star trek picard et in arcadia ego part 2

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Coming on the heels of what was likely the least well-received hour of Picard last week in “Part 1,” this episode manages to put most of the question marks from that set-up into the plasma exhaust and engage headfirst into an action-packed hour of resolutions and important commentary.

Ultimately, the series is about Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), and we get so many stand-out moments here it is going to be hard to break them all down, but we are beginning with the end and the unexpected thrill of seeing one of Star Trek’s most beloved characters get a send-off unlike almost any in franchise history.

As we’ve said in a number of reviews, Star Trek: Picard is obviously not a sequel to The Next Generation . It’s different in tone, content and structure in immeasurable ways. But in so many ways, it also scratches that “sequel” itch. From the call backs to “All Good Things…” to the resurrection of an important one-off character in Bruce Maddox, the seeds of TNG’s stories and storytelling are a huge part of this series.

And now, in the finale of a show about Trek’s most popular captain, the uber-popular Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) takes center stage for the final resolution of the series and gets an emotional and heartfelt sendoff that is predominantly celebratory — with a few dashes of somber — and serves as a powerful epilogue to Star Trek: Nemesis .

Data’s consciousness, which has been reconstructed from a single neuron secured by Maddox from B-4, has been placed inside a massively complex quantum simulation where the neural image of Picard’s brain substrates has also been placed following his death. As Data confirms to Picard that the man has died — more on that later — the two have an incredible conversation in which Picard tells him that he dreams about him all the time, and he was furious at the android for sacrificing his life for his.

Picard is happy for the chance to tell his friend that he regrets never having been able to communicate his love for him, to which Data responds as only he can by saying that knowing this “forms a small but statistically significant part of my memories. I hope that brings you some comfort.”

The conversation is an amazing full circle payoff from the series’ opening moments in which the old friends are seen reminiscing in the dreamscape’s Ten Forward lounge. Now, 10 episodes later, they are meeting for real inside a quantum reconstruction — the great holodeck in the sky — as Picard faces his mortality. It’s a special moment, made even more so when Data reveals that Picard will only be there temporarily, as his friends race to save his life.

Before he leaves though, Data asks Picard to help him end his life, so that “he can live, however briefly, knowing that life is finite.” Data knows that mortality is what gives things like peace, love and friendship meaning. A final shot of Data, clad in a stylish smoking jacket, sees him fade into stardust while being comforted by his friend as he is serenaded by a cover of “Blue Skies,” sung by Picard star Isa Briones.

Of course, to get to that amazing conclusion, we see the show’s other characters come full circle, as well. For Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), the beloved xB from the Delta Quadrant, she ends up squaring off face-to-face with the series’ big bad, Narissa (Peyton List), who apparently has been hiding out on the Artifact since the end of “Nepenthe.” For Seven, her choice comes down to killing somebody “just because it’s what they deserve, just because it feels wrong for them to still be alive.”

For the second time this season, she makes the choice to kill, taking out Narissa — as payback for Narissa’s murder of Hugh — much in the same way she killed Bjayzl in “Stardust City Rag.” It’s a decision she rues later while talking to Rios, who is also regretting his decision to once again having to watch a captain he dedicated himself to die.

Throughout the series, Cris Rios (Santiago Cabrera) has been full of surprises. He’s never gone the expected direction for a rogue captain that left Starfleet under murky circumstances, and at the end of “Et in Arcadia Ego” his regret seems to be tinged with an acceptance that committing yourself to a cause, and letting “another self-righteous old starship captain” into his heart, might not be such a bad thing.

Even Agnes Jurati’s (Alison Pill) redemption in this final hour is satisfying and complete, if not overly simplified. It’s incredibly cathartic to see her coming to rescue Picard from confinement and team up with him aboard La Sirena — despite the murder of Bruce Maddox. The competent professional from the season’s opening episode has returned, an indication of her true self finally set free of Commodore Oh’s mind meld-induced anxiety and instability.

Jurati steals the most unexpected thunderbolt of the finale as she and Picard work to get La Sirena off the ground, even telling the captain to “make it so” as he struggles to get the vessel into orbit. The moment is perfectly scripted by Chabon and directed by Akiva Goldsman, who captures her wonder perfectly.

And if that “make it so” moment wasn’t enough, moments later, she comes up with a brilliant tweak of the Picard Maneuver to help stall the Romulan attack. The site of hundreds of projections of La Sirena (not to mention dozens of Jurati’s smiling face) confusing the Romulans is another great callback.

While Raffi (Michelle Hurd) didn’t have a massively-large curve to travel on her re-discovery arc in this episode, it’s clear she has found her footing in fighting her addictive demons in support of her friend and mentor, “JL.” We also get a surprising connection at the end of the episode with Seven, as the two hold hands amorously as a potential set-up for Season 2. Is it earned? Debatable. Is it interesting? Absolutely!

For Elnor (Evan Evagora), the journey is simple and consistent: he’s fought for Picard, and he’s fought for the xBs —  of whom Seven has to remind him that just because someone “doesn’t belong anywhere,” it doesn’t mean they should be left to fend for themselves; an allegorical moment for the season if ever there was one. As the season winds to a close, Elnor is by Picard’s side, continuing to practice absolute candor throughout, especially when it comes to Narek.

Narek (Harry Treadaway) has earned a fragile truce with the La Sirena crew, but Elnor doesn’t believe he can be trusted, regardless of the fact he is helping the crew fight back against the synths — and that he didn’t kill Saga last week. (Turns out Sutra was just using him as a scapegoat to motivate her synth family to follow her.)

Narek’s cat-and-mouse dance of good vs. evil finally lands on the side of good when it is revealed that the turmoil driving him through the season was the knowledge that his family viewed him as a disgraced washout from the Zhat Vash, a nice bit of continuity tying back to Oh’s distrust of him in the beginning of the season.

It’s unclear where Narek ends up by the end of the episode; last we see of him, he’s being held by the synths during the La Sirena crew’s sabotage attempt. Unfortunately, his fate is just one of a number of notable pieces missing from the episode’s narrative construction — along with the fate of the xBs now marooned on Coppelius, how Picard managed to get the Federation to lift the ban on synthetics, and other bits of connective tissue that could have really enhanced the flow of the story.

The series packed  a lot of story in to the short, 10-episode season, and the shortcuts required to get to the closing moments of the narrative were probably necessitated by the unplanned expansion of the season’s opening episodes from two to three — leaving the creative team with a much shorter runway by the end of the year. Hopefully, some of the production lessons learned from this first year will lend themselves to Season 2’s benefit.

But in the end, you have to make your own evaluations. You are either more worried about the ease at which Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita) was allowed to escape the final confrontation — the head of Starfleet Security openly leading a Romulan attack fleet! — or you can put those concerns aside and marvel at seeing Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) back in uniform, leading a squadron of ships to save the day.

The opportunity to see Riker in command once more is one of pure joy, and Jonathan Frakes is clearly having fun in the part, gleefully chasing the Romulan fleet away from their intended target.

Before you think we’re ignoring something, yes, we noticed that every Starfleet ship seemed to be the same digital model — and an ADR’d line of Frakes dialogue explains away the repetition, saying Riker’s got “a fleet of them” — but since the visual effects work for the season only got completed last week   according to VFX supervisor Ante Dekovic, we’ll chalk that up to a lack of available production time to allow for a wider range of ship variation.

Instead, our focus from this epic yet busy finale is on the wonderful closing arcs of all the characters discussed above, and, of course, for Soji and Picard.

In the end, it came down to the wisdom of Picard, knowing through his lifetime of experience that it was up to Soji (Isa Briones) to make the right decision. Knowing that regardless of how anyone felt about the impending doom, or the Federation’s role in succumbing to fear and shutting down the synths, it was really going to come down to Picard and the Federation being willing to give her the choice. Either be the destroyer — or not.

Early in the episode, as she chides him about being completely under their control, Picard pushes her to see that it’s her own “failure of imagination” that is holding Soji back from seeing that she absolutely controls this final decision.

Once he’s aboard La Sirena and preparing to face the Romulans, Picard shows how much he believes in the synths by telling Jurati that they are children who feared extermination in being raised by a couple of hermits, “and fear is an incompetent teacher.” He knows that the best way to teach children is by example, so he contacts Soji again and tells her dramatically that he is going to give up his life to help change her mind.

As Soji activates the beacon, and the battle heats up, Picard’s battle with Irumodic Syndrome deteriorates, so he instructs Jurati to stabilize him (at the detriment to his long-term prognosis) so he can have one more conversation with Soji, this time on an open channel for everyone to hear.

In a powerful summation of the entire season, he explains to her that it’s up to her to make the right choice. That’s the whole point of why he is there, and why he saved her life and tired to save Dahj. So that she could save all of their lives in return. He trusts her and believes in her, and she eventually decides to take matters into her own hands by shutting down the beacon and ending the threat of the great Romulan Ganmadan — the day of annihilation. As Kestra hoped, Picard and Soji had one another to guide and save each other.

With the threat neutralized, the Romulans remove themselves from the Ghulion system, and Riker and Picard exchange goodbyes. Sadly, for Riker he has no idea what is in store for his friend, but as Picard whispers a final “adieu,” the expression on Jurati’s face relays an understanding that they are never going to speak to each other again.

Picard immediately collapses and Jurati knows there is no way to save him. He dies surrounded by his new crew, who are seen in various stages of mourning… before it is revealed that Soong has assisted Jurati in transferring Picard’s neural image into the synthetic “golum” body we saw last week — giving the former Enterprise  captain another chance to live.

The move does not come as a major surprise, but certainly opens up a lot of questions about the technology and what it could mean for the Federation moving forward — which many may compare to the now-infamous “Khan blood” controversy generated by Star Trek Into Darkness . Hopefully, that will be one of the issues that  Star Trek: Picard will address next season — along with the fate of still-burning Mars, and perhaps more investigation into what caused the Romulan star to supernova in the first place — but we’ll have to wait and see.

For now, Picard is alive — without any android superpowers, of course — and free of both the artificial heart and brain defect that has overshadowed most of his life. With a hearty “engage” command, La Sirena ‘s new crew sets off at warp speed, destination unknown.

• Jurati’s comment mentioning how Maddox thought Alton Soong’s “cyber kung-fu was the best” is a reference 1990s computer hacker Kevin Mitnick and the phrase he made popular through his criminal exploits — also occasionally referenced by The Lone Gunmen trio in  The X-Files .
• A provision of the Treaty of Algeron is used to give Ghulion IV status as a Federation protectorate; the treaty is most-commonly used to explain why the Federation does not use cloaking devices, but its first mention came in “The Defector” around the rules regarding the now-dissolved Romulan Neutral Zone.
• Captain Riker’s starship is the USS Zheng He,  named for the 15th century Chinese explorer who traveled throughout Asia and eastern Africa during his time.
• The bridge of the USS Zheng He is a redress of a portion of the USS Discovery bridge set (with distinctive glass-panel display screens removed), and its captain’s chair is a slightly-modified version of the Discovery command seat — continuing the longstanding tradition of reusing the standing Trek sets as needed.
• Seven and Raffi are playing a game of Vulcan  kal-toh during their shared moment aboard  La Sirena , a game we know Seven must be letting her win.

Exactly how well Star Trek: Picard stuck the landing in the “Et in Arcadia Ego” two-parter will likely depend on how much you care about some of the shortcuts the producers took to get there. Ultimately, though, the finale stands on its own, an intelligent conclusion to a season where many issues of the day were reflected in a story of personal re-discovery, refugee dehumanization and the politics of fear.

How are things going to change for Picard now that he has a synthetic body? What’s next for Seven of Nine? How did Data spend his time in cybernetic purgatory? Is Rios still getting paid? Will Elnor EVER get to meet a cat!?

Share your thoughts on the finale — and your predictions for Season 2 — in the comments below!

Star Trek: Picard is set to return in 2021 — and the franchise will be back at some point later this year, with the launch of Star Trek: Lower Decks and the third season  Star Trek: Discovery,  both currently in post-production.

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

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First Look: Star Trek: Picard - Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2

Get a first look at the first season finale of Star Trek: Picard

In the season finale, a final confrontation on the synthetics’ homeworld, Coppelius, pits Picard and his team against the Romulans, as well as the synths who seek to safeguard their existence at all costs. The episode is written by Michael Chabon, based on a story by Chabon and Akiva Goldsman, who also directed the episode.

In addition to streaming on Paramount+ , Star Trek: Picard also streams on Prime Video outside of the U.S. and Canada, and in Canada can be seen on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Picard is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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How ‘star trek: picard’ pulled off game-changing finale scene.

Showrunner Michael Chabon and executive producer Akiva Goldsman reveal secrets from the six minutes that will shake the larger universe: "We probably talked about 25 different ways to end it."

By Phil Pirrello

Phil Pirrello

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[This story contains spoilers for Star Trek : Picard ‘s season one finale, “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2.”]

“It was fairly early on in the process.”

Star Trek: Picard  showrunner Michael Chabon is upfront with The Hollywood Reporter about his and his fellow creatives’ decision to conclude the series’ freshman season with Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) on a mission that leads to his sacrifice and resurrection in “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2.” But killing the iconic Star Trek character, in his first return to television in nearly 30 years, was not the challenging part — finding the most emotionally and thematically satisfying way to do it was. 

As if the challenge of putting one of science fiction’s most beloved heroes back in action wasn’t daunting enough, Chabon and executive producer Akiva Goldsman — who also directed the season one finale — decided to weave their story together using some narrative threads left over from 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis , the last movie featuring the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast. That creative and box office misfire ended with Picard’s close friend, Data (Brent Spiner), sacrificing himself to save his crew. That movie denied Picard and Stewart a chance for that loss to truly resonate, and the season finale more than makes up for that with a six-minute scene that ranks among the best and most compelling Star Trek has ever done. Here, Chabon and Goldsman reveal to  THR how they pulled it off. 

“We probably talked about 25 different ways to end it”

In the finale, Picard and Data get to have one last chat — one final goodbye — when the former’s consciousness is uploaded to a quantum simulation (which Chabon calls the “Dataverse”). Here, what’s left of Data’s consciousness interacts with Picard’s, and Data’s former captain gets to unburden himself of his guilt and finally have a chance to do that which Nemesis denied him: Confess his love for his friend.

Traditionally, showrunners write their season finales, and Chabon — as a lifelong Star Trek fan — did not take the scripting of this scene lightly. Nor did he find the work particularly easy, despite the effortless feel the scene has. Chabon started the finale by first focusing on and scripting versions of this scene. Chabon and the writing staff knew this was where they wanted to go, they just didn’t know, at first, exactly how to get there. 

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“It was the plan from early on, but in the beginning, you start out — it’s sort of like a tree, but you’re going backwards down the tree,” Chabon explains. “As you make choices, you end up with fewer and fewer ones, and each choice leads to a fewer range of fewer possibilities. At some point, we probably talked about 25 different ways to end it. And then we were down to like eight different ways, and then six different ways. And then, landing on this way.”

The decision wasn’t made lightly. Especially when it came time to pitch it to executive producer and Star Trek veteran Alex Kurtzman. 

“There was a moment where we had a conversation, Akiva, (co-creator and writer) Kirsten Beyer and I, and we went to talk to Alex Kurtzman. We had this realization that if we want to put our money where our mouth has been all season — if we’re saying that since synthetic lifeforms are real and legitimate and they have their sentence, and they have the right to life and existence, if we’re going to be putting Picard out there, where he’s going to stand up and be willing to sacrifice his own life to prove that point? Then he needs to prove it with his life. 

Once Kurtzman agreed with their bold approach, which Chabon says turned Picard into the “living embodiment” of the season’s driving thematic principle, the rest of the finale’s story beats — especially Picard and Data’s farewell — snapped into place. 

Along the way, however, there was one visually interesting element that proved, according to Chabon, “not the most production-friendly” to pull off: A fleet of space orchids. 

“Yeah, that one was me,” Chabon says with a laugh. Introduced in the first half of the season finale, the Synths that call Coppelius their homeworld have a small armada of space-faring flowers (because Star Trek ) at their disposal. The advanced androids use them at first to intercept Picard and his crew aboard their ship, the La Sirena, and then later send them to stall over 200 Romulan warbirds from turning Coppelius into dust. 

“In the conception of those [orchid ships], we tried to set up the kind of lives the androids of Coppelius Station would be living, and the things they would be doing. We set them up early on with the character of Soji (Isa Briones). There were references to orchids [in early episodes] with her character, and setting up that her father was a botanist working with orchids,” Chabon says.

Originally, Chabon’s vision — inspired loosely by Heavy Metal artist Moebius — was for the ships to be larger, and that was scaled back “largely because of practical production considerations.” 

Picard and Data’s reunion tour

“I remember the writers worked on that up to the evening before we shot it,” Stewart recalled in THR ‘s post-mortem interview ( read it here ). The actor and producer “suggested one or two little tweaks” to scene involving his character’s fate, which he didn’t learn of until well into the production of season one. 

As previous episodes were teeing up what the finale had in store, Stewart half-joked during shooting, “there was a moment where I thought: ‘Oh, lord, am I being killed off? What did I do wrong?'” Shooting the scene over the course of one long day, on a redress of the study set from the Chateau Picard vineyard, felt very right for Stewart, as it was “the highlight of the season” for him. Stewart credits Chabon, co-star Brent Spiner, and especially director Akiva Goldsman for making that possible — especially given the time crunch. 

