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.

Picard 1x1 "Remembrance"

rating: ****

the story: Jean-Luc Picard comes out of doleful retirement, realizing he's needed again.

review: I bet this comes as no surprise to anyone who has read my Star Trek reviews before, but I absolutely loved the first episode of Star Trek: Picard.

Right from the start, as many "easter egg" features have already covered, "Remembrance" caught me in the jellies (it's a term I'm stealing from Detective Pikachu).  I love Star Trek Nemesis.  I'm pretty much the only fan that does.  I got immediately that nice cyclical note they were playing, Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" beginning Picard's adventures again, just as it ended them.  And the nod to "All Good Things...," and the nods to First Contact, and...

I've been a fan of Star Trek: Discovery, I really have, but I haven't felt as energized but creators responding to the rich legacy of the franchise since Star Trek Beyond, which was filled with resonant material, a movie that maybe doesn't on its own feel big but takes on greater weight the more you realize how much thought was out into it.  For fans like me (I don't know how many fans that actually is, but at least in the initial response to Picard, I'm starting to feel a little less lonely again), that's good stuff.

It doesn't have to speak to the past so much to be good, to approach greatness.  "Remembrance" does plenty that's all its own, too, but then there's even that link to the JJ Abrams Star Trek, the loss of Romulus, which until now, was only linked to Picard in comic books, and the additional, Next Generation centric link to "synthetics," which until now was represented mostly by Data and later Voyager's holographic Doctor.

Speaking of the Doctor, he's our last real link to the struggle "Remembrance" builds itself around, the Federation's complete inability to wrap itself around artificial life.  We thought we saw that resolved way back in "The Measure of a Man," but then when Data tried to give himself a daughter, Starfleet butted its head in again, and then the Doctor found out, when he attempted to publish a holonovel (Photons Be Free!, "Author, Author"), that he didn't have any real rights, and neither did the many copies of his basic program still in the Alpha Quadrant, long banished from starships, now reduced to menial labor...

And we had Admiral Dougherty in Star Trek: Insurrection, with his distinct lack of fondness for Data, referring to him just as easily as "the android" as by name, which he would never have done to Picard himself ("the human"), had roles somehow been reversed. 

So a tragedy is compounded by tragedy, and Picard no longer feels as if he belongs in Starfleet.  Anyone wondering if this is really out of character need only remember, again, Insurrection, in which he sets out to help a colony Starfleet has deemed as squatting on rather than inhabiting a planet of valuable resources.

Et tu, bigots?  In Gene Roddenberry's perfect future?  Well, just wait a minute!  Well before Star Trek: Enterprise, Spock was the victim of racism.  It's important to remember that the future Roddenberry envisioned was humanity's, which had finally resolved terrestrial affairs.  But the cycle began all over again...

So we have "synthetics" with no one to champion them.  Picard has retreated as much out of guilt over the death of Data in Nemesis as failure and frustration with what Starfleet has become.  Then he meets a girl...

This is a most extraordinary girl!  Bruce Maddox, who was so fascinated by Data, who overcame so much himself in years past, worked at the Daystrom Institute long enough to achieve a miracle, creating the next generation android, Data's daughter!  Daughters!  And they never knew!  So the episode plays out this discovery, and suddenly, Picard realizes everything he thought he'd lost, was just waiting to be found.

Including, it seems, a Borg cube now being inhabited by Romulans...

It's hugely intriguing, exactly what a premiere ought to be, and Patrick Stewart (recreating his melancholy from Logan) is once again an outstanding lead actor in Star Trek, as if there was ever any doubt, and the emerging cast around him offering new voices, waiting to be explored.  Let's see what's out there!

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Rings throughout Next Generation TV and movie lore (and maybe we'll see that guy, too!).
• series - And yet it is clearly its own entity, allowing Picard to once and for all take center stage.
• character - Well, it nails Picard pretty well, doesn't it?
• essential - It's exactly the story that needed to be told, in the most interesting way possible, if there was ever going to be a follow-up to Picard's adventures.

notable guest-stars:
Brent Spiner (Data)

Short Treks 2x6 "Children of Mars"

rating: ****

the story: The daughters of separate Starfleet engineers at the Utopia Planetia shipyards are rivals until forced to discover common ground under the worst circumstances.

review: I think Short Treks is becoming the most reliable source of great franchise material we've ever seen.  "Children of Mars" continues its emerging tradition of bucking traditional Star Trek storytelling forms, and in the process gives us another transcendent experience, and could actually be the best of them yet.

A mostly wordless experience (much like "Ephraim and Dot"), we follow the arc of two girls who engage in fairly typical school behavior.  The whole thing becomes an object lesson not only in how these things happen, but reaches far beyond the franchise to speak at truly universal levels.  Again, Short Treks achieves something that can be viewed by someone who has never seen and never imagined liking Star Trek, and can easily be appreciated for its remarkable accomplishments.

The Star Trek ideal has always been at the heart of its appeal among fans, its idealistic vision of a future where humanity has reached, at last, a state of peace with itself.  But even in Kirk's day Spock still felt the sting of racism.  The integration of aliens into the culture was something Enterprise explored, with particularly compelling results in its final season.  By the time we see the image of Picard, and realize this is part of the Star Trek: Picard landscape, we realize that humanity still has a way to go.  This isn't Star Trek rejecting its own message, but continually affirming it. 

We won't know the particular relevance of "Children" to Picard until Picard itself  But that hardly stands in the way.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Speaks directly to the heart of Star Trek's message.
• series - Begins to emphasize that Short Treks itself has become a viable representative of the franchise.
• character - In this instance, Starfleet itself.
• essential - A breathtaking artistic achievement.