Star Trek: Discovery 3x11 “Su’Kal” Review

rating: ***

the story: At last! The secret origin of the Burn! But of course it’s complicated!

review: “Su’Kal” has importance to the season, of course, but it also echoes a franchise story archetype fans have sometimes grumbled about. When Enterprise did it (“Oasis”) it was assumed to be a ripoff of an earlier episode, Deep Space Nine’s “Shadowplay.” But it’s a story that literally goes back to the very first pilot, “The Cage,” in which Pike becomes embroiled in a fantasy constructed for someone else.

What helps “Su’Kal” stand out is how Burnham and Saru are involved. Burnham’s role is fairly comedic; she’s assumed to be a hologram, and so she adopts that approach. Saru’s is more personal. The source of the Burn is apparently a ship that was crewed by Kelpians. The lone survivor is one who has lived in isolation for decades, his only companions instruction holograms. When Saru leads an away team to visit this unexpected glimpse back to his people, he and the rest of the party are integrated into the program to look less threatening. And this means Saru does not look like Saru.

He looks a lot like, well, Doug Jones.

All that’s good. The subplot is the return of the Emerald Chain, who continue to be underwhelming foes even as they follow another franchise trope of the ship being quickly and easily taken over by the enemy. (Burnham and Book will surely rescue them next episode!)

The upside of that is seeing Tilly in command. It’s sort of like Sulu in the Kelvinverse Star Trek. It salvages the material. Hopefully to be improved upon next episode.

criteria analysis: 

>franchise - Classic franchise tropes revisited!

>series - A big moment for the season has arrived, a culmination point headed toward the climax.

>character - Somehow this is the first time Saru has gotten a spotlight without the problem being directly related to him. Just indirectly!

>essential - If it weren’t for that darn underdeveloped antagonist...

notable guest-stars:

Oded Fehr

Star Trek: Discovery 3x10 “Terra Firma, Part 2” Review

rating: ****

the story: Georgiou’s fate revealed.

review: If the first part was all setup, the second is all delivery. If there’s any disappointment it’s that it doesn’t take up the whole episode.

So this is Mirror Georgiou’s moral reckoning. The delicious part is that you might expect her to succeed in turning the Mirror Universe around, but she doesn’t, and the biggest swerve is that just as when we see her die for her efforts, we end up back on the other side of...

The Guardian of Forever!

Yeah! That’s who Carl was all along! It’s a great bit of franchise continuity going all the way back to one of the first classics episodes, “City on the Edge of Forever,” and finally reclaiming the idea as a continuing piece of Star Trek lore. All the talk about temporal accords this season are of course also acknowledged. And the whole thing feels like classic material itself, how Carl’s presented, how he’s used, and what he allows Georgiou, and viewers, to experience.

The episode does allow us to spend more time just experiencing the Mirror Universe, reveling in the chaos the dastardly Lorca created in his wake, getting to see a few old faces (some in surprising ways!) along the way. We see the relationship between Mirror Georgiou and Mirror Burnham play out in ways that please and disappoint them both. A central relationship of the series thus receives closure, a number of ways.

If I have one quibble, the farewell Georgiou is given doesn’t address how different Georgiou must have seemed to anyone who didn’t know this one came from the Mirror Universe, which unless I’m forgetting something should have been...everyone, basically, except key personnel like Burnham and Culber. 

But if you’re going to have Michelle Yeoh in a TV series, eventually you give her her due, which is what all of this was about. And, I guess, giving her a way to get back to the possibility of that long-gestating Section 31 series, talked of since the end of the first season, but now at least two series fallen behind. And probably three, since we have seen far more rapid progress even toward Pike’s spin-off. Anyway.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - Mirror Universe fans should easily be able to eat this up. As well as fans of the Guardian of Forever!

>series - A kind of series wrap for the character(s) of Georgiou.

>character - A fine final series statement on Georgiou.

>essential - Absolutely. This was classic material.

notable guest-stars:

Michelle Yeoh

Paul Guilfoyle 

Rekha Sherma

Oded Fehr

Star Trek: Discovery 3x9 “Terra Firma, Part 1”

rating: ****

the story: Turns out Georgiou needs to return to the Mirror Universe.

review: Basically another of those stories the series essentially had to do, like finally concluding the mycelial network business (still had to look that up in order to spell it correctly) last season, which is to say, finally determining if Mirror Georgiou (y’know, the one we ended up spending the most time with) was actually worth spending all that time with.

To find out, she has to go back home, and be forced to decide whether she learned anything spending all that time in the prime universe or faced with a second chance if she would make different decisions.

And so basically “Terra Firma, Part 1” (and its concluding chapter) brings the Mirror Universe full circle, forcing someone from that side to decide to become a better person. Deep Space Nine, in its many visits, made strides in that direction, though it was mainly concerned with the long road of humans reclaiming a sense of self-determination. Enterprise, in its two trips, reveled in the atmosphere. Discovery was initially content to do much the same.

And “Terra Firma, Part 1” is much the same, though it hints at what follows. Instead it’s the setup, and as such allows us to see the Nirror Universe, once more, in its classic context, to see things like Captain Killy being Captain Killy (perhaps all the more interesting since Tilly meanwhile is finding her own command path). 

We also meet an intriguing figure who gets Georgiou there in the first place, memorable in this appearance alone, before we learn anything else (but that’s a good development from the second part, too).

criteria analysis:

>franchise - Any return to the Mirror Universe ought to at least provoke some interest, let alone one with some ambition.

>series - A story thread from the first season reaching its culmination...!

>character - At last Georgiou fully in the spotlight!

>essential - While the second part has big things to accomplish, and nails them, this one feels bigger, and is.

notable guest-stars:

Michelle Yeoh

Paul Guilfoyle

Rekha Sharma

Odes Fehr 

David Cronenberg 

Star Trek: Discovery 3x8 “The Sanctuary” Review

rating: ***

the story: Book’s brother is tangled up with a mast organization called the Emerald Chain.

review: This is the kind of episode that feels like it ought to work better, but it falls on the weak side since most of it is accomplished in perfunctory terms. On the one hand it’s not just a Book spotlight (he has been either absent outright or marginalized for long stretches of a short season), but a look into his family, even though the results don’t feel overly personal or pivoted around that family. It’s a clear example of the predatory nature of life after the Burn, but represented in the most generic way possible.

So yeah. Talking about “The Sanctuary” after a later episode in which the implied fallout has indeed occurred doesn’t even make it feel any more important. The Emerald Chain, and the green Orion lady representing it, doesn’t advance any further than what you see here. There’s nothing to ground it other than “they’re bad guys.”

And again, there’s so much the episode attempts to accomplish a first viewing of the results are underwhelming. Book is a unique character, and he bears the further unfortunate distinction of essentially filling the shoes of Ash Tyler, who if anything became far more interesting the longer he stuck around, and whose subsequent absence this season only grows harder to accept. If this were a Tyler episode, it just seems as if far more would have been accomplished. Book merely duplicates the same “I’m a really good guy doing really good stuff in very harsh circumstances” vibe we’ve already seen in, yeah, his first appearance.

Maybe a more concise summary will explain this better:

criteria analysis:

>franchise - I honestly don’t think there’s enough grounding here to entice a casual fan. That’s what’s missing here.

>series - On the other hand, if you’re a Discovery fan there’s plenty to enjoy.

>character - Even if you discount the effectiveness of Book’s material, there’s also additional emphasis on the Georgiou arc about to reach its crescendo in the next two episodes, which itself gives Culber more of that extra emphasis he’s enjoyed this season

>essential - And between any of that and the Emerald Chain indeed resurfacing a few episodes later, it’s probably well worth taking note of.

notable guest-stars:

Michelle Yeoh

Oded Fehr

Deep Space Nine Forgot About: The Jem’Hadar

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine did just about everything right. It certainly helped set up modern Star Trek as it exists in Discovery and Picard, and even before that it was used as the definitive example of everything Voyager and Enterprise didn’t do well enough. In short, it was a series of immense depth, not just in terms of serialization or an arc that could be traced from first to last episode, but giving every element as thorough a spotlight as possible. 

And every element had some kind of resolution. Even if Armin Shimerman was a little disappointed that Quark was still merely a bartender at a space station at the edge of the final frontier, despite everything he experienced across seven seasons, exactly where he’d begun, there was no longer any real doubt about whether or not he was a good guy (even if Odo wouldn’t admit it). You can pick anything at all from the series and trace the course of its evolution, or illumination.

Anything but the Jem’Hadar.

The Jem’Hadar were introduced as being of considerable importance, in the final episode of the second season. The episode’s name is even “The Jem’Hadar.” They were the face of the Dominion we were allowed to see as such right from the start, its fierce foot soldiers whose battleships could take out the same class of Starfleet ship as Picard’s Enterprise. In the episode, of course, is a Vorta, subsequently revealed as representing the voice of the Dominion and later embodied quite ably by a series of Weyoun clones (who of course are given their own moment, too, in “Treachery, Faith and the Great River”).

It isn’t until the third season that the Jem’Hadar are individualized, “The Anandoned,” the first of a small collection of Jem’Hadar we get to meet and...and never see again. We meet others in “Hippocratic Oath,” “To the Deathl (both in the fourth season), and “Rocks in Shoals” (part of the opening war suite of the sixth season), which is the last time the series makes a real effort with them. Technically there’s also “One Little Ship” (later that season), but you would have to be pretty generous to include it.

And nothing in the final, seventh season.

Now, I get that there was a lot to accomplish that season, being, again, the final one. The final ten episode war suite makes room for a second set of anonymous antagonists, the Breen (often referenced previously, never seen, turn out to be fully encased in armor), who of course also don’t receive a single distinct representative.

