Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline

Since I'm watching the Star Trek series (and films), I did want to review the films that I have fully seen prior this rewatch, which are all of the reboot/Kelvin films. Despite their divisiveness, I do enjoy all of them, so I wanted to give each of them a quick review before I do my ultimate ranking of all the Star Trek films (plus Galaxy Quest):

Star Trek (2009): I actually first watched Into Darkness before 09', and I actually liked it more at the time. Obviously, I don't at all agree with that opinion, but I understand why. Star Trek 09' is an origin story. It's not just an introduction to the characters like TMP was, it's a full-on backstory for every single member of the cast and how they met, and that means it gets off to a bit of a slow start and everyone's pretty pissed at each other for a lot of the movie. However, once you get past that hurdle, this is a really great film. The opening with Kirk's father is fantastic, the destruction of Vulcan is so gutsy yet so memorable, Spock Prime's appearance was a great surprise, the final battle and escape from the black hole is great, and above all, this film does a fantastic job of introducing new viewers to the Star Trek franchise. It's slick, full of fun action and crazy twists, and the new cast is not only really good but fully-utilized. It could have easily fallen into the trap of focusing on just the main trio, but that is absolutely not the case here. Star Trek '09 suffers from being a reboot/origin story/introduction, but it works as a really great one.

4/5 Stars

Star Trek: Into Darkness: I feel like I have the same opinions on this film as I do "The Rise Of Skywalker". On its own merits, it's a fun, tight blockbuster with a ton of great action, fun character interactions, and absolutely stunning visuals, continuing Kirk's character arc from the first film incredibly well. And you know what? I'd say the first half of the film is legitimately great! And so are some parts of the latter half! However, it suffers from its comparison to a much better film: Wrath Of Khan. That film was tense, brutal, exciting, and incredibly well-plotted, and it lived and died on Ricardo Montalbán's performance as Khan. The only thing this film really tops WoK in is the brutality, this is by far the darkest Trek and it owns it. The scenes with the Vengeance, Khan crushing someone's skull, the Enterprise being destroyed in warp speed, I admire how gleefully edgy Into Darkness is. But outside of that, Cumberbatch is pretty good, but he's not quite as gripping as Montalbán (not to mention the whitewashing), and the lack of any previous encounters with Kirk removes that sense of personal stakes. Kirk's death could have been an effective subversion of expectations, but it gets reversed immediately in a clumsy, rushed climactic fight scene. It tries to twist Wrath of Khan's story but just feels like a hollow recreation, especially without 80 episodes of TV backing it up. Don't get me wrong, though. This is still a fun film and I enjoy watching it a lot, it's just not all that original. It introduce me to the Tribble though, so I can't get too mad at it.

3/5 Stars

Star Trek Beyond: Star Trek Beyond is easily the best of the Reboot films, and is one of my favorite Star Trek films period! The main reason why I love it so much is the character work. I love Kirk's arc about being exhausted with the five-year exposition, Kaylah is a super lovable addition, and I love how the destruction of the Enterprise splits up the cast into unusual pairings, all with their own unique dynamics and banter. This film has a lot of action, but it also makes sure to allow for moments of character interaction and introspection. As an anniversary film, Beyond also feels like a love letter to Star Trek as a whole, with the heartwrenching tributes to Leonard Nimoy, that amazing Beastie Boys scene, and nearly as much spirit as Galaxy Quest (which can only be a good thing). My only big weak point is that Krall is a pretty dull villain who gets an exposition dump backstory near the end, but otherwise, Beyond is a blast to watch. It's funny, action-packed, character-driven, and filled with love for the Star Trek universe. I started with the reboot films, but I think Beyond was the one that really sold me on the franchise as a whole.

4/5 Stars

My ranking of the reboot films are:

Beyond > Trek > Into Darkness

And my ultimate ranking of Star Trek's films are:

1. Galaxy Quest (Still the best! An affectionate love letter to Trek with sharp comedic writing, a strong cast, and a ton of spirit. It works just as well for both Trek fans and general audiences)
2. The Undiscovered Country (A nearly perfect Star Trek film. A tense and well-paced political thriller with great heavy themes that doubles as a satisfying goodbye to the original series cast)
3. First Contact (Despite its deviations from previous Trek films, this is still a brilliantly executed movie with cool action, strong pacing, great character work, and stunning effects for when it came out)
4. Wrath Of Khan (While it takes a bit of time to get going, Wrath Of Khan is a fantastic and dark movie with an amazing villain, great deconstruction of Kirk, and an iconic and emotional ending)
5. Beyond (A fantastic love letter to Star Trek that puts a greater emphasis on the characters, exploring them in interesting ways, and putting them in interesting pairings for maximum banter)
   
6. The Voyage Home (The main premise is ridiculously stupid and the core message is poorly aged, but the comedy and camaraderie among the cast makes this one impossible to hate)
7. Search For Spock (Not all of the effects are all that amazing, but this is still a great followup to WoK with a compelling emotional hook, some outstanding setpieces, and a strong central theme)
8. Star Trek '09 (The fact that this film was an origin story holds it back for me, but it does a good job of reintroducing Trek to its audiences with a great new cast, slick production, and some big twists)
9. The Motion Picture (This is a beautiful film with stunning visuals, interesting themes, and amazing music, but it suffers from some drawn-out sequences and drops off a bit after the first act)
10. Star Trek Generations (This is an overstuffed film with a shoddy production and just as many bad scenes as there are fantastic ones, but its story and action is solid enough to be entertaining)
11. Into Darkness (On its own merits, this is a fun sci-fi action movie with great pacing that doesn't need to reintroduce the cast. As a Star Trek film, it's a hollow copy of Wrath of Khan but worse)
12. Nemesis (The action and visuals are pretty good and there are some great scenes here and there, but it suffers from a confusing and unoriginal story with an odd villain and some obvious cut scenes)
13. The Final Frontier (While Shatner's direction is pretty decent especially with the character interactions, the awful hodgepodge of a script ends up tanking the entire thing)
14. Insurrection (This film is just boring, suffering from bad comedy, a plot where the protagonists feel like the bad guys, dull action, and shoddy effects. At least TFF was ambitious, this was just bland.)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Generations-Nemesis)

Similarly to The Original Series, there are also some TNG films. I watched them all, and they are much more of a mixed bag than the first six movies.

Star Trek Generations: Star Trek Generations feels like it could have been the perfect epilogue to The Next Generation. It brings back a bunch of old plot threads (Picard's family, Data's emotion chip, the Duras sisters, Guinan's species), it destroys the Enterprise-D, and biggest of all, it lets Picard and Kirk meet. However, there's just something about Star Trek Generations that felt kinda underwhelming to me, and I think that's because it felt more like an episode than a movie.

Star Trek Generations has a lot going on, so I'm going to go over each storyline on its own. The main plot is that an evil El-Aurien intends to destroy a planet so he can go to an idealized realm called the Nexus. It definitely feels like a bit of an excuse plot, but it works well enough and does a solid job of allowing Kirk and Picard to meet. Soren isn't super fleshed-out, but I like his brutality and just how close he was to winning. It also allows for some pretty great action sequences, especially that fantastic and brutal sequence where the Enterprise-D is destroyed. My biggest gripe here is how this storyline could've been used to finally explore Guinan's species and origins, but it's only touched upon in a single scene. Similarly, the Duras sisters (who are legitimately great villains) also only appear for a few scenes despite being allied with Soren. But worst of all, Kirk only appears at the very start and end of the film, with most of Generations focusing exclusively on the TNG cast. For a film about the two shows crossing over, there's really not much of TOS here. The scenes he does have are pretty cool and bring me back to the original films, and seeing Shatner and Stewart together is great, but there just isn't enough of them. Not to mention Kirk's infamous death where he gets a bridge dropped on him, which yeah, isn't very well-done. Star Trek Generations does have a lot of interesting ideas and fantastic scenes, but it tries to do so much that it can rarely support all of its plot points, and I didn't even bring up the subplots.

Picard has a subplot about his family dying in a fire which just seems random. It leads to a great scene with Troi and Picard, but aside from its minor connection to its theme of "passing a torch" (a theme executed far better by Wrath Of Khan), it just feels unnecessary. Data's subplot about trying out his emotion chip, on the other hand, is great and one of the few fully-realized parts in the film. It's exactly what I wanted to see from Descent, Data struggling to navigate his new emotions, both positive and negative, and Brent Spiner does a fantastic job with the material. At the start of the review, I said Generations feels like a TV episode rather than a movie, and I think that's because of just how many plot threads there are. It feels like the writers were just checking off boxes when writing the screenplay. It doesn't help that the production is incredibly shoddy and uneven. There are aspects of Star Trek Generations that look fantastic, particularly the CGI and explosions. However, you can tell the film is trying to make itself seem more like a movie than it actually is, utilizing dark lighting, overly dramatic camerawork, and a booming yet unremarkable score. It doesn't quite work, and Generations struggles to hide its stock footage, TV sets, and cheesy-looking exterior scenes. It's as if the fact that Generations tries to hard to prove to you that it's a movie makes it feel less like one.

Overall, Star Trek Generations feels like an incredibly mixed bag. On one hand, it ties up a lot of loose ends from TNG, has some great action and character interactions, and contains a ton of fantastic scenes like the opening, Picard meeting Kick, the crash of the Enterprise-D, the ready room chat, and Data discovering his emotions. However, it suffers from far too many plot points that don't get enough attention, Kirk getting little screentime and an underwhelming death, and a shaky production that struggles to convince the viewer that this isn't just an extended episode, or even more, a commerical. Generations is an enjoyable time, but definitely one of the weaker Trek films.

3/5 Stars

Star Trek: First Contact: This was a fantastic movie to watch on Halloween, it's basically Star Trek's attempt at a zombie flick, and it's really good! It's tense, fast-paced, and focused, but most importantly, it actually feels like a movie this time.

