star trek picard season 2 finale review

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Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 10 Review – Farewell

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 ends as it lived: Frustrating, occasionally nonsensical, and buoyed by a great cast.

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The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 10

Star Trek: Picard wraps up its second season with a finale that is as uneven and frustrating as many of the episodes that have preceded it. From its rushed final mystery to the literal deus ex machina that sends Picard and friends back to the future, there’s a determined air of tying up loose ends for most of the hour, but little in the way of true emotional payoff (or even basic explanation) for the bulk of what we’ve seen this season. 

The manufactured “Two Renees” mystery is solved almost as quickly as it was invented last week and ends with Tallinn sacrificing her life while wearing another woman’s face so that Soong can kill her, even as the real Renee happily blasts off into the stars. A noble sacrifice to be sure, but one that feels as much as though it’s about allowing someone who looks like Laris to die in Picard’s arms as it is about Tallinn and Renee’s relationship. (Though the scene between the two women is actually surprisingly moving and well done.)  

Q returns, just in time to explain everything to Picard and use the last of his fading powers to snap everyone back to their own time and reveal that he did it all because he just wanted to help Jean-Luc live his best life. 

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“Must it always have galactic import, universal stakes, celestial upheaval? Isn’t one life enough?” Q laments dramatically when asked why he’s decided to do any of this. “You ask me why it matters? It matters to me. You matter to me. Even gods have favorites, Jean-Luc. And you’ve always been one of mine.”

Spoiler alert: I guess I am a monster because honestly, I laughed out loud. On paper, this sounds like it should be some wild Star Trek: The Next Generation fanfic, but as it plays out onscreen here it feels like nothing so much as an excuse. A deliberate attempt to appeal to fan nostalgia and lean on the great chemistry between Patrick Stewart and John de Lancie (which is, admittedly, incredible!) and use the intersection of both to give the mess of this season an emotional depth and meaning it has in no way earned. 

The thing is, Q and Picard have always had a disturbingly obsessive relationship with one another, so it does make a certain amount of sense that Q also seems to think that being overtly abusive and cruel is the way to convey your affection for someone. And I fully buy the complex and messy emotional strings that hang between them. (That hug! The final mon captain at the end!) But the problem is that Q’s “plan”, such as it was, is deeply stupid and full of holes. 

If it was always about forcing Picard to confront his childhood demons, why involve Renee Picard and the Europa mission at all? Why fight so hard to bring about the dark space Nazi future? Why involve Soong or free Kore? What was the point of any of this? Anyone who has spent literally five seconds with Jean-Luc—let alone stalked him for decades—would know that this was a man who was always going to put the key back in its hiding place because he believes the needs of the many (the future he is keeping in place) outweigh the needs of the few (his own psyche/childhood/dead mother). Duh?? There are four lights!! 

In the words of the great Mugatu, I feel like I am taking crazy pills. What was the point of all this? 

Part of the problem is the idea that whatever dark memories were banging around Picard’s head were so paralyzing that they crippled his life in some significant way in no way reflect his actual arc as a character. Did they keep him from being a leader? Making difficult choices or empathetic decisions? Forming real and lasting emotional bonds with others? Sympathizing with former enemies? Well, no, because he’s done all these things before. We’ve seen him. There’s a whole show about it. 

Basically, whether this season works for you or not is largely going to hinge on whether you think this extended sojourn into Picard’s childhood trauma tells us anything particularly new about the character or his story. And I’m not sure that I think it does. (I also truly cannot believe they went the entire season without ever mentioning the dead brother??) Mostly because, other than apparently now being willing to go for it, romantically speaking, with Laris, there’s not a lot of evidence that this physical and metaphorical journey truly changed him in any significant way. Do you feel like this Picard is a substantially different man than the one we saw in “ The Star Gazer” ? I don’t think that I do, and that makes me truly question what in the world all this was for. 

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I think I’d feel better about it all if Picard were more clear that this season isn’t actually about Jean-Luc at all, it’s about Agnes . She’s the one who undergoes the significant emotional journey, who has to visit the past in order to be irrevocably changed into something that can save the future, even though it means she has to take a long way round to get there and substantially alter her understanding of herself in the process. (Not to mention rip off a climactic scene from the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.)  But the show isn’t called Jurati , so they had to come up with a reason to connect her arc to Picard? That’s truly the most charitable read I can give any of this. 

Anyway, Rios decides to stay in the past because literally nothing matters when it comes to the timeline anymore, and I’m honestly relieved about it because Picard has never really known what to do with this character, and his presence this season was little more than an afterthought anyway. Elnor is alive and well because we’ve changed the future (Agnes is a Borg!) but not that much, Guinan apparently knew all along about Picard meeting her in the 21st century and couldn’t say anything, and Raffi and Seven kiss and reaffirm their relationship. (Which actually is also the first time I think they’ve kissed onscreen? Anybody?)

It looks like Adam Soong is going to follow up his genetic experiments on children by becoming involved in the creation of Human Augments (a.k.a. The project that ultimately produces Khan ). Oh, and Wesley Crusher apparently grew up to become a time-traveling Supervisor and recruits Kore to join his secret team of guardians protecting the important figures of history. I really hope this isn’t some sort of weird hint at another possible franchise spin-off because wow keep it . 

As we look ahead to Picard ’s third and final season, it’s difficult to know what we’re meant to be taking away from this series or the stories it’s trying to tell. The series’ second season was remarkably different from its first, but it ends with many of the same themes of togetherness and found family , despite the fact that most of these characters’ relationships didn’t significantly change in any way this year. (And that we’ve said goodbye to two of the main cast for good.)  Picard has a girlfriend now (maybe?) and has (apparently?) made peace with a lifetime’s worth of guilt. What that all has to do with the Next Generation crew returning next season ? Your guess is as good as mine.

2.5 out of 5

Lacy Baugher

Lacy Baugher is a digital producer by day, but a television enthusiast pretty much all the time. Her writing has been featured in Paste Magazine, Collider,…

The 'Star Trek: Picard' Season 2 finale will leave you feeling somewhat shortchanged

It's mostly exactly what was expected, but there was one twist that no one saw coming

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Star Trek: Picard" season 2, episode 10

Here we are then. After nine weeks, this particular journey is at an end and the second season of " Star Trek: Picard " draws to a close. We spoke last week of how it had been confirmed that the third and final season of "Star Trek: Picard" on Paramount Plus was not a continuation of the events unfolding before us now and consequently that left quite a lot to be wrapped up.

Sadly, most of the story threads concluded in a manner that was exactly what we were expecting, with one small surprise however, that we can guarantee no one saw coming. All things considered though, it's still so much better than the first season finale. You can check out our Star Trek streaming guide to catch up on "Star Trek: Picard" for the finale and be ready for season three. Now, on to the episode.

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Following the somewhat lengthy recap that covers the events of the whole of the season, we're right back where we left off last week, with our peppy band of timeline polluters at Château Picard pondering their next move after Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill), who is now more or less fully integrated with the Borg Queen, stole La Sirena and took off, leaving everyone else stranded in La Barre, eastern France, in 2024. But not for long. 

After a super-speedy conference, they beam back to Tallinn's (Orla Brady) apartment, grab some gear and she and Jean-Luc (Patrick Stewart) then beam to the launch site of the Europa mission to prevent the presumed attack on astronaut Renée Picard (Penelope Mitchell). 

This sets up one of the plot threads that we fully anticipate to be tied up, that of the relationship between Jean-Luc and Tallinn-lookalike Laris (also Orla Brady). Since the two are identical in both appearance and attitude, Jean-Luc can resolve his issues with former and transfer his feelings over to the latter with relative ease, which he does. ✓

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Raffi (Michelle Hurd) and Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera) are able to track Jurati's movements from before she stole La Sirena and they beam to Dr. Adam Soong's ( Brent Spiner ) home, expecting to find him there, except he's at the Europa launch site. Uh oh. Instead however, they find his "plan B" for preventing the launch, which is basically a drone attack. And thus begins one of the weakest story elements in this season finale. It also conveniently provides a ticking clock for the Renée Picard sub-plot.

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That's handled by Tallinn and she enters the astronaut building in a stolen uniform and is forced to confront Renée directly. It also fulfills the cryptic prophecy that the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) foretold when she said, "There must be two Renées." And in all fairness, it's not handled too badly. Soong is at the site and getting into a tantrum about not being allowed into the complex despite being a very generous donor to ... the mission? Exactly what, or who, Soong has been making generous donations to, is glossed over. Nevertheless, he's eventually able to catch up with Renée and poisons her by way of a rather nice, peel-away skin graft-of-sorts from his hand that contains a powerful neurotoxin, which he was able to transmit when he shook her hand.

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Except of course it isn't Renée, it's Tallinn, who has expanded the operational area of her ear-camouflaging, holographic cloaking device to now encompass her whole face ... and thus she's able to deceive Soong. Oh, yeah, and the drones have been destroyed, so you know, phew .

The pacing is good throughout and the dialogue is actually very good, in particular between Renée and Tallinn, then between Jean-Luc and the dying Romulan. So far however, there have been no real surprises. The mission launches and, to all intents and purposes, is a success and the authoritarian future has been prevented. As a final gesture of general loathing, all of Soong's work is deleted by Kore (Isa Briones) who hacks in remotely. Watching the launch on television and seething with anger, he gulps down a whiskey and reaches into a drawer, pulling out a file labeled "Project Khan" and dated 1996.

This is of course a direct reference to Khan Noonien Singh, played magnificently by Ricardo Montalbán, first in "The Original Series" episode "Space Seed" (S01, E24) and then again in " Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan " — arguably the greatest movie ever made. (The less said about "Star Trek Into Darkness" the better.) Khan was genetically engineered "augment" and former ruler of more than one-quarter of Earth, from Asia to the Middle East.

In " Star Trek " history however, the augment tyrants began warring among themselves in the mid-1990s. Other nations joined in, to force them from power, in a series of struggles that became known as the Eugenics Wars. Much of this story was exceptionally well told in the vastly underrated "Enterprise" Season 4 three-part augments story arc. 

Eventually, most of these "super humans" were defeated and their territory recaptured, but approximately 90 were never accounted for. Turns out they escaped and stole a DY-100-class interplanetary sleeper ship that Khan named the SS Botany Bay. Set on a course outbound from the solar system , but with no destination in mind, Khan and his people remained in suspended animation until they were discovered in deep space by Captain Kirk some 270 years later.

And it becomes clear that this is less of a throwback to "Enterprise" and more of a set up for " Strange New Worlds ," since it's been decided that one of the USS Enterprise bridge crewmembers is Khan's daughter, La'an Noonien-Singh, played by Christina Chong. Quite how this will be incorporated into the fabric of space and time remains to be seen. Or perhaps it won't be.

Then comes the biggest twist, by far. Kore has been sitting in a library while she hacks in and mercilessly deletes all of her father's work. Having completed her task and exacted her revenge, she collects her stuff, packs it into her bag and casually makes her way outside into the late afternoon sunshine where she's greeted by ... of all peopl ... Wesley Crusher.

And why not. It's great to see Wil Wheaton capitalizing on some Paramount-paid "TNG" nostalgia, why should all everyone else have all the cash fun?

So, here's what we know. In "The Next Generation" episode "Where No One Has Gone Before" (S01, E06) experimental engine modifications throw the Enterprise to the edge of the known universe. A mysterious alien, known as the Traveler from another plane of existence, is making his way through our galaxy, peacefully observing all lifeforms. By disguising himself as a human, he is able to get passage on different starships and in this instance, onboard the USS Enterprise. During this escapade, the Traveler and Wesley become good friends.

Seven years later, cadet Crusher resigns from Starfleet Academy after the Traveler — this time posing as a villager on Dorvan V — accompanies him through a vision of his deceased father who tells him that his destiny lies somewhere other than with Starfleet and that he should not follow in his footsteps in "The Next Generation" episode "Journey's End" (S07, E02). (By the way, here's our take on the best Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes ever.)

The Traveler promises to mentor Wesley as he begins his journey to another plane of existence. That said, Wesley attends the marriage of William Riker and Deanna Troi in "Star Trek: Nemesis" in a lieutenant junior grade dress uniform in 2379, suggesting that he had in fact become a Starfleet officer at some point. Regardless of how "Star Trek" canon chooses to interpret all of this, Wesley approaches Kore and explains how he can guide her. Turns out, the Travelers are the ones behind the Supervisors. "My colleagues and I, we dispatch those we call supervisors to help ensure the proper flow of time," says Wes. 

"Two paths are before you. The first one leads to a perfectly normal life. The second ... that path leads to everything else. And it offers a chance to give your life purpose and meaning," he continues and it works because without any real hesitation, she joins him. And we won't see Isa Briones in Season 3 because she posted on Instagram that her involvement with "Picard" at least, was at an end.

 Back at Château Picard, Seven and Raffi finally get their act together, share their feelings for each other and kiss, so we can check that box now too. ✓ But then we get to the very best part of this episode, the final exchange between Q (John de Lancie) and Jean-Luc. It's beautifully written, nicely explains the events of the last 10 episodes without spoonfuls of exposition and the performances, from de Lancie in particular, are outstanding.

As we eventually discover — and we'll come to shortly — the Borg were facing an extinction level event and so called for Jean-Luc. But, as we saw in the very first episode of this second season " The Star Gazer ," Jean-Luc tried to activate the self destruct on the USS Stargazer, but the Borg Queen was already Agnes Jurati — because of time loops and stuff like that. Behind the scenes, Q does his Thanos thing and all key member of the cast are unwittingly transported to an alt-history timeline. This is crucial so they can pick up the actual Borg Queen who a) helps La Sirena Six navigate back to 2024 but also b) has to be present so Jurati can merge with her and fulfill that pesky time loop.

The importance placed on the Europa mission is, in essence, to prevent Dr. Soong from offering his solution to the world's problems and thus creating the authoritarian state. We learn later that "they found a way to heal the ocean and clean the sky using an alien organism that Renée discovered during the Europa Mission." What a very handy organism indeed.

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A second chance at all of this was Q's parting gift to Jean-Luc before he died. So it's not quite like Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "Tapestry" (S06, E15) or "All Good Things" (S07, E25 & 26) in that they were more like glimpses of alternative outcomes. This is a full on chance to change the future, by not destroying the USS Stargazer, saving the galaxy one more time and even establishing a line of communication to the Borg — in fact, changing the Borg forever. Perhaps this was all meant to happen and Q ensures it does. Perhaps he should've worked in cooperation with the Travelers.

The important thing is that this effectively delivered in the best way possible. Q doesn't explain his roadmap — although it's arguable if he'd done that, then he and Jean-Luc wouldn't have had to exchange blows in the vineyard. But we're given enough for both of us — the viewers and Jean-Luc to work out for ourselves. It's even been speculated on social media that perhaps this All New & Improved Borg could be the ones who find and repair V'ger.

Nerd Note: According to Memory Alpha , La Sirena (a Kaplan F17 Speed Freighter) was "slower, but more maneuverable, than a 23rd century Romulan Bird-of-Prey." We saw in "Star Trek IV" The Voyage Home" the captured Bird of Prey, referred to as HMS Bounty reach warp 9.3 before beginning to shake apart. So, would Queen Agnes have reached the Borg in the Delta Quadrant in under 377 years? Taking USS Voyager's projected journey time back to the Alpha Quadrant of 23 years, give or take (at warp 9.975) then yes. The events of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" take place in 2270, so that leaves, very roughly, 246 years for Voyager 6 to fall into a black hole and "emerge on the far side of the galaxy" and into the "machine planet's gravitational field." So, yeah…it's entirely plausible.

Still at Château Picard, Rios declares he's staying ✓ and Q says his final farewell, which is all rather emotional, and as we've mentioned, is in considerable contrast to how he was behaving at the beginning of the season. Then we're whisked away back to the bridge of the USS Stargazer just moments before the self destruct completed its countdown. Jean-Luc cancels the order and Queen Agnes reveals herself.

Only now do we discover what this was all about. Apparently, it's a "galactic event" presumably like a gamma ray burst, or possibly a supernova. These things happen, we fully understand that. Or at least gamma ray bursts and supernovas happen, the jury's still out on triquantum waves. And it would be OK, even a novelty, if this hadn't been an integral part of the last two seasons of "Star Trek: Discovery." But here's the thing, Aaron J. Waltke, Executive Producer on "Star Trek" Prodigy" tweeted after the finale had aired, "Boy oh boy, there are things I wish I could show you about the upcoming seasons of #StarTrekProdigy today, of all days."

And in fact, Seven says, "I believe we have just witnessed the creation of a transwarp conduit, but unlike any I've ever seen before." 

"But…created by who?" Asks a puzzled Jean-Luc. "Even with our collective knowledge, that answer remains elusive," Queen Agnes responds, with little sign of any emotion. "But you know more…" Jean-Luc insists. "What you see is a piece of the puzzle whose final image is unclear, but is tied to a threat. One which requires close observation. We request provisional membership in the Federation so that we may remain here, a guardian at the gates," Queen Agnes replies, this time perhaps showing the smallest of signs of the former doctor's personality.

Nerd Note: Jean-Luc can't hear the Borg anymore (as he used to be able to following his assimilation) after getting his new synthetic body replacement at the end of last season, so instead he relies on Seven when he needs to.

Put all that together and what we have is an inadequate, unsatisfying ending to "Picard" Season 2, but one that now deliberately links to events in the animated "Star Trek" spin-off show that's aimed primarily at children; perfect if you watch "Prodigy," less so if you don't.

Once this is all solved, the Borg harmonize the fleet's shields with their own and massive spike in neutrino emissions focused on the center of the quadrant have been diverted, it's basically a matter of closure. Queen Agnes, who seems to have taken some fashion advice from David Warner's character in "Time Bandits," goes back to the Borg fleet and the impressive gathering of Federation starships, complete with Elnor, makes it's way back to Sector 001.

