperative - I was a little surprised that the discussion of timeline changes didn't touch on the largest one of all: A second Borg queen being introduced 400 years in the past. Does Jurati-Queen merge with the past queen, do they fight? More importantly, since Jurati-Queen wins at some point and is now speaking for the entire Cooperative (yes, I'm going to keep pushing that ;^), how many entire systems' history has been massively changed??? If Borg at some point only assimilated willing people, doesn't that change massive arcs of history? No Locutus, Seven's family could still be alive, the Borg would presumably have been offered Federation membership decades ago, in fact Q's entire arc would be changed because they would need to find a different threat to scare Picard with. Or is this just another in the line of arcs they are just going to stick a little bow on and call good? Say that Jurati-Queen ran off, grabbed enough tech to time travel, went forward 399 years took over the Borg while noone was looking, built the Vagina Flagship and then popped in to say hi?

Honestly Picard's inspirational speech to Rene was the best part of the season. As someone who deals with depression it felt deeply personal to me.

I'm reminded of my own trauma. When I was six, I began to be bullied, then abused by an uncle. It left me with dysthymia as a child, transforming into full clinical depression in early adulthood. I've often thought of how my life would have been different if I'd not suffered that abuse (and I've contextualized that my uncle had also suffered some level of abuse). Would I have accomplished more in my life without the self-critical artifact? More importantly, would I have had as much empathy for others without it?

I only got into star trek as an adult in the past couple years-and as much as I love the older shows, I’m pretty sure people who claim that the new era of trek is garbage are wearing some sort of rose-tinted glasses (nostalgia maybe). Part of the charm for me is seeing how each series features the (sometimes cheesy) tropes of that decades’ scifi and gives insight into what issues people were on people’s minds in a really tangible way for a youngin’ like me. Watching TNG and Discovery simultaneously, I definitely can see how they’re different, but I was actually impressed how well the trek spirit was carried over such an absurdly long period of time for a tv franchise. It feels like people who love trek are the ones making the new series and I love to see it.

I need to say it and yes I realize I'm gonna need to dodge the tomatoes everyone will throw at me The weakest part of picard is patrick Stewart and it pains me to say that I just feel like the cast is continually trying to carry the series ... except wesley

Everybody's been pointing it out, especially lately, but seriously- So much of modern Trek is just wallowing in nostalgia. Wigglin' around in that mud like a happy pig. To Boldly Retread Familiar Ground.

Picard also should have said something like"Now, I remember these skeletons fused into the wall, they were also from the time my ancestors took back the chateau."

I know how much Star Trek means to you, so my heart goes out to you in your time of pain.

I thought it would have been a good moment if, when Jurati explained she had removed the cop's spleen, someone said "you can't let him back out there! They have imaging technology in this century!" only to be told "yeah, but in this century no one can afford it"

maybe you convinced me on Jurati… maybe a new borg could be interesting, I still think her becoming an evil borg queen would have created a strong tragic arc that could be explored later.

I love how much nuance you pour into this and every other topic you make. More critics should follow your example

My problems with Picard season 2 are the exact same problems you had with it. My criticisms of the modern era of Star Trek as a whole are similar to yours, apart from a few things with Picard and Lower Decks that I know you either don't have an issue with, or it's not something you've thought about. I didn't connect with the Picard's trauma storyline, simply because I thought it should've been for another character. The thing about it being Picard's storyline is that, we've known him as a character for so long, that it's hard for me to accept it when it doesn't really fit into what we already know about Picard's childhood from what we learned in TNG. And Picard already had other things they could've dealt with that is considered to be trauma. Like, the problems with his father which led to them not speaking once Jean-Luc joined Starfleet, the death of Jack Crusher while on a mission with Picard, and the destruction of the Stargazer. They were all mentioned in TNG, but never dealt with beyond establishing them. So they didn't need to invent something when there are already things within Picard's character that easily could've been delved into more. Also, Robert was never mentioned in season 2 of Picard either, and you'd think he would've played an important role within that dynamic of the Picard family during Jean-Luc's childhood. Like you, I want Star Trek to take risks, but I don't trust these writers to take those risks and pull them off well. Even Adira and Gray have been squandered in both seasons 3 and 4 of Discovery, which sucks because I liked what we got of them.