In First Contact, the Borg travel back in time to 2063 to conquer Earth, so the Enterprise crew follows them. There are really two storylines here, with half of the crew having to fend off the Borg when they take over the Enterprise, and the other half of the crew having to make sure Earth achieves first contact with aliens when they're supposed to. Personally, I think the Borg storyline was the more compelling of the two. As mentioned above, it kinda felt like a zombie movie in how more and more of the ship was starting to get assimilated. Picard dealing with his trauma from the Borg and slowly breaking down throughout the film was engaging, as was Data's interesting discussions on humanity with the Borg Queen. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the fact that the Borg has a queen, given that they're kinda supposed to be a collective, but her appearance didn't make them any less terrifying or brutal, and Alice Krige gave a great performance as her. The first contact part of the film wasn't as tense, but it allowed for some great and funny character interactions with Riker, Troi, and Geordi, getting to see a fictional time period for once was cool, and the development of Cochrane (the warp drive originator) was pretty good. The scene near the end of the film where Riker, Geordi, and Cochrene test out the warp drive served as such an optimistic contrast from the darker Borg subplot. Both storylines get a good amount of focus and it feels like the cast is overall better utilized than in Generations.

First Contact feels a lot different from the other Trek films in a lot of ways. I've noticed these Trek films tend to have a bit of a slow start (most notably TVH taking over half an hour until the crew goes back in time), but First Contact gets right into the action with no time to spare. Speaking of which, I think this is the first Trek film I can call an "action movie". Not to say that Trek films don't have action, even TVH had a big climactic finale, but First Contact is stuffed to the brim with it. Thankfully, most of these setpieces are pretty great, especially that fight on the ship's hull. First Contact also feels like a darker Trek film than most, with some genuinely terrifying scenes involving the Borg. Despite these differences, I think First Contact works because it achieves what it's trying to do. It's not overstuffed like Generations, all of its characters and plot points get time to develop, and the tense and scary stuff is genuinely effective and balanced with some great levity and moments of hope and optimistic. Even more, First Contact looks fantastic. It's stunning how this film was made in 1996, the effects hold up shockingly well (then again, they did have ILM work on it). The Borg cube, the exterior shots, that stunningly subtle shot of the queen being assembled, the action scenes, it all looks so fantastic. The movie using entirely new sets over the preexisting TV ones definitely helped as well, as they suit the dynamic lighting and movie cameras a lot better. We also got another score by Jerry Goldsmith! It's a lot more muted and sinister than some of his previous scores, but when it kicks in, it's so damn good, especially during that Vulcan scene.

Overall, First Contact was a fantastic movie, definitely one of the best Star Trek films of them all. It's taut and tense, with a nice balance of character, comedy, drama, action, and Borg-related nightmare fuel. The cast is well-utilized, the visuals and effects are outstanding, and unlike Generations, it felt like a story that deserved to be told on the big screen.

5/5 Stars

Star Trek Insurrection: By the end of watching Insurrection, I feel like I just lost two hours of my life. It's not as horribly incoherent and "off-feeling" like TFF was, but it was just so dull. It's an average episode of the TNG stretched out to movie-length, and it shows. 

Star Trek Insurrection is a movie about the Enterprise crew navigating a moral conflict between two species. On one side, there's the Ba'ku, a species of only 600 people hogging a planet with rejuvenating effects and medicinal value so they can remain peaceful and immortal. On the other side, there's the Son'a, a disfigured group of ex-Ba'ku who want to take the planet back no matter what, who are allied with a Federation officer who wants to use the planet's medicinal values to help the galaxy as a whole. Take a wild guess who the antagonists are? Believe it or not, it's the Son'a! That's the biggest problem with Insurrection, the Ba-ku are completely unsympathetic and just come off as selfish, and the Enterprise crew only ally with them because "the Prime Directive says they must". I haven't expressed my grievances with the Prime Directive much before, but it really started to get on my nerves in later seasons of TNG as it causes the crew to make some really immoral decisions. Aside from the conceived conflict, though, the main storyline of this movie just isn't interesting. It's a glorified "Fountain Of Youth" tale with not much more. The main crew doesn't get much focus, with a subplot about Riker piloting the Enterprise not amounting for much, and the character interactions devolve into some really bad comedy bits that didn't land for me. Picard has a romantic subplot where he has zero chemistry with his love interest, Data has an intriguing mystery about a malfunction that goes nowhere, and most unforgivably of all, Riker shaves his beard. There was one good character-focused scene in the movie involving Geordi seeing the sun again, but otherwise, hardly any of the writing worked for me.

Star Trek Insurrection feels like the polar opposite of First Contact in many ways. First Contact has a high stakes story that pits the main cast against impossible odds, pushes Picard to the brink, and shows the Borg at their most horrifying and desperate. Insurrection is a boring and badly written moral conflict that feels like it could have been any other episode. First Contact uses its action to show how the characters survive against the Borg, there's only an action scene when the two sides come into conflict. Insurrection, on the other hand, tries to shove in an action scene every 10 minutes for no apparent reason, not to dissimilar from Generations in its attempts to try and prove that it works as a standalone film (it doesn't). Insurrection is stuffed with random shootouts that don't actually progress the plot or any of the character arcs, and it doesn't help that the effects-heavy setpieces ended up looking awful. Similarly to TFF, Industrial Light & Magic left and it shows. The CGI for the spaceships are really rough, the blatantly unfinished final battle uses an unmodified bluescreen on a backdrop, and plenty of effects just look plain bad. First Contact was probably one of the best looking films of the 90s and aged nearly perfectly visually. Insurrection came out 2 years later and yet it looks at least four times as bad, almost Babylon 5 levels of poorly-aged (actually no, that would be doing B5 a serious disservice). Jerry Goldsmith made the score again, poor sap, but even that couldn't save the pretty shoddy production.

I've said this before, but the worst thing a movie can be in my opinion is boring. Star Trek Insurrection isn't awful by any means, but it is painfully boring and mediocre. The effects are shoddy, the action is dull, the main conflict is poorly-done, the comedy is awful, and completely unlike First Contact, there's no reason for it to exist. It doesn't contribute anything of value, it's like staring at a blank screen for two hours.

1/5 Stars

Star Trek Nemesis: I went into Star Trek Nemesis having already known about the film's incredibly troubled production. A director that never saw an episode of Star Trek and didn't care to, a script with no rewrites that ended up getting leaked, a release date aligning with some of the biggest movies of 2002, no wonder it flopped! However, and this might be because I just saw Insurrection, it's not that bad. Nemesis is a mixed bag with some high highs and incredibly low lows, but at least it's not boring.

First, let me talk about the things this movie does well. For starters, it actually feels like a movie, and even with its flaws, it attempts to wrap up The Next Generation's story once and for all. Riker and Troi get married, Data dies, the Romulans reappear, it's not nearly as perfect of an ending as TUC was but it works well enough. The main plot about Picard's clone has flaws that I'll point out later, but it also feels like a story that warrants a feature film, and Tom Hardy (in his first major role, no less) gives a really solid performance as Shinzon. I'd also say the Enterprise crew are far more sympathetic than they were in Insurrection, and the interactions they have with each other during the wedding at the start are really sweet. As a whole, I think this film executes its comedy much better than Insurrection did as well. But I think the best thing about Nemesis is the production. Compared to Insurrection, the effects are mostly really good (still not First Contact caliber though). The green hues give such an early 2000s vibe that has always been appealing to me. The action scenes definitely seem like they have had a lot more work put into them than pretty much any other Trek film, especially the big space battle near the end of the film, which I think might just be the finest action setpiece in all of Trek from what I've seen so far. I will admit not all the action fits all that well (looking at you, dune buggy sequence), but they're all still fun and well-done sequences on its own merits. And of course, Goldsmith is back for the music, and he's great as always.

However, that's where the compliments end, because Nemesis is also an incredibly flawed film. I'm sure you've noticed that I compared it to Insurrection a lot, and that's because if it weren't for that film, I'd probably be a lot less favorable to it. I have a lot of issues with Nemesis, so I'll just list them all out. Picard and Data get an overwhelming focus again, to the point where it feels like the rest of the crew might not exist. Shinzon is an incredibly baffling character who constantly changes motivations, and his similarities to Picard are paper-thin at best. The mind rape scene with Troi was awful and felt like it was just there to make Shinzon feel more evil. The overall storyline borrows a lot from Wrath Of Khan, and Data's death isn't as impactful as it should be because it just feels like a worse version of Spock's death (not unlike Into Darkness). B4's existence felt odd given that he was never mentioned prior to this movie, and it invalidated a large chunk of Data's development. But I think the worst thing of Nemesis is how just much wasn't included. Apparently, there were a lot of character moments and scenes of development that got cut by the director Baird to focus on the action. To put it simply, this film was cut to bits, and it pains me knowing that it could have been much more coherent and fleshed-out than it actually was.

Overall, Star Trek Nemesis is such an odd film because its quality seems to fluctuate at such a rapid pace. The wedding scene, the space battle, the final few scenes, there's some solid stuff in Nemesis, and the effects, acting, and action are generally pretty great. However, it suffers from a plot with so many issues that just layer on top of each other, from its unoriginal ending to the side cast getting shafted to the confounded villain to some really important bits of character development getting completely cut from the film. Nemesis was a fun time, definitely more entertaining than Insurrection, but wow, is it so bad at times.

2/5 Stars

When I watched the Original Series films, I found myself loving almost all of them, and I think I still hold them up as the peak of Star Trek so far. With these Next Generation films, I only really found myself liking one of them. Generations and Nemesis do have their good moments, but First Contact was the only film of the bunch that felt truly well-crafted. I think the biggest problem with these TNG films is that they mostly felt like TV movies. The first six films carved out their own timeline and place in the Star Trek universe, and interconnected incredibly well. TNG's movies didn't feel as well-plotted, especially considering the fact that other Trek series were airing at the time. First Contact was fantastic, easily one of my favorite Trek films that gets better the more I think about it. The rest ranged from flawed to the worst in the franchise.

Overall, my ranking is:

First Contact > Generations > Nemesis > Insurrection

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 7)

After a pretty impressive streak of four strong seasons, The Next Generation had to drop off in quality at some point, and Season 7 is an especially impressive drop off.

Right from the first few episodes, Season 7's overarching theme is pretty apparent (one might even say "a parent"). It's about family, similarly to the start of Season 4. Season 4's family-related episodes paid off backstories and plot threads from earlier seasons, involving Wesley's father, Worf's adoptive parents, and Lore, while also fleshing out the concept of the Enterprise crew being their own unconventional family. Season 7, on the other hand, dealt with the concept a lot more haphazardly. Family members appeared out of nowhere, characters suddenly had tragic backstories, and Star Trek felt oddly like a soap opera at points, with one episode even giving Data temporary amnesia (ugh!). On the other hand, the storylines about saying goodbye to the characters fared much better. You can tell the showrunners knew this was going to be TNG's final season from the very start, since it had this great sense of finality to it. We got an episode about Picard and Crusher's relationship, the last few episodes focused on saying goodbye to all the side characters, and it does explain all the family-related hijinks. It all lead to a pretty great finale that definitely stuck the landing. 