We learn from Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) that Teresa eventually died of old age and Rios slightly younger, in a Moroccan bar fight, over medical supplies. Thus the single best new character given to us from this spin-off show will no longer appear in any more. And the very last, very predictable event is that Jean-Luc tells Laris how he really feels about her. ✓

All in all, it's a very mixed bag. Still, it's better than the first season and perhaps this will fare better upon a more condensed rewatch. Without any doubt, Q's dialogue and performance was the highlight, even if it was in stark contrast to his earlier behavior. Plus questions remain unanswered, as they tend to do when you muck about with the timeline. What happened to former FBI Agent Wells (Jay Karnes) for instance? Was he eradicated when Q did his Thanos thing?

Rating: A very generous 6/10

The entire second season of "Star Trek: Picard" is now available to watch on Paramount Plus as is the first episode of "Strange New Worlds." Season 4 of "Star Trek: Discovery" is also available to watch now on Paramount Plus in the US and CTV Sci-Fi or Crave TV in Canada. Countries outside of North America can watch on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel.

Paramount has confirmed that its streaming platform will launch in the UK and Ireland on June 22, available both as a standalone service and as part of the Sky Cinema subscription for the UK cable provider.

Follow Scott Snowden on Twitter . Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook . 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

When Scott's application to the NASA astronaut training program was turned down, he was naturally upset...as any 6-year-old boy would be. He chose instead to write as much as he possibly could about science, technology and space exploration. He graduated from The University of Coventry and received his training on Fleet Street in London. He still hopes to be the first journalist in space.

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Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 10 “Farewell” Review

In Star Trek: Picard ’s season two finale, our major questions are answered within a confident episode that practices some well-worn finale trends to mostly satisfying effect.  

Having lost Agnes Jurati ( Alison Pill ) and La Sirena to the Borgified Jurati’s quest to create a new collective, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) and his crew fight the clock to prevent Adam Soong ( Brent Spiner ) from interfering with Renee Picard’s ( Penelope Mitchell ) vital mission to Europa.

Tallinn ( Orla Brady ) determines the best way to help Renee is to go to the launch site and ensure her continued survival. After all, the departing words of the Borg Queen asserted that one Renee must live and another must die. Tallinn thinks this means she will ultimately have to sacrifice her own life if it means saving Renee’s, but Picard takes issue with that assessment and ultimately follows Tallinn through her transporter to the Europa mission’s launch site.

At the site, Soong is trying to gain access to the room where Renee is waiting, alone, for launch, using his financial influence and a bit of aggressive negotiation to get his way past the mission’s organizers. Tallinn, through a bit of costume work, is successful at that goal first and comes face-to-face with Renee. This moment is a profound one for Tallinn, as she has been watching over Renee for the younger woman’s entire life, and now her watch is coming to an end if one believes Tallinn’s assertion that she will sacrifice her own life.

Tallinn spills the beans to Renee about her life being in danger and devises a simple plan to foil Soong’s plans. Predictably, Tallinn’s handy camouflage technology – the tech she uses to hide her Romulan ears as seen in “Monsters” – allows her to assume Renee’s features and adequately fool Soong. When Soong thinks he has poisoned Renee and leaves her for dead, he actually poisoned Tallinn. The dying Romulan makes her way to Picard for her final breaths as the pair watches the Europa mission take off successfully.

Not knowing that Soong would be at the launch site, Cristóbal Rios ( Santiago Cabrera), Raffaela Musiker ( Michelle Hurd ) and Seven of Nine ( Jeri Ryan )beam to Soong’s office to try and stop him. He isn’t there, but his backup plan is: a series of explosive drones that are programmed to intercept and stop the launching rocket. Thanks to some ingenuity by Raffi and expert piloting skills by Rios, the drones are stopped.

Our major complaint about this episode is that this little side quest is as cut-and-dry as it sounds.  Honestly, this episode could have gone without this drone complication, as it just seems like a way to find something for the aforementioned trio to do while more important things are happening elsewhere, and we must ask what does it add to the episode? A chance for Rios to show off his unrealistically adroit drone piloting skills? To put it another way, nothing of consequence would change if this sequence was removed from the episode.

“Absolve yourself. Or the only life left unsaved will be your own.” A dying Tallinn to Picard

In any case, the entire crew (sans Tallinn) reunite back at Chateau Picard, safe in the knowledge that their mission to ensure the launch of the Europa mission was successful – but also knowing they are stuck in 2024. In a profound moment for Picard, he places the skeleton key, the one he found during the battle for the Picard estate, back to the place where young Picard ultimately finds it and uses it to unlock the door to his mother’s room. Consider this: in this moment, the elder Picard has the option to try and prevent that horrible loss of life from happening – perhaps by hiding the key somewhere else and thus changing the course of history – but he resolves himself and chooses to let history run its course. What a brave and selfless act.

This act does raise some questions, however. Picard indeed returns the key to the place he found it the night his mother took her life. But earlier in the season, Picard noted how that skeleton key migrated all around the house when he was growing up, so the reasoning for placing the key where he did loses a bit of rationality. It isn’t guaranteed the key will be behind that brick when that fateful night comes. In any case, the symbolism is there.

As this is such an important moment for Picard, we wish this scene played out a bit more. As it is, we see Picard reflect only briefly on the momentous act of returning the key. Alas, the moment comes and goes, but this isn’t even the most important scene to play out in the chateau, as Picard finds Q waiting for him in the observatory. How or when Q got there is anybody’s guess. Finally, the pair have a chance to talk about the season’s events, and this exchange turns out to be the most remarkable part of the episode.

Q praises Picard for returning the key to its resting place instead of destroying it. Picard’s question to Q is: why this trial? And moreover, why Q’s interest in Picard at all? Q admits he is dying, something Picard already gathered based on their previous interactions. But beyond just dying, Q is dying alone , with no one to be with him in his final days. In a remarkable act of compassion, Q wanted to avoid that same fate for Picard, as the admiral was always resistant to forming relationships thanks to the emotional baggage his childhood caused. So, Q’s goal all along was the make Picard see how letting go of that baggage is vital – but of course, he couldn’t just tell Picard that; the man had to experience the journey, with all the trials and tribulations that came with it.

“Humans. Your griefs, your pains, fix you to moments in the past long gone. You’re like butterflies with your wings pinned. My old friend… forever the boy who with the errant turn of a skeleton key broke the universe in his own heart. No more. You are now unshackled from the past.” – Q to Picard

Yes, this is a touching moment and a remarkable conclusion to a rivalry that began more than 30 years ago. But Q has one last surprise in store for Picard: he can bring the admiral and his crew back to the future, but at the cost of his remaining life force. This is a slightly jarring promise; whereas we were led to believe Q had lost his powers entirely, he actually is merely “weakened” and still possesses substantial god-like abilities. In their final farewell, Picard asserts to the dying being that he isn’t actually dying alone, and hugs him. Q’s last words to Picard are the same parting words he said to the then-captain in “All Good Things”: “See you… out there.”

Thus ends Q’s foreseeable involvement in Star Trek , and we must say his final plan – his final trial – for Picard was quintessential Q. Even though his methods appeared more sinister than usual, his message to Picard about letting go of emotional baggage is an excellent sentiment for the audience . Who among us can’t take Q’s lesson to heart?

We have to wonder: when did Picard pass Q’s trial, the trial that began in “Encounter at Fairpoint” to prove that humanity is not a savage race? Was it when Picard returned the key to its resting place, thus ensuring his pained childhood still happens (in which case our aforementioned critique about that scene is more valid)? Q does say “bravo” when Picard does this. Or was the trial over when Picard hugged Q, as the admiral showed compassion for a superior being even in the aftermath of such sacrifice and hardship? Or perhaps the trial really does never end? This answer will likely be debated for some time to come.

In any case, Picard and crew (sans Rios, who predictably opts to stay in 2024) are snapped back to the bridge of the Stargazer , where they face, once again, a Borg entity trying to get into the ship’s systems. Our heroes are wiser about what is going on, though, and they know who the person is inside the Borg mask: Jurati. There’s a good reason she is trying to take over the Stargazer and other ships in the Federation fleet: a transwarp portal of some kind is opening nearby, and only the combined strength of the fleet’s shields can stop a burst of energy from wreaking havoc on the entire quadrant. Interestingly, Jurati, for all the knowledge she has amassed in her travels, does not know who is opening the portal, but the fleet springs into action anyway.

Picard recognizes that in Rios’ absence, Seven, the ex-Borg, is the most qualified person to captain the Stargazer in this moment, and grants her a battlefield commission. Thus, Seven suddenly gets the Starfleet commission she wanted ever since returning from the Delta Quadrant. Placing her trust in the Borgified Jurati, Seven orders the fleet to follow Jurati’s lead and block the energy discharge from the portal. The move is successful, leaving a massive gateway in space needing to be guarded against whatever was trying to get through. Jurati, asking for provisional membership in the Federation, offers the massive Borg ship to guard the gateway.

So, the major question left from this finale involves this mysterious gateway. Who made it, and why? Jurati calls it “a piece of the puzzle whose final image is unclear, but is tied to a threat.” That’s pretty vague. In an episode that answers all the season’s remaining questions, this thread is peculiar. Is there a plan in season three for this gateway? We’ll put money on us seeing this portal again in some way.

With the day saved, our heroes return to 10 Forward on Earth, where Guinan ( Whoopi Goldberg ) apologizes for not being able to tell Picard sooner about the events witnessed in this season, and thanks the older man for “setting her straight” back in that downtrodden part of her life. She also explains what happened to Rios, Teresa Ramirez ( Sol Rodriguez ), and her son, Ricardo ( Steve Gutierrez ) as they lived the rest of their lives in the 21 st century. The two adults headed their own medical movement, Mariposas, which is Spanish for “butterflies,” delivering goods to people who needed them. The name of their company is a neat full-circle reference to the butterfly imagery we’ve seen the entire season.  

More importantly, Ricardo grew into a person of great intellect and leadership. He was able to utilize the microorganism brought back from Europa by Renee to clean the Earth of its pollution and climate change-related environmental damage. While it’s a bit convenient that Ricardo of all people was the one to do this, it’s certainly a happy ending for the trio and helps explain why Renee’s mission was so important to history.

Picard isn’t quite done with the aftermath of his adventure, as he learned a valuable lesson from Q and opts to take advantage of it. He returns to Chateau Picard, where Laris ( Orla Brady ) is actually getting ready to leave until Picard makes the move he couldn’t make back in the season premiere. The episode ends with a strong hint that the two are striking up a relationship. Call us crazy, but knowing about this burgeoning relationship now, is it possible the paper Picard is writing on in the season three cast announcement is a wedding invitation?

While we appreciate the tone this season ends on, we have to say the last shot of the episode – the camera pulling back from Picard and Laris to the sky above the chateau – is jarring. It appears to be a completely CGI shot (besides the actors) of iffy quality, and the room Picard and Laris were standing in just seconds before was not the same room the last shot shows. It’s a strange continuity break that takes away from the tone the episode’s final moments are trying to present. So, in this way, Picard did not stick its season two landing.  

Let’s touch on how this season left two other characters: Adam Soong and Kore ( Isa Briones ). Remember, Kore had stormed out of her father’s house in “ Mercy ” when she learned she was just another of her father’s vain experiments. Well, she has some retribution in store for Adam. Working from a library, Kore hacks into her father’s computer using a Microsoft HoloLens and deletes everything on it – presumably his entire life’s work. Adam notices this as it’s happening, and understandably is distraught. With his work gone, and nothing left to lose, Adam immediately takes out an all-too-conveniently placed file folder with an ominous name from his desk: Project Khan.

Of course, this name should perk up the ears of any Star Trek fan. Khan was a major villain in The Original Series episode “Space Seed’ and the TOS movie that bears his name. By showing Soong with this folder, what this episode is seemingly implying is that Adam is responsible, in some way, for Khan when the genetically altered villain was rising to power in the 1990s amid the Eugenics Wars . The folder Soong takes out is a “confidential funding report” dated June 7, 1996. This could help explain why Soong’s reputation was already damaged when we first meet him in “ Fly Me to the Moon .” We don’t think we’ll necessarily find out what Soong is planning by returning to his previous work on Khan, but the tease is exciting. And continuing a theme revisited over this season, this episode helps shed some light on a rarely discussed topic in Star Trek lore.

And speaking of shedding some light on Star Trek lore, we learn a bit more about the Watchers, the people like Tallinn who are assigned to protect and observe certain individuals or species across the galaxy to ensure their survival and success. In a scene that would have made a great post-credits tease if Star Trek did such things, Kore, after nuking her father’s work, gets a mysterious message that tells her to come to a park to meet someone.

When she gets there, who happens to meet her? Wesley Crusher ( Wil Wheaton ). Talk about an out-of-left-field cameo. Wesley explains that he is a Traveler (a storyline described over a few The Next Generation episodes) and that the Travelers are the ones who dispatch Watchers and help keep the tapestry of the universe from unraveling. This is a welcome reveal, as knowing who sends Watchers around the galaxy has always been a point of interest ever since we met Gary Seven in “Assignment: Earth” back in 1968.

Wesley has taken in interest in Kore, although the reason why isn’t exactly clear, and it’s for this reason this cameo doesn’t exactly work for us. Kore is a person who has never felt safe anywhere thanks to her medical condition, and that mindset apparently lends itself well to being a Traveler, but surely there are plenty of other people who also don’t feel safe in their lives. What makes Kore so special?

Wesley invites her to join the club, and she agrees. Like the reveal of Soong’s work on Khan, we don’t think Kore’s involvement with the Travelers will be elaborated on in future Picard episodes; rather, this conclusion serves two purposes: 1) it’s a happy ending for someone who suffered a great deal of emotional trauma thanks to her father, and 2) in typical season finale style, it’s an opportunity to shock the audience with a surprise cameo.

As a season finale, “Farewell” certainly does the job. It adequately answers just about all of our remaining questions, questions that the show started asking in the season premiere. With that in mind, kudos to this season’s behind-the-scenes architects for crafting a story that offered both intense interpersonal conflicts and wider galactic-scale storytelling. One last remaining question we have is what exactly was afflicting Q. How or why a seemingly omnipotent and immortal being started dying is curious, but perhaps this answer is best left to mystery. After all, the nature of the Q is mysterious unto itself.

“Farewell” is also a prime example of this season of Picard taking stock of Star Trek lore and exploring it where it could. In just this episode alone, we gain some small measure of insight into the Travelers, Watchers, and Khan; elsewhere in the season, we saw references to pre-First Contact Vulcan observers, the return of the Stargazer in a way that was thematically important to Picard’s life, some vital details of the Q-El-Aurien conflict, and a million other small references that show Picard ’s producers clearly know their stuff. This alone made this season of Picard fascinating to watch.

More importantly, however, this season gave us incredible insight into Jean-Luc Picard himself. Thanks to episodes like “Monsters” and “Mercy,” we can never look at the character the same way again, which is a pretty cool experience after watching Jean-Luc Picard for more than 30 years. While the pacing of this season wasn’t always consistent, and there were some questionable narrative decisions that took us out of the immersion from time to time, we’re thankful Picard is as retrospective as it was.

The adventures of Picard certainly aren’t over yet, and we’re amazingly curious to see what season three brings to the table besides the promise of a full-fledged, season-long The Next Generation reunion. Not that there isn’t plenty of Star Trek to watch until then…  

Stray Thoughts:

• We want to praise Orla Brady’s fantastic acting when her character realizes Tallinn’s fate is sealed. It’s a subtle but powerful reaction, and we can’t help but feel for her.  
• Tallinn gets into Renee’s room way too easily. She clearly wears the wrong ID badge, which doesn’t seem to concern the security guard she has to walk past.
• Soong gets angry that pre-launch quarantine procedures mean he can’t get “five minutes of face time” with the astronauts, and the mission organizer crumbles quickly and allows him in. But there are quarantine procedures for a reason, most important of which is the safety of the astronauts from external contaminants. Flashing some money around shouldn’t allow Soong access, no matter how angry he gets, and the mission organizer should know that.  She should have simply suggested a phone call to Renee, or a socially distanced meeting. Instead, she places the entire mission in jeopardy because Soong started to get annoyed.
• When Raffi first discovers the drones, the timer has three minutes and forty-five seconds left. Later, when the drones actually launch, the timer reads three minutes and thirty seconds. Was Raffi able to increase the timer duration and buy more time to hack the drones, or is this a major continuity error?
• Astronauts are usually seated and ready to go in their rockets a couple hours or more before launch. Such is not the case for Renee, who seemingly only must get into the rocket mere minutes before liftoff.
• How does Soong rationalize Renee surviving his neurotoxin? He obviously doesn’t know he actually poisoned Tallinn. He must think poorly of the Europa mission’s flight protocols if the mission organizers allowed an obviously sick Renee to board the rocket.
• Soong doesn’t keep backups of his data? Are we meant to believe all his work is gone?
• Why doesn’t Kore assume Wesley is a lunatic and just walk away from his crazy-sounding pitch?
• When we last saw Teresa and Ricardo before this episode, Rios had just left them in L.A. while he beamed back to Chateau Picard. In this episode, we see them back with the rest of the crew at the chateau. Why exactly did they come back from L.A. to Chateau Picard?
• The planets and star systems labeled on the Stargazer ’s viewscreen when we first get a look at the transport portal are: Inferna Prime , Vega , Maxia , 61 Cygni , Altair , Arcturus , Benzar , Draylax , Sol , Wolf 359 , Yadalla , Calder , and others.
• Beyond the obvious reason of Raffi and others learning Q brought Elnor back to life, why would Elnor, a brand-new graduate from Starfleet Academy, be the one who answers hails on the Excelsior ?
• The First Contact theme makes a nice reprisal during the scenes in 10 Forward as Picard and crew celebrate the end of their mission.
• This episode sure does gloss over what Tallinn said to Renee to get her onboard with the latter’s plan to save her life just before the launch. We have to wonder: does Renee stay quiet for the rest of her life about her run-in with Laris?
• We’re just noticing this in this episode, but doesn’t Renee, played by Penelope Mitchell, look a lot like Picard’s mom, played by Madeline Wise? Kudos to this show’s casting director for keeping an eye on family lineage.
• Tallinn awkwardly mentions in “Monsters” that her camouflage tech needs an eight-hour cooldown, but such a strange requirement never came into play.
• As this episode showed the last interaction between Picard and Q, was the lack of trial imagery a missed opportunity? We have to figure the show’s architects considered it, but opted not to. We’d be curious as to why.
• Jurati’s 400-year-long journey recruiting Borg for her new collective would be a great subject of tie-in media.
• Wasn’t it remarkably foolish for Guinan to include a picture of Rios in 10 Forward? She was counting on Picard not observing the photo. If he had, that would have major implications for the timeline. Guinan sure got lucky on this one.
• The final second of this episode shows a quick flash of light as the camera is looking out at space. Is this an innocent little visual effect, or is that hinting at something else, possibly Q-related?

