The show is hard to defend, in particular if you cherish Star Trek of the past. It's the typical modern/Kurtzman Trek on steroids. The Story is a carbon copy of

The show is hard to defend, in particular if you cherish Star Trek of the past. It's the typical modern/Kurtzman Trek on steroids. The Story is a carbon copy of other things (exploding Moon/Star from Star Trek 6; Android arc, admonition etc from Mass Effect) and frankly doesn't make any sense at the end. Romulans have always been an immensely advanced and powerful race in the canon, yet here they are portrayed helpless. And it's hard to swallow the thinly veiled politics forced down your throat in the first episodes. The relationships between the characters have apparently not been understood by the writers. Do you know the difference between TNG-Picard and movie-picard? TNG-Picard is not there. The first reaction from Riker when reunited is "oh you're in trouble again" - the writers have not seen a single episode of TNG. The relationship between Data and Picard is comically misrepresented although I can see the need for that if they make the Data arc so central. Same for the entire character of 7o9 who had quite a nuanced development during Voyager thanks to the brilliant Jeri Ryan was wasted as a gunslinger. The new characters are a mixed bag. Some of them are good actors and do have worthwhile moments (Jirati, Vash & Siblings), some are undefined and one-dimensional (Narissa, Commodore Oh) and some are cringe-inducing and have no place in a Star Trek universe (Raffi "JL JL JL", Rios). The best new characters Laris and Zhaban are unfortunately only in the first three episodes. A lot of things from the past are thrown around as fan-service. We have a borg arc that goes nowhere, an antique Romulan warbird that simply appears to pew pew and than is never heard of again. We have Picard Maneuver/Stargazer reference, not to forget Hugh, Icheb etc. And the story itself is a backdrop at best. In the finale we have a magic Deus Ex repair device that saves the day. And a grand speech about Data wanting to die because only permanent death makes life worth what it is - and a minute later the writers magically resurrect Picard from the dead. I don't think they see the irony. Also the show has a peculiar affinity for made up words and using them excessively. And everyone really loves motion controls now. And starfleet admirals say "fuck" a lot now. It does have some redeeming qualities though: Seeing the old cast again is nice, at least Riker and Troi are portrayed somewhat believable. I enjoyed the show until the middle but if you're not overly bothered by the things above or don't know any Star Trek maybe it fares better for you.