However, when it comes to the standalone episodes, this season lacked the strong consistency of prior seasons. The writing just felt lifeless at times, as if the whole cast and crew was eager and waiting to be done with the show to do. Otherwise interesting concepts were wasted, many episodes were lacking in tension, and what could have been a fun tight caper in Gambit got stretched out to probably the show's weakest two-parter. There were some fantastic episodes here and there, many of which I'll mention below, but the general level of quality aligned more with Seasons 1 & 2. But at least it felt like those seasons were trying as much as they failed, Season 7 just felt bored. Looking at the behind the scenes info on Season 7, it's not hard to see why things didn't go so well. Back in Season 6, the showrunners wanted to shake up the status quo in a big way, from replacing Riker with his clone to destroying the Enterprise, only to be shot down every chance they got. Even more, much of the crew was also working on DS9 and Generations, and the writing staff was limited to a bunch of veterans who were running out of ideas. Once again, this season wasn't awful, but coming after Seasons 3-6, it felt like a big drop in quality.

Still, at its best, Season 7 had some pretty great episodes:

Parallels: Out of weird "space-time-reality manipulation episodes" in The Next Generation, Parallels is probably my favorite of the bunch. I like how the parallel universes continue to layer on top of each other throughout the episode, constantly changing things until we get hundreds of Enterprises in the same space. I especially love how Worf was the main character here. He's normally the focus of some really serious episodes, so I admired that Parallels was much more comedic than his usual material.

The Pegasus: This episode was a pretty neat exploration of Riker as a character, as well as his philosophy on following orders. The mystery of what the Pegasus is was compelling, and the subsequent reveal of Riker's role in it was great. It also addressed the question of why Federation didn't make their own cloaking tech.

Lower Decks: Lower Decks is my favorite episode of TNG, and it came directly after one of the worst. After nearly 10 seasons of countless red shirts dying, we finally get to focus on some of them! This episode does a great job of making you care about these one-off characters, as they all have interesting and entertaining subplots and great banter with each other. I love how, since you're following the perspective of the lower decks, you have no idea what the Enterprise is actually dealing with for a lot of the episode. The writing is witty and funny, which is why it's such a shocking tonal shift when one of said red shirts predictably dies. It's a rare high point in Season 7, an episode that executes its concept perfectly.

Preemptive Strike: One of my favorite plot points from this season was the treaty between the Federation and Cardassians, and this episode reveals that there's a group of Federation citizens called the Maquis that are against the treaty. I'm not a massive Ro fan, but I think she got a fantastic ending here. She never really fit into Starfleet, and her allying with the Maqius and betraying Picard is a perfect end for her character, regardless of whether or not you agree with her actions. I've mentioned many times in my TNG reviews that the Cardassians are my favorite Trek species and one of the reasons is just how well-realized and messy the politics involving them are. This episode leaves you feeling conflicted, and it's all just so grey.

All Good Things: Ah, so this is what a good Star Trek finale looks like. I'm so glad we didn't have a Turnabout Intruder situation this time around. All Good Things is a pretty solid final episode for TNG, it's a well-acted and high stakes time travel caper that explores the crew's past, present, and potential future. I have some gripes with the episode, particularly with how the cast was treated in the future, but between getting to see O'Brien and Tasha again, the resolution of Q's trial, and the final poker table scene, I think this worked really well as a satisfying finale.

At its worst, Season 7 had some truly awful episodes as well:

Sub Rosa: This is why Star Trek shouldn't try to do gothic horror. Sub Rosa definitely has some comedic value in how campy the acting and writing is, but the story itself is just so uncomfortable. Beverly's grandma was in a romance with a ghost? And now the ghost wants to get with Beverly?! And the episode ends with the ghost being depicted in a sympathetic light?!?1 What the hell was this episode?!

Masks: This one wasn't as bad as Sub Rosa. I like that Picard got another chance to show his love for archeology, and there are some interesting concepts here, but Masks slowly devolved into a poorly-acted, horribly-paced, awful dialogue, and incomprehensible episode that was bizarre even by Season 7 standards.

Bloodlines: This episode was probably the worst case of this season's odd habit of randomly shoving in family members we never knew about. Thankfully, Jason isn't actually Picard's son, but that doesn't mean that he wasn't a dull character who the show wanted us to believe was his son. Not to mention this was a Ferengi episode. Need I say more?

Overall, Season 7 was a pretty rough final season. While it had some of the show's best episodes and ended TNG on a nice and satisfying note, the writing lacked energy, the focus on family drama felt soapy, and you can tell the writers were running out of ideas.

2/5 Stars

My ranking of the The Next Generation's seasons is:

6 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 7 > 2 > 1

My ranking of the The Next Generation's finales is:

3 > 4 > 7 > 6 > 5 > 1 > 2

Following the trend of my TOS reviews, my Top 5 episodes of The Next Generation are:

1. Lower Decks
2. Darmok
3. Chain Of Command: Part 2
4. The Best Of Both Worlds: Part 1
5. The Inner Light

And my Top 5 least favorite episodes of The Next Generation are:

1. Shades Of Grey
2. Code Of Honor
3. The Outcast
4. Sub Rosa
5. Angel One

Yuyushiki

My favorite short of Star Wars Visions was The Village Bride by the studio Kinema Citrus. I've never actually seen any of their anime yet, but they made a bunch of really big ones like Made In Abyss, The Rising Of Shield Hero, Is The Order A Rabbit? Of course, I didn't start with any of those anime, I started with their high school slice of life anime: Yuyushiki.

Like many other slice of life anime I've reviewed, Yuyushiki doesn't have much of a plot. It's a show about three girls joining a Data Processing Club only to goof off and do absolutely nothing of value outside of looking up random shit on the club's computer (some of which is shockingly interesting). Where K-On at least had the concerts, and Nichijou had the Nano storyline, there really is no story whatsoever in Yuyushiki. So now you might be wondering what the appeal is in watching a bunch of girls goof off for twelve episodes, and the appeal is purely in the chemistry between the main characters. Yui, Yukari, and Yuzuko have such an amazing dynamic that it elevates the already funny script, and the way the three bounce off each other is so entertaining to watch, even if in the grand scheme of things they fall in the same comic trio format that shows like Nichijou did. The conversations these dorks have range from silly puns to introspective discussions on life itself, and just seeming them interact is a joy to watch. Even during the obligatory "breast talk", the sheer stupidity of these characters (and I mean that in the best way possible) somehow makes it entertaining. These three can talk about paint drying and it would still be a ton of fun. 

While Yuyushiki mostly focuses on its main trio, the few side characters the series has manage to be just as likable. The teacher Yoriko is one of the friendlier teachers I've seen in slice of life anime, and the running gag where everyone calls her mom makes me crack up every single time and I have no idea why. There's also Chiho, who has the closest thing to an actual character arc. She spends the series wanting to get to know the main trio, and slowly becomes more comfortable around them as the series goes on. We also learn that she has her own trio of friends that we get to meet as well. Aside from that, the only other running thread is the fact that a large portion of the cast is really gay for each other. There isn't much of a point to all the unrequited love, it's not like any of it gets paid off, but that doesn't mean watching the characters flirt with each other both jokingly and sincerely isn't simultaneously hilarious and heartwarming. The main trio in particular are so affectionate and flirty that even the background characters start to think they're a polytrio, and given the fact that they repeatedly try to kiss each other throughout the course of the anime, I wouldn't be surprised if they were!

As for the presentation, Yuyushiki boasts a fairly standard moe artstyle. I've said this before, I like these kinds of simplistic, cute, and expressive animation styles, and Yuyushiki's animation does look really fluid, colorful, and cartoonish in spite of its simplistic nature. There's also some elements of the animation that are surprisingly detailed, like how the characters have a different outfit every episode, or the fact that Yui's notebook says Citrus on it. The voice acting might not seem anything outstanding at first glance, but as I mentioned above, this show wouldn't have worked nearly as well if it wasn't for the fantastic chemistry of its cast. Minami Tsuda, Rumi Ookubo, and Risa Taneda do a fantastic job of selling the friendship of the main trio, and some comedic moments (like Yuzuko randomly screaming "SEPTEMBER!!!!") are made even better thanks to the voice acting. The jazzy background music is pretty great and charming too, even if it's not super memorable most of the time, and I love how the OP is actually sung by the main cast of characters. It gives the already banging tune so much more charm. Once again, the presentation of Yuyushiki may seem unremarkable, but it's really well-executed and perfectly suits the anime's low-key nature.

The general episode quality is pretty consistent across the board, so there aren't really any particular standouts (though Episodes 11 & 12 are definitely the anime's best), so instead, here's a list of the random facts I would never have learned if it weren't for this show.

• The sun holds 99.8% of the solar system's mass. Most of the rest is Jupiter.
• The blue whale's heart isn't just the heaviest on the planet, it weighs a whopping 400 pounds.
• Thursday is named after the Norse god Thor (so it basically means Thor's Day).
• There's a protein called Pikachurin, and yes, it is named after the Pokémon.
• And most importantly, SEPTEMBER!!!!

Overall, Yuyushiki isn't anything groundbreaking and I totally get if its lack of plot puts you off, but this is an anime that knows what it is and doesn't try to be anything more. It's a charming slice of life series with a strong central trio and a truly comforting vibe, and it might just brighten up your day.

4/5 Stars

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 6)

After a slight drop in quality in Season 5, The Next Generation recovers almost immediately with what is one of its best and most consistent seasons yet.

Similarly to Season 5, this season doesn't have any major running storylines like the Klingon Civil War. The only unifying factor this season for me was the fact that it seems like Trek as a whole has been getting a lot darker. Episodes like Chain Of Command, Starship Mine, and Face Of The Enemy have the characters go on these really brutal espionage missions, Riker goes through the ringer multiple times, and we even get a crossover with some characters from Deep Space Nine, which is known as one of the darker Trek series. Despite this, TNG does a good job of balancing its tone and not straying too far from its roots, with plenty of funny and lighthearted episodes to balance things out. As for the characters, I actually think the biggest highlight is Troi, who gets to spend a lot more time on the field. I don't want to claim that her job as a counselor isn't important, but it feels like she's more active this season, as shown by the fact that she finally got a Starfleet uniform. I also really liked that Picard gets a few moments to show that the events of The Inner Light changed him given how it wasn't really brought up in the Season 5 finale. And while most of the season is fairly lacking in plot, the finale brings together the Borg and Lore plot threads for a season ender that, while a bit clumsy at points, is dramatic and feels like a much bigger finale than Time's Arrow was.

