#if not worried that part of picard's hermit act included not seeing them in 14 years)

[ylizam]

[picard through 1.6: my disjointed feelings vs. my disjointed thoughts]

I guess the tl;dr is that I love (most of) the characters, and I do not trust the writing? which, fine, par for the course, especially as a Voyager person, but still. I’m enjoying it! I don’t think it’s actually good! I keep having feelings! I am really confused about what they’re doing in re Picard the Character! anyway!

the positive (give or take):

LARIS <3 <3 <3 my Picard’s my Romulan wife! traumatized and her whole world is gone and ex-Tal Shiar (!) and Irish and sweater-wearing and honestly Star Trek: Laris is the show I want in the world. 

I’m this.close to changing my user icon thingy to Laris. I mean I love Caroline and her wine but what if. (the main reason I haven’t yet is because what if they kill her off for more Picard manpain and I’m too angry about it, etc. like I said: I do not trust the writing/writers/whatever, especially with Duff on the staff.)

honestly, there are so many stories one could tell about Laris and Zhaban and home and rebuilding and loss and spies and family and you know what, I don’t trust the writers at this point, so maybe I’m the tiniest bit relieved they’re not telling it (but, oh, for writers who COULD)

Romulan secret names? sure, I can accept that. plenty of cultures have family versus public names, etc. Romulan secret names they only tell their lovers? eh, no, that’s a myth they sent out to the universe for a laugh / to see who believes it / because they could.

Romulan Warrior Nuns. the entire concept. all of them. absolute candor. swords. give me more. 

give me Laris formerly of the Tal Zhiar and members of the Qowat Milat having an awkward meal together I am just saying.

relatedly, Elnor needs a cat. 

Seven. Of. Nine. with pockets. 

continuing trauma because of course! (and look I love Janeway but I do cringe at the way “humanity” was thrust upon Seven in a very limited and forced way and that can’t have been great for her longterm and give me more Seven learning that she is “human” enough there’s no one definition but also she’s fucked up and that’s okay too except where it’s self-destructive and not okay and) 

although seriously they tiptoed riiiiiight up to the line of confirmed queerness and then swayed a bit and hope that was enough and it’s not? (I wonder if they were so paranoid about Kill Your Gays-itis and what it would mean for Seven to kill an ex that they didn’t want to skirt that fallout, but come on.) (I also wonder if, when Seven comes back, they actually go there or if this is as far as it will go.) 

Raffi. Michelle Hurd as Raffi. Raffi.

Raffi deserves better. Better writing, better writing, better writing.

so that was her ex-girlfriend Picard bribed her with wine to contact, right? 

Hugh. That hug. Hugh. 

the negative (give or take):

the casual racism problem. 

stop killing characters of color! if you colorblind cast and then only/largely people of color die that’s not good! not to mention Indiana Picard (see next point) and the Romulans of color all swarming around him and yeah. stop it.

don’t dress Picard up like a colonialist unless you actually mean it—like, if you want to get into the issues with the Federation and colonialism rah rah flags and all that, do it, but I just feel like they’re not actually going there (too much emphasis on conspiracies and people infiltrating the Federation rather than, oh, maybe the Federation itself is an issue?). 

this is where my trust of the writing really comes into play because I just don’t know that they know what they’re doing. 

the writing can be pretty clunky. why did they make someone with basically no tv experience the showrunner again? (it turns out that maybe television and novels are different media! with different rules and etceteras!)

no really why is this show being made in 2020 so straight (and so 1990s coy about any hints of queerness)

I don’t care about Narek. At all. He bores me. 

this is obviously a personal thing, as I’ve definitely seen people out there who enjoy him. but yeah. he does nothing for me personally.

and his sister is just. cartoon villainry.

if you’re going to keep intercutting to scenes with the bad guy and his sister sexually choking him and all either actually explain the reason they’re doing all the bad stuff and actual justifications, etc. (we don’t need it to be a surprise to be interesting, yo! why do you care about the android homeworld or whatever it is you’re searching for? have you shared your secret lover names with each other yet or naw?) or just don’t. the baddies should be their own heroes! 

I would definitely prefer the story about how the Federation and Starfleet aren’t what their PR says they are and digging into how flawed they are and colonialism and all that to the one about the conspiracy and infiltrations into the Federation and Starfleet that sort of just skim over the parts where whatever the conspiracy managed to do depended on the flaws in the Federation and Starfleet. 

look, maybe we’ll get it? but, again, trust issues with the writing.

I really, really, really wish they hadn’t gone the addict route with Raffi

it feels a little lazy? very plug-and-play characterization? idk! I think she’d be more interesting without it! 

(also to be fair I have my own issues with addiction stuff in general so even if I trusted it to be done well and all that it still wouldn’t be my favorite.)

is there any trauma care in the future utopia times (the Borg Reclamation Project seems to suggest that there may be at least, on some level, an attempt at it)? has Picard received any mental health care at all post-living-on-a-ship with Troi who sometimes tried but also maybe was too much of a friend to be an effective therapist for him no really what is the status of mental healthcare in the future utopia times I want to know.

(I mean the PTSD stuff makes sense, I’m not denying that and that’s not the stuff I find myself disliking in the character. but it does lead me to wonder about the state of mental healthcare and the like, not because I think he should be “cured” or anything like that, but because I wonder.) 

Is Picard meant to be an asshole I no longer like? 

is the bit with the doctor who is not Beverly telling him about his brain whatever issue meant to be a hint that he’s going senile or something? is that why the worst parts of his nature keep being thrust front and center?

do the writers know how unlikeable he can be in this? is that the point? is there a point to it? do they have any idea at all what they’re doing? (giving alcohol to the addict so she’ll do what you want, Picard? really?)

in conclusion: I just don’t know what they’re trying to do in re Picard the Character on Picard the Series and I worry that the people in charge don’t know either. (also, I want to continue liking Picard the Character so.)

anyway I left out a bunch here (I largely like the crew of the La Sirena but also don’t have anything I really want to say about them) (my eh-reaction to Narek has affected how much I really care about that storyline, but I do in fact like Soji and hope for more interesting stuff for her because I was really bored with her adventures in sleeping with a bad guy) (anyway this is already very long, but yeah, hopefully the rest of the season will return some level in faith in the writings having a Plan but I’m not super confident in that oh well).