'Picard' Season 3: Reviewing the Reviews -- Or, The Nostalgia IS The Point

The final season is brilliant, or starts out like Borg sh*t -- depending on who you believe

Feb 24, 2023

The third — as final — season of Star Trek: Picard is finally upon us.

Which can only mean one thing: Star Trek content creators — especially those on YouTube — turning reviews of each episode of this long-awaited reunion of our friends from Star Trek: The Next Generation, into a new cottage industry.

So, rather than add to more series critique to the blather, I thought that I would cover a few of the reviews themselves. (And maybe add a strip of latinum's worth of my own perspective here and there.)

We're going to look here at reviews from Jessie Gender, Sci-Finatics and a joint review by Steve Shives and Jason from The Ensign's Log podcast.

We're including these three, as three seems like a manageable number to consider without becoming too unwieldy.

We're not including these specific YouTubers for any reason other than they're three relatively popular Trek-related channels with subscribers numbering at least in the tens of thousands, and I'm familiar with other, related content from these channels.

By the time of this writing, both Jesse and Nick from Sci-Finatics have posted reviews of both Episode 1, “The Next Generation,” and Episode 2, “Disengage,” while Steve Shives had yet posted a review of Episode 1.

Jessie Gender

Sci-Finatics

Steve Shives

And, at least so far, this TNG cast reunion which is Star Trek: Picard Season 3 is off to a brilliant, rollicking start.

Or, it's come out of the gate as nothing more than hackneyed, recycled garbage wrapped up in cheap nostalgia.

Depending on whomever you're listening to.

That's both the brilliance — and undoing — of these fan-based reviews. They're entirely subjective and based on a given reviewer's personal biases and stance.

On a personal note — as full disclosure — that, at turns, I've agreed and disagreed with opinions expressed in the past by each of these reviewers.

While Jessie's is clearly the most enthusiastic of the reviews, she is far from playing fangirl. Throughout her nearly 20-minute review, Jessie offers a number of valuable insights and constructive criticisms.

She breaks down both each of the characters and analyzes all of the major story beats. (She even finds reason to enjoy the asshole captain of the moment, Todd Stashwick's Liam Shaw of the starship Titan-A.

Meanwhile, Nick from Sci-Finatics, also is overwhelming positive towards the episode — and the season this far — is perhaps not quite as effusive as Jessie. He's also heavier on offering viewers an episode synopsis and somewhat less actual perspective and analysis.

And then there's Steve Shives's joint review with Jason from The Ensign's Log.

You could call Steve and Jason the modern-day Statler and Waldorf, the two old grumps best known for their cantankerous opinions and shared penchant for heckling from the balcony on the classic Muppet Show.

That's because Steve and Jason let you know immediately — and continue to make the point — just what they think of this third season thus far.

Which is to say, according to them, it's just not good.

And essentially irremediably so.

Let me say here that I'm familiar with Steve's past work but hadn't been with Jason's.

And I really do enjoy my fellow Marylander's content, both his political commentary and his Star Trek content. I usually find myself agreeing with Steve at least as much as I disagree.

However, he universally panned Star Trek: Picard last year, as well — while I savored nearly every episode.

This time, Steve and Jason's major gripes often revolve around what they see as an over-reliance on nostalgia and sentimentality to carry the season.

Story beats, much of the musical score, even the on-screen fonts and graphics all illicit callbacks to Star Trek of bygone eras, they complain.

They're not wrong in fact, but I would argue off-base on the criticism.

Yes, Star Trek: Picard is entirely steeped in nostalgia.

But for others of us, that's a feature, not a bug.

If you came to Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard hoping for the groundbreaking, thought-provoking storytelling that the franchise typically is known for? Yes, you will absolutely be supremely letdown.

This year is not that.

Find that elsewhere.

This is Star Trek comfort food. Full stop. The nostalgia is the point.

This season is our chance to say “goodbye” to a family of characters which has been with us for nearly 40 years now.

To see these characters off in a way that we, frankly, had been denied since the Next Generation movies were unceremoniously let to die after the disappointment of Nemesis in 2002.

If you want to come to this party, this year, come expecting — yes — action and adventure.

But most especially, come expecting love. Because for Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard, the nostalgia very much is the point.