In their significant appearances, the Jem’Hadar were consistently presented as inherently capable of so much more, that they weren’t just strung-out junkies genetically modified to be the grunts of the Founders. And teased, every time, to be more than ready to be so. 

To put this in perspective, the series also famously featured the Ferengi, who even in Deep Space Nine were considered a joke, despite every effort the series made to change this perception, so that every spotlight was “a Ferengi episode” (an insult). By the end, the Ferengi had made considerable strides to move past their misogynistic and greedy ways, with Quark’s brother Rom rejecting every traditional notion and somehow becoming Grand Nagus (leader) in the process.

There’s no equivalent arc for the Jem’Hadar. There isn’t an arc at all. Each individual spotlight effectively restates the same thing, that they’re not as bad as they seem, and that given a real chance they could be so much more.

And they were simply never given that chance. That’s six out of seven seasons where they were part of the storytelling, and it never happened.

That’s possibly the most glaring oversight and shortcoming of the whole series.

It’s like “Balance of Terror” somehow concluding the Romulan commander was just a villain after all.

When people debate whether Deep Space Nine followed the basic tenets of the franchise, they are actively choosing to either support or ignore what anyone who actually watched it would be able to tell you, that it absolutely did. And in fact, probably did better than any Star Trek series or film before or since.

Which makes this exception all the more glaring. This was a series that went out of its way to make its point, to hit its spots, which got away with it in large part because the studio heads weren’t really paying attention, being far more concerned about how Next Generation ended (and entered the world of film) and Voyager began. That left the writers with a tremendous amount of leeway. Even when the studio strongly suggested to make the proceedings look more familiar (add Worf, the Klingons in general, in the fourth season), the writers used it as an opportunity to restate how dire the Dominion threat really was.

Which, again, included the Jem’Hadar. Theoretically. Or just keep them as muscle. Never let them get their victory. Even at the end of the series, the characters are more concerned about what the Breen might get if the Dominion wins than if the Jem’Hadar stay loyal. Because, well, losing them would absolutely cripple the Dominion. The Breen were opportunists. The Cardassians were clearly only after their own interests. And the Vorta were no fighters. Take away the Jem’Hadar?

Strangely, in another series this would have been a no-brainer. Picard realizes, in Next Generation’s “I, Borg,” that if you separate a drone from the hive mind, you have potential for considerable mischief, at the very least, among the collective itself. In Enterprise, Archer works furiously to turn Xindi scientist Degra into an ally during its third season (“Stratagem”). And of course “Balance of Terror” itself. Even Voyager knew this during the midst of its Kazon arc when Chakotay befriends a young warrior in “Initiations.”

And nowhere were the stakes higher or fraught with greater potential than Deep Space Nine and the Jem’Hadar.

Well, I guess they couldn’t win them all.

Star Trek: Discovery 3x7 “Unification III” Review

rating: ****

the story: Burnham visits Vulcan, I mean Ni’Var!

review: Sometimes I really have to face the fact that as far as resilience goes I always expect characters to give up, which is what I seem to think my choice would be. “Unification III” is in some respects a story about whether Burnham would give up (on Starfleet) after what happened last episode. Spoiler alert: she does not.

The title, when I first saw it listed for the season, seemed to suggest it would be some sort of follow-up to the two-part Next Generation episode “Unification,” where Spock, well, attempts to work at reuniting Vulcans and Romulans. And that’s exactly what it is. Except, like a lot of things this season, it’s something that already happened. They’re back, haltingly, together, and yes, they renamed Vulcan! (But to be fair, as iconic as it is, being Vulcan from the planet Vulcan was literally the most simplistic world-building...ever.)

So when the crew travels there to learn more about an abandoned project that seems to have been the reason the planet left the Federation, convinced that its failure was a huge sticking point in the loss of easy access to warp drive (if not the cause itself), it’s pointed out Burnham would probably be an ideal emissary, being the adopted sister of Spock.

Then the episode essentially becomes a referendum on Michael Burnham.

The most unexpected, and most unexpectedly welcome for me, development is that it also becomes Burnham’s reunion with her mom, the one who originally piloted the Red Angel and was possibly lost forever. Well, she wasn’t. She traveled to Ni’Var and joined the Romulan sect introduced in Picard absolute candor, warriors for lost causes). And for me, she feels far more natural and welcome a presence, so I’m very glad this happened. (Might even smooth over future viewings of the second season!)

But yeah, it’s really Burnham coming to peace with herself, the stuff that’s happened this season, and really the whole series. It’s that kind of episode. It’s wrapped up in stuff that’ll interest viewers in a more general sense, with something even better in the center. This is how I define a classic.

Some fans quibble how Saru decides naming Tilly as his new first officer. But looking back on how career advancement did (and didn’t) happen in Voyager, I think it’s worth reconsidering such a stance, and Saru’s reasoning itself is sound. If you’re going to have a character be a regular, besides, you probably ought to have a little faith in their career prospects. And, well, Nog moved rapidly through the ranks of Starfleet, too. In less regimented days, field promotions were common. It’s another of those problems fans will have only if they really want to.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - A historic moment in Star Trek lore has happened, and we even get to see footage of Leonard Nimoy to help celebrate.

>series - Not only the season arc is affirmed in general, but for one character in particular.

>character - Being Michael Burnham, who is forced to decide how much she wants to continue working within the system, becoming a symbol of the value the Federation still represents in the process.

>essential - Absolutely! A milestone in every regard.

notable guest-stars:

Oded Fehr (Vance)

Star Trek: Discovery 3x6 “Scavengers” Review

rating: ***

story: Burnham goes rogue to rescue Book and recover a valuable black box.

review: Some viewers will view “Scavengers” as needlessly rehashing Michael Burnham’s penchant for breaking bad. I would argue that Michael Burnham’s whole reputation is what it would look like if Jim Kirk weren’t a captain. There’s no functional difference. Even Kirk was demoted in the movies.

So we instead have an affirmation for Burnham’s willingness to sacrifice her own career for doing what she feels is right. (Incidentally, the first season of Picard had that guy doing it, too.) If anything, Burnham is affirming a Star Trek tradition. We even had the Maquis as a famous example. A lot of fans criticized Voyager for its rapid crew integration, but I always argue that they missed the point; many if not most Maquis, like Chakotay, were former Starfleet to begin with. It wasn’t a rebellion against Starfleet, or the Federation, but policy. 

Which, in this season of Discovery, is highly relevant. Burnham’s rescue mission turns into pretty classic franchise material, complete with an Andorian who needs rescuing (compassion) on a different level than Burnham originally anticipated. (In case you were wondering, like I was, this Andorian was not played by Wilson Cruz.)

What it really amounts to isn’t even a clash with the current version of Starfleet but a culmination of Burnham and Saru’s relationship. Saru finally decides he can’t have a first officer prone to going rogue. Saru himself is becoming an example of a textbook Starfleet captain, one that perhaps can be as respected as any the franchise has chosen as lead characters over the years, more often similar to Kirk but sometimes equally committed (as Janeway famously was) to standard Starfleet ideals.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - Ironically because fans seem prone to misidentifying Burnham’s instincts, this is maybe not an episode they’re likely to understand.

>series - And yet it resonates right back to the start of Discovery as it showed her as a true hero at every turn.

>character - So this is a great Burnham spotlight, and Saru, and even Georgiou, who this season has become a true highlight.

>essential - For fans of Discovery, absolutely.

notable guest-stars:

Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)

Oded Fehr (Vance)

Star Trek: Discovery 3x5 “Die Trying” Review

 rating: ***

the story: The crew finds it difficult to reintegrate into the Starfleet it finds in the far future.

review: Five episodes into the season, and the arc of the crew finding themselves in a strange far future with a fractured Federation has steadily, and somewhat rapidly, advanced, with the help of one key plot device that has suddenly been turned on its head.

This is the kind of episode you can show the uninitiated that will help catch them up to speed. Key developments that aren’t necessarily essential to the episode, or season, itself, but rather the history of the series, are referenced, and the nature of the spore drive that has been a signature element is turned into an irresistible asset. In the far future the traditional warp engine fans have always known has been compromised. The unique spore drive the crew possesses, once thought if not irreconcilable then at least problematic, is suddenly the only thing the crew has that the Starfleet of this era can appreciate.

Of course, they have to fight tooth and nail to prove it, but it really boils down to a Star Trek staple: an admiral who doesn’t see eye-to-eye with a Starfleet crew. Fortunately, for a change there’s a happy ending to that relationship.

So we’re left with a few other things to dwell on. The first one is that, despite complications it’s nice to see everyone happy when they reach Starfleet headquarters. There’re Easter eggs in the ships (Voyager-J, one named Nog). Another callback is the conclusion of the Temporal Cold War that has left Starfleet paranoid about time travelers. Georgiou has an interesting conversation concerning the fate of the Mirror Universe. Nahn, part of the show’s considerable supporting ensemble, reaching an unexpected and emotional turning point.

And the series is perhaps settling into its oldest and best relationship: Burnham and Saru. Fans love to talk about Burnham’s earliest actions, which are never far from Saru’s thoughts, as well. Yet the two possess a complicated, trusting friendship, a partnership that increasingly feels level, with Saru unafraid to voice, in respectful tones, his hope that Burnham has grown since those early days.

All this and the first time the season tackles a typical franchise episodic element that feels natural, with a ship that has experienced a crisis and our crew needing to help set things right. Very familiar but executed well, and integrated into the rest of the story flawlessly.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - A thrilling chance to see what Starfleet in this time period looks like, with a surprising number of familiar touches.

