At least it's better than the previous attempts to rip off Wrath of Khan (namely Nemesis and Into Darkness). So far.

The Jack Crusher reveal was really obvious, but I did appreciate that they didn't try to draw it out any longer. If they wanted the reveal to really land it should have come at the end of the first episode, but I guess they felt like they needed it for the plot of this one.

Which is sort of my biggest problem with this episode, that Picard's willingness to hand over Jack Crusher hinges on whether or not he's his father. Moral conviction is practically Picard's defining trait, he'd do what he thought was right, son or no son. Not to mention a tricorder scan could have solved that mystery pretty quickly.

Another thing, seeing how well Jonathan Frakes has jumped back into playing Riker, it sort of begs the question as to why Picard still doesn't quite feel like Picard. He doesn't have he gravitas he used to, and I'm not sure if it's a choice, or if Patrick Stewart is just too old to pull it off.

Well, Stewart is like 12 years older than Frakes (and really everyone else on that TNG cast) and approaching his mid-80s, so I think that part is pretty understandable. Not everybody ages as well as, say, William Shatner.

As far as the episode itself, I tend to agree. It's not like it was bad, but it just didn't really hit overall for me (outside of Worf's entrance). Still hoping that the good critical reviews were for a reason, though, and that reason may come later.

Now they're mining DS9 for villains. Rogue founders? Jesus. And the whole Riker and Picard turning on each other bit was frankly hard to stomach. How does the guy who defeated the Borg suddenly turn into a pussy? Give me a break.

The best part of the show was Worf. Damn, they should have given him his own show.

I actually liked it more than the previous two episodes, particularly the early Picard/Riker flashback and the Picard/Beverley scene. Stewart gave a great performance in the latter, certainly one of his best scenes as Picard since he returned to play him. The changelings are also a more than worthy adversary that have gone untouched by Trek since the end of DS9 (and it would hardly surprise if Lore was somehow involved with them). I'm still interested in seeing where this goes.

I have to admit, the DS9 fan service worked on me. Even just hearing Worf say "House of Martok" and "slayer of Gowron".

But the Picard/Riker conflict bothered me too. The Roddenberry no-conflict rule is sort of ridiculous, but it did force the writers back on TNG to be more creative than having the main characters yell at each other. Especially since their positions seem backward, you'd expect Riker to want to attack and Picard to be more careful. Maybe that's the intention, to show that the characters have changed?

But the thing that bothered me the most was Riker's line at the end, "you've killed us all". I think I physically cringed. It was inappropriately vitriolic, unfair and waaaaaaay out of character.

Man, I didn't even recognize Gates McFadden at first. That's gotta be some plastic surgery right? Not that I care, but that was just weird. She kinda had that Borg queen smoothface thing going on.

Fucking Worf. Did not expect that. That was a badass intro. Especially beheading the dirty little Ferengi.

The Raffi character is tiring.

And..... again Picard risks the lives of hundreds of thousands of people for the people close to him. LOL.

...so you got pregnant 20 years ago? When you were, what, fifty five years old? Isn't that a little dangerous?