Thoughts on Picard S3 E6
Mar. 25th, 2023 12:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amado1Forgot to do this! I get the sense that I've fallen prey to Member Berries and ALSO to the dreaded effect where the start of a show is so bad that you just get used to it and delude yourself into thinking the latter half is actually good.
...but, having noted that I'm Reviewing Under the Influence, I did think this last episode was pretty good.
The Bad:
This show has a serious woman problem! So many female characters and so little for them to do. Beverly is at least consistently competent, but has very little screentime, and her own emotional issues are glossed over for Picard's. Ro was great, but died. Seven is incompetent and just sits in the background saying dry sarcastic things from time to time, or delivering filler lines like "Get us out of here!" Raffi has an intelligence mission but has to be saved by Worf. Deanna shows up only to play Riker's Wife. Sidney La Forge is entirely defined by her relationship to her dad.
...Speaking of Geordi, this episode's storyline for him rubbed me the wrong way. He's no longer in active service and instead works at the Fleet Museum, a non-dangerous position that guarantees he'll be there for his daughters. Love that! Really great imo, although I think realistically Geordi would also need a challenging mechanical project to work on at the same time. Then, Geordi's daughters join Starfleet, one as an engineer also at the Fleet Museum, and one as a helmsman. He disapproves of the helmsman because her work is so dangerous and refuses to help Picard because it will put his daughter's life in danger.
That's all great on paper, and it was wonderfully acted by LeVar. Not so wonderfully acted by Sidney, which was the real problem. The overwrought dramatic explosion between them came out of nowhere and was resolved too quickly, and with Sidney's soap opera acting style, it soured the whole thing.
Other flaws to note ... jeez, this isn't really a flaw, but I'll toss it out there. With any long-running TV show, the characters inevitably dip into OOC territory from time to time. This is true for every main cast member on TNG. Each of them has scenes, episodes, plotlines, that just don't jive with their previous performances. The actors are great at keeping a baseline, but they can't fight the shaky writing all that much. As fans, and as fanfic writers, you have to isolate the common thread, the baseline that appeals to you the most, and write for that.
For me, Riker in this show is almost perfect, but his sarcastic sense of humor is out-of-baseline for me -- I love the way he ribs Worf in TNG, but the ribbing here is of my least favorite flavor, without the gentle touch that I liked in TNG. At the same time I can't criticize it as OOC because Riker DOES have those sarcastic, dickish moments in TNG too.
And another thing!
Jack's hallucinations and violent tendencies in Episode 5 were great. I loved the set-up of a mystery. The tree-branch-hallucinations in particular, and the voices whispering to him, seemed to point to a mythical, cosmic power, something new and exciting -- not necessarily something that FITS with Star Trek, but which interested me in its own right. In this episode, at the very beginning, this big mystery is solved by a simple diagnostic scan which shows Jack just has the same Alzheimers-type syndrome that Picard developed in S1. Immodium Syndrom, or whatever.
Again, like the Geordi plotline, this COULD be good! And on paper it sounds fine to me. Jack is suffering from strange symptoms. A great deal of medical investigation reveals that he's inherited the genetic flaw Picard had, and has developed the same syndrome at a much younger, more tragic age. Picard himself is free of this syndrome because of his positronic body, but can't offer the same to Jack. Well. That could be some good juicy meat for a TV show! But the execution was totally flubbed. By setting it up as a thrilling cosmic mystery, maybe some brainwashing, maybe possession by an evil entity, and then anti-climatically revealing that it's early-onset Alzheimer's ... well, it was just odd, shaky, tonally confused.
The Good:
Vadic is back and Amanda Plummer's delivery remains kooky and endearing!
Moriarty -- my favorite TNG villain! I was so so glad to see him and So So Glad NOT to see Lore. This brings me into my favorite part of the episode. Moriarty appears as a figment of Data's imagination. Data is guarding the Daystrom Institute, a hall of sci-fi wonders filled with top-secret projects and illegal weaponry. But Worf, Riker, and Raffi don't KNOW that it's Data guarding the institute, or even that Data is alive. They think they're fighting Moriarty, the AI hologram come to life.