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on  Star Trek: Picard ,  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ,  Star Trek: Discovery ,  Star Trek: Lower Decks ,  Star Trek: Prodigy , and more.

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Kyle Hadyniak has been a lifelong Star Trek fan, and isn't ashamed to admit that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Nemesis are his favorite Star Trek movies. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @khady93 .

May 5, 2022 at 8:13 pm

I’m a bit of a wreck right now so I’ll try to make this coherent.

I can’t praise John de Lancie’s performance this season enough. He did such a great job. It’s some of his best work as the character. A different plane of existence for Q, maybe? I hope he’s not gone for good, but the two farewell scenes were amazing. I lost it when Picard told Q he wasn’t alone and embraced him.

Of course, I’m not sure how Q would be alone if there were still a Continuum. Or if he still had a son. Which begs the question…what happened to them?

An omnipotent being who believes he’s immortal suddenly begins to feel as if his existence is coming to an end doesn’t go to his compatriots and ask, “Hey, guys, I kinda thought we were immortal but I’m feeling a little weird. Any thoughts?”

There’s no dialogue to address where the Continuum is, why Q is “moving on” and why they allowed a 400-year change to the galactic timeline that impacted countless civilizations.

Isn’t the Continuum supposed to look after stuff like this? Did they just decide to hand that job over to the Travelers?

So Q saved Picard and crew from the self-destruct and put them in an alternate timeline that he caused so that Picard could get over his commitment issues?

* Field commissions usually only last as long as a crisis. Seven may not last long in that chair.

* When Picard orders everyone not to resist the Borg, did not a single captain out there think, “Oh, no, he’s Locutus again!”?

* Agreed that Guinan was terribly irresponsible for keeping that photo of Rios.

* How much did Rios change the future by staying in the past? What was supposed to happen to Ricardo? Yeah, it’s great he cleaned the oceans. Was that before or after WWIII which is supposed to begin in a couple of years? In 40 years, Zefram Cochrane is going to fly his ship and make First Contact. Does none of that happen?

May 10, 2022 at 9:45 am

There’s no reason for Picard’s relative from the Picard line to have any resemblance to his mother, who is a Picard by marriage.

May 10, 2022 at 10:03 am

Excellent review. Great insight and clarification, we needed it, a lot happened and too much for a single “dialogue scene” to explain it all. Your article will help “The Next Generation” of trekies whom may have missed all the references to previous movies and episodes.

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Star Trek: Picard episode 10 recap: An incredible season finale

Our spoiler-filled Star Trek: Picard episode 10 review

- Episode 10 (of 10), 'Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 ' - Written by Michael Chabon & Akiva Goldsman - Directed by Akiva Goldsman ★★★★★

Spoilers follow .

Narek flees from his synth captors and meets with Rizzo, who has been hiding out in the ruins of the Artifact. Narek loads up on explosives and heads out, followed closely by Elnor. Meanwhile, Picard is still imprisoned in Coppelius Station, and tries to convince Soji to stop the beacon, which she's currently helping to build. In Soong's lab, we're reminded of his plan to download a human consciousness into a synthetic body. And on the grounded La Sirena, Rios repairs the ship's engines by simply imagining them being fixed, using a device given to him by Saga, the synth Sutra and Narek murdered. There's a lot going on in this episode.

Narek turns up at the La Sirena and tells Rios, Elnor, and Raffi about the synths and their beacon, and how allowing it to be completed will result in all organic life in the galaxy being eliminated. They reluctantly agree to help him. Elsewhere, Soong watches a recording of Saga's last moments, realising Sutra was involved in her murder. He confronts her, angered by her actions, then knocks her unconscious. Pretending Narek is their prisoner, Rios and the others gain access to Coppelius Station. Soong spots them, but after being stung by Sutra's betrayal, he's now on their side.

• How to watch Star Trek in order
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• What we know about Star Trek: Picard season 2

Star Trek: Picard episode 1 recap Star Trek: Picard episode 2 recap Star Trek: Picard episode 3 recap Star Trek: Picard episode 4 recap Star Trek: Picard episode 5 recap Star Trek: Picard episode 6 recap Star Trek: Picard episode 7 recap Star Trek: Picard episode 8 recap Star Trek: Picard episode 9 recap

Rios tosses a bomb hidden in a soccer ball at the beacon, but Soji catches it and throws it to safety before it has a chance to destroy it. In orbit, the Romulan fleet finally arrives, led by Commodore Oh. She orders the fleet to sterilize the planet as Picard – who escaped captivity with a little help from Jurati – pilots the La Sirena. Just as the Romulans are about to scorch the planet, Jurati has a brainwave. She uses Saga's repair tool to create thousands of clones of the La Sirena. Oh orders the fleet to attack them instead, buying enough time for Starfleet to arrive with a fleet of its own.

On the crashed Artifact, Seven of Nine kills Rizzo before she has a chance to engage its weapons and help the Romulan fleet. Above, Will Riker, who has returned to Starfleet as an Acting Captain, orders the Romulans to stand down. On the planet below, Soji completes the beacon and giant centipede-like machines (presumably sent by the 'higher beings' who created the Admonition) begin to spill through a portal. But Picard manages to convince Soji to stop it, saying if she does she'll become the 'destroyer' the Romulans said she would be. The portal snaps shut as the beacon is shut down, taking the machines with it. The Romulans stand down and warp away. Picard thanks Riker for always having his back.

Picard collapses. The brain condition his doctor warned him about has become critical, and he dies. Or does he? He wakes up in a strange house, with Data sitting across from him. They're inside a quantum simulation, Data says, and he has a favour: he wants Picard to shut his consciousness down, because dying gives life meaning. Picard wakes up, his mind transferred to a synthetic body designed to look and age exactly like his old one. He removes the device keeping Data's consciousness active, and we see a vision of him aging like a human, and dying peacefully with Picard by his side. The crew of the La Sirena gathers on the bridge and heads off into space, ready for more adventures in season two.

Verdict: There have been some dips in quality throughout Picard, but they really nailed the finale. This is as thrilling, emotional, and visually spectacular the series has been. The scenes between Picard and Data were beautifully written, and seeing Riker leading a Federation fleet was a stirring moment. Picard's mind being transplanted into a near-identical synthetic body was a bit of a shock, but it does mean he's fit and healthy for another season – and we'll definitely be watching it whenever it arrives.

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• We see a riff on the famous Picard Maneuver in this episode. This risky battle tactic saved Picard's old ship, the USS Stargazer, from a Ferengi attack: an event recalled in the TNG episode The Battle (S1E9).

• Data says he downloaded his memories to B4, a prototype Soong-type android that looked exactly like him, but had none of his personality or individualism. He appeared in the movie Star Trek : Nemesis.

Star Trek: Picard is available to watch on CBS All Access every Thursday in the US, and every Friday on Amazon Prime Video internationally.

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Star Trek Picard season 2 finale “Farewell”: review and reactions

By mike poteet | may 6, 2022.

This post contains spoilers for “Farewell,” the Star Trek: Picard season 2 finale which was uneven but endearing.

Star Trek: Picard season 2 ends with “Farewell.” While it’s not a farewell to Jean-Luc Picard and his series as a whole, it marks the end for some of the show’s characters—and, for some of them, new beginnings.

To no viewer’s surprise, history in 2024 unfolds as it should. To fulfill the Borg Queen’s prophecy of “two Renées, one who lives, one who dies,” Tallinn disguises herself as Renée Picard so Adam Soong attacks her with a fatal neurotoxin instead of the real Renée. The real Renée, after finally meeting the “guardian angel” she’s glimpsed watching her throughout her life, launches on her Europa mission, where she will discover the microbe that—as we learn from Guinan in the 25th century—saves Earth from “ecological freefall.” (Would we had a Europa mission in the works in the real-world 21st century or the political and popular will to solve our own ecological freefall.)

It’s unclear exactly why Tallinn, who is one of the same super-advanced Supervisors who had Gary Seven among their ranks , had to actually die to save the Europa mission. The Supervisors’ tech is advanced enough to do all we’ve seen it do, but not to defeat a 21st-century mad scientist’s poison? But Orla Brady plays a beautiful death scene in Patrick Stewart’s arms. It underscores the lessons about love Tallinn teaches Jean-Luc in the episode’s first act: “We can’t control who we lose. And we can’t spare ourselves the pain of it. But people’s choices are their own to make, and this one is mine.”

Cristobal Rios makes a choice, as well. Rios elects to stay in 2024 with Teresa and her son, Ricardo. Santiago Cabrera’s performances have been among the high points of both seasons, and while I am glad his character has found happiness and a home here in our own era, I will miss the actor in season 3.

Star Trek: Picard season 2 also is goodbye to Allison Pill and John de Lancie

“Farewell” also marks Allison Pill’s exit from Star Trek Picard . Last week’s episode established Agnes Jurati as the new face of the Borg and their new, individuality-valuing, freely associating Collective. To all appearances, Jurati’s proposal to the Queen has held—although we quickly encounter a temporal paradox, since Jurati proposed it long before we saw the Borg relentlessly assimilating whole civilizations in The Next Generation and beyond. Canonical conundrums aside, the Borg’s interest in joining the Federation back in this season’s premiere episode appears to have been genuine. “We needed a friend,” Queen Jurati tells Jean-Luc. The Borg will now be the “guardians” at the mouth of a newly and mysteriously opened transwarp conduit—presumably next season’s main plot driver—but Allison Pill has confirmed she won’t be returning .

The most delightful surprise in “Farewell” was the chance to say hello again, at the end of the second act, to Wil Wheaton, playing Wesley Crusher for the first time since 2002’s Star Trek Nemesis . Wesley is a Traveler, and he’s shown up to recruit Kore, after she remotely wipes all of Adam Soong’s research, to join the Travelers, now established as the advanced alien race of whom Gary Seven spoke all those years ago in “Assignment: Earth.” Wesley’s “recruitment speech” to Kore is glorious. It’s more than a little evocative of the Doctor’s invitations to would-be companions in Doctor Who , but the Travelers are upfront that safety is not guaranteed. Kore accepts, leaving us to wonder if Isa Briones will not be seen in this series after Star Trek Picard season 2.

The episode is also a farewell to John de Lancie’s Q. His machinations all season long must now be viewed through a different lens, given his professed interest only in helping Jean-Luc learn to forgive and love himself so Jean-Luc might love others. De Lancie plays his last scenes as Q beautifully— what a fine actor he has always been in this role—but his assertion that “even gods have favorites, Jean-Luc, and you’ve always been one of mine” doesn’t track with how Q has been presented most of this season.

For all the confusion, Jean-Luc Picard himself does end up in a better emotional place than we’ve ever seen him. Longtime viewers may question whether we should accept the premise this series asserts, time and again, that Picard has never really been able to let himself love or be loved. But he not only gets a second chance with Laris by the episode’s end, but also is able to absolve himself and let go of his misguided guilt over his mother’s death.

Star Trek: Picard season 2 can’t be faulted for setting out to tell an ambitious story. Overall, the season delivered on its promise of exciting action and rich characterizations. It used its 21st-century setting to name and take strong stands on several pressing social issues. Its final few episodes sounded an important plea for mental health. And though “Farewell” is a far from a perfect season finale, it caps a season far stronger than the series’ first season and is an ultimately endearing story about the importance of loving while we have time in which to love.

Next. Star Trek Picard S2E09: “Hide and Seek” review and reactions. dark

Star Trek: Picard ‘s Season Finale May Be One of the Most Unhinged Hours of Television This Year

Reader, I have to admit: it has been several days since I first saw the Star Trek: Picard season two finale by the time you’re reading this. And I still cannot tell you if I mean to say “unhinged” here as either a good or a bad thing.

This unhinged feeling begins relatively early on in the episode, when you suddenly realize that “Farewell” is a 50-minute episode of TV that somehow only has about 20 minutes of plot—and all of it is front loaded. With the Borg Queen dealt with last week (well… at this point it’s not a spoiler to say more on that later), Picard, Tallinn, Rios, Seven, and Raffi quickly hatch a game plan to ensure that Dr. Soong can’t prevent Renee Picard from launching the Europa space mission and securing the future they’ve spent much of this season breaking every rule of time travel to safeguard. While the latter trio are left to go investigate just what Soong is going to do exactly—because for a disgraced scientist he has an absurd amount of pull over the Europa mission and, uh, apparently armed weapon systems out of nowhere?—Tallinn and Picard make a dash for the Europa launch site, finally deciding that Renee needs to meet her guardian angel if she has a chance of getting on the mission alive.

And… really, that’s it. Tallinn reveals herself to Renee in an emotional scene, Soong runs around the base being hilariously assholish for no real reason other than that we know he has to be an evil asshole, Picard meanders about too, and then in the background Rios, Raffi, and Seven try to disable a quartet of killer drones Soong has launched to assassinate Renee. How does he have drones? It doesn’t matter, because as soon as we learn of their existence they’re dealt with, and they’re not even Soong’s only assassination plan—he also has snuck in a toxin graft attached to one of his hands, which he uses to seemingly poison Renee when he bumps into her in a corridor. But surprise! It’s Tallinn in disguise! And she dies in Picard’s arms and we’re all very sad, but happy too, because the real Renee got onboard the ship while Tallinn was busy getting poisoned, and the day is saved.

Once again: I cannot stress enough that all of this is delivered in the first 20 minutes of the episode. And that’s it. The big threat of the season that has taken about seven episodes of build-up has a climax hyper-condensed down to this opening act, and it makes everything about it feel so weird. There’s some good stuff in there—the emotional farewell between Tallinn and Picard where both of them each realizes that they’ve found peace in sharing themselves with the people they care about is wonderfully done. But it feels like such an absurd way to end a series that has struggled with issues of pace by wrapping up this major arc with a breathless, almost uncaring level of haste.

But it’s not that that makes “Farewell” such a bizarre, rollercoaster of an episode. If this is all it was, it would be perfectly fine—a little demure, but solid. Instead, “Farewell” spends its remaining runtime with an… it’d be too diplomatic to call it an epilogue considering it’s the bulk of the episode, but that’s really what it is. A collection of scenes that just about barely flows from one to the text, as if the script was developed by throwing a dart at a board labeled “A Big List of Things We Should Probably Deal With/Set Up This Season.” And it starts big, because no sooner than we’re done with the Europa plot… Wesley Crusher shows up .

Yes. He wasn’t in that big Picard season three TNG reunion news a few weeks back , but Wil Wheaton is here, out of nowhere, to barge right into one of Picard season two‘s most underdeveloped plot threads: Korre, Soong’s daughter. She’s largely been out of the spotlight since the reveal that Soong artificially constructed her as the latest in a long line of genetic experiments, but her role is made all the more incomprehensible by the fact that, just as she’s done enacting vengeance against her dad by remotely deleting all his research, Wesley arranges a meeting with her. And… recruits her to join the Travelers, the mystery transdimensional beings Wesley left the Enterprise-D to join all the way back in “Journey’s End” nearly 30 years ago? Don’t worry about the fact we saw him back in Starfleet for Nemesis , because Picard certainly doesn’t care, and doesn’t spend the time to explain: Wesley Crusher is here, he scoops up Korre (hopefully meaning Isa Briones will actually get something to do next season, as her time in this one was a major injustice compared to her role in season one), and that’s it. Boop, onto the next plot point to deal with out of nowhere!

This is at least an actually good moment however, instead of an out of nowhere “what the what??” like Wesley. Back at Chateau Picard, the Admiral and his friends are all preparing for what their lives will now look like in 2024, considering the Borg Queen took their ship last episode. They’re content they’ve secured their future, but there’s also a strange melancholy—Raffi and Seven have each other, and Rios now has Teresa and her son, but Picard, after learning to be so open with the people he loves from Tallinn, is all alone… until Q shows up, that is. And what we get is not one last trade of barbs, but arguably one of the strongest scenes not just in this season, but in the entirety of the show.

It’s a wonderfully tender and loving performance from John de Lancie, who conducts what are to be Q’s final moments with Picard with an elegant grace—revealing to the man the reason for all these games was not to test, but to teach Picard to love himself as much as those around him, Q included, love him. He doesn’t say love, of course, but the scene absolutely plays out as something incredibly intimate and romantic between the two men. That in confronting his family’s past and his trauma with his mother, Q believes, he can now face death knowing that Picard, one of his favorite people in the entire cosmos, has a chance at a happy future. Q decides he’ll us what little remains of his energy to die in an act that will transport Picard, Raffi, and Seven back to the 24th Century in the process—after Rios decides to stay back in 2024 to be with the person Picard’s mentorship allowed him to find, and love—and it’s a genuinely touching finale for a character that’s persisted mostly as a bit of comedic relief over decades and decades of Star Trek appearances .

