'Star Trek: Picard' finale: It's both amazing and awful, yet ultimately disappointing

[Admin]

The concluding part of the "Star Trek: Picard" season finale is going to polarize 'Star Trek' fans for a long time to come. But as a piece of writing for television, it falls short.

'Star Trek: Picard' finale: It's both amazing and awful, yet ultimately disappointing : Read more

 

[Woodstock]

It's Dr Octopus, isn't it..?? That's who they were summoning with the beacon...

 

[okrapickles]

Seriously? It was amazing! People are being too hard on this series I'm a longtime fan and I thought it was great.

 

[dvnobles]

Seriously? It was amazing! People are being too hard on this series I'm a longtime fan and I thought it was great.

I agree. This series brought the spark of STAR TREK back and with each episode, I was marveling at how well made it was. That being said, I did feel like the finale was rushed at times, but I think about some of the things that happened on some episodes of Next Gen and I can forgive any shortcomings. This isn't a major motion picture, don't treat it like it should be one.

 

[Jabbadonut]

The concluding part of the "Star Trek: Picard" season finale is going to polarize 'Star Trek' fans for a long time to come. But as a piece of writing for television, it falls short.

'Star Trek: Picard' finale: It's both amazing and awful, yet ultimately disappointing : Read more

*SPOILERS*
I just finished watching the season one finale. From beginning to end, this series is and was excellent. It was freaking STAR TREK, and not that horrid abomination "Discovery." I cried when at the end when our Captain said "Engage." Trek is finally BACK. Season 2 will probably not happen too soon because of the virus, but I can't wait for it.

 

[nightbird]

Long term Star Trek fan, loved this series and this episode. Critiques are valid but I'd still give it 9/10.

The other spin-off series trying to be hip and cool are far more cringe inducing, the underlining philosophy that makes Star Trek Star Trek is faith in humanity. Getting out of the prisoner's dilemma though trust.

 

[Credible_Bulk]

I generally agree with the above commenters about the show having a lot more of the appropriate Star Trek DNA than Discovery. I also think the finale was obviously rushed as it didn't even really deal with a number of hanging plot threads like Narek or the Borg who both seem to be forgotten before the end of the episode. Hopefully thats because the series renewal changed their plans while the show was still in production and not because of poor writing. Overall the first season had some good and some bad and hopefully they can explore these lose ends in the next year. That being said, this probably makes it better than TNG's first season.

 

[Prema Laboni]

Are you kidding me?? It was AMAZING!! This episode reminded me of what an astounding and powerful person Picard really is! It actually made me cry. Maybe there are a few technical faults, like the point about the Borg cube, but that is really not the point that defines this episode. Picard aside, there are many other aspects that were really touching, deep, and beautiful, including the scenes about Data's request.

 

[horrido]

Frankly, your review is too harsh. Too many Star Trek fans are OCD.

I've been a Star Trek fan since the 1970s. I've watched all the spin-off series. You know what? They all have their shortcomings, including the original series. But I forgive them because I love the Star Trek universe they inhabit. The shows are entertaining. The best episodes are moving.

The science can be nuts. There are plot holes. Some episodes are badly scripted. And, sure, they don't always follow Star Trek canon.

However, I don't care. I'm not OCD. I love Star Trek: Picard. I love Star Trek: Discovery. I'll probably love the Section 31 series.

That said, there were some spin-off series that I didn't particularly like. Voyager. Enterprise. I even have problems with the original series!

I give Star Trek: Picard 8/10.

 

[Velenn]

I thought the episode was fine. I was slightly irritated at Picard ending up with an artificial body to go with his artificial heart, a little too pat IMO. I'm glad to hear there will be a second season.

 

[horrido]

I thought the episode was fine. I was slightly irritated at Picard ending up with an artificial body to go with his artificial heart, a little too pat IMO. I'm glad to hear there will be a second season.

Surely, the golem doesn't have an artificial heart.

The idea that people can live on in other bodies is fine with me. After all, that's the premise of Altered Carbon, another show that I love.

