*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD*
It goes without saying that any piece of Star Trek entertainment, be it television or film, that has Patrick Stewart attached to it has a good chance of being successful. In truth, Star Trek: Picard is another example of the actor’s immense talent to both take over an episode and save it from complete ruin. That being said, there are numerous moments during this series that needed more from the other actors and, more specifically, the writers, who fumbled through some plot arcs and storylines, but managed to bring it all home with a solid and emotionally charged finale.
While the show started off slow, there were some interesting episodes and moments, mostly surrounding the dismantling of the mythos surrounding the ‘feel good’ Federation and Picard himself, in terms of how much he has changed since we last saw him in the film Star Trek: Nemesis. The main story arc for the show was pretty straight forward: Android sisters Dahj and Sohji (both played by Isa Briones) enter Picard’s life and chaos follows. They need protection, as the current climate in the galaxy is full of mistrust and hostility towards artificial lifeforms. The show then stretches out from there, introducing us to the new crew, re-introducing us to the Romulans, the Borg and Commander Data (Brent Spiner) in some very hit and miss moments.
As with most shows on streaming services these days, the episode count is low, this one being ten. The days of twenty-plus episodes in the world of Star Trek are long gone, which is a mixed blessing. With many seasons and episodes, characters like Picard and Data were given time to build complex characters and while they don’t need to do that here, being already fully established icons in the world of Star Trek, it would have been nice to dig deeper into some of the characters and stories surrounding them.
Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is a good example of this. She comes into the show carrying a lot of baggage, and after watching Icheb die (a brutal torture scene that still irritates many Trek fans), in the episode “Stardust City Rag” (where Bruce Maddux, who many know from his connection with Data in The Next Generation, also meets a grim end), she becomes very interesting. In “Broken Pieces,” we see Seven reconnect with the Borg and then disconnect, with apparent ease. This is a fascinating development but it dies there, which was very frustrating.
Conversely, the episode “Nepenthe” reunites Picard with the retired Wil Riker (Jonathan Frakes, who also directed the episode) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) and is a joy to watch. Sure, it’s a huge bit of fan service but it serves the show as well, both in plot and in the chance for characters to reflect on their lives and how things have changed since they all served together on the Enterprise.
The show’s overall story arc felt like it was colliding with the small stories at times, making the show feel like it was maybe taking on more than it could handle, especially in ten episodes. However, in the middle of it all was Patrick Stewart, delivering great lines and performances that kept the show together and giving it that voice that pulled it through some weaker moments.
There is some sense of urgency in the show, created by the fact that Picard is dying. I was curious how they were going to handle that and while I wasn’t really satisfied with the explanation, his death scene to stop a war somehow felt right. Picard’s consciousness is transferred into a new android body, no superpowers and made so he will not be immortal. Too tidy, neat and quick but tied into the final moments with Data very well. Digital Data, whose memories were salvaged after sacrificing his life for Picard in Nemesis, asks to die, for his digital memories to finally be extinguished, and these final moments with Picard were very powerful indeed.
We are left with Picard and a new crew, a motley bunch that while they never equaled Stewart’s commanding presence individually, as a whole they were an impressive lot: Raffi (Michelle Hurd) the mouthy, burnt out sidekick from Picard’s past, Elnor (Evan Evagora) the only male member of a group of Romulan samurai nuns and almost Picard’s surrogate son, Rios, (Santiago Cabrera) the pilot with a collection of holographic doppelgangers, Agnes (Alison Pill) the erratic but brave doctor, and the aforementioned Seven of Nine and Sohji.
As this season ended and this new crew headed out towards new adventures, I was struck by how Star Trek: Picard, so wanting to distance itself from the same old ‘crew on a mission’, ended the first season just like that. While the ride was a bit rough at times, plot arcs become muddied, characters storylines were incomplete or abandoned altogether, the new darker Trek gave the show a sense of realism and edge that together with Stewart, has a chance to boldly go to places that promise to be intriguing and fun.
Star Trek: Picard is available on CBS All Access streaming.
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