The Synths are trying to contact the uber-synths to come and wipe out the Romulans and anyone else unlucky enough to live in the galaxy while the Romulans are on their way to wipe out the Synths and Picard and company are unfortunate enough to be stuck in the middle of it all and Picard is about to punk out of existence because his brain is about to kill him.
While it does have a few iffy moments, the finale of Star Trek: Picard is a suitable and satisfying end to a very satisfying season.
It’s been a long time since Star Trek has stirred emotions in me and, although I know that “NuTrek” has got its many detractors, it’s been one of the most emotionally driven eras in Trek history. I’ve said before that I was moved by Burnham and Saru’s scene in “An Obal for Charon” and there were a couple of times in this new series that I got misty. Seeing Riker and Troi again, for example.
This time around, it was Data’s goodbye.
I know I’m kind of skipping to the meat of the meal here as far as a review goes, but I just have to speak about this justice done 18 years too late. I have always hated the way that Data went out in Star Trek: Nemesis. It was abrupt, there were a thousand different ways that Data could have saved the captain and not died in the process, and the entire affair seemed cheapened by the fact that his death felt like an afterthought, tacked on to the end of a mediocre film in an attempt to make it memorable.
None of that changes. It’s not retconned away nor is Data magically resurrected. In fact, it’s rather sad, really… Data’s consciousness was salvaged from B4 after he attempted to copy it to his inferior predecessor and has sat idle in a simulation for years.
When Picard passes through, the two have a conversation that serves as a more satisfying goodbye for the beloved character. Here, he goes out on his own terms and it’s an ending that services his character arch of becoming more human. Data sees humanity as preciously finite and wants to be a part of it so badly that he wants his existence to be temporary. It’s so gosh-darned beautiful.
Data’s death was also beautiful and it was here that I teared up. As I said during the reunion with the Rikers, I don’t really think that I realized how much these characters meant to me until now, seeing them again after so long and witnessing a being like Data who I watched for much of my teen and adult life slip away into oblivion…. growing into an old man and the blowing away like dust in the cosmos.
Thank you for giving my friend the send off he deserved.
As for the rest of the episode, there was smidgeons of good and globs of not-so-good. I’m not sure exactly how I feel about Picard being an android now but, as someone very wise pointed out, he’s still organic and, if you feel like the real Picard died and we’ve just got a copy now, you’re making McCoy’s argument with the transporters. Where does it all stop? I’ll wait and see how it plays out.
But I don’t like it. It seems the most ridiculous solution to the problem.
I friggin’ adored Seven of Nine and, although I’m sad that her life post-Voyager has been so hard and seen her so morally and emotionally wrecked, her growth as a character beyond eye-candy has been outstanding. If she sticks around for the second season as I pray she does, I can’t wait to see what Seven becomes.
The arrival of the Federation fleet was outstanding for about ten seconds until I realized how uninspired the fleet was. I, however, was more than happy to see Riker back in the captain’s chair. After the Pike series is greenlit, let’s start working on a show for Captain Riker, Counselor Troi, and Kestra. Put them on the Titan or something. It’ll be great.
Did anyone besides me notice that Narek just disappears before the end of the episode? Where did he go? Was he beamed onto one of the departing Romulan ships? Did the Synths take him prisoner? Did he go back to the cube?
Speaking of the cube, did Seven just leave all of the ex-bees on the planet surface? Are they going to live with the Synths? Are they going to make the cube fly again?
And… is everyone just forgetting that Jurati is a murderer?
Are we just glossing over that the episode contained giant android space octopi?
So much of this could have been answered if we’d just cut out the La Sirena‘s crew trying to blow up the transmitter. It was a, quite frankly, bad sequence and we knew it was doomed to fail.
Still, despite the fact that this episode was kind of grease fire in places, This show has had the strongest first season of any Star Trek series since the original and it was a heck of a journey filled with mystery, nostalgia, humor, heart, and memorable characters. It showed us a new, often overlooked side of Star Trek — call it the civilian life, I guess — and the future is filled with promise and excitement.
Moreover, it never forgot who Picard is, even if Picard himself seemed to for a little while. This series was about an old friend rediscovering his passions and his place in the universe… it was about a man who never forgot that well-chosen words can save the day better than phasers and explosions, and it showed someone coming to peace with the darkest times of his past.
It’s a great show, it was a great season… I cannot wait to journey into the final frontier once again with Jean-Luc Picard.
Jason Gaston 