Star Trek: Picard: Season 2 Review

Star Trek: Picard is back with an opening salvo that's clearly fired up the proton torpedos against its  season one critics/

The first season took what seemed like an aeon to get Jean-Luc Picard back among the stars, and then produced a story that faced crippling inertia as its 10 episodes carried on.

But this time around, before the credits have even rolled in, Picard and his motley crew of ragtag renegades are seemingly blowing themselves into oblivion after activating a self-destruct mechanism due to the nefarious Borg Queen boarding their ship.

Of course, starting matters in medias res is a powerful opener, but in the first episode of season two of Picard, the drama doesn't seem to be too far away even as you head to that apparent sequence of events.

Large chunks of the first season were aimed mainly at the fans, ensuring this outing wasn't quite as broad as it could have been. 

Season 2 of the show makes no mistake about what it wants from the beginning. But it also shows that most Star Trek series these days are beholden to their pasts, and largely return fan favourite characters to the fray to ensure older audiences don't simply dismiss it.

It seems though, this time around, Picard's latest is determined to throw everything at the action 

But it's also careful to not abandon the philosophical themes which have always been at the forefront of Star Trek: The Next Generation's stories. This time, it's whether Picard should have lived another life, taken a chance on affairs of the heart, rather than taking to the skies to seemingly avoid any chance at a relationship. (Granted, he's had dalliances in previous episodes, but never anything long-term, and it's here the writers are looking to get Picard to reflect on his life in his twilight years.)

It's a melancholy feel which infects a lot of the opening episode, with lines like "Time can turn even our most impulsive, our most ill-considered actions into history,"  and "What we do in a crisis often weighs on us less heavily than what we wish we had done. What could have been" setting a clear agenda for what is coming.

If you've read the synopsis of the season, you'll know who Picard is largely due to face off with - and whilst there will be some who will be frothing at the return of this long-term favourite, there's a hesitancy that their return will maybe deflate some of the drama thanks to a deus ex machina card that could seemingly be deployed at any time.

Largely though, the opening episodes get things right - of the three screened to media, there's an urgency to the season that's enthralling, enticing and engaging. But worryingly, the third episode hits a slower pace that's a worry for the coming episodes.

Prior cast have been given expanded roles this time around - with Jeri Ryan and Alison Pill seemingly getting the lion's share of the extra time writers have had to shake things up. There's a slight didactic element in later episodes that deal with the state of our world, a sign that subtlety has gone in the latest, where once it was so prevalent in prior episodes.

Mixing The Man in the High Castle, Star Trek: The Voyage Home and elements of any time-travel/ parallel lives storyline from any show within the genre isn't exactly new ground for Star Trek: Picard to explore - but they make such a great fist of it, you're willing to make it so and set a course for high-end entertainment.

Star Trek: Picard Season two is streaming on Prime Video, with weekly episodes airing from Friday March 4.