I liked everything about Star Trek: Picard season one. I really did. I didn’t have too many issues with it, and I know that’s not the popular position.
I didn’t get a chance to start Trek Talk Tuesdays before season one aired, and I really wanted to, but life and things happened. So now that we’re hip deep in season two, literally almost at the doorway of the penultimate episode, I wanted to look back at season one.
The Next Generation was my jam. Literally. I was an officer in Starfleet, the international fan club, and held the rank of lieutenant commander. That’s one of the reasons I’ll only wear lieutenant commander pips when I’m trying to, quote unquote, speak in an official capacity. If I’m just cosplaying, I’ve got captain’s pips, I’ve got a red outfit and whatnot. But I was primarily an engineer. That’s where I lived.
Jean-Luc Picard Is Back
I caught wind that Patrick Stewart had made an announcement at a comic con, and I went and looked it up. We’ve all seen it by now.
“I have spent a lot of time recently watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, including episodes I’d never seen before, which was fun and exciting. And gradually it became clearer and clearer to me that the power of that show, the success of that show, the benefits that it gave. I have never, ever grown tired of hearing from people who stop me in the street or in a restaurant (well, no, I don’t like being interrupted while I’m eating) but who say to me, your show changed my life. Without Star Trek: The Next Generation I might not be here. And that lies at the very center of what I have to tell you now. Jean-Luc Picard is back.”
So the day finally comes. I set my alarm. I knew when it was going to happen. I wasn’t getting up at three in the morning back then, I’m sorry, but we were hip deep in the middle of a pandemic, and I started watching the show.
Nemesis Was How We Went Out
My Star Trek was The Next Generation. Later on you get Deep Space Nine, after Deep Space Nine you get Voyager, and eventually you get Enterprise. The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager were my era. My present, if you will.
I imagine it’s a lot like how folks felt when they first watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and then two, three, four and all the original cast movies after it. You didn’t know what happened. It was supposed to be a five year mission, it got cut short, and you’re sitting there asking what happened to all that. We’ve all heard the stories since, about Star Trek: Phase II and the scripts that were written. But I suddenly found myself in that exact same unenviable position. Man, Nemesis. That’s how we went out.
Right after The Next Generation up and disappeared, along with everything having to do with it, you got the J.J. Abrams reboot movies. The Kelvinverse, which I’ll talk about sometime too. There was a comic book tie-in to those, and it was a Next Generation comic. It tells the story of how the sun went supernova and everybody was working very hard and diligently to deal with it. Geordi’s in it. He and Spock work together. Geordi helps Spock design the ship he uses to go back in time. So I don’t care what you think of the Kelvin films. How they started is steeped in my era.
I enjoyed those movies. They were fine. They were action movies, a different flavor of Star Trek than I’d ever seen before, and that made them fun and exciting. Deep Space Nine had been the same way in its time, especially once it got past season three and into the vast majority of the Dominion storyline. It became a totally different series, and one I enjoyed immensely.
But none of that moved my era forward. So when the whispers about Picard started, I remember being so overcome with the idea that we were finally going to find out what came next. I’m not talking about Discovery, because Discovery goes way into the far-flung future, farther out than any canon has ever gone, as they put it, and I’m totally fine with that. This was different. I really missed this, and I didn’t know how much.
A Card Game With Data
I sat down and watched the first episode by myself. I got about 20 minutes in and had to stop. I told my wife, as soon as you get home from work, I need you to watch this with me. And we watched it together.
Episode one is called “Remembrance.” At the end of the 24th century, 14 years after his retirement from Starfleet, Jean-Luc Picard is living a quiet life on his vineyard, Chateau Picard, when he’s sought out by a mysterious young woman, Dahj, in need of his help. He soon realizes she may have personal connections to his own past.
Bro, we open on a card game with Data. Talk about your revelations. My mind was blown, utterly and completely, like Praxis in Star Trek VI. And I came to the realization very quickly that they weren’t playing.
The de-aging technology wasn’t where it is today. Now, with The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, you get a really young de-aged Luke Skywalker (spoilers for another franchise entirely). That wasn’t fully ready back then, so they did their best with Brent Spiner. I was still moved. They’re playing cards, and Data looks at him and says you’re delaying, why are you stalling. And Picard says, “I don’t want the game to end.” That was poignant, man.
The rest of the episode was exciting and fun and new. You see him get all riled up, and right out the gate he’s going to Starfleet, and you get that really big line. It was a little startling when I realized they were making a slightly more mature show, in that people were cursing. I’ve always felt that if you have to devolve into swear words, perhaps you’re not as intelligent and forthright as you think you are. If you can’t use your words to fully articulate your intention, you may need to rethink your intention. But I rolled with that punch. If anything it feels more lived in, more like a series of films than an episodic television series.