“It was a sprint,” Goldsman recalls a few days before the episode’s airing. This was one of those [shoots] where we were sort of running and gunning and it was honestly sort of a, you know, ‘don’t try this at home.'”

Before they could shoot the scene, Goldsman and his crew had to address some challenging production logistics concerning the filming of other scenes leading up to the  episode’s emotional turning point. 

“At the eleventh hour, we were not planning to have Coppelius Station be [in the episode],” Goldsman says. The production had actually built a set on a location they rented and paid for — “a giant parking lot, basically,” Goldsman recalls — but an intense heat wave altered that plan and sent the production to find other means at a location in Malibu. 

Once on the other side of that, Goldsman and the production crew were able to turn their attention to Picard finally getting to interact with his long-lost friend, an event set up in the opening moments of Picard ‘s premiere episode . For fans, this was a scene nearly 20 years in the making and would leave them reaching for at least several tissues. The director found himself not immune to its emotional effects, either — but not until after he completed the intense shoot. 

“[Picard’s] death, the moment where he says goodbye to Data, those are the moments where I sort of went ‘Oh, wow. If I step back, I’m feeling my own emotion just in time to not forget to say cut,'” Goldsman recalls.

Making sure audiences knew Picard was dead, that his body had died, was important to Goldsman. Even though Picard was going to be resurrected in a new (if advanced-synthetic “golem” body), the director needed the beat to resonate with audiences. 

“Akiva always talked about how the challenge in the making of it was to really understand the fact that Picard has died,” Chabon says. “When Picard asks, “am I dead?” And Data says ‘yes,’ that’s the truth. So, making sure to sell that was a really valuable insight that I got from Akiva, he sort of provided that note to me as I was writing. And so that really helped me.”  

It also helped the actors get into the emotional place necessary to perform. 

“It was a full on play between the two of them,” Goldsman explains. It took more than the usual make-up and costuming to bring Data back. “There are actually visual effects that are applied to make Brent appear to be the Data of TNG — or at least look his Nemesis age.”

The use of VFX did not get in the way of the drama the seasoned veterans had to convey. “Michael had been writing some version of this scene since the beginning of the season,” Goldsman says, “and when we shot it, we really had to get it in a run. We kept playing out and doing multiple takes running the whole scene.”

Goldsman dislikes “shooting in bits,” especially scenes as emotional as this one, and he found running the scene all the way through proved effective for the actors’ processes as well. “The actors enjoy it, too. The ability to just sort of play the scene rather than act parts of it. These actors, obviously they know each and these characters very well, and they don’t need a lot of help, quite frankly. We can talk a little bit before [shooting a take] about what to try this time or another, but, fundamentally, it’s just two great actors working,” Goldsman says. “It was really an extraordinary morning and I think sort of pretty moving for all of us.”

Nemesis r evisited 

The scene serves as an emotional sequel to Star Trek: Nemesis , and it’s somewhat surprising — and inspiring — that the Picard writers decided to use this scene as means to reach back into Trek and Data’s past to right some of that sequel’s wrongs.

“That was intentional,” Goldsman says. “ Star Trek: Nemesis both furthered and abrogated Data’s arc. He didn’t get the full closure, so Data’s arc was sort of continued by Nemesis , but also stopped prematurely. We spent all those years with the character wrestling with the nature of what it is to be human. And he needed to complete that journey. And we wanted the season to aid him in that. To also help give us a chance to bring Picard’s arc to a conclusion, at least when it comes to the Picard that we knew.”

Despite similarities, Chabon and Goldsman both insist that the ending of Picard and its titular character’s fate was not intended to be a mirror of Data’s in Nemesis . In the movie, Data — like his Captain — finds his consciousness downloaded into a new body, B-4.

As for the “Picard 2.0” that both the series and its fans inherit by the season’s end, Chabon and Goldsman declined to reveal too much about what’s specifically in store for Jean-Luc in his new body. 

“But we definitely don’t want to pretend like these events never happened,” Chabon says. “So, whatever the implications are going to be for Picard having this new body, and essentially a new brain structure, too — although his mind and his consciousness are the same — all of that is going to be part of [the character’s] way of thinking going forward.”

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[REVIEW] STAR TREK: PICARD Finale “Et in Acadia Ego, Part 2”: A Touching End to an Impressive First Season

Star Trek: Picard  comes full circle in the season finale “Et in Acadia Ego, Part 2,” as Picard, his crew, the Romulans, the synths, and a few other folks reach the climax (or beginning?) of the retired admiral’s journey. It’s a wonderful episode with many standout scenes that will have fans on the edge of their seats, but it also conveys some deeply emotional moments that fans likely aren’t expecting. This doesn’t mean there aren’t certain major and minor critiques worth discussing, but these don’t stop the finale from ably capping off a thoroughly impressive season.

Note: While this review won’t recount the episode in its entirety, it will discuss certain key scenes. Spoiler warning from here on out!

Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard

As much as  Picard  has always been about the titular character, you could argue Data is almost an equally major part of this show, despite only seeing the android for a few key scenes. This episode particularly is as much about Picard and Data’s relationship as anything else, and it’s in this relationship that “Et in Acadia Ego, Part 2” showcases some truly impactful moments in the decades-long arc of these characters.

What may very well prove to be one of the best scenes of this season comes via a one-on-one conversation between Picard and his former crewmate, as Picard ( Patrick Stewart) faces the prospect of being dead after succumbing to his brain abnormality. Sitting in a dark room that as much portrays purgatory as it does actually represent the mind transfer process Picard is undergoing, the two old friends talk about why humans shouldn’t be immortal, and how an outsider such as Data ( Brent Spiner ) views the key qualities of being human, such as friendship, love, and peace. These qualities are what make life worth living, and they put value in an existence that is finite. It’s a lesson Data learned during his time studying humanity, and it’s why now, sitting with Picard, Data asks him to finally put the remnants of his consciousness to rest. He wants to die, as that is the ultimate human experience. This scene is incredibly touching, especially for long-time fans, and few probably predicted that this is how, in part, this season would end. It’s perfectly appropriate, as we saw in the season premiere how Picard is still struggling with Data’s death. By helping Data finally “die,” Picard’s journey since Nemesis  comes full circle, as does Data’s journey since “Encounter at Fairpoint.”

Evan Evagora as Elnor and Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine

On this note, Data’s death scene is truly memorable. While we claimed previously that the shot of present day Picard and his younger self as Locutus in “ The Impossible Box ” took the crown as best shot of the season, this crown has been replaced. As we see Data, lying down on a couch in his version of purgatory,  quickly age as Picard, in real life, unplugs Data’s conscious, Data is visited by his former captain, classic red shirt and all. As we only see mostly just a shadow of this younger Picard, and as Data finally closes his eyes, the two characters ultimately dissolve into a beautiful starfield with “Blue Skies” playing as the perfect soundtrack. This transition is brilliant. It will bring a tear to the eye of any Star Trek  fan, and huge praise goes to director Akiva Goldsman for crafting a scene that joins the long list of classic  Star Trek moments .

Brent Spiner as Alton Soong

Of course, other things happened in this episode besides the conclusion of Picard and Data’s journey. In true season finale fashion, a huge battle breaks out over Coppelius as Picard and the Orchids try to delay the Romulans from destroying the android colony. In this battle, we finally get to see Picard command from the captain’s chair again, even if he struggles to control La Sirena  during this CGI-fest. The production team certainly went all out for this scene, as the sight of the Orchids trying to fight off the massive Romulan fleet is as exciting as you would expect.

Not surprisingly, though, a handful of flowers can’t fight off the Romulans, but luckily someone shows up to save the day: William Riker ( Jonathan Frakes) ! As foreshadowed in “ Nepenthe ” when Riker claimed it would take an extraordinary reason for him to come out of the reserves, Riker indeed has come to Picard’s aid. Captaining the USS Zhang He with dozens and dozens of other Federation vessels behind him, Riker stares down the Romulans after it becomes clear that they were not going to accomplish their objective of destroying the colony. Seeing Frakes in uniform again in the command chair is awesome, of course, and not surprisingly he still commands the same gravitas we know and love. While his time in this episode is relatively short, Riker and Picard do exchange some heartfelt sentiments before Riker warps away again.

Jonathan Frakes as William Riker

While there were many awesome moments in “Et in Acadia Ego, Part 2,” this episode also reveals further one of the season’s biggest flaws. Picard ‘s writers have been too apt to utilize the cliche deus ex machina  approach to impossible problems – like Elnor conveniently showing up in “The Impossible Box,” Picard and Soji ( Isa Briones ) using the powerful Borg transporter in the same episode, and Picard and Soji conveniently transporting directly in front of Riker and Trio’s daughter. Well, there may not be a more deus ex machina device in the history of deus ex machina  devices as this episode’s use of the androids’ magical handheld imagination device. What kind of weird sci-fi is that? Just imagine what you want to happen and it happens? Rios ( Santiago Cabrera ) uses it to repair his disabled ship, and later Jurati ( Alison Pill ) uses it to produce a pseudo-fleet to delay the Romulans. How convenient. You kind of just have to roll your eyes and go with it. The same can be said of the way Picard is ultimately revitalized. How convenient that Altan was working on a mind transfer process, and that he is able to replicate Picard’s body perfectly? The ability for Alton or others to simply transfer someone’s consciousness into a new body opens up many doors that the show’s producers probably didn’t mean to open.

Brent Spiner as Data

In any case, as we look back on season one of Picard,  we’re left with a fantastic impression of the talent behind and in front of the camera. Patrick Stewart is better than ever, expertly adding weighty character development onto a character we thought had seen his journey’s end. Brent Spiner’s few scenes as Data prove to be essential to his character arc, and indeed, this episode joins the ranks of the best Data or Picard-centric episodes. Picard ‘s newcomers, with the unfortunate exception of Evan Evagoria (whose lackluster performance we’ve previously opined was a combination of the actor and his character’s limited development), show that they can stand their ground against veteran acting talent and a complex, ever-evolving script. And speaking of the script, Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman, Heather Kadin, and the various involved directors and writers all proved that they could make a well-paced, novel-esque show that recaptures our love of old characters and grow our fondness for new ones. Bravo to this fantastic team.

“Et in Acadia Ego, Part 2” is one of, if not the , best episodes of Star Trek: Picard.  This finale leaves our characters in a good place.  Seven of Nine ( Jeri Ryan ) is seemingly a permanent part of La Sirena’s crew , and Picard is, both literally and metaphorically, reborn thanks to his ability to finally let go of the guilt he feels over Data’s death. Raffi ( Michelle Hurd ), Rios, Jurati, and Soji seem to gel together well, and having them all be at Picard’s side will only prove beneficial to the captain.

Back in “ The End is the Beginning ,” Picard issues his first new “engage” order, but he does so decidedly not in the way we were accustomed to. He says it with a smile, which likely purposely reflects the audience’s excitement over that signature line being brought back to life, as well as Picard’s excitement about being back in space. But at the end of “Et in Acadia Ego, Part 2,” Picard issues this command with the authority, confidence, and gravitas we know and love. It’s “blue skies” ahead for these characters, for sure.

Stray thoughts :

• While it is surely a cost-saving measure on the VFX front, all the Federation ships under Riker’s command are the same class, and all the Romulan ships are the same, too. It would have been nice to see some diversity in the ships of 2399.
• Riker’s ship is likely named after Zhang He , a Chinese military general.
• We are super curious to learn more about the superior, snake-like synthetic beings that are only able to partially come through the portal in space.  Where are they from? Who are they exactly? Are we crazy to think  Discovery  might play a role here  somehow ?
• There are some remarkable touches in the set design of Picard and Data’s purgatory room: no face on the clock, picture frames without pictures, no titles on the books, and the room itself seemingly exists in open space. Very cool.
• Commodore Oh ( Tamlyn Tomita ) proves to be a forgettable villain, and she isn’t given much to do in this episode besides yell out campy villain dialogue, including one laughably bad line about a particular planet-destroying weapons pattern.
• Does the Picard golem still retain Picard’s artificial heart?
• Thank goodness Frakes wasn’t listed as a special guest star, or that would have ruined the surprise.

Star Trek: Picard Season One Reviews

Episode 1 “Remembrance” Episode 2 “Maps and Legends” Episode 3 “The End is the Beginning” Episode 4 “Absolute Candor” Episode 5 “Stardust City Rag” Episode 6 “The Impossible Box” Episode 7 “Nepenthe” Episode 8 “Broken Pieces” Episode 9 “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1” Episode 10 “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2”

The first season of  Star Trek: Picard  stars  Patrick Stewart  as he returns to the role of Jean-Luc Picard, alongside  Isa Briones  (Dahj),  Santiago Cabrera  (Cristobal “Chris” Rios),  Michelle Hurd  (Raffi Musiker),  Alison Pill  (Agnes Jurati),  Harry Treadaway  (Narek) and  Evan Evagora  (Elnor). The series will also guest star  Star Trek: The Next Generation  alum  Jonathan Frakes  (William Riker),  Marina Sirtis  (Deanna Troi),  Brent Spiner  (Data/Alton Soong),  Jonathan Del Arco  (Hugh) along with  Star Trek: Voyager ‘s  Jeri Ryan  (Annika Hansen/Seven of Nine).

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Short Treks . Connect with us at  @TrekNewsNet on Twitter , @TrekNews on Facebook , and @TrekNews on Instagram .

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 .

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Review: ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Finale “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2” Leaves Us With A Smile

| March 27, 2020 | By: Kayla Iacovino 179 comments so far

“Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2”

Star Trek: Picard Season 1, Episode 10 – Debuted Thursday, March 26, 2020 Teleplay by Michael Chabon Story by Michael Chabon & Akiva Goldsman Directed by Akiva Goldsman

Spoiler-Free Review

Star Trek: Picard delivered a solid season finale with a mix of action, character moments, and a bit of fan service sprinkled in for good measure. The major theme of the show, centered around Picard’s development, felt well-rounded and nicely tied up, although some of the other season-long arcs came without completely satisfying closure.

Excellent performances by Alison Pill, Isa Briones, and of course Sir Patrick Stewart, carried the day, in a story with some oh-so-Star Trekkian themes (and tropes). When viewed as a whole, the two-part finale seems a bit jumbled, as if it would have been better off being re-edited as one single jumbo episode. While not all loose ends were tied up, the hanging narrative threads still existed to service the main story, which did feel nicely resolved. In the ways that matter, a satisfying finale.

Sir Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard in “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2”

[WARNING: Spoilers from here on]

Borgfront property, slight fixer-upper.

The finale opens on a gorgeous shot of the Borg Cube partially submerged in water. Although I admit I actually really liked the fact that last episode was basically set in Malibu (the Southern California planet, a Trek tradition), this one shot really made the world feel alien to me and helped get my head in the story.

Narek stealthily sneaks onto the Cube while Elnor bonds with Seven over not wanting to shoot her in the head. The mini flying Borg drones, apparently working to repair the ship, reminded me of the exocomps from TNG; are they also sentient? A prescient thought in this particular storyline. Narek then makes his way to his sister Narissa, who is well and has been hiding out on the Cube. Their interaction seems to indicate that Narek is done being pushed around by her. After all, he’s the one who’s made all the progress. His new plan is to blow up the space orchids with some space grenades before the Romulan fleet arrives.. at least, that’s what he tells Narissa.

Beached Borg cube

What’s a little genocide between friends?

Back in synthville, Soji comes to visit a captive Picard. “You choose if we live. You choose if we die,” Soji says to Picard, seemingly now fully converted to Sutra’s cause. “We have no choice,” she says, then drives it home with, “You organics have never given us one.” Picard handled this moment much more diplomatically than I would have as he implored Soji to stop building the jungle gym of doom (cousin to the carousel of doom ). In my mind, I was already pulling up Memory Alpha so that I could source clips of every time the Federation (usually led by Picard!) had stood up for synthetic life. Learn your history, Soji! This conversation was key for our characters and for the audience, as it solidified the theme of the synth storyline: the freedom to choose their own destiny.

The building beacon is this episode’s ticking clock

A witty heading: Use your imagination

Back on La Sirena, Rios and Raffi work together to fix the ship with Saga’s magic Ocarina of Time. “Use your imagination” were the instructions on how to use the tool that apparently can do whatever you need it to do. A magical device to be sure, but then again, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic . I didn’t like the magic plot hole filler device being introduced, because it was obviously going to show up later, and it seems like such a crutch. But, the writers have made it clear that the village on Coppelius is light years ahead of the rest of the galaxy technologically. So, I’ll allow it.

Besides, this whole sequence between Raffi and Rios was absolutely delightful. The two characters have really come into their own throughout the season, and we could definitely use a bit of humor at this point in the story. These two remind me that our heroes are human. Rios using the tool did feel magical, in a good way. And the visual effects looked fantastic.