The Queen mentions that she's sensitive to changes in time, and this is why/how she knows to travel to 2024 to correct the timeline, so possibly this is why she mentions there being one Picard who must live and one who must die, but it equally works as a thematic reference to Picard accepting his mother's death so he can move on.

It's a rare gift to be able to "separate the gold from the garbage", so to speak, in any work of any form of art. In my not-so-humble opinion, you showed that gift in this video. "Star Trek" is not the only franchise to suffer from poor writing, presentation and 'front-office' decisions. It's all over the place, unfortunately. Keep up the good work and best wishes for your surgery and recovery afterwards. In the words of my 1950's namesake, "Good luck in Time and Space".

For the RLM review they really did want to give Picard another chance, stating the review for the first episode episode that it wasn't that bad. I also think that Mike is very genuine in his reaction, and really hasn't liked much post-TNG

You nailed it. The whole storyline could have fit in a 2 parter.

I actually made a video (in french) about something that seems to be the source of many of Picard problems : Serialisation. Star Trek is a show that was made for an episodic format. One episode, new planet, new story, the other episode, another planet, another story, and sometime big event that change the main plot. But at the time where many shows are produced on VOD's plateform like Netflix and Amazon Prime, more and more shows, event those who were originally episodic, goes to a serial format to encourage bingewashing and so writters frustrated to do 20 episode per seasons with an episodic format can do a show entirelly concentrate on the story they want to tell. But that bring NEW problems with the format, instead of making everything better. My main example for my videos was the Netflix adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, a show that originally was episodic and was really thought and construct as such. But puting the same story and events in the serial format brought problems like secondary plot that goes nowhere that were there just to put more of a important characters, like the useless plot about Vicious's conspiracy that goes the all series, and even goes to justify stuff from the original series that work in himself, by saying that "It was vicious all along", making the stories weaker. So unfortunatly, Picard's problems are not something specific to this show, it's a general problem with the serial format.

Alison Pill was once again the actual star of the show, and her Consensual Collective was the best lore development for the Borg since First Contact.

They say Rich & Mike going insane watching Picard to this day

Exploring trauma can make a good and valuable storyline, but picking a 100 year old Picard suddenly cracking under a newly developed childhood trauma was just a bad choice. The man has endured so much traumatising stuff (The Inner Light, The Best of Both Worlds, Chain of Command, etc. etc) that it just felt very forced and out of character. Same problem goes for Season 1 and his never ending mourning of his surprising best friend (a relationship that was never there in TNG) Data. Thats basically what annoys me most: the show is called Picard, but we dont get Picard, we get Patrick Steward playing Shakespear in space.

All the Writing problems with Picard Season 2.... are generally also present in *All* seasons of Discovery. 👈 Picard S2 just placed a giant magnifying glass on them.

Well balanced review Jessie! I also appreciate the attempt to explore trauma and it’s affect on us - and how to move on- but it can be hard to successfully weave into a show!! Good luck with surgery, rest well❣️

I think the biggest REAL reason to have problems with Discovery/Picard is that it’s not portraying a utopia future. It’s what hurts me a bit. The world nowadays is so dark, I don’t like it as much reflected in ST. That being said, there is good stuff in it. Discovery has definitely grown on me (though it stumbles a lot), and I enjoyed Picard (more for the actors than it’s quality). Lower decks is amazing. Prodigy is great. And the new Strange New Worlds is very promising. I can criticize a bunch of the specific choices made, but at the end of the day, it’s more adventures in my favorite sci if worlds. And I can’t be mad at that (I’ve also read just about every Star Trek book, so maybe I’m easy)

You could find sunshine in a hurricane. I won't be subjecting myself to any more of Picard or Discovery (the perpetual rewriting of Picard and Star Fleet's backstories is a headache tangle), but I love hearing your enthusiasm for - and critiques of - both. Started watching Lower Decks because of your other vids and I'm loving it. ♥