So Season 6 isn't all that plot heavy, but that's perfectly fine. The real reason why I thought it was such a great season was that it somehow managed to toe the line between experimental and consistent. While there were still a few weak episodes, the general level of quality was stunning for how inventive this season ended up being. We have an action movie (Starship Mine), a "It's A Wonderful Life" homage (Tapestry), multiple mind screw episodes (Ship In A Bottle, Frame Of Mind), a fun time travel romp (Time's Arrow), a nostalgic callback (Relics), and a horror episode (Schisms), and all of them are great! The genre-bending this season is fantastic, and the fact that nearly every episode can feel entirely different from one another is fantastic. My only issue this season is something that had been worsening for a while now, where it feels like the "exploring the unknown" aspect of Trek just hasn't been as prevalent. Instead we got a lot of episodes where the characters have to grapple with some random anomaly. Although, I did like how we started to get more crossovers between the different species, with one episode (The Chase) managing to include Klingons, Cardassians, and Romulans all in the same location. I also feel like the music has gotten a lot worse lately, but it's especially lackluster in this season. As a whole, the production values just feel more television-ish these past two seasons compared to the visually and audibly stunning Season 3.

There were so many fantastic episodes this season, but these were the highlights:

Relics: This is how you do a nostalgic callback! Scotty's reappearance here could have been hollow fanservice, but his character arc of being a relic of the past was not only emotional and affecting, but it gave him more depth than any episode in the Original Series. I cared about Scotty and his struggles, more than I ever cared about him before, and that scene where he generates the original Enterprise in the holodeck absolutely punched me in the gut.

Chain Of Command: While The Next Generation has had a pretty good track record with its double-length episodes so far, I think Chain Of Command might be the best one. Yes, even better than The Best Of Both Worlds, which had a fantastic first half but a slightly weaker second half. There are two separate storylines here, and both of them are fantastic. First, there's the Picard storyline, which starts off as a fun spy movie only for Picard to get the captured. The ensuing torture scene could have been too much, but the acting and banter from Stewart and Warner is just so fantastic, and the brutality on show from the Cardassians solidifies them as my favorite Trek villain to date. Then there's the Jellico storyline which is also fantastic, and probably the best execution of the "replacement captain" trope since The Doomsday Machine. It all leads to an intense and gripping that earns it length.

Ship In The Bottle: This is easily the best Holodeck episode in the series to date, bringing back Moriarty from Season 2's Elementary Dear Data as he attempts to manipulate the crew into freeing him. Similarly to The Matrix and Inception, this episode deals with the fascinating and terrifying question of "what if you were living in a simulation?", and the constant layering of Holodeck simulation over Holodeck simulation pretty much broke my brain by the end of the episode. I loved it!

Tapestry: I feel like homages to It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol pretty much just copy the storyline verbatim, and while Tapestry kinda borrows the main premise, it feels like it tells an entirely new story with an entirely new message. I like the concept of "what if you can change a defining moment in your past?", and the theme that those moments are ultimately what make you who you are. Q and Picard's dynamic throughout the episode is fantastic, and getting to finally see Picard's past after all that foreshadowing was so worth it.

Starship Mine: It's Die Hard on the Enterprise! I loved how the first ten to fifteen minutes of this episode would lead you to believe it's a comedy episode about the Enterprise crew dealing with (*gasp*) small talk, only for Picard to get trapped in the Enterprise with a bunch of space pirates. It was a lot of fun to see Picard kick some ass, and his rapport with the villain was incredibly good. You can tell the writers of this episode loved Die Hard and knew exactly what makes it such a fantastic movie.

Frame Of Mind: Remember that episode of Buffy that posed the possibility that of vampires aren't real and Buffy's just hallucinating? Frame Of Mind does a similar thing, as Riker jumps between the Enterprise and an alien mental asylum in a way that leaves you wondering whether or not he's hallucinating or in captivity. Turns out it's neither... and both! The cinematography and acting from Jonathan Frakes is great, and the psychological horror elements in Frame Of Mind are fantastic. I especially loved the glass effects for whenever Riker escapes a hallucination. 

However, this season also had two pretty weak episodes:

Rascals: This episode just annoyed me. There was no way for me to like an episode where most of the crew gets turned into babies, but the fact that they managed to stop a group of Ferengi in that state solidified it as one of my least favorite TNG episodes.

Aquiel: This was just Galaxy's Child again. It's the exact same episode, Geordi made the exact same mistake!

Overall, Season 6 is definitely one of the best seasons in the series with a strong collection of creative and genre-bending episodes, even if it's held back from being the absolute best due to some rough production values, minimal story, and a general lack of exploration.

5/5 Stars

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 5)

Seasons 3 & 4 of The Next Generation were a big jump in quality for the franchise, and easily ranked as the best and most consistent seasons yet. Season 5, on the other hand, couldn't quite stack up.

Whereas Season 4 went in a more serialized direction with its Klingon story arc, this season feels a bit more like the episodic Trek from prior seasons. I think this was a bit of a shame since the Klingon Civil War that Season 4's finale ended on could have easily worked as a season-long story arc, though the resolution we did get was still satisfying enough. We did get another cliffhanger finale, and while I enjoyed its exploration of Data's mortality and neat twists, I did wish it had a bit more buildup and gravitas. The closest thing we have to a running storyline in Season 5 is the introduction of Ensign Ro Laren, who I thought was alright. She has a solid backstory and the same ambition and gutsiness as Shelby from TBoBW, a character who I really liked. Unlike Shelby, however, I found Ro to be a bit abrasive and unlike the similarly late Pulaski, the season never really gave her time to gel with the rest of the crew. It wasn't until The Next Phase, one of the last episodes of the season, where I felt like the show was actually using the character well. Just as last season's main theme was family, this season's main theme seems to be children. Picard gets over his hatred of kids (multiple times), Worf has to take care of his son, Wesley shows up a few times, and Keiko gives birth. Thankfully, the kid actors never got too overwhelming to drag down the season too much.

In my opinion, Season 5's greatest strength is probably its creativity, as it contains some of the best and most inventive outings in the whole show (Darmok, Cause And Effect, I Borg, and The Inner Light). These are pretty much entirely standalone episodes yet they proved to make just as much as an impact as the continuity-driven stuff if not moreso. I actually think the main reason why I enjoyed this season as much as I did with its flaws was just how fantastic the best episodes were. However, I feel like the writers this season also kinda fumbled one of the things Star Trek tends to do pretty well, and that's the political stuff. Aside from a few exceptions like Darmok, many of the episodes this season that try to convey a certain message end up ranging from tone-deaf (The Outcast) to unsubtle (Violations) to muddled (Ethics). I admire how Star Trek continues to take risks and have these episodes with important themes and messages, but if done poorly, they could end up being some of the worst in the series (The Apple, The Omega Glory). Sadly, Season 5's attempts at delivering messages fall into the latter category more often than not (with one in particular that I'll elaborate on below), and it seriously drags down the season.

As mentioned above, when this season is good, it's freaking amazing:

Darmok: I've always been fascinated with stories about communicating in unconventional ways. The Martian is one of my favorite books ever, Pushing Daisies forces the characters to show their affection for each other without touching, and then of course, there's the fantastic Arrival. Darmok is a fantastic episode about the Enterprise crew trying to communicate with a species that only speaks in references and metaphors. Predictions of internet memes aside, it's a powerful episode that nails how it feels to slowly understand a language. In the start of the episode, the Tamarian language sounds like incomprehensible nonsense, but by the end, you begin to have as much of an understanding as Picard. It's as Star Trek of an episode as you can get.

Unification: As good as The Next Generation has gotten, I still feel like my favorite "era" so far has been the Original Series films. Unification feels a lot like those first six films, and as a whole, it feels like this two-parter was made for me. The first part has a mystery not unlike the great first act of The Menagerie, Sarek gets an emotional final scene with Picard before his death, the aftermath of the Klingon war is briefly explored, Sela is back, the Romulans are fleshed out with a peace-loving faction, it sets up my favorite Trek film (VI), and of course, Spock is back! Sure, one could argue that Unification is just hollow fanservice, but I found it to be a really entertaining adventure on top of the Original Series tributes.

Cause And Effect: It's easily to write this episode off as another Groundhog Day clone... at least until you see when it was made. Cause And Effect was aired in 1992, Groundhog Day aired in 1993. This was a time loop episode before time loops were popularized, and a pretty fun one at that! The opening scene where the Enterprise blows up is a fantastic hook, and I love the directorial choice to shoot each time loop a completely different way rather than reuse footage, as it does a good job of conveying how the crew are growing more aware of their situation.

I, Borg: While I liked the Borg as intimidating villains, they were a bit one-note compared to the Cardassians and Romulans. There's only so much you can do with them after Best Of Both Worlds, so the decision to tell a personal, introspective story with them exploring free will and the consequences of their past actions fits perfectly. I love how each character gets a chance to talk with Hugh, and how they all impact his evolution in their own ways. I love how the crew's past experiences with the Borg aren't forgotten and are used as compelling reasons not to trust Hugh. And I like the idea that Hugh's newfound individualism could somehow spread throughout the Borg.

The Inner Light: The Inner Light isn't my favorite episode of TNG. It's not even my favorite episode of Season 5 (that would be Darmok). However, this is still a fantastic piece of television buoyed by Patrick Stewart's best performance yet and an ending that manages to be both thought-provoking and devastating. There's a lot to this episode, from the fact that Picard lived an entire life and realized how much he truly wants a family, to the reveal that Kataan was dead the whole time, to that amazing final flute solo. 

However, I meant it when I said it was uneven, and there was one episode in particular that I want to single out as awful:

The Outcast: Oh, I have a serious bone to pick with this one. I admire the attempt at making an episode about homosexuality in 1992 and I'll admit the novelty of how the episode somehow works better as a story about trans identity than sexuality, but you can very much tell it was made in the early 90s. I have a laundry list of problems with The Outcast, like how they used the almost cartoonishly straight Riker as the protagonist, or how Soren wasn't played by a male actor, or the show's complete lack of understanding of gender fluidity, or how the main conflict was resolved with conversion therapy, or how it's a science-fiction show that takes place three centuries in the future yet somehow straightness and two genders is just a universal constant?! I want to say the writers behind this episode had good intentions, but you can tell someone in the production wanted to make sure it didn't become "too controversial". TOS wasn't perfect, but with its diverse cast, it tried to be groundbreaking for the time. Playing it safe wasn't in Trek's nature, so it's a shame to see that was the case here.