And yet, once again, Picard isn’t over just yet—and it’s arguably saved some of its most batshit moments for last. Seven, Raffi, and Picard all find themselves transported by Q’s sacrifice back on the Stargazer where they left it at the end of the season premiere: about to seemingly die at the hands of the Borg Queen. But then, at a breakneck pace, the scene just explodes: it’s not the Queen, it’s Borg Jurati! She’s here not to be evil, but to warn the Federation of an impending giant space hole that’s gonna kill billions of people with a blast! But also the space hole can be fixed by the actually not really-that-big Starfleet taskforce linking their shields up to stop the blast! Seven of Nine gets a Starfleet field commission to become a Captain! Oh, and Elnor’s back too! But they gotta stop the blast! And they do! The Federation is saved! And this is… five minutes of screen time, maybe? On the one hand, yes it does conveniently tie the entire season back together thanks to a causal loop, and it’s a fun way to have the decision for Jurati and the Borg to merge to turn over a new leaf last episode have an immediate ramification, for the better. But it all happens so fast that you just can’t take it in properly, especially right after the tender, emotional farewell between Picard and Q just before this.

You don’t even have time to relish in that, either, because the episode ends on an even wilder reveal: the space hole and its associated fallout was actually the creation of a new Transwarp Conduit—the method of FTL travel through interconnected subspace tunnels the Borg heavily used in Voyager—but, the Borg don’t know who made it. So, Queen-Jurati offers a proposal: the Borg Collective wants an alliance and temporary membership into the Federation while they deal with whoever and whatever made the conduit, together. It’s wild. Last week I said I was unsure just how Star Trek could possibly deliver on the bold idea of essentially negating one of its most iconic villains in the entire franchise’s history—it’s like the transition the Klingons made between TOS and TNG, but on a factor of 10 considering how much longer the Borg were the ultimate evil of the franchise —and yet, here we are, it’s seemingly doing it an episode later. Obviously, there’s caveats: Queen-Jurati makes it clear this is not an entirely permanent status quo, but at the same time, her demeanor as the new leader of the Borg Collective is unlike anything we’ve seen from the Borg in the past. There is, seemingly, genuine evolution here—and that’s an incredibly exciting set-up going into Picard’s third and final season. When you actually get a few minutes to breathe and think about it as the episode concludes, it’s a quite lovely way to tie together this season’s themes about connection and openness with other people.

But that’s really “Farewell” writ large. When you get a chance to hone in on individual moments and ideas, they work, and in some cases, are even actually really quite good and full of potential. But the episode itself does not give you the chance to hone in on those moments, because as a whole it is absolutely and utterly bizarre. The pacing and tonal disconnect as it flitters from one unconnected moment to the next is such a rollercoaster that it, taken as that whole, can’t be anything other than a complete mess. It’s just like someone proverbially dumping what was left to deal with this season on the floor and then yelling “HEY REMEMBER WHEN WE SAID THE TNG CREW WAS BACK NEXT SEASON YEAH SEE YOU THEN BYEEEE!” as they ran out the door.

Was that stuff dealt with? Yeah. But it’s just dealt with so weirdly that the good ideas and the promise of it gets lost in the muddiness of just what a wild episode of TV this was. We’ll have to see how it all plays out, now that we know that Picard’s third and final season has some truly big ideas and ramifications to play with—and that’s even before all of Jean-Luc’s friends come back for one last huzzah. Hopefully though, next season being the last means that we can ask for one thing: maybe pace things a little better so we don’t have to have such a bananas finale again?

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power .

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Star Trek: Picard finale post-credits scene explained: Showrunner confirms big things to come

Showrunner Terry Matalas says Ed Speleers is gonna be a busy man after Picard.

Warning: Spoilers from Star Trek: Picard 's series finale are discussed in this article.

There might be another Star Trek series coming our way — or at the very least, another home for Ed Speleers ' Jack Crusher.

The series finale of Star Trek: Picard , which dropped on Paramount+ Thursday, came with a post-credits scene that teases big things ahead for the character. Showrunner Terry Matalas confirms in an interview with EW, "Jack's got a lot to do, let me tell you."

He wouldn't tell us exactly what, of course, but the producer — who has guided the Patrick Stewart -led spin-off to break into the Nielsen Top 10 ratings for the first time with season 3 — confirms his story isn't over.

After Jean-Luc Picard (Stewart) and Beverly Crusher ( Gates McFadden ) save their son from the Borg Queen with help from their longtime comrades, the finale episode jumps forward a year to see where these characters ended up. Among the reveals is the U.S.S. Titan, which has been rechristened as the Enterprise-G in recognition of Picard and his crew's efforts.

Seven of Nine ( Jeri Ryan ) has been promoted to captain, with Raffi (Michelle Hurd) as her No. 1. A few members of the Titan join them, including Sidney La Forge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut). Jack is now Ensign Jack Crusher, as he was placed on an accelerated track by Starfleet.

The post-credits scene cuts to Jack in his quarters on the Enterprise-G. He settles into his room when Q (John de Lancie) makes a surprise appearance.

"Young mortal, you have much ahead of you," he tells Jack.

"You told my father that humanity's trial was over," the young Crusher replies.

"It is... for him," he clarifies. "But I'm here today because of you. You see, yours, Jack, has just begun."

Matalas had the idea for this moment deep into season 2 when he was mapping out the trajectory of season 3. "Once I had the genesis of this idea and I knew it would be about Picard's son, I had envisioned a post-credit sequence in which you passed the torch to [him]."

He points to "Encounter at Farpoint," the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1. "The first major interaction is Q and Picard," he says. "Where better to end than at the beginning?"

A Star Trek: Legacy series has been rumored for some time, with a few of the Picard actors teasing how season 3 leaves the door open to continue that story with the next generation of characters. Alex Kurtzman , who's been shepherding the new golden age of Trek, had even teased during San Diego Comic-Con last year that fans should expect more shows with female leads. So, perhaps, we're getting a Seven of Nine series for Ryan, with Jack as part of her crew.

The only new Trek titles that have been formally announced so far are Star Trek: Starfleet Academy , which Matalas says is part of a different timeline than Picard ; and Star Trek: Section 31 , the event movie starring Michelle Yeoh as Emperor Philippa Georgiou from Star Trek: Discovery .

Matalas won't disclose what the plans are for Speleers as Jack moving forward, only that he knows what they are. "Oh yes. I do [know]," he says. "Oh yes."

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly 's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

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Star Trek: Picard Boss Answers All Our Burning Series Finale Questions, Starting With: Is This Really the End?

Dave nemetz, west coast bureau chief.

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Warning: This post contains spoilers for the series finale of Star Trek: Picard .

Star Trek: Picard wrapped up its three-season run with an immensely satisfying series finale — but that doesn’t mean we don’t still have plenty of questions.

The finale served as a proper send-off to Jean-Luc and his Next Generation pals, giving them one final victory over the Borg as well as one more chance to play poker together. ( Read our finale recap here to get the full rundown .) But it also looked like it was introducing a new story, with Seven of Nine captaining a new Enterprise and Raffi, Jack Crusher and Sidney La Forge all aboard as well. Plus, that trickster god Q showed up again to annoy Jack just like he used to annoy his dad Jean-Luc. So is Star Trek: Picard really finished? And will the story of Seven’s new ship continue in a new Trek series?

TVLine reached out to Picard showrunner Terry Matalas, who wrote and directed the series finale, to get the scoop on a possible continuation of the story, what it was like shooting that final poker scene with Patrick Stewart and his Next Generation co-stars and why a number of key characters didn’t return for the finale.

TVLINE | Let’s start at the end, which seemed to set up a new story with Seven, Raffi, Jack and Sidney on the new Enterprise . Would that be a fourth season of Star Trek: Picard , possibly, or a new series altogether? Well, really, it was an ending to Picard , which was a proper beginning. That was what was designed to be the most satisfying thing: the passing of the torch. So having said that, it does feel like something new, with Captain Seven and her crew. It feels like a new mix. I don’t know how much everyone would be involved, but it definitely feels like a mix and match of old legacy and new. But again, there’s nothing in development, currently. It’s just a pie-in-the-sky sort of fan wish at the moment.

TVLINE | What’s the vibe like on that new Enterprise ? Jack called them a bunch of ne’er-do-wells and rule breakers. It is a little different, isn’t it? It does feel like Starfleet has seen that this particular crew has a very particular set of skills that’s a little bit different than your typical Starfleet flagship. So that kind of gives you a glimpse as to how this Enterprise might be different than previous incarnations.

TVLINE | What made you decide to bring back Q, after we got what we thought was a farewell to him in Season 2? It felt like a really amazing way to honor the beginning of Next Gen by seeing him once again at the very, very end, and also pass the torch to Jack. It was the first thing, literally the first encounter, so to speak, with Jean-Luc. And how amazing would it be for Jack to have that same encounter at the beginning of his journey?

TVLINE | This finale definitely served as a very fitting goodbye to Jean-Luc and the Next Generation cast, but if this did continue, would we possibly see them pop into whatever continuation comes about? Definitely. Everybody wants to come back. Even Patrick said he’d love to come check in on his son, and I think he used the phrase, “provide some comedy.” And that’s unique. You don’t often get that, where everybody wants to come back.

TVLINE | That final scene with Jean-Luc and the crew playing poker was such a great callback to the Next Generation finale, and we could feel the love in the air among the castmates in that scene. What was it like shooting that on set that day? Very natural. What I wanted to do is make this a little different than “All Good Things…” because so many years have passed. At this point, they’ve been playing poker, they’ve played it hundreds of times, I would imagine. So I wanted to capture what it’s like to really be in the room with that cast. So I just rolled the camera for 45 minutes and just caught them really playing the game. So that’s a lot of improv. A lot of genuine smiles, real laughs. The only bit of scripted dialogue are the last few lines.

TVLINE | It felt inevitable that Jean-Luc would have to face the Borg again, but how did you come up with them resurfacing in Season 3, and specifically having Jack be sort of their unwitting conduit? That was the logline of the season. “What if Jean-Luc found out he had a son and had inadvertently passed on the Locutus gene to him?” That was essentially the core question that I asked right away, and we built it from there.

TVLINE | OK, some quick questions about some characters who were missing. Why didn’t Jean-Luc reconnect with Laris at the end of the season? Was that to leave the door open for him and Beverly? Two things: The first answer is time and money. At that point, Orla Brady [who plays Laris] had returned to Ireland and was no longer stateside. So we couldn’t really wrap that up. It would have been amazing to see her again mid-season, to come in and help out. The second reason is I think none of us were really sure exactly where Jean-Luc would end up. I think that included Patrick. And the season wasn’t really about that. It wasn’t a particularly romantic season for any of the characters, whether that was for Jean-Luc and Beverly, or for Seven and Raffi, or for Jack and Sidney, or the Rikers. So we deliberately left it open for the audience to decide, and if we are coming back, we can dig into it.

TVLINE | What about Wesley Crusher? We know he’s zipping through the universe somewhere as a Traveler, and it seemed like Beverly already considered him a lost son. We definitely would have loved nothing more for Wesley to return again. It’s one of those things where he has a lot of omniscient power that would have helped them if he turned up too early. So if he were to have turned up, we would have had him turn up very, very late. So a tricky character to drop in.

TVLINE | And what about Guinan? We kind of expected to see Whoopi Goldberg in the bar at the end there. Again, I’d love nothing more than to have the time and money. Whoopi lives on the East Coast, and to get her to leave her amazing show The View to get out here in time to shoot is no easy feat.

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As for Wesley… I would have loved to have seen him pop up in the finale and just see Beverly’s reaction. Even if he showed up after all the action was done.

Oh, please let “Star Trek: Legacy” happen with Captain Seven, Raffi, Jack, Sidney and the rest of the crew!!!

Please please please please!!

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!

Don’t forget Q.

I was more surprised by the absence of Jurati and her own Federation-aligned collective. It felt like they would have been obvious allies to lend a hand against a resurgent old-school-Borg threat. I know they were on an important mission sitting at the transwarp conduit, but surely they could have made time.

I’m not a huge Star Trek fan and I found the existentence of these separate Borg lines a bit confusing although I think I’m starting to put it together.

I’m only now figuring out the differences between Vulcans and Romulans…please don’t come for me Trekkies!!!! Although I can’t yet tell them apart. I appreciate that the writers are good about having characters point out their races in dialogue!!

Yeah, I don’t actually know if there’s an official answer on how many Borg Queens/Collectives exist, or if they are interconnected in any way. – And as for Romulans and Vulcans, some confusion is understandable. Their physical appearance is almost exactly the same (by the era of Discovery, the two races have basically recombined on a single home planet). Generally, Romulans are a bit more severe in appearance and behavior, while Vulcans are more calm and passive, but there are plenty of exceptions.

Romulans are the descendants of renegade Vulcans who rejected Surak’s life of logic and left the planet. Vulcans forgot about them, but the Romulans remembered their origin.

Okay, here goes: . It has yet to be made clear what the nature of the Borg Queens is, other than that Agnes Jurati merged with one and she/they have created her/their own Borg Cooperative in which anyone joins of their own free will. . As to the other Queens, the one from First Contact (played by Alice Krige) died at the end of First Contact when she was defeated by the D Team. The first one from Voyager (played by Susanna Thompson), who is the Queen of the Borg collective (hive/cube system) that Seven of Nine was assimilated into, was last seen at the end of the two-parter “Unimatrix Zero,” on the brink of a civil war with numberous drones that had been de-linked from her Collective (hive). The Queen from “Endgame,” the final episode of Voyager (played by Alice Krige in that episode and voiced by Krige but played by Jane E. Not That Jane Seymour, is definitely not the Queen from First Contact because that Queen died) was believed to have died at the end of Endgame, but we see in this season of Picard that she survived her isolation in deep space by consuming nearly all of her drones. And now she’s really, most sincerely dead. . To summarize: . The Borg Queens, in chronological order of appearance: . 1) First Contact Queen (Alice Krige) — Dead at the end of First Contact. . 2) Voyager Queen 1 (Susanna Thompson) — The Queen of the Collective Seven came from. Last seen starting to fight a civil war against unlinked drones, presumed dead because it’s been twenty years with no sign of her. . 3a) Voyager Queen 2 (Alice Krige) — Presumed dead at the end of the Voyager series finale, “Endgame.”

4) Picard Queen 1 (Annie Wersching) — merges into Agnes Jurati to become the leader/”Queen” (my air quotes) of the first Borg Cooperative. . 3b) Voyager Queen 2/Picard Queen 2 (Jane Edwina Seymour, Voiced by Alice Krige) — Really, most sincerely dead now. We can infer that the Voyager 2/Picard 2 Queen is not the Voyager Queen 1 because she bears little interest in Seven of Nine other than seeing her as a drone to be threatened, seduced (if possible) and used (ie: because Seven had never been a part of this Queen’s collective.) . What we don’t know factually for sure: Since the Borg have an insect-like hierarchal structure, one can infer that all three of these queens (Four, counting Jurati) are different queens. We don’t know how many queens there are besides these four, nor do we know if there is a level of hierarchy above that of the Queens — although, if the Borg are like bees, there is no higher level and each collective is its own collective. . Another interesting inference: Given that Alice Krige played both the First Contact Queen and the Voyager/Picard Queen, it begs the question of why those queens look the same: were they twins who were assimilated at the same time into a single collective? And if so, how did they become queens and how did they break off into their own collectives?

And to be AR about it, there’s supposed to be a space between items 3a and 4.

The finale had some SG-1 moments, it seemed: Riker dropping quips like Jack O’Neill in the face of danger, was waiting for ‘and when we’re done…there’s cake!’ As well, when links were severed to the queen, the replicators fell apart, just like when Borg queen died, everyone’s complexion cleared instantly. Ah, and the NCIS homage to Gibbs, Data adamantly makng the case of his correctness because of the feeling ‘in his gut’…classic Gibbs!

The Titan renamed as the Enterprise-G? The Kirk and Picard Enterprises were the flagships of Star Fleet. Why the demotion of the Enterprise to a ship of the line instead of the head of the line ship?

Couldn’t have a bunch of ne’er-do-wells crewing the flagship but still…?

I think the Titan was the first of the new Titan-class.

Neo-Constitution class (Or Constitution III). This ties it to the original Enterprise, which was a Constitution class. The seeds were planted pretty early in the season when you look back on it.

The most wild thing is that there is a loud and clear voice of the fans demanding the Legacy show and Kurtzman is like “no, you don’t really want that, you want this, we already worked on this so this is what you get”. I’m guessing they didn’t plan for the massive response to this last season of Picard.

I was of the impression from what Beverly said, that Wesley had died.

Oh wait, I remember the Traveler thing now.

Yep, and cannot interact with Anyone he has met before becoming one

Nope. She knows that he’s a Traveler. I mean, he ascended while she was there! . But since he’s rarely, if ever, come back, it’s as if he’s all-but died, so she feels his absence as a loss. He’s a prodigal son in that way, except that he doesn’t have a serial killer doctor played by Michael Sheen as his doctor parent.

All the cliches that plague every reboot – characters from the old series just happening to show up, and the idea of yet a new series — where the crew is made up of the children of a previous crew? Who wrote that fan-fic, Mary Sue?

Why is Q, so old ?

Next time we’ll use a young CGI version of him just for you. Just like Mark Hamill’s appearance in The Mandalorian.

In season two, they aged his appearance so they wouldn’t have to use that de-aging CGI that isn’t very convincing. In story, the character reason for aging himself was that Jean-Luc had aged, and Q didn’t want to make his old friend feel bad by looking so much younger.

As I’m sure you know he was his younger self in his 1st few seconds on Picard but wanted to fit in with the Admiral’s appearance. I am betting there are two reasons. 1: Respecting John de Lancie’s true appearance and the man himself, the whole art over technology thing. 2: CGI de-aging costs a lot of money. Apparently Michael Douglas’s de-aging in the latest Ant Man cost more than the actor himself.

I have been a Star Trek fan since the beginning and loved this last series of Picard, and seeing them all together again. They should all come back, and impart their collective wisdom, and to bring back Q is a great idea I love his character!

I personally don’t want Raffi on the Enterprise, I’d rather have her on a spin-off with Worf the Chemistry between the two characters was amazing and had a great buddy cop type vibe. A section 31 spy/thriller type show would be different.

