Season 2 Wrap-up, Part C

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2 responses to “Season 2 Wrap-up, Part C”

1. 

   Kevin Black

   May 12, 2015

   We covered a lot of this in the comments for “Shades of Gray.” Season Two had some positives. Many of the characters came into better focus. Worf and Riker were like new characters, to a lesser extent, so was Picard. Wesley was barely used. Pulaski, and her relationships with Worf (especially) and Data, were a highlight. The poker games were fun. A smattering of episodes like “Elementary, Dear Data” was fun, if not up to the standard set by TOS. “The Measure of a Man” was, arguably, up to that standard.

   But the writing was unrelentingly terrible. The ambition to go the extra mile, story wise and concept wise, was absent. The plots and character situations were usually bland. The show could still be surprisingly sexist.

   Next season, Gates McFadden will return. Head writer Maurice Hurley, and with him hopefully a good part of the lazy writing aesthetic and the sexism, is out. Various creative people who will become large figures behind the scenes on TNG and its sequel series appear on the scene for the first time, like Michael Piller, Ronald D. Moore, and Brannon Braga. I have hope.

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2. 

   Randi Cohen

   May 12, 2015

   Definitely looking forward to Season 3… just viewed the first episode and it was like watching a different (and better) show.  

   Regarding Season 2, best thing about it in my mind is Dr. Pulaski.  First female character the show has featured that I totally respect.  Guinan is fun too, but she is also sort of an iconic wise-woman so her character is still somewhat defined by gender.  The great thing about Pulaski is that her gender is never the paramount thing about her.  She is simply “one of the boys”, playing poker, eating brunch, cracking jokes, sharing Worf’s tea ceremony, etc.  Her sexuality rarely comes up, and when it does it’s not treated with soap-opera-level drama.  In other words, she is treated and acts as a crewperson first and a woman second, which is how I would like to think things are in our future.  Also, I can take her seriously as a doctor, which was hard with Dr. Krusher.  Not sure if the writers were giving her better material or whether it was the actress that lent the role gravitas, but she just seemed devoted to being a doctor in the same way that Worf is devoted to being a warrior… she was passionate about it and seemed knowledgeable and experienced.  I will miss her greatly!

   Other nice things were fleshing out the Klingons a bit, if somewhat contradictorily in the two major Klingon-centric episodes.  Also Data gets some decent character development, turning into more than just comic relief somewhere mid-way through the season (perhaps “Measure of a Man” marks the turning point).  

   All in all, I still have a very hard time watching Riker and Counselor Troi, and to a lesser extent Giordi.  Riker because he is kind of like Kirk without the intellect/magnetism/creativity and with extra smirking (toned down but still way too present!).  Troi because the job she has apparently been hired to do is just so obnoxious and pointless (I don’t know who ever experienced any true enlightenment from unsolicited advice, telepathic or not, and I can’t understand why the writers would not just have people either come to her on their own or at least be ordered to come to her… having her just decide whom to confront seemingly at random makes her seem like a loose canon rather than a functioning ship’s officer.  I mean, does Pulaski constantly run around the ship insisting that she give random crewpeople a check-up on the spot?  No, because that would be ridiculous.  Obviously.).  

   Giordi is just hard to watch because Levar Burton’s acting is so stiff and the writers seem to not know what to do with his character.  (Sorry, Levar, I loved you in Reading Rainbow!).  So he kind of stands around and delivers technobabble or tags along with other crewpeople.  I guess in the episode with the Pakleds he gets a bit more to do, but what he does is always so forgettable somehow… I feel like he needs more of a back-story or more obvious character traits or something.  

   Overall, Season 2 was often painful and boring to watch… glad we made it through to what are hopefully greener pastures!  (Not sure how to translate that metaphor to space but you get my drift).

    

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