Thread by @clairewillett

at some point after this season of "Picard" is over - provided it sticks the landing, as I fully expect it to do - I will have lengthy thoughts on what a perfect example it is of why the oft-denigrated concept of "fan service" is actually a beautiful gift and exchange of emotion

at some point along the way - and I definitely blame "Game of Thrones" for, if not INVENTING, certainly AMPLIFYING this - it became trendy to act like forcing your audience to suffer because it was Good For Them inherently creates better art than allowing them to feel hope & joy

but I just think there's something truly magical about the way season 3 of #Picard fills every episode with perfect tiny emotional grace notes that take us all back to the Treks of our childhood, the starships and captains that formed us, with such deep reverence for their legacy

the thing I love about this, the third Golden Age of Star Trek, isn't JUST that it's being made by people who grew up on the era of Trek I grew up on

it's that it's being made by people WHO LOVE THOSE SHOWS FOR THE SAME REASON

and every genre has tropes!! it gets used as shorthand to dismiss romance, fantasy, sci-fi etc. as "trivial," but plenty of things snooty people enjoy have tropes, like how every indie white boy movie over a 20-year-period had a Manic Pixie Dream Girl

https://twitter.com/SheckyX/status/1639089805723312129?s=20

there's always been something really profound and unique in the relationship between Trek fans and Trek creators, going back decades, but now so many people who grew up as fans ARE the creators now, and that means they really handle that legacy with care and profound respect

idk guys i'm just having a great fucking time and crying a lot

and it's still EXCELLENT television! plot twists! high stakes! incredible acting! great music! so often we feel forced to apologize for the things that bring us pleasure and nurture our spirits (i.e. "comfort food") as though they inherently lack substance

https://twitter.com/Louie4711/status/1639093334420455425?s=20

I refuse to grant the premise that the intellectual, creative or philosophical substance of a particular work of art is diminished by the fact that it makes people feel good, or that making people feel good is a pointless goal for a work of art to have

or, for that matter, the premise that complex, robust, multifaceted ideas like hope and love and community and progress and friendship and empathy aren't worthy of artists wrestling with them in new ways that challenge our thinking

at heart, I think, what it really comes down to is that Star Trek is EARNEST. it always has been. that's why it's always been easy to write off as "uncool" compared to edgier sci-fi properties, and to the more cynical speculative fiction TV shows that have dominated recently.

it wears its heart on its sleeve. love has always been at the heart of its storytelling. that may be why it took decades for society to be so hungry to have it back again. we're emerging out of an era of media cynicism and stories with heart in them are more popular again.

and for the people who have always loved Star Trek, that heart is what so many of us loved about it. it means so much to me to see that preserved and cherished - and also expanded in new, beautiful ways - with the current generation of Trek shows.

I'm on record as a devoted "Lost" finale apologist, and one of the things I think is so extraordinary about it is that the whole point is that this group of people were the most important people in each other's lives in ways that transcended the bounds of mortality and time.

I think one of the truly powerful and beautiful things about this season of Picard is the reminder that this group of people is that to each other - still, after all these years, no matter what has passed between them - and it matters because they're that to us too.

it just really means a lot that the show understands not just what these individual characters mean to us, but what the love they all still have for each other means to us, and that the creators behind it hold our hearts in their hands with respect instead of mockery or cynicism.

anyway @TerryMatalas thanks for making us feel seen.