YMMV / Star Trek: The Next Generation S4E2 "Family"

• Fan Nickname: The Best of Both Worlds, Part 3.
• Growing the Beard: While the show itself had been improving for some time (with the previous two-parter firmly establishing it as a worthy successor to TOS), a great many fans think this is the episode where it happened for the character of Picard and where Sir Patrick Stewart elevated him to the best of the Trek captains. It gave Picard a far greater amount of emotional depth and informed his character for the rest of TNG's run.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The portrayal of Picard's issues with his father (implied to be outright abusive in season 2 of Star Trek: Picard until the truth proves far more complicated) and his post-traumatic stress disorder from his Borg assimilation. Years later, Patrick Stewart revealed that his father suffered from PTSD after his service in World War II, which wasn't understood at the time and went untreated, causing him to become abusive towards his family.
  • Thanks to a semi-Luddite lifestyle, Robert and René die in an ordinary house fire.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The story of Worf as a seven-year old beating up 4 human teenagers becomes more hilarious when you realize that Worf's own son Alexander at eight years of age looked like a young adult, and realizing that Worf at age seven was not that much smaller. You wonder if the teenagers were too confident in bullying a Klingon who was very likely much bigger than them.
• Special Effects Failure: A distracting goof occurs as Picard and his brother walk alongside a large bush during their argument; a bit of outgrowth from the bush snags onto the camera and can be seen snapping back into place.

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