Ugh. Another sour bit of Picard trivia for the pile. Del Arco comes across as a decent fellow. I remember spending all season wondering where the hell this was all going and hoping his character's death -- in the full context -- would make more narrative sense. How blissfully naive I was. :P
It's crazy that the show I was most hyped for ended up being the one I'd erase from the timeline if I could. Visually gorgeous, with a great cast... but, IMHO, it was far too 'grimdark' for it's own good. That and it's shattershot kitchen-sink approach to storytelling makes it all feel like some fan fiction wet dream in retrospect. Anything positive I could take away from the series is almost completely lost in the noise.
(Keeping in mind that I keep S1/S2 distinct from S3, which while an improvement, has it's own things going on. 😏)
hoping his character’s death – in the full context – would make more narrative sense.
Chabon had some lovely and interesting things to say about self-sacrifice being the ultimate expression of the individuality Hugh spent his life working toward, but unfortunately I didn't think any of that came through in the final product.