And that’s what it is. Picard was the very first Star Trek out of the classic eras that wasn’t an episodic set of events. Not even the Dominion War did that. It was an overarching plot, but it was still kind of like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was still alien of the week. You got your smaller story that kept it episodic, and over the top you had the arc with the Dominion and who the Founders were. Each episode was still its own adventure. Picard season one is the first time we see one entire elongated storyline.
One minor thing. I remember thinking, really? After everything you’ve been through, you did the thing you said you didn’t want to do, which is retire to the chateau. “All Good Things…” turned out to be very prescient, because here you are at the vineyard. And I was immediately ready to start asking whether we were going to see Irumodic Syndrome. Then we come to the episode where his doctor visits him.
It’s Not the Perfect Utopia, and It Shouldn’t Be
I believe that’s episode two, “Maps and Legends.” Picard begins investigating the mystery of Dahj and what her very existence means to the Federation. Without Starfleet’s support he’s left leaning on others for help, including Dr. Agnes Jurati, played by Alison Pill, and an estranged former colleague, Raffi. Meanwhile, hidden enemies are also interested in where his search for the truth about Dahj will lead.
So you had secretive groups, you had Starfleet Intelligence, all kinds of elements starting to circle. I didn’t mind it. I thought they set the tone up right.
As much as everybody wants to say it’s not the perfect utopian future, I’d say the same thing I’ve told my family. We’d be foolish to believe that democracy in its current form, the democratic republic, is the last version or style of government we’re ever going to have. Same thing with the future. Whoever thinks Starfleet would be the peacekeepers they are forever and ever, amen, with never a hiccup or a headache, that’s silly. Heck, there are episodes they never revisited that illustrate the fact that Starfleet could be infiltrated. Then you have the Dominion War and what that meant.
Bro, you watched that future universe evolve. We went everywhere from World War III and the early onset of the Eugenics Wars to First Contact and on forward. Next Generation evolved from the original series, Deep Space Nine evolved from Next Gen, and Voyager from them. It kept going forward.
You know what could cause something to go bad? Tax the resources of the entire Federation. Have a planet suddenly need everyone’s help. How do you evacuate some 10 billion people or more? That can become a huge issue. Couple that with the android uprising on Mars, which did feel a little contrived to me, and now you have the Utopia Planitia shipyards up in flames. These things take a toll on a people and on a government.
I don’t care what your political persuasion is. This isn’t that kind of show, and I don’t want to entertain that kind of nonsense in my comment section. But I will say this. If you were to talk to a founding father, or heck, don’t even go that far, talk to someone in the twenties about anything remotely like what we’re dealing with today, they’d think you’re crazy. Time is based on your perspective. In the Picard era they’ve been through a lot. So how else are some people going to behave and react?
The fact that they haven’t devolved into despotism tells me the framework of the universe is still the same. It’s a Federation that’s taken a couple on the chin. I was able to make it make sense in my own head as the natural evolution of a society. The political catchphrase has always been that freedom is just a generation away. Same thing with peace, and with utopia. You put the wrong people in charge at the right time, when there’s an uprising or when someone’s angry, and you find yourself in a very different scenario than Gene Roddenberry laid out.
People want to fight and argue that Star Trek in its current form veers from what Gene Roddenberry had. I disagree. I’m not disagreeing with his intent or the things he said. I’ve watched video upon video contrasting current Star Trek with the set of series Roddenberry himself put into play.
Rios, the Interview, and the Picard Day Banner
Episode three is “The End Is the Beginning.” Completely unaware of her special nature, Soji continues her work and captures the attention of the Borg cube research project’s executive director. After rehashing past events with a reluctant Raffi, Picard seeks others willing to join his search for Bruce Maddox, including pilot and former Starfleet officer Cristóbal Rios.
I really like Rios. I like that he was also a Picard fan who’s a little disillusioned. I feel like he kind of sat in our shoes.
I also really liked the interview Picard does. I felt it was very telling. But people got mad. I was online and people were saying, how could they do this? People aren’t allowed to change and evolve? Get out of my face. Is it heavy-handed? Yes. Is it in service of the story? I’m okay with going there and seeing where it leads.
And the show kept moving forward. You got to see that there were other androids at some point, even if they rose up. You got to see other gold-faced androids. Then Picard goes and researches and finds his stuff is in storage, which I think is brilliant, including the giant Picard Day banner. I was like, stop it.
I’m rewatching The Next Generation right now, and you have to remember that in those early days, in the first episode, Jean-Luc Picard says to Riker that we have kids on board, so help me not make an ass of myself. To then see he’s kept the Picard Day banner, I think that’s awesome. It showed the arc of his character.
There’s an awful lot of time we know nothing about, and that’s rife for storytelling. The universe finally moved forward. We weren’t getting old pre-Kirk stories. It was like everything had been on pause and now it’s not, and I’m gobbling it all up because I’ve missed this so much.