If you just believe it, it will be fixed

The enemy of my enemy is… sometimes still my enemy

Unfortunately, this lovely moment is interrupted by Narek, who’s come a-knocking. (And a-rocking.) But, this time he comes… in peace? This character got on my nerves the first time we laid eyes on him back on the Artifact, but now he’s like a particularly annoying pimple that just. keeps. coming. back. But he’s a good guy now, he promises! Rios and Raffi listen to what he has to say, and while that ultimately pays off, I have to side with Elnor on this one: I’m not buying it. This whole joining-forces-with-the-enemy thing fell completely flat for me. Nerek’s sudden one-eighty doesn’t feel earned; he tried to murder Soji like three days ago, remember? Now we are just supposed to trust that he won’t betray us again? After a campfire cookout in which Narek reads passages from his new book “More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Romulan End Times”, the gang go forward with Narek’s plan to use the Wookiee prisoner trick to get back into Synth Town.

Narek has such a trustworthy face, right?

Jurati and the old switcheroo

As Narek and the gang are finding a way to sneak themselves into Synthberg, Jurati is putting a plan in motion to break Picard out. She begins her new work with Brent Lore Noonien Altan on yet another one of Chekhov’s Guns : the golem, which promises to allow the transfer of one (1) human consciousness into a Soji-style android body. This whole plotline feels odd to me. Since Altan is siding with the synths on the whole “destroy all organics” issue, and Jurati has vouched to die for her “children”, what’s the endgame here? Jurati somehow manages to transfer Altan’s consciousness into this body, then he is allowed to live as a synth and then she just… dies? I suppose that’s what mothers do, isn’t it? Somehow, I don’t think Altan is the one who is going to end up golemified.

As a fan of the character of Jurati (I still don’t blame her for the murder of Maddox), I was very happy to see her pull a switcheroo on Soong in the only well-placed swear word of the season. “I’m not their mother, asshole.” Get it, Agnes! Back on #TeamPicard, booya! Scoop out that eye! (ew) Bust out Picard! (yay) Meanwhile, Soong uncovers Saga’s final memories, and the sight of Sutra murdering his daughter is just enough to turn him over to Team Former Enemies. Organics unite!

When she signed on for this gig, Jurati never imagined yanking eyeballs out of synths

Seven minutes in hea- until destruction

Back on La Sirena, Picard and Jurati discover that the Zhat Vash fleet is seven minutes away. No way Starfleet is going to make it before them: they need a plan to stall. And then the two set off in a rather comedic twist of “the two least qualified people to pilot a starship, let alone take it into battle”.

But, the action can wait, of course, until Picard delivers one of his patented speeches™. The synthetics are alive , but like children, who don’t understand what life is: a responsibility and a right. So Picard will teach them that by example. Picard sits in THE CHAIR, the Next Gen theme music swells, and then in a nice twist, the first “make it so” of the season comes as a command from Jurati to Picard. Yes, it’s corny fan service, but it worked.

On the planet below, the silver Jenga block beacon of doom gets close to full capacity with Soji and Sutra working together to call the “liberators” who will come to free them from the threat of ThE oRgAnIcS. In a very abbreviated moment, Soong informs Sutra that he knows what she did last summer episode and shuts her down (kills her???) with a glowing salt shaker (of doom?). So… can Soong just shut them all down and end the apocalypse? Because that’d be really great. Like… if you could do that, now…? Especially since Team Former Enemies’ plan to bomb the beacon sort of epic failed.

Do Romulan ghost stories come with s’mores?

I have had… enough of you!

Cut to the Borg cube, where Narissa and Seven make an appearance to remind us they are still around. Narissa once again lays on her, ahem, “charms” (I just threw up in my mouth a little) as an overacting femme fatale while the two go hand-to-hand. I must say, I love that Seven feels remorse over killing Narissa (hooray character growth! God knows Seven needs some after that stunt on Freecloud), but what I loved even more was watching her punt Narissa right over the edge of that precipice. Ding dong, the weakest character in the show is dead!

Finally, someone figured out how to shut Narissa up

Where there is a Will, there is a way

In orbit, Picard and Jurati (Picti? Jurcard?) are now face-to-face with about 200 Romulan warships. The odds are not good. Picard takes this moment to call up Soji and reveal his plan: He intends to give his life for the synths, to show them what it means to be human. But wait! The magic do-anything device! In a nice nod to the Picard Maneuver, Jurita prays to the ocarina to, like, make a bunch of ghost ships appear (with warp signatures). Just use your **~_i-m-a-g-i-n-a-t-i-o-n_~**.

Soji seems maybe moved by Picard’s offering, but the beacon activates… please tell me Michael Burnham isn’t about to come through. And just in the nick of time, as if there wasn’t already enough going on in this sequence, the biggest rootinest tootinest fleet of Federation ships show up to save the day! And, they are commanded by none other than Mr. Fanservice himself, William T. Riker! Yes, this was the most egregious bit of fan service to date on this show, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t love every minute of it. Frakes played the role perfectly, too. Soji closes the beacon, and then all of this wraps up rather quickly and easily, but the performances, callbacks, effects, and the music all make it work.

William Goddamn Riker!

But, the excitement was a little too much for Picard to take. He is beamed down to the planet just in time to die in Raffi’s arms. Although we knew his transfer into the golem was inevitable (given the title of the show and its already-announced renewal), it was still nice to take a moment to see our characters mourn, as they gathered in unlikely pairs to grieve.

Picard says goodbye

To no one’s surprise, we see Picard awaken, but his location is unexpected. He is in some kind of dream version of his vineyard study, but it’s floating in space and now monochromatic. Is he dreaming? The answer to that is delivered by another pleasant surprise, Commander Data, and this Data is as we last saw him in Star Trek: Nemesis , with some impressive CGI de-aging on Brent Spiner. Data reveals they are in a “massively complex quantum simulation,” he also informs Picard that he is indeed dead, in case anyone wasn’t clear on that.

Not missing a beat from the characters they played two decades ago, Stewart and Spiner reignite their perfect chemistry in this postmortem MMO as Data explains he is that copy of Data which was downloaded to B-4 in Nemesis . He, therefore, can’t remember the original Data sacrificing his life, but he is ready to drop some truth on Picard’s two decades of guilt, saying, “Why would you imagine I regret sacrificing mine for yours?” Like Riker and Troi did in “Nepenthe” earlier in the season, Picard’s old crew are speaking truth to power, helping him let go of his baggage.

After some more emotional bonding including the ever so Data line, “Knowing that you love me forms a small, but statistically significant part of my memories. I hope that brings you some comfort sir,” Picard is surprised to learn this quantum realm is not his new eternal resting place. He is going back, and Data has one final—and I mean final—request before he leaves.

Picard and Data, together again

Memento dati

Picard is now awake and in some sort of high-tech tanning bed thing back on Coppelius. He soon learns his consciousness has been downloaded into the golem, but don’t worry. they arranged for this synthetic body to be just like a normal body of a 94-year-old man, even with a special aging and dying algorithm. His first question is a nice bit of poetry with Soji and the synth’s arc, asking “Am I real?”

Picard, Jurati and Soong then grant Data’s last request, holding a sort of memorial for him as Picard deactivates his quantum realm, piece by piece. He fades away, joined by an image of TNG-era Picad himself, all along to a vinyl recording of “Blue Skies.” Data is now finally and truly dead.

But life goes on! The season ends on the bridge of the La Sirena. The gang is all here and it feels like some time has passed. Everyone is in a good mood. Jurati plants a kiss on Rios, Seven is there too and holding hands with Raff—wait, when did they hook up? Elnor is there at Picard’s side, head chopper at the ready. Soji is also on board, revealing the synth ban has been lifted and she is ready to travel. With no destination stated, they look to the stars and Picard gives the final line of the season, which was “engage,” of course. There was no last-minute cliffhangery surprise thing. It was all very tidy, uplifting and nice, in a very TNG way.

And he’s back!

Letting Picard be Picard (2.0)

One thing the finale most significantly delivered on was fulfilling Picard’s character arc, which is, of course, the most important thing for a show called Picard . Like all the characters, he started the season broken, and bit by bit he has been put back together, culminating in this finale where he returned to his old self, using the power of his persuasion to save the synths—and the organics—and to do it without a fight. More importantly, he was able to finally let go of the guilt he carried over the death of Data, with the help of Data himself. The final scene showed Picard letting go of his regret over resigning from Starfleet and retreating from the galaxy.

The finale gave much of the rest of our cast of characters elements of closure and arc fulfillment. Rios seems to have his mojo back, with Picard giving him something to believe in again. Dr. Jurati was able to redeem herself and prove the woman that killed Maddox was not really her, and apparently the Federation is going to let her slide on that homicide charge. Soji has finally become herself, and most importantly, has agency, now using it to choose to travel with Picard. Seven has shed at least some of the anger that has dominated her and again has a home, even finding time for some romance with Raffi. And Narissa’s arc is especially complete as she really needed to die.

While a number of character arcs were resolved—or at least moved in the right direction—the season ends with a number of loose plot ends. The fate of the xBs and the crashed Borg cube was left unresolved. We never saw what happened to Narek after Team Former Enemies stormed the beacon. While Picard has let go of his resignation regret, the guilt over the fate of the refugee Romulans still remains to be resolved. And there are still big questions, including why Soji and her sister were ever sent out from Coppelius in the first place. Hopefully, the second season will address these and other issues.

Early season two cast photo?

Let’s talk about the Sehlat in the room

Okay. So, you’ve made almost all the way through this lengthy review to get to what we’re all here to talk about: Picard is now an android. It’s the part of the show that’s caused me to say, when people ask if I liked the finale, “I don’t know.” As I write this review, I think I’ve finally figured out why, and it’s due to this, the biggest thing to happen to Picard since the Battle of Maxia. I am conflicted about the fact that Picard is an android because I hate the way it was done, but I love what it gave us.

The idea, on its own, of Picard becoming an android is already questionable. The execution leaves a lot to be desired. It’s just too damned convenient and without life-changing substance for Picard. We all knew he was going to end up in the golem. And, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think anyone was asking for a superhero immortal Picard to take command in season two. But, wow, they managed to get him into an identical body that ages at a natural rate, does not have super powers, but also remove his fatal brain abnormality! His body is so identical ( how identical is it? ) that even the way Picard experiences the world is apparently unchanged. I am hoping they will address this in season two, but I was hoping for some small remark about how “wow, my Earl Grey tastes a bit different now”. But, no. It’s as if none of this ever happened. This level of convenience makes one wonder why it was a part of the plot at all. And then I realized: it wasn’t to get Picard into an android body. That was a MacGuffin to deliver something far more valuable. And, boy did they hit that out of the park.

It’s finally become clear what this season was about. Not synthetic life or their autonomy. Not the Borg and the xBs (RIP Hugh). Not a ragtag band of buddies traveling the stars together. It was about the ramifications of the thing that broke Jean-Luc Picard, and Next Generation fans along with him. I’m talking about our old pal, Star Trek: Nemesis . Our “goodbye” to the franchise ended with the very hollow death of our beloved Lt. Commander Data and a huge misstep with the creation of B-4. The first few episodes of Picard took care of that last part (thank you!), and the last 10 minutes of the season took care of the first.

Picard started this journey a broken man. The death of his friend Data and the tragedy that Picard never had the emotional maturity to actually call Data his friend left him isolated and depressed. By the end of season one, Picard was ready. Ready to say “I love you” and ready to say “goodbye.” At the end of this season finale, the writers gave Picard, and the viewers, a true gift: the farewell Data deserved.

I’ve been waiting for that moment between Picard and Data for twenty years, and it was everything I needed it to be. Spiner fell back into his role as if he never left it, and the CGI de-aging was absolutely remarkable (and a noticeable improvement compared to the season premiere). The funeral scene, as Picard pulled the plug on his friend, was just as powerful. And, all the while, it drove home a very Trekkian message about humanity; that we’re not really human without the thing that we fear most: the inevitability of death.

Goodbye again, old friend

Pull this thread as I walk away

All said and done, Part Two of the Picard finale came back after a weak Part One to deliver on some key themes and season-long story arcs. The season as a whole still feels a bit disjointed in places. Too many narrative threads ended up weaving too many separate tapestries, and to stretch this metaphor a bit too far, left the season a few squares short of a quilt. But, in the end, what this show did deliver on trumps everything else for me. I felt like I’ve finally buried a dear departed friend. And, that kind of closure is worth the universe.

Let’s see what’s out there.

Look for more in-depth analysis on season one of Star Trek: Picard in the coming days and weeks. And, keep up with all the  Star Trek: Picard   news right here at TrekMovie.

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Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Tries Too Many Connections In “Jinaal”

I was delighted with this finale.

Here are a few thoughts:

– The series finale dovetails with Discovery and we are likely to see the AI / Control storyline continue from the “other side” in that series;

– The series raises fundamental issues of personal identity, a vast philosophical topic with many connections to existing canon;

– The series provides a great number of future possibilities for all of the remaining characters, including, in particular, Rios, Raffi, Elnor, and, of course, Picard himself;

– My appetite has been whetted for a series focusing on recent history of Riker in view of his absolutely commanding presence aboard the Zheng He;

– Data was given his due, and his unique take on life and death mirrors longstanding themes particularly from ST: Generations;

– It is reassuring to know that Starfleet can marshal such a vast and powerful fleet on such short notice, and in so showing, the series reaffirms that the Federation is fundamentally sound. Once again, a rogue higher-up in Starfleet has lost — and decisively;

– I look forward to Series 3 more than ever before give all of the above.

From what people have said about that fleet’s diversity, it sounds like maybe it was just Riker’s ship plus a really big 3d printer to cookie cutter the rest.

plus, if you just lost your major ship building station a few years ago, you are busy just pumping out numbers of the same design to get your fleet back up to standard to start worrying about different designs. War time planes were pretty uniform as well, I’d imagine

Yes, good point.

I gather that these are Curiosity-class ships, which are strikingly similar to the better-known Odyssey-class. The state objective is to reinstate exploration as a Starfleet priority (hence the name of the lead ship). This is an excellent return to when Starfleet was primarily interested in exploration.

Making a ship of this class on an expedited basis would be facilitated by mass production, which it seems has transpired.

This class is obviously loaded for bear. That being the case, in this and in sheer size, it is the opposite of a pure science vessel like the Oberth-class.

You’ll also have to consider all the new tech and gadgets Voyager brought home from the Delta Quadrant, these ships will have to be extremely fast as they didn’t even show up on long-range sensors (Quantum Slipstream Drive?) perhaps even including Future Janeway’s stuff the transphasic torpedos, ablative shielding.

Well said. These ships are meant to be generally superior to any of the Starfleet vessels we saw in TNG.

Regarding the loss of Utopia Planitia, we do not know many things concerning Federation capabilities. There were very probably other significant shipyards in the Federation. Also, a large strategic reserve might have been in existence (and it was said there were about a dozen near-complete Galaxy-class held in reserve prior to the Dominion War at one point in TNG).

Given that the Dominion War had consumed so many ships, the Federation might have found it even more pressing to gradually build up a larger back-up fleet, even if only partially constructed, as a contingency.

Furthermore, the destruction of ships at the Mars facility related to ships specially designated for rescue; this leaves the possibility that other and more regular ships already in existence or in various stages of assembly there or elsewhere were not nearly as affected.

That’s one way to justify the VFX crew probably not having enough time or access to old 3D models to do the job properly. Same goes for why we couldn’t get an old warbird or two This whole season either.

Re: not getting “an old warbird or two” — let’s not forget that we did get a 23rd century Bird-of-Prey.

Yeah, so they can do that but not show a D’Deridex or Valdore, which is more important?

Yes because if the Navy’s main shipyards were destroyed, they would pump out 200 aircraft carriers or 1,000 frigates because it doesn’t matter about different roles ships serve.

Or it was just an afterthought and there was too little time and/or money left to put any real effort into the fleet. Come on, let’s not beat around the bush here.

Agreed on all points. I thought season one of Picard was mostly very solid with a few missteps, which isn’t uncommon with tv series. I eagerly await season two.

I imagine Picard’s android body is no different than that of Juliana Soong.

I imagine it has some different operations.

Oh, kmart…that made me do a spit take! Hahaha! I would imagine it does too.

I was trying to work the words ‘fully functional’ in there but just settled for that. Glad it worked!

Juliana Tainer wasnt an organic synth, she had an artificial biosignature that made her appear human, but she was full of leds when she fell off that cliff.

Soji Dahj and Picard are biological with a positronic brain

Or at least thats how I understand it

It looked like an organic eye that Jurati used to open Picard’s door. Possibly the same prop they used for Icheb’s eye.

Things I liked:

-The Data-Picard scenes. I really liked how they resolved those threads, and I thought Data’s request to die made sense for his character. It’s an ultimate act which exemplifies how he’s come to understand his humanity.

-Seven of Nine. The fight between Seven and Narissa was satisfying. And I loved seeing Seven sitting on the bridge of La Sirena at the end. Maybe Picard and crew will become part of the Fenris Rangers?

-Picard at the helm of La Sirena. It’s better when he’s driving the action instead of sitting in a passenger seat watching the action.

-Riker and Starfleet. It felt so good to have the familiar of Starfleet ships and uniforms.

Thing I didn’t like:

-The inter-galactic Federation of A.I.s basically became some Doc Ock tentacles poking out of a hole. No explanation as to what they are, or exactly what happened to the civilization that left the warning/message.

-The Soong son was a disappointment. I think it would have made a better story idea for it to actually have been Lore, but a reformed version of Lore who has changed his ways after Data’s death and was understanding humanity in his own unique way.

-The idiot ball plot to sabotage the A.I. transmitter. It was ridiculous that everyone would start believing Narek so quickly, and the whole thing with the soccer ball just seemed a bit shy of ridiculous.

