https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/apr/12/make-it-so-star-trek-the-next-generation-remains-radically-hopeful-television

“The last season of Picard is peak Star Trek; it is TNG’s long-awaited eighth season.”

Sums it up perfectly for me. The whole article is worth a read.

Just waiting for Beverly to fuck a changeling.

I keep trying to think of old TNG episodes and what Jack could be. With the DS9 connection could it be that crap fire wraith stuff? God help us another Borg thing? Tbh I have no idea.

Solid enough episode and Worf is always good in this. The Data stuff was ok if obvious but enjoyed the little emotional touch with Geordie.

Really? I considered the last one but it seemed too shite an option.

The theory I’ve seen that makes the most sense is

What really happens in latter ds9 is everyone gets a bit more competent and desperate and star trek (other than the horrible virus stuff) so it’s watchable. As people take decisions and do things that are impressive but also realistic and understandable.

The retcon in Picard - that actually the dominion were justified in their attacks on the federation cos section nazifucks had literally kidnapped and tortured and experimented on some of their kind, literally ruins the federation. As of course have many other more recent trek things.

I get why they do it: the theme is that any large organisation esp. run by humans is gonna be corrupt at least somewhere; that it’s individual people’s heroic actions not fuzzy ideals that protect the galaxy etc; but of course that’s boring and predictable and everyone does that. What made trek different and interesting was its optimistic take on what we could achieve if we, I dunno, evolve somehow into less shitty beings, and that actually the ideals of the federation are the driving force of people’s actions. Oh well back to boring old scifi that reflects the present reality of our sometimes monstrous natures blah blah

EvilRedEye wrote:

I didn't really like that aspect of this season's storyline. It's very un-Star Trek and a pretty overt act of war against a military power that they already struggled to defeat once. I think the problem with Section 31 is the franchise has leaned into it a bit too much. I don't think the idea of the Federation having a gritty underbelly is that bad but it should really be a case of 'well this is a rare exception' rather than the Federation doing massively and gratuitously shitty stuff in the background all of the time.

My understanding of that cut scene was that it happened before the war, or at least during early skirmishes there were kidnappings

I watched the episode last night and now I'm going to put it on again in the background while I work.

I am voluntarily watching an episode of Star Trek: Picard for the second time.

Nah, last episode of the entire series.

That was pretty good.

Yes they’ve made it with that viewer type in mind. The only thing you’ve missed that is part of the story is that Picard died at the end of Season 1 and had his consciousness transferred into a Picard Bot that looks exactly the same, eats, drinks, sleeps, has the same natural life span as a human. The writers more or less forget about him being an android. But the actors occasionally mention it.

There’s also a character called Raffi. You won’t understand who she is or what she’s doing there and why they’re putting her on the screen. But no one knows the answer to that.

So then. I called it with the big bad. Disappointing but then again who else could it have been. So the negatives.

So, shitty writing out the way onto the good stuff.

Onto the implausible ending.

Woah, woah, woah, this isn't a spoiler thread! Tag ya spoilers!