 

[scifi]

Seriously? It was amazing! People are being too hard on this series I'm a longtime fan and I thought it was great.

I agree with you 100%. Nitpickers, take a hike! It's STAR TREK! Be happy you've got some Trek to watch. It isn't meant to be realistic. If that were the case the show would have ended during the first episode. After the Romulans beamed an apartment sized bomb/stun bomb/whatever into Soji's apartment in stead of Romulan fighters. Oh wait, that didn't happen did it. And a series is born.

 

[Embee]

Count me in the very satisfied group with this series!

I'm really hoping that Narissa wasn't killed as she was deliciously villainous, and would make a great nemesis going forward! Remembering that in earlier encounters, such as when she killed Hugh, she was able to instantaneously transport away to safety. Hoping she did so in her fall down the shaft!

 

[Erny_Module]

As anyone who has progressed beyond Dr. Who will tell, you, Picard was nothing short of excellent. Give thanks to whatever it is you worship that we got Sir Patrick as Picard in the first place. Easily the best actor there's been in any incarnation of Trek, and he gives us the best portrayal of the character he's made his own in this series. So I won't review Picard, but will instead, review the review from Mr. Snowdon.

Another miserable, massively overlong and self absorbed tract - it's really not necessary to write out a description of every scene, and offer up your opinion of what's wrong with it. He's very good at letting us know what he thinks is wrong or lacking, but has no credible options as to how things might be improved. Example: Seven despatches Narissa by pitching down a shaft. The object of the exercise, from Sevens perspective, is to not be killed and get rid of her as quickly as possible. Which is what she does - gives Narissa a quick, simple and meaningless death. Why would a Horta have appeared? Why would all the salt be sucked out her body? As they're on the surface of a plant, how could she be sucked out into space? And so on... completely missing the point, as usual. But hey, he can spot a Centre Axis Relock! And lets us know! Amazing!
So what, exactly, does Mr. Snowdon think is so bad? No gigantic space battle, with lasers and things going boom! Like we've seen a bazillion times before. Think, Mr. Snowdon... this is not Star Wars, where Death Stars are produced on a production line, or 10,000 Star destroyers can be created in total secrecy, at no cost. We can safely assume that the protagonists in that scenario - Romulans and Star Fleet - know that starships are an expensive resource that ideally you don't want to destroy in a pointless fight. Giant space battle would have been the easy, lazy, obvious option, why they don't is not "anyones guess" but completely logical and consistent. "Give me my giant Space Battle, like The Orville!" Good grief.
Note: That the SFX company ran out of time is entirely plausible, not at all 'a bit odd'. As anyone who's ever done any sort of 3D work will tel you, it's very time and resource intensive and sometimes, you are up against a hard deadline and can only do so much. Lots of ships all looking the same? Not a problem for Star Wars.

I could waste more time picking apart all the obvious things Mr. Snowdon has missed, misunderstood or just didn't get, but it's getting late and I run the risk of going on and on and on... suffice to say we learn more about Mr. Snowdon than anything else.

One last thing... Profanity! He really doesn't like swearing, does he! Thankfully, the writers, producers, actors and audience are not confined the the puritanical ethos of the US mid-west Bible Belt, and can happily and comfortably include the normal, every day vernacular that we all know. Imagine... all sentient life in the universe about to be wiped out! Situation hopeless! Colossal, hideously beweaponed death flotillas at each others throats! Mad synths all over the place! What could you possibly say? Perhaps "This is one heck of a pickle. Gosh darn it." Or perhaps a much more satisfying and credible collection of fine Anglo-Saxon four letter words? For Fecks sake, grow the feck up!
So, PIcard = excellent, Snowdons reviews.... not so much.

Good evening... roll on Season 2!