-Picard’s death and resurrection was handled in a really hamfisted way. I kept thinking that they’ve basically opened up the same story problem as “Star Trek Into Darkness” did with magic blood, where they’ve effectively cured death. But if you’re going to give Picard a robot body, why not leave it a mystery as to what his nature is now. By going through that scene where they tell the audience: “Don’t worry! Nothing has changed really. He doesn’t have super strength and he’ll still die,” it strips a lot of the uniqueness of this decision out of it.

I agree with pretty much everything you say here. “Picard in a Monkey Body” kinda sucks (sorry, a two-and-a-half-men reference). They basically raped him and put him in a new body. It was done without his consent. I’m not sure the Picard of old would have wanted this.

I also agree with the above in that Picard is now essentially a “robot” loosely speaking. I’m not keen on this either. If the plan was to kill off his character all along, they should have just left it till the series finale. In addition, his passing didn’t really have that emotional significance to his new crew (well maybe a little for Raffi and Elnor) because they only just met. His passing would have been more meaningful it he was surrounded by his TNG family. I wasn’t too keen on Data dying a second time either, but at least it provided some closure.

Tangentially, I think it’s questionable whether Data was the same individual who died in Nemesis. The episode’s Data was based on a copy of Data that was downloaded to B4. The consciousness that was the original Data disappeared as a result of his self-sacrifice.

Data was never, effectively, resurrected to begin with.

This is a version of the old Transporter Problem (a.k.a., is the transporter a murder machine?) issue. But in this case, it’s much clearer, since the version of Data that was downloaded into B4 was narratively definitively prior to the self-sacrifice, existed independently of Data, and did not have Data’s memories of the self-sacifice (per the episode of itself).

Yeah, but he seems pretty OK with it.

What if Janeway (or some other Voyager cast member) is the head of the Fenris Rangers? Fed up with Starfleet, thirsty for justice, a long time getting to know the Maquis… It’d be a good fit.

Plus if La Sirena joins up, they could get periodic mission briefings from an old friend.

“And, all the while, it drove home a very Trekkian message about humanity; that we’re not really human without the thing that we fear most: the inevitability of death.“

…a message largely undone completely and only a scene or two later by Picard mk.2.

His death is still inevitable though. They bought him some more time, but he is still going to die.

Why is it inevitable? Why would you condemn this new life to die just so some organically can feel comfortable and fake having the old life form around?

If they want to, they could easily hand wave those restrictions away. In fact, since he’s in an artificial body, arguably they could recast the character with a younger actor if at some point Patrick Stewart wants to either cut back his participation or stop.

Picard’s death is still inevitable. the synth body he has will age and die in the normal lifespan (so maybe 10/20 years from “now”) unless he gets himself shot first

We can engineer an upgrade.

There is not even a in-universe reason they could not just pull out another golem and transfer his mind again. Not that I write that, would it not be a valid storyline, if all kinds of people try to get their hands on this technology to get immortality for themselves?… Maybe some of them catch Picard and experiment on him. Who knows…

I don’t have an issue with humans transferring concussions to AI but yes that’s always been the issue, that people can now generally live forever. It was exactly the same issue with magic blood in STID, if it can bring you back to life, it probably can cure death altogether or at least prolong it to crazy level.

Kurtzman seems to love these type of plot lines. They are interesting and yes VERY Star Trek but then they raise all kinds of crazy questions no one seems to want to ever fully answer lol.

Technically the transporter can keep one perpetually young as well.

Aye, it can laddie

Nice Relics reference!

Don’t you want to live forever Tiger?

Beautifully written with well-articulated, insightful introspection, thank you!

Is there anything more to say? What a treat, not a dry eye in the house, forget all this picking at bones, it was something I never expected to see and we’re getting more. Just enjoy it!

“Memory Alpha so that I could source clips of every time the Federation (usually led by Picard!) had stood up for synthetic life. ”

But then look up the actual appearance of synthetic life and see how every single time it appeared it brought with it death and destruction.

“But, the writers have made it clear that the village on Coppelius is light years ahead of the rest of the galaxy technologically.”

I don’t think they made that clear at all. In fact, they looked to be on the same level as everyone else. Save for the magic wand that reads the holder’s imagination.

” I was very happy to see her pull a switcheroo on Soong”

That was amazingly obvious from the very beginning. The “children” and “mother” lines I found creepy and ominous. Yet no one else seemed to. Weird.

“So Picard will teach them that by example”

Yeah… I really don’t know what his plan was there. Was he planning to get blown up by Romulans? What would that accomplish? Doesn’t seem like it would teach the mechanics anything. And if so, he was doing so knowing he was dying so how much of a lesson was it really?

“Data is now finally and truly dead.”

Except he was already. You know… When he got blown into atoms? Or is that not dead enough for us?

So yes, there was a small Picard arc but this season was really just a convoluted way of gaining closure with Data’s sacrifice. Something that really didn’t need to take this long.

For the record I did not know Picard would end up in the robot body. That really came out of left field for me. I thought they would cure him with some AI research related cure for whatever it was that hurt his brain. Quite frankly, the concept of Picard in an aging robot body was too silly to seriously consider.

So you are saying that this season was about fixing something that wasn’t broken? That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. The Data ending that already existed was satisfying and worthwhile. He had evolved as much as his circuitry would allow and he had nowhere more to go. He was totally at peace saving his Captain from certain death. Instead he his just “deactivated” uselessly and senselessly? That is BETTER? Sorry, this works much better with it being entirely created in Picard’s head. It should have been him dreaming the whole thing, waking up and them telling him his brain was cured. Picard gets his closure. On to season two.

“So Picard will teach them that by example”

Yeah… I really don’t know what his plan was there. Was he planning to get blown up by Romulans? What would that accomplish? Doesn’t seem like it would teach the mechanics anything. And if so, he was doing so knowing he was dying so how much of a lesson was it really?

Well it was a desperate last attempt really. Soji doesn’t know Picard like we do. She’s never seen him do the things we all know he did for herself. All she knows about him is what people told her about him. Picard put his money where his mouth was to show he was sincere and willing to die for what he believed in. If they didn’t get Soji to stop the signal, they all die. Picard knows he’s dying and Jurati said (in front of Picard I might add) that she’s willing to die for “her children” i.e. Soji.

But that still doesn’t explain how that will teach Soji anything. I think the best way to teach her is to shut her down and have Soong reprogram her to understand.

I too felt the ‘Picard is an android now’ thing was a bit questionable; I had been expecting the space Ocarina to be waved over him at some point and someone say ‘okay, that brain thing is fixed, you’re good to go now’.

Just one question….where is Picard’s body?

Perhaps he was given a funeral offscreen?

An outside possibiity: “The Search for JL.”

Great question. That was some extreme glossing-over, there. What a rookie writing error.

There were a lot of writing errors in this, it seems. Basic mistakes many of which could have been easily fixed.

That doesn’t sound like Kurtzman at all!

They buried him under a pile of rocks because apparently that’s how they roll in the 24th century.

The Klingons ate his remains. They were strange bald Klingons.

I’m a little sad even for TNG that organic Picard was so replaceable, not even a funeral for a being that existed, felt, hurt etc. I wasn’t his biggest fan but the man deserved better from acquaintances and fans.Very dehumanizing. Also sad new life form is forced to be old Picard just for nostalgia purposes that people don’t have to feel loss. In some ways this mirrors slavery. The theme of utopia is dystopia continues.

I kept expecting Q (John de Lancie) to make a surprise appearance, especially when Picard was dying. If the events of TNG’s “Tapestry” were real, then you’d expect him to be there for something like this.

Also, the more I thought about the episode, the more I started wondering whether the Picard we end up is “real,” or basically a copy no different than Tom Riker, and whether that makes a difference?

I heard a rumor about 5 months ago. That Q was going to make an appearance. I am kind of glad that he didn’t.

The replacement of organic picard, and putting his conciencouness into another (synthetic) body did bother me at first. Then I remembered Start Trek III: The Search for Spock, and the way Spock’s Katra was put into a newly grown body (from the Genesis planet). If the fandom could accept this this was still Spock, I don’t see a problem with essentially the same thing happening to Picard.

Had they forced Spocks mind on another life form I don’t think anyone would have been ok with that. Also I’ve come to realize Nick Meyer was right — Spock coming back (as much as I love III, IV and VI) was a mistake, it cheapened his sacrifice in II and prevented the next gen movie era (Saavick could no longer come into her own).

The golem wasn’t a new life form, just an empty vessel designed to receive and host another’s consciousness.

Like the robot bodies Sargon had planned….

I agree. I really loved VI (could live without IV) but I think it would have been better if Spock remained dead after that. Plus, the 3rd film pretty much reversed everything the 2nd film was trying to say.

While the years have not been particularly kind to TSFS, I think you’ve forgotten that it was not a newly grown Spock; it was the same body but the cells had been rejuvenated by the Genesis Effect; David Marcus even says as much when they first find the child. As such, his Katra was simply restored to its original, but now repaired, vessel.

I agree with that. Spock’s resurrection was always nonsensical in my mind too. He basically had a new body and conveniently his consciousness was put in someone else. Then we saw what they did with Culber on Discovery and that guy didn’t have a body AT ALL and he’s now walking around again lol.

This is just what Star Trek does. I find it funny people actually debate which ridiculous resurrection is more credible lol. It’s ALL ridiculous, but this is how Star Trek rolls. But I guess what bothers me about Picard, and many have said it, there just didn’t seem to even be a need to give him a new body. It just seem like that’s what they wanted to do and used his neurological disorder as an excuse to do it.

At least with Spock, the plan WAS to actually kill him off. Once that was changed they had to find a way to bring him back and while still a bit ridiculous you can buy it because of properties of the Genesis planet (I always wondered what they would’ve done if that was never part of the story or if they kept the original idea and just jettison his body into space?). But with Picard it feels a little cheap because they just killed him to do it.

I just don’t get these writers who pat themselves on the back for ‘killing’ a character that was not remotely killed off? “Look what we did, we killed off your hero for two minutes and brought him back in the most convenient way possible in the very next scene, how brave are we?”

And then of course it feels more cheap because the name of the show is titled Star Trek: Picard. He was never going anywhere regardless.

I guess they learned from TROS. They “killed” Chewbacca, C-3PO and Ben only to bring them back. Although Ben was brought back only to die again. And we all know how great a film THAT was!

I think the difference is time. It took two whole movies for Spock to get back to being the Spock we all love, after much sacrifice and hardship for his friends and then the learning process of becoming himself again. Here, like in Star Trek Into Darkness, death is a minor setback for our hero.

Process and evolution count for something in storytelling. If a caterpillar becomes a butterfly in five minutes, it’s not really a butterfly.

“Also sad new life form is forced to be old Picard just for nostalgia purposes that people don’t have to feel loss. In some ways this mirrors slavery. The theme of utopia is dystopia continues.”

The more important problem with it is that it completely undoes the message, which was “There are always choices, even if it’s self-sacrifice” (a questionable message in itself), but at the end of the day, it’s not really self-sacrifice if it’s picard-ex-machina, is it?

In a real world relevance sort of way, this message is useless.

The American revolutionary, Nathan Hale, is reputed to have said, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”

Even if Picard lives in this new body, there was no assurance of it when he made his sacrifice, and so there is meaning still in his sacrifice.

If the golem process is unique, he will be given a second chance to live — or to sacrifice it again (contra Hale). But this doesn’t make his sacrifice any less profound.

unless they introduce the “copy of a copy” degradation. That would sour Picard on the idea of going thru the process a second time.

I get fixated on the logistics of things, unfortunately. It seemed so odd to me that a GIGANTIC armada of Federation ships arrive at the planet… and literally ALL swiftly go back home. That was so over-the-top jarring to me. “Well… all is good here… let’s go home”. No ships stay behind to investigate this INSANE planet… write any reports… no post-incident-interviews…. no one stays behind to make sure the Romulans didn’t do a big fake-out and just swing back 20 minutes later to destroy the planet anyway. WHY IS THE WRITING SO SLOPPY??? Are we all supposed to be so distracted by the heavy-heavy-heavy Data-Picard scenes that we forgive everything else? Am I alone in this?

Nope, you’re not alone. It was very disjointed, imo.

The Romulans were escorted out of the area by the Federation fleet. Interesting point, however.

A part of me was wondering if Riker actually had this fleet with him. Were they really there?

Fair point Denny C.

With Jurati having created an illusion of hundreds of La Sirena’s, the vfx of an armada of Starfleet ship wasn’t as convincing.

I did wonder if the vfx shots could have been done a bit differently to make the fleet more convincing. For example, some of the sweeping shots from different angles of the ships that we’ve seen in Discovery might have made a difference.

Star Trek Picard is a low budget show.

Totally. It could still be well written though.

It’s probably a very HIGH budget show, but the lion’s share of that budget is going to its star, and any special guest stars they can wrangle. They can basically name their price.

THAT bothered me immensely. The Romulans about face, the ENTIRE Federation fleet just warps away leaving not a single ship, so why didn’t the Romulans just turn around and blow the planet to smithereens? Also after all the glorious shots of starships in Discovery I felt rather robbed with what we got in Picard – I had to pause the footage to try and get any kind of look at the ships, and even then couldn’t see much and they were all insanely similar to one another. At least the shots of Riker on his bridge were mindboggling – the best brief moments of Trek I have seen in my life they were STUNNING!

Given the story they created, I think it was a good finale. Predictable, but enjoyable. Seeing Riker in uniform again in command was incredible, as was his interaction with Picard. Same with Data. His and Picard’s dialogue at the end paid off in dividends for this old Trek nerd, it was excellent. Seven, in her ‘disposing of Palpatine’ moment…”This is for Hugh!” Finally some proper appreciation for a wasted character. And Finally, some federation ships! Which all looked the same, generic. No Titan or Enterprise? Flagship named what? I think of the ships Secret Hideout serves up in relation to new cars today, they don’t look nearly as cool as those from the 60’s, or even the 80’s, but are shiny and go SO fast and make COOL noises! Also a shout-out to one of the worst villains I’ve ever seen on screen, “Commodore or General, Oh,” she was just terrible and one-dimensional. I wish she’d worn the sunglasses while commanding the Romulan ship, to complete how comical she was. Seven and Raffi getting together is about as predictable as it comes, but it follows given their collective loneliness and the match works for me. Picard’s ‘re-birth’ was very much Too neat and squeaky-clean, but again, it works for me in terms of the overall quality of the show. It was a “good” season, and actually could have ended the show’s run right there with no complaints from me. Someone on another thread offered something to the effect it was a season made up of some good moments instead of a tight story, which I agree with. It just wasn’t an “I can’t wait until next week” show for me though, which I was very much hoping it would. I will be tuning in next season, hoping the writing is more cohesive, hoping to glimpse more nostalgic moments and familiar characters. Looking forward to some more character-building for our new crew. Overall, it was a season worth watching, and a nice rounded-off bookend to Nemesis which wasn’t really necessary, but appreciated. And with a much needed happy ending, and a far cry above Discovery! However CBSAA, curtains for you for another year or more, no re-watch value here…sub. cancelled, once again.

It’s a wonderful conclusion to a season / series I really liked (minus Icheb!) but some themes and issues truly stand out:

Picard now being sort of an android is really a giant leap for the character. I liked it that he doesn’t become a superhero that way and that it’s basically an artificial recreation of him. It reflects “Tapestry” (artifical heart) and him having been a Borg called Locutos, it even calls back memories from his second life in The Inner Light, and it is for sure a better ending than the one we got for original Kirk in GEN. If this is the last we see of Picard (and I believe it is due to the Corona fall-out), it’s a near perfect ending for both the series and the character.

Data dying is certainly a lot more controversial and parts of me wonder why they didn’t just bring his consciousness back and place it in a new body. Quite obviously, his “brother” should have been able to do that if he was able to create hundreds of advanced Soong-type androids and the Golem to hold Picard’s brainwaves. Not bringing back Data and keeping him in a Moriarty-style simulation for decades certainly evokes some logical issues but on a philosophical and emotional level, this afterthought to NEM really works.

Lots of people have pointed out that those fleets don’t really make sense. Neither the Romulans nor the Federation should have been able to summon such a gigantic fleet of highly sophisticated warbirds and futuristic vessels. The Romulans lost their home and their empire, the best they should be able to come up with is a desperately assembled fleet of moth-balled yunkyard remnants from all eras of Trek, including ENT era ships, TOS era ships, TNG era Warbirds and smaller vessels and maybe some leftovers from the NEM era, but not a line-up of state-of-the-art models. Same for Riker’s fleet: haven’t they just lost Utopia Planetia, lacking resources to build enough starships to safe lives across the galaxy? Mars still burning? It’s just like Star Wars 9! A great movie let down by the silly inclusion of hundreds of Sith Star Destroyers that Palpatine was able to conjure up out of thin air at a most secret hide-out! Neither Abrams nor Kurtzman seem to be willing to think that stuff through before including it… Given how important ressources are to cartoons, comics, novels and especially strategy video games in both franchises, this really is a shame.

Good post, Garth. Great points.

While I do agree we should have seen older warbirds and Starfleet ships, I would argue it is because of the improbability of never running into any ships of another class in all that time. The Federation has other shipyards, it has to in order to build the thousands of starships in Starfleet. The Romulans lost Romulus and Remus and other star systems, but not their entire empire. Crippled but not down for the count.