>series - A nice moment for new and existing fans to catch up with what’s been happening and what sets Discovery apart.

>character - I would’ve wanted a little more individual work, or even sharper ensemble work, to put in a vote for this category. A lot of nice little moments, though.

>essential - There’s a soft emphasis on disfunction in the crew, which actually seems to help, and that’s a nice way to emphasize what sets this series apart, that it sees hope as being possible in such a context, even though Gene Roddenberry famously wanted everyone to just get along.

notable guest-stars:

Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)

Tig Notaro (Reno)

David Cronenberg

Oded Fehr (Vance)

Star Trek: Discovery 3x4 “Forget Me Not” Review

 rating: ****

the story: Adira’s symbiont memories are unlocked.

review: Last season Discovery received a certain amount of acclaim with “Project Daedalus,” which revolved around background character Aeriam in an ultimately climactic and poignant manner. I myself considered the results underwhelming, believing that too little real investment, even in the episode itself, had justified calling too much attention to the character even then.

Well, “Forget Me Not,” for me, is that same basic story, done right. It’s an instant highlight of the season, perhaps the series, and perhaps the very franchise itself.

Harking back to Next Generation’s “The Host” and Deep Space Nine’s “Equilibrium,” “Forget Me Not” is an unexpected deep and very welcome dive into Star Trek lore that enriches it in the process. It’s the kind of experience that can be many things to many people, but most of all an elegant (a word I seldom favor seeing used, but here absolutely warranted, in the best recent tradition of the best Short Treks) example of finding a truly transcendent story and absolutely nailing it.

Part of the success of it is what always helps Discovery succeed, drawing on the rich depth of its characters rather than taking it for granted, as the last few episodes have. The biggest beneficiary of this is Culber, who is at last emerging as a three-dimensional figure, and a surprisingly insightful one at that. He opens the episode echoing Kirk’s monologue from Star Trek Beyond, where he wonders what a prolonged deep space assignment has done mentally to his crew. The movie itself has become one of my favorites for its ability to reflect the best parts of the franchise, and, I guess, “Forget Me Not” feels like the TV episode version of it, two modern touchstones that resonate with the beating heart of Star Trek’s ideals.

There’s a lot to love here, a disastrous dinner scene hilariously and tragically rife with haiku, echoes of Next Generation’s “Family,” Enterprise’s “Home,” the episode, basically, that absolutely needed to happen in order for the impact of what has happened previously to feel real, and even Georgiou settling into her new quip status (feeling very much like Worf at this point).

And yes, a love story that pushes traditional boundaries, but told in breathtakingly exquisite fashion. As someone on my Facebook feed adds to all their posts, “love is love.” There’s no reason to make a big deal about it, unless it makes you feel visible. The more I experience the more I suspect the tradition we all share is how untraditional we are. It’s just lives being lived, pushing forward, sometimes against incredible odds. That’s what this episode manages to explain for a season that has been floundering for such a statement. 

Yeah, you’ve gotta see this one.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - Perhaps the final word on how important the Trill are to Star Trek lore.

>series - Emphasizes all the right things about the season.

>character - Adira has entered what Gene Roddenberry might have called “beloved character status.”

>essential - Oh, yeah. Tragedy and triumph.

notable guest-stars:

Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)

Star Trek: Discovery 3x3 “People of Earth” Review

 rating: **

the story: The crew find out what Earth is like in the far future.

review: I don’t know, this is the second episode that feels tepid and lethargic to me, all the more alarming because the season premiere was so filled with energy.

“People of Earth” at once dives right into the arc and meanders. As can be the danger of serialized storytelling, it feels very much as if the writers are concentrating on “what we need to see” without understanding how to make it compelling.

It feels blandly inevitable. Burnham and Saru have a perfunctory discussion about captaincy; Burnham puts on a Starfleet uniform for the first time in a year; she convinces Book to wear one as part of a ruse; we meet the human hosting a Trill symbiont; she has a conversation with Stamets that suggests she’ll be interesting.

And it all just happens. Earth is represented by a new governing agency, at conflict with marauders from Titan. This part of the story is given minimal attention. I saw hot takes that called the resolution a Scooby reveal, but it’s not worth dwelling too much on, as we’re given little reason to care about either faction except as an example of how things have changed.

The pacing of the season is totally off. We had one episode of Burnham adapting to her new life, and then here it’s supposed to, theoretically, feel as weird for the viewer as for Burnham to adapt back into her old life. This is an even bigger problem when Burnham’s new life looks even better in hindsight, and everyone just going through the motions in her old.

So for now I will just keep hoping things become...interesting.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - A bold statement on the fate of our favorite planet! This is what happens when the good guys aren’t around. It’s like Picard if Picard never went back into action.

>series - It’s a good bit for the arc, however ultimately handled.

>character - No one really gets a decent spotlight here.

>essential - The kind of episode that could be omitted from a viewer’s itinerary not out of poor quality but out of general blandness.

notable guest-stars:

Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)

Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x10 “No Small Parts” Review

 rating: ***

the story: The secret’s out!

review: It wasn’t just viewers who didn’t know upfront that Freeman is Mariner’s mom. Boimler accidentally found out last episode, and just as accidentally leaked it to the rest of the Cerritos. The result? Now everyone treats Mariner differently, sucking up to score favor with the captain, and of course she hates it!

It’s really the only way the season could have ended, but there are a few unrelated twists, and one related one, that keep it lively. Tendi mentors an exocomp (secret origin from Next Generation’s “The Quality of Life”), who has joined Starfleet, which leads to any number of unexpected developments, while Rutherford gets his best spotlight of the season when he learns there’s a switch in his implant that can change his personality. Eventually the funny bits lead to a sad bit, as well as the sacrifice of the ship’s aggressive Bajoran chief tactical officer, Shaxs.

And Pakleds! Surely the most hilariously pathetic legacy of Next Generation’s second season, the Pakleds blunder their way into be formidable again. 

But then Boimler is promoted and transferred to the Titan. Riker! Troi! Again! No one has shown up in the modern franchise more than these two, and here they continue their impressive stature. Will they be here all next season? Well, where then would be Mariner? And Tendi? And Rutherford? Technically also the canonical first appearance of the Titan, referenced as Riker’s new (and first!) command in Nemesis, and apparently considered quite a prestigious assignment. Of course!

criteria analysis:

>franchise - Riker and Troi! Again!

>series - A fitting season finale.

>character - Big moments for Mariner and Boimler, and yet somehow it’s Rutherford who shines brightest.

>essential - Close!

notable guest-stars:

Jonathan Frakes (Riker, sounding as natural as ever in animated form)

Marina Sirtis (Troi)

Jack McBrayer (Badgey)

Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x9 “Crisis Point” Review

 rating: ****

the story: A holodeck program version of Lower Decks: The Movie!

review: For a series that literally a few episodes ago dithered with a “holodeck malfunction” episode, it’s all the more rewarding that doing another holodeck episode lands so successfully. For whatever reason, when a Star Trek series decides to base a whole episode on an actual holodeck adventure (“The Big Goodbye” in Next Generation, “Our Man Bashir” in Deep Space Nine, “Bride of Chaotica!” in Voyager), it’s always a highlight. And now “Crisis Point” in Lower Decks.

The whole episode technically hinges on Mariner and Freeman’s relationship (which leads directly into the season finale), but Mariner chooses to “make a movie” to work out her issues. This allows riffs and hilarious comments on the differences between a Star Trek episode and movie (and a repeated gag involving movie credits). It’s good standout material, which also works in exploring Mariner’s issues.

We also get another standout Tendi subplot, when she finds herself cast as a stereotypical Orion pirate in Mariner’s program. Eventually she stands up for herself in what might amount to the closest we get to the kind of societal examination of the Orions that we got for the Cardassians, the Bajorans, the Trill, and especially the Ferengi in Deep Space Nine.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - Surprisingly, the closest we get to a full-blown Star Trek (movie) spoof we get all season.

>series - Literally only Lower Decks could get away with this.

>character - Mariner finally addresses her biggest problem. And Tendi! In her best spotlight this season.

>essential - Yeah, absolutely. I think this one’s easy to love.

notable guest-stars:

Gary Cole

Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x8 “Veritas” Review

 rating: ***

the story: The junior officers stand trial (probably).

review: If Star Trek since 1991 has proven anything, it’s that The Undiscovered Country looms large in the production offices. Voyager revisited it with its Sulu episode, “Flashback,” Enterprise held another Klingon trial in “Judgment,” and now Lower Decks riffs on the trial with “Veritas.”

The whole thing ends with a swerve, but it’s also an excuse to spend quality time with the personality quirks of the four lead characters, out of whom Rutherford finally gets to shine with his implant glitching, leaving gaps in his memory and therefore his testimony.

But the biggest surprise? Q! Really! John De Lancie, no stranger to vocal performances, provides the voice and everything! He’s not nearly the lead element, but it’s still fun to have him around, not the least because Q is no stranger to trials (first and last episode of Next Generation, “Death Wish” in Voyager). 

criteria analysis:

>franchise - The sixth Star Trek movie is revisited! Again!

>series - With a distinctive, and unexpected, Lower Decks twist!

>character - Finally Rutherford is getting to showcase his potential (even if it revolves around that implant of his).

>essential - Maybe not, but it’s still good fun!

notable guest-stars:

John De Lancie (Q)

Kurtwood Smith (who also appeared in Undiscovered Country and Voyager)

Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x7 “Much Ado About Boimler” Review

 rating: ***

the story: Boimler’s caught in a weird transporter effect while Mariner reunites with an old friend.

review: Just when it seems Lower Decks is caught in a rut, “Much Ado About Boimler” comes around. Just in time!