I don't believe the negativity is about schadenfreude, which implies that the quality of the show is irrelevant. Star Trek means a lot to a lot of people, so when many of the newer shows, films, characters, and stories fail to live up to the spirit of what Star Trek has been and could be, it feels like a a betrayal of sorts. The wave of nostalgia reboots has more misses than hits, so Star Trek has become no different than the other cynical corporate cash grabs that are made with more ego and arrogance than the love and intelligence we're accustomed to. We don't ask, "Don't make Star Trek anymore because it can't be good," we ask that more talent and care is put into the writing. We ask that starships do more than park in one spot and shoot pew pew lasers weightlessly; they should move around and have some cinematography to showcase their detail, power, speed, and beauty. Most importantly, we should have character stories that are impactful. We should have stories that are smart and interesting told with nuance and subtlety, and not a series of undercooked, unrelated ideas smashed together by a chimp with a hammer. Alex Garland has been telling the kind of thoughtful and intelligent stories that stay with you. He's where you can get actual sci-fi that's reminiscent of Star Trek at its best. One person might find Picard's story of childhood trauma beautiful, I call it lazy, unoriginal, uninteresting, too thin to be stretched out, and awkwardly shoehorned into the main plot, which consists mostly of their current template of, "We have to do X, or else Y happens!" and not once exploring Y happening with lasting consequences. Picard hanging onto this trauma into his 90s also implies that this so-called utopian society that values mental health enough to have a counselor aboard starships isn't doing a very good job at being therapeutic, or maybe Troi is even worse at her job than we thought.

Thanks for a solid review, and all the very best with your surgery.

I can't shake the suspicion that they had unexpected budgetary constraints during or just prior to shooting, or some other similar production problems that ruined their original plans and forced them ro scramble to fill time. I 100% agree that there were things to appreciate here, especially on a big-picture, thematic level, but this season just isn't what it looks like when writers have EXTRA time to polish their scripts and then the whole production goes according to plan. Paramount might not want the creatives involved talking openly about it anytime soon, but I think eventually we'll hear that they ended up having to deviate significantly from the scripts for whatever reason. A few pieces of evidence to support my as-yet unsubstantiated theory: 1) Some of the sets were fairly gorgeous (La Sirena, Chateau Picard, the gala venue) while others were barely even sets at all (like that one B-plot with Seven, Raffi and Queen Agnes that took place... in an alley, and then in the parking lot right next to that alley). 2) There are massive, unexplained character shifts that seemingly happen between episodes (Rios deciding that actually the past is awesome, Raffi going from seeing Elnor everywhere to cracking jokes about which of the crew's romantic relationships is the "important" one), while at the same time there are entire episodes that could've been removed (Picard and Guinan's X-Files throwback) without the plot being affected much at all; Again, this just isn't what finished drafts look like---especially not on a TV series, where the standard practice is for EVERY writer to eventually take a pass on EVERY script before the showrunner's final approval, so they can all check their co-workers' scripts against their own to ensure consistency. 3) There appears to be an entire action set piece (Seven and Raffi's supposedly suicidal dash to the La Sirena in the penultimate episode) that's just... missing, technically making their downtown LA car chase (in the fourth episode, I think?) the last big set piece of the season, unless you count the bland Sci-Fi Energy Beam in the finale. Contrast that to basically anything that happens in the last two episodes of season one; Love or hate or REALLY love the giant space orchids, they were a hell of a lot more interesting than a bunch of green laser pointers and some squibs, which are notably cheaper than CGI. And I don't know EXACTLY how car chases compare to fight scenes in terms of cost, but I'm sure stunt drivers don't get paid nearly as much as lead actors, whose time is often too valuable to have them spend it perfecting a tricky piece of fight choreography. 4) As for the actors who got lazily shoehorned in, that's partly just a quirk of TV scheduling; If you want to guarantee you'll have an actor available for your next season, you have to pay them for the current season even if you don't use them in it. So why not solve that problem by having Laris in particular ALSO travel back in time? I present to you: Budget ProblemsTM, which could've forced them to axe an entire storyline involving Laris, Soji and others on short notice. I also wouldn't be surprised if eleventh-hour contract negotiations played into it in some way. In conclusion, I'm not saying we should necessarily exempt anyone from creative criticism here (although let's PLEASE not harass anyone either), I'm just saying I have a hard time believing that any writer with any amount of experience could've written the worst parts of what we got this season and sincerely called it good---not while sober, anyway. So either my theory is correct or the entire writer's room was on drugs the whole time, I guess? That's probably too harsh. Either way, Trek is far from ruined for me just because one show had one bad season. Hardly a first for this wonderful, bizarre franchise.