 

[Kachunga]

My god this was terrible. Truly awful, and I thought the JJ-Treks were the bottom of the barrel. All of your reasons why. It's literally as if 8 year olds were sitting with a bunch of Lego, making up the story as they went along. And then this happened! And then this happened! Oh, what about that thing we forgot? Nevermind, now this happens! And I hear tell that on a dark and stormy night, you can still hear Romulan turn-coat whatever her name is saying "prepare to fire on my mark when the count of three will commence as you are preparing to fire while....." Sorry folk, that group of you here claiming this was great? Either you've got a vested interest in proffering such nonsense, or you barely have two neurons to rub together. Seriously. Unless IQ's really did just drop while I was away.

Just realized, all these glowing reviews here? All just created accounts with but one comment to their history. Only the very first one, Woodstock, was a regular poster here, and his/hers was a joke at this terrible episode's expense. Hmm... imagine that? Yea, I'm brand new here too, but only because I found this article which perfectly articulated my feelings last night after finishing, and I realized it wasn't just me.

 

[Kachunga]

As anyone who has progressed beyond Dr. Who will tell, you, Picard was nothing short of excellent. Give thanks to whatever it is you worship that we got Sir Patrick as Picard in the first place. Easily the best actor there's been in any incarnation of Trek, and he gives us the best portrayal of the character he's made his own in this series. So I won't review Picard, but will instead, review the review from Mr. Snowdon.

Another miserable, massively overlong and self absorbed tract - it's really not necessary to write out a description of every scene, and offer up your opinion of what's wrong with it. He's very good at letting us know what he thinks is wrong or lacking, but has no credible options as to how things might be improved. Example: Seven despatches Narissa by pitching down a shaft. The object of the exercise, from Sevens perspective, is to not be killed and get rid of her as quickly as possible. Which is what she does - gives Narissa a quick, simple and meaningless death. Why would a Horta have appeared? Why would all the salt be sucked out her body? As they're on the surface of a plant, how could she be sucked out into space? And so on... completely missing the point, as usual. But hey, he can spot a Centre Axis Relock! And lets us know! Amazing!
So what, exactly, does Mr. Snowdon think is so bad? No gigantic space battle, with lasers and things going boom! Like we've seen a bazillion times before. Think, Mr. Snowdon... this is not Star Wars, where Death Stars are produced on a production line, or 10,000 Star destroyers can be created in total secrecy, at no cost. We can safely assume that the protagonists in that scenario - Romulans and Star Fleet - know that starships are an expensive resource that ideally you don't want to destroy in a pointless fight. Giant space battle would have been the easy, lazy, obvious option, why they don't is not "anyones guess" but completely logical and consistent. "Give me my giant Space Battle, like The Orville!" Good grief.
Note: That the SFX company ran out of time is entirely plausible, not at all 'a bit odd'. As anyone who's ever done any sort of 3D work will tel you, it's very time and resource intensive and sometimes, you are up against a hard deadline and can only do so much. Lots of ships all looking the same? Not a problem for Star Wars.

I could waste more time picking apart all the obvious things Mr. Snowdon has missed, misunderstood or just didn't get, but it's getting late and I run the risk of going on and on and on... suffice to say we learn more about Mr. Snowdon than anything else.

One last thing... Profanity! He really doesn't like swearing, does he! Thankfully, the writers, producers, actors and audience are not confined the the puritanical ethos of the US mid-west Bible Belt, and can happily and comfortably include the normal, every day vernacular that we all know. Imagine... all sentient life in the universe about to be wiped out! Situation hopeless! Colossal, hideously beweaponed death flotillas at each others throats! Mad synths all over the place! What could you possibly say? Perhaps "This is one heck of a pickle. Gosh darn it." Or perhaps a much more satisfying and credible collection of fine Anglo-Saxon four letter words? For Fecks sake, grow the feck up!
So, PIcard = excellent, Snowdons reviews.... not so much.

Good evening... roll on Season 2!

You, sir, are the very definition of "apologist". Our species is doomed.