Only, as they're fighting Moriarty, discordant notes are blasted over the speaker, and Riker (who apparently has perfect pitch and is such a band kid that he'll literally ignore the deadly phaser blasts coming at him to announce "That was a D sharp!") identifies the notes as "Pop Goes the Weasel", with a delicious HD full-screen flashback to Riker and Data's first-ever meeting in the TNG pilot, Encounter at Farpoint -- where Riker hikes through a holo-forest and discovers Data hiding behind a tree, attempting to whistle that tune. Data can't finish it, so Riker finishes it for him.
Riker does the same thing in the present, and Moriarty disappears. He realizes Data is in control, and must have recognized them, but wanted to make sure they weren't changelings before letting them in. I'm trying so hard to resist the Member Berries here but I loved it.
Also loved: Worf! He's the real hit of this show for me. The hug between him and Beverly, the way he teases Riker back, the fact that he remembers to the day when he last saw Picard, the hurt in Riker's voice when Worf still refuses to call him "Will", (especially knowing that Riker named his son after Worf!), the mission together, "I see you still find comfort in humor", and of course, when Riker sacrifices himself so Worf and Raffi can get Data out, and Worf vows to find him.
"I will find him, Admiral. I will bring William Riker home. And fearful be the god or man or beast that stands in my way."
sdkjfhdkfhgkdjfhgdfg
WorfRiker supremacy.
Also of course because I am a basic bitch, I adored Riker getting tortured, especially liked him grinning about the punch to the face, and the angst potential of Deanna being captured. I have my fingers crossed that the Changelings will morph into their dead son, Thad, and torment them with him. I've seen other people hopeful that this isn't the real Deanna, and that Riker will realize this when he tries to use their telepathic bond. But as others have pointed out, we haven't seen their telepathic bond onscreen since the TNG pilot, so it's...maybe not likely...but then again we did JUST have a flashback to said pilot, so...
...but, having noted that I'm Reviewing Under the Influence, I did think this last episode was pretty good.
The Bad:
This show has a serious woman problem! So many female characters and so little for them to do. Beverly is at least consistently competent, but has very little screentime, and her own emotional issues are glossed over for Picard's. Ro was great, but died. Seven is incompetent and just sits in the background saying dry sarcastic things from time to time, or delivering filler lines like "Get us out of here!" Raffi has an intelligence mission but has to be saved by Worf. Deanna shows up only to play Riker's Wife. Sidney La Forge is entirely defined by her relationship to her dad.
...Speaking of Geordi, this episode's storyline for him rubbed me the wrong way. He's no longer in active service and instead works at the Fleet Museum, a non-dangerous position that guarantees he'll be there for his daughters. Love that! Really great imo, although I think realistically Geordi would also need a challenging mechanical project to work on at the same time. Then, Geordi's daughters join Starfleet, one as an engineer also at the Fleet Museum, and one as a helmsman. He disapproves of the helmsman because her work is so dangerous and refuses to help Picard because it will put his daughter's life in danger.
That's all great on paper, and it was wonderfully acted by LeVar. Not so wonderfully acted by Sidney, which was the real problem. The overwrought dramatic explosion between them came out of nowhere and was resolved too quickly, and with Sidney's soap opera acting style, it soured the whole thing.
Other flaws to note ... jeez, this isn't really a flaw, but I'll toss it out there. With any long-running TV show, the characters inevitably dip into OOC territory from time to time. This is true for every main cast member on TNG. Each of them has scenes, episodes, plotlines, that just don't jive with their previous performances. The actors are great at keeping a baseline, but they can't fight the shaky writing all that much. As fans, and as fanfic writers, you have to isolate the common thread, the baseline that appeals to you the most, and write for that.