But TNG alone is an example of how some starship designs could still be in service over 80 years later, let alone 20. We know they had the 3D model for the Galaxy class, certainly. A VFX friend who worked on Picard said they were very disorganized so it wouldn’t surprise him if they’d actually lost the models for ships like the Sovereign and the Valdore, but they also just might not have had the time to flesh out those fleets properly. Such a shame, as between that and Riker clearly being the only character they could afford to bring back, that final standoff felt cheap.

well, firstly, Data said he didn’t want to “come back” he had lived a good life, said his goodbyes and was OK with it. I remember at the time of BOBW that they had toyed with the idea of giving Picard an “artificial” arm to replace the one the Borg had supposedly removed as part of his rehabilitation, but then they realized they would be committing to do the extra makeup every week til the end of the series. At least the artificial heart doesn’t show on screen.

Who’s Icheb? Amish?

Good overall take, lots of disjointed themes and open questions BUT overall I really liked the first season of Picard – perhaps the best first season in the franchise (with the exception of TOS which might be so dated, but gets a pass since it was also so ground-breaking for its time). My likes and dislikes were posted previously but here are a couple of other observations. I like how the reviewer takes a leap that the epilogue takes place well after the previous scene (many days, weeks or maybe even months).

Also, I really like that Data got a proper send off. I know some like Nemesis, but for me I put it just slightly ahead of “These are the Voyages” as a terribly disappointing final story. Just like the Enterprise finale, I really have only watched Nemesis once. Just my opinion, but last night’s episode provided proper closure for a great character and even though it is 17 years late, it was really fantastic to watch. IMO Spiner’s appearance was off, but his voice was exactly the same as it was in 1987. Brilliantly acted by both Brent and Sir Patrick.

Also thanks to the person who posted a somewhat sarcastic but very obvious point to me a few weeks ago that I should NOT look at the screen credits when guest stars are being listed during the opening theme. I looked away last night and was pleasantly surprised to see Riker come to the rescue, although i was of course hoping that might happen.

Lots of issues and plot holes and of course that one terribly egregious scene, but overall a very good first season of Picard. Hats off to the writers who seemed to learn a lot from Discovery and too bad S2 is going to be indefinitely but understandably delayed.

Ok now let’s see what they can do for Disco S3. Stay healthy and safe everyone!

The one thing I think the finale did right was correct the horrible ending of Nemesis and gave Data a proper ‘death’. I think that’s why so many like the finale because so many hated Nemesis lol and how Data went out. To be honest I didn’t like it but I accepted it (it did happen 17 years ago ;)), so I didn’t really think they needed to rehash it at this point. But after seeing how they did it, I thought it was great even if it was still a bit confusing with B4’s memories and all of that. But hey, it’s fair to say with these writers its not the first time I been confused on something lol.

It seem to work because nearly everyone is praising that scene between Picard and Data and frankly I think saved the finale for me at least because so much of it as the review pointed out just felt ridiculous or unresolved on so many levels.

And while I think how they gave Picard a new body didn’t feel remotely earned I have to give them a lot of credit for NOT bringing Data back. Clearly if they wanted to bring him back, they could. And they were sort hinting it was possible at least. But they went the opposite way and made it as clear as possible he wasn’t coming back. I’m guessing we won’t even see him in any dream sequences after this.

And I agree overall it was a good season. But like SO MUCH of what happens with serialized stories if the ending doesn’t stack up, its hard to separate how it ended with all the episodes before it but overall it wasn’t bad, just far from great. And it was still waaaaaay better than Discovery’s first season by far IMO. Not even close lol.

Again, I think people thinking data coming back was wishful thinking. I knew there was no way in hell data was coming back. If he was, it would be in a different body with a different voice. I consider it foolish to think Spiner was going to do this again on a regular basis. I really think a lot of people like the character so much they were WANTING him to come back so much that they thought he would. I had no such delusions. Besides, Data was blown to bits 17 years ago. It’s inconceivable he would be back. Even in Star Trek.

Obviously neither did I. But same time this is all science fiction. If they wanted to bring back Data and/or Spiner was up for playing him again they may have worked something out. I think though even they know it would feel a bit of a stretch but we watched a guy on Discovery come back to life without a body that to this day I still don’t understand how it happened and whose consciousness miraculously was transferred to another dimension to be retrieved from later. This is Star Trek, I NEVER pretend it’s based on reality lol.

And don’t get me wrong, I would’ve been OK if they did bring him back but as I always said, I am totally fine if they keep a character dead too because it’s actually OK for characters to die and stay dead, even in science fiction. I’m very very easy I guess lol.

Well… I still don’t think Culber is Culber. :)

We have a new Data, and she’s hot.

For those who think this was a more proper send off for Data I would ask how so? How is Picard basically deleting a program (or murdering him if one considers this as the ‘real’ data) senselessly better than a noble sacrifice where he saves his Captain and crewmates from certain death? This is almost like re-editing Generations so Kirk dies getting shot in the back senselessly instead of given the opportunity to help Picard save the planet. I know which version I would rather see… A hero’s death.

I don’t think it takes away from his death or sacrifice in Nemesis, in fact I think Data reinforced his sacrifice as the reason why Picard should not have survivor guilt. In no way did it change the reality that he had died. If anything, last night’s episode honored that death, but also simply added another layer to his story = a closing epilogue so to speak.

Leaving Data’s mind downloaded in B-4 at the end of Nemesis created the expectation that he’d be back.

This ending, where both Picard and we are told by Data that: -his sacrifice of his life was his to make and his own ‘victory through death’, that had given his service meaning – keeping his mind on ‘life support’ in a simulation, but without agency in the world, was something Maddox and Soong did for themselves, and not for Data. It wasn’t a lingering existence that he wanted, he wanted a finite and meaningful life.

As I stated above, the original Data’s consciousness was terminated by his act of self-consciousness in Nemesis. More properly, the episode’s Data is Data version 2.0, which was based on the version of Data’s neural net that was copied into B4 prior to Data’s Nemesis’ sacrifice.

To everyone except the original Data, who has been dead since the events of Nemesis, Data 2.0 is virtually Data — but not to the original Data. This is a technicality, but one that would be important to the original Data, who no longer existed as a self (or consciousness), or living being, the moment he sacrificed himself.

And this reminds me of what Data said about B-4 in Nemesis when Picard was becoming concerned that had he lived the life Shinzon did that he could be that person.

Data said, “The B-4 is physically identical to me, although his neural pathways are not as advanced. But even if they were, he would not be me.”

And this was even WITH the memory download. If Data was correct, and I believe he was, then the Picard we saw at the end of this episode is not Picard. I’m surprised that these writers and producers who picked up on many little throw away bits from TNG shows mised this HUGE theme from the final movie. One they referenced other things from!

“Leaving Data’s mind downloaded in B-4 at the end of Nemesis created the expectation that he’d be back.”

Except that issue was addressed very early on in the show when we were told in no uncertain terms that the download DID NOT WORK.

The difference between Data’s death, which was requested by Data himself, and murder calls to attention the difference between euthanasia and culpable homicide.

This is an excellent and well written review. Thank you.

Ugh. Didn’t leave me with a smile. The whole thing was waaay too predictable, and the season ended on a cheap note:

1. The emotional weight of Picard’s death was immediately negated by his resurrection (so what was the point?) 2. Picard being an “android” is a completely moot plot element since he has a “normal” lifespan and abilities (again, what was the point?) 3. Watching Data die again was depressing and unnecessary. 4. Elnor’s character proved completely unnecessary to the story resolution 5. Narek disappeared – no explanation 6. The giant tentacled entity from another dimension seemed like it was lifted from Futurama 7. The f-bomb just doesn’t work in Star Trek – it’s use comes off as forced and awkward 8. No one acknowledged the implications of the head of Starfleet Intelligence being a serving Tal Shiar line officer… 9. Jurati is a murderer, and everyone is cool with it 10. There was no point to the Borg being on the planet’s surface, and Hugh’s death was rendered completely pointless. He could have played a role in the finale.

Thank god Patrick Stewart did such a good job of reviving his Picard role. Otherwise this series would have been a disaster. Hoping for better plot direction next season.

I totally dig that assessment, Arathorn. Excellent points.

4. Elnor is a problem, they didn’t seem to know what to do with the character and had to make excuses for him not being with Picard. If he’d stayed with Picard in Part 1, there would certainly have been a bunch of decapitated synths (who don’t seem like the smartest bunch of humanoids) and Picard would never have been captured.

5. I’m going to guess Narek is locked up in one of the cabins on the La Sirena. There’s going to be some more Soji/Narek “Narek, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do” in Season 2.

9. It was pretty clear that Jurati was not of sound mind when she killed Maddox. She was under the influence of Oh’s mind-meld sharing of the Admonition, which drove most who saw it insane. Jurati was lucky to get her mind back.

10. Hugh’s death was the excuse to get rid of Narissa, who was too one-dimensional a character.

I do agree pretty much with all those points. I would add that no one sees phased that Soong is creating ‘life’ from nothing and on a whim. No one seems to be concerned about the prophesy of the inevitable robot uprising. And people seem to be totally fine with Picard murdering data. Assuming that was really him in the chips. Which I myself cannot buy.

I will add, however, that as much as Stewart saved bad TNG episodes watchable just by his charisma he seems to have lost that charisma here. He seemed to be bored with the entire affair starting fro the pilot though this finale. Has age hurt is acting ability?

” 4. Elnor’s character proved completely unnecessary to the story resolution”

To be fair he was stuck on his home planet without a purpose and had felt abandoned by Picard. While he might not have been the hero of the day, he has played his part. He also has Picard as a mentor. No doubt there’s more to come from him.

I also like that Soong Jr. can just deactivate androids with his little glowy thing yet doesn’t do that when, um, the androids have decided to literally exterminate all life in the galaxy.

Also, it was mighty kind of them to give Rios that sonic screwdriver that can do literally anything

It might be Bluetooth and only works from a few feet away. :-)

1. The emotional weight of Picard’s death was immediately negated by his resurrection (so what was the point?) 2. Picard being an “android” is a completely moot plot element since he has a “normal” lifespan and abilities (again, what was the point?) 3. Watching Data die again was depressing and unnecessary. 4. Elnor’s character proved completely unnecessary to the story resolution 5. Narek disappeared – no explanation 6. The giant tentacled entity from another dimension seemed like it was lifted from Futurama 7. The f-bomb just doesn’t work in Star Trek – it’s use comes off as forced and awkward 8. No one acknowledged the implications of the head of Starfleet Intelligence being a serving Tal Shiar line officer… 9. Jurati is a murderer, and everyone is cool with it 10. There was no point to the Borg being on the planet’s surface, and Hugh’s death was rendered completely pointless. He could have played a role in the finale.

1. the point is that now he is uniquely qualified to act as the Synth’s spokesman when he argues their case before the Federation 2. see number 1 3. or uplifting and closure inducing 4. except for all that protecting and body guarding he did 5. Yeah, I’m with you on that one 6. Or even worse…Hellboy 7. I agree, but still…Double Dumb-ass on YOU! 8. I think Will did when he mentioned kicking her treasonous ass. But that part did feel rushed. But the show isn’t called “starfleet Security CSI” 9. Oh, come on. Our heroes in Trek kill people every day. Plus she was following (corrupted) orders from Oh 10. well, there’s no better place for the XB’s to get help than from Soong and Co. Plus armed with a Borg cube, the Synths finally got an effective defensive capability beyond the flowers.

Love the F bombs.

“And there are still big questions, including why Soji and her sister were ever sent out from Coppelius in the first place. Hopefully, the second season will address these and other issues.” This was addressed. Maddox (having constructed the A-500s with Jurati) knew they couldn’t glitch out or suddenly develop conciousness and rebel, and had been suspecting sabotage for years. He sent Dahj to Earth to infiltrate the Daystrom Institute and Soji to The Artifact to investigate (people suspected Romulan involvement, including Raffi).

First… Wow. Where was that ever explained? I missed all of that. 2nd. Even if that was the case it makes no sense. What was he investigating and how did he know where to send them? Also, why would he KNOW they were incapable of rebelling but all the others are ‘their own person’ so to speak? Why wouldn’t all of them be that way? There are a lot of horrid plot holes here. If the result is emotionally satisfying I can forgive plot holes like this. But the only satisfaction here was Picard getting closure regarding data’s sacrifice 17 years ago. But Picard’s ‘death’ really didn’t work and left a very sour aftertaste.

That was explained when Picard was talking to him in Stardust City Rag, before Jurati murdered him.

Its not canon, but the novels explain that the Synths on Mars were much more primitive and were incapable of gaining sentience. Even just going by the information on the show, it makes sense that Maddox would know the limits of his own creations,

I didn’t pick up on that. I guess it might be there and I just missed it but that seems unlikely. Although I do recall that exchange not really seeming relevant to anything going on… My subscription is canceled so I cannot go back and check.

It is canon that the Mars synths were basic worker bee robots. They were presented on screen that way. It was amazingly obvious and I am stunned anyone would think they were more advanced. Even the computer on the Enterprise was more advanced than those things. Yes, I would assume that Maddox would know all the ins and outs of his creations. Just like Soong. Which is why it doesn’t make sense he be surprised when he saw how some of them were acting in the penultimate episode.

My final score, which is still being tallied in my head in the form of a bigger critical analysis, essay, and some kind of actual process, is that I’m 50/50 on Picard. Exactly 50/50. And when I say I’m split down the middle I guess I can even look at that with a positive spin. Bear with me for a second, because I am a cynical viewer: I’m a hardcore fan and have seen everything multiple times. In the case of TOS, hundreds, TNG and DS9 dozens without counting watching clips or reading Wiki articles. Star Trek is basically “my fandom”. The one I’m at home in, not just visiting. So it’s important to lead with that before saying that calling “Picard” bad and leaving it at that seems like revisionist history and sad fan guardianship. ALL STAR TREK is bad and every little detail we latch onto and love, every brilliant scene or mind-changing concept, well-executed or well-acted morality play … every single one … is in a 50 minute episode where it shares screen time with the cheesiest, cringe-worthiest, least well-thought-out concept, go-nowhere world-building, or other BAD piece of writing or execution. It’s charming. It ages well. But usually a good episode is good because a few key scenes make it good and make up for a lot of glossed over, breezed past, or “leave the viewer to assume how it went down” plotting. Especially back in the day, when the Episodic nature meant they had to resolve the problem in one hour of screen-time. Ultimately I don’t think there’s anything glaringly wrong with “Picard” other than the fact that like most insufferable serialized dramas streaming now, it felt like having 10 episodes meant they could decompress like a bad comic book arc and “let the characters breathe”. But then they didn’t let the characters breathe. They packed more concepts in that had no pay-off, assuming that with 10 episodes, the volume would pay off the breathing room request. Final remarks on that? I think it did. But not gracefully and only by the skin of their teeth do these characters feel fleshed out 10 episodes later. Key arguments against this series are that it feels cynical and hollow and not hopeful. I’ll point out three key things. 1. Personal: I feel cynical and hollow but I do feel hopeful and therefore am able to see all kinds of hope here. 2. Art Design: That feeling can be exacerbated by design-work that feels a little less full of imagination or wonder, trading spectacle and bland design and quantity of starships for quality. I think they struck a balance here, although I’ll admit it leans 60:40 into the boilerplate. But that itself is a hallmark of Star Trek I missed, too – cheaply re-using old ships and shots. 3. Glorifying the Halcyon Days: Next Gen was the epitome of the Gilded Lily age of Star Trek. Now, the impetus there is that one from outside might look at the crew and think “Look at these coddled gilded lilies” and then be astonished at how damn tough they actually are. I adore that. But never for a second has Starfleet been uncorrupt, the Federation not bogged down and bureaucratic. The hope is there in the form of explorers who live on these little utopian SHIPS, and the bold initiative of the Ambassador Corps. Everyone who works in an office back home seems to be an asshole. The hopeful optimism of Star Trek isn’t the future or Starfleet or the Federation … it’s Picard, Riker, Crusher, Troi, La Forge, Data, Guinan, O’Brien, Barclay … it’s all THESE PEOPLE living together and working together on the same ship. That really speaks to me personally in a huge way, actually. You can think back to times in your life. Something like a job when there were a handful of people you really got on with … or that really, really good semester of college … or that time back home before all your friends either settled down or moved off out of the area. It’s beautiful to think of TNG that way. But it’s also the Halcyon Days. So quick things to wrap up this over-long, probably improperly structured post: 1. There’s elements of Stewart’s acting as Picard that make him seem overly weak, old, and defunct. And it’s a deliberate acting choice. Obviously I watch plenty of SirPat in real life, but even Thursday, there’s a stark difference between what Picard was doing in Et in Arcadia Ego II versus Patrick sitting there, cross-legged, adroit, talking to Wil Wheaton. Patrick in real life far more resembles the Jean-Luc Picard we “want to see”, and the choices he made in this season … uh … this Season Long Pilot Episode … make me …  Read more »

Ooh, final follow-up:

1X. That space portal was daft and those Benevolent Cosmic AI looked like 1. Crap, 2. Hell, 3. Lovecraft (eldritch lovecraftian shit is a trope too many modern writers can’t evade), 4. Obviously just Discovery. More than that it renders the premise somewhat horse-shit because you know, the Androids were not just WRONG … they were really, really Wrong. Duped by some cosmic full of shit Devil AI. Also, no Lore! What the hell? Feels like they were heading toward Lore and then somebody was like “Lore is probably way too obvious.” I bet Lore is around. Let me put it this way – if Alton Soong was perhaps “obviously” Lore in disguise … and if the COSMIC ELDRITCH DEATH WEAPONS OF THE UBER-SYNTHETICA were … the portal opens … and into the galaxy pours … giant crystalline snowflakes … I’d have done a back-flip. Why would the AI hellmachine look like Matrix Tentacles? Why not look like snowflakes! The implication being that this had happened once before, on Omicron Theta. Lore had “contacted” Ascendant AI and they had sent the Crystalline Entity and it had stripped organic life and left Synths fine. And that wherever Soongs go, this keeps occurring.