Rutherford has another close encounter as the source of Boimler’s mishap, having tweaked the transporter, which leaves Boimler partially phased. But Tendi gets more mileage in an unrelated subplot when she bioengineers her own dog...which she hilariously screws up because as an Orion she has no real idea what dogs are supposed to be like. Anyway, good to see her get some material, and arguably one of the most successful uses of the animated format this season.

Of course, Boimler’s predicament is what can be termed classic Boimler at this point, and leads him (and the dog) to D-14, a Starfleet medical anomalies division that of course exists (based on all available evidence from every other series and their many, many medical anomalies). The effect is to thrust Boimler into a “land of misfits toys” for the episode. It’s the good kind of franchise insight that’s Lower Decks at its best, and it’s played out perfectly.

Mariner’s old friend is now a captain, so of course this is another opportunity to explore Mariner’s career choices. It might have felt repetitive, but like everything else this episode it still works.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - For the valuable addition of D-14 alone to Star Trek lore, this episode’s valuable.

>series - The best strengths of Lower Decks are in full display here.

>character - Which of course means its cast of wacky characters, with the first real highlight for Tendi.

>essential - The kind of episode I could easily bump up in value later. We’ll see!

Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x6 “Terminal Provocations” Review

 rating: **

the story: Another junior officer totally screws up.

review: Weirdly, I’m actually feeling less patient these days with modern Star Trek that feels too much like classic Star Trek. The second episode of Discovery’s third season, “Far From Home,” for instance, has a subplot that would have substantially played exactly the same way in nearly every other TV incarnation of the franchise, and now this, the second time in this inaugural season of Lower Decks, I find the results to be a little too standard. This is the “holodeck malfunctions” episode.

It would actually be a little more interesting than that, since Rutherford and Tendi are the lead characters in that half of the episode, based off of Rutherford creating Badgey, an instructional aide much like the paperclip from Microsoft. But it sort of becomes far more about Badgey’s glitch descent into cartoonishly murderous intent than any real insight into Rutherford, Tendi, or their relationship.

Boimler and Mariner, meanwhile, have a friend who turns out to be a huge screwup, which is the source of the holodeck malfunction. I was actually hoping he’d at least turn out to be a secret agent of the aliens the crew desperately tries to contend with (as represented by J.G. Hertzler, most familiar to fans as Deep Space Nine’s one-eyed General Martok; he’s the other bit of fun casting this episode features, along with Jack McBrayer as Badgey, just the opening salvo of a tide of familiar voices in the second half of the season).

criteria analysis: 

>franchise - Casual fans might enjoy the animated version of the holodeck trope.

>series - Boimler and Mariner’s friend is a sort of cautionary tale, and his fate will in hindsight foreshadow the end of the season.

>character - I don’t think any of our the four main characters particularly shine this time.

>essential - Nope.

notable guest-stars:

Jack McBrayer (Badgey)

J.G. Hertzler

Star Trek: Discovery 3x2 “Far From Home” Review

 rating: ***

the story: The crew of the Discovery winds up in the far future.

review: Honestly, in hindsight I would probably prefer this being the season premiere and “That Hope Is You” coming second. “Hope” is a kinetic, exhilarating episode, against which it’s hard for “Far From Home” to compare. It’s the same basic story with a resolution that’s so abrupt it’s almost disappointing, when the crew finds Burnham on the other side of a mysterious hail. In “Hope” we have no idea when Burnham was going to reunite with them. Here we’re quickly told she waited a year. Unless the third episode glosses over that year, that’s another awkward jump.

And because it becomes so inevitable, it’s just going through the motions, and there’s no single compelling narrative in the whole crew to keep things interesting. There’s a half-hearted Stamets and Culber thing happening (neither character deserves to be eternally relegated only to that relationship, and Stamets in particular is far less interesting when he’s not being a caustic engineer, a glimmer of which we see opposite Reno). Saru butts heads with Georgiou (whose best moment quickly redeems the episode just before the last minute), and encourages Tilly. And this is all kind of odd, since some of the best stuff last season was getting to see this exact crew being brilliant in group settings. 

By the time they’re learning the harsh realities of the far future, there’s a space pirate making things incredibly uncomfortable for them, and Georgiou gets a pitch-perfect comeuppance for him, the first time I personally have found Mirror Georgiou pitch-perfect. I mean, if ever there was a good use for her it was exactly this moment. So there’s that!

criteria analysis:

>franchise - I’m going to say there’s precious little here to interest general fan interest.

>series - It was probably necessary to see how the rest of the crew made it to the far future, certainly, and perhaps the whole experience proves how necessary Burnham is to the series.

>character - Mirror Georgiou in a true shining moment.

>essential - As it plays out? Not especially, it seems.

notable guest-stars:

Michelle Yeoh (Mirror Georgiou)

Tig Notaro (Reno)

Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x5 “Cupid’s Errant Arrow” Review

 rating: **

the story: Mariner is convinced Boimler’s girlfriend can’t be real.

review: Well, I guess it had to happen. “Cupid’s Errant Arrow” is the first episode of Lower Decks that didn’t really work for me.

Everything about it feels like the series at its most basic level, in fact everything we’ve already seen...again. The worst part is that for the first time, Boimler is reduced to being the butt of the joke rather than actively participating in it. In fact, it’s kind of a whole episode that’s theoretically about him but instead is about Mariner’s desperate attempts to uncover the truth about his girlfriend.

Tendi and Rutherford get a subplot about how much better everything is on another ship, but they learn it comes with a price, that the crew there is under immense pressure...because they experience big wacky events all the time. Except literally every episode of Lower Decks has pivoted around big wacky events, too. And therein lies the danger of the series: calling too much attention to the fact that it doesn’t really follow its own premise.

In fact, the other subplot is another big dramatic Starfleet mission the crew of a third-rate Starfleet ship is...still involved in. I mean, I get that this is an animated series in an era where big wacky events are expected to happen every episode, and that half of Lower Decks is the funny version of Star Trek. But there have to be some limits. Even Orville frustrates viewers just expecting funny Star Trek, because as often as not it’s actually trying to...just be Star Trek(ish). 

Anyway, there’s nothing that particularly stands out this episode. You might call it the one where the creators were finally done enjoying how great the original idea was and then just took it for granted.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - If you’re already a Star Trek fan there’s little to gain from watching this one. Except that one alien who was fighting for the right to inhabit a whole planet with his wife. In context it’s the best bit of the episode, and nothing you would ordinarily see in the franchise.

>series - Which I guess I’ll use as the reason to watch Lower Decks this episode. It’s a great punchline, however deeply buried it is in everything else.

>character - Since it’s really a Mariner episode, it’s worth watching for that, including a flashback scene that’s kind of fun.

>essential - Not essential. Nope. Move along home!

Star Trek: Discovery 3x1 “That Hope Is You, Part 1” Review

rating: ****

the story: Michael Burnham lands in the 31st century, where she learns the Federation has collapsed.

review: At this point, even though I liked them, I’m quite willing to view Discovery’s first two seasons as mere prelude. That’s exactly how sensational this season premiere is. It’s the birth of a whole new era. It’s a classic. Period.

It’s also Michael Burnham carrying the entire episode, alongside new costar Book (David Ajala) (yet to be determined if and how he relates to Craft in the similarly excellent Short Trek “Calypso,” produced prior to Discovery’s second season, and itself a prelude, to this season). Both are black, marking the first time in franchise history a whole story is led exclusively by black actors, building on Uhura’s legacy, and Deep Space Nine.

Book is a complex character, but as the episode progresses we learn he’s squarely in the Star Trek tradition. Much of  “That Hope Is You” looks like Star Wars (which fans have been claiming newer Star Trek increasingly looks like since the Kelvin films began, and which has been just as consistently nonsense), but Star Trek is still Star Trek, no matter what it looks like, as true in 2020 as it was all the way back in 1966, when NBC wanted Gene Roddenberry to compromise his vision, and he stubbornly clung to his demonic Mr. Spock and his big ideas anyway.

The Andorians have their biggest spotlight since Enterprise as Burnham and Book navigate this introduction, and that’s nice to see. We meet an Indian character who has been upholding the legacy of Starfleet almost singlehandedly in his sector, which is a thing that has happened since dilithium became scarce a few centuries earlier, making it difficult to maintain regular direct contact (perhaps a criticism of virtual relationships such as we have with the internet). He’s actually the best part of the episode, the first character we see, the embodiment of the hope Burnham believes in because she had it just this morning as a tangible thing, and what Book keeps so guarded because he doesn’t find it easily elsewhere.

(Hey! This is mere geeking out, but there’s an alien from Morn’s species in the episode. Morn was Quark’s most famous patron in Deep Space Nine. He doesn’t get any lines, either!)

This is an excellent spotlight for Burnham, still considered by disgruntled, grumpy fans as “that mutineer,” as well as for Sonequa Martin-Green, who gets to play well past Burnham’s usual Vulcan reserve thanks to a healthy dose of a special truth serum. It’s worth celebrating that sequence alone!

But the whole thing is executed perfectly. It really is Discovery’s crowning achievement to date.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - Star Trek going boldly into its future (complete with a nod to why time travel isn’t expected anymore, either, with a nod to the Temporal Cold War).

>series - Discovery goes boldly ahead as well, finding and seizing a sensational new opportunity.

>character - Very possibly destined to be the single best Michael Burnham spotlight the series produces.