For me, Riker in this show is almost perfect, but his sarcastic sense of humor is out-of-baseline for me -- I love the way he ribs Worf in TNG, but the ribbing here is of my least favorite flavor, without the gentle touch that I liked in TNG. At the same time I can't criticize it as OOC because Riker DOES have those sarcastic, dickish moments in TNG too.
And another thing!
Jack's hallucinations and violent tendencies in Episode 5 were great. I loved the set-up of a mystery. The tree-branch-hallucinations in particular, and the voices whispering to him, seemed to point to a mythical, cosmic power, something new and exciting -- not necessarily something that FITS with Star Trek, but which interested me in its own right. In this episode, at the very beginning, this big mystery is solved by a simple diagnostic scan which shows Jack just has the same Alzheimers-type syndrome that Picard developed in S1. Immodium Syndrom, or whatever.
Again, like the Geordi plotline, this COULD be good! And on paper it sounds fine to me. Jack is suffering from strange symptoms. A great deal of medical investigation reveals that he's inherited the genetic flaw Picard had, and has developed the same syndrome at a much younger, more tragic age. Picard himself is free of this syndrome because of his positronic body, but can't offer the same to Jack. Well. That could be some good juicy meat for a TV show! But the execution was totally flubbed. By setting it up as a thrilling cosmic mystery, maybe some brainwashing, maybe possession by an evil entity, and then anti-climatically revealing that it's early-onset Alzheimer's ... well, it was just odd, shaky, tonally confused.
The Good:
Vadic is back and Amanda Plummer's delivery remains kooky and endearing!
Moriarty -- my favorite TNG villain! I was so so glad to see him and So So Glad NOT to see Lore. This brings me into my favorite part of the episode. Moriarty appears as a figment of Data's imagination. Data is guarding the Daystrom Institute, a hall of sci-fi wonders filled with top-secret projects and illegal weaponry. But Worf, Riker, and Raffi don't KNOW that it's Data guarding the institute, or even that Data is alive. They think they're fighting Moriarty, the AI hologram come to life.
Only, as they're fighting Moriarty, discordant notes are blasted over the speaker, and Riker (who apparently has perfect pitch and is such a band kid that he'll literally ignore the deadly phaser blasts coming at him to announce "That was a D sharp!") identifies the notes as "Pop Goes the Weasel", with a delicious HD full-screen flashback to Riker and Data's first-ever meeting in the TNG pilot, Encounter at Farpoint -- where Riker hikes through a holo-forest and discovers Data hiding behind a tree, attempting to whistle that tune. Data can't finish it, so Riker finishes it for him.
Riker does the same thing in the present, and Moriarty disappears. He realizes Data is in control, and must have recognized them, but wanted to make sure they weren't changelings before letting them in. I'm trying so hard to resist the Member Berries here but I loved it.
Also loved: Worf! He's the real hit of this show for me. The hug between him and Beverly, the way he teases Riker back, the fact that he remembers to the day when he last saw Picard, the hurt in Riker's voice when Worf still refuses to call him "Will", (especially knowing that Riker named his son after Worf!), the mission together, "I see you still find comfort in humor", and of course, when Riker sacrifices himself so Worf and Raffi can get Data out, and Worf vows to find him.
"I will find him, Admiral. I will bring William Riker home. And fearful be the god or man or beast that stands in my way."
sdkjfhdkfhgkdjfhgdfg
WorfRiker supremacy.
Also of course because I am a basic bitch, I adored Riker getting tortured, especially liked him grinning about the punch to the face, and the angst potential of Deanna being captured. I have my fingers crossed that the Changelings will morph into their dead son, Thad, and torment them with him. I've seen other people hopeful that this isn't the real Deanna, and that Riker will realize this when he tries to use their telepathic bond. But as others have pointed out, we haven't seen their telepathic bond onscreen since the TNG pilot, so it's...maybe not likely...but then again we did JUST have a flashback to said pilot, so...
no subject
Date: 2023-03-25 08:06 pm (UTC)"I have my fingers crossed that the Changelings will morph into their dead son, Thad, and torment them with him." Of course you do xD