I just think the time travel plot went on tooooo long. There was nothing overall wrong with the ideas except that this show is fully committed to having a full season arc and there was a point where the show was just dragging to fill space in an episode of TV that needed to end. They did know the ending, I 100% feel like they planned the ending. What they didn’t know was entirely what to do in the middle to fill ten episodes. And half the stuff they threw in to fill space is the extra stuff we didn’t need to have in there anyway. Much of it, if cut out, wouldn’t change anything and would tighten up the story if they were cut. It isn’t that they don’t have enough time, they had Toooo Much time for a plot that at most would have been a 2 part special in the past.

thank you for your thoughtful and fun review. i love your energy in these videos. i could listen to you read anything.

Thank you for this essay. It helped me search my own feelings about this season. I liked seeing your view in this. Thank you again.

You hit the nail on the head with the meandering plot.

Imagine a future where we lost all star trek episodes and movies, but have all the videos of Jessie talking about it.

Thanks for this video, and good luck for the surgery!

Thanks for making this series really work for me. That's a big thankyou.

I wanted to mention my two favorite moments from this season, one of which you glossed over and the other of which you didn't like: My favorite lighthearted moment was Bus Punk. That scene was just really fun, with a twist ending that I wasn't expecting and which in its own way supports the perennial Star Trek theme of personal growth (both for Bus Punk and for Seven). You mentioned you didn't like this scene because it makes the timeline messy, but personally my view on timeline consistency is the same as my view on canon: It's not sacrosanct. Mess with it whenever there's a good reason to. The tonal palettes of Star Trek IV and Star Trek: Picard are night and day different, but moments like these really help bridge the gaps between installments and make the Star Trek franchise as a whole feel more unified. My favorite dramatic moment, by far, were the two final scenes with Q. I'm surprised you just glossed over this! The subplot this season of Q dying was completely unexpected, something I never would have cooked up on my own, and for all of us who were TNG fans as kids it reinforces the transition from youth and its boundless arrogance to middle age and its keen realization of our own mortality. Of course Q would die someday; everything ends; but I had never thought of this. In my headspace I had always read Q as eternal. Q being dissatisfied with his life rings true for many as they approach the end of their days, and serves as a cautionary tale to the rest of us. The Q subplot was shamefully in the background of the storytelling this season, but the two scenes at the end make up for it. Throughout his history in Star Trek, we never get too much Q all at once, because he's a god and those are hard to write and hard to watch in heavy doses. Q just pops in and out, dropping trials and snippets of wisdom, and that's probably for the best. And here he comes at the end of Picard Season 2, and at the end of his life, and gives us the most beautiful and unexpected closure to his character arc across Star Trek-it's the ending I never knew I needed. It's a treasure-one of those cosmic treasures Q spoke of all those years ago-and it instantly became one of my favorite moments in all of Star Trek. Nor would it have carried the weight it does without John de Lancie's incredible acting. Patrick Stewart has really lost his acting chops, I am sad and embarrassed to say, but de Lancie is as strong as ever. He delivers lines like "I am dying alone. I do not want that for you" and "Farewell, mon Capitane" with unbelievably lifelike élan and gravitas, and with timeless emotional precision that will still hit people in the feels a hundred years from now, for all that our customs will have changed by then. I think Q's scenes really hit home for those of us who have "faced death," as Savvik once put it-especially the deaths of emotionally distant people whom we nevertheless cared about. One of your criticisms of Picard Season 2-and not an unfair one-is that the plots don't come together very well, and all we are left with is beautiful moments. But Q himself once intimated, at the end of TNG, that a moment is enough. In that context he was talking about Picard and Data recognizing a paradox, but the lesson can be generalized: ~Life~ is a messy narrative, whose plots don't usually come together very well. Sometimes all we get...are beautiful moments. Those moments, together with the dreams we have between them, are why we are alive. Anyhow, good review! You give the hater-critics much more lenience and patience than I do, probably to your credit. I'm sorry the season didn't hit as well (for either of us) as I hoped it would. EDIT: Oh, and a shout out to the allusion at the end to "Where No One Has Gone Before," one of my absolute favorite TNG episodes, where Picard mentions he used to imagine his mother living a full life and growing to old age. Really well-done reference and bit of canonical clean-up.

the thing that bothered me the most was the Dr. saying his daughter had NEVER seen the sky, and the show made a big deal about how she couldn't go swimming in the outdoor pool... But then she's outside waiting to take the shot, surrounding by drones that filter out the sun, so.... what was stopping her from hanging out outside the house even if only close, she could at least see the sky jezz haha

Absolutely love your perspective and analysis! A stark and deep contrast in your examples of other channel’s “perspectives”

Really love your points in this video. Thank you for your hard work in this video :)

Personally I thought Season 2 was better than Season 1 but from episode’s 6 to 9 it felt like the story was dragging majorly. I think the young Picard flashbacks weren’t needed (although I appreciate why they are there)and Rios wasn’t given enough to do. But the Jurati and Queen Borg storyline was the best part of Season 2 as well as Q.

