In the season finale of Star Trek: Picard, betrayals are unearthed, characters die, closure is found, and a new adventure begins.
It’s the season finale of Star Trek: Picard and the entire universe is at stake. Picard’s been placed under house arrest, while Soji has joined the rest of the synths in their crusade to summon a higher synth power that will decimate the universe. Picard’s requests to Starfleet have fallen on deaf ears, and now the Romulans are virtually at their doorstep. Who will destroy whom?
Now Narek’s the Good Guy?
Sutra let Narek go for no apparent reason. She could have killed him, and now that decision of hers is going to come back to bite her. Narek races into the Borg cube and finds Narissa. She’s survived and wants to kill the synths. But Narek has other plans. He asks Narissa to stay behind and get the cube’s weapons up. He grabs a bunch of detonators, purportedly to blow up the orchids that will undoubtedly attack the incoming Romulan fleet.
But Narek has another plan. While Rios and Raffi work the magic doohickey that the synths gave them to power up La Sirena, Narek arrives at their door wanting to help. He’s followed closely by Elnor who threatens to kill him. Rios talks the stab-happy boy down.
Narek believes that the story of twin sisters reigning destruction and horror down on the world was history – a history that will repeat itself if they don’t act now. Elnor considers these tales to be just that, stories. Narek’s plan is for Rios, Raffi and Elnor to take him captive into the synth settlement. They’ll camouflage the detonator in one of Rios’ footballs and once close enough, blow up the giant beacon the synths have activated to call their overlords.
Suddenly, Narek’s calling the shots and knows exactly what to do, while our main cast (full of actors of colour) stand about hanging on to his every word. It seems like a silly thing to gripe about, but I worry that the Star Trek: Picard creators are unable to see the poor optics of how their stories and scenes play out.
While Narek is off being a good guy, Narissa’s attempt to bring down the actual good guys goes sideways when she’s discovered by Seven. Narissa was eves-dropping on Seven and Elnor’s conversations and throws a comment back at Seven about putting a phaser to her head and killing herself. Elnor had earlier asked why the xBs continue living if everyone hates them and they have no home, and Seven asked if he’d like her to end her life since she’s an xB too. Narissa probably didn’t catch Elnor saying he wouldn’t want any such thing because he would miss Seven. Well, getting Seven angry is never a good move. Seven roundhouse kicks Narissa off a ledge and kills her ‘for Hugh’. Good for you, Seven.
Picard Escapes
Agnes Jurati had promised to give her life for her ‘children’, the synths. Since the overlords will be killing all organics, Altan Soong has decided to transfer his brainwaves into an android. Agnes is supposed to help him – he’ll survive, while she will sacrifice herself. He’s a jerk.
Agnes is not going to do any such thing. She wants to stop these monsters. Agnes scuttles Picard out of the settlement and they return to La Sirena, only to find it’s been deserted. So, what do they do? Do they call Rios and Raffi for their whereabouts? Do they hail Seven and ask her to help them? Nope! The two of them leave orbit and ‘make it so’ they can confront the Romulans on their own.
Here’s a kind reminder that Jurati has no skills – she’s supposed to be a synth specialist, but she has no talents whatsoever. Picard tried to fly La Sirena and couldn’t understand the controls. He’s a quick study, though, so he’s able to take off.
What’s this one ship going to do against a fleet of 200+ Romulan warbirds? Not much, but luck is on Picard’s side. The orchids battle the Romulans and that gives Picard enough time to contact Soji and offer his life to save the world.
But, Soji and the overlords are only one part of the problem. The Romulans prepare to fire on the planet, so Picard has to come up with a new plan to stall them. Jurati remembers the Picard manoeuvre, named for a clever tactic that Picard once used on the Stargazer. To re-create the move, Jurati programs the magical doohickey to project hundreds of La Sirenas, each with a warp signature. This works briefly, as the Romulans fire at will. Eventually they get the real ship.
Appealing to Soji
Rios, Raffi, Elnor and Narek sneak into the settlement successfully and make their way to the beacon. Just then, Altan discovers some unsettling footage. Arcana was killed by Sutra, not by Narek, and she did it for the sole purpose of rallying the synthetics who would willingly create the beacon.
Disheartened by this betrayal, Altan stumbles across the La Sirena crew and agrees to help them. Altan disables Sutra, while Narek, Raffi and Elnor fight off the synths. When Narek is pinned to the ground, he begs Soji to stop. Meanwhile, Rios is standing afar, waiting for Soji to move away from the beacon console so he can chuck the detonator at it. When Soji finally does move, Rios throws the detonator but she catches it. Soji hurls the detonator into space and goes back to revving up the beacon. Well, that went south.
It’s down to Picard. He continues to appeal to Soji’s humanity, pleading with her to choose not to be the destroyer that the Romulans have feared. We’ve talked a lot about the tone-deaf optics of Star Trek: Picard, and it comes into focus with the plight of the synths in this episode.
Picard berates Soji for believing the ban and hatred of synths leave Soji and her people with no choice. He says that kind of thinking lacks ‘imagination’. Easy for Picard to say – he’s a straight, white man from an affluent family, plus he’s a renowned figure. Soji’s entire existence has been a lie, and the people she trusted tried to use her for information and then kill her. The underlying thread in this season has been the Federation’s xenophobia towards synths, and that would have made for a rich plotline, especially give n today’s bigoted and polarized world. Instead, we get Picard, a character we love, coming across as an ignorant fool who can’t see beyond his privilege.