5. Next season. What do we know? Picard is somewhat ascendant. Seven and Soji are with him. And Guinan is turning up. (There’s also a good shot at Worf and Geordi getting their cameos).

We have Picard following up on future/present event stuff and changes in the ebb and flow of humanity in the stars. Post-Humanism stuff, basically, with him, Seven and Soji. And we have Guinan. Which means logically that the strongest story narrative to tell actually involves bringing in two specific characters – Janeway, and Q. Which is all the better still because they know one another. There’s overtly a place for Riker within that storyline as well, and possibly Crusher and Wesley. That’s your story logic for where it goes next. Post-Humanism and Space Magic. Guinan, Q, Wesley, The Traveler. A witch, a psychopomp, and shamans. Time and space. Relativity. Continuum.

Thanks for sharing all your analysis Retro Warbird. I enjoyed reading it.

BTW I too had an eye-rolling, cthulu moment with the synthetic tentacles coming through what appeared to be a combo of Burnham’s time portal and red signals. After the joyful, fresh absurdity of the orchid space defence system, this was just too unoriginal. I like your snowflake/crystal idea much better.

Overall liked this a lot. There were some convenient plot points, but it brought things together successfully. Resolving things without needing the big battle felt very TNG. The scenes with Data were amazing, felt like a hole since Nemesis was finally filled. Frakes nailed Riker once again, I just wish we had gotten a better look at those ships.

The second F-bomb in the episode didn’t bother me too much, but the f-bomb by Narissa was frustrating…this isn’t GOT for crying out loud. There should still be a line for Trek even if they are trying to be more mature.

The thing is that for me characters swearing in what we presume to be their own language and using the F-word is a really Anglophone-centric writers’ error.

Swear words are based on what’s beyond the pale in a particular culture. Even in English, up until fairly recently religious-related language was certainly more out of bounds than mere vulgarity.

For Romulans it might be more likely to be something about public exposure than vulgar s*x, or something related to their great myths.

Bottom line, it really doesn’t meet the test of ‘that’s how people really talk’ as the EPs have justified it.

True, but it’s no different than aliens using slang which I pointed out what bothered me about Laris but I guess we just have to accept Romulans are very linguistic and can adapt faster I guess.

It’s one thing Tiger2 to try to learn and appropriately use slang and idiom in a second language (if hard to do), but it’s another to import swearing, slang and idiom from another language into your own when speaking with another native speaker, especially a member of your immediate family.

Do the writers really think that people all over the world have adopted the F-word into their own language or that every language has an equivalent?

(I’m speaking here as someone who has to be able to work in a second language. Learning to avoid words that were close to vulgarities, in case I made a pronunciation error, took real effort. I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to learn ro use swear words, especially as most of the traditional ones in that language have religious overtones/meaning. More generally, use of idiom takes an exceptional level of competence – yes a spy would have that, but they’d also be careful not to import it back into their native language.)

Trek has always kind of ignored the fact that alien characters are usually speaking an alien language that is being translated into english.

I find it a little odd Data wanted to end his life quite this soon. It’s been only about 60 years since he was first activated.

That’s why this whole heart-rending bit is absurd. If Data wants to be human, humans don’t typically want to kill themselves at age 60, unless they are terminally ill or suffering from serious mental illness. So this bit naturally leaves us to conclude that Data was suffering from Soong-type depression existing in a simulation without a body (gee, I think his thumb drive is in the right place to get a new body). It’s like if you have a healthy 60 year-old friend who tells you he wants to kill himself, and instead of offering any treatment- you shoot him in the head while a bad rendition of Irving Berlin plays. Of course, if I were trapped in a Kurtzman-Goldsman video simulation, I would be suicidal too.

And it doesn’t really fit the character of Data, whose primary characteristic was always curiosity. Seems like he would want to keep on exploring in a new body for a while longer, both the cosmos and interacting and learning from other beings. Kind of the whole point of Star Trek.

But I suppose Spiner wanted a more poetic death scene than last time, and probably wanted to finally put this character to rest, so I can’t blame him for that.

remember how .68 seconds was a really long time for him?

Haha, indeed.

A decade or more in a simulation without outside input or interaction would be an infinity for a being with that computing power.

Well, all the more reason to get out of the simulation and go explore the real world. What was it Boothby once said to Picard? You could explore space on a holodeck but you don’t. Something like that.

That is because it is how Picard could come to terms with Data’s sacrifice. If he didn’t go through the cathartic action of murdering, er, deleting the data program he would not have the closure he seeked. Picard’s mind knew data had to be perceived as not able to return. So it manufactured a conversation that made it possible.

That isn’t really backed up by anything that we saw.

Actually, it pretty much IS backed up by EVERYTHING we saw. That is exactly how the scene reads when viewed. Not only was there evidence that was NOT Data’s ‘essence’ (by the fact that the download did not work and that this version knew things the download would not) but this is a story telling tool that is quite common for the medium. The in mind conversation with the dead family member/comrade/spouse…

Why did so many questions stayed unanswered:

– Why did Synths (controlled by Romulans?) attack Mars the moment the Federations tried to save Romulans?? – Who are these Super-Synths and why are they just pure evil? – How can there be such a thing like a magic tool, that just repairs or copies stuff when you think about it (don’t they have any science consultants or what happened to science in science fiction? – at least try to explain it) – Where does an other Soong come from – why not just use Lore (he was fun and could have met Hugh)? – What the hell was the whole Borg story about? The story wouldn’t be any different without them? – Seven and Raffi? Did they even speak a word with each other before? – What happened to Narek in the end? – What was the mission Dahj/Soji were sent to by Maddox? – Why make Picard terminal ill just to ressurect him two scenes later? And why make it so obvious this would happen that you even can’t stimulate fan’s emotions? The only sense of his illness seems to prove his “goodness” to Soji. Wouldn’t it be a better story if Soji could actually solve her fear of the “evil” organics by developing some kind of ethical code (like Data) due to rational arguments with Picard? …

Good questions……..for another time. ;)

All good questions but most importantly I am really happy they did NOT give us a cliffhanger. Last week I posted that was something that would have upset me considering we spent the last 10 weeks watching a 10 hour episode. That said, by leaving all these questions open, that still gives viewers the desire to watch next year, to find out the answers to the questions WITHOUT peeving off fans like me who would have detested a major plot cliffhanger. Quite honestly they could have made the finale two hours and that would have answered all your (and my) questions and more.

– because then they would be the last group you would suspect? – not evil, just don’t care for the organics. – take your cellphone to the 14th century, see how that works out – well you see if a man loves a woman very much .. they do this thing… your parents should have covered this for you – the Borg occupy an important stage between the organic and the purely synthetic. their relations to the two extremes is an important perspective – yeah, I got nothin’ for that one. Maybe the director just wanted to shoot every one in pairs for some reason – Don’t know. Something painful, I hope – I don’t know that one either. It didn’t look like either one was doing anything more than just living their lives before they got activated. Daj going to study at daystrom? maybe to work with Agnes on whatever comes next, and Soji studying the Borg for clues about their tech? – Picard was always terminal. Irumotic Syndrome. they said that back in “All Good Things… puts a ticking clock on his mission. – I think Soji need an emotional argument, not a rational one. So Picard offering to sacrifice himself for these synths to prove that all organics are not bad is pure Star Trek

“Leaves us with a smile” – just curious who the “us” is. The team for the website all approves of this finale? If true, fascinating. I found it a jumbled, irritating mess that failed to conclude the narrative threads of the season in a coherent or satisfying manner. A series that gives us a portal to galaxy-ending demon-robot squids, merely as an afterthought. “Meh” should be the motto of Secret Hideout. I guess some fans will cheer with nostalgia at the groan-inducing return of Riker or the tear-jearking suicide of 60 year-old Data or the realization there was no valid reason for Seven or Borgs to be in this season except for marketing purposes. As for Picard’s triumphant transformation into a “synth” – what this means is that everyone in the Federation with access to top medical care (sadly not Raffi in her trailer) now has the potential to be immortal. So, I suppose that means Admiral Clancy will stay in her post for at least 100,000 years. Surely many will not take Data’s lead and want to kill themselves so soon with immortality attainable…

It seemed like Alton Soong was the only one who had a Golem, and he didn’t really seem to know how it works without Maddox around. It doesn’t seem like the technology will be widely available in the Federation any time soon.

Yes, I wasn’t left with a smile. I was left with a buttload of questions. The one and only thing really settled here was Picard’s conscience. Nothing else really.

“The one and only thing really settled here was Picard’s conscience”

Then again, that was the primary (and only?) reason for this show to come into existence, no? To give Picard, nay, Stewart, comfort that he still matters in a world he does not recognize anymore…

With respect, I don’t think that this is fair. The show’s vision includes the restoration of the values of the Federation, which Picard’s death ensured.

There is a quasi-Christological connection to be made here: Picard, to save android life, becomes an android himself. Or, rather, is he resurrected to become an unique human android? The Borg XB theme finds great resonance here, and it is in that that the investment in the Borg story becomes clear.

This is an interesting take on the traditional hero archetype, which envisions the self-sacrifice of the protagonist as a one-stage process.

First, I never saw the Federation’s values put into question here. What was really going on was an infiltration at its highest levels with Romulan spies. There was not crisis of morals here. Just a crisis of security. Picard’s *ahem* “death” did nothing in the end.

Turning Picard into a machine in the end only made their cause his cause. Except… He saw their cause as his cause ALREADY!! There was no need to add that little twist to the matter. In fact, it lessens his conviction to the audience because now instead of doing it “because it is right” he is doing it for self preservation.

And I still find the Borg connection to all this invisible.

VS… I guess to be fair that is true. The only thing that really mattered in the end was Picard’s conscience. But they did open up other issues. And the thing about JL coming to terms with the Data sacrifice only holds up if you don’t know what the writer’s true intent was.

Thanks for an even handed review Kayla.

My own thoughts and feelings about the episode line up very closely with yours.

I completely agree with this review, particularly (agreeing or not with what this series did) the course correcting of the way TNG ended with Nemesis. Well done.

HUGE oversight has been made though. Think about it everyone. Data says he has been stuck in this simulation a long time. Picard is in the simulation too. For how long? Since he died? For HIM yes, for US no. Again think about it – this is the Data from Nemesis, even has the uniform. Now flash back to the very first moment of Star Trek: Picard – we zoom in on the Enterprise-D and Picard is playing poker with Data, and he is in…. NEMESIS UNIFORM. We watched the WHOLE of season 1 from the perspective of Picard flashing back over the whole ordeal within the the simulation.

This finally explains why the season started with Data wearing the wrong uniform.

Blew my mind, and really shows the depth this new era of Trek thinks to. And all the respect to TNG, right down to Riker quoting the Treaty of Algeron, I am super impressed.

I was going to write something lengthy, but then I realized that I can’t put it into long words.

I am just going to say that I cried so much when Data died – the scene where Data and Picard talked for the last time before that and final scene with Data itself; they were all so marvelously done. I was moved to tears.

Nice review Kayla, thank you. In terms of Picard; conflicted. This season could have been worse. But it could have been a lot better. To me Trek is still searching to find its soul in this new era. Hasn’t found it yet. Takes shortcuts to give us those soulful moments, but it’s all based on what’s come before. With each series, season or movie I continue to wait for ‘my Trek’ to return. Hasn’t yet. But it’s still entertaining along the way.

Ps. Kurtzman… more Riker please.

Yes, more Riker indeed.

Like the return of Pike in Discovery, this wasn’t something I was looking for, but something that worked out better than expected.

Very, very bad. I am very sad. Why, why did Sir Patrick Stewart do this? This series has no message, its simply bad. Brutality, morality everything just got worse. For what purpose?!? Nope. This is very, very bad.

This show did have some issues but I don’t know why people think it was “brutal”. Or, and you did not use this word but others have, gory. It was just a prosthetic mechanical eyepiece that was pulled out. No different that pulling off Data’s scalp to get at his inner head workings. The props were obvious fakes anyway.

I’ve always found it interesting that people obsess over the fact that not every plot line is tied up on a show. I am guessing its because that’s what real life is like – people leave and don’t say why, do things that make no sense (except maybe them), etc… and part of growing up is learning to deal with a world that is rather messy and chaotic and doesn’t owe you an explanation why. So since we watch the show to escape real life having unresolved plot points is bad?

Golem might be one word for what Picard’s body is, but another good one would be ‘Replicant’ – from the movie Blade Runner. More human than human is their motto, but they have a finite life span, and trying to change that winds up killing the patient (Tyrell’s explanation to Roy Batty before Batty kills him). So, Picard has a body that in every way mimics a human body apparently even needing to eat and breath (which Data didn’t), and has a built in finite lifespan and ‘decrepitude’ algorithm. But it seems that it has an unchangeable, finite lifespan as well.

And the reason Alton Soong was okay with giving up his synthetic body was the realization synths are no better/just like humans in the ways that matter and that dying is part of what makes humans what we are. But lets face it, none of the characters wanted Picard to die there – putting his soul in the replicant er golem was a move decided quickly and from the heart, not the head (quick – you have mere seconds to decide if you can let your beloved captain father figure die or stick his essence in this golem right here, what do you choose?). And maybe next year will be about the ramifications of that decision.

I quite like your real world analogy, but what me and others particularly disliked was how the Borg were completely tangential to the plot *and* the message of the season – as exemplified by the crashed Borg cube that against expectations didnt have any role in the plot resolution. What was the point of having the Borg in there but to allow cameos for beloved Seven and Hugh (and unnecessarily killing off one of them), given their dubious or non-existing ties to the Romulan and android themes of this season?

The XB’s were quite relevant to the overarching theme of the series, which is redemption. Picard has become the ultimate XB.

Picard was an XB already. Don’t see how becoming a robot reinforces that.

I very glad it had nothing to do with Q. I’m sure he’ll pop up though in a a time travel adventure I’m sure is coming.

To address “the Selath in the room”, upon reflection this finale did not give me closure over Data’s death, it opened up old wounds, and (while beautifully portrayed, if you can say such thing about death), if anything it proved further why the reasons stated for “Data has to die” are ever more nonsensical.

“An aging actor can’t portray an aging android” never made much narrative sense given the possibilities of the Trek universe (emotion chip, aging chip, Julianna Tanner), but it makes even less sense by what we see in Picard now: two aging androids that look fully human, Soji and Picard. Explaining how perfectly they replicated human aging for the latter feels bitter in that it wasn’t allowed for Data, just because the actor says so.

Data’s death was a bad choice because he was such a pivotal Star Trek character (in terms of non humans, only second to Spock, who was granted rebirth) yet the reasons for it entirely behind the scenes limitations. They feel especially hollow now because the finale proved it is no longer true: an aging actor CAN portray a non-aging android, if must, due to the availability of the necessary technology.

The retconned narrative reason for the necessity of his death rings equally hollow. Yes, to understand the human condition means to understand mortality. But we already been there in “Time’s Arrow”. You don’t become MORE human by actually BEING dead, because then you cease to be human, or anything living. It’s a non sequitur. And an ironcial one at that as Picard facing his own morality – and then cheating death – in the very same episode proves that reaching the (dead) end is not necessary to teach the lesson or have the human experience.

So there you have it. I still feel heart-broken over Data’s death, however much a cynical Vulcan can be, as it was and is a stunt where the narrative losses outweigh the benefits by far. Robo-Picard or Soji can never be the replacement for Data’s quest what it means to be human, for they essentially FEEL fully human – cogito ergo sum. And beyond all the self-referential, in-universe claptrap, this is a real loss in relevance to the viewer. This viewer, at least.

There is a lot to like about this episode, almost all of it fanservice. A lot of things don’t make sense, but can be forgiven. The whole almost final scene with Data is really well done, but honestly it makes no sense. Data “died” in the final movie. Whatever was used to recreate the simulation of him had to come from somewhere before the events in that movie. He would have no memory of any of it. In his first appearance, he is a projection of Picards guilt. That made sense. This scene, while very touching, really doesn’t.

On top of that, Picard is now Data, and it really destroys Datas’ message. Data wanted to be human, including the finality of death. Now Picard just escaped that, by being downloaded into a (Data like) machine. It’s hard to make that emotional connection surrounding death when your main character dies and is brought back to life as a machine. They tried to explain it and say that he won’t live forever, but that means they put a expiration date in his programming. So they and potentially he knows the exact day and time he will die ” naturally”

The next scene, they basically moved on, like nothing happened. For a show that is supposed to be more adult oriented and intellectual, I found that disappointing.