I know it was probably more budgeting issues, but I was really disappointed not to see Elnor among Seven and Raffi’s crew. Especially considering how much of Raffi’s storyline in season two was built around first her pride in Elnor joining Starfleet and then her grief over him dying in the past. (Which was negated by the return to the present/reset of the timeline.) I’m hoping if we ever get a Legacy spin-off that Elnor will be assigned to the Enterprise-G.

I have a couple of questions. Anton Chekov, Pavel Chekov’s son, was a voice over by Walter Koenig. On a pod cast on YouTube he said he wasn’t sure if all the lines in the Picard finale were said by him. Humorously Koenig said he is 86 and recorded his lines a year ago so how did that turn out? Was Riker’s wondering if he and Deanna Troi should vacation in Orlando a Disney support tag?

What happened to the Enterprise F? Was it destroyed?

Yes, right after the Borg shot. Admiral whatever her name was.

No it was decommissioned, not clear in the episode but this was the final flight of the F according to the shows instagram account.

It would have been nice if they would have asked them about what happened to the Borg from Season 2 which ended with the Borg being provisional members of the Federation. But it seems that they just completely retconned that and Agnes being the new Borg Queen from happening. Normally I don’t mind retcons, but this was last season not 20+ years ago.

The truth is, the first two seasons don’t work. The people making them had probably never seen Star Trek before and were basing their ideas on Wikipedia entries. It was a mess. Most people (not all people, but most) didn’t like it, and the ratings were low. Tying themselves to that would have been damaging to everything going forward. They did a good job of not necessarily erasing it, but not necessarily embracing it either, and that seems to have worked for most fans. Think of those seasons as being like some of the cringier TNG episodes that we all acknowledge but still kinds look right past when it comes to continuity.

1 – the first 2 seasons worked – even if there might any elements that didn’t satisfy some people (ie. yourself or others) – the point of a continuing serialized story is to be different each season and build on things – which the show did, including bringing former characters … introducing new characters and exploring new stories that hadn’t been done before which after 50+ years can’t be easy

2 – nothing in season 3 contradicts anything from season 1 or 2 – and as it’s apparently clear – there can be more than one Borg queen/ leader — and very likely in the future Agnes & her “new” Borg will return

3 – the people who made season 3 are the exact same people as season 1 & 2 – including showrunner & Jonathan Frakes directing multiple episodes each season … and clearly he knows Star Trek as well as or BETTER than most fans (besides super duper uber fanatical fans who have knowledge on virtually everything and little detail)

4 – and I think most people did like season 1 & 2 (may be just not people you know or talk with ?) – thus the reason it was renewed twice after season 1 – if people weren’t watching they would have stopped – as it’s not a cheap show to make

5 – but hey everyone is entitled to their own opinions

Look at ratings, or audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes. Look at how many people are talking about season 3, compared to season 1 or 2. Look at how critics of the first two seasons are responding to season 3. It is fine to say that some people liked the show. I’m sure that is true. But to say that the overall audience response to it was positive is just demonstrably untrue. And I’m sorry, but you are not fully aware of the behind the scenes history of the show. In season 2, Terry Matalas was brought in to help the showrunner at the time, but he wasn’t able to make any major decisions himself or craft the story until season 3.

This collective were a temporal creation and separate to the rest of the Borg (Agnes said they remained out of histories way). Shaw does mention them in episode 4 and states that the ‘real’ borg are still out there as well.

I love that his answer to the Q question was the very pat, safe answer, instead of what was probably his actual motivation. Namely that the decision to kill him in season 2 was astronomically stupid and he just wanted to retcon it.

In theory Q did still die at the end of season 2 as he says don’t be so linear! But you could read it another way and that he tricked Picard.

it wasn’t a retcon decision – it was simply a write off of all the characters – not knowing for sure if they’d be coming back for season 3 and more importantly with all the original cast aging – it was a way to end his story – even though John DeLancy looks great (same as all the cast) – but they are all over 65 or older

with season 3 – it’s and that tag on surprise it was just a new idea to still hopefully bring Q back once they knew they had a hit season and were confident fans would want more with the potential new Enterprise crew

and I’m guessing if/ when it all happens – if John Delancy is no longer able to work (or sadly passes away too soon) – they’ll recast the role with a new actor as Q can of course alter his appearance whenever he wants

The season was a really great farewell to the TNG crew. Not as much like a TNG season as it was like a trilogy of classic Star Trek movies, and that’s cool. I didn’t like Nemesis, so to jump from Nemesis right to Picard season 3 works for me. And I liked what they did with Seven. It felt like a continuation of her Voyager arc, and it’s nice to see how that worked out. I will say that while I liked what they did with Raffi this season, I don’t really want to see her as the first officer. Serving with Seven is weird, since that whole thing was weird to begin with. Plus, I think she worked best with Worf, working in intelligence. She doesn’t work on a bridge, exploring strange new worlds. If Legacy goes forward, I’d prefer to see a new first officer, and of course a couple of new crew members. Star Trek doesn’t usually just spin off characters from previous shows, so it’d be cool to meet some new people. The question is whether a streaming show like this could ever develop characters in the way that the past shows did. DS9 spent so much time on small moments and exploring different sides of characters, but I don’t think that’s possible with a 10 episode order.

I would love to know if Season 3 was always planned that way as it felt like a different show from the previous 2. Did they respond to feedback and change it I wonder?

The people who ran the show in seasons 1 and 2 moved on to other jobs and kicked the last season down to Terry Matalas because they didn’t really care what happened anymore. Matalas got his start working for Star Trek Voyager and Enterprise, and has been a lifelong fan of the franchise (unlike other modern Trek producers). I don’t know if he was listening to fans, or just knew what he was doing all on his own. He probably had a lot of the same thoughts that most Trek fans had, but he’s also shown that he pays attention to what fans are saying and he engages with them a lot more than other modern Trek producers.

They were filmed back to back and Season 3 was basically in the can before Season 2 even aired.

Great season. As many times as they referenced her, I expected a Janeway cameo.

I see Wesley as a post-credit scene…

Returning from the Jupiter Borg battle, Dr. Crusher catches a glimpse of something at the communications station. The chair spins around and Wesley smiles at his mother. Time seems to have stopped for everyone else. Wesley tells her not to be alarmed. “They are just fine. I just wanted to see if you were ok. And I wanted to see him…” He points to Jack. “So that’s my kid brother?” He moves next to Jack. I can see the family resemblance.” He reaches up to the Borg attachments and pulls them off as if they were glued on. “Let me save you the trouble of removing them in sick bay, Mother.” He hands them over to her. “It’s a Traveler’s ability. This, I can do, but I could not interfere with your recent battle. There were too many variables in play, and it needed to play out as it would.” “Do you plan to stay a while, Wesley?” “No. I am just making sure you are all ok. And I was interested in meeting Jack. He has a quite interesting future ahead of him.” Wesley brings Jack up to speed with him and their mother. Jack, seeing his mother is not alarmed, awaits an explanation. “I know you both want explanations but I can’t give them. I can only guide, not direct your paths. Jack, I am your half-brother. You will face some problems in the future, but not right now though. A few years from now, a man Mother knows as Q will approach you. When he does, think of me and I will travel to be by your side and help you deal with him.” “Who is this Q character, Mother?” “You should ask your father, Jack. I had few dealings with him. Your father has many stories to tell you.” “If he tells you Q is gone, Captain Picard believes that to be true. So pay attention to his stories. They may help you to understand Q better. And when you need me, call out for me. I will hear it and help if I can.”

With that, Jack vanishes and time speeds up for everyone else. Jack turns to his mother with one question. “I have a brother???”

Matlas should make a new series. Three big ropes left untied. 1. Jack said to Seven “Now you can start your own Legacy. 2. Seven was going to say the captain’s order to go to warp and she was cut off and we never found out. And the big 3 we saw Q. Jack said “I thought you were dead”. Then Q said “For him yes. For you no”. It begs to be made.

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Propped up by a towering, defining performance from its lead star, Picard Season 3 did what it had to do: return Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) to square off once and for all with his haunting past as Locutus. The story also deftly concludes his three-season arc of first accepting the legacy of his choices, then opening himself up to love through understanding trauma, and now finally to becoming the father to a son in a family that he never knew he needed.

In completing this final piece of the puzzle, we get a beautiful merger of “family” and “found family” that has been there from the start in Star Trek , and is now finally, definitively a part of Picard’s life forevermore. A massive milestone for a character that has been portrayed so solitarily for the better part of 40 years. The theme of family and the inability to control what we pass on to our children is satisfyingly showcased in literally every thread of the show — from Data’s  reunion with Lore all the way to Raffi and the House of Musiker, as well as Seven’s surprising story arc in finding her place in Starfleet.

Of course, all of this is seen most prominently in Picard’s poignant rescue of his son Jack (Ed Speleers) from the clutches of the Borg Queen (the voice of Alice Krige), who has hidden her cube inside the gases of Jupiter as it orchestrates a DNA-driven assimilation of Starfleet that kicked off last week in “Võx.”

As the crew arrive at Jupiter to try and stop the Borg, Deanna Troi (Marina Sirits) lets them know she can sense Jack, but that he has been “totally consumed by the collective,” leading to a beautiful scene from the bridge of the Enterprise -D in which Picard assigns one final away team for his beloved colleagues.

With Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Worf (Michael Dorn) joining the “threesome” that will head to the cube, he needs Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) to continue to work on isolating Jack’s location, while Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and a frustrated Data (Brent Spiner) to stay on the ship to help provide solutions. It feels like an “Away Team of a Generation” and the first of many great acknowledgments to the DNA of The Next Generation in the episode. (The scene even includes a classic Worf shutdown moment when he wonders aloud if Jack might be too far gone, and Beverly immediately cuts him off with “No!” Great stuff.)

After a powerful exchange of silent thoughts between Riker and Troi, an emotional Picard steps toward the turbolift and says, “It’s been an honor serving with you all.” It’s a heartfelt moment that leaves the audience legitimately left to wonder if it might just be the final goodbye.

Once on board the cube, Picard immediately feels a connection to Jack, indicating again that despite being in a completely new body after his “death” in Season 1, some small part of him “remains compatible with the Hive.” Knowing he needs to go it alone while Riker and Worf try to shut down the beacon transmitting the Borg’s Starfleet takeover, it is time for a second loving goodbye from Picard, who emotionally tells Riker, “I can no longer be your captain. I now have to be a father.… Will, thank you. I, it means so much to me.” To which Riker responds, “You know that I know. Always.”

Again, the emotion is real in this episode and the goodbyes feel definitive, especially when Mr. Worf salutes his captain by saying, “There are two turns of phrase that a Klingon never admits to knowing. Defeat… and farewell.” The level of emotional perfection here is surpassed just a few seconds later when Picard now turns his goodbyes to Beverly by passionately telling her that in thinking “of Jack from the beginning. Shielding him from danger. You did everything right.”

The move concludes a wonderful gambit by the series showrunner Terry Matalas, who both wrote and directed the episode. It’s the release everyone needed for Beverly, to make that decision at the core of the entire season truly work – to hide her son from her friends for more than 20 years. And it does work, especially as we see Beverly’s emotional release in her response.

Stewart is at the heart of all these emotional goodbyes, hitting all the right notes again after 30 episodes of portraying Picard post-TNG, and somehow now bringing it back to a place where it felt like he never left the bridge of the Enterprise . The achievement is amazing and pairs up exquisitely with Speleers’ performance when he finds himself face-to-face with his son, assimilated in the same style and appearance as Locutus.

The scenes with the “Son of Locutus” are legitimately terrifying as the episode steers directly into the horror genre with a gruesome, emaciated Borg Queen hovering over their reunion in a style and substance straight out of David Cronenberg’s The Fly. The reveal is a jarring, but appropriate change of pace from the emotional moments that have peppered the episode up to this point.

And right on cue with the themes of the series, the Borg Queen announces: “At last, Locutus has returned to his true family, to his collective, to me….” Mired in an “unimaginable loneliness” since the fallout from Voyager’s “Endgame,” the mutilated and disfigured Queen had been isolated and feeding off her collective until hearing the voice of Jack and realizing the future of the Borg lies “not in assimilation, but evolution.”

Turns out that sentiment was highlighted by Beverly earlier in the season in “Imposters” when she was analyzing the Changelings, who at the time we did not know had teamed up with Borg. Together the new faction had worked to weaponize Picard’s biology so that the Borg could propagate with a new goal in mind: “not just to assimilate, but to annihilate all.”

Picard knows it is up to him to try and guide Jack back to himself, but disconnecting him from the Collective will kill him, so with no other option, we get a moment as epic and grand in the scope of Star Trek as anything you could ever expect to see.

Despite running from it for more than half of his life, Picard connects himself to the Hive as Locutus to join Jack and help him break free — and he does so by succinctly defining the journey of his life that we have all been on together for so many years:

“I joined Starfleet to find a family I didn’t have. And I found it. I let them in. But there was always a barrier. I too thought there was something wrong with me. And I waited in that vineyard. Waiting to die. Alone. But now Jack I realize that you are the part of me that I never knew was missing.”

The sentiment is a beautiful one, with roots dating all the way back to “Encounter at Farpoint” and the first time Picard chased Wesley off his bridge; here it helps define both Picard the character and Picard the series.

Back on the Titan , Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) have cleverly reclaimed the ship and protected their assimilated crewmates (portable beam me ups!), allowing us to get our first real dose of Captain Seven, as she was dubbed by Captain Shaw prior to his death. With only a makeshift crew at her disposal (including a cook at the helm), Seven goes into captain mode by telling her team that she is “not asking you to give your lives for nothing. I’m asking you to fight for what’s below.”

A thrilling moment made even better when we see the Titan buying Picard some valuable time by running interference with a cat-and-mouse, fire-and-cloak maneuver to distract the fleet trying to take down Earth’s planetary defenses. The visual effects in the scene are a smorgasbord of starship artistry.

Not to be outdone, the Enterprise -D is also under attack from the Borg cube when Geordi tells Beverly she will need to return fire manually — as he wasn’t able to complete the weapon installation yet. With nary a second to think, Beverly quickly announces, “Torpedoes away, locking phasers and returning fire.” Much to the surprise of a stunned-to-silence Data, Geordi and Troi, she nullifies the Borg attack and proclaims, “A lot’s happened in the last 20 years.”

Elsewhere on the cube, Riker and Worf have successfully communicated the location of the beacon, where the Enterprise, based on a gut-feeling and some “enjoyably” deft piloting from Data, has now positioned itself to destroy it, knowing the explosion will also kill everyone on board the cube.

With everything coming to a head, Jack is able to pull himself out of the Collective, courtesy of a hug from Picard (“If you won’t leave, I will stay with you until the end. You have changed my life forever.”) and then a nice montage of Season 3 clips between the father and son. The beautiful, mystical score from Stephen Barton during the scene is oddly reminiscent of the score in the Nexus ( Star Trek: Generations ) and helps set the tone for Jack’s extraction and his announcement that “the time of the Borg is over.”

In a perfect confluence of stories, Worf and Riker join Picard and Jack as the ship collapses around them, just as the Enterprise -D (fresh off destroying the beacon) swoops in to beam them out. At the helm? Well, it’s none other than Deanna Troi, of course. She jumped into action after connecting with her Imzadi — who fittingly was thinking about the child they lost so many years ago, to quietly close out another season-long story thread — to safely pilot the ship into position. (Hopefully, this will finally put an end to the insufferable “Troi crashed the Enterprise ” jokes for good!)

With the Borg cube destroyed and a predicable reset button taking place above Earth with the assimilated fleet, the episode and series makes time for a therapeutic and satisfying 20-minute epilogue to quietly say goodbye to the series.

The therapy session begins with a reunion of the crew on the bridge and Jack being welcomed onboard the Enterprise by his father and then continues with an actual therapy session for Data with Deanna, who humorously is a little worn out from his excessive need to discuss his very human and ever-shifting emotional state. Knowing that Data will forever be neurotically analyzing his changing moods from joyful to melancholy and everything in between is extremely satisfying. The moment is eloquently encapsulated by Spiner when he responds to Riker’s query on how he is feeling by saying simple, with an air of resigned contentment and a shrug, “I’m… okay.”

In between we get a cathartic moment for Raffi, reconnecting with her family in a healthy way for the first time in probably more than 20 years, courtesy of “an honorable maverick” who made sure they knew what she had accomplished and sacrificed while they were estranged. It’s an intelligent and respectful coda for the show to carve out time for this moment, which could have easily been glossed over.

Of course, the most important resolution in the immediate aftermath of the action belongs to Seven of Nine, who sits down now with the real Tuvok (Tim Russ) to discuss her Starfleet future. Russ is instantaneously Tuvok again — authoritative, direct and, yet, supportive, and it is fitting to have him there for the coronation of this character’s journey from popular Trek icon to the hallowed state of Trek royalty, right alongside Kirk, Spock, Picard and Janeway. It is that big a moment.

With the help of a pre-recorded message from Captain Shaw (Todd Stashwick) recommending her for promotion to Captain, we get a gratifying one-year time jump to see her taking her rightful place in the center seat as Captain Seven of Nine, alongside Raffi as her Number One, as well as Lieutenant Sidney LaForge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) at the helm and accelerated Starfleet ensign, Jack Crusher.

And in one final masterstroke, a choice so clear and obvious that, of course, you never see it coming, Matalas and his team make a truly grand, genuinely great, generational, and glorious decision to rechristen the Titan as the Enterprise -G. It’s genius. Names do mean something.

In the proper context of this final hour of the TNG cast in one place, to quickly introduce a new ship and a new design as the next iteration of the beloved Enterprise would never have been satisfying enough. It would not have worked. But now, to suddenly realize that this exceptional season of the adventures of the Titan , a ship we have all come to love and embrace for its starship lineage that looks both forward and back simultaneously, is now the Enterprise -G… well, again, it is a genius decision, and beyond satisfying.

