Saw the first episode last night and so far so good. I was pissed when the episode ended because I WANT MORE NOW lol.
I've always loved Riker so enjoying more of him so far. I am not a fan of them hinting at issues between him and Troi but will let that play out before making judgement. And Crusher now having another son. I'm sure there's some elaborate answer about how that's possible and no one else knowing about it but confused on the timeline there.
Some questions and theories of where this is going:
First off, I think Rafe's handler is Worf. That's based on piecing together trailers and other info we've been given leading up to show. Can't wait for that!
Crusher's son, is he Jack Crusher's kid? Sperm bank kid, clone, or whatever? I don't think he could be Picard's kid unless Beverly has been doing some shady shit behind his back lol. The actor, Ed Speelers (who I can only see as a rapist piece of shit from Outlander but I digress), is 34 so assuming they make him 30ish he'd have to have been born sometime towards the end of, or during, the ST:TNG tv run. Picard is set roughly 30 years after the final episode of ST:TNG... 20ish after the movies. Will they use season 2 where Gates McFadden left the show, ironically to have a kid and other reasons, as a piece of the puzzle? Canon was always that she taught at Starfleet Medical during that time but will a story be concocted from that part we know nothing about?
Some off the wall theories...
It's actually Thomas Riker pretending to be Will. Probably not but would be an easy "gotcha" moment at some point but they've already did that in ST
S9 once with the fake sideburn reveal lol.
Starfleet did some kind of weird cloning or genetic creation using Beverly to create her new son and she found out about it 20 years ago so she rescued him and went on the run and cut off ties to TNG crew. Doesn't explain how she has a starfleet ship though. And why would they do that? Because Wesley was a traveler so they wanted to recreate someone with that ability who they control? Section 31? Is the kid some kind of cross between Crusher and Picard thus them fixing an injustice from the movies where all of his remaining blood relatives are killed in a fire so that he has a legacy to leave behind? Something he noted at beginning of episode that he didn't care about? Seems a bit too perfect to have it be related to him too... ie - Picard gets a son he never knew he had and it so happens to be with Crusher his long time crush... and they live happily ever after. Too perfect.
Anyway, I'm loving the mystery so far and where this is going. I hate having to wait another week to find out more clues. And I can't wait to see everyone!! The end credits break into old TNG music and I teared up a bit.