Now to Picard as an Android. I thought it was awful. You could see it coming throughout the whole episode and it was just a bad idea in my opinion. They could have found a better way. Not make him dead, but find a magic cure on the planet, trek does that a lot, would have been OK. But a man who was once a Borg is not an Android, and he’s cool with it? Really??

It was nice seeing Riker in the Center Seat, but it makes no sense. Would they really turn over the flagship to a retired officer to go fight an armada of Romulan ships? I knows its Riker, but SF wouldn’t even give Picard a little scout ship.

just my thoughts,

“The next scene, they basically moved on, like nothing happened. For a show that is supposed to be more adult oriented and intellectual, I found that disappointing.”

Having now seen the entire season, I think their version of ‘adult’ was throwing in a few f-bombs, and gore and stealing most of their ideas from far superior sci-fi films and novels. It started so solidly too, I really though we were in for something truly special. Instead we got yet another ‘The Big Bad’ story, and a ham-fisted ‘study’ of what it means to be human and synthetic, then blurring the lines in an attempt to be ‘deep’.

Great summary, you are spot on talking about broken Picard and for me, TNG was always about Picard and the Federation’s morality, and at last Picard sealed the rift with the organisation he spent his life with.

Decent, enjoyable entertainment. If I had one complaint, the Federation seem a bit frivilous letting Picard go galavanting in what they knew was a species-threatening situation, and having Riker turn up fronting all their manpower didn’t make it any better.

Hearing Data is so soothing, there’s a lot of mana between Picard and himself.

The captain is dead and there is an android around with his conscience inside. Your photocopy, although perfect, is not you. On the other hand the same can be said of teleportation. The Captain is dead! kong live the Captain!

He is a synth, not an android. The first part of the season, many were asking why they were called Synths and not Androids anymore. Now we know. The Golem seems to be an artificially-grown organic body, not computer chips and servos like Data and Lore. Jurati yanked an eyeball out of Saga that looked nothing like the blinking, metallic parts Data had.

This kind of follows, since Voyager already introduced bio-neural gelpacks to replace the previous isolinear chips and other electronics of computers of the day.

This could lead to interesting ethical questions in future episodes. Is getting a replacement artificial body any different than, say, Nog’s artificial leg on DS9? How?

If that’s the case about synths then I think the show should have done a better job in conveying that aspect to the viewers. Many seem to think synth = Android. That there is no distinction between the terms.

however it does not change the fact that it is a copy. The original Picard is gone …😢

You can say the same thing about Spock or Culber.

I agree. Culber is not the same. The original Culber is dead. Spock is a little different. TWOK had spock basically reborn. They didnt have to do that. His physical body still existed. They could have regenerated it, but for theatrical purposes, they waited till the end for Nimoy to appear. Picard’s body still existed, really in better shape than Spock. They could have used some magic Soon tech to fix his brain (cue “if I only had a brain”). Turning him into a synth, android or whatever was cheap and unfulfilling. Suppose they spent an episode where Picard had a choice. Would he make that choice? I dont think so.

You responded exactly as I would have, Michael GB. Spock’s body still lived. Culber’s didn’t nor did Picard’s. And I’ve said many times, I cannot believe the returned Culber is Culber. I can stretch disbelief quite a bit in Trek. But even that has its limits. It HAS to be a mycilial network spy or something…

They explained that in episode 1. Picard described Dahj to Jurati as a Synth made out of flesh and blood.

Yes, Thorny, I think that’s spot on. If you prick the new Picard he will bleed, not ooze lubricating fluid or something. That would seem to be true of Soji as well, but then how does she have “super powers”?

Maybe Picard will be able to fly!

We already saw Soji bleeding in “Nepenthe”.

It’s a liquid that does something to help with the fake body that is designed to look like blood to help with the camouflage.

I don’t see a difference between and android and a synth. Synth is just short for synthetic. Which an android 100% is.

The gel packs, from what I understood, allowed the computer to respond faster. That was about it.

I do agree that a brain replacement does raise philosophical questions about if you were replaced with a copy is it still you? My thinking is, no it’s not. But we shall see what the future holds.

Loved seeing Riker in command, BUT – the actress who played Admiral Hubris commented that she originally filmed the part of her leading the Federation fleet, but they replaced her with Riker. Which was admittedly super cool, but having Admiral Hubris come in and say that Picard was right would have been some good humble pie for the character.

Still, happy to see Riker.

I had gathered that Frakes’ involvement (beyond directing)was a bit of a last minute thought, so this tracks.

She more or less admitted that she was right in episode 8. After she told him to shut the fuck up. I hope we see more of her next season, and that she continues to drop an f-bomb in every episode that she’s in. In terms of admirals, she’s actually not that bad.

A review of this review: Thank you for a thoughtful and constructive review of episode 10. The tone and creative approach to your critique was most enjoyable. In this persons view the best of all ten Picard columns. Thank you.

I like the finale but some things were a bit strange. I felt Narek was kind of a waste of time. I mean the scaring story was kind of childish. And what did his story resolved too ? He feels like a paws to the story and nothing more. I felt that Q should have been there in the end. Even for Data or Picard. He should have been there. I might be too TNG about it, but Q was link to Picard and Data, in a very distinct way. I must say as soon I saw the golem robot stuff, I knew how Picard would end. Sorry but it was entirely predictable. I enjoy it for other reasons, but I don’t consider this an amazing story. Just a predictable one. It was fun to have Patrick S. in the role again. Brent Spinner was really great in the last episode. I think the show was good on the nostalgia side of it. But it was kind of a so, so story.

I mostly agree with this review. The good things far exceed the bad ones… I’m having trouble wrapping my mind on some things that are said in this threads and on social media, so if someone can help from the “other side” (those who don’t like this season) it would be really helpful. I’m not interested in changing anyone’s minds, but I just want to understand better how people can focus on the negative and let them cloud their judgment. It’s perplexing to me. Here are some of the things that more or less are repeating. – Elnor was a completely unnecessary character and the writers didn’t know what do with it. I’m mind boggled how someone can use this as a justification to say that the show is bad. Was Keiko an unnecessary character in DS9? Are we judging DS9 because Keiko was in there? Do we say DS9 was s**t because the writers didn’t know what to do with her? Let’s dive deeper. Worf didn’t go anywhere in S1 of TNG and they had 26 episodes. Do we hate all of TNG because Worf was useless in S1? Would’ve been better for you if Worf wasn’t included at all because he had nothing to do? Would’ve been ok to miss what would eventually become the most important character of the whole franchise? They didn’t know what to do with Geordi in early seasons either. Is he the blind pilot or the chief engineer? Troi was a cheerleader… Speaking of Troi, she was at it best in Nepenthe. They showed us what her character should’ve been all along. – The story with the Borg didn’t go anywhere. So what? They used it as a vehicle (ha!) to talk about marginalized groups. They wrapped Hugh’s thread, they gave Picard new understanding of his past and of the drones. They showed the Borg as victims after being portrayed as villains for 15+ years. That’s not useless. That’s brilliant writing. Was the Borg ship itself useless? Oh, let me go cry in the corner and I’ll get back. – The Borg were used as a marketing ploy. I don’t know how to answer this question. Of course it was used as a marketing ploy. All of the things we saw that fall under the “legacy category” was marketing. Riker, Troi, Seven, Borg… Every Easter Egg, every reference, every fans service was marketing. Guys, when you spend money on a product, and when you need to give wages to people, then marketing is something you need to think about. – The plot holes. There were some, but you can poke holes in anything. There is no perfect work of art. No book, no movie, no show, no piece of art that you won’t be able to find a flaw and use it to destroy that creation. – McGuffins Yeah, McGuffins are only bad because we are not in the 90s anymore. When Sisko makes a whole Jem Hadar fleet to vanish just by asking, than it’s all good. I can definitely choose to let these things bother me, but it’s a choice. And I’m not going to take it. I’ll choose the following. 1. Data. The last 10 or so minutes of the last episode were one of the best minutes in the past 20-30 years of Star Trek. No single character in Trek history has received so emotional, powerful, true to character closure as Data. Everytime I watch TNG now I will be so happy for Data, knowing that in the end he DID find what he was looking for his whole life. And even if this was the only good thing about PC, I will say that this show is a massive success in my book. 2. State of the universe. We got a glimpse of what’s happening in our beloved universe on the dawn of the 25th century. We got to visit old characters, races and locations and Star Trek as a whole is richer because of that. 3. Flashing out the Romulans. The writers in just 10 episodes achieved what in the 90s took 10 seasons to do with the Klingons. And that’s what I call brilliant writing. 4. Flashing out the main cast. The writers in just 10 episodes achieved what in the 90s took 100 episodes to do when it comes to the main ensemble. 5. Borg as victims. A twist no one saw coming. 6. Picard. I was very concerned when we theorized last week with what is coming for Picard. But the more I sleep on it, the more I’m ok with it. They handled it well. 7. Respect of canon. I’m going to die on this hill, but the writers, or PIC as a show has respected canon more then any other Star Trek …  Read more »

I loved the season too, but I wouldn’t defend it by comparing it to season 1 of TNG. TNG got a lot better, but its first season was awful. Giving Worf and Geordi nothing to do is absolutely a fair complaint about the first season of TNG. Season 1 of Picard was lightyears better.

I’m not defending it by comparing it to S1 of TNG. I’m just trying to get across 3 points.

1. Writers can do so much in 10 episodes. Character dev might suffer, worldbuilding might suffer, some plot points might suffer. But they did one hell of a job with what they were given.

2. We are judging these 10 episodes by comparing them to 7 seasons of 24 episodes from 5 different shows. And that’s not fair to the writers, to the showrunner and to Sir Patrick Stewart himself.

3. We can choose to focus on the negative and judge the show by that or we can cherish the beautiful things that came out of it.

I don’t think people appreciate what an enormous and frightening task can be to do a Star Trek show, let alone a show about the return of the biggest character of one of the biggest franchises in history.

P.S. In defence of the old writers of Star Trek and Seasons 1 in general and why they are generally bad. It’s not like the franchise is cursed to have bad opening seasons. When you are writing it, you are shooting in the dark. You have no idea what the chemistry of the actors will be, you have no idea how the sets will look like, you have no idea how the audience will react to some of the things you put to paper. But once S1 is behind you, you can really see the world you created and you know which actors have chemistry, what works and what don’t and it will be a hell of a lot easier to do a good job. What I’m trying to say is that Chabon and the others did a great job within these limitations. I’m saddened that he has to go for S2, but I’m happy with the seeds he planted.

Your No. 3 is a fair point, Falco. My issue then is that what I thought worked well, Picard coming to terms with Data’s sacrifice some 20 years earlier, really didn’t work at all. On the surface, it was a nice scene that played out pretty well and I felt pleased that Picard got his closure. But then I read the interviews and intentions of the writers and found that was not what they intended it to be at all. Which makes the scene a gigantic miss. I generally enjoy the behind the scenes stuff but usually it doesn’t contradict the final product!

The many heads of smiling Jurati floating around the room was both creepy and amusing…

BEST: saddest best was data’s and picard’s death and resurrection… the whole sequence was amazing and data’s was heartrendingly beautiful WORST: ending of season long story felt rushed and easy and a bit by the numbers but then again that happened in TNG all the time as well in the last 5-7 minutes of each episode. OVERALL: i screamed 3 times…cried twice… one wtf is that? one YEAH! *i totally couldn’t love this new cast more and please let 7 be a regular next year

I’d like to know who “us” was..

I have to say that I’m glad Star Trek Picard was made because I’m such a huge fan and they could have thrown anything on the screen and no matter how good or bad it was I would have watched it because I’m just happy to see something TNG-related back on the screen. So in that sense I am content with the show. With that out of the way, I’m left disappointed. And i’m not disappointed with the dystopian vs utopian take that most people complain about. I thought this show had so much promise. They brought in some brilliant hollywood royalty with the producers and showrunners. The show is being made in the modern era with all the ability and wizardry to create special effects. The show was even being broadcasted on CBS all-access which you have to pay for!!! With all that, and the fact that they are resurrecting the show after so many years and with so much expectation from fans and against Patrick Stewart’s wishes to just let the show and character remain in the past, you would think everything would be superb in terms of story and production quality, right?

As far as production quality, I was shocked at how bad it was. A lot of the props looked pretty cheap (monoprice 3D printer [available on Amazon] as a replicator, plastic “imagination fix it tool”, stock footage for the A.I. admonition, etc. etc.). Using the L.A. convention center and sports arena for Starfleet headquarters? A not-even-that-great-of-a-house in Malibu (seeingly) for the android home world compound? I could go on and on. STTNG produced in the 1980’s and 90’s looked more believably futuristic than a rendition of the future produced just over a year ago!!

For the show to go from episodic to a serialized, focused story, you would have thought they would have made it really fucking good. But it was not. I really liked every episode until episodes 9 & 10. I really thought they were building up to something good. I was left on the edge of my seat waiting until next week’s episode. And then I was like, “this is it? this is what they were building up to?” Now it’s kind of just like a mediocre TNG episode but unlike TNG, you can’t just put it behind you and wait for a fresh episode and fresh story next week.

So, Picard was already dead at the series finale of ST:TNG. That kind of lessens the whole thing.

Star Trek: Picard: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 - Review

An emotional end to a choppy season..

Picard Season 1 ends as it began, with an emotional if disorganized story that leaves many questions unanswered even while it hits us right where it counts. But whereas in the early episodes of the season, it was the elderly Picard who we were worried for, here it’s the killing off of a beloved character that brings everything together.

Yes, Lt. Commander Data is dead, guys.

It’s a surprising turn in a way, because much of this season has seemingly been leading to the resurrection of Brent Spiner’s beloved character (who, after all, had already died back in the movie Star Trek: Nemesis). But here showrunner Michael Chabon and team upend expectations by really, truly killing off Data’s remaining consciousness, which has been hanging around in a VR simulation for some time. And here some people figured the beloved android would be back in action and joining the Picard Squad for Season 2!

His final moments are amazing. After a great scene where Picard and Data get to finally meet one more time (again, in a VR reproduction of Picard’s home where they’re both technically dead), Jean-Luc returns to the real world and honors his friend’s last wishes: to die once and for all. “Peace, love, friendship, these are precious,” he tells Picard, “because we know they cannot endure. The butterfly that lives forever is really not a butterfly at all.”

And so Picard pulls the plug, as it were -- while quoting Shakespeare of course -- and the VR version of Data ages just like the human he always wanted to be, while suddenly realizing that his best friend (sorry, Geordi) is sitting next to him and taking his hand. And goddammit, they’ve got “Blue Skies” playing during the scene!

Of course, Data’s death also makes perfect sense in terms of how it relates to Picard’s arc this season. Jean-Luc has been struggling with his guilt over Data’s death, which he is finally freed of here by Data himself, while also facing down his own mortality. And while, yes, Picard gets a new freaking body in this episode after dying himself, it’s really his confrontation and acceptance of the loss of his friend that allows him to come to terms with the inevitable. (It’s been a theme of the season, certainly, as Seven, Riker, Troi, Agnes, and Rios have all had to deal with similar personal losses as well, often in very different fashions.)

Kudos to Spiner, Stewart, Chabon and the rest for acknowledging that nothing lasts forever -- not even our favorite Star Trek castmembers (well, except Shatner maybe). Sure, you could drag things out for longer, but maybe sometimes it’s enough to just let go and say goodbye. And certainly the way Data’s departure is handled in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2" feels like a major fix to the abrupt and odd death scene he was given back in Nemesis. We’ll see you again on the other side, Commander…

But then there are the hijinks on Planet Android, which unfortunately are a bit of a mess and not very satisfying. Setting up Sutra as a bad guy last week boils down to nothing here as Dr. Soong just takes her out with a flip of the switch, leaving her storyline unresolved. But she’s not the only one on that front. Narek, who actually became much more interesting this week as he was forced to team up with the Picard Squad to save the galaxy (I guess?), basically disappears from the action at a certain point, never to be seen again.

By the time Commodore Oh -- or is it General Oh? -- arrives with her fleet, with Captain Riker soon after, things feel pretty perfunctory. Soji’s coming to her senses and putting an end to Sutra’s plan works better on paper than in any emotional way on screen, as Picard gets through to her by demonstrating the notion of personal sacrifice, again tying back to the bigger themes of the season and, indeed, of the Starfleet way of life.

But it all plays as very rushed and sloppy, with the Squad’s whole infiltration plan not really adding up to much either. Meanwhile, Seven of Nine and the Borg cube were essentially wasted these last couple of episodes. Yeah, Seven gets to go one on one against Narissa, and again, on paper it’s personal because Narissa killed Hugh, but it doesn’t have much of an impact because you’re dealing with a bunch of characters who’ve never met onscreen. We never saw Hugh with Seven, so it’s hard to get invested there, and Seven and Narissa haven’t met before either. Good fight scene though.

Elnor was also largely short-changed again, although his scene with Raffi after Picard’s death is effective. The character works best as the babe in the woods who’s in too deep, so hopefully the show will dig into that more next season. And speaking of Raffi, I like her better when she’s sober, and in fact, the show seems to have mostly dropped the addict portion of her story. (Her and Rios also have great chemistry as the old friends that they clearly are.)