Totally agree with everything you said, the biggest issues I have with Picard and a lot of NuTrek, aside from SNW, is that there’s a lot of illogical stuff going on that make little or no sense. I spend half the shows wondering where something is going as they start a new plot thread, and then just find it going nowhere, or it’s just forgotten. As the series goes on it gets more and more complicated and there’s so many plot threads criss crossing each other and I’m just hoping they’re going somewhere, but they just go nowhere. Also, the NuTrek films are more like Transformers, mostly explosions and action, not much else, and the NuTrek series make Star Fleet seem evil and the entire future is dystopian, which is depressing. I used to watch Trek because it’s uplifting and hopeful, and now I find it frustrating and dark. I have no problem with tragic back stories, but that seems to be a constant theme through all the new series, nearly every character is traumatised. I also have issues with Star Fleet Officers acting like impulsive, moody teenagers. It’s just not realistic. I know a lot of people who joined the military, including myself and one of my daughters, because they really liked the professionalism and the team work shown on Trek, but it’s just bizarre they way they have these officers behave. Picard actually had good character development, but Disco is just a showcase show for one actor. I also loathed the way the Picard writers handled the story of Picard’s mother. For goodness sake, surely in the 24th century they must have had better ways to deal with mental health than locking people in rooms. More dystopian future stuff from these writers. It appears that SNW has a more upbeat feel, and they are really developing the characters well. They also handle tragic back stories in a realistic way, rather than someone blurting out their trauma at some awkward moment. Picard had some good moments, but over all it was confusing and disappointing.

These exceptionally well considered, reflective critiques are glorious. Let’s hope the writers take note. Thanks Jessie x

Gah! It took a while to find a review that resonated with me. Thanks for your video, insight, truth, and honesty. I love trek, but that was a tough season to love and also seeing other peoples reviews of the season. Yours helped me feel connected to another trek fan and feel validated in similar thoughts about the season.

Marc Bernardin finally commented on his time on Picard. He basically said he did 33 weeks and then moved on to another show. Not everything stayed that he worked on and he was happy with what did stay (more or less). That was basically all his comments. I thought it was an interesting take from a supervising producer.

Pacing was such an issue this season. I had been saying that they could have made a really amazing six episode season here or a really amazing 20 episode season. But 10 episodes didn't work. But I loved seeing Kirk Thatcher reprise "Punk on Bus". I can forgive the inconsistency.

The musical choices are so great here! Thanks Jessie 😊

Great video! Very insightful, keep up the great work!!

For me I hated the fact it was all resolved in 15 minutes of the last episode. It was so slow all season and then BAM it is over. Also how is Q dying?! There was a whole episode on this in TNG I also hated the lock a woman away for her mental illness trope. Its just wild that this is supposedly ok in Picards time period

If Mike & Rich from RLM and Jessie agree on this, we must take it as an absolute certainty. - Bruce Wayne to Alfred, Batman v Superman. EDIT: Well, maybe they don't agree thaaaaat much.

so love you! Outstanding commentary!

Thanks for all your work and positive advocacy!

When Soong pulled out that Khan folder I assumed it was a connection to his descendant in Enterprise's time working with genetic augmentation. Your take makes more sense with how the Picard series is going, but I'm just gonna assume later Soong found a random folder in his ancestor's crap and decided to make some bad life choices, as one does.

Agreed. Like The Last Jedi, I feel there were some really interesting ideas, some great moments and some long-needed resolutions, but it was handled rather clumsily and had some things that didn't work too. I really like the idea of the Borg evolving, not destroyed and done away with, but simply being presented with a better way of achieving their goal. In many ways, echoing Data in First Contact - "Comforting words. Use them next time instead of 'Resistance is futile.' You may elicit a few volunteers." - and a problem with the Borg, that their top-down approach usually means they ignore things until it's too late, and do not seem to have any interest in using the skills of they have assimilated like, say, hand to hand fighting styles. I like the idea that Jurati, and by extension the federation, "beat" the Borg by offering them what they actually want, instead of what they think they want, and that the co-operation will benefit them more than domination. It's a far better send-off to a really strong villain than Janeway or Picard going all action hero in the finale.

