Star Trek: Picard: Overall Season 1 review
Overall Season Review
Overall, the season worked very well, even if some aspects of the story ended up being not as well developed as they should have been. But more about those below. There are many different threads that are developed through the season, but some are developed and concluded better than others. There are the story of Picard in particular, but there is also the legacy Data left behind, and the effect his sacrifice on the Schimitar had on his Captain. There was also the background details, about the Federation, the Romulans and the relationships between the two.
This was especially important surrounding the Artefact, which was subject to a treaty. There's also the resolution in the finale, when Riker invokes the Treaty of Algeron to protect the Synths. But most important is that Picard had attempted to save Romulans from the Supernova. Of course, there is more than the politics. It's more about the Characters, and not just Picard, Dahj and Soji. Picard is the focus, and so is Soji, but other characters develop through the season. A case in point, Seven, even if she doesn't get the spotlight she needed in the finale.
It is clear that she hadn't forgiven Bjazl for what she did to Icheb, but she also found that killing her didn't offer the closure she thought she had. This is reflected later when she had to fight Narissa, and when she tells Rios that she regrets both deaths. Talking about Rios, he also undergoes some development. He starts out morose, seeminly depressed, but interaction with others aboard La Sirena brought him out of that shell. The revelation of what happened aboard the Ibn Majid with Jana and Beautiful Flower helped to deepen this.
And the scene with Raffi and the holograms helped with this.Talking of Raffi, her arc may have been slightly inconsistent. Was she dealing with her addictions or not? (Unseen sessions with the EMH leading her in a ten step program?) Her being an estranged mother certainly added some realism to her situation. (Of course, that lead to Rios accidentally suspecting her of working with the Zhat Vash.) Jurati gets put through the 'wringer', as it were, but despite her killing Maddox, she does help Picard confront the Zhat Vash.
Then there are the Synths. As Picard points out, they are children, still growing, learning and making their way in the world. The scenes in the finale do make this clear. Whether Soong is a good parent or not does matter, and it's with regret that he deactivates Sutra. But the main issue is with the extra-galactic synths, or whoever it was that left the Admonition. What is their motivation. What would they really have done if they had come through the portal? Whatever it is, it's left unresolved, as open ended as the finale scene when La Sirena left Coppelius.
Overall a good start to the series. 8.805/10.