 

[Erny_Module]

My god this was terrible. Truly awful, and I thought the JJ-Treks were the bottom of the barrel. All of your reasons why. It's literally as if 8 year olds were sitting with a bunch of Lego, making up the story as they went along. And then this happened! And then this happened! Oh, what about that thing we forgot? Nevermind, now this happens! And I hear tell that on a dark and stormy night, you can still hear Romulan turn-coat whatever her name is saying "prepare to fire on my mark when the count of three will commence as you are preparing to fire while....." Sorry folk, that group of you here claiming this was great? Either you've got a vested interest in proffering such nonsense, or you barely have two neurons to rub together. Seriously. Unless IQ's really did just drop while I was away.

Just realized, all these glowing reviews here? All just created accounts with but one comment to their history. Only the very first one, Woodstock, was a regular poster here, and his/hers was a joke at this terrible episode's expense. Hmm... imagine that? Yea, I'm brand new here too, but only because I found this article which perfectly articulated my feelings last night after finishing, and I realized it wasn't just me.

Now, that's all fascinating and very informative, so thanks for sharing.
In the interest of our personal development, so that we might all be uplifted and improved to your level (a laudable goal, I'm sure you'll agree), could you please indicate what sort of things we should be watching? You know, suitable for someone of your monstrous intellect? But please... nothing with bloody zombies, if you don't mind.

NB: Apologist: one who speaks or writes in defense of someone or something.
Not sure how this has become a Bad Thing, or how it signals our collective doom. Perhaps you are happy being a detractor? It's the antonym of apologist. Means one who disparages or belittles the worth of something.

 

[Woodstock]

Some Trek fans are die-hard fanatics: they'd happily watch a timelapse of a banana rotting, but as long as it had Star Trek opening and closing credits, they'll adore it – no matter what. And some Star Trek fans are die-hard haters; nothing new will ever live up to whatever it was that they grew up with.

But everyone has to take a step back and look at this objectively as a television show – forget it's Star Trek for a moment. And television shows are meant to entertain and enthrall us. And from that perspective, most of what the reviewer, Mr Snowden, says is absolutely spot on. His criticisms are well-founded.

When he said he'd like to see Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have ago at a live-action Trek show, did anyone bother to look up who they are? They are the creators and writers of Better Call Saul – which is one of the best-written shows currently on television, quite possibly ever. (Other professional reviewers are already acknowledging that it's better than Breaking Bad.) The writing on that is nothing short of perfect. The attention to detail, character development, plot evolution, dialogue and suspenseful drama. No, it's sci-fi, but that's not the point.

I'm a huge Trek fan, but I do believe the standard can be higher. And as fans, we should offer our opinions, peacefully and discuss the merits and faults. And as fans, we should also demand a higher standard. Other television shows seem to be able to wite with fewer plot holes, stronger stories, more evenly flowing story arcs, fewer clichés, less technobabble and some effective, believable, well-written drama...so why can't Trek?

 

[Kachunga]

Now, that's all fascinating and very informative, so thanks for sharing.
In the interest of our personal development, so that we might all be uplifted and improved to your level (a laudable goal, I'm sure you'll agree), could you please indicate what sort of things we should be watching? You know, suitable for someone of your monstrous intellect? But please... nothing with bloody zombies, if you don't mind.

NB: Apologist: one who speaks or writes in defense of someone or something.
Not sure how this has become a Bad Thing, or how it signals our collective doom. Perhaps you are happy being a detractor? It's the antonym of apologist. Means one who disparages or belittles the worth of something.

Oh my, we got a live one! Well, Erny, you kind of got the meaning of "apologist" completely wrong. Like exactly wrong. Like 1+1=3 level of wrong. Google dictionary: "
a person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial.
"an enthusiastic apologist for fascism in the 1920s"" See, 'lil bub, it's a bad thing. You made a bad call, a bad call.