The introduction here is truly a surprise, and it is choreographed in the most familiar of ways, as Picard’s shuttle eases above the horizon inside Spacedock to see the name beautifully engraved on the ship’s hull. Captain Seven of Nine of the USS Enterprise -G, about to write the opening line of her legacy. What a way to close out her journey. Perfection.

And as for that post-credit scene? Well, wow. It certainly is yet another gift in this bonanza of an episode and leaves us with a lot to consider. We get the resurrection of Q (John de Lancie), but as the entity himself says, there is no need to think so linearly regarding his “death” at the end of Season 2, as well as the proclamation that while Picard Senior’s trial might be over, Picard Junior’s “has just begun.”

It seems that for this “young mortal,” there is much ahead of him. I sure hope we get to see it someday.

MOMENTS OF STASHWICK

We think Todd Stashwick and his portrayal of USS Titan captain Liam Shaw is destined for Trek icon status — each week this season, we’ll be highlighting one one of the character’s (and actor’s) best moments.

I could not be happier to report we have one last Moment of Stashwick to highlight in this incredible episode, and it is, of course, his performance evaluation of Seven of Nine. The anti-Shaw brigade will likely again fail to see what is right in front of them, but this log entry brilliantly adds to the layers of internal healing this character has been battling.

Before all the action, before her betrayal of the Titan — a betrayal significant enough to require an actionable pardon in this episode, as mentioned by Tuvok — Shaw had come to a place of recognition for Seven, identifying her by name and acknowledging her abilities, thus recommending her for promotion to captain.

Sadly, in his worldview, that recording was followed hours later by him watching Seven ‘betray’ him and his ship, thus putting him back into his own internal spiral that he would eventually battle his way through before his death.

His entire log entry saluting Seven of Nine is the perfect end for the character.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• Has anyone heard from Laris?
• The Star Trek franchise animation opening gets an update for this episode; the USS Titan is replaced by the Enterprise -D, and the Starfleet delta gets corrupted by Borg assimilation.
• The episode’s opening visual is a recreation of the blue nebula which appeared in the beginning of the Star Trek: The Next Generation opening credits for Seasons 3 through 7, right down to the bright star which zooms into camera.

• In a message quite similar to the distress signal sent by the Federation President in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, current-day Federation President Anton Chekov warns travelers to “save yourselves… farewell.”
• President Anton Chekov, son of Enterprise legend Pavel Chekov, is voiced by Star Trek: The Original Series star Walter Koenig — who of course portrayed the original Chekov character.
• President Chekov’s first name is likely an homage to Kelvin Timeline Chekov actor Anton Yelchin, who died in 2016.
• The Enterprise -D digital model still sports scorching from its atmospheric descent and impact onto Veridian III ( Star Trek: Generations ), and interior details of Ten Forward and the behind-bridge Observation Lounge can be seen through the ship’s windows.
• The Borg transwarp conduit at Jupiter is tucked within the planet’s Great Red Spot.
• Data notes that the Borg cube is only “thirty-six percent operational”; back in “The Best of Both Worlds,” where Shelby shared that a Borg ship… could continue to function effectively even if seventy eight percent of it was inoperable.”
• Jonathan Frakes leans with one foot up on the helm console as the Enterprise approaches Jupiter, reprising the pose he often struck when Riker faced a tense situation on the bridge.

• Star Trek: Picard makeup and prosthetics head James MacKinnon plays one of the two gold-shouldered officers who helps Seven and Raffi retake the Titan’s bridge; he first identifies the NCC-1701-D on sensors.
• The ship’s chef who Seven assigns to take over the Titan’s helm wears a neutral grey-colored Starfleet uniform; this may be reserved for enlisted crewmen.
• The disabled Borg cube has several pyramid-shaped distribution nodes on its ceiling, the target of Shelby’s away team assualt in “The Best of Both Worlds.”
• As the Borg Queen commands the captured fleet to destroy Spacedock, she says “Watch your future’s end,” the same threat issued in Star Trek: First Contact when she believes quantum torpedoes are about to destroy Zefram Cochrane’s warp ship Phoenix.
• Worf’s kur’leth sword is much heavier than it looks (as Riker is suprised to learn); it also contains a small phaser hidden inside the hilt.
• Data learned about humans’ “gut instinct” from Geordi in “The Defector,” concluding that “a person fills in missing pieces of the puzzle with his own personality, resulting in a conclusion based as much on instinct and intuition as on fact” — and later desired the ability to consult a gut instinct of his own during the events of “Data’s Day.” (Glad to see he finally gets his wish!)
• Deanna Troi’s Betazoid powers are now able to sense Data’s emotions, thanks to his organic new body.

• Once assimilated by the Borg, Jack Crusher’s cybernetic appearance is a near copy of Locutus’s design, right down to the faceplate and red laser.
• The visual effects of the Enterprise working its way through the cube to destroy the beacon were gloriously reminiscent of the adventure in the now-closed Star Trek: The Experience Klingon Encounter ride, where a group of shuttles must navigate a similar trajectory to destroy a cloaking generator.
• Inside his assimilated mind, Jack Crusher describes the same “intense euphoria” that Jean-Luc Picard described to Jurati in Season 2’s “Assimilation.”
• Troi takes the helm for one final time, piloting the Enterprise to just above the Borg Queen’s chamber to rescue Riker, Worf, Jack, and Picard before the Borg cube is destroyed.
• After being ravaged by Admiral Janeway’s neurolytic pathogen Star Trek: Voyager’s “Endgame,” the Borg Queen — and the Borg Collective as a whole — is finally destroyed once and for all.
• Alice Krige’s voice performance is exquisite in her return to Trek — and a special shout-out to her on-screen body double Jane Edwina Seymour for her work in this episode (as well as the incredible makeup team who brought the Borg Queen back to life).
• Starfleet cures Borg-infected young officers by running them back through the transporter to repair their DNA; this style of treatment was also used to restore Katherine Pulaski to her correct age at the end of “Unnatural Selection.”

• Beverly Crusher returns to Starfleet service; after being promoted to the rank of Admiral, she returns to Starfleet Medical once again for the second — or, if you count the Star Trek: Nemesis deleted scenes — third time.
• Tim Russ returns as Tuvok; this time, he portrays the real Vulcan officer who served with Seven aboard the starship Voyager .
• Troi and Riker explore a number of vacation options, including Omicron Ceti III (from “This Side of Paradise”), Vulcan, Andoria, Bajor, Trill, Zadar IV (mentioned in “When The Bough Breaks”), and both Kauai, Hawaii and Malibu, California on Earth — ultimately narrowing it down to “the beaches of Kaphar Prime… or Orlando.”
• When the Enterprise -D is placed on display in the Fleet Museum, composer Dennis McCarthy’s “To Live Forever” (from the Star Trek: Generations soundtrack) plays — this is the music which accompanies Picard and Riker’s final moments aboard the crashed starship at the end of the film.
• Geordi says the ship has “always taken good care of us,” echoing DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy in “Encounter at Farpoint” when he says, “She’ll always bring you home.”
• Majel Barret’s computer voice returns, with audio segments clipped from two Next Generation episodes: “Electropathic pattern located” is from “Violations,” while “Shutdown sequence initiated” is from “Eye of the Beholder.”

• In honor of Jean-Luc Picard and crew’s efforts during the Borg invasion, the USS Titan has been officially rechristened USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G) — captained by the newly-promoted Seven of Nine, with Commander Raffi Musiker serving as her first officer.
• The Starfleet Engineering Corps is a pretty impressive group, rebuilding the massive Spacedock facility in just one year!
• The Enterprise -G may be the second Enterprise to begin life as another starship; apocryphally, the Enterprise -A originally served as the USS Yorktown before the events of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
• Tyrellians were previously mentioned in “Starship Mine.”
• Starfleet introduces a new commbadge design in the year after the Borg defeat; the dark grey bars behind the silver Starfleet delta are now a shiny gold, emulating the “All Good Things” combadge which inspired the original Star Trek: Picard combadge design — and yes, FanSets now has them available for purchase.

• It’s fitting that Jean-Luc Picard’s final monologue comes from Shakespeare (his Julius Caesar); Patrick Stewart famously began his career with the Royal Shakespeare Company before joining the cast of The Next Generation .
• Worf gives lectures on “Mugatu Meditation,” apparently — and “The Last Generation” extends Michael Dorn’s franchise appearance count to 281, which will stand for the foreseeable future.
• Data first attempted his interrupted joke — “There was a young lady from Venus…” — during the events of “The Naked Now.”
• Q wears a fanciful new red-and-black outfit, emulating the coloring of his “Judge Q” outfit seen in both “Encounter at Farpoint” and “All Good Things…”
• In the post-credit scene, Jack Crusher displays a photo of his parents — in reality, that photograph is this 1988 picture of Gates McFadden and Patrick Stewart taken at and event held during Star Trek: The Next Generation’s first season.

As Jean-Luc stated in the episode’s teaser, “What began over 30 years ago, ends tonight!” But not with a phaser battle or a ship christening, but with seven friends playing poker and reminiscing about the fact that the past does matter.

It’s a beautiful moment that obviously harkens back to that first game of cards the group played together at end of “All Good Things.” It is and has been a reunion for the ages. A glorious 10-episode run to gift The Next Generation cast, and their legion of fans, yet another poignant signoff.

That first series ended with Picard saying, “I should have done this a long time ago,” and Star Trek: Picard opened with him uttering the words “I don’t want the game to end” — and the story concludes with his much more optimistic outlook: “I’ve come to believe that the stars have always been in my favor.”

It’s a series and a season that literally gave us everything — including a happy ending.

Jim Moorhouse is the creator of TrekRanks.com and the TrekRanks Podcast. He can be found living and breathing Trek every day on Twitter as @EnterpriseExtra.

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Star Trek: Picard Series Finale Ending Explained And What The Post Credits Scene Means

What an ending and possible beginning.

Star Trek: Picard has kept fans with a Paramount+ subscription entertained for years, but all good things must come to an end. The series decided to go out with a bang with a massive reunion of the cast of The Next Generation and brought back all of Patrick Stewart 's co-stars for a story that introduced Jean-Luc to his previously unrevealed son and a dastardly plot tied to Changelings and the Dominion War. In the end it set the stage for a final showdown between Picard and the Borg, but who came out on top? 

For those that want to know or just need a breakdown of all that occurred, we have you covered. Here's what went down in the Star Trek: Picard ending and that post-credit scene that absolutely threw into question one major event we saw in a prior season. 

The Borg Queen Was Defeated

The Borg Queen returned in the final episodes of Season 3 of Picard , though viewers soon realized she was behind the scheme all along. Through the use of Jack and a pact with the Changelings, she assimilated all Starfleet officers under the age of 25 and managed to take control of a bulk of the fleet on Frontier Day. It seemed she had finally found a way to punish humanity and restore the Borg empire until Jean-Luc and friends got involved. 

He, Riker, and Worf managed to sabotage the Borg Queen's cube and rescued Jack from being held by the Collective. Her plot was foiled, and she was blown to pieces along with the cube. I would like to think that this means the Borg threat is effectively gone from Starfleet, but can the Borg ever truly be defeated? Somehow, somewhere, they always seem to find a way back into the story. 

Jean-Luc And Crew Played A Game Of Poker

With the Borg threat behind them and Starfleet saved, Jean-Luc and the crew hit the bar to celebrate a job well done. After some words exchanged back and forth, Jean-Luc pulled out the cards, much to the delight of the rest of the Enterprise D crew. They all gathered around the poker table, and had a blast talking through each hand. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation fans should know why this is more or less the perfect way to end Picard , given how many times we've seen the crew gathered around a poker table. In fact, this scene seems like a direct homage to the series finale of TNG , which features a very similar overhead poker table scene. It might be one of the best nods to the series this season had, so it's fitting it came toward the very end. 

Seven Of Nine Became Captain Of The Enterprise G

Seven of Nine helped buy the Enterprise D time by navigating the Titan through the Borg-controlled fleet and distracting them, and played a key role in helping save the day. As her old crewmate, Tuvok, reminded her, however, she was complicit in a number of Starfleet violations throughout Star Trek: Picard Season 3. Seven accepted that perhaps her viewpoints weren't in line with that of Starfleet and handed in her resignation. 

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Of course, Tuvok wasn't there to deliver news of her termination but to inform her of her official promotion to Captain. Later, we saw Seven assume command of the Titan, which was renamed the Enterprise G in honor of The Next Generation crew. With Raffi as her Number One, Seven sent out the opening orders of her run as captain. Unfortunately, the camera cut before we got her official catchphrase, but if there's a spinoff, I'm sure we'll hear it there. 

Jack Joined Starfleet As An Ensign

One year after being saved from Borg assimilation by his father, Jack Crusher decided that he, too, wanted to follow in his parents' footsteps and join Starfleet. Thanks to an expedited Starfleet Academy program and possibly some nepotism, the character was officially an ensign in the flash-forward scene. 

Jack is serving on the Enterprise G as "special council to the captain" and will sit next to Captain Seven of Nine on the bridge. That's quite a job for an ensign, though with Jack's level of experience traveling with his mother, not undeserved. 

Beverly And Jean-Luc Are Together? 

A lot can happen in a year, including Jean-Luc going from being happily in love with Laris to possibly being back with Beverly Crusher. A picture Jack placed on his nightstand showed Picard and Beverly smiling and walking together, and they appeared to be in formal attire. Apparently, it's open for interpretation, but I'm leaning toward them reconciling. 

If that's the case I can't help but feel a little sad for Laris,  who helped push Jean-Luc out into space in order to find Beverly! I guess she could've figured something was up when he wasn't making calls home after being gone for so long, but imagine worrying about him during the Borg invasion only for him to come home with that news. If Picard and Bev are together it's rough stuff for those who were excited that Orla Brady returned to play Laris , but a tremendous payoff for Star Trek fans who wanted to see Picard and Bev together all these years . 

Q Returned In The Post-Credit Scene, Despite His Death In Season 2

The post-credits scene cut to Jack in his quarters on the Enterprise G , unpacking his belongings for his long mission. He was interrupted by a familiar face and one that viewers were likely not expecting. Actor John De Lancie was back as Q, but like, how? He died in Season 2 of Picard , right? 

The only clue that Q gave was that he was dead in a linear sense, suggesting that the version talking to Jack in the future was a younger version of the Q that died. It didn't make a ton of sense, but all things when it comes to the Q Continuum are confusing, so that bit isn't too surprising. It seems like we'll eventually get more answers on Q's return in some form or another, whether that's through a spinoff series, comic, or novel. 

Star Trek: Picard is over, but viewers will be able to binge it to their heart's desire over on Paramount+ . The future is bright for Trek on the whole, so I would encourage anyone who enjoyed this season to stick around for all the upcoming shows on the horizon. 

Mick Joest is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend with his hand in an eclectic mix of television goodness. Star Trek is his main jam, but he also regularly reports on happenings in the world of Star Trek, WWE, Doctor Who, 90 Day Fiancé, Quantum Leap, and Big Brother. He graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Radio and Television. He's great at hosting panels and appearing on podcasts if given the chance as well.

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Picard season 3 is great for me, less great for Star Trek

The Paramount Plus show is a little too good of a goodbye

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I should start by noting that I am probably, by most fans’ reckoning, a Star Trek Casual. I grew up at a time when there was a lot of Star Trek on TV — three shows at once! — and absorbed a lot of the stuff by both osmosis and by having family members that were super into the various adventures chronicled in The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , and Voyager . Personally, I had a great time watching these shows, but I was mostly just along for the ride. That’s how I’d describe my level of investment in Star Trek: Along for the ride, and happy to be here.

From this standpoint, the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard was a wild success. While re-tooling the floundering series to be a full-on The Next Generation reunion read as an obvious Hail Mary play to go out with a bang (and maybe an apology for Star Trek: Nemesis ), it managed to do so while remaining earnest throughout, turning things around by not just bringing back the cast of The Next Generation , but by doing so in what turned out to be an ode to all of ’90s Trek .

Personally, I had a great time. My Trek knowledge is mostly built around major touchpoints; the big fan-favorite things that everyone knows about Trek in general and The Next Generation in particular. Q , The Borg, “make it so,” all that stuff. Picard is playing a tune just for me. It’s also, unfortunately, very much ending things in a narrative cul-de-sac: not just sending off its characters, but much of what they represented.

[ Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for the end of Picard .]

Picard has ultimately made a mistake big franchises often make when their stewards’ primary interest is playing the hits: It makes its world smaller by making everything tie back to its legacy heroes. Its endgame literally makes nostalgia both the weapon that threatens to destroy the galaxy and the only thing that can save it: The Borg have, through Picard’s son Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), found a way to splice themselves into the genome of every Starfleet member that’s used a teleporter. The few immune? Older folks. Namely, The Next Generation cast.

This is the broadest and funniest way that Picard has traded The Next Generation ’s legacy as a thought-provoking show that was foundational to a whole era of science fiction for spectacle and sentiment, the former spectacularly empty-headed, and the latter just genuine enough to endear those who aren’t sticklers for narrative cohesion. Picard is all over the place , waving around the most iconic foes of ’90s Star Trek in the Changelings and The Borg, while completely eschewing what made them interesting ideological foils to Jean-Luc Picard and the Federation he represents .

As Picard digs into its initial antagonists, the Changeling Vadic (Amanda Plummer) and the crew of her ship The Shrike , the series reveals that she and her cohort are different from the Changelings of the Deep Space Nine era , enhanced by cruel experimentation by Federation scientists that Picard was not aware of. It’s a huge moral crisis, especially for a character that’s positioned as the moral center of Starfleet, and it’s all rather quickly elided to dispose of Vadic in favor of the real threat: a resurgent Borg, this time almost entirely represented by the Borg Queen, as few drones exist anymore.

