The first season of Star Trek: Next Generation was something of a disaster. There's very few kind things I can say about that season as it's genuinely one of the worst seasons of any purportedly good show that exists. The second season has generally been listed with the first season as seasons you should skip when watching Next Generation. So is it as terrible as its predecessor?
As Patrick Stewart would say, "Heavens no." (At least, I think he would say that. I feel like he's said this before, but I could be imagining it.) The problem with the first season is that there were hardly any actually good episodes. The best you could hope for was mediocrity. The second season is an improvement in that regard. The best episodes of this season are actually good episodes of television as opposed to "good for this season." Hell, I could be convinced this was a good season of television... if I was living in 1988.
But it's 2014, and I'm trying to grade it on those terms. I will be taking context into account at least a little bit - if I'm being honest, this is really not a good season if it aired today. (Of course, the second season has never had a great reputation). While it has raised the bar for what its best can be, it's still not exactly incredible television quite yet. Plus, this season has some episodes on par with the worst of season one.
All of the characters are starting to come into their own this year. Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner were the best at quickly defining their characters in the first season and that hasn't gone away. William Riker probably benefits the most from the change of seasons. Jonathan Frakkes strikes me as a William Shatner surrogate - but he actually works for me unlike Shatner in the original series. Frakkes seems to have way more fun with this role than Shatner did and it certainly shows in his performance.
The other standout character, who is ever so slowly growing on me, is Lieutenant Worf. He stands in stark contrast to the others for the better and his established characteristics make him particularly compelling. I'm a little surprised that Michael Dorn and Worf end up on another Star Trek series and he airs in the most Star Trek episodes of any actor, but I can sort of see why in this season. Plus, I don't want to leave out Geordi LaForge, who doesn't really get his own episode to shine, but nonetheless remains a consistent figure.
The two less well-liked characters, Dr. Pulaski and Wesley Crusher, aren't that bad in this season either. The writers seemed to learn from their mistakes somewhat from the first season with Crusher as he's mostly bearable. I won't be sad to see him leave the show when he does though. Not yet at least. Dr. Pulaski isn't great, and she's definitely a downgrade from Beverly Crusher, but she's not awful. She's mostly just annoying, but as with most characters on this show, she grows on you the longer she's on the show. (I forgot about Troi, who really hasn't changed at all and is still mostly useless.)
Unlike the first season, in which I wholeheartedly encourage you to skip some episodes, I probably would just recommend you watch this entire season. There are skippable episodes yes and there are awful episodes. There aren't actually that many bad episodes in this season, but if they're bad, they're usually AWFUL. On second thought you should probably skip those episodes. There's just much fewer episodes to skip.
I'm a little confused as to why the second season is lumped together with the first season. This season is noticeably better and I'd probably even go as far as to say that there's no reason to skip this season. This season might even work better as an intro to whatever the show will become (which I am excited to see in the future), because the first season barely fleshed out any of its characters. Now, they actually seem like characters!
This review may seem pretty optimistic about this season. It has everything to do with my expectations. I did not expect this season to be as good as it was, but I still wouldn't necessarily call it that good. Thus, the grade below will probably be incongruous with my relative praise. (And it is relative - the first season so far lowered my expectations, I am probably overrating this season.)
Grade - C+
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