Great show, thoroughly enjoyed it.

1)I just subscribed this second. Good on you for your well articulated video essay. 2) I have learned in my time that if someone loves a bad story, that is because their own creativity is plugging up the holes. "The rest of the art is in you. You should be proud of that. For you have more skill at being happy than I have" I often say. 3) Discovery (the 2 seasons I gave a chance to) had good characters in a story I hated. Picard had characters I hated in a story I hated, but they were riding my nostalgia as a hostage and mount. Lower Decks and Prodigy are both more thought out and thus much more Trek to me. And 2 episodes in, Strange new worlds is proof the Original Recipe of Star Trek still tastes so good. 4) I want to throw Kurtsman and all his friends into active volcano and hear them scream as they sizzle on the surface of lava for half a minute. I am not being literal, but damn if that does not feel good to say.

What I also loved about season two was the relationship between Seven and Raffi. Trek has gone a long way in exploring how to represent same sex relationships. They knew that they didn't want negative or stereotypical representation anymore like always killing one of them. So it was very refreshing to see an already separated couple having their problems. They were very cute and well played. While Discovery had the problem with first killing Culber, then bringing him back und then showing an over harmonic queer happy family with no dimension, Picard did so fine.

Totally agree. The concepts were good but the execution rather amateurish. Almost as though the show runners were undergraduate students on their first practical project, learning to find their feet. The most frustrating “easter egg” to me was the Reckoning Tablet in Picard’s office right at the very start of the story. I was expecting some link to DS9 / Bajoran prophets but - at least for season 2 - it served no purpose whatsoever. Sadly, once the crew had arrived in 2024 the writers literally had no plan of what to do with Seven, Raffi, Rios or Elnor. Which is, let’s face it, HALF THE KEY CAST MEMBERS 😳 That being said, I think the best way to enjoy this season is to binge watch the whole ten episodes as if it were a rather long film and try not to “over think” it. Grab a bottle of Chateau Picard (or 2 or 3 . . . . ) a pizza and just chill. Great critique as always Jessie 💕

I love how levelheaded you are in your critiques, you never give in to hate or hyperbole and I admire that about you. I always look forward to your reviews, even when my opinions differ from yours.

Great news that you finally have your surgery booked - perfect timing to celebrate your big 3-0 next month. CONGRATULATIONS ! 😀 Make the most of your summer break and just relax with your nearest and dearest. See you “out there” lots of love, Beth x x x

I love how you at least try to understand the thematic choices of Picard without exclusively focusing on the obvious pacing issues (that - sadly - every modern Trek show has to an extent). I loved the first episodes, as they reminded me a lot of TNG storytelling (yes, yes, nostalgic nerd ...). Those episodes belonged actually my favorites among modern Trek episodes. But all those themes and story beats tragically just went nowhere.

Thank you for this, it clarified a lot of my thoughts on this season of Picard. How, while it was an enjoyable season, it left me underwhelmed as a whole. The main problem was, I felt, that the new characters were poorly served and the most interesting ones ejected from the show. I would've watched a Star Trek: Stargazer with Rios and co, without Picard. I thought, like how S2 of Discovery lead into Strange New Worlds, we could bootstrap another show off of Picard, but now, I'm less interested in that.

You seem like a really good person, I am loving your take & commentary, you got a a new fan and I wish you my best!

Thanks for another great video. Can't wait for the June one

_Picard_ S2 would've been good enough if it were 8 episodes of Jean-Luc & Q engaged in a _My Dinner With Andre_ tête-à-tête. Loved S1. S2 was rough: Childhood flashbacks, alternate timelines, Borg queen, new Borg queen, new new Borg queen, Renée Picard lift-off, Q's dying, Guinan scream, "Hey, it's that time travel guy from _Voyager_ - oh, nevermind", clone girl, genetic engineering B-plot (or is it the A plot?), Rios' timey-whimey future-family side-quest that should probably matter more, Supervisors - all on what felt like a _Baywatch Nights_ budget. Baffling stuff.