>essential - All that and it keeps the moral heart of the franchise alive and well. Literally could not ask for more.

Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x4 “Moist Vessel” Review

rating: ***

the story: Freeman tries to alienate Mariner by promoting her.

review: The one thing Lower Decks hadn’t really done in its first three episodes was really emphasize what its concept was really supposed to be, the idea that it followed around junior officers doing truly mundane work. There were a lot of riffs on traditional Star Trek tropes (which really suggests this was a crew of complainers rather than a ship that did less interesting things than any other characters we’ve followed), and sure, we saw our main characters, the junior officers, doing routine work, but never to the point where it seemed they were really that different from the command staff.

But here’s Mariner to save the day again!

If “Temporal Edict” was a Boimler spotlight, “Moist Vessel” is Mariner’s, putting a hard focus on her relationship with Freeman (her mom), who has decided she’s had enough of Mariner’s lax attitude and will do anything to get her to request a transfer.

(We also get a subplot with Tendi concerning a colleague “ascending,” a spiritual development that’s interesting.)

Anyway, what this means is that Freeman tries two very different ways to achieve this. The first is to assign Mariner the very worst tasks. This doesn’t work because Mariner finds a way to enjoy them.

Then Freeman stoops even lower. She promotes Mariner!

This is actually the best element of the episode, in which we discover all the mundane duties Mariner is suddenly required to perform as a lieutenant, which are typified by the boring meetings she’s forced to attend. As viewers we’re conditioned to view meetings as dramatic events in which unique perspectives and brilliant decisions are the point. But meetings are meetings. So through Mariner we get a better sense of what being in Starfleet is probably really like.

criteria analysis:

>series - An excellent use of the central premise.

>franchise - Ever find yourself romanticizing Starfleet? Watch this!

>character- Mariner’s worst nightmare is career advancement. Apparently she’s successfully worked against it for years!

>essential - Insofar as we get to laugh about an admiral pronouncing “sensor” funny. Would have been a bigger statement by deciding something about Mariner and Freeman’s relationship.

notable guest-stars:

Haley Joel Osment

Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x3 “Temporal Edict” Review

 rating: ****

the story: Boimler accidentally reveals to the captain how most of the crew functions by padding out their work time.

the review: If there’s a potential breakout episode among the first three of the series, it’s this one. I loved the Boimler/Mariner dynamic in the first two, but separating them turns out to if anything be even better.

Mariner is the best character in the series, but her story in “Temporal Edict” is the weaker, generally speaking, of the two. The effect is to set up a potential romance with Ransom (his biggest spotlight so far) as they square off in an “Arena” riff. So I’m not really going to focus on that (though pending future developments this could become more significant).

Instead: the Boimler Effect, folks.

Boimler’s best moment in the episode is when everyone else is freaking out and struggling to perform routine tasks for n the time allotted by Freeman (and now I know the captain’s name; previously, for me, she was better known as “Mariner’s mom), which for Boimler is no big deal at all, as he strolls the halls of the Cerritos (and maybe I know that now, too! it wasn’t until this, Discovery and Picard that I actively demonstrated in these reviews having to learn basic facts in Star Trek, because these are “real time” reactions where all the previous ones are retrospective; there was legitimately a time I had no idea what a Cardassian actually was, and that was when I was actively engaged in the franchise and expected to know these things by my family, in which I was the resident “expert,” which as this side note expands I assure you is all the more accurate now than ever before).

Anyway, Boimler’s whole thing is that he loves serving in Starfleet under its standard operating procedures. He’s the picture of a generic officer, which because we’ve...never seen this before (the closest is Harry Kim, but even he tried desperately to prove himself to Torres and Paris right from the start in Voyager). He loves going by the book. 

And...basically no one else does. He loves it so much it’s easy for him. When it’s just Mariner in contrast, it looks like he’s weird because she’s so awesome (generally speaking), but set against...everyone else, you realize, this guy’s like the Vulcan of Starfleet officers. Which because he isn’t Vulcan makes him all the more fun to follow.

So imagine his reaction when his biggest victory turns into his biggest defeat: by convincing Freeman to lax the rules (for everyone else), he actually sends the message that everything he stands for...is an impossible standard that no Starfleet officer should ever be held to. And gets that distinction named after him: “the Boimler Effect.”

Anyway, the whole thing feels like the best statement of the series to date, very close at the very least to some of the best of the Short Treks. I could very well bump it up to classic status at a future date, depending on how much better the series itself could get.

And then, just because this is the episode that keeps on giving: there’s a wonderful nod to Miles O’Brien at the end.

Okay, okay, I talked myself into it: This one’s a classic.

criteria analysis:

>series - Well worth watching as a fan of Lower Decks itself.

>franchise - A wry commentary on being a Starfleet officer.

>character - Boimler fully in the spotlight.

>essential - A truly defining moment for him, in fact.

notable guest-stars:

Jerry O’Connell

Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x2 “Envoys” Review

 rating: ***

the story: Boimler and Mariner pilot a Klingon ambassador to an embassy.

the review: This second episode is less manic and steeped more in familiar franchise elements (notably, Klingon), but at heart sticks to the same winning formula of showcasing how great a lead character Mariner is.

Technically Boimler drives the plot again, but it’s Mariner, how she plays off him and even in a last second reveal again is given more depth. Her role seems to be the living embodiment of rejecting all the stereotypes someone might have about a Starfleet officer, and by “someone” I mean people who don’t typically watch Star Trek. Of course, fans will know it’s not just Kirk who tends to go off-book. In a lot of ways Mariner embodies the later Jadzia Dax (initially, Deep Space Nine depicts her far more conservatively, and even the new Dax host Ezri seems more like a Boimler than a Mariner), especially in her unexpected ability to bond with Klingons (and Ferengi).

The dynamic between Boimler and Mariner is formulaic until the end of the episode, when it’s Boimler bragging to his friends about their adventure. It’s nice to see him as something other than the nebbish wannabe, a counterpoint to Mariner’s relaxed experience.

We get a better contrast with the two other lead characters, Tendi and Rutherford. Tendi’s the green one, Rutherford the one with a cybernetic implant. Tendi, who was initially presented as a potential viewer surrogate, still has little to actually do, while Rutherford questions his career path and tries out every other available track, giving viewers hilarious examples of how they can go wrong (and right!), and also how Starfleet is a generally accepting organization, encouraging him in all his decisions. Anyway, it’s a great spotlight for him.

Just the endless fun the episode has with familiar and new aliens is worth celebrating. Where the original animated series allowed itself to let loose visually, there’s a sense that Lower Decks might actually serve best to let, say, the Klingons be fully Klingons. Even better, we have a Ferengi who nails both the shifty original vision seen in Next Generation and the more nuanced one we see in Deep Space Nine. 

All of which is to say, I think I’m really beginning to enjoy this version of Star Trek.

criteria analysis:

>franchise: It’s a great way to see the Star Trek landscape.

>series: It’s a great way to settle into Lower Decks itself.

>character: Mariner and Rutherford have excellent spotlights.

>essential: Still waiting to see how deep all this can actually get.

notable guest-stars:

Jerry O’Connell is technically a part of the regular cast, but his character First Officer Jack Ransom has a token appearance in this episode. When he has something substantial to do, as in the previous episode, I’ll list him here, as I did then.

Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x1 “Second Contact” Review

the story: Crew is assigned for follow-up contact with new species.

rating: *** (out of ****)

review: The unspoken truth about Star Trek fandom is that it can often (okay, nearly always) be ruthlessly protective. Often this manifests itself as preferring older material (and of course rejecting newer, which has been a thing since at least the start of Next Generation). So when Lower Decks was announced and subsequently revealed as an “adult animated series,” it faced the immediate and obligatory fate of instant, summary rejection. But, well, lighten up!

I think it can actually be seen as a response to Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville, which is roundly regarded as a comedic Next Generation. In Lower Decks our perspective is a crew of a Starfleet ship tasked with less glamorous assignments but just as prone as any ship or crew we’ve followed before in getting into a heap of trouble very quickly and easily. Like The Animated Series before it, this translates first and foremost to a more visually dynamic presentation.

Our main guides are Mariner and Boimler, two junior officers who lead the support team on a support starship. “Second Contact” is really about them coming to terms with the nature of their relationship, which at this point is not romantic but merely working together. Mariner has seen more, and been to more planets (Boimler counts Vulcan and...Earth among the whole five he has thus far visited, which for those keeping score at home is like counting places you’ve lived rather than outright visited), and so her perspective is kind of like Kirk’s while Boimler’s is sort of fresh-out-of-the-Academy, Harry Kim style. Until he learns how valuable her perspective really is.

But for me it’s actually more interesting how we glimpse Mariner’s backstory. Her mom is ship’s captain, her dad an admiral. It really is like a Voyager throwback with Mariner and Boimler; just imagine what it would’ve been like for Tom Paris to work closely with his dad! 

Of the command crew we spend the most time with first officer Jack Ransom. Suffice to say but usually it’s the admirals who come off looking this bad, though here it’s all in good fun!

I don’t know if the whole series is going to follow this template, if we’ll get healthy servings of character work with all the comedy, but I would certainly prefer it that way. Some fans forget that Star Trek at its core spends most of its time confronting wacky scenarios. At least this time the approach is wacky, too. This is not at all a bad thing.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - A fresh take on Star Trek for sure!

>series - A good introduction to Lower Decks.

>character - Excellent use of at least two members of its cast, Mariner and Boimler.

