ST: Picard 3.4 and 3.5
Which are a mixture of, respectively, yeah but why, and OMG IT IS SPOILER NOW WE'RE TALKING!
3.04.: I was glad that Beverly was the one to figure out how to escape for the gravity well, and the whole alien species birth thing was a neat callback to the TNG series pilot Encounter at Farpoint, plus it did connect of course to the whole parents/children theme. As an episode of "how the crew gets out of being hopelessly trapped" trope execution, it was solid. Liam Shaw got a great monologue (even if Ben Sisko had it before him) which made sense of his jerk like ordering Seven not to use her Borg designation and his behavior towards Picard even before Picard and Riker revealed why they had really come on board his ship by revealing himself as one of the survivors of the Battle of Wolf 359. But the episode suffered from the ongoing Jack Crusher problem. (Jack the second, that is; the story of younger Picard and Jack the first in their Stargazer days worked both as backstory and a hint to one of the factors figuring into the problem of the hour solution.) Meaning that the audience is supposed to get invested into this (non) father-son relationship, when Jack, much like David Marcus in ST 2, just is too new for this to work, especially since by playing the TNG crew card the series has fixed itself on needing to deliver on the emotional front about THOSE characters, not newbie Jack. So far the only thing interesting about Jack for yours truly isn't "will he and Picard manage to bond?" but "okay, the mystery of what's going on with the red door conditioning is evidently tied to the greater plot and I can't figure out what this has to do with the Changelings, so okay, show, you got me curious".
3.05: Roooooooooooo! ZOMG. I had no idea Michelle Forbes was guest starring, and I'm ever so glad I was unspoiled. See, this is what I'm talking about. As opposed to Picard and Jack (and Beverly and Jack, for that matter), Ro and Picard (and Ro & the TNG crew in general) have backstory, and "what became of Ro?" (since she didn't become Kira when DS9 got created), and "how would a meeting between Picard and Ro go" are actually questions I deeply care about. Plus Michelle Forbes and Patrick Stewart still have awesome chemistry. Their scenes were just - chef's kiss. All the anger and tenderness and issues and caring piled up for decades.
The Raffi and Worf plot, which at the end of this episode finally united with the Picard & friends plot, also proceeded along nicely. Nice double bluff (first with the mobile emitter and then with the death faking), team. Krinn the Vulcan crimelord who was bff with a Ferengi due to their shared past as orphan young criminals was great and the most interesting Vulcan outside of ST: Discovery for eons. The Changelings having upgraded/evolved and now infiltrated Starfleet to the highest level already upped the stakes well, and I do hope the repeated mentions of Janeway this season (another one in this episode) mean Kate Mulgrew will also guest star and we'll get a scene where Seven has to do what Picard and Ro did in this episode, test whether it's really hear by bringing up all the emotional unresolved issues and rawness between them.
So do I think Ro is now dead dead, or only mostly dead (tm Miracle Max)? The later. The episode deliberately had her shuttle lose visual connection with the Titan before it rammed the Intrepid, and that, if I know my tv tropes, is a classic use of the "no body, no death" condition. So I say Ro managed to teleport off the shuttle and on the Intrepid at that last moment, but we don't see her again until the season (and series) finale. But even if she is dead dead, this was a great episode to go out on. Okay, show, until now, I was somewhat grumpy and wondering wether the series shouldn't have ended with the s2 finale, which would have worked fine for me, but now I consider s3 having been worth it for luring Michelle Forbes back to Star Trek and giving us those Ro and Picard scenes. (Riker arguing for Ro early on was lovely continuity, too, btw.) (Oh, and how much do I love that Ro's gift of her ear ring to Picard wasn't just sentiment but hardcore practical because it contained all her data on the Evil Infiltration Conspiracy? So much.)
3.04.: I was glad that Beverly was the one to figure out how to escape for the gravity well, and the whole alien species birth thing was a neat callback to the TNG series pilot Encounter at Farpoint, plus it did connect of course to the whole parents/children theme. As an episode of "how the crew gets out of being hopelessly trapped" trope execution, it was solid. Liam Shaw got a great monologue (even if Ben Sisko had it before him) which made sense of his jerk like ordering Seven not to use her Borg designation and his behavior towards Picard even before Picard and Riker revealed why they had really come on board his ship by revealing himself as one of the survivors of the Battle of Wolf 359. But the episode suffered from the ongoing Jack Crusher problem. (Jack the second, that is; the story of younger Picard and Jack the first in their Stargazer days worked both as backstory and a hint to one of the factors figuring into the problem of the hour solution.) Meaning that the audience is supposed to get invested into this (non) father-son relationship, when Jack, much like David Marcus in ST 2, just is too new for this to work, especially since by playing the TNG crew card the series has fixed itself on needing to deliver on the emotional front about THOSE characters, not newbie Jack. So far the only thing interesting about Jack for yours truly isn't "will he and Picard manage to bond?" but "okay, the mystery of what's going on with the red door conditioning is evidently tied to the greater plot and I can't figure out what this has to do with the Changelings, so okay, show, you got me curious".
3.05: Roooooooooooo! ZOMG. I had no idea Michelle Forbes was guest starring, and I'm ever so glad I was unspoiled. See, this is what I'm talking about. As opposed to Picard and Jack (and Beverly and Jack, for that matter), Ro and Picard (and Ro & the TNG crew in general) have backstory, and "what became of Ro?" (since she didn't become Kira when DS9 got created), and "how would a meeting between Picard and Ro go" are actually questions I deeply care about. Plus Michelle Forbes and Patrick Stewart still have awesome chemistry. Their scenes were just - chef's kiss. All the anger and tenderness and issues and caring piled up for decades.
The Raffi and Worf plot, which at the end of this episode finally united with the Picard & friends plot, also proceeded along nicely. Nice double bluff (first with the mobile emitter and then with the death faking), team. Krinn the Vulcan crimelord who was bff with a Ferengi due to their shared past as orphan young criminals was great and the most interesting Vulcan outside of ST: Discovery for eons. The Changelings having upgraded/evolved and now infiltrated Starfleet to the highest level already upped the stakes well, and I do hope the repeated mentions of Janeway this season (another one in this episode) mean Kate Mulgrew will also guest star and we'll get a scene where Seven has to do what Picard and Ro did in this episode, test whether it's really hear by bringing up all the emotional unresolved issues and rawness between them.
So do I think Ro is now dead dead, or only mostly dead (tm Miracle Max)? The later. The episode deliberately had her shuttle lose visual connection with the Titan before it rammed the Intrepid, and that, if I know my tv tropes, is a classic use of the "no body, no death" condition. So I say Ro managed to teleport off the shuttle and on the Intrepid at that last moment, but we don't see her again until the season (and series) finale. But even if she is dead dead, this was a great episode to go out on. Okay, show, until now, I was somewhat grumpy and wondering wether the series shouldn't have ended with the s2 finale, which would have worked fine for me, but now I consider s3 having been worth it for luring Michelle Forbes back to Star Trek and giving us those Ro and Picard scenes. (Riker arguing for Ro early on was lovely continuity, too, btw.) (Oh, and how much do I love that Ro's gift of her ear ring to Picard wasn't just sentiment but hardcore practical because it contained all her data on the Evil Infiltration Conspiracy? So much.)