Star Trek: Picard (TV Series 2022) Season 2 Episode 1 The Star Gazer

 

Spoilers 

Picard when faced with a familiar adversary when a distress signal is transmitted from an entity in deep space and he is pull out of retirement and literally time to meet an old acquaintance.

With a reworked theme tune, Doug Aarniokoski finely directs ‘The Star Gazer’. Without covering the plot this is first episode is vast improvement over season one. It flows much better, it appears better filmed, staged, plotted and scripted. It’s feels less clunky and forced. Aarniokoski also directed debatably the best episode of Season One.

A warm reunion with some of the franchise’s most likeable characters, including a handful from Season One, Jurati, Raffi and the excellent Satiago Cabrera as Rios to name a few, also it’s a comforting return to where we’ve boldly gone before. Both Jeri Ryan and Whoopie Goldberg reprise their roles Seven of Nine and Guinan respectively. Goldberg offers nostalgia, Ryan simply shines offering energy in every scene. The Synth Harvey played by Alex Diehl is along with the updated Borg Queen is notable.

Even the few littered action scenes are an improvement in this seasons opener and it feels the franchise reconnecting with its iconic self while updating and travelling new ground. There’s holographic shenanigans, plenty Star Trek nods, even mentioning Spock, The Kobayashi Maru, ’10’ forward, The Excelsior, to name a few.

I’m not going to lie and I’m no doubt in the minority; but I was never a huge fan of the Borg storylines or Qs despite their focal threaded frequent inclusion. That said, this feels like something special, John de Lancie gets better with age and is notable here reprising Q, even Patrick Stewart’s feels more engaged with conviction as Picard. It really does feel more about the Picard we know, fleshed further with some flashbacks and also the Stargazer’s inclusion thanks to Akiva Goldman and Terry Matalas writing. There’s a subtle feel of Next Generation, Voyager and even the films to it. This episode works and is easy to swallow due to the great acting, scripting, costumes, sets, effects and production values. After a sucker punch defining shock moment, it ends on a great cliffhanger that actually entices the viewer to watch more this time around.

Overall, a promising start to Season 2. Clearly they carried over only what worked from its predecessor. Highly recommend.