>essential - Here’s where I’m really going to be monitoring Lower Decks, in its ability to produce truly standout material. Will this format be capable of it?

notable guest-stars:

Jerry O’Connell (Jack Ransom)

Picard 1x10 “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2”

rating: ****

the story: Conflict resolution; saying goodbye to Data.

review: Yeah, that was about right. The general plot of the series was a juxtaposition between duty on a large scale and a small one. The large scale was confronting bigotry in opposing forces, and helping both sides realize there was more than one possible response. The small scale was finding peace with the death of Data.

For much of the season, the small scale goal was in the background, as Picard assembled his response to a crisis that in effect happened in large part because he was no longer in a position to prevent it, and that was largely because he no longer had Data at his side. “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2” is a much bigger success than its preceding component largely because it doesn’t allow itself to become lost in the details. In any proper ending, the details ought to be clear enough, and in this case they are because the goal was already explained in the beginning.

Except Data doesn’t return. He stays dead. He has a chance to explain why he actually prefers to remain dead, and it’s the perfect completion of the journey he began in his first appearance, finally understanding that the idea of being human is basically embracing the limits he was always determined to push.

Anyway, there’s also Riker’s pitch-perfect cameo (which sums up his command dynamic with Picard), characters who didn’t make sense last episode making sense (including yet another Problematic Soong Android being summarily deactivated; I’d really like if just one of them had a chance to be anything but binary).

Basically the best possible ending to the season, and everything it needed to be to celebrate Picard and his legacy. Until they figure out how to include, y’know, Guinan. Q. And, uh, the rest of the Next Generation gang...

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Final resolution for Nemesis. Maybe fans can decide to embrace it?
• series - A great ending to the season.
• character - The final statement on Data.
• essential - The final statement on Picard’s moral, heroic character.

notable guest-stars:

Brent Spiner (Data, Soong)

Jonathan Frakes (Riker)

Jeri Ryan (Seven)

Picard 1x9 “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1”

rating: **

the story: Picard’s team reaches their destination.

review: Sometimes the problem with serialized storytelling is that it boxes the story into elements that need to happen but become difficult to tell interestingly. That was always the biggest problem with Deep Space Nine, especially in the six- and ten-episode arcs that were laden with plot elements that squashed all opportunity to explore their potential. They ended up hammering points without elegance. What Enterprise accomplished so brilliantly in its third season was the ability to break its ideas down to concrete points, particularly as the importance of Degra blossomed. Even after he was necessarily taken off the table, there were enough moving parts still in play that even the inevitable was interesting.

With this penultimate episode of a season-long arc, we reach a point that ought to have been can’t-miss, and...it nearly does. The problem is in the introduction of two characters. One is a good addition handled poorly, and the other is a bad addition also...handled poorly. The first is another Brent Spiner Soong performance, but the character is almost completely marginalized, his significance taken for granted, perhaps. The other is another android played by Isa Briones (who also portrays Soji, the twin from the first episode, the one glimpsed last episode, and probably dozens of other iterations), who turns out to be the latest treacherous turncoat. The reveal is somewhat akin to the Founders in Deep Space Nine (in fact, the whole conflict is very similar), which is why I tended to have a problem with the Female Founder in that series; she had no nuance at all, in a series where shades of gray were everywhere.

There was a good way to handle all of this material, but I don’t think this was it. But let’s get to the point summary to clarify:

criteria analysis:

• franchise - I think you have to be invested for any of this to work. I think general viewers would be even more inclined to dismiss the creative approach to this episode than I am.
• series - I mean, it’s interesting and relevant, obviously. 
• character - The introduction of the new Soong was the only good thing about the episode.
• essential - The results are too perfunctory. After all the creative thought put into it, I would almost greatly prefer to Picard movie default ending of him needing to stop some giant machine from blowing up. Or having to blow the machine up. 

notable guest-stars

Brent Spiner (Soong)

Jeri Ryan (Seven)

Picard 1x8 "Broken Pieces"

rating: ***

the story: Rios grapples with his past as it catches up with him, and we learn...a lot.

review: If I weren't feeling particularly generous because I generally love the results of the series to date, I'd call this latest episode...a glorified infodump.  Basically it's...everyone...explaining...everything.  The exception is Rios (even though he's thoroughly wrapped up in it, too).  Between his holograms (best part of the episode) and how learning about his past informs his, and the show's, present, he finally grabs the spotlight, without any of the flashback material that might in hindsight seem something like a crutch elsewhere in the series.

Speaking of flashbacks, we see the evil Romulan conspiracy take shape, the continuingly fairly vague nature of the AI apocalypse, past and present, although now of course it looks all the more like fear-mongering (as I write this, I'm grappling with the effects of COVID-19 in American and personal activities, so I seem to have pretty relevant recent experience).  Someone on the internet, which is capable of reducing even the most complex concepts into the least helpful summaries possible (which, again, because I'm feeling cynical at the moment, seems to be the extent of human discourse, at least at the moment), pointed out that Picard and the second season of Discovery both have AI apocalypse plots.  The difference of course is in the storytelling, and in that you really have to go out of your way to worry about similarities.  Picard weaves a tale drawing on rich Star Trek tradition, where Discovery invented its out of sheer cloth (and maybe a Pocket Books novel). 

Anyway, Jurati comes clean, and even finds some peace and solace with what's happened, Seven (or, Annika) is back, and feeling somewhat ambiguous about bringing back a hive mind to kick Romulan ass, Soji is starting to understand the scope of what lies behind her (and ahead), Raffi is plunging well into the mess at last, Picard is playing a truly supporting role in his own show for the first time, and...

Rios!  The holograms have been around since he first appeared, but this is our first chance to truly enjoy them, and their relationship to Rios himself.  It's Raffi's best showing, too, by the way, trying to get information, any information out of them, through which she demonstrates her newfound commitment.  And we learn the circumstances of how Rios left Starfleet behind (really makes you wonder what Voyager would look like in the CBS All Access era), and how they directly tie into current events.  That part is extremely artful.  That's why I hesitate to dismiss "Broken Pieces" as infodump, because (and it's Michael Chabon writing solo, so maybe this is not surprising) the Rios elements are artful, in ways the episode, and the series, and maybe Star Trek itself, really need them to be.

It's the kind of episode that pushes along the narrative exceptionally well, the necessary connective stuff that doesn't look like it's as amazing as other, flashier episodes, but, for fans of Picard, is absolutely essential.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - I think the "infodump" nature would most affect viewers who aren't as invested in Picard as in Star Trek as a whole.
• series - And yet, this is crucial material that builds up everything that has come before, and will follow.
• character - Finally, the Rios spotlight!
• essential - The Rios spotlight probably no one could have expected, but becomes a definitive lynchpin of the season.

notable guest-stars:
Jeri Ryan (Seven)

Picard 1x7 "Nepenthe"

rating: ****

the story: Picard visits with old friends (you've probably heard of them).

review: It's official, then.  Riker became Little John.  (Give you a moment to remember.)  That's the wonderful memory and thought I had, anyway, watching "Nepenthe," among other happy reflections.  This was another solid episode.  At this point, I'm easily calling Picard the most rewarding series experience of the whole franchise, not just because I enjoy seeing Picard again, but because the season has been so consistently good, an excellent mix of everything, from ideas to characters new and old, and building on the rich legacy preceding it.

Let's talk about the ideas a little.  Finally we learn what convinced Jurati to kill her own friend and lover, Bruce Maddox, a vision of the future, and not just a vision, but that frequent vision of today, some dreaded apocalypse.  If we don't do this, this will happen.  And there's no convenient real world allegory here, no side to pick, in case you were worried.  It's just the times we live in, which is much as it was in the '60s, when Star Trek originally suggested it didn't have to be that way. 

But we begin to have an idea of why the Romulans, or anyone else, fear artificial life so much, and that's the key here, in this episode, that prejudice so often infused with some awful kernel but more often created by hysterical imagination, especially when the victim is so easy to dismiss as "other," as of course is always the case. 

No doubt we'll learn more.

In the meantime we have Picard and Soji visiting Riker and Troi and their daughter!  And, learning about what's happened in the meantime, who they lost, and how their lives have developed along the way.  Troi's there, but Riker receives more emphasis, and before anyone cries injustice, let me just suggest that Riker makes for better entertainment, and this might actually be his best-ever appearance in the franchise (across Next Generation, Voyager, Enterprise, and even his transporter duplicate in Deep Space Nine, and the movies, and now this, helping him, and Jonathan Frakes, set a new record, surpassing the likes of Nimoy/Spock and Dorn/Worf for most franchise appearances, that is unlikely to be broken).  And I'm not sure his height difference with Picard ever came across this sharply, either, at least for me.

For everything in the mix, it's another strong showing for Soji, who perhaps again most benefits from what might otherwise have seemed an obvious Picard spotlight, as she begins to accept who and what she is as she interacts with Picard's friends.

(Is it too early to suggest that the daughter gets her own series?)

Plus, unfortunately, the death of another familiar face, this time Hugh, as the Romulans officially switch into villainous gear.  Who else was seeing Narek, meanwhile, as a Star Trek Boba Fett?

