Star Trek: Picard Season 2

[Gridlock1987]

Episode 6:
-Yeah, sure, they're totally gonna kill Picard in the middle of the season! In his own show! With the third season greenlit! And already filmed! With the entire TNG cast returning! Yeah sure, I'll totally be on the edge of my seat worried that Picard might not make it. Fuck off Alex Kurtzman! Who are you trying to fool?

Considering it clearly leads into a mindscape episode in Picards mind, I don't think anyone wanted us to believe that "zomg, he might die!!111 Keep watching to see if it happens!"

-Umm... Agnes? Didn't you say not to create "butterflies"? This event is probably going to be covered in the media one way or another, regardless of the security (they allow people to use phones inside, so they'll take photos somehow). Sure, you let the Borg Queen somehow take control, but, really? Was it really necessary for you to sing? The team was already out during the blackout.

I mean, like you said, it was Queens doing, not Agnes. Agnes wanted to take control back after it, and the Queen was like "nah, imma keep it".

[Al-1701]

I don't see getting butthurt over Agnes singing. This is the same franchise where time travelers sold a pair of glasses that would eventually be given to them and handed out the formula to transparent aluminum. Someone breaking out in song at a party would have been a fun little curiosity at worst.

What we need to be more worried about is what Agnes of Borg (Queen Agnes?) is going to do next.

[Mabus]

Episode 6:
-Yeah, sure, they're totally gonna kill Picard in the middle of the season! In his own show! With the third season greenlit! And already filmed! With the entire TNG cast returning! Yeah sure, I'll totally be on the edge of my seat worried that Picard might not make it. Fuck off Alex Kurtzman! Who are you trying to fool?

You are joking right? You are complaining about this? Of the 100 years of TV shows, where a show has the lead looking like he or she might be killed in their own show in the middle of a season, you are going to complain about this?

What is your problem again? I don't get it. It's like everyone has to agree with everything. And if they don't, then some people can't enjoy the show or something? Here's the thing: if a show is bad, but the creators keep doubling down and make it worse, than we're just supposed to just give up calling it bad? We have to lie to ourselves that it's great because the creators of the show would rather eat glass than give us a better show? Ever considered that maybe if people keep complaining about the quality the show, maybe there's a kernel of truth in there?

Are you the kind of person who tells people to stop complaining about any defects in a product they bought or received because seem to come across as people that only like to complain? Because guess what: Trek a product. And if the product is bad, customers will complain. And if the manufacturer refuses to fix the issues, then people will continue to complain. Ever heard of Amy's Baking Company and how they responded to criticism of their company's products and practices? How they pretty much told everyone that criticized their shitty company practices that they're "haters" and how everyone is against them. Sounds very similar to how Paramount and NuTrek producers have behaved since 2017.

And why do you care more about what I have to say about the show than the show itself? You can post what you like or dislike about the show since that's why this place exists. I post what I dislike and like, and everyone does the exact same thing. My beef is the quality of the show, and I don't care what other people think. It's their opinion and I respect that. So what is your problem again? And don't tell me "negativity", "hate" or some other bullshit, if I dislike something about a show I will post that because... wait, why shouldn't I? Is there any law forbidding me?

Now about the scene with Picard, yes, showing the main character in jeopardy when it's clear that nothing will happen to him it's ridiculous and it's lazy writing. In fact, it's the laziest form of trying to create tension. The fact that the writers are investing an entire episode into that, thinking that we'll somehow take it seriously it's a clear indication that they think the audience is made of morons. If this was any other character from the show, things would have been a bit differently, but when I saw that it was Picard, I couldn't shop laughing since it was just that absurd.

[Al-1701]

Where do you shop laughing? Are the prices good?

[Mabus]

Yes.

[Al-1701]

Neat.

Anyway, their point is the main character being mortally wounded and their survival being in the balance is a common trope throughout media. And they didn't dwell on his physical condition. His body is in perfect working order by the end of the episode. It's his mind that needs help now.

In other words, what you're trying to push as a defect is a standard feature. It comes off less of you complaining about a bad product but that a hammer is pretty much useless for screws.