OK, back to the disaster of Picard. Here's my provenance: I like to be the dumbest guy in the room, given the choice. Why? Well if you have to ask, then clearly I'm not the dumbest guy in this room. As for things that I've liked over my half century? Born&raised on TOS. Loves me some campy but well written scifi: all things Stargate, Most things TNG universe, Farscape, B5, etc. Then B+, A- like the new BSG. And of course A, like Dark, Legion, Season 1 Altered Carbon (S2 just ok). Hope that give you a taste of my taste. If I want actual brain working SciFi, that's for print. Start with the Culture series and work from there.

So that all means that I totally can love stuff that's just made for surface entertainment value alone, and love stuff that actually makes those neurons vibrate. The one thing they must all have for me to enjoy is some semblance of cohesiveness and internal consistency. That may or may not mean lots of visual effects budget since the key is in the writing. Picard is a jumbled mess of nonsense. Literally, nonsense. Author made it quite clear as to why. My analogy to a bunch of 8 year olds playing pretend is spot on. Reminded me of the AI composed music you can find. Also reminded me that AI will hopefully rise to the task of actual writing since clearly the world is bereft of meatbag writers of any talent.

Disco S1 was also terrible. Terrible. S2 I got way more of a TOS vibe and I liked Pike, so I was able to basically enjoy it as a sci fi series and forget that it was supposed to have anything to do with Trek. But god did I hold out hope for Picard. A modern finishing for the TNG universe. But no. Hey, here's en episode about Riker making pizza! (shoot me)

And I feel you on the zombie thing, almost all drek. But Black Summer on Netflix was actually enjoyable, at least they tried something new.

 

[Erny_Module]

Oh my, we got a live one! Well, Erny, you kind of got the meaning of "apologist" completely wrong. Like exactly wrong. Like 1+1=3 level of wrong. Google dictionary: "
a person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial.
"an enthusiastic apologist for fascism in the 1920s"" See, 'lil bub, it's a bad thing. You made a bad call, a bad call.

OK, back to the disaster of Picard. Here's my provenance: I like to be the dumbest guy in the room, given the choice. Why? Well if you have to ask, then clearly I'm not the dumbest guy in this room. As for things that I've liked over my half century? Born&raised on TOS. Loves me some campy but well written scifi: all things Stargate, Most things TNG universe, Farscape, B5, etc. Then B+, A- like the new BSG. And of course A, like Dark, Legion, Season 1 Altered Carbon (S2 just ok). Hope that give you a taste of my taste. If I want actual brain working SciFi, that's for print. Start with the Culture series and work from there.

So that all means that I totally can love stuff that's just made for surface entertainment value alone, and love stuff that actually makes those neurons vibrate. The one thing they must all have for me to enjoy is some semblance of cohesiveness and internal consistency. That may or may not mean lots of visual effects budget since the key is in the writing. Picard is a jumbled mess of nonsense. Literally, nonsense. Author made it quite clear as to why. My analogy to a bunch of 8 year olds playing pretend is spot on. Reminded me of the AI composed music you can find. Also reminded me that AI will hopefully rise to the task of actual writing since clearly the world is bereft of meatbag writers of any talent.

Disco S1 was also terrible. Terrible. S2 I got way more of a TOS vibe and I liked Pike, so I was able to basically enjoy it as a sci fi series and forget that it was supposed to have anything to do with Trek. But god did I hold out hope for Picard. A modern finishing for the TNG universe. But no. Hey, here's en episode about Riker making pizza! (shoot me)

And I feel you on the zombie thing, almost all drek. But Black Summer on Netflix was actually enjoyable, at least they tried something new.

You'll need to take up your interpretation of 'Apologist' with Merriam Webster: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apologist
(Contact hem here with your correction: https://www.merriam-webster.com/contact-us)
Or the OED: https://www.lexico.com/definition/apologist
But I see what you did there... you've seen the words 'controversy' and 'Fascism' and equated apologetics with controversy and fascism = bad thing. Easy mistake, happens all the time. You are excused. You made a bad, bad assumption, 'lil bub'.*
Apologists are not fascists. Arguing in defence of something controversial is not a bad thing. Try using words in the correct way, by learning what they mean. Here's a test - what does 'pathetic' really mean? Record your initial reaction, and then look it up at some reputable lexicographical site. You'l probably find that there's a marked difference.
NB: Google is not a dictionary. It's a search engine, or at least, it was... but that's another story.