(The title "Nepenthe," meanwhile, comes from The Odyssey, referencing a drug that cures a troubled mind.  Love the deep Greek mythology cut for that one, as with another recent Star Trek classic, Discovery's "An Obol for Charon.")

criteria analysis:

• franchise - I mean, gosh, it's great to see Riker and Troi again!
• series - But there's still plenty of room to celebrate what's happening in Picard, all you fans still paranoid about "These Are the Voyages..."
• character - Soji grapples with recent revelations, among other highlights.
• essential - Hardly a missed opportunity!

notable guest-stars:
Jonathan Frakes (Riker)
Marina Sirtis (Troi)
Jonathan Del Arco (Hugh)

Picard 1x6 "The Impossible Box"

rating: ****

the story: Picard reaches the Artifact (Borg cube).

review: Such is the emerging interest in Picard itself (which for many fans is contrasting with their perceptions of Discovery, which isn't the case for me, as I like them both, and they're doing two entirely separate things) that fans are starting to hype up the relevance of its events.  With "The Impossible Box" I've seen a rash of articles explaining its relevance to Star Trek: First Contact, how it explains and reconciles Picard's mood from what we've typically seen from him.  But we knew this already, from "Family" and of course, "I, Borg," both of which tackle his emotional response to the events of "The Best of Both Worlds," and from other episodes as well ("The Drumhead," for instance).

But the idea that his time as Locutus continues to bother Picard, that it has in fact becoming a lingering bigotry for him, is perhaps something new.  "I, Borg" touched on it (this is the episode where we originally meet Hugh, of course), but Picard seemed to use it as a definitive turning point.  Instead, as First Contact and "Impossible Box" make clear, it was an experience he had much more difficulty forgetting, much less getting over.

The funny thing is, "Impossible Box" features this aspect of the story much less directly than Seven's role in "Stardust City Rag," which was allowed to create a whole deviation from the flow of the series, so that we didn't even visit the Artifact that episode.  "Impossible Box," meanwhile, is the point the season has been building toward since the first episode, in which Picard finally meets the other sister, Soji (the naming scheme of the sisters can't help but call to mind another Picard movie, Insurrection, at least for me, which might even have been intentional; in a sense Data found a "kid brother" in it), who herself is in the midst of both finding out the truth about her Romulan lover, and her own origins.

In that sense, "Impossible Box" is much more of a Soji episode than it is another Picard spotlight, which is the second episode in a row for that to happen, and only second in six episodes.  Picard's reaction to the Artifact becomes icing on the cake.  In a sense, it's wonderful parallel storytelling, which is something that can sometimes feel like a lost art in the new franchise paradigm (though Discovery attempted, perhaps too much, exactly that in its second season, in successive character arcs throughout the season).

One last note: In his second Picard appearance, Hugh a last gets to soak in his legacy, which was sort of robbed of him the first time.  Viewers were left to either recognize him or not.  Here the context is at the surface.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - I wonder if fans ever really ever tire of revisiting the Borg.
• series - A crucial turning point of the season.
• character - Soji manages to upstage a key moment for Picard.
• essential - All that, plus learning more about that elusive Borg Queen, which amounts to another of Star Trek's spectacular gateways.

notable guest-stars:
Jonathan Del Arco (Hugh)

Picard 1x5 "Stardust City Rag"

rating: ****

the story: Seven's revenge is a dish best served cold.

review: This is the sort of episode that will be easy to view on its own terms as well as part of the overall narrative, and as such is a de facto highlight in a serialized story.  And it is: Seven's spotlight.

In a lot of ways, Seven finally got around to joining the Voyager family.  Voyager was a series about a crew in part made up of Federation renegades who despised the results of a policy decision.  It didn't end up feeling like that because those renegades soon enough signed up with their Starfleet counterparts and for all intents and purposes looked indistinguishable within a handful of episodes (though it really took a few seasons for all the rough edges to work away).  Seven came along well after that point, and her journey was an entirely personal one.

In a lot of ways, then, Seven and Voyager serve as a template for Picard itself.  Picard views his quest as a personal one, but he's really being drafted back into a much bigger cause, and is forced to work alongside whoever's available rather than his old Starfleet colleagues (except, of course, Raffi, who might be eating some humble pie, after being forced to confront a past she was just lambasting Picard for resembling).  Seven herself has finally become a renegade, choosing a side.  It seems circumstances are always defining our choices, and what they look like.  Star Trek will always, or should always, choose to follow those who prefer principle over form, what's right rather than what Starfleet says, and has since we first met Kirk (and, technically, Pike before him).

Seven's journey is dramatized by...the death of Icheb.  Icheb was Voyager's Wesley Crusher, a boy genius who happened to be a former Borg drone.  He ended up with a far more anonymous career (and fan legacy) than Wes, but he meant a great deal to Seven, even during Voyager (he appeared throughout the show's last two seasons).  And someone butchers him for parts. 

Understandably, Seven takes this personally.  It's the same as what motivated Picard to action, really, only, at this point, Picard has less immediate results available to him. 

The episode also shows us Bruce Maddox (like Icheb, played by a new actor) for the first time (and, uh, last time), thanks to Jurati (here I am, using character names for the first time!), finally exhibiting some agency of her own (even if it seems awful!).  Rios has another great showing.  No Soji (that's the other twin in the Borg cube).  Elnor (that's the Romulan samurai dude we met last episode) is kind of the Justice League Flash in the episode. 

It's the first episode of the series to cede the spotlight to someone other than Picard, and so that's remarkable in itself, and Seven of course is a worthy substitute, and the acknowledgement of their shared Borg past is nice, and of course it does link up with what Soji's working on, which Maddox is able to point toward before Jurati offs him.  The whole episode feels like one of those classic pivotal arc moments from Deep Space Nine or Enterprise. 

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A huge shout-out to Voyager!
• series - While remaining completely relevant to Picard itself.
• character - Focus shifts to Seven, brilliantly.
• essential - The spotlight is also shared by Maddox, finally, but I bet he wishes it hadn't.  This is a crucial turning point.

notable guest-stars:
Jeri Ryan (Seven)

The Orville: Seasons 1 & 2

Having now watched the first two seasons, here's a brief summary for each episode:

First Season
1x1 "Old Wounds"
Introducing Ed Mercer and how he obtains command of the ship.  Immediately proves that this is a version of Star Trek that won't deify its captain/lead character, and that in itself is pretty refreshing.

1x2 "Command Performance"
First attempt at a regular episode, sort of Orville working on its Star Trek while also trading on Seth MacFarlane's Family Guy tendencies.  Not the best example of that, but workable.

1x3 "About a Girl"
The episode that has come to define the series, both as its best and most influential episode, leading to several second season sequels.  If you wanted to watch some but not all of the series, you might start with the first episode, or just skip to this one.  If modern Star Trek fans demand allegory episodes relevant to the times, they will find this one about gender identity most surprising.
 
1x4 "If the Stars Should Appear"
Fairly routine Star Trek style episode.  (Features a cameo from Liam Neeson, who co-starred in MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West.)

1x5 "Pria"
The only thing you need to know about this one is that Charlize Theron is featured in it.  (She also co-starred in Million Ways.  Great movie, by the way.)  Also best early use of Isaac.

1x6 "Krill"
First episode I saw of the series; amusing running joke concerning the Krill god, who happens to be named Avis.  Like "About a Girl," hugely important to the second season.

1x7 "Majority Rule"
After "About a Girl," best topical episode of the series to date, ruthlessly mocking the concept of social media.

1x8 "Into the Fold"
Isaac begins his arc as a adopted member of Finn's family.

1x9 "Cupid's Dagger"
Mercer and Grayson's relationship, which is like Picard/Crusher or Riker/Troi, receives a huge spotlight when Darulio (Rob Lowe!) comes back into their lives.  Kind of responsible for the breakup...One of the highlights of the season.

1x10 "Firestorm"
Alara in one of those spotlight episodes you can find throughout Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager/Enterprise.

1x11 "New Dimensions"
Yaphit is one of the great characters of this series.  But it's LaMarr who receives the La Forge promotion to engineering this episode.

1x12 "Mad Idolatry"
Sort of "meh" season finale.  Still a weak imitation of Star Trek, which is Orville when it doesn't really know it actually has its own strengths.

Second Season
2x1 "Ja'loja"
The first of the many Bortus/Moclan episodes (too many in the season, this one being so pointless it barely even revolves around Bortus or the Moclans).

2x2 "Primal Urges"
The second episode of the season and...Bortus/Moclan again.  Already.  At least at the end of the episode we learn the connection to "About a Girl." 

2x3 "Home"
Alara decides she's going to go back home.  And she's replaced by another Xelayan, the deceptively strong species (heavy gravity) which provides Mercer his security chiefs (Alara was invariably used as a visual joke; she's replaced by a character who is just automatically accepted by the crew; by far the most awkward element of the series; but for my protests here none of it is actually too disruptive, and I really liked Alara).

2x4 "Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes"
The follow-up to "Krill," the familiar story of being stranded with the enemy and being forced to survive together.  But it really works here, and will be used shortly to dramatically advance the Krill arc.

2x5 "All the World Is Birthday Cake"
A fairly awkward version of the familiar Star Trek religion question.

2x6 "A Happy Refrain"
Some great visuals make up for this weird retread of Data Is Going on a Date: Bortus with a mustache, the holographic human version of Isaac.  Otherwise I'm not really a fan of the Isaac/Finn relationship.  Like the worst aspects of Next Generation, not the best.

2x7 "Deflectors"
Another Moclan episode.  Pointless, given that much better material is only a few episodes away.

2x8 "Identity"
The huge reveal of Isaac's robotic people, the Kaylon!  Immediately plunges the series into "The Best of Both Worlds," a development that is second only to "About a Girl" in the budding reputation of The Orville as something greater than merely a version of Star Trek.

2x9 "Identity Part II"
I admit I didn't know how Isaac could possibly redeem himself.  Part of that is because that part of the previous episode was handled poorly.  But redeem himself he does in this one.

2x10 "Blood of Patriots"
This one's actually a kind of Andromeda (another "version of Star Trek series) episode, and an attempt to prove Malloy isn't just Mercer's frat buddy.