[Mabus]

No. The entire point of making the main character appear physically injured in a repeating flashforward and giving it a countdown on top of is to create a source of tension for the duration of the episode, but that falls flat on its face when in the same day you announce that for the next season of Star Trek Picard the rest of the TNG cast is joining Stewart for the final season of the show. You cannot feel anything but hilarity when you see the writers trying to inject some artificial tension for something that just doesn't work. Funny enough this could have worked for the season finale, as it could have ended on a cliffhanger, and that would have worked a bit better. But not in the middle of the season!

If the writers are wasting 3/4 of the episode trying to convince us that Picard is in some jeopardy (when the Watcher has shown to be able to mentally control anyone and has her own personal transporter which can take them anywhere), only to ignore all that, because it's actually his mind that's in danger, then it's clear that the writers were just trying to do a cheap subversion to make things more engaging. Remove the flashforward and countdown scenes and let the episode flow without them. Is the episode broken? No. Could the car still have hit Picard if it weren't for those flashforward scenes? Yes. So what was the point of those scenes? They add nothing to the episode but cheap tension, if anything Soong suddenly hitting Picard would have been more interesting. Those countdown scenes make as much sense as the exterior shots of San Francisco from "The Room" during the party scene: contribute to nothing, source of cheap tension and ultimately pointless since Picard gets fixed in the very next scene! If anything they make the episode dumber.

And "common trope" can also be "lazy cliche". Which in this case it is.

[Al-1701]

Non-linear storytelling has never been Trek's forte, flashing forward or backward. I think those scenes were also a means to pad out the episode as even their inclusion couldn't keep it from being less than 40 minutes. They were the weakest part of the episode, but it's not like a botched hook is anything new to Trek. At least they didn't sabotage the story like they did in "The Fight".

[Mabus]

Do you understand what the terms "lazy writing" and "bad writing" mean?
Of all the definitions I've read and heard, the best one is: "quantity over quality"
Lazy writing means that the writers introduces unnecessary stuff in a story that either don't contribute to anything and thus waste time or just aren't fun and instead affect the pacing of the plot. Now, this isn't always a problem per see, sometimes the first drafts of a story tend to have multiple ideas. But a good writer will always simplify those ideas, remove them entirely or if possible expands the story to fit them better in the story. And since those plots aren't developed enough to fit in the story, they stick out like a sore thumb. Kind of like the Rios-ICE and the Seven-Raffi subplot. Apart from beating you over the head with the "ICE is evil" message, those two subplots are rendered useless since Picard ultimately is the one to move the story forward. So that's a good example of bad/lazy writing. Even if the ICE subplot returns somehow in the last three episodes, ultimately it served no purpose in the story. It doesn't matter what Trek did before, if it doesn't work, change it!

But that's just one of the flaws of the episode. Another example of lazy writing is when Picard and his gang are waiting in line and there's tension because Jurati might not be able to hack in the system. But... why? There was no rush for them to enter the party at that exact moment. They could have either waited outside until Jurati reached the computer or just let the people behind them go first, until Jurati finished her task. And you could have made the latter funny, so there's that. But nope, we must do everything to create tension. Even if it involves sacrificing common sense.

And after Picard gets injured, they can't take him to the ship because "biobed is not a doctor", even though in the previous episode they used the exact same biobed to heal that French cop (even removed his spleen somehow) who was nearly killed. I mean... if Picard is a synthetic, then surely taking him to that illegals clinic would have been a serious risk. But nope, gotta create even more (cheap) tension.

When you sacrifice logic for cheap drama, you're just choosing quantity over quality. And that's bad.

[Al-1701]

There's also the problem you're ignoring. This episode was short at about 39 minutes even with all of this. It was just long enough to not just be included in other episodes, so corporate mandates probably came down on them. And CBS is notorious for manufactured tension (and weaponizing vehicles for that matter).

And the biobed actually makes sense when it was Jurati that healed the cop and they don't have access to her at the moment and they don't have time to try to hunt her down. Raffi was also the one who watched Elnor die on that bed, so hoping for the best isn't something she's going to risk Picard on. And it brings the doctor from the clinic back into the picture.

And the ICE plot and Raffi and Seven tearing through L.A. in a stole police car are called "fun and games" which are misadventures that don't necessarily advance the plot but offer some entertainment for the audience to introduce them to the new world the characters are in and how they interact with it.