Personally, almost everything I’ve heard about new Trek is utterly uninteresting to me. I watched Discovery season 1 and since then have satisfied my curiosity listening to reviews. The blunt themes, crude characters, and lack of allegory or much sci-fi beyond the setting just doesn’t hold up for me with new Trek. I go to things like The Expanse for that sort of dramatic sci-fi with echoes of today’s problems and predictions of tomorrow’s and I go to The Orville for the fun adventure with sprinkled allegory. But for those who enjoy this, I willingly hand it over. It’s just not for me.

I really enjoyed this review! Well Done! Excellent!

Just found your channel. I really enjoy your work and energy!

They tried to do everything, only for most of the threads to be undercooked and not coelesce together satisfyingly. They should have cut at least several plot threads, maybe saved them for Season 3 if they wanted to, and maybe the season would have turned out better. The Borg Redemption in particular is something that really should have been it's own season rather than be relegated to one of the several plotlines jabbed together.

There were too many things that just happen in between the supposedly urgent/important events that the season is built around. The back and forth of urgency constantly robbed the show of its momentum.

Great analysis, great video! 👍🏿

Thank you for this video, very detailed and agree with you 100%

I enjoyed this season a lot. It was confusing at times with the story line. But, I generally liked this season more than the first season..

I really enjoyed this season better than the last one. It keep me intrigued week after week. Always waiting for Thursday weren't come back soon enough. I prefer serialized stories, it's like reading chapters from a book. I didn't get bored from Picard, on the contrary I enjoyed it a lot. I am enthusiastic with SNWs, but I am not waiting for it like with Picard every week. So far it is okay , and hopefully will get better.

Love the editing on this video, got a few laughs out of me!

Hey, just found your channel, and absolutely love your review style with all the well-chosen clips from both Picard S2 and past shows. Great analysis. I had a very similar take on Picard to yours, where my expectations were actually raised fairly high by the intriguing premiere, but quickly dashed when I realized they were just going to spin their wheels for the middle episodes. The writing is such a specific type of boring, where there's all this business the people have to run around and do, but none of it means anything. The plot centers around this character, Rene Picard, who they give no real personality to (beyond "anxiety"), don't spend much time actually interacting with, and who is destined to make some important discovery we never really see or hear about. It's like an outline of an idea that they forgot to fill the rest of the way in. I think this could have been a really great season of television if the writing had been developed more. Also I'm unclear on how much Jurati as Borg Queen has changed the timeline. Does this now mean that Jurati has been the new hippie individualist Borg queen since 2024? Or does she come out of a time hole in the first episode? New Star Trek LOVES to have the villain come out of a time hole

if i had any skill with video editing i would do it myself, but i really hope that somebody out there creates a star trek picard abridged series--and not in the comedic team four star dbz abridged sense but in a literal sense--where they edit out all the bloat and repetitive stuff so that it's (hopefully) a better watching experience. i'm very curious to see just how short it would actually be.

I really disliked the trauma aspect. Turning aspects I liked of the character into coping mechanisms felt weirdly insulting, like you need to be fixed if you had found him aspirational. And adding trauma for conflict and character development is a bit cheap in general.

Very well formulated! :) I'd quibble with some points but overall very on point and make sense. :)

What a review!!! Congrats, Jessie!!!! 😍😍😍

Well there is a quote by Elanor Roosevelt, that sums this all up: "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." Star Trek TNG discussed ideas (and sometimes events). ST Picard discusses people. They say so themselves. it's just cheap drama. And this is why it hurts us so much. Its like watching a dear old friend, whom you admired a lot, decline into dementia.

It's always so refreshing to listen to you, Jessie! The way you articulate your opinion and present concrete reasons for why you liked/disliked parts of the show is just so...calming honestly? (Even if in my eyes you can be a bit too forgiving:D) I really like RLM and strongly disliked this season of Picard, but when Mike talks about Jurati's singing and says something along the lines of "it's meant for the dumb people to say "that scene is iconic!", it just puts me off from watching their review...

I absolutely value your positivity, but more than that, your objectivity, and your ability to approach each new Trek on its own terms, instead of pre-judging and doubling down on previous grievances, as so many other critics do on this platform. And I'm right with you on S2 of Picard, it was a shaggy targ story in many respects, but it's not a "you destroyed my childhood" atrocity, either. There are hundreds of hours of Trek, some good, some bad, some mediocre. None of it invalidates the rest.