Elnor, Frakes, and the Angry Version of Seven
Episode four is “Absolute Candor.” Picard and his crew take a detour to the planet Vashti, where Picard and Raffi relocated some Romulan refugees years ago, and Picard reunites with Elnor. You see him as a little boy at the beginning, which I really liked, and then you see him older. It was a quick shift. There was a little bit of pushback, a little bit of tension, and then the tension was gone. Contrived storytelling, sure, but all of this has been contrived storytelling. It’s also the first episode directed by Jonathan Frakes, and seeing a Star Trek alum come back touched my heart completely.
Then there’s “Stardust City Rag.” I always want to call that place a casino. It’s this bar place, the one where Raffi sees her son. They run into Seven prior to that and she’s with them. I liked the evolution of Seven’s character, and I liked this place. A lot of people said it’s no better than the casino in Star Wars.
Look, man, my job isn’t to convince you of anything, and it isn’t to fight with you either. If there’s something you don’t like, articulate it intelligently and we’ll have a conversation, I promise. If you can’t, maybe you need to go back and rewatch the Star Trek you love so much, because they always talked their problems through. Every single time.
You get to see Picard being this crazy character, pretending, and I just loved it. It reminded me, truthfully, of the original series, because they used to do some goofy stuff there. I liked seeing Rios in the pimp outfit. And I don’t mind the angry version of Seven. I saw a video online where someone compared her arcs, saying we should talk things through in Starfleet, and then you see her killing that one lady in the bar. I don’t have a problem with any of that. Think about who they killed and how that whole scenario went down. They’re ripping the Borg tech out of former drones like Seven. In my opinion that’s justification for anger, without a shadow of a doubt.
Counselor Face
“Nepenthe,” by the way, is the highest rated episode on IMDb. Incidentally, for all the haters, Star Trek: Picard averages about a seven and a half on IMDb, and I assume that’s out of ten. That’s not bad. That’s fresh by Rotten Tomatoes standards. Love what you love and hate what you want to hate, but don’t judge everybody else. Let’s keep this thing civil.
“Nepenthe” is amazing. I was 13 the first time I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation. These were my friends. So when Deanna sees Picard for the first time, hugs him, and then looks him in the eyes, I turned to my wife the minute she did it and said, oh my God, that’s counselor face. She’s looking at him like, what’s going on with you? She can’t help it. She served with him for so long. And then they have a kid, and it’s a tragically wonderful story.
Then you see Riker, and the minute he hears what’s going on it’s red alert, shields up. And I’m like, bro, you built shields into your home security system. It’s just the way he gets to say it. He tells Picard, I don’t care what’s going on, you take as much time as you need, you relax, you’re going to be safe.
Later on he’s asking why Picard didn’t tell them, and Picard says he wanted to protect them from all this. And I love Riker’s answer. Of course, because big bad Captain Picard has to do it all on his own. He’s got to go save the universe and not think of anybody else. Bro, I loved it. It meant the world to see them interacting like that.
The Ending, and the Android
In “Broken Pieces” you get to see firsthand what happened on Mars. There are a lot of secrets. You have Starfleet security, you have Elnor, you have the Borg collective business happening on the cube that’s being researched. A lot of moving parts, and it all boils down to this: we have to protect this girl, and we don’t know why or what it means.
I’m not going to get into every other episode. The two ending parts are “Et in Arcadia Ego,” part one and part two, where you get the fullness of the story. I wasn’t a big fan of the Soong android planet people, and I probably could’ve done without the Romulan religious aspect. But I loved everything about Picard’s story, and those are all the motivators for his story. So I’m a juxtaposed enigma wrapped up in a mystery, or something along those lines.
I liked the way it ended. I didn’t mind the convenient way they addressed what he had going on in his head, but I wish they hadn’t solved it that neatly. And having android Picard almost robs us of something. I don’t care what they say about brainwaves and the whole thing. It’s not really him. It’s an android who believes he’s Picard. The Picard we knew is gone, and this is a new Picard who’s going to be old.
It’s fine. Because Star Trek, okay? We deal with time travel, mirror universes, warp speed and aliens with all kinds of crazy features, and this is the thing that was going to get you?
The show ended really well. I enjoyed it, and I was ready for season two almost immediately. Next Trek Tuesday I want to get into The Next Generation cast being announced for Picard season three.
Tell me what you thought of Picard season one. Even the trolls, go nuts. I know you’re going to rattle off all the things you hate, and that’s fine, but let’s keep it civil. Part of what I loved about the club I was in is that we’d just sit around and talk about the episode we watched, and I never once said, why didn’t they do this, because old Star Trek was this way. I enjoyed seeing it for what it was. The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.
