Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2

I have just one thing to say, this episode was an absolute masterpiece! So intense, ready for next season!

Don't listen to the naysayers, the finale is pure unadulterated Star Trek. Star Trek is entirely about philosophical questions and what it means to be "human" - this nails that. No spoilers, but it essentially boils down to the dangers of fear. And the characters are all great. Star Trek needs literally nothing else to be good; things like being consistent with the overall timeline or explaining every single detail are such insipid things to worry about (City on the Edge of Forever has plenty of inconsistencies; you bashing it for them?)

Some other notes: each character gets enough screen time to give them a satisfying conclusion to the season; there are no stupid never-would-have-seen-that-coming twists like pretty much every other streaming show; the tone/style of the episode really capture the atmosphere of TOS/TNG well

For those who say it violates the utopian vision of Trek: sure it dims humanity's prospects a bit, but something a lot of reviewers seem to gloss over is that this is the first Star Trek series where every race we see is working to accomplish a greater good (however misguided their understanding of what that means); literally no other Trek show to this point has done that

As for the so called unresolved details... why do you care? Star Trek is not a suspense-driven mystery thriller where every detail needs to be wrapped in a bow. Every plot-relevant point was addressed, the others are just world building and spending time on them would have taken away from more important parts. Some reviewers act like they won't be satisfied until they get Soong's detailed notes on how to construct an android from scratch.

I think there is some validity in wishing the new characters got more time to develop, but this is just season one and there's plenty of time for them to do so. In fact my complaint here is that we got a little too much backstory on some of them (think about it, we know more about Rios' history prior to this show than we really do of most major characters, like Geordi prior to Next Gen)

If you are a Star Trek fan, you will find something endearing is missing from this series, and that is the vision of Gene Roddenberry.

The characters, the serial plot line and even the script targets a broader audience, which will probably disappoint Trek fans.

Disappointments aside, it was still a good watch. I am hoping season 2 steps back a little to the way Gene Roddenberry would have told the story.

This is not TOS. Nor TNG. This is a new story, moving forward in time. Just as you are not the same as you were in 1993, these characters grow and change! So does their world! This is a great, gritty, more realistic story of the universe at this time. Yes, gay people exist. Yes, bad things happen. The heart is the story is still true blue trek. I thought this story was great. And I was happy to see closure for Data, hope for the Federation, and a new path for both Picard and Seven to go down next season. This was very well done and a great finale for the season.

For all you upset folks that it's not the g-rated happy place last series were, grow up or watch a rerun. This is taking trek to a place more grounded in reality. Enjoy the ride for what it is and quit expecting it to be a replica of what once was!

So, let me say first that this review is in no way meant to be biased because of my preference to the oldskool Roddenberry Star Trek, nor is it automatically a critique based on me not liking KurtzmanTrek. I'm a huge ST fan, especially TNG and Voyager, though I learned to like DS9, OS and Enterprise over time. Now, that does in no way mean I like all the episodes of every series. There are some average and sure, absolutely bad episodes. But what I have come to realize over time is that it's hard to write every episode with a new plot and storyline, and make it work every time. It takes a lot of creativity, imagination and writing ability. Not every writer pulled it off.

Which brings me to new Star Trek. I'm perfectly open to innovation, change, improvement and controversial solutions IF they're well supported and if there's a good reason for them. While there are some good moments in STP, intreaguing situations and quality visualisations, there are a number of issues with the series.

What this show is missing, is the subtle way in which all the controversial issues were done in Roddenberry ST. Everything feels forced, from women literally controling all aspects of Starfleet, Romulan Empire and the series itself really, to 7 of 9 being deemed unnecesserily as a bisexual (or homosexual, depending on wether you take her past with Chakotay into consideration). This - "in your face" approach is fine by me if it's not done for the sake of doing it. Unfortunately, this is not the case here. You had only 10 episodes with only one main plot. You had a decent ( if not original and overly inspiring) story. You had Patrick Stewart. Ther rest is on writers and directors. Too bad they were average at best.

Again- some good, even great moments. But overall, not very good episodes. Bad writers can do only so much.

Think about this: they had 10 episodes, yet most of them feel like filler episodes. They had to resort to "cheap" tricks to keep you entertained, like forced swearing, killing, overall darkness and CGI action all over the place. The dialogues are just terrible at times, and it's so hard to connect with any character apart from those we know from past series.

Unlike in other Star Trek series where there are some bad, but also some of the best episodes ever written for a TV show, here we don't have a single really good or great episode (just like in Discovery). Now, if there's only one main storyline, less chance of hit or miss, why is that?

It's really simple. It's the writing. It's just limited. You can only get so much from Kurtzman & Co., and even that is mostly borrowed from other shows.

In conclusion, Stewart deserved better. Picard deserved better. Seven deserved better.

Ultimately, true fans of Star Trek who may have had differences in opinion about past shows but never could complain about the very essence and feel of Roddenberry Star Trek deserve better.