Not only is this far less complex than the Changeling dilemma, it’s also — to briefly stake a claim in a meaningless war that’s been waged since Star Trek: First Contact was released — even more antithetical to the Borg’s whole raison d’etre than they’ve ever been. The main reason I can abide this is simply due to the fact that Picard doesn’t dwell on any of it. It’s a pretty thoughtless show when it comes to thoughts that don’t revolve around the Next Generation cast members saying nice things to one another and saving everyone from certain disaster one last time.

In “The Last Generation,” Picard sets up a new crew that could carry the legacy of The Next Generation onward — a curious notion, given that Star Trek: Discovery ostensibly exists for that purpose, Strange New Worlds is here to provide a modern spin on Roddenberry’s first Star Trek , and Prodigy and Lower Decks refract the mission of Star Trek for younger audiences and comedy, respectively.

If the speculative “Star Trek: Legacy” — which may only exist in Picard ’s coda — were to be realized, it’s hard to feel particularly inspired about where it might go. In the end, Picard took us on a hell of a ride, but it too definitively asserted that Jean-Luc Picard and his friends were the be-all, end-all of this era of Trek. They played the hits big and loud, and even I, a Trek casual, could smile and sing along with them. I just wonder if anyone remembers what brought us here to begin with.

Picard is now streaming on Paramount Plus.

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Star trek: picard’s mars attack was worse than we thought.

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Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Ending & Shocking Season 3 Set Up Explained

Everyone forgot star trek: picard’s raffi stalked admiral janeway, the boys season 5 release window revealed by butcher star in new update.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2's Finale - "Ouroboros, Part II"

• Star Trek: Prodigy's finale reveals the Mars Attack's devastating impact on the Federation, including the loss of 20,000 starships and a ban on synthetic lifeforms.
• The Mars Attack was orchestrated by Romulan agent Commodore Oh, leading to a darker era for the Federation and a shift away from exploration.
• The young crew of the USS Protostar is assigned to explore and be a beacon of light during this insular period for the Federation.

Star Trek: Prodigy season 2's finale revealed that Star Trek: Picard 's Mars Attack was even worse than audiences thought. Written by Kevin and Dan Hageman, and Aaron J. Waltke, and directed by Ruolin Li, Star Trek: Prodigy season 2's ending saw the young crew of the USS Protostar save Star Trek 's multiverse with the help of Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) and the crew of USS Voyager-A. Finally accepted into Starfleet Academy, Dal R'El (Brett Gray), Gwyndala (Ella Purnell), and their friends witness the news reports of rogue synthetics attacking Mars on First Contact Day 2385.

Star Trek: Picard season 1's backstory, first seen in the Star Trek: Short Treks episode "Children of Men", is built upon the tragic events of First Contact Day 2385. On April 5th, Mars was attacked by the synths originally programmed to help build Starfleet's new armada at Utopia Plantia Fleet Yards. As a result of the Mars Attack, the United Federation of Planets banned androids and synthetic lifeforms. Further, the Federation ended their mission to help the Romulan people relocate from their sun going supernova , which provoked Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) to resign from Starfleet in protest.

Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 brings the time travel saga of the USS Protostar full circle. Here's what happened and what it all means for season 3.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2’s Ending Reveals Picard’s Mars Attack Was Even Worse

The mars attack changed the trajectory of the federation.

Star Trek: Prodigy' s season 2 finale , "Ouroboros, Part II", revealed the extent of the Mars Attack of 2385 was even more devastating to the Federation than Star Trek: Picard indicated. In Picard season 1, it was said that over 92,000 souls lost their lives on Mars. Star Trek: Prodigy makes the tragedy even more dire for the Federation by confirming 20,000 starships under construction at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards were destroyed . Originally built for Admiral Picard's Romulan rescue mission, this new fleet was equipped with the latest technology that was now lost to Starfleet.

Admiral Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox) said Starfleet was in such dire straits that they lack enough communicator badges to equip the remaining fleet.

With a severely weakened and diminished Starfleet, the Federation pulled back into its existing borders and ceased all exploration missions . Prepping for war against a possible unseen enemy and fearing its own androids, the Federation became insular, abandoning its directive to seek out new life forms and new civilizations. As a response, however, Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) assigned the new Protostar Class USS Prodigy to newly promoted Ensigns Dal R'El, Gwyndala, and their friends.

The USS Prodigy's mission is to explore and be a beacon of light as the Federation recedes into a darker era.

Star Trek: Picard’s Culprit & Reason Behind Mars Attack Explained

The romulans achieved their greatest success against the federation.

Star Trek: Picard season 1 eventually revealed the true culprit behind the Mars Attack of First Contact Day 2385 was Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita) , who was actually a Romulan deep cover agent named General Nedar. A member of the fanatical Tal Shiar sect called the Zhat Vash, Nedar and her followers held an existentital fear of synthetic beings from another galaxy invading and wiping out all organic life. This dread manifested in the Romulans' hatred of androids and synthetics. Nedar infiltrated Starfleet posing as a Vulcan named Oh and gradually rose to the rank of Commodore, becoming Starfleet's Head of Security.

Commodore Oh and her Romulan fanatics were eventually uncovered and defeated in Star Trek: Picard season 1.

Commodore Oh masterminded Mars' synthetic worker drones going rogue and massacring the Utopia Plantia Fleet Yards. Oh's plan worked, and the Federation banned all synthetic lifeforms for nearly 15 year s. Oh and her Tal Shiar agents Narissa (Peyton List) and Narek (Harry Treadaway) then targeted Dahj and Soji Asha (Isa Briones) to find Coppelius, where Dr. Bruce Maddox (John Ales) and Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner) created a new race of Soong synthetics. Commodore Oh and her Zhat Vash were eventually uncovered and defeated in Star Trek: Picard season 1, but Star Trek: Prodigy season 2's ending sets up a darker Federation era still about 15 years away from these events.

Star Trek: Picard

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Star Trek: Prodigy

Prodigy’s Shocking Ending Connects (Nearly) All of Modern Star Trek Canon

Let’s dig into the memory banks.

The biggest Star Trek binge in franchise history has arrived. Netflix dropped all 20 episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 on July 1 , which led to a shocking and surprisingly open-ended finale. In addition to a time travel plot and a guest character who connects Prodigy to several other eras of Star Trek, the last episode, “Ouroboros Part II,” also syncs up with several major plot points from Star Trek: Picard . In fact, Prodigy’s finale helps make various aspects of Picard more explicable in the tapestry of modern Trek.

Here’s what the final moments of Prodigy mean for the Star Trek timeline, and how the show is set up for a hypothetical Season 3. Spoilers ahead.

Prodigy Season 2’s ending sets up Picard Season 1

The new crew of yet another new starship.

After defeating the Loom and Asencia, Gwyn, Rok, Dal, Jankom, Zero, Ma’jel, and Murf all find themselves back at Starfleet Academy. Finally, it looks like Star Trek’s Boxcar Children will get their happy ending, but no. It’s First Contact Day 2385, and as everyone in Starfleet celebrates, longtime fans know what’s coming. In Picard Season 1, April 5, 2385, is when Synths go rogue and attack the Utopia Planitia Shipyards on Mars. We saw this from a few different points of view in Picard , but the focus was on how it impacted Jean-Luc Picard. Here we see it from the perspective of the Protostar crew, various young people at Starfleet Academy, and the inner circle of Starfleet Command itself.

This leads to a few interesting and revealing references. Because of the Synth Attack, Admiral Jellico (Ronny Cox) makes it clear that “Starfleet Command has been asked to scale back and cease all exploration and focus on protecting our own planetary citizens.” This means the Romulan Evacuation has been canceled. As established in Picard , Jean-Luc was spearheading the Evacuation and resigned from Starfleet when it shut down. Now we know that the person who told Picard to quit was Jellico. In the Prodigy finale, Jellico says, “I have already informed Admiral Picard. He didn’t take it well, to say the least.”

This revelation is ironic. In The Next Generation's two-parter, “Chain of Command,” it was Jellico who took command of the Enterprise-D while Picard was on a secret mission. While Jellico isn’t technically a bad officer, the fact that he accepted Picard’s resignation in 2385 only adds to how furious Jean-Luc must have been.

Starfleet uniforms, combadges, and more

The uniform style seen in Picard Season 1 has been retroactively explained in the Prodigy Season 2 finale.

The impending Romulan Supernova doesn't originate with Picard Season 1 but the first J.J. Abrams reboot movie, where Spock was trying to help the Romulans avert the catastrophe and ultimately traveled back into an alternate timeline. In Prodigy, as Janeway, Jellico, and other Starfleet admirals discuss the future, there’s a mix of different uniform styles on display. Janeway is wearing the 2385-style uniform that Picard and Raffi wore in Picard Season 1’s flashbacks, while other characters wear a style closer to what we’ve seen throughout Prodigy . Jellico even lampshades the conflicting styles in this era, saying, “We don’t even have enough combadges to upgrade half the fleet.” These are small details, but this scene does a lot of work to tie Prodigy, Picard, and the Abrams films together.

The Crusher brothers meet

Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) and his father, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), in Picard Season 3.

Before everything goes sideways on Mars, we see Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) visit his mom, Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), on Earth, where Beverly introduces Wesley to his then-new brother, Jack Crusher. There, in 2385, Jack is a toddler, but by 2401, he’ll be in his twenties and become an essential part of Picard Season 3.

“We wanted Wesley to meet Jack,” co-showrunner Kevin Hageman told Inverse before Prodigy Season 2’s launch. “At the time, the [ Picard producers] were curious what we were doing with Wesley.”

Will there be a Star Trek: Prodigy Season 3?

The USS Prodigy has arrived.

The final moments of Prodigy Season 2 reveal that the crew of the destroyed Protostar is being given another ship of the same class dubbed the USS Prodigy . This is notable because while the series is called Prodigy , the Season 2 finale is the first time the word references a starship.

Janeway gives everyone “field commissions,” making them all defacto Starfleet officers, and sends the crew on a mission of exploration despite Starfleet’s concerns. She explains: “As the Federation’s borders are receding, it's of the utmost importance that you are a beacon of light to those beyond our reach.”

There’s also an unexpected switch in commanding officer. Since Season 1, Dal (Brett Gray) has acted as captain, but he willingly hands command over to Gwyn (Ella Purnell). So as Prodigy Season 2 ends, it’s Gwyn who bodly leads the crew to where no one has gone before.

There are currently no concrete plans for Prodigy Season 3. In conversation with Inverse , the Hageman brothers emphasized that there’s “a lot of dreaming,” though it seems possible the Prodigy’s adventures could continue in another iteration of Trek beyond this series. But as of right now, the crew has been given a massive reset button and the chance to adventure across the Final Frontier.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is streaming on Netflix.

• Science Fiction

‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Season 2 Ending Explained: Connecting All of Trek Canon

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Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Star Trek: Prodigy.

The Big Picture

• Season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy focuses on time travel to save reality from a menacing force.
• Star Trek: Prodigy includes a family reunion involving Wesley Crusher, played by Wil Wheaton.
• Star Trek: Prodigy links to Star Trek: Picard by exploring the Mars Attack and other significant events in the timeline.

Star Trek: Prodigy is truly a unique entry into the Star Trek franchise. For starters, it's the first Star Trek series that's geared toward a younger audience - though it still has enough Easter eggs and storylines to hook hardcore Trekkies. It also underwent an upheaval; though it started life as an original series on Paramount+, tax cuts led to the series being cut from the streamer and then eventually landing on Netflix . That worked out for the best as Season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy continues to deliver everything fans love about the franchise , including its sleek animation style and top-notch character development.

Season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy finds the crew of the U.S.S. Protostar on a new ship - specifically, a reconstructed version of the Voyager as Admiral Kathryn Janeway ( Kate Mulgrew ) has signed them on as warrant officers. The Protostar crew, in an attempt to help Janeway discover the whereabouts of Captain Chakotay ( Robert Beltran ), end up being flung into the future. They wind up racing through time and space to stop a menacing force known as the Loom from wiping out all of reality while dealing with the ups and downs of time travel. But how does the Season 2 finale, "Ourobouros," bring this storyline to a close?

Star Trek: Prodigy

A group of young aliens escape captivity by commandeering a derelict Starfleet ship, the U.S.S. Protostar. As they navigate the galaxy, they must learn to work together and uncover the ship's secrets. The show blends adventure and discovery, appealing to both new viewers and longtime Star Trek fans.

‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Saves All Reality With a Time Loop

Most of Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is focused on how Dal ( Brett Gray ), Rok-Tahk ( Rylee Alazraqui ), Zero ( Angus Imrie ), Jankom Pog ( Jason Mantzoukas ) and newcomer Maj'el ( Michaela Dietz ) trying to find Chakotay while also dealing with the fact that their time travel might undo the existence of their friend Gwyn ( Ella Purnell ). Gwyn, on the other hand, is trying to reconnect with her people, the Solum — but the arrival of the tyrannical Vindicator ( Jameela Jamil ) draws the Loom to the Prime timeline. In order to stop reality from being wiped out, the Protostar crew wind up sending the ship back to the past so that their past selves will be able to find it on the Tars Lamora mining colony. There's also a few emotional moments; the Protostar 's Janeway hologram, which served as a guide to the young crew, had to have its memory wiped. By literally bringing the Protostar 's journey full circle, the universe is safe.

Wesley Crusher Plays a Major Role in ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ — and Has a Family Reunion

The Prodigy crew has help from an unlikely source in their quest to repair time: Wesley Crusher ( Wil Wheaton ). Wesley, having gained some mastery over space and time due to his adventures with the Traveler post- Star Trek: The Next Generation , essentially serves as an erstaz Doctor Who — with showrunners Dan and Kevin Hageman being fairly open about their inspiration . After reality is righted, Wesley has an emotional reuniion with his mother Beverly ( Gates McFadden ) and his brother Jack , who is a toddler . A grown-up Jack plays a major part in the final season of Star Trek: Picard , as he reunites with his father, Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ), and plays a role in stopping the twin threats of the Changelings and the Borg. But that isn't the only connection to Picard that Prodigy shares.

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‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Sets Up the Events of ‘Star Trek: Picard’

Though Dal and friends are able to fix the timeline and save Chakotay, they return to Starfleet on First Contact Day — specifically 2385. That is the date of the Mars Attack, where synthetics programmed to work at shipyards attacked Mars' inhabitants . Starfleet would cease its exploratory and rescue missions as a result, also banning synthetic beings from being created. Starfleet's actions had grave consequences: a planned mission to evacuate the Romulan homeworld was abandoned, leading to its destruction via solar flare. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Spock ( Leonard Nimoy ) underwent a secret mission to stop the solar flare, which set up the events of the Kelvin Timeline in J.J. Abrams ' Star Trek films . Picard would also resign from Starfleet over their choices, with an Admiral mentioning him by name in "Ouroboros." The fact that Prodigy is able to tie into Star Trek media from past and present while telling its own self-contained narrative is a feat that very few TV shows have pulled off and a reminder of what makes it special.

‘Star Trek Prodigy’ Ends With a New Ship, and a New Mission

Janeway almost follows in Picard's footsteps and leaves Starfleet, but is convinced to come back by Chakotay. She also assigns Dal and his friends to a new Protostar-class vessel named the U.S.S. Prodigy , which will continue to carry out exploration and rescue missions , despite Starfleet's new edicts. “As the Federation’s borders are receding, it's of the utmost importance that you are a beacon of light to those beyond our reach," Janeway tells the crew before she gives them the metaphorical keys to the Prodigy . But even though Janeway is staying on Earth, her holographic form will continue to serve as a mentor to the Prodigy crew. In addition, Dal hands over command of the ship to Gwyn . While a Season 3 renewal hasn't been confirmed yet, Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is a wonderful reminder of everything that makes Star Trek great.

Seasons 1 and 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy are available to stream on Netflix.

Watch on Netflix

• TV Features

How Cobra Kai Season 6 Sets Up Part 2

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• Rams are clashing in Cobra Kai Season 6, as egos collide and respect becomes a battleground for Johnny and Daniel once more.
• Kreese recruits dangerous Korean fighters for Cobra Kai, setting the stage for intense action and potential danger in Season 6, Part 2.
• Family dynamics and secrets drive key plotlines, with betrayals, criminal pasts, and new additions complicating relationships in Cobra Kai.

The following contains spoilers for Cobra Kai Season 6, Part 1, now streaming on Netflix.

As Cobra Kai Season 6 ends its first half, it's a very compelling affair. As expected, fragile egos are in play, with men demanding respect be accorded without respect being given. It leads to Ralph Macchio's Daniel LaRusso once more locking horns with William Zabka's Johnny Lawrence over their combined dojo, Eagle Fang.

However, as they clash, it's evident that they need to put their heads down, stay focused and set an example. That's because key pillars are in play for Cobra Kai Season 6, Part 2 . However, outside the Sekai Taikai tournament, other dramatic arcs are set up, promising action, heartbreak and hopefully, better sense prevailing with these two alpha teachers.

Cobra Kai Season 6 Has to Solve Tory's betrayal

Cobra kai unveils audition tapes for xolo maridueña & more stars ahead of final season.

The latest video for Cobra Kai unveils the audition tapes of the coming-of-age martial arts dramedy’s young cast, including Xolo Maridueña.

Cobra Kai's final season begins with five episodes. It has Tory going into a depression after her ill mother dies. This manifests as anger, which leads to the LaRussos not wanting her to fight to protect her mental health. Tory ends up switching teams and returning to John Kreese's side . He's reforming Cobra Kai, and he wants his spiritual daughter there with him at the Sekai Taikai. Kreese weaponized her pretty well in past seasons, and now, he has more rage he can prey on. To make matters worse, he has dangerous Korean fighters, who have anger issues as well.

Kreese got them by taking over Kim Da-Eun's school. He considers her a sister, and her grandfather, Master Kim, the ultimate mentor. However, the Kim method is cruel and deadly -- more so than what fans saw with Terry Silver in The Karate Kid III . It hints Tory will be learning dangerous techniques . Conversely, this show does love redemption. Da-Eun is torn, as she isn't certain if she wants to follow the path her kin and Kreese are laying out. She will be the key to which path Tory walks. That said, Tory has a major gripe.

