Star Trek: Picard shouldn't be praised for bringing back fan favorites; just to kill them

Star Trek: Picard was not the masterpiece so many at the moment claimed it to be. While most fans admit the first two seasons were bad, the third season is seen as the show's best. Universally deemed a success. In terms of engagement, excitement, and conversations, yeah, it was. As a piece of fiction that told a compelling story, however, it fell short. The show was a mess, and had it not been for the nostalgia of the Next Generation reunion the third season gave fans, there'd be far less support.

In fact, there are some think pieces that cite Terry Matalas' handling of the final two seasons as a sign that he should take over the franchise, or at the very least get his Star Trek: Legacy show greenlit. Yet, we'd be remiss to not point out that Matatlas and the rest of the showrunners on Picard failed the fans by making fan-favorite characters nothing more than expendable fodder for storyline purposes.

Killing off beloved characters fans wanted to see more of for nothing more than a cheap reaction. One that undercut their importance to the story these characters had or could've had and further limited the number of characters the series could revisit should they want to. It didn't make sense that seven major characters would be killed off, usually in a hastily done manner with little build-up or significance to the plot.

Ro Laren, Icheb, and Elizabeth Shelby were killed off for shock value, especially in Icheb's case, while Bruce Maddox and Hugh needlessly were killed off for the sake of advancing a bad plot. What's worse is that the show brought back characters just to kill them off again.

Data's brother Lore had long been a non-factor, but he was brought back only to be killed off again. Yet, the worst was The Borg Queen, who died a half-dozen times it seemed like before being brought back once again, as a miserable shell of herself. The quiet demise of the greatest villain in Star Trek history was done away with a whimper.

Fans can enjoy whatever they like, but we're of the firm belief that the third season of Picard is going to age poorly and these needless deaths are part of the reason why.