But this is not important. We have a similar background, and it seems, and a similar age. Any Trek fan worth their salt will freely admit and point out all the incredibly bad stuff... 'Spocks Brain', 'Encounter at Farpoint', most of 'Enterprise', odd numbered films, the entire Kelvin Lens Flare aberration, and so on... so we're largely in agreement on that score. Not so much on your other TV choices though, as I find most of what is touted as Science Fiction (Stargate, BSG, B5 etc.) is actually Space Opera, but some of them were mildly entertaining. Also agree that true SF is print.

Picard is not print SF.

PIcard is an entertainment show, set in the ST universe, and is literally bound (in its true sense of being tied up) to be filled with all manner of nonsense. Borg? Nonsense! Transporters? Nonsense! Golems? Space Orchids? FTL travel without turning the mass of Jupiter into energy every second? Heisenberg compensators? Structural integrity fields? Emergency Whatever Holograms? All utter nonsense. You take that as read before you even start. Or you should.
Go and watch all the episodes of TNG/Voyager that are relevant to Picard. Bruce Maddox trying to assert that Data is property. The origins of Seven of Nine, and Hugh. Spocks diplomatic attempts at Romulan reunification, Picards Assimillation by the Borg, and so on. The writers had to take all of this, and more, into account, and go from there. Of course, it was a total mess, filled with contradictory nonsense of every possible kind. What were you expecting, before you started watching? Chekov? Pinter? Ishiguro? The key to the enjoyment of something like Picard, and, indeed, almost all TV/movie SF is the suspension of disbelief. Riker bakes pizza? So what? Bakes it badly, but there you go... but enough to want to be shot over? Really? I think you're taking this much, much too seriously.
My initial issue was not with you, but Friend Snowdons review of said episode. You have to take it for what it is, and not what it is not. Nit-picking and trying to appear SMART by noticing certain lock holds, wanting a Horta to appear, or stating with absolute conviction that an impacting Borg Cube would cause an extinction-level event is, quite frankly, piss poor writing - and that was what I had issue with. I find Sowdons reviews in general to be trite, egotistical, overly long and dull, obvious, depressingly predictable and not worth the expenditure of time and effort to read the whole thing. As he eloquently puts it: 'Yawn'.
(Sidebar: in order to know the amount of energy that would be released by an impacting Borg cube, you would have to know its mass, its velocity on impact, and its composition. It appears that there's a lot of empty space internally, and the velocity was quite low on impact.)

Anyway, this has been a quite diverting way of spending time, and I suspect if we met in the Real World™, we'd have some lively, stimulating and good-natured debates, as we seem to be in broad agreement on most things and have a similar background. But duty calls and I must return to work. Thanks for the time spent and the entertainment value. But really... try looking up what those words actually mean, and not the modern parlance. You'll save a lot of embarrassment.
I mean what I say. I say what I mean. Everything else is down to you.

*Monstrous arrogance and condescension here - probably not do that, sonny. Beneath you. Cut it out.

 

[Kachunga]

Doubling down is unbecoming. But hey, you and POTUS got something in common! Good luck, yer gonna need it!

 

[gf1701]

Who are you so-called Star Trek fans who rave about Star Trek: Picard? The finale left me with some hope that season 2 may bring back the Star Trek that we so badly need today, but what a terrible disappointment this first season was. I recently looked back at a video of Patrick Stewart announcing his return as Picard. As a prelude to his announcement, Stewart told of an officer with the Las Vegas police department who wrote to him about his life and work, saying that there were days when he went home from work in despair of the future, having witnessed cruelty, barbarity, viciousness, and nastiness. And the officer said that when he felt like that, he would go home and watch a video of Star Trek: The Next Generation and feel reassured that humanity had a positive future ahead. Then Stewart announced his return, saying of the new show that “It will be, I promise you, I guarantee it, something very, very different, but it will come to you with the same passion and determination and love of the material and love of our followers and our fans exactly as we had it before.”