One Last Shot
With Soji teetering on the precipice of a decision, the Romulans close in on destroying the planet. Is there no hope left? Of course, there is! An armada of Starfleet ships arrives in the nick of time, led by acting captain Will Riker. How lovely it is to see Jonathan Frakes in a Starfleet uniform again, complete with his trademark Cheshire cat grin. I can’t help but marvel at how Frakes has so easily slipped into the character of Riker. It’s like he never stopped being the former Number One.
Riker warns Romulan Commodore Oh to stop her attack. Picard had asked Starfleet to open diplomatic negotiations on the synth planet, which ensures its protection. But Commodore Oh doesn’t relent. She threatens to fire anyway.
As Picard starts feeling the effects of his brain abnormality, he makes one last-ditch effort to get Soji to reconsider. Starfleet is willing to fight for the synths, which is why they’re pointing their phasers at the Romulans. Soji finally turns the beacon off and Oh also surrenders.
I love that Riker says goodbye to Picard, and Picard replies with ‘adieu’ only after Riker has signed off. Picard thought he would never see his friend again. Celebrations come to a halt as Picard loses his battle with his condition, dying in the arms of his new crew.
Everyone loves Picard, so it’s no wonder that the stoic Rios hides away to cry by himself. He is joined by Seven, who is also sniffling back tears. Neither is pleased with what they’ve done – Seven’s upset that she killed again, probably because Captain Janeway would have disapproved. The Captain hated when Seven killed anyone. Rios is heartbroken that he let another captain into his heart and then had to watch him die.
Raffi, who was closest to Picard, is joined by Elnor. Both these characters have a history with Picard, but Raffi doesn’t get to mourn him. Elnor breaks down into loud, raw sobs and Raffi has to console him. Evan Evagoria captures Elnor’s child-like mannerisms very well. While adult characters usually cover their faces with open hands, Elnor buries his fists into his eyes and howls into Raffi’s lap.
Farewell
Since we already know that Star Trek: Picard will return for a second season, we all guessed that Picard would survive in some manner. But first, he has to find closure. Picard’s been riddled with guilt over the sacrifice Data had made to save Picard. The entire first season has hinged on that, though it hasn’t come to the forefront much.
Following his ‘death’, Picard finds himself seated opposite Data in a sophisticated quantum simulation. Data has been trapped here since his death, because part of his consciousness lived on in his brother B4, and was then also borrowed by Altan and Maddox.
Picard is delighted to see Data again because this allows him to tell Data all the things he couldn’t when he was alive. Picard is happy to see Data’s ‘strange, beautiful face’ once again. He’s relieved to tell Data how much he loved him. More than anything, Picard hopes that Data knows that Picard wishes he had died and not Data. Data, of course, is very logical in his response. If Picard does not regret dying for Soji and her people, why does he imagine that Data does? This is the most perfect scene in this series. Brent Spiner is magical as Data – how do these returning actors so effortlessly capture their characters’ mannerisms and intonations? It’s like Data had never left us at all. All the heartfelt emotion that this series has tried and failed to elicit in us viewers is encapsulated by this authentic exchange between two beloved characters.
Data informs Picard that he’s getting another chance at life. Once back, Data would like Picard to erase his program for good so that Data can finally rest in peace. Picard agrees.
As expected, Jurati and Altan had transferred Picard’s brainwaves to an android replica of the man. This was how Altan had planned to go out, but his sacrifice is Picard’s gain. The new android will age like Picard and eventually die; it also lacks any superpowers. The whole thing is a convenient way to keep Sir Patrick Stewart in the role. Picard deletes the last remnants of Data, allowing the android to die holding the hand of his captain in the simulation. I wish it had been either of Data’s parents, maybe even the love of Data’s life, Tasha Yarr. But Picard in his old Starfleet uniform is still a great companion.
The season ends with Jurati and Rios still a couple (Rios deserves better!), Seven joining La Sirena and, from the looks of it, becoming Raffi’s girlfriend (yay, finally some queer representation on Star Trek: Picard). Elnor is also part of the crew, as is Soji. And Picard finally has a ship and a crew once again.
Final Thoughts
I don’t mind Picard being alive – more Picard the better – it’s that the whole ‘death scene’ felt contrived and meaningless because we knew Picard wasn’t really dead. Considering the crew were bawling their eyes out for Picard, how would they really feel when he just came back alive?
I am in two minds about how well this season was handled. Honestly, it felt like the creators bit off more than they could chew, which meant characters were left by the wayside or under-utilized. The finale was poorly written. Characters appeared only for plot purposes and disappeared when not needed. What were Narek, Raffi, Rios and Elnor doing while Picard was talking to Soji? Where were they? And where did Narek go after the fact? Was he arrested? I really hope Narek doesn’t return; he is so uninteresting.
We are meant to forgive Jurati and root for her and Rios, but the actors have no chemistry. The pairing was signposted from the moment Jurati boarded La Sirena and they’re a mok’tah, as B’Elanna Torres’ grandmother would say. In other words, a bad match. Rios and Jurati have been put together because a straight romance was needed apparently.
I’m not surprised that Seven is queer though. While it’s sad that she and Chakotay broke up and from the sounds of it, Seven is no longer in touch with the Voyager crew, it was evident from her interaction with Bjayzl on Freecloud that their relationship was more than that of ‘just friends’.
With the dust settled, perhaps Star Trek: Picard season two will be more episodic and give characters like Raffi, Elnor and Seven some actual stories, arcs and dialogue. And maybe Picard will get off his high horse and listen to others for a change.