Part 4 of my Trek post mortem. A major thing that the new Trek shows are bereft of is a maturity level, and no excess profanity and violence is not a mature show. Maturity is defined by tough questions that challenge the viewer and that has been lacking. Let's explore that more

For me, part of maturity means the recognition that sometimes there are not simple answers to problems. For example, the TNG episode, Silicon Avatar, has a scientist destroy the Crystalline entity. On one hand, we know she committed murder, on the other we see her P.O.V

There's also the TNG episode, Sins of the Father, where the good guys do not win. They figure out the truth, but the Klingon system is too broken for the truth to be revealed. Thus, we see just how hard it is to effect change and that simple solutions cannot be had.

DS9 of course specialized in these episodes, but even the much maligned Voyager could turn out these thought provoking episodes. Tuvix presents the viewer an impossible choice, is it ethical kill one life to save two, and the ending shot of Janeway reinforces the difficulty.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. So let's turn back to Picard and Discovery and how they lack this level of maturity. In Picard's case, zero moral dilemmas are presented and any murkiness is washed away by scapegoating the Romulans for every bad thing.

And I know what you're thinking. Well didn't the Federation introduce a Synth ban? True, but 1. the Romulans caused the ban to be introduced and 2. the Federation easily ends the ban thus providing an easy ending for the viewer where they do not have to think at all.

Another example of the easy morals in Picard is in the villains. The Romulans have an abstract reason to be fearful of synths, but never anything grounded that we can relate to. Therefore their paranoia, when contrasted to say the federation fear of changelings, falls flat.

We can just dismiss the Romulans as paranoid evil people rather than potential stand ins for our own foibles and impulses and that's incredibly problematic. Encouraging Self examination is the root of all compelling drama.

In Discovery, we also get avoiding tough questions. Lorca in season 1 starts out as an intriguing character. Someone who does the wrong things for the right reasons, but then he is reduced to a mirror universe cartoon character, so whew, don't have to worry about him!

Discovery season 2 repeats this trick as we get the morally murky Leland replaced by evil computer controlled Leland who has about as much depth as an Adam Sandler comedy. Trek has moved from asking tough questions to having easy answers that are masked by convoluted plotting.