Overall, Season 5 of TNG is a good season, but it's probably the most uneven of the series to date. It has a great start and a great end, but a fairly shaky middle section. It has some of the best episodes in the whole show, along with some of the worst since Season 2. It can range from incredibly creative to painfully tone-deaf and muddled. At its best, Season 5 has some of the best Star Trek ever, but it's just not consistent enough.

3/5 Stars

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 4)

After the massive jump in quality that marked Season 3, Season 4 does a solid job of continuing that new consistent level of quality, even if that means it's not nearly as big of an improvement as the prior season was.

Season 4 of The Next Generation does something the series has never done to the point: It has a season-wide storyline. Granted, it really only gets a focus in five-ish episodes, but I think it really works for TNG. Season 4 is primarily about Worf as he attempts to reclaim his family honor, while also dealing with his discommendation from the Klingons and the fact that there is a conspiracy involving the one responsible, culminating in the Klingon Empire erupting into a civil war by the finale. Once again, we don't get too many episodes focusing on this Klingon storyline, but the ones we do get are great, and I like that the whole season feels like it's building towards something. Season 4 also feels more thematically cohesive, as many of its episodes focus on family, especially near the start of the season. Data meets his creator, Worf's adoptive parents visit, Picard returns to Earth for an episode, and Tasha's sister shows up. While there's nothing wrong with Trek's prior episodic format, Season 4 sticks out for finally feeling like it was written with its seasonal structure in mind, with a small overarching plot and many of its episodes sharing a common theme.

Season 4 is also, by far, the most character-driven season in TNG up to this point. The season has many minor subplots focused around the cast, like Wesley getting episodes about his father and the Traveler before he finally leaves to Starfleet Academy, Picard dealing with trauma from the Borg, O'Brien getting married as well as a lot more focus, and of course, Worf dealing with his discommendation. Data even gets an entire episode entirely focused around his perspective, and it's nice that this season included a lot of character studies that prioritized fleshing out its cast over a big sci-fi conflict (Family and Data's Day, in particular). However, the focus on the characters does mean that the political side of Trek, something I've always found to be a defining aspect of the series, felt a bit short-changed at times, especially towards the start. Thankfully, the second half of the season does a lot better with the deep moral complexities in episodes like The Wounded, First Contact, and The Drumhead, as well as whenever that main Klingon arc is in focus.

Season 4 has a lot of fantastic episodes, but these were the particular standouts:

Best Of Both Worlds: Part 2: While this episode pales in comparison to the first half and suffers from the infamous Battle Of Wolf 359 taking place off-screen, and I like how its main focus was, above even defeating the Borg, saving Picard no matter what the cost. It was interesting to see the crew operate without their usual captain, and while the ending was fairly happy, I liked that Picard ended up having trauma from the event. Speaking of which... 

Family: Coming off the Best Of Both Worlds two-parter, I liked that we had such a low-key and reflective episode to watch the characters (especially Picard) deal with what just happened. Nothing really happens in Family, there's pretty much no sci-fi in sight, but it works so well and runs the emotional gamut. Worf's parents subplot is incredibly heartwarming, Picard breaking down in the mud is heartwrenching thanks to Stewart's performance, and Dr Crusher's message feels somewhere in the middle. I loved how Family focuses solely on the characters and nothing else, and its bold direction made for one of my favorite episodes to date.

Reunion: I've always loved the Klingon episodes, but this was easily the best one to date. Building off of Sins Of The Father, we get to see how Klingon politics in a conspiracy storyline, and many of the mysteries from that episode are resolved. The entire final ten minutes was phenomenal, from K'Ehleyr's death, to Worf's fight with Duras, to his controversial decision that leaves him permanently stripped of his honor, to the brief return of his adoptive parents. 

The Wounded: It's always a risk for Trek to introduce a new species. You could strike gold like with the Borg, or completely fall on your face like with the Ferengi. Thankfully, the introduction of the Cardassians falls into the former. They're a cool species with a neat design and lots of fascinating history with the Federation. I love how flawed everyone involved was in this one. Maxwell was absolutely in the wrong about slaughtering Cardassians, yet he was right about them plotting war. It's such an uncomfortable episode to watch, and a killer debut for the Cardassians. All the added depth for the otherwise shafted O'Brien definitely helped.

First Contact: This was a really thought-provoking episode, that feels like Who Watches The Watchers but done even better. It was creative to see the whole episode through the eyes of a probably one-off alien race, as well as how Picard's usual First Contact strategy could backfire by scaring a species out of space travel all together. The real genius, however, is though the alien race of the Malcorians can very easily parallel our own species, and this episode poses the question of if the human race is truly ready for an encounter with alien lifeforms, not just technology-wise, but if we would end up devolving into paranoia and xenophobia .

The Drumhead: Another solid entry in the overarching story, The Drumhead feels like a follow-up to "Coming Of Age", similarly involving an overzealous Starfleet investigator using previous episodes in the series against Picard. Similarly to Reunion and Redemption, this episode does a good job of fleshing out the politics of Trek's universe, Satie is an interesting and ultimately tragic character, and I like how Picard proves his innocence not with a big dramatic speech but with a calm quote that triggers Satie's fanatacism.

Redemption: While not as tense and shocking as Best Of Both Worlds, this is another really strong finale thanks to all the buildup throughout the season. The reveal that the Duras are allied with the Romulans, Worf regaining his family honor, the beginning of the Klingon civil war, the payoff from pretty much every single Klingon episode up to this point is fantastic. The Tasha Yar cliffhanger isn't as good as BoBW, once again, but it's a neat twist that I can imagine left a lot of people stunned.

As usual, there is also a particularly weak episode this season: 

Galaxy's Child: This episode seriously damaged my perception of Geordi as a character. He was one of my favorites back in Season 1, but his actions towards the real Dr Brahms were creepy and his apology was just as bad.

Overall, Season 4 just feels like more of what made Season 3 so great. It's not a massive leap in quality, but the greater focus on character and stronger plotting feels like a further refinement of TNG's formula.

4/5 Stars

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 3)

Through the last five seasons of Trek I've seen, one thing I realized is that this show is not consistent at all. The same season that has greats like The Doomsday Machine and The Trouble With Tribbles can also have episodes like The Omega Glory. The Enterprise Incident, one of the best of its respective seasons, can come right in between two of the worst. And then we have this season, a massive shift in the quality of Star Trek as a whole. Not only is Season 3 of TNG consistent, it's consistently great!

Right from the very first episode of Season 3, you can tell that the show finally got its stuff together. Beverly Crusher is back, the production values and lighting are fantastic, and there's a sense of confidence unlike anything I've seen from a season of Trek so far. The show's new executive producer, Michael Pillar, had this writing philosophy that "Every episode is going to be about a characters growth. And every episode has to be about something", and I think it perfectly encapsulates why the season ended up so consistently strong. It meant that nearly every episode felt like it had a lot of depth, with characters constantly developing throughout the season and many deep themes being explored in interesting ways. Even the lighthearted Deja Q followed this rule, developing Q himself and exploring the human condition, and it was all the better for it. I was also impressed with just how willing this season was to get dark, and end its episodes on some really heartbreaking endings. The Survivors was especially shocking, with its ending twist being genuinely sickening, but there was also The Defector, The Offspring, and of course, the finale Best Of Both Worlds.

Speaking of which, Season 3 was pretty good on a plot level too. Outside of Q Who, Season 2 didn't do too much with the show's running plot threads and characters. This season, on the other hand, is a completely different story. The Romulans get multiple fantastic episodes to shine after being gone for most of Season 2, Guinan and her unknown powers also get a lot more screentime, and the Borg finally starts going after the Federation. Best of all, though, Season 3 shows a willingness to break outside of the episodic reset-button format we've known Trek for. Worf gets shunned by the Klingons and it sticks, and the season ends with the mother of all cliffhangers, a big shift from Trek's finales mostly feeling like standard episodes. Granted, this wasn't a perfect season. Despite the consistency, it still had some noticeably weak episodes, some of which reek of sexism, but otherwise, this season felt like a big step forward in quality not just for The Next Generation but for Trek as a whole.

This season had a lot of great episodes worth noting, but these were the highlights:

The Survivors: This episode absolutely stunned me when I first watched and out of all the episodes this season, it definitely stuck with me the most (aside from the finale but we'll get to that). For its first two thirds, The Survivors is a really solid horror episode with an eerie setting, a haunting Troi subplot, and just enough cute character interactions to prevent things from getting too dark. And then the ending happens, and we learn that "Kevin" committed instantaneous genocide on a race of 50 billion aliens. It's a shocking, heartbreaking twist that felt nearly sickening, but it's a twist so gutsy that I have a lot of respect to the writers for putting it in Trek.

The Enemy/The Defector: I like to group these two episodes together because they're both equally fantastic Romulan-related episodes that both give the species a lot more depth outside of just hating humans. The former partners Geordi up with a Romulan and forces them to get along, and their dynamic is just fascinating. The Defector is much darker and packs one of the most heartwrenching endings out of any Trek episode to date, at least rivaling The Survivors.

Deja Q: I'm surprised how much I've been enjoying Q's recent episodes given how much I despised him at the start of Season 1. It's probably because they made him more realistic. He's not a "goofy, mystical wizard" anymore. Q Who made Q a genuine threat, and this episode depowered him to actually give the character some interesting development. As a whole, it was a lot of fun to see Q deal with being human, but it wasn't just a comedy episode. I was impressed with Q's character arc here as well as the exploration of what it means to be human.

Yesterday's Enterprise: While I think "Mirror, Mirror" was a better Alternate Universe episode for its high stakes, Yesterday's Enterprise works more as a big farewell to Tasha Yar. Tasha finally gets an episode that explores her a bit, lets her go out on her own terms, and allows Denise Crosby to give her best performance in the series. I'll always advocate for Skin Of Evil for the sheer impact alone, but let's face it, this episode was a much better farewell to the character.