But that' s not what we got. Would anyone in the midst of despair want to turn to this series for relief, for a glimpse at a hopeful future? Star Trek: Picard was almost relentlessly dark. It is teeming with just those things the Las Vegas officer despaired of: cruelty, barbarity, viciousness and nastiness. Starfleet has been compromised. A population of androids (“synths”) has been viciously hunted down and destroyed; genocide in the 24th century. In acts of barbarity, former Borg are being dissected alive for parts. Seven of Nine, who we last saw re-embracing her humanity, in love and looking forward to the future, has become a vigilante, working alone, vengeance and cruelty her reason for being. Only Episode 7 was hopeful, when Picard finally sought help from people he could trust, people who were like family. I cried when Riker and Troi first appeared. It wasn’t just seeing old friends, it was also the return—fleetingly—to the spirit of Star Trek and hope for the future. But after that episode, it was back to the killing, the treachery, the darkness, until those last 15 minutes. I think the writers and producers were so intent that their show not appear derivative of ST:TNG, that they lost sight of what made Star Trek so beloved.

 

[Redderek]

We all should know there would be a chance of season two since Whoopi was not in season one. And the only way to have killed Picard to get the beacon shut off, was to re-incarnate him into the golem. I saw that coming. A shame all the other characters did not, though some of them did not know about the golem.

 

[Lidtrow]

You'll need to take up your interpretation of 'Apologist' with Merriam Webster: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apologist
(Contact hem here with your correction: https://www.merriam-webster.com/contact-us)
Or the OED: https://www.lexico.com/definition/apologist
But I see what you did there... you've seen the words 'controversy' and 'Fascism' and equated apologetics with controversy and fascism = bad thing. Easy mistake, happens all the time. You are excused. You made a bad, bad assumption, 'lil bub'.*
Apologists are not fascists. Arguing in defence of something controversial is not a bad thing. Try using words in the correct way, by learning what they mean. Here's a test - what does 'pathetic' really mean? Record your initial reaction, and then look it up at some reputable lexicographical site. You'l probably find that there's a marked difference.
NB: Google is not a dictionary. It's a search engine, or at least, it was... but that's another story.

But this is not important. We have a similar background, and it seems, and a similar age. Any Trek fan worth their salt will freely admit and point out all the incredibly bad stuff... 'Spocks Brain', 'Encounter at Farpoint', most of 'Enterprise', odd numbered films, the entire Kelvin Lens Flare aberration, and so on... so we're largely in agreement on that score. Not so much on your other TV choices though, as I find most of what is touted as Science Fiction (Stargate, BSG, B5 etc.) is actually Space Opera, but some of them were mildly entertaining. Also agree that true SF is print.

Picard is not print SF.

PIcard is an entertainment show, set in the ST universe, and is literally bound (in its true sense of being tied up) to be filled with all manner of nonsense. Borg? Nonsense! Transporters? Nonsense! Golems? Space Orchids? FTL travel without turning the mass of Jupiter into energy every second? Heisenberg compensators? Structural integrity fields? Emergency Whatever Holograms? All utter nonsense. You take that as read before you even start. Or you should.
Go and watch all the episodes of TNG/Voyager that are relevant to Picard. Bruce Maddox trying to assert that Data is property. The origins of Seven of Nine, and Hugh. Spocks diplomatic attempts at Romulan reunification, Picards Assimillation by the Borg, and so on. The writers had to take all of this, and more, into account, and go from there. Of course, it was a total mess, filled with contradictory nonsense of every possible kind. What were you expecting, before you started watching? Chekov? Pinter? Ishiguro? The key to the enjoyment of something like Picard, and, indeed, almost all TV/movie SF is the suspension of disbelief. Riker bakes pizza? So what? Bakes it badly, but there you go... but enough to want to be shot over? Really? I think you're taking this much, much too seriously.
My initial issue was not with you, but Friend Snowdons review of said episode. You have to take it for what it is, and not what it is not. Nit-picking and trying to appear SMART by noticing certain lock holds, wanting a Horta to appear, or stating with absolute conviction that an impacting Borg Cube would cause an extinction-level event is, quite frankly, piss poor writing - and that was what I had issue with. I find Sowdons reviews in general to be trite, egotistical, overly long and dull, obvious, depressingly predictable and not worth the expenditure of time and effort to read the whole thing. As he eloquently puts it: 'Yawn'.
(Sidebar: in order to know the amount of energy that would be released by an impacting Borg cube, you would have to know its mass, its velocity on impact, and its composition. It appears that there's a lot of empty space internally, and the velocity was quite low on impact.)

