Star Trek: Picard - 6 Ups & 3 Downs From Nepenthe

3. The Past Generation

I had awarding Ups purely for fan service. I should stress, this isn't a comment specific to Picard, more a general gripe about how lazy it feels when any show just throws a familiar face in rather then fleshing out the cast they already have. 9/10, they're there to mask other shortcomings in the show.

The annoying thing is, that's probably true of Riker and Troi here, but I can't imagine a single Star Trek fan that will mind. It's a wonderful, heartfelt, emotive return for two of the franchise's most beloved characters, and their role in helping nurture the relationship of Picard and Soji (even if there are painful reminders to their own relationship) is perfectly pitched.

The two find themselves on the planet Nepenthe, where they're greeted by Kestra (an almost unbelievably well-conceived, with the exact right balance of childhood intrigue and Betazoid intuition), and from there we effectively get a love letter to the Next Generation. It's fan service, yes, but it's actually quite nice to be serviced sometimes.