Conner’s Critiques – Picard Season One

With the release of the new Picard season on Paramount+ on the way, we thought it would be a good idea to shake off the cobwebs of the first season, it wasn’t really that long ago…, and talk about it for the sake of our Conner’s Critiques.

As old school Star Trek fans at Nerd News Social, we jumped at the chance not just to review the first season, but we will the second season as well when it comes out. So as always our critiques always focus on story, acting, and of course overall.

Story 8/10

The story of Picard, spoilers if you still haven’t watched the first season, is all about Jean-Luc Picard who is now retired from Starfleet. The reason for his retirement from Starfleet deals directly with the Federation forcing Picard to abandon his plans to evacuate the Romulan homeworld to a cataclysmic event that doomed almost an entire race. This horrible event is tied to a tragedy on Mars where synthetic humans went rouge and forced the Federation to ban them in their region.

Now many years later Picard, still tormented by his inability to save more lives, and grieving for the loss of his friend Data, is visited by a woman who looks familiar to him.

She doesn’t know why, but something deep insider herself told her to find him, that she could save her. However it’s too late, as Picard arrives only fast enough to watch a secret shadow kabal murder her. Before he can grieve though he learns to secrets. First she is the Android equivalent to Data’s daughter, and second, she has a twin sister.

Now Picard must save this woman’s sister before the kabal finds her, but without the help of the Federation.

The journey that occurs is fun, fast, and steeped with guest stars from the annals of Star Trek Next Generation. So many references, and new characters makes this story satisfying. Additionally while the pacing may start off slow at first, the show knows what it is and does a good job getting the feel of the sci-fi universe right while creating a unique experience for viewers.

It feels a lot more like the movie Generations then the television series Next Generation, but that’s not a bad thing!

Acting 7.5/10

It’s startling to see Sir Patrick Stewart playing this role at this age of his life, compared to the first season of the series he is known for. While he has aged significantly, his acting skills have in no way faltered. I equate this performance on par of not better when compared to reprising his role as Professor Xavier in Logan.

The rest of the cast, Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, and Santiago Cabrera, all do an amazing job playing characters with solid development. Each of them have a tormented past or issue to recover from and move past as they traverse a story which seems to have been design specifically to encounter this adventure.

Jeri Ryan who plays Seven of Nine, or Annika, does a great job reprising her character from the Voyager series. In this season Jeri Ryan shows us a deeper understanding of the journey Annika would take given the Federations decisions over the past 10 years.

Overall 8/10

It’s definitely a fun journey through the memories of Next Generation, while playing around in the outskirts of Federation Rules and Regulations. If you like Star Trek, but mainly like how Picard would do what ever it takes to save the Galaxy, or someone he cares about, then this will be a great watch and experience for you. If you were expecting a ride back on an Enterprise ship though you might be a bit disappointed.

They mainly trade space ship battles for shaking tails, teleporter play, flashbacks, and politics.

Conner’s Final Thoughts

I loved this series, and while the next season hints that due to some of their choices they have forced the return of the Borg, (with the original Borg Queen actor returning to the franchise!), I still don’t know how they will proceed forward with the same energy.

The first season was so amazing due to the fact that every character had a journey so personally connected to this story, a Borg plot would only really connect to Seven of Nine’s character and Picard. That being said we can’t wait to find out if they can keep the momentum alive!

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