Sins Of The Father: I actually really liked the first third of the episode, a hilariously awkward sequel to Matter Of Honor that had the crew deal with having a Klingon first officer. However, once said officer is revealed to be Worf's brother, this episode becomes absolutely fantastic. We get a lot more worldbuilding for the Klingons, an exploration of Worf's past, and the shocking ending that had Worf shunned from the Klingons... and didn't get immediately reversed at the last second!

The Most Toys: Saul Rubinek's slimy performance as Fajo absolutely made this episode for me. He was absolutely fantastic here, and played off of Brent Spiner really well. The whole episode was yet another strong exploration of Data's humanity, or lack thereof, and the incredibly dark final act ended The Most Toys on a strong note.

Sarek: This was just a really well-done episode. I liked the mystery in the first third about why everyone is randomly starting fights, it was great to get to see Sarek again, and the core theme of declining health is heart-breaking, especially when you realize who this episode was really about (Gene Roddenberry's health was declining when this episode was being made). The highlight of the episode for me was Picard after mind-melding, revealing all of Sarek's buried emotions and regrets, and is quite possibly the most well-acted scene in the series to date thanks to Patrick Stewart.

The Best Of Both Worlds: It's not a secret that I adore season finales, and how they can juggle character development, payoff, crazy twists, and cliffhangers in equal measure. TBoBW is the start of season finales as we know them, it's one of the most influential episodes in TV history, and still packs in one of the greatest cliffhangers I've ever seen. It offers a great character arc for Riker finally exploring why he stays on the Enterprise, it offers a payoff to the setup in Q Who by having the crew face off against the Borg, it offers a crazy twist by having Picard be assimilated, and it offers a medium-defining cliffhanger where Riker orders Worf to fire on their own captain (not to mention the fact that at the time, no one knew if Stewart would be staying on the show). It doesn't even matter that this is the first half of a two-parter, it's a fantastic story where everything meshes perfectly together. The action, writing, acting, it's all nearly flawless. It's kinda funny how the worst season finale ever made could come right before one of the greatest and most influential.

While most of the episodes this season were at the very least good, there still was one pretty big weakpoint:

Menage A Troi: Look, I like Lwaxanna Troi. She's a funny character, and Majel Barrett plays her fantastically. And I liked some parts of this manic episode, like Picard reading Shakespeare. But overall, it felt like TNG at its worst. The Ferengi were annoying, Wesley got held back from Starfleet Academy again (poor kid), and this otherwise comedic episode takes an abrupt turn into seriousness when Lwaxanna almost gets sexually assaulted? I mean, this episode was already fairly sexist, but was that supposed to be a joke?! Attempted rape isn't funny!

Overall, Season 3 was a massive leap in quality for the Next Generation. It's confident, mature, and consistently great, and it really feels like the series has finally found its groove. Add in one of the most influential season finales of all time, and this is easily the best Trek season to date.

5/5 Stars

Squid Game (Season 1)

When I first heard about Squid Game, I thought Splatoon was finally getting the love and respect it truly deserved. Turns out it's just the new big Netflix series. I originally passed it by, thinking it was just gonna be a fad for like a week, but this is one of the, if not the most viewed Netflix series ever! I knew I had to see what all the buzz is about.

Squid Game is a Korean television series about 456 people who are severely in debt being forced into a contest where they play a bunch of games to earn a massive amount of cash. The twist: These games are terrifyingly deadly variations on well-known children's games like Red Light, Green Light and Marbles. It's a pretty cool premise that leads to some fantastic and terrifying sequences, while also being a commentary on social inequality in South Korea (between this and Parasite, I'm assuming it's a really serious issue there), along with reality TV shows in general. The characters are all likable and fun to watch, making the scenes where they're in danger incredibly tense and compelling. There's an intriguing mystery about who's running the games, and many of the characters and storylines do have really strong endings, ranging from satisfying to heartwrenching. It could have easily been a really solid six-to-seven-episode-long miniseries.

However, Squid Game isn't a miniseries, it's a nine-episode-long first season, which leads to what I think is the show's biggest weakness: It's pacing. With nine episodes and only six games, this series can feel really drawn out at times. Episode 3 has a fairly long segment about sneaking into the bathroom, Episode 5 is almost entirely focused a subplot about an organ doctor that doesn't really have much of an impact on the series as a whole, Episode 7 focuses a lot on these VIPs that could have been a good idea if they weren't so poorly-acted, and by the time the big final battle ends, there's still 30 minutes left in the final episode (not unlike Return Of The King). Speaking of the ending, that's another thing I didn't quite love. The twists about Il-nam and In-ho weren't explained the best, but I'm mostly fine with what we got in that regard. My real problem with the ending was the fact that it ended on a cliffhanger. Normally, I'd be happy to get a Season 2 for a show, but Squid Game feels like it could've worked so much better on its own. The whole final thirty minutes felt like a tacked-on setup for a Season 2 that just wasn't necessary at all, and it's hard to imagine the series going on now that nearly the whole cast is dead (especially Sae-byeok, she was the best one!).

Aside from the premise, I think the reason why Squid Game became such a massive hit is the show's tone and presentation. Squid Game is a really offbeat series, juxtaposing its gruesome deaths and scary premise with a surprising amount of black comedy. I was surprised at how much this series made me laugh, not to mention what it made me laugh at. The presentation also heightens this surreal vibe, with inventive camera angles, and colorful pastel aesthetics. The set design is a particular highlight for me. The imagery of the MC Escher staircase, the giant playgrounds, the huge skyscraper for the third game, it's all really striking and memorable. I also really liked Squid Game's music, striking the perfect balance between unnerving and weird, and genuinely great. It even used Fly Me To The Moon in some pretty fantastic ways (though it hurts that Netflix didn't buy the rights for NGE).

I'm not even going to hint at it this time. If you've seen the show, you know which two episodes made the biggest impact:

Red Light, Green Light: Out of all the games, I still think the Red Light, Green Light one was the best of the six, and not even because of the novelty. The creepy giant doll, the usage of Fly Me To The Moon, the incredibly tense action, the hidden gun shots, it really felt like the show's premise of "creepy children's games" taken to its fullest potential.

Gganbu: Sure, it's not as flashy as some of the other games, but in terms of sheer emotional impact, the game of Marbles is easily one of the season's best. The bait-and-switch reveal that the partners have to fight each other, and the looming fact that at least three major protagonists were going to had to die made this a heartwrenching and memorable point in the series.

Overall, Squid Game is a really solid show, and I definitely got why it's so popular. The characters are great, the premise is cool, and the set design and presentation is immaculate. However, it's by no means perfect, suffering from some drawn out pacing and a shaky ending that set up a second season that the show just didn't need. 

3/5 Stars

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 2)

The Next Generation had a bit of a rough start with its first season, but it showed a lot of potential to be even greater than The Original Series. While Season 2 has the series slowly begin to improve, there are still some kinks that need to be ironed out:

Season 2 makes a lot of big changes in its first episode. Dr Crusher left the show, we get two new characters, Geordi and Worf are promoted, and biggest of all, Riker grows a beard. That last point is particularly important because it shows just how much of an improvement Season 2 is on the original, primarily due to a stronger understanding of who the characters really are. Riker doesn't just feel like a Kirk clone anymore, he's a really interesting and likable character now, and that applies to a lot of the cast. Data is still the highlight, but now he gets a lot of thought-provoking and existential nature exploring his android nature. It also helps that the chemistry between the cast has much improved, and we get a lot more scenes of the characters just hanging out and interacting. The new characters are a bit of a mixed bag, though. Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan is awesome and a joy to watch, but Dr Crusher's replacement, Dr Pulaski, just feels like a Bones clone who's worse in every single way. As for the general story, this season introduces the Borg, which was that looming threat responsible for a lot of Season 1 events. The Borg may have only appeared in one episode so far, but they're cold and terrifying antagonists unlike anything seen in Star Trek, and their appearance does a lot to solidify The Next Generation as its own thing.

However, while this season is by all accounts an improvement over the first, it was severely hurt by the season's troubled production. The biggest issue was obviously the Writer's Guide Strike of 1998, which also affected Season 1's finale but to a much lesser degree. The season was originally supposed to start with a mini arc about the Federation and Romulans teaming up to fight the Borg, but it was replaced with a reused script from a canceled sequel series to TOS. That really could have been an awesome start to the season that built on Season 1's loose ends, but we ended up getting a pretty weak start to the season. This season also suffered from budgetary problems, as Paramount changed the way budgeting would work, leading to the season ending with a clip show rather than an actual finale. As much of a hodgepodge as The Neutral Zone was, at least that felt like a season ender, Season 2's clip show finale couldn't even do that. Not to mention all the behind the scenes drama along with Beverly Crusher being replaced by the much worse Pulaski, leading to a season that feels like it wasn't given the chance to reach its full potential. There are some great episodes here, much better than the high points in Season 1, but as a whole, this season ended up feeling less than the sum of its parts.

There were some really fantastic episodes in Season 2, far better than the best of Season 1:

Matter Of Honor: I really like TNG's dual storyline format, but I won't deny that sometimes, the two storylines don't fit together all that well. This is not the case with Matter Of Honor, a fantastic episode that explores the importance of understanding and accommodating other cultures. The highlight is definitely Riker's subplot where he has to be a first officer on a Klingon ship. It really lets us learn more about the Klingon culture and solidified Riker as a genuinely great character.

The Measure Of A Man: This isn't just a good episode of a Star Trek, it's a good episode of science fiction television. The central themes about bodily autonomy, slavery, what counts as a man, and robots in general are all well-explored and applicable to real life in their own ways. However, The Measure Of A Man is also a personal and tense story about how much the crew cares for Data, and a phenomenal showcase of Patrick Stewart's acting that proves Captain Picard worthy of the title.

Q Who: I wasn't a fan of Q back in Season 1, but his sole appearance this season was great. He went from a goofy annoyance to a genuine threat, and the reveal that he knows Guinan adds a really intriguing mystery that I hope gets resolved. And of course, as mentioned above, the Borg's first appearance was absolutely fantastic and allowed for one of TNG's most tense episodes yet. Just like last season's Conspiracy, this also would have been a much better finale than the one we actually got.

However, there were also some serious low points this season as well:

The Outrageous Okona: And I thought Mudd was bad! This episode really tries to make Okona seem like a lovable rogue but he's just a sleazy creep. Data's comedy subplot could have redeemed the episode, but wow, were those jokes bad (and this is coming from someone who likes cheesy puns). The real comedy was just how poorly-executed this episode was.

