TV Review: Star Trek: Picard (Season 3)

**This review may contain minor SPOILERS**

Watch the SPOILER review on YouTube

After two seasons of not giving the audience what they hoped for when “Star Trek: Picard” was announced, the final season finally delivers almost everything they can hope for, wrapped in an epic, cinematic package.

The plot is quite simple on the surface, as we find the characters starting off on what seems to be just a rescue mission before it all cascades into something much more cataclysmic. While portions of the story are predictable, there are quite a few twists and turns that are fairly surprising. (Although the end credits drop a ton of hints that are useless without the context.) The season is shot to resemble a movie and at times feels like one, especially the first few episode arcs. Despite the strong buildup and some moments that will give fans goosebumps, the ending doesn’t quite stick the landing as things get too cliche.

The show dropped many of the characters that have been around since the beginning (Rios, Jurati, Elnor, Soji), and brings in the main cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” It takes some time to bring them all together, but once they do all those years of friendship and working together click and recapture the magic. There are some fantastic character interactions, and many of the actors get a chance to do some serious acting and perform some emotional moments that TNG never gave them a chance to do. New this season is the character of Jack. Ed Speleers does a great job of making him charismatic and endearing in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, despite making a strong impression early, the bad guys suddenly lose all their steam late in the series and the villains become a bit more one-note.

The show looks great, with some amazing shots of ships and nebula and other cosmic sights. There are tons of easter eggs to not only TNG, but many of the TOS era films. There are a few moments where it’s clear the budget dried up, but it’s worth it when you see the stuff they spent the money on.

Finally course-correcting and giving fans the TNG follow-up they’ve been wanting, “Star Trek: Picard” delivers in its final season, with complex plot, great character interactions and an intriguing new villain that had potential to be one of the franchise’s most memorable.

**** out of *****

TV Review: The Mandalorian (Season 3)

**This review contains minor SPOILERS**

Watch the SPOILER review on YouTube

After wrapping some of its biggest storylines on a different show all together, “The Mandalorian” struggles to find its way in its third season. (And after stealing Boba Fett’s thunder in his own show, Din mostly takes a back seat in his series.)

The plot mostly flounders this time around. Things start off with what seems like it will be a season-long quest for Din, only to be wrapped up in a couple episodes. After a “filler” episode, the overall story more or less spins its wheels for the majority of the season. And then it becomes clear that it’s Bo-Katan’s character arc driving the plot. While there are some interesting direction that story can go, it ultimately fails to really capitalize on anything besides the most basic elements. Like the first season, this one also ends with a two episode action spectacular. However, while the season one finale felt like the natural end to what the season was building towards, season three’s ending feels somewhat tacked on.

All the returning characters have their fun moments, but they really don’t dig deep enough to get any emotional resonance from them. (Although. everyone gets some cool action sequences.) Disappointingly, despite the fact the his story seemed pretty complete at the end of last season, Moff Gideon is back as the main villain. Thankfully. Giancarlo Esposito‘s larger than life take on the character once again elevates the material and quickly squashes that disappointment once he’s back on screen. (It also should be noted that even though you can’t tell, Din was played by stuntmen all season and Pedro Pascal was apparently never on set.)

The show still looks amazing, with the CG generally looking great and the puppetry being more hit and miss. As usual, there’s plenty of Star Wars easter eggs for just about every member of the fan base. There’s some fun action, cool visuals and a solid soundtrack. (The show features a new composer, and while the music is fine, it’s not as strong as Ludwig Goransson’s score.)

“The Mandalorian” season 3 has some great action, some fun character interactions, and a pretty good story arc revolving around not just Din and Bo-Katan, but all the Mandalorians. However, the character arcs don’t quite land, big moments the show sets-up never pay off, and a there’s long stretch where it feels like the show is just spinning its wheels until they toss in a big final boss fight and battle.

**1/2 out of *****