Anyway, this has been a quite diverting way of spending time, and I suspect if we met in the Real World™, we'd have some lively, stimulating and good-natured debates, as we seem to be in broad agreement on most things and have a similar background. But duty calls and I must return to work. Thanks for the time spent and the entertainment value. But really... try looking up what those words actually mean, and not the modern parlance. You'll save a lot of embarrassment.
I mean what I say. I say what I mean. Everything else is down to you.

*Monstrous arrogance and condescension here - probably not do that, sonny. Beneath you. Cut it out.

With all due respect, you are most certainly wrong in your assessment of the word "apologist". It is almost strictly used in modern western vernacular as a term of derision. This is easily verified, if you in fact need that.

I too was gravely disappointed in Picard, having been a Trekkie for my entire rather long life. The assessment that the writing, and more importantly, the direction, was childish, is accurate. A truly lost art seems to be the ability to convey the passage of time. There are many episodes of the Generation era that take place over weeks or months. A good director is able to convey that from one scene to another. Picard felt as if it took place over a few days, or maybe a week. The tired modern trope of an existential threat to the entire galaxy is also rather lazy and reeks of a childish mind. Discovery suffered from this as well. And must I point out the literal "magic wand"? The author of this piece calls it a MacGuffin. It is, quite literally, a magic wand that one makes wishes come true with. At least in prior Trek incarnations they would come up with some sort of technobabble solution that Geordi or O'Brian then had to actually break a sweat over, and were not guaranteed to work. I felt intellectual insulted by this, after already feeling mildly offended at many other childish aspects of this series.

 

[Ringo1]

i was looking forward to this series all it did was disappoint, Picard a dying old man weak one moment then all fiery the next. then the emotional train wreck who kills here romantic couterpart, even Picard when he finds out wants her off the ship and the hands of the law for good reason then turns around now and is happy as punch all of them in fact as a member of the new crew and her new boyfriend conveniently the captain of the ship. c'mon she is still a murderer, cold blooded in fact, the psychotic thereafter. you have a downed borg ship on the planet unresolved what happens there and the survivors on that with the synthetics maybe the toy they gave suzie psychotic can help all the semi borg crew become totally human again? who know, totally left without a second thought, its like hey were only making 10 episodes and we need to wrap it up real fast here so make up something quick we have 10 minutes left of airtime. we have hundreds of new star-fleet ships show up like the Calvary when the federation had more or less gone into isolationism but now have this bad ass fleet of ship capable of kicking the romulans butts. OK, now were off on a new adventure, a sphycho suzie murderer (who the writers all make out as it is somehow ok now saving Picard all is forgiven like it never happened, really bad example but how wollyweird is these days and teaching the young and then the other end of the coin the Picard view of things which on the surface is good and also not so good but how we want to mold kids today it seems) the two girlires holding hands new love interest there for all the lbgt writers and crowd who now all seem to be the writers of all sci fi and horror anything when you are a single digit crowd in society. all in all very disappointing series. only good part was data and they ruined that making him so incredibly old before dissolving. oh and the butterfly going ot person to person to "feel" and share their greif, a few of them were poinient and real bu t it got to be hey c'mon stop already with that it was dragging it out. i could go on but that enough lousy show.