Up The Long Ladder: This was just not a fun episode at all. The clone storyline was scientifically confusing even by Trek standards, and those stereotypical Irish characters were painfully uncomfortable.

Shades Of Grey: I'm not as harsh on clip shows as a lot of people. If you can pick some great clips, reorganize them in some creative ways, or play with the format (like Korra's clip show episode), they can be really fun. However, Shades Of Grey doesn't do this. Its premise of Riker getting infected isn't fun to watch, and the clips it chose are from some of the worst episodes. But it's one thing to have a bad clip show episode, it's another thing for that clip show episode to be a season finale. Look, I get the crew had budget issues and only three days to shoot the episode, but they really chose the least interesting premise here. Frasier's first season finale was a bottle episode, entirely focused on the characters reflecting on their lives. Why couldn't we have something like that? Hell, we could've gotten a 45-minute-long poker game within the case and it would've been an infinitely more enjoyable finale than this one. Instead, the entire episode is the cast standing around the medbay intercut with poorly-chosen Riker clips. It's not a reflection on the characters, or a mission statement for the show, or anything meaningful, Shades Of Grey is just filler, and a horrific way to end the season. This episode alone dropped a point from this season for me.

Overall, Season 2 is definitely an improvement on the first, with a stronger grasp on its characters, more creative episodes, and the introduction of a great new villain. However, it suffered heavily from its troubled production, Dr Pulaski sucks, and the final episode was an absolute embarrassment, so there's still a lot of room to improve ever further.

2/5 Stars

Metroid Dread (And Why I Love It)

As a pretty big Metroid fan, it's needless for me to say that the announcement of Metroid Dread had me shocked. This type of thing rarely happens, a video game company revived a game they cancelled over a decade ago due to the belief that they finally had the technology to bring to life. It's a big moment in video game history, in my opinion, and Dread immediately became my most anticipated game of the year. So did it live up to my lofty expectations? No. It surpassed them.

Story: One of my biggest fears going into Metroid Dread was how they would handle the story, though not for the obvious reason. Sure, Metroid Other M was divisive, but the 2D games typically had fantastic stories, especially Super and Fusion. No, I was worried because of the claim that this would be "the end of the Metroid saga". So not only did this game start development over 15 years ago, but now it's going to wrap up a story that has been going on for even longer? It's already hard to nail an ending, but Dread had a really tough task ahead of it. Thankfully, Dread's story is fantastic and easily one of the series's best. It perfectly strikes a balance between not too overwhelming and restricting like Other M while still having a lot to sink your teeth into, and it resolves a lot of the series's biggest plot threads on a really satisfying note. The Chozo lore does a great job of tying the events of the series together, the return of the X parasites was incredibly well-implemented, and the ending (where Samus essentially becomes a Metroid) is pretty much exactly what I wanted from a sequel to Fusion. Seriously, Dread picks up where Fusion left off as if no time has passed at all, it's truly impressive. I was surprised at how the story actually managed to include some genuinely emotional moments without completely damaging Samus's character in the process (looking at you, Other M). Speaking of which, Samus's characterization in Dread is fantastic. It really feels like MercurySteam gets the character. She's badass and stoic, sure, but not unemotional. In Dread, the giant monsters and eerie EMMIs she fights don't seem to phase her at all, but once she gets the chance to turn the tide, she does so with the utmost confident. Samus says one sentence in the entire game, yet her body language is so emotive, it's so good!

Gameplay: If I can sum up Metroid Dread's gameplay in one word, it's smooth. The controls in this game are insanely responsive and feel great. Compared to Super Metroid's clunky jumping and Samus Returns's stop-and-go gameplay, Dread feels absolutely fantastic to play. I think what makes the gameplay so great is how easy it is to keep your momentum. The game adds a slide move allowing you to roll into a morphball when on the move, it lets you dash while parrying, and streamlines the way Aeion works. I'm glad the controls feel this good because of the inclusion of the EMMIs, those invincible robots that will relentlessly chase you. The EMMI chases perfectly toe the line between terrifying and fun, since the fluid and varied moveset gives you a lot of way to try and evade them. I also found myself loving the combat in Dread, which is impressive given I never loved Metroid combat. I've elaborate more in the boss fights section, but to sum it up, dodging attacks is fluid and fun and there are a lot of ways to tackle enemies and bosses. The amount of items and upgrades in Dread is insane, it's as if MercurySteam squeezed in damn near every single item in the series while finding ways for you to chain them together in ways that benefit both combat and platforming. As a whole, every single facet of Dread just feels good to play, and while I'd say this is one of the harder Metroid games, not a single death felt like my fault.

Level Design & Pacing: With Samus Returns being a port, MercurySteam never really got the chance to show off their level design chops. Thankfully, they more than proved themselves with Dread, this is an elegantly-designed game with environmental design on par with Super Metroid (and if you've seen my review of that game, that's a very high bar). Dread doesn't have any waypoints to show you where to go, it doesn't have any linear rooms like Fusion either, this is an open metroidvania world that shows you where to go solely through the level design itself. I never ended up feeling lost because the level design expertly directs you where you need to go, which is doubly impressive given that this is the first Metroid game where you can permanently change the layout of the map. Every single platform in Dread feels purposefully placed, and I can tell there's a lot of thought put into this game's world. The pacing is also fantastic, as the game constantly throws new enemy types, bosses, setpieces, and items at you. It rarely feels like Dread drags on, the game packs in enough content to fit twice its length without feeling rushed or undercooked. I also like how Dread starts off fairly linear only to slowly open up throughout the game, once again not unlike Super Metroid. I'm not a fan of speedrunning and sequence breaking, but from what I've seen, Dread also has a lot of deliberate opportunities to do so, which makes me very excited to see what people can come up with.

Boss Fights: I've always had a big issue with Metroid's boss fights and that's just how hard it is to avoid taking damage. Samus tends to take up a large part of the screen, and the attacks just don't really seem to accommodate for that, especially in the GBA games (though that's mostly due to screen crunch). Metroid Dread, however, makes a point of stating that every single attack in the game is avoidable. Not to say that the boss fights aren't hard, because they definitely are. As a matter of fact, Dread probably has one of the toughest lineups of boss fights in the series (outside of Prime 2, of course). However, as hard as the fights are, every attack is avoidable. Between the smooth gameplay and well-done attacks, it never feels like my deaths aren't my fault during these fights. Even more, the fights themselves are generally fantastic, especially the major ones. Bosses like Corpius, Kraid, and Experiment Z-57 have multiple phases, plenty of ways to effectively defeat them, and a lot of fun attacks to dodge. I especially love how the opening cutscene before each battle subtly shows you how to take them down, so you don't have to frantically shuffle through your weapons and options until you find something that works. I think Fusion still has the best boss lineup as a whole, since Dread does reuse fights fairly frequently, but it's definitely still up there.

Art Direction & UI: Metroid games tend to be some of the nicest-looking games on their respective systems (it's still hard for me to believe Prime is a GameCube game), and Dread is no exception, especially in terms of its astonishing art direction. The environmental design, especially the background, is so detailed, the animations for all the characters (especially Samus) are fluid and dynamic, and the lighting system is so striking. I love how each location has its own color scheme, how the foreground becomes darker so that the background can pop out more, the fuzzy static texture during the EMMI sections, the terrifying designs of the enemies and bosses, and the incredibly badass cutscenes that show off Samus's personality in full-force. The framerate is also a smooth 60fps with rarely any drops, which helps the gameplay feel that much more fluid. The UI is also pretty great, especially the incredibly detailed map screen that feels like a nice blend between the previous 2D map screens and the ones from the Prime games. The soundtrack isn't one of the series' best, and doesn't hold a candle to any of Yamamoto's scores (Super, the Prime games), but I still found it to be pretty solid. I'd definitely rank it over Fusion, Samus Returns, and Other M on the music front. The dark and moody ambiance works really well to heighten the game's eerie tone, and there was a nice balance of great remixes (Theme Of Super Metroid, Lower Brinstar) and solid original themes (Corpius, Artaria, Burenia). As a whole, Metroid Dread's presentation is top-notch, and I can easily say this is the best-looking game in the series.

Overall, Metroid Dread is a phenomenal Metroid game, taking the best aspect of all the previous 2D entries and blending them together perfectly. It has the setpieces and horror of Fusion, the openness and strong level design of Super, the great combat and style of Samus Returns, and the smooth movement and speedrun-friendly design of Zero Mission. It looks great, plays great, and exudes confidence in its level design, story, and boss fights. In an era with phenomenal metroidvanias like Hollow Knight, Luna Nights, Ori, and Axiom Verge, Metroid Dread shows just why the series remains the queen of the genre. While I still think Prime is my favorite even with its flaws, Dread is far and way the best 2D entry in the series and I couldn't be more happy it exists. It's everything I wanted from a Fusion sequel and more.

5/5 Stars

Update: It's been almost three years since Metroid Dread came out and I have pretty much the same exact thoughts on it. From the movement, to the level design, to the story, to the boss fights, to the art direction, Dread still stands out my favorite 2D Metroid game on pretty much every level. I'll be using this post for the Top 100 Games list since I feel everything on here holds true. The fact that Metroid Dread even exists and is as good as it is still feels like an absolute miracle, and I will always love it dearly.

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 1)

Star Trek's first ever season, Season 1 of The Original Series, was fantastic. The show really hit the ground running and delivered probably one of the best seasons of 60s TV. The sequel series, The Next Generation, despite being made two decades late, struggles to reach such a high bar.

Star Trek: The Next Generation has pretty much the same premise as The Original Series: The new crew of the new Enterprise go on an expedition to seek out new life, explore the galaxy, and boldly go where no one's gone before. Despite the similar main premise, there are quite a few things TNG does differently, and dare I say better. TOS felt like an anthology series that lost all sense of continuity by Season 2. TNG is still episodic and lacks an overarching story arc for the season, but there is a much stronger sense of continuity here, along with a bunch of running storylines like the looming Romulan threat, a Federation conspiracy, and Wesley rising up the ranks. We have reoccurring species and characters, character arcs and backstories, and genuine shifts to the status quo. This kind of continuity would never have been seen TOS, and I like it a lot. It feels like the series is evolving and that events matter and have an impact, while still not transforming into a strictly serialized story. TNG also does a much better job of giving all of its cast equal screentime. There's no "core trio" this time, rather a large ensemble that all gets their episodes that focus on them. I found myself liking a large portion of the cast, but the highlights ended up being Data and Geordi, the former due to Brent Spiner's fantastic and hilarious performance and the latter for just being so damn likable. I know Wesley Crusher is divisive and while I don't love him, I was pretty impressed with how much development he got throughout the season. 

