Contains HEAVY Spoilers
The first season of Star Trek: Picard draws to a conclusion with a finale that seeks to wrap up all the dangling threads, save the universe and set up an already-announced second season. No pressure.
Last week’s episode saw Soji’s (Isa Briones) home planet of synthetics decide to build a beacon to summon an ancient advanced race of synthetics to wipe out the threat of all organic life, including the incoming Romulan attack and the Federation. With Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) plea to find an alternative course of action ignored, the stage is set for a battle that could see all organic life in the galaxy destroyed. Well, not if Jean-Luc has anything to do with it.
The first half of this episode is action-packed, as Jean-Luc and his motley crew find the means to both stall the Romulan attack and prevent the arrival of the malevolent advanced race of synthetics. It barrels through well-executed action set-pieces, with some very strong visual effects throughout, seeing characters get their moments, and others pushed out the way to get the plot moving. Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) kicks Romulan Nirissa’s (Peyton List) ass, Narek (Harry Treadaway) turns to help the good guys, the scheming android Sutra (Briones as well) is dispatched with pretty quickly after being set up as an antagonist in the last episode, and Picard puts on a grand display before being backed up by the might of the Starfleet.
There’s much to enjoy in these action-packed moments of the show. Seeing Picard get in the pilot seat to face off against 200 odd Romulan warships with one ship is the kind of act of courageous, ballsy act that we recognise as pure Jean-Luc, made all the more impressive by the fact that he’s contending with a debilitating brain disease at the same time. Seeing Riker (Johnathan Frakes) return in the Captain’s seat of a Starfleet ship, doing that trademark Riker lean provides a great rush, even if the big battle does feel a little too close in spirit to the final acts of Avengers: Endgame and Rise of Skywalker. Then, once all the action is over and the threat is neutralised, Jean-Luc dies. Yeah, I know, what about that second series!?
The second half of this finale is where I feel the most conflicted with this episode. As Jean-Luc succumbs to the disease that has been plaguing him and friends begin to grieve, an inkling creeps in that maybe Picard is really gone. Of course, that isn’t the case, particularly with the matter of an android golem body, primed to have a consciousness uploaded into it, being dangled in the previous episode. The episode very much ends up having its cake and eating it too, operating as both a fake death for Picard and farewell for Data (Brent Spiner) whose consciousness has continued to exist within a database, but who very much wants to find some peace. Picard’s death is therefore used as a means to readdress the final goodbye for Data, hoping to provide better closure than what Star Trek: Nemesis delivered for Data, before sending Picard back to the land of the living.
There’s some very nice writing within the conversations that take place between Picard and Data in the subconscious space that Picard finds himself in between death and resurrection. Star Trek has always been a show that’s been more than ready to discuss matters of mortality and what both a gift and curse facing death can be, and these moments between Picard and Data discussing such matters are well-acted and quite touching. But something just doesn’t sit right about Picard being resurrected into the android golem, particularly his reaction to it. His alarmingly nonchalant reaction to being brought back from the dead feels at odds with the philosophy of the character that we’ve witnessed in the past (and even in this episode) when it comes to the matter of life and death. The whole thing can’t help but feel like a lazy way of elongating Picard’s life for future seasons. Picard coming to terms with his mortality, with his time feeling limited, was one of the main elements of this season that gave it some realistic pathos. Now that’s been sponged out and is now replaced by an android body with a 10 or so year expiration date on it, the show cuts out one of its more involving elements, leaving this episode (and season) feeling more frustrating than it does satisfying.
I’ve personally always had an issue with resurrection storylines, in any franchise. It robs the material of genuine threat and consequence. I am aware that it has happened numerous times across Star Trek’s history, but here it feels at its most at odds with the fabric of a beloved character. It reeks this season as a means to find a way to get over the hurdle that the end of TNG established with Picard’s brain condition. Even the whole galaxy ending threat that drove much of the mystery of this season feels as though it’s been all too conveniently and quickly wrapped up, with it becoming clear that the intention of this season seems more about setting back to an idea of status quo. It makes this whole enterprise feel weightless.
Whether season two goes into some of the consequences of the events of this season, or if it will follow Picard and his new crew on adventures in space (as the last image would seem to suggest) remains to be seen. But as it stands, this season ultimately feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity. Less of a character study, and more of a sci-fi mystery that ultimately doesn’t even seem to care much about its mystery, this season has been a mixed bag of touching character beats and all too convenient plotting. It results in a finale that feels too at odds with the character of Picard, providing a disappointing end to a show that had such great flashes of potential, making this finale all the more infuriating.
Star Trek: Picard is now streaming.