2x11 "Lasting Impressions"
Here's Malloy again in Orville's "Hollow Pursuits" upgrade, in which a lady's phone records are transcribed into a whole program.  The season, and series, is officially blossoming.

2x12 "Sanctuary"
The best Moclan episode of the series ("About a Girl" is more specifically about Bortus himself), in which a colony of Moclan women seeks inclusion in the Union. 

2x13 "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow"
Realizing Grayson has so often been left unexplored, this episode explores...two of her! 

2x14 "The Road Not Taken"
Sort of the Mirror Universe episode, or the "Timeless" (Voyager)/"Twilight" (Enterprise) of the series.  So a nice and totally unexpected way to finish out the previous episode's thought process.  And a nice way to end the season.

Picard 1x4 "Absolute Candor"

rating: ****

the story: Picard's latest recruit is from a Romulan colony he was forced to abandon.

review: The Romulans have existed in franchise lore since the original series, and have been a treasured aspect of it since that first appearance, "Balance of Terror."  But their role has been about as aloof as they've tended to be themselves, famously featured in Next Generation, but never to the level of the Klingons.  But their presence has been steadily expanding since Star Trek Nemesis, which showcased them as the principal antagonists in one of the films for the first time, and then again with Star Trek (2009). 

"Absolute Candor," however, is the new Romulan peak.  In exactly the way Next Generation finally allowed Klingons to be more than mere warriors, to flesh out a whole culture, Picard has now allowed Romulans to be something other than mere prototype, more than just "devious Vulcans."

Some fans might chafe at the notions emerging in the episode, that because we'd never seen it before, it seems too contrived now.  But Picard himself, having pierced the veil of Romulan society, thanks in part, no doubt, to his experiences in Nemesis, found himself in a perfect position to learn far more than the Federation itself ever knew ("Balance of Terror" itself was the first time anyone had seen a Romulan, much less knew the Vulcan connection).

And he immersed himself in a community.  Arguably, what always stood at the heart of Picard's reluctance around children was the fear that he himself would never have them.  That's addressed in "Candor" as well, and itself is a valuable aspect of the episode.  And yet, it's that community that always defined Picard, whether his Enterprise days or even earlier, as he bonded with the Crushers, and what he so tellingly lost, as everyone keeps reminding him, when he left Starfleet.  He put himself in isolation, not merely from Kirk's notions of "making a difference," but from any real semblance of family, which he probably thought he had sacrificed permanently to pursue his youthful dreams.

And so as we learn more about Romulans, we see Picard himself once again more clearly.  And it's probably the best window into the man we've yet gotten, at least in this series.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Romulan society blossoms!
• series - We meet another member of Picard's new crew!
• character - The deepest look into Picard's recent past we've yet gotten.
• essential - Will serve as a defining look into the Romulans.

notable guest-stars:
Jeri Ryan (Seven)

Picard 1x3 "The End Is the Beginning"

rating: ***

the story: Picard sets out to recruit an old colleague to his cause.

review: Notice I say "old colleague," not [insert name of Next Generation character here], which is similar to what the second episode did in recalling Picard's Stargazer days, although in this instance it's filling in some of the space between Star Trek Nemesis/Star Trek (2009) and Picard, in which of course Picard kept doing things even though we weren't watching, and met and did things with people we had never seen before.  I love that he got to have a vibrant life like that, sort of unlike how the original crew, in six movies...never really did.  Like, any of them.  (It's true, by the seventh movie, Generations, Sulu is reported as having made the time, and of course he did have his own ship in Undiscovered Country, and as George Takei loves bringing up, would've had one as early as Wrath of Khan, where of course Chekov is serving aboard another ship.  But this is already a large digression.)

And at some point, I might even start dropping the names of this supporting cast, but as it stands, these characters are still developing, and Picard is, well, Picard, and he's literally the guy in the name of the series this time, so for the time being, I'm going to continue talking mostly about him.

So we actually see the aftermath of his decision to leave Starfleet, fourteen years earlier (which, again, as with Discovery, is the first time in Star Trek lore that the production format has been comfortable to just show flashback moments without some convoluted method to get there, and that's one of the most refreshing elements of the modern franchise), and [New Character] is kind of miffed that not only does Picard get a chance to just walk away, but his retirement is also far more comfortable.  It's an interesting wrinkle of a future Star Trek always described as humanity no longer struggling with issues of equality.  The complaint might not even be much more than Picard having something, anything, to fall back on (in his case, the family vineyard), but it might also, as it seems on the surface, to suggest that equality doesn't always feel so equal, even if you're not an artificial life-form (which is sort of the crux of the series).

We meet another new character, too (a pilot that sort of feels like the Rogue One pilot, only more interesting, since he's got his own EMH literally designed after him), and the team is officially coming together.  We even see Hugh, I think, for the first time, helping the android duplicate as she investigates one of the Romulans reclaimed from the Borg (in the process revealing a prophecy twist that I sort of had to chew on a little).  Hugh, the drone we met way back in "I, Borg," now looking not particularly drone-like at all (unlike when we last saw him, in "Descent Part II"), so that you might not even realize who he is without his name being mentioned, being treated not as a big deal (yet) but just a supporting character feeding some connective tissue in the plot.  That's pretty interesting.

It's also interesting that the pilot dude has a personal EMH (whom he treats much as the Doctor was in early episodes of Voyager, as something that can be switched off at his convenience), which as I've noted is part of the intricate tapestry of prior artificial life bigotry in Star Trek lore, and either unique to people like this guy who are not particularly Starfleet mainstream or an exception to the new crackdown (or old, depending on whether Voyager meant to imply that the whole EMH series was scrapped, or just the original models).  Anyway this EMH is another of the many British accents cropping up in the series, which I find interesting, whether as a nod to Patrick Stewart or for some other production reason (such accents being traditionally more rare in the franchise).

There was a review I had read of the series before it launched that suggested Picard was ultimately too talkative, and far too coy about getting Picard's crew together.  If it was based on these first three episodes, I think plenty of valuable attention was given to the points of view for parties so far introduced.  It's better for Picard to be surrounded, if not by Next Generation characters, then by individuals who get to think about matters for themselves.  Too often, Star Trek (and other such platforms) assume the good guys are just going to agree and send them off on their merry way.  (To paraphrase Worf, not everyone is going to be merry.)

So this is another winner.  Next time: fencing!

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Some more valuable insights into what's familiar, and what's new.
• series - Several key characters are either seen for the first time or outright introduced.
• character - For a series named after a single character, this box sort of needs to be checked permanently, and fortunately, Picard keeps doing exactly that.
• essential - The slow pace of the second and third episodes means the storytelling is most rewarding to those actively watching.  You can't just drop in and be wowed.

notable guest-stars:
Jonathan Del Arco (Hugh)

Picard 1x2 "Maps and Legends"

rating: ***

the story: Picard begins to learn more about what happened, and moves toward his response.

review: This second episode settles Star Trek: Picard into a regular rhythm, a talky rhythm, which for me isn't a bad thing at all, something I've really wanted to see from the franchise for ages, just letting a story unfold without introducing formulaic elements to satisfy imagined requirements.  Characters have long conversations.  Some will consider the results "infodump," such as learning about an even more secret Romulan operation than the Tal Shiar, but again, I've never had a problem with that kind of storytelling.  If it's news to a character, as it is to Picard himself, it's worth talking about, period.  And that's kind of the whole episode.

Shockingly or not, Picard has one of those conversations with a belligerent Starfleet admiral who ends up rejecting his offer to rejoin the fleet so he can figure out what's happening.  This has been a Star Trek trope forever, with one of the first famous examples being Star Trek: The Motion Picture (although Kirk had a much more favorable outcome, in a scene viewers don't even get to witness).  Starfleet admirals are famously about the exact opposite of the main characters in a Star Trek series; they're darn close to antagonists most of the time.  And this one's no different.  It's just shocking that Picard (as Kirk experienced in a different movie, The Search for Spock) has to go rogue again (which, as I noted for the first episode, he did in Insurrection as well) rather than be welcomed back with open arms by a grateful Starfleet (as fans would expect for a beloved character).

We learn other things as well, such as the real role that hunky Vulcan will be playing (as to whether or not he actually fulfills it is perhaps another Ash Tyler experience, as depicted in Star Trek: Discovery).  We meet another of the main characters at the end of the episode.

But really, I think my favorite moment of the episode is Picard reuniting with...an old Stargazer colleague.  As obvious partisans to his Enterprise days, fans would expect Picard to have affection mostly for Next Generation characters, but even that series long acknowledged that Picard's career began well before then.  Aside from the occasional glimpse, we never really got to see too much of the Stargazer, and the life Picard led aboard it (aside from the Crushers, obviously), much less the people who used to define his life.  And this is twenty years after even Picard's Enterprise days.  For him, everything's in the past (and most depressingly, even his good friend Data).  So to spend some time with a Stargazer colleague is just one of the many ways the series allows Picard to inhabit a world far removed from shipboard activities, which as an admitted fan of Deep Space Nine, I always liked to see in the franchise (although even that series could've used time away from its station).

I like the leisurely approach.  I like that the series is letting itself breathe.  I like that there's ample time to talk, to reflect.  And yes, to anticipate.  There's plenty of time for other faces, bigger developments.  It's truly wonderful to be experience Star Trek in such a fresh way with such a dear friend.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Learning new things about the Romulans!
• series - Continues to let itself ease into the story, and its cast.
• character - An important moment for Picard as he realizes Starfleet won't help him.
• essential - If you yearn for more dramatic developments, you will probably find this one harder to appreciate.