I haven’t enjoyed TNG really at all so I slowed down on my journey of watching all of Star Trek in order. However tonight I decided to watch a episode. That episode was The Measure Of A Man. This episode is truly a diamond in the rough in my opinion. This episode is exactly why I fell in love with Star Trek in the first place! A show where it’s not all surrounded by endless fighting or war. A show that demonstrates how powerful a voice can be. I don’t wanna spoil this episode for anyone who hasn’t watched it so I highly recommend to go watch it as soon as possible. I’ll say this however. Data and Picard and Rikker are now my favorite trio after this episode ❤️
Season 2 is where the show proverbially ‘grows the beard’ - Riker’s literal beard being the trope-namer. But agree that a lot of that is just in comparison to the general level of Season 1 being weak. There are some other very good and important episodes in Season 2 though, like Q Who.
Season 3 is then where TNG really takes off and becomes quite consistent.