It has been 18 years since we last saw Patrick Stewart’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard in action. He returns for a new adventure aboard the brand new Amazon Prime Show Star Trek: Picard. Does the new show boldly go where no Trek has gone before?
The highly anticipated return of Picard, arguably the best Captain that the Star Trek series has produced, comes with it a level of expectation and caution. Despite the strength of the character and some brilliant episodes across the history of the show, ‘The Next Generation’ crew only really knocked one film completely out of the park (1996’s ‘First Contact’), with the series sputtering to a halt with the underwhelming ‘Nemesis’ in 2002. So, while the pressure is on to deliver a continuation worthy of fan adoration and the talents of Patrick Stewart, there is the added pressure of offering something that will feel satisfying in the wake of a disappointing ending for the character and his crew. If the first episode is anything to go by, Star Trek: Picard may well offer that satisfaction, although not without a few bumps along the way.
The show begins with Picard, now a retired Starfleet Admiral residing on his vineyard in France living a mundane life, plagued with regret over both the death of Data (Brent Spiner) and the destruction of Romulus following a devastating supernova. Adventure soon comes calling however with the arrival of a young woman named Dahj (Isa Briones). On the run and fearing for her life, something inside of Dajh instructed her to seek out Picard for help. Together, they aim to get to the bottom of who she is, and just why she is being hunted.
The first episode of Picard doesn’t waste any time in setting in motion events that’ll come to drive the larger plot of the whole series. While I won’t go into details here, the mystery box approach that may have rubbed on to showrunner Alex Kurtzman from working with JJ Abrams on the rebooted Star Trek films is set up, unpacked, and then set up again, meaning that this first hour packs an awful lot in as it builds to its cliffhanging conclusion to entice you back to the adventure next week. It means that the show often feels like it’s dropping hefty bits of information but is a bit too eager to move on before you can fully digest the implications of the ideas and themes that are proposing.
It is in these broader plot elements that the show is at its busiest, ladling on mysteries focused around the fate of Data, as well as colouring in the 18-year gap and just what tensions have grown within that time. It’s a lot of detail to consume, and the show aims to deliver as much information as it can within this first episode in order to get the adventure rolling, dropping in big hints and reveals towards the end as to what kind of threats Picard will eventually be facing once he (we can comfortably assume) takes to the stars once again.
It does mean that the re-establishment of Picard in this world feels a little too frenetic at times, and quite far away from the more probing character study that you feel this wants to be, particularly as it does seem to be taking a Logan-esque tone in its initially more grounded approach. There are a number of aesthetic details that are quite fun to see play out, particularly when looking at how future tech is implemented on something as old world as a vineyard, it is just a shame that the overall sensation is that this show would rather get off the ground as soon as it can before it has fully planted its feet.
That said, it is a joy to see Sir Patrick back as this character, and scenes that do contend with his trauma and frustrations are beautifully played by the veteran actor, with the show also very much making his age a considerable factor in the proceedings. A scene in which Picard is interviewed to commemorate 10 years since the destruction of Romulus is when the episode is at its best of tying together the need for exposition with moments that also provides insight into Picard’s mindset as a man in need of new purpose in order to reconcile with his regrets of the past, thanks largely to Stewart’s excellent performance.
Star Trek: Picard may not seem to have too much interest in delivering a character study as its title suggests. Instead, it does look as though it’s more eager to get this character back amongst the stars with a group of friends both old and new. While that may be initially disappointing to see play out in this very busy opening, it does compensate by dropping hints of just how this series may take classic elements from the show’s past and rekindle them for new audiences, which certainly does the job of pleasing your inner Trekkie. The greatest pleasure, however, is seeing Patrick Stewart slip so easily back into one of his most iconic roles; he most definitely does not disappoint. A promising but overly busy start.
Star Trek: Picard is now streaming.
