This episode was genuinely not great but most of the show has been stellar.

Ahh! Reptilian in a person suit!

Having the baseline compensates somewhat for his idiosyncratic dislikes. “Totally outweighs” is a bit of an overreach.

Even away from his crew, Picard’s emotional display range seemed to go from curiosity/fascination (anything archaeological), to annoyance (Q/anyone younger than 20), to friendship (Guinan). In public he does performative righteous indignation (every patented Patrick Stewart speech in the show). You don’t see him even…

STOP blaming this horseshit on “younger” voters.

Barring the rare moments when he was recovering from cyborg assimilation induced PTSD, processing a lifetime of experiences over the course of fifteen minutes, or holding together the collective shit of a emotionally senile Vulcan elder stateman, Picard is a pretty bottled up guy in TNG. He even laments this aloud in…

Or conflict is inevitable, but always the organics’ fault, like with the Quarians and the Geth in ME. Either way, the story is likely to be a bit more textured than some version of ‘the Zhat Vash were right all along’.

Not to mention, there’s plenty of room left in the season for a good twist or three.

I loved that whole conversation, and it highlights exactly why Picard is special and beloved as a character. 

Very glad that we had to wait this long to find out the reason the Romulans are terrified is basically the plot of the Mass Effect trilogy.

It’s Biden’s response to any challenge; instant, unthinking belligerence, often accompanied either by direct threats of violence or a nauseating reminiscence of the times when a person could beat the crap out of another person due to an imagined violation of a baroque honor code, or even if they worried you or looked…

Young people spout off at length but do not vote.

He was remarkably effective in Covert Affairs.

Now that counts as a sick burn.

I agree with your general point. However, it does bear investigation how a pol reacts to the times as they change. Did they lead, or did they follow? When they lagged the gestalt of the changing times, was it to defend some niche constituency or some party favor? What caused them to change, and how convenient was the…

Interwar period U-boats didn’t have much underwater range and so for most purposes (i.e. everything except actual torpedo combat) they stayed afloat.

You’re right that it’s definitely possible soft pressure was a factor in his decision. Can’t be discounted. I’m just thinking, from the bullheaded me-first-me-only approach that many, many men have made painfully and inevitably real when they found themselves in a similar position, his exit was graceful on a rare note…

And to give the guy a modicum of credit, his actual sign-off statement was not tragically bad. He, I think, finally understands that the political moment has outgrown him and his personal foibles; I think it laudable when a person gets out of the way when they don’t have to. He could have hung on by fingernails and…

I personally push back on the Bernie-Bro narrative, not because I’m any big fan of his (he was, like, sixth in line for my vote out of the whole enchilada at the beginning of 2019; he’s second now), but because the data simply doesn’t support the narrative. Bernie supporters voted in the general election for Clinton…

Being familiar with something isn’t the same as agreeing with it.