Star Trek: Picard season 3 evaluate: you aren’t ready

After two middling however slowly bettering seasons of Star Trek: Picard, the present has returned for one final hurrah — and god rattling, was it value the remaining. When you have ever thought-about your self a fan of Star Trek: The Subsequent Technology (and even, to a lesser extent, Deep House 9 or Voyager), then prepare for the love letter coming your method on February sixteenth.

Whereas this season places its characters in horrible spots, and there are rumors a couple of will die by season’s finish, this wild trip has an actual real affection for all of the gamers. It is absolutely the most enjoyable I’ve had watching Paramount Plus’ myriad of Star Trek exhibits. And a part of my love of this ultimate season comes from how excited the present is to take a few of Star Trek’s most flawless heroes and discover the humanity in them. These characters are messy dumbasses, and it makes the journey all the higher.

Again in Deep House 9, Worf, new to the station and scuffling with the various conflicting personalities of the crew, speaks fondly of the crew of the Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Subsequent Technology. “We have been like warriors from the traditional sagas,” he says wistfully, “there was nothing we couldn’t do.” Which was true. The crew of TNG fought gods, survived wars, found new species, traveled by way of time, bought changed into monsters and again to individuals once more, and sometimes bought busy with alien ghosts inhabiting vintage candles (you needed to be there).

In the event you have been ever like, “Crusher looks like she’s cooler than TNG permits her to be,” boy, are you in for a deal with. Picture: Trae Patton / Paramount Plus

However the issue with TNG was the characters appeared to be with out important flaws. Certain, Picard preferred Shakespeare a bit an excessive amount of, Riker had his love of the trombone, and Troi’s deadly flaw was her love of chocolate. However when put up in opposition to different crews, just like the Deep House 9 one (it had a terrorist on the group!) and Voyager (it had a number of terrorists on the group!), the TNG crew felt extra sanitized. For a lot of followers, this was the boring crew.

But, for those who squinted, you would see the place the present glossed over what is perhaps some important character points. Picard’s love of journey bought him killed a number of occasions, whereas Crusher was so positive of herself she’d usually ignore instructions and as soon as even was satisfied the universe was the damaged one. Riker cracked jokes and put his profession first to keep away from intimacy, and Geordi LaForge was so obsessive about engineering he fell in love with a hologram. These characters have all the time had flaws, however they hardly ever, if ever, drove the motion.

Twenty years after Nemesis, this crew’s final massive journey collectively, they’ve all returned, they usually lastly really feel like messy people as a substitute of warriors from the traditional sagas. Picard and Riker race to save lots of Crusher, Worf offers with a brand new menace to the Federation, and Troi, Geordi and whoever Brent Spiner is enjoying this time round get caught up within the motion too. All of them nonetheless really feel just like the characters of TNG — solely pried out of the Nineteen Nineties syndicated house journey mould and put into the 2020s status streaming present mould.

Sidney La Forge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) is going through the problem of being a would possibly wonderful pilot… and never an engineer like her father earlier than her. Picture: Trae Patton / Paramount Plus

Watching the primary six episodes of this season, I stored pondering this was what it should have felt wish to be a fan of the unique collection and eventually get nice films like Wrath of Kahn and The Voyage House. These are nonetheless the identical characters, performed by the identical actors, however we’re seeing them in a method the unique present by no means might have allowed. And I don’t simply imply that it’s extra violent, though Worf does dismember some individuals. Typically the characters make dangerous choices in Picard. They mess up. They struggle.

However whenever you fear Picard is beginning to really feel like a too-edgy sequel, there can be little moments of surprise you’ll be able to solely get in Star Trek. New discoveries. Intelligent puzzles that get solved. Outdated villains reappear and really feel extra menacing because of the larger finances and higher particular results of Picard.

Have a look at these legends. Picture: Trae Patton / Paramount Plus

Like Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds, this seems like a correct Star Trek present in a method plenty of live-action Star Trek has didn’t. However as a result of these are characters we’ve recognized since 1987, there’s actual emotional weight to those adventures. And a few shockingly good performing. Jeri Ryan is again as Seven of 9, and she or he continues to steal each scene she’s in by advantage of simply being that good, however she’s not carrying the entire present on her again like she typically did the final two seasons. Patrick Stewart appears to typically doze his method by way of Picard, however there’s a scene with him and Gates McFadden’s Crusher that can have you ever sitting up straight — eyes glued to the display screen. Michael Dorn and Michelle Hurd each have their very own scene-stealing moments as Worf and Raffi, respectively, and in a single scene, Brent Spiner reminds us of why he and his characters Information and Lore had such fervent followings within the ’90s. There’s one thing a little bit electrical as all these characters come collectively.

There are nonetheless 4 episodes of Star Trek: Picard I haven’t seen, and the present might drop the ball spectacularly. The wildness of this present (you need to actually make an effort to keep away from all spoilers) might veer into completely absurd territory. However in these first six episodes, you could have a really goofy, very thrilling, and really enjoyable sequel to Star Trek: The Subsequent Technology.

Star Trek: Picard airs weekly on Paramount Plus starting February 16.