Thread by @cwmonfette

Alright, let's discuss. Some reviewers - all very friendly to this new season of #StarTrekPicard - have bristled at Picard using an F-bomb. Fair reaction. Everybody's entitled, certainly. But I've been genuinely curious as to why. This article makes a few points worth exploring.

https://twitter.com/BackoftheHead/status/1634588457484861442

Picard being too eloquent, too sophisticated for such language. First, it's important to move past the accent. It's easy to hear that elevated British tone escaping the mouth of a gentlemanly Shakespearean actor and assume some elevated intellectualism.

The mistake everybody makes (myself included) when first writing for Picard is to spin ornate monologues full of Oxford poetics & Dickensian witticisms. Part is the temptation to write toward Patrick's abilities. Part is in how we culturally remember Picard vs. the actual man.

When you really dial into the character - what you discover is that Picard isn't so much eloquent as poised. He's educated, yes. Reflective, self-aware. Guardedly emotional. But he's direct. He chooses his language purposefully.

So whether the F-bomb was a choice -- to communicate to Jack the gravity of the tale -- or a human moment of fear and uncertainty -- or both -- it's a dropping of that facade. An expression of vulnerability to somebody he hopes to trust. Not remotely gratuitous or ill-considered.

Underscored by the fact that it was an improv from Patrick himself -- who guards JL's dialogue fiercely -- moved to use that word in a moment of raw honesty. Also. Side-note. The best, most brutal curses I've ever heard have come from Dames, Sirs and West End, award-winning Brits

Next : Star Trek is about a more advanced humankind 400 years in the future. You know when "fuck" first became a word? 500 years ago. Several Golden Ages and Industrial Revolutions hence. And after five centuries of enlightenment, it's still alive & well. It's a Swiss-Army word.

If anything, wouldn't further social advancement only continue to defang and colloquialize it? As we did to "damn" -- a favorite of Kirk's. We have any number of phrases we use today that would've gotten us shunned from High Society centuries ago.

And if the argument is that humans then would converse at a higher level -- that's not born out by the rest of the dialogue. By that measure, every Trek series should have been written in iambic pentameter by a thesaurus with some new, made-up phrases included for good measure.

Folks in Trek have always talked how humans talk. They've always exhibited the same virtues & flaws as we do today. In fact, the franchise has ever been about characters struggling with the same societal questions & isms that humanity supposedly mastered --only in space.

I'd argue that the best reason that F-bombs are new to the franchise isn't because its early writers and creators were above the word -- but because the censors were. That word will still be around in 2400, as lazily wielded in ignorance as powerfully used to make a point.

That said, criticism of its use is fair even if it just strikes a personal nerve - or if you've equated Trek with more broader, family-friendly storytelling. But regardless, cursing in the show is carefully debated & discussed in the room or on set. We don't take it lightly.