However, Season 1 of TOS this is not. Despite the positive changes, The Next Generation gets off to a much rougher start. For starters, it takes a while for the cast to really ease into their roles, and the early episodes can be especially awkward. But that's an issue most shows have. Where Season 1 of TNG really suffers is in its episodic stories, many of which showcase a lack of originality or a waste of potential. There are plenty of episodes that feel ripped straight out of The Original Series, without quite understanding why they worked. For example, The Naked Now was a copy of one of my favorite TOS episodes, but the premise of the characters acting unlike themselves doesn't work when it's the second episode of the series. And while all that great world-building and serialization feels cool in theory, some of the storylines (like the Ferengi ones) just aren't all that good. Thankfully, the season does slowly improve over time, but it never reached the heights of TOS's first season, or really came anywhere close. I also wanted to briefly talk about the presentation. The effects can be hit or miss, with some really great CGI for the Enterprise yet plenty of bad one-off effects on the level of TOS. The music, on the other hand, is fantastic. It was such a pleasant surprise to find that the main theme of TMP, my favorite piece of Trek music (at least so far), became TNG's main theme as well. The ethereal background music is also pretty good and gives the series a unique vibe.

With its greater sense of continuity, I'm not going to review every single episode like with The Original Series. I'm sticking with the highlights of each season, as I usually do. Not that there were many in the case of Season 1:

Coming Of Age: I can't even begin to express how much I enjoyed this episode, it's so low stakes and character-driven. Wesley's Starfleet exam subplot gave him a lot of depth and added some more Starfleet lore. The Remmick subplot not only really solidified how close the cast is to each other, but it showed just how continuity-driven TNG is compared to TOS by calling back nearly every prior episode and setting up the events of Conspiracy. It helps that this is the point that the season becomes genuinely solid.

Skin Of Evil: I can imagine how divisive Tasha Yar's death must have been, but I think it works to really differentiate this series from TOS. Until this point, the only characters who ever died in Star Trek are the redshirts (and Spock but he came back to life), so a major character dying is shocking. As much as I wish Tasha got more focus, her death and funeral were well-executed and the episode itself was built around it in an interesting way.

Conspiracy: This was by far the best episode of the whole season. It's a dark and suspenseful slow-burn that pays off the plot threads laid out in Coming Of Age. It's shocking just how gory Conspiracy is, and granted the effects aren't all fantastic, but it's a kind of intensity that we haven't really seen in Trek yet and that I'd love to see more of (though maybe with less gross chestbusters?). I think this episode could have worked as a great Season 1 finale between the titular conspiracy, Remmick's death, and the cliffhanger, though the one we got was alright too. 

I also wanted to touch on the worst episodes of the season as well, such as:

Code Of Honor: An already bad episode made even worse by the painfully racist casting decisions. Let's just pretend this one never happened, shall we?

Justice: This felt like a TOS in the worst possible way. Confusing exploration of the Prime Directive, awful costumes, and the sex-driven planet just felt too goofy.

Angel One: Geordi in command was adorable, but it couldn't save an otherwise sexist episode that made some of the most tone-deaf storytelling decisions in the whole season, which is saying something!

Too Short A Season: Whoever thought to hire a 30-year-old to play an elderly person should have been fired. The bad makeup and awful acting almost distracted me from how stupid the Fountain Of Youth plot was.

Overall, the first season of The Next Generation isn't that great. Despite the greater sense of continuity and larger cast, the show suffers from unoriginal episodic storylines, shaky world-building, unsure character work, and a feeling that the show still feels like it's stuck in the 60s.

1/5 Stars

MCU (Phase 4)

With Phase 4 of the MCU having officially started, it's time I started posting my reviews of the movies as they come out. I have my own individual reviews of the TV shows so I won't include them here:

Black Widow: Black Widow finally gets a movie! This was a decent MCU film that gives Natasha more depth than ever before, exploring her past in some interesting ways. It's obviously a set-up to introduce Yelena as the new Black Widow, and I really enjoyed her. Florence Pugh's acting was great, and Yelena ended up being a super lively and likable character. The villain Dreykov is slimy and despicable like no other MCU villain to date, and he really made me want to punch him in the face. And the action is as solid as it's always been. However, Black Widow suffers from some serious wasted potential. The opening about Natasha and Yelena being sent to the Red Room and sterilized is one of the most haunting scenes in the MCU, but the movie never gets this dark again. There's all these references to Natasha's Budapest mission being this tense, epic, and morally complicated event, but it just sounds like a much more interesting movie than the one we actually got. And then there's the smaller stuff, like Taskmaster's depiction and general lack of screentime, Melina's sudden shift in allegiances, Red Guardian's whole thing about fighting Captain America only to not bring it up during his fight with Taskmaster, the whiplash-inducing tone shift from grounded spy thriller to generic quippy Marvel movie, and the fact that many fight scenes feel like they end way too quickly. There were so many interesting routes this movie could have taken, so much potential and possibility for a different and darker approach to the Marvel Universe, but it just went for the bare minimum, like so much other MCU stuff these days. I don't way to say I hated Black Widow, it was still a very enjoyable film, but it pains me knowing it could have been so much more.

2/5 Stars

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings: Now this is a good MCU movie! I tend to not like the MCU's origin stories due to how formulaic they can get (looking at you Doctor Strange), but Shang-Chi manages to feel oddly fresh. It uses flashbacks to depict Shang-Chi's past, not unlike Deadpool, but I think the flashbacks here are a lot more evenly spaced out so it never feels like the pacing slows to a crawl. The Xu family drama manages to be really compelling, and the characters are all really great. Simu Liu is super charismatic as Shang-Chi and Tony Leung's Wenwu is a fantastic tragic villain, but I liked the whole cast, as well as the cameo appearances from Trevor (Iron Man 3), Wong (Doctor Strange), and that guy who tells Spider-Man to do a flip. I also really liked Shang-Chi's friendship with Katy, it's the kind of supportive platonic relationship that can be just as interesting as your standard romantic subplot. But while the story is already pretty good, Shang-Chi absolutely shines with its action. This film is stuffed to the brim with fantastic fight scenes, all of which are uncharacteristically well-framed with long takes and wide shots so it's never unclear what's going on. Brad Allan has choreographed some of my favorite action films and he did a great job with Shang-Chi, with the fights managing to be both intricate and gripping. The bus fight in particular might just be my new favorite MCU fight, but the beautiful bamboo fight at the start, the tense scaffolding fight, and the multiple battles with Wenwu were also great. Shang-Chi also looks beautiful, especially many of the scenes in Ta Lo, and while it has a big CGI final battle, it's so bombastic and over-the-top that I couldn't help but love it. And if all that wasn't enough, I did really like the soundtrack too. It all adds up to a really strong origin story made even better with some of the best action in the entire MCU. I hope Marvel takes hints from Shang-Chi, this is how you do superhero action.

5/5 Stars

Eternals: Okay, this movie was an absolute mess. It's easily the worst MCU movie to date, and that pains me because I was really looking forward to Zhao's take on the franchise. But before I completely trash on it, I'll start with the positives. Eternals looks really good. Zhao's cinematography is fantastic and her usage of natural locations really adds to the visuals, and the action is shockingly brutal. The characters use their abilities in unique ways and you can feel the impact of their attacks, not unlike the DCEU films. The final battle between the Eternals is legitimately fantastic. I also think the cast is really solid, and hands down the most diverse in the MCU to date. However, that's all I really have to say as far as good things go. Eternals tries to tell a cosmic-scale story in the course of less than three hours and it shows, it's overstuffed as hell. The script is clunky and dull, filled with boring exposition and the characters stating the themes outright. It's filled with telling and not showing, with too many character moments happening off-screen for me to really care about them. Speaking of which, there are too many characters, and I never grew to care about any of them. Cast members come and go, and it doesn't really feel like anyone has arcs. The villains aren't great either, with the Deviants just being CGI fodder for the Eternals to fight in action scenes and nothing more. I think this could have worked leagues better as a TV show, giving its ideas and characters more time to develop, but even with a longer runtime, there are still some very stupid moments (the Hiroshima twist, Sprite's crush, Starfox). But most of all, it still feels like the film is struggling with clashes between Marvel and the director Chloe Zhao. The dull color grading clashes with Zhao's naturalistic aesthetic, the jokes clash with the movie's otherwise serious tone, and you can tell whenever Zhao or Feige has the helm. But worst of all, Eternals is just plain boring. And if you know me, there's nothing worse than a film being boring. I get if you admire its ambition and like it more than MCU films like Black Widow or Ant Man 2 for sheer scale and potential alone, but the fact that much of this movie had me rolling my eyes really hammers home my opinion on it: Interesting ideas, awful execution.

1/5 Stars

Spider Man: No Way Home: No Way Home is a miracle. This movie should not have worked. With all these characters from and references to prior Spiderman films, NWH could have been an overstuffed fanservice-y mess. Instead, it makes pretty much all of the Spider Man movies prior to it even better in retrospect. Tom Holland's Peter Parker completes the arc that was set up by the first two films and accepts the responsibility that comes with being Spider Man, no matter the cost. All five villains have arcs (except maybe The Lizard), with some in particular like Green Goblin and Electro actually being improved in this movie. Willem Dafoe is absolutely terrifying as Osbourne here, and Electro is much more likable now that Jamie Foxx is allowed to just be himself. Of course, we also have Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield back as their respective Spidermen, and they too have arcs that tie up the loose ends left by their movies. Garfield is especially great here, his energetic performance is a testament to how good of a Spider Man he could've been with better writing and directing. But even with all the villains and heroes, NWH makes sure to keep its focus on the MCU cast. Tom Holland is still the main star here, his chemistry with Zendaya's MJ and Jacob Batalon's Ned is still fantastic, and Marisa Tomei's Aunt May gets a lot of moments to shine. The action is fantastic, the comedy is funny, and the emotional moments hit hard. This is a dark film, Peter really suffers in NWH, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I want to wait a bit to see how I feel in a few months, but No Way Home is a shockingly fantastic movie that has easily become one of my favorite MCU films.

5/5 Stars

And this is where my reviews of the MCU movie end. Read this post to get the full story.