She thinks the LaRussos were biased towards their daughter, Sam, being an Eagle Fan captain. Tory will be reigniting that old rivalry, just when it seemed like they could be sisters. Most of all, Robby will have to contend with her betraying him, and if he can help his girlfriend through the grief. He loves her, so it will boil down to whether he can save his soulmate and keep her from harming Sam.

Cobra Kai Season 6 Has to Pick Kreese's Other Students

Cobra kai co-creator shares update on possible spinoffs at netflix.

The Cobra Kai/Karate Kid franchise expansion gets a positive update.

Kreese has two spots open after working with Kwon and Yoon. Cobra Kai's last few episodes could see Kreese's team revealing more Koreans, or Kreese can pick two fighters from his old team. Kenny is a solid contender. He also hates Miyagi-Do after training with them. He thinks Sam's brother, Anthony, sabotaged his chances of coming to this tournament in Barcelona. Kenny is a brutal fighter and someone close to Robby's level, so he would make a worthwhile adversary.

Kreese could turn him loose again by harping on his aggression and the theme of revenge. Secondly, Paul Walter Hauser's Stingray is an adult, yet he trained with Kreese's kids to make them scarier. According to what the rules are in Spain, Kreese -- as he usually does -- could find loopholes and bring Stingray in. Kreese has a way of baiting people over to his side, including officials . If anything, politics will easily break friendships and test loyalties as Kreese keeps weaving his sinister webs.

Cobra Kai Season 6 Has to Punish Devon's Crime

It turns out, Devon was the one who spiked Kenny's water and gave him dysentery during the final Eagle Fang trial . She was insecure and desperate to get into the competition. Once Johnny finds out, he'll be heartbroken. He considers her like a daughter. She's one of his favorite fighters due to her diligence and ferocity, but she's always about short-cuts and excuses.

This could revive the difference in ideologies, as Daniel does think Devon exhibits Johnny's toxic traits, hence why Johnny adores her. How Johnny handles this could well be the start of more infighting between the coaches . Ultimately, Devon cheated, so Johnny has to assess, punish, and see if she can garner absolution -- as he wants to be seen as a fair sensei.

Cobra Kai Season 6 Needs to Reveal Miyagi's True History

10 things you probably forgot about cobra kai during the long wait for season 6.

Before its sixth and final season, Cobra Kai fans might want to brush up on what happened in Season 5, which was released two years ago.

Season 6 had Chozen, Daniel and Amanda (Daniel's wife) finding a box of Miyagi's secrets. It had a fake passport and evidence Miyagi might have had a criminal life before meeting Daniel . Miyagi also fought in the Sekai Taikai, so Daniel is already planning to dig more into his history. This may well rock the foundation of what Daniel believes in. If Miyagi was a felon, Daniel may stop believing in Miyagi-do.

But there is a chance, rather than hate any potential lies, Cobra Kai can paint a tale of atonement. Miyagi often came off as infallible, but this walk down memory lane can show Daniel that people need second chances, especially hot-heads. Daniel might discover Miyagi was more like Johnny, not him, which could lead to healing and reconciliation . That is, once Daniel doesn't spiral if the truth isn't to his liking. He does consider Miyagi to be a father figure, so his faith and belief are going to be tested in the new Cobra Kai storyline .

Cobra Kai Season 6 Has to Quell Eagle Fan's Tension

When Johnny called Miyagi a "criminal" and bashed his teachings as hypocritical, Daniel hit him. Johnny didn't fight back, but he is internalizing this. Season 6, Part 2 may well see that resentment and temper boil over. They love throwing barbed comments at each other, but this is the world stage. They will need to disclose things in private and mitigate embarrassing themselves in front of their esteemed colleagues and peers.

It will get intense, but luckily, their significant others usually help calm them down and find middle-ground. It helps that Robby, Miguel and Sam are all cool with each other. Their maturity may well be what cures the fathers and gets them to behave on the greatest combat platform ever . However, the team will be on constant edge, because of how Demetri and Hawk are at odds over Hawk not wanting to go to MIT with his best friend. They're constantly bickering, so that energy could aggravate the sensei duo even more.

Cobra Kai Season 6 Has Some Key Family Angles to Address

Firstly, Johnny and Carmen are expecting a baby . Miguel and Robby are ecstatic about their little sibling, but there is drama to come. Johnny couldn't hold a job, or land them a proper home. He even botched working in Daniel's car dealership. He has to cut this ego to provide for his growing family soon in the Netflix series .

On top of that, Miguel has been wait-listed by Stanford . He isn't sure if he wants to go there in any case, as they won't be able to afford it. These distractions could affect Miguel, as well as Robby, in the tournament. In addition, Daniel and Amanda have to address Anthony. He's not in the tournament, but he's lacking confidence. They'll need to pick him up and remind him he can bounce back and aspire to be on Sam's level.

Last but not least, Cobra Kai has to sort out Chozen's love life . Kumiko never replied to his Season 5 voicemail about how he still loves her. He went back to Japan to win her heart over. Hopefully, he can return from Okinawa a happy man. Eagle Fang enjoys his tutelage. They may even need Karate Kid's Mike Barnes in Spain in an all-hands-on-deck finale. The time for unity is now.

Cobra Kai Season 6, Part 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Part 2 will premiere Nov. 15, 2024.

• July 19, 2024 | Podcast: All Access Boards The Protostar For Part 3 (Of 4) Of Our ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Season 2 Review
• July 18, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Learns An Adorable Lesson In “A Tribble Called Quest” [Episode 213]
• July 18, 2024 | 2 More Cadets Cast For ‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ – Prep Work Already Started In Toronto
• July 17, 2024 | “Star Trek Origin” Movie Tidbit: Reportedly Set Mostly On Earth
• July 17, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Navigates The Storm In “The Last Flight Of The Protostar, Part I & II” [Ep. 211/212]

Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Navigates The Storm In “The Last Flight Of The Protostar, Part I & II” [Ep. 211/212]

| July 17, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 9 comments so far

“The Last Flight Of The Protostar, Parts I & II”

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, Episodes 11 & 12 – Debuted Monday, July 1, 2024 Written by Diandra Pendleton-Thompson (Part I), Alex Hanson & Aaron J. Waltke (Part II) Directed by Ruolin Li & Andre L. Schmidt (Part I), Sung Shin (Part II)

A pivot in tone takes our heroes on an entertaining and harrowing journey of the soul, with plenty of adventure to keep you engaged.

This is not how Chakotay pictured his retirement.

WARNING: Spoilers below!

“You are never getting my ship off this planet.”

On a sandy planet, a marooned Captain Chakotay montages his way through ten years of eating fish eggs on fruit (gross) and carving a chess board populated by his fallen crew, including Adreek , who’s flown the coop for the last time. Too soon? Arriving via Wesley Crusher’s time stuff, the prodigies are excited to see Chakotay and the Protostar, although both are looking worse for wear. This cynical Chakotay is unimpressed with their tale of time monsters and paradox fixing. He stranded his ship on Ysida so the Vau N’Akat Living Construct could never threaten Starfleet and he isn’t going to let some “time-traveling misfits” change that, even with his Holo-Janeway arguing for compassion. Reluctantly he lets them inside to weather an ion storm, where they discover he bricked the Protostar by ejecting the proto-core and draining all the fuel. Dal finally has had enough and calls Chakotay a broken old man who has given up. Harsh, but true.

Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards recommends not leaving your ship out to rust.

“We need to fix a captain.”

Holo-Janeway tells the kids how Chakotay lost his spirit, especially after Adreek reconsidered their self-marooning and was lost trying to find a new source of antimatter. Inspired by the fallen first officer, they take up his plan and start fixing up the ship, with enough sunny Starfleet spirit to thaw the cynic. When Dal is lost during a storm, Chakotay takes the Runaway, joined by Gwyn, Pog, and Murf, along to be cute for security. The captain reveals Dal is in more danger than they realize as this “nightmare” planet also has giant burrowing eel monsters. Great. Dodging the lightning creatures, Chakotay starts to get his mojo back as he skillfully pilots the flying car through a twisting subterranean maze. They track Dal’s badge to a cavern where he has found Adreek’s final resting place. Chakotay is astonished to discover his friend’s last act was to successfully harness enough antimatter to fuel the Protostar. Well, that’s a real feather in his cap. Sorry. Returning to the Protostar, Chakotay is a new man, inspired by his first officer’s sacrifice and this young crew’s enthusiasm. After setting Adreek to rest and getting assured Starfleet is safe from the Construct, Chakotay agrees it’s time to empty this nest. Okay, that’s the last one.

Sorry, Pog, no more bird puns.

“To save the future, they must do it alone.”

Meanwhile, the crew of the Voyager is picking up the pieces from the harrowing battle with the Loom, and Janeway is starting to have second thoughts about entrusting the future to the kids on the word of a “Starfleet expat.” Noum helps settle her mind by putting her in touch with Dr. Crusher, who has faith her son is doing the right thing, but would it kill him to call once in a while? On Ysida, they are putting Adreek’s crazy plan into action, transforming the Protosar into a boat to sail across the vapor ocean to a source of fuel for the warp drive, a cloud of deuterium… the peanut butter to the antimatter’s chocolate. After another montage, the ship is released from the dunes, with a little assistance from Chakotay who gives the kids a lesson in levers . Dal and the captain continue to clash and the kid remains cocky when put in charge of the important jib , but when their makeshift ship almost founders, Gwyn and Chakotay have to step in to guide them through safely. The abashed Dal gets demoted to rope coiling duty. Welcome to the navy, kid.

Maj’el and Gwyn didn’t expect Starfleet training to involve this many ropes.

“We’re at the mercy of the storm.”

Dal’s funk runs deeper than just learning discipline. He confesses to Chakotay he is questioning his destiny after getting a glimpse of his future. The captain shares some life lessons learned from his time as Janeway’s number one, but bonding time is cut short when they find themselves heading into the violent eye of the storm. The ship gets battered as they lose their sail, with the last bit of power used to open up the fuel scoops . Their only hope is to manually steer to the target so one and all (even poor Rok, who is terrified) can brave the storm and get the ship on course. Just as the Bussard collectors start doing what they do, it’s old man overboard. Without hesitation, Dal jumps into the maelstrom, but the kid has to release his lifeline and the gang reels it in empty, turning a moment of triumph into potential tragedy. But Dal isn’t a quitter; he grabs unconscious Chakotay and hitches a ride to the surface with an accommodating lightning eel. Back inside, the fuel gage maxes out and the engines fire up. The Voyager-A is still way far away and the protodrive is kaput, but the gang is filled with way too much Star Trek optimism to worry… that’s the next episode’s problem. For now, just cue the theme music and let this bird soar… Okay, that one doesn’t count.

Riker told me things get better after you grow a beard.

The past echoes the future.

The second half of the season begins with a slow burn, leading to a big bang of a two-part episode. After spending so long seeking Chakotay (with a brief out-of-time visit earlier on), the show took a chance by subverting expectations for what should have been a triumphant moment. Instead of finding a grateful Starfleet officer, they discover this disheveled shell who has given up on life, an unexpectedly dark twist that still works. But this was no Heart of Darkness , as all the kids had to do was rally what they had learned since Tars Lamora with the enthusiasm and optimism gained under their Holo Janeway, turning this into an adventure more akin to Flight of the Phoenix , utilizing a few well-crafted montages and frenetic action sequences to tell a movie’s worth of story in around 44 minutes. The opening sequence was especially impactful, forgoing a traditional captain’s log with an extended series of moments to convey the sense of time, adding context to this different Chakotay, now 10 years older, mourning the loss of Adreek and his crew. The episodes were replete with many examples of stunning visuals, accentuated with stirring music, carrying the narrative when words weren’t necessary.

Think this is weird, ask Admiral Janeway about the time she turned into a lizard.

There still was plenty for Robert Beltran to work with in his best episode of the series yet as he took us through quite a journey back to that Star Trek hope. Right there with him is Brett Gray, as this two-parter is just as much about Dal, who is running through a parallel arc and crisis of confidence. And when you scratch a little deeper, you can see how all season long, Prodigy has been creating parallels with his relationship and potential future with Gwyn and Chaktotay’s relationship and past with Janeway. This makes Chakotay’s talk about his father, his history with the Maquis, and his time on the Voyager far more than just canon references, using the lore to weave together the story of his life and help Dal with what he has learned from it. This is all pretty deep stuff that treats both the new audience and the old fans with respect. With so much focus on Dal and Chakotay, there wasn’t a lot for the other characters to explore, but they helped keep things light with all the drama going on between Dal and Chakotay. And Kate Mulgrew was a highlight playing both Admiral Janeway and a distinctly new version of Hologram Janeway.

Which son were you calling about? Oh wait, forget I said that.

A highlight for fans will be the cameo of Gates McFadden, reprising her TNG role of Dr. Beverly Crusher, who sounds great, but the character design didn’t really capture the original character in the same way as other legacy characters in the series. And this wasn’t really a cameo: As Janeway was going through her own crisis of confidence handing the future off to the kids based on Wesley’s word, his mom was the perfect person to set things right, giving the brief scene emotional punch, especially when Crusher talked about how Janeway is like a mother to her crew. And the look on Beverly’s face when she talked about how the Romulan refugee crisis is taking up all of Jean-Luc’s time spoke volumes. This little moment set between Nemesis  and the third season of  Picard deftly wove in bits of their bigger story, making this show feel more tied into that larger Star Trek Universe, which is important to us fans. But the show also continues to build its unique voice, doing things in this episode we have never seen in Star Trek before, including making that vision of “Horatio Hornblower in space” realized—and pretty amazing.

Okay Chakotay, I’ll let you sit in the captain’s chair.

Final thoughts

This kickoff for the second half of the second season feels like the show is once again leveling up, with the show maturing just as much as the characters. Watching these two episodes back-to-back seems to be a must as this tells a single, emotional story of a ship and a captain (and a potential future captain) being reinvigorated.

Does this count as a refit?

• Stardate 61898.2  (as of Part II).
• The Protostar’s Runaway vehicle Pog fixed was first introduced in season 1. It was left on Ysida, but they can always make another with the ship’s vehicle replicator .
• Ysida is “Class P,” a planetary classification  previously established Star Trek: Star Charts and other Trek books, but became film/TV canon for the first time in this episode.
• “Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world” is a quote attributed to the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes . There have been two different USS Archimedes ships in Starfleet.
• Admiral Janeway indicates she has met Dr. Crusher before, referencing “the Shinzon incident” (from Star Trek: Nemesis ), set six years prior. Janeway did appear in the film, but only in a communication with Captain Picard.
• Dr. Crusher says she hasn’t seen her son in “years,” possibly not since the Riker/Troi wedding depicted in Nemesis .
• Chakotay calling the Protostar the “HMS Protostar” is reminiscent of Dr. McCoy renaming a captured Klingon Bird of Prey the “ HMS Bounty ” in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home .

Hey Blobby, I will turn this space car around!

TrekMovie’s  Prodigy July binge-watch

Since all 20 episodes were released on Netflix at once, we’re binging it in five-episode arcs; we can’t stick to watching just one a week! Each All Access Star Trek podcast (every Friday morning) will cover five episodes, while written reviews for all five will publish throughout the week, with two-parters paired up. This will all wrap up just as San Diego Comic-Con kicks off at the end of the month. We also hope to have more Prodigy interviews and analysis in July and beyond.

NEW: Full spoiler open thread!

We welcome fans joining us through our July coverage of 5 episodes each week, and we ask our readers to keep comments related to the season up to the episode being reviewed.

For those choosing to binge the show even faster, we have created an open thread where you can post all the spoiler comments you want for the entire season. 

Season 2 of  Prodigy is available to stream on Netflix globally (excluding Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Mainland China) and season one is currently available on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe with season two coming soon. Season two has launched in France on France Televisions channels and Okoo.

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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Chakotay got more out of this show than he did in 7 years of Voyager.

Happy to say that I much preferred this two-parter (esp. Part 1) to the mid-season finale. Airlock me if you must, but I’ll take the opening montage depicting Chakotay’s long years of exile with only a hologram of his former captain for company, along with the heartfelt sendoff for his own first officer, over a chase by cartoon monsters any day. Seeing the Protostar under sail just added to the coolness. I’ll never stop thinking of “Prodigy” as a kid’s show, but when it’s on its game it’s a damn fine one.

Excellent two parter! I loved Chakotay in these episodes and jist really brought back the more cynical and hardened Chakotay. I describe him as the Luke Skywalker/Last Jedi version of the character.

I loved him and Dals relationship here. But how they scienced their way off the planet was the best part. This is the kind of stuff we live for in Star Trek. Again, the show designed for 8 year olds.

But poor Adreek though. 😥

Also loved the cameo by Beverly. That was a nice touch. I loved all the two partners this season and this one is probably my second favorite.

The gradual convincing of Chakotay was very well depicted. I’m delighted by the redemption of the character through this show.

And yet another well-realized alien planet. This show is so good with strange new worlds.

I remarked a week ago we are seeing way more strange new worlds this season on this show than the two seasons of Strange New Worlds.

I know with live action comes budget issues (and it was very obvious season 2 had a smaller one) but at least show a few new planets every season.

And the other benefit of animation is that the environments are so seamlessly integrated, you don’t stop to do more than marvel. With live action often there’s an inevitable commentary on the location filming which is almost always adjacent to LA or Toronto, or now we’re becoming experts on AR walls instead of judging how effective the Planet Hell rock formations were used in a given week.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage r Home

WHY do you guys keep calling it that???

Also, bearded Chakotay is WORLDS better than shaved Chakotay! 😉👌

What I found interesting in this episode is that Admiral Janeway, with some difficulty, was able to find and talk to Beverly. What this tells us is that if Admiral Picard really wanted to find and talk to Beverly, he could have, at least during this time period. This scene ends up being a bit of a criticism of Picard, perhaps unintentionally, but a criticism nonetheless.

Really enjoying watching these with our 8yo!