Indeed, by the end of "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2," the Picard Squad is fully assembled and actually feels like a family for perhaps the first time. And the making it so has only just begun…

Questions and Notes from the Q Continuum:

• For those who are keeping count, this is the second time a Patrick Stewart character has been revived via mind transfer to a host body.
• We never did find out what happened to Lore.
• No Laris and Zhaban! But take heart, fans of Team Picard Housekeeping and Security: Michael Chabon strongly hinted to me in an interview this week that the pair will be back next season.
• So Picard’s 94 years old?!
• That uber-AI from beyond sure had a Control feel to it, didn’t it, Disco fans?
• What’s going on with Seven and Raffi in the final moments here?
• Several folks literally got away with murder in this group.
• Was Riker’s ship a redress of Pike’s Enterprise bridge set from Discovery?
• TNG cast members we didn’t see or (really) hear about this season: Beverly, Wesley, Worf, Geordi, O’Brien, Ro Laren, Pulaski, Guinan. Am I missing anyone major?

The Verdict

Star Trek: Picard’s first season has been pretty uneven, and the finale follows suit, with a rushed climax and some head-scratching moments. But it makes up for it with the exceptional send-off Brent Spiner’s Data receives, as he and Patrick Stewart share the screen together as their iconic characters one last time. In the end, the show -- for all its loose ends -- had the guts to do the right thing for Data rather than give into some kind of fan-service notion of keeping the character alive forever. Even if this season hasn’t always made sense narratively, thematically it all ties together quite nicely.

Star Trek: Picard Episode 10 Finale Recap / Review - "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2"

Star Trek: Picard/CBS All Access

‘Star Trek: Picard’ episode 10 recap: ‘Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2’

The season 1 finale is a mixed bag, with a beautiful role for patrick stewart but a very rushed plot..

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Posted on Mar 26, 2020   Updated on Mar 26, 2020, 10:49 am CDT

This post includes spoilers.  Click here  for our episode 9 recap .

Our season ends with a moving role for Jean-Luc Picard—and an extremely patchy conclusion to the android apocalypse storyline, which abruptly stopped making sense last week. After building up a nuanced allegory about the oppression and alienation of synthetics like Soji, episode 9 saw her join forces with her evil twin Sutra, building a beacon to summon a race of ancient robots to wipe out all biological life. In doing so, they prove the Zhat Vash right: synthetics really are an existential threat, and the only solution is war. This more or less works as an X-Men- style political narrative, with Soji and Sutra as the Magneto to Data’s assimilationist Professor X. But the whole thing takes place over the course of like 24 hours, relying on Soji to completely realign her moral compass multiple times.

This is Star Trek , so the eventual solution is peaceful negotiation and an appeal to Soji’s empathy. But the road to that conclusion is a bumpy one. The episode begins with the main cast in several different factions: Picard imprisoned by the synthetics, Raffi and Rios on La Sirena, Elnor and Seven of Nine on the Borg Cube, and Narek fleeing the synthetic prison to sneak into the Cube, where he meets up with his sister Narissa. (Seven later kills Narissa by kicking her off one of the Cube’s non-OSHA-compliant walkways; a fitting end to a fun but one-dimensional villain.) Soon enough, we see some unlikely team-ups. Narek joins La Sirena’s crew to infiltrate the synthetic settlement and blow up Soji’s interdimensional apocalypse portal. Meanwhile, Jurati springs Picard from jail, stealing La Sirena to fly into orbit and confront the entire Romulan fleet—first tricking them by artificially multiplying La Sirena into dozens of fake ships, and then delaying them until Starfleet can arrive, led by another delightful cameo from Will Riker.

Star Trek: Picard | Our Spoiler-Free Review:

Watch Picard for free with a 1-week trial of CBS All Access .

Picard ‘s final two episodes were co-written by showrunner Michael Chabon and director Akiva Goldsman, and Part 2 is no less rushed than Part 1. While earlier episodes drew a thoughtful and plausible picture of the Federation backsliding into selfish isolationism, the finale requires the synthetic characters (including Soji) to rapidly change their minds twice about whether they want to commit galactic genocide. I say “they,” but the decision is really all about Soji, with Sutra conveniently deactivated halfway through thanks to Altan Soong basically… switching her off. Apparently he can just do that! Anyway, the other synthetics literally do not participate in the moral debate about whether to summon their evil overlords. To be honest, Soji barely even does.

The whole premise of the show is that fear drives people to do terrible things, but the finale doesn’t fully acknowledge the impact of Soji’s plan. You can certainly understand her wanting to strike back against the Romulan fleet, but the show frames this as a struggle against “becoming what the Romulans fear.” Neither she nor Picard fully admit the breadth of what she’s planning to do: Kill billions of people including Picard and the harmless child she befriended like three episodes ago . I can believe this choice from the other synthetics (who have never left Coppelius and are, in Picard’s words, like children), but it doesn’t make sense for Soji, who lived for three years as a human. And the other synthetics don’t have personalities or meaningful dialogue, which undercuts the argument that they’re just as “human” as the organics.

Picard gets to deliver several beautiful speeches though, which is obviously the highlight of the episode. “To say you have no choice is a failure of imagination,” he tells Soji. “Fear is an incompetent teacher,” he explains later. His words do eventually break through, with Soji choosing at the last minute to shut down the interdimensional portal, which had just started to spew malevolent robotic tentacles. (Of course it was tentacles, of course .) She realizes she doesn’t want to kill everyone after all, an about-face that the other synthetics accept with silent agreement, because they seemingly have no opinion either way. A massive fleet of Federation ships escort the Romulan fleet away, leaving La Sirena’s crew to pick up the pieces… at which point Picard succumbs to the strain of his neurological illness, and passes out. Soji beams him back to the planet just in time to speak with his crew, dying in Raffi’s arms.

Even if you weren’t aware that he’d be back for season 2, the episode already sowed the seeds for Picard’s resurrection. Jurati managed to download his mind, allowing her and Soong to transfer his consciousness into an identical synthetic body. (Amusingly, Picard looks briefly annoyed when they assure him they didn’t give him any superpowers like Soji.) But before that happens, he speaks to Data one last time. After his “death,” Picard wakes up in a simulation of his house in France, joining Data for a fireside chat. Apparently Data’s memories were also recovered and stored, allowing Picard to finally tell him that he loves him. Then Data asks for his consciousness to be shut down: Closure for both characters, and for the many fans who disliked Data’s original death in Star Trek: Nemesis .

Will season 2 acknowledge the fact that anyone can now be made immortal with a new synthetic body? Maybe, maybe not. But with Picard back in action, we end season 1 on a traditional note, with La Sirena’s crew flying off into the great unknown: Picard, Soji, Raffi, Jurati, Elnor, Rios, and (an unexpected gift!) Seven of Nine.

Jeri Ryan has easily given one of the show’s best performances, a gritty continuation of Seven’s role in Voyager . She’s also just unbelievably cool, swaggering into every scene in a cloud of charisma. And the finale confirms the subtext of episode 5 : she’s definitely queer. It’s a slightly weird reveal though, because after seeing Rios and Jurati share a kiss (a relationship that leaped from “forgettable one night stand” to “actual couple” with virtually no buildup), the camera pans round to show Seven and Raffi holding hands. I mean… sure? It felt like a bit of a last-minute addition because they’ve barely even shared a scene, but maybe Seven and Raffi will be a key relationship next season. All in all, a rather mixed bag of a finale, encapsulated by my final thought as the credits rolled: Where is Narek? I guess they just didn’t bother to show what happened to him.

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw is a staff writer at the Daily Dot, covering geek culture and fandom. Specializing in sci-fi movies and superheroes, she also appears as a film and TV critic on BBC radio. Elsewhere, she co-hosts the pop culture podcast Overinvested. Follow her on Twitter: @Hello_Tailor

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PICARD: S1 – E10: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2

So finally, we all arrived at the grand finale of the new series — Arcadia Ego, Part 2. Would the show answer all of those questions that it posed for the last nine weeks? Would someone die? Would the evil synths take over when Picard was under house arrest? 

We rejoin Narek as he ran along the water’s edge toward the Borg Cube. As our friend snuck in, Elnor and Seven debate on whether it was worth the xBs staying alive. Everyone hated them, they have no home, and they don’t belong anywhere, Elnor pointed out.

“Am I better off dead?” Seven asked. “I’m an xB.” She asked him if she, too, should kill herself. Elnor said that she shouldn’t because he’d miss her. 

NOTE: Awww! Elnor is such a nice dude. Some have speculated that a Picard-spinoff series starring Seven is in the works. If it is, I hope that Elnor would be her sidekick.

Narek evaded the little floating robots that were at work in the Cube and found his way to his sister, Narissa Rizzo. After a brief hug, she asked if he had found the synths. He said that he had, but he’d only killed one thus far. Narissa then grabbed his arm and took her to her ‘hiding place.’

Meanwhile, Picard moved around Bruce Maddox’s lab, which is where he was being held under house arrest. A butterfly landed on his finger for a moment, then disappeared out the window. When it did, Picard said, “lucky you.”

As Dr. Agnes Jurati was lurking around the compound (since she swore to protect the synths in the last episode), she watched Soji pass through secure doors of Maddox’s office with an eye scan. Agnes probably said to herself, “a-HA!”

Inside, Soji lectured Picard on how the organics decide if they live or die. She told him that calling the other synthetic race was their only option.

“To say you have no choice, is a failure of imagination,” said Picard. “Please don’t let the Romulans turn you into the monsters they fear.”

He urged Soji to stop building the beacon. Picard told her that the synthetics they were calling would be their salvation, but would annihilate the organics.

Back at the Cube, Narek and Rizzo argued over what to do. Narek decided that he was going to destroy the “attack flowers” with grenades, so they could not take down the Romulan fleet. She argued, but he told her that this time he was going to do what needed to be done. Because, after all, he found Seb Cheneb (the Destroyer, aka Soji). She let him go.

After Narek walked out, Elnor followed. 

Meanwhile, Raffi and Rios were tinkering around with the device that Saga gave to them (last episode), which would fix their problems on the  La Sirena . Rios said that the intermix reactor was fused, and he needed to “unfuse” it, which was impossible. Rios needed to use the maintenance replicator to create the part. Still, he could not, because the intermix reactor was offline.

He tried the device (which resembled a translucent-plastic set of brass knuckles) and used his imagination. The device sent small antennae out of its top, which quickly patched the hole with short electrical pulses.

NOTE: This caused a lot of heartburn with Trek fans. I didn’t have a problem with it. There have been many characters that have powers that cannot be explained by standard scientific means ( Q , Trelane , Gary Mitchell , the Traveller , etc.). I think this device was tech that was created by the synths and is beyond what humans thought is possible. Perhaps it’s a glimpse of what could come from a human/synth alliance. 

It reminded me of how AI is solving problems in ways that computer scientists had never considered, and the scientists aren’t sure how the AI got there. It also reminded me of the famous quote by Arthur C. Clarke — “any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who don’t understand it.”

After Rios finished, all the systems came back online. Seconds later, they heard a noise coming from outside the La Sirena and went to investigate. 

Back at Coppelius Station, Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner) told Agnes that Bruce Maddox’s plan to transfer consciousness into the new android body could be accomplished with the equipment in the lab.

Soong said that what they planned to do was a remarkable bit of “self-sacrifice” for Agnes. He shrugged and said that was what a mother would do.

NOTE: HMMM! What exactly were they planning to do? Was Agnes going to transfer her consciousness into a synth body?

After Soong left, she said was not their mother — “asshole.” 

At the  La Sirena , Narek talked his way into working with Rios and Raffi, by sharing the plan to blow up the synthetic’s transmitter. Raffi could not reach Jean-Luc on the comlink. Just then, Elnor arrived and put his sword on Narek’s throat. 

“I do… I very much choose to live,” said Narek. Rios told Elnor to back down. 

In the lab, Soong attempted to transfer Saga’s memories into a “V-module” for Arcana. Still, there was some kind of corruption in the data stream. Agnes asked him to decrypt some files she needed to work on the ‘golem.’ When Soong left to unlock the files, Agnes pulled an eyeball out of Saga’s corpse. 

At the ship, the four sat around a campfire. Elnor argued against trusting Narek. 

“His sister murdered Hugh,” said Elnor. He then turned to Narek. “I don’t like you.”

Narek said that if they didn’t team up to stop  Gamadan , then they would all die. Raffi asked what that was. Narek explained that Gamadan was like Judgment Day. Rios said it was an ancient myth.

“Some say it dates back from long before our ancestors first arrived on Vulcan,” Narek said. 

NOTE: Some took this literally, to mean that the Romulans literally arrived on Vulcan at some point. Others thought that the race of pre-Vulcan Romulans (and Vulcans) were space-faring and settled Vulcan after leaving some other planet. 

I took this to mean that the Vulcans and Romulans had ancient stories, which explained their origin, and what was happening on Vulcan before sentient beings arrived. Not unlike Genesis from the Bible, or the stories from Brhadaryanka Upanishad and others.

Anyhow, this was a great little story, which tied all the Romulan fears together, which will end their lives. 

“You really believe this is a prophecy?” Raffi asked.

“No,” said Narek. “I believe it’s history.”

Everything pauses for a moment, and the audience gets a good look at the Romulan fleet in mid-warp, heading toward Ghulion IV. The terrible and evil Commodore Oh stood on the Romulan flagship. She said that their job was almost done.

The next morning, Narek showed off his molecular solvent grenades. Narek said they would turn him into the synths as a prisoner, and they’d be able to get in the front gate. They’d smuggle the grenade in, via Rios’ soccer ball. The plan worked.

NOTE: BUT — the android guards at the gate let them through without taking Narek into custody. Pretty sloppy. Guess they assumed that Rios and Raffi would take Narek straight to Sutra to be placed into custody. 

Meanwhile, Agnes used Saga’s eye to get in to see Picard. She told him that she was “busting” him out. She took his hand and told him that they were going to sneak back to the La Sirena. 

In the central lab, Soong finished preparing the golem to receive the “neural engrams.” Just at that moment, the computer downloading Saga’s memories chimed. Soong went over and watched the last moments from Saga’s life, which was Sutra and Narek killing her. He gasped.

Outside, Narek, Rios, Raffi, and Elnor snuck around the compound. Raffi wondered how they would get close to the transmitter to destroy it. Soong walked up behind her and said, that was “an excellent question.” They all looked at each other and then at him. 

Picard and Agnes arrived on the  La Sirena  to find it empty. It was a funny moment when they got to the bridge, and Picard fussed at Agnes for not getting him the status report on the Romulan fleet quickly enough. 

“Come on, doctor!” he said to Agnes. She sat down and logged into the system and said that the Romulan fleet was seven minutes from the planet, and there was no sign of Starfleet. 

Picard said they had to create a diversion until Starfleet arrived. Agnes said that if they stopped the Romulans, then they’d still have to deal with Soji and the “golden children” who intended to eliminate all organic life. She said that the synths were “generations beyond” humanity. Picard said that was true in one sense. But they were also still children.

“Until now, their only teachers that they’ve had were a couple of hermits and the fear of extermination,” said Picard. “But fear is an incompetent teacher.

“They have life, but no one is teaching them what it’s for! To be alive is a responsibility, as well as a right.” 

Agnes asked him how the synths were supposed to learn this truth in under seven minutes. Picard sat in the captain’s chair and said, “by example.”

He mentioned that he had been watching Rios and started the  La Sirena’s  engines. Agnes told him to, “Make it so.” Picard piloted it into the sky. 

NOTE: Picard admitted that he’d been watching Rios pilot the ship before launching it, but why didn’t he just get a hologram to fly it for him? That way, he could have commanded like he was so used to. 

At the Coppelius Station, Sutra addressed the synths, telling them as soon as the transmitter is complete, the portal will open, and their “liberators” will arrive. 

“And then we’ll be free,” Sutra said.

Soong walked up to Sutra and offered her the hummingbird pin ( the same one Sutra used last episode to kill Saga ). 

“You reasoned correctly that your fellow synthetics needed persuading,” Soong said. “An emotional jolt to drive them to the decision that you wanted them to make. To build the beacon…”

“I’m glad you see the reason behind my actions,” Sutra said. 

Soong grew upset when she said that. He asked her how she could help Narek kill Saga. He used a device to shock Sutra, and she fell to the ground. He sighed and said that they (the synths) were no better than “we” (the organics).

“One impossible thing at a time,” said Agnes.

With that, Raffi whistled. Narek jumped down from above, and Rios appeared over the side of a fence. Elnor started taking out synths. Rios watched Soji work on the computer, which controlled the transmitter. 

In space, Agnes started to question Picard about what he planned to do against the 218 Warbirds, which were en route to Coppelius. He fussed at her again, saying that he was trying to fly the ship without exploding or crashing. She agreed.

On the planet, the Androids quickly overpowered Narek, who pleaded with Soji not to activate the transmitter. While he distracted everyone, Rios launched the grenade at the computer. Soji caught it and threw it into the sky where it exploded harmlessly. She went back to work on the transmitter’s computer.

From the Cube, Narissa detected the  La Sirena  and began to target the ship with the Borg weapons. 

Before she could shoot down the  La Sirena , Seven stepped out of the shadows and ordered Narissa to drop her weapon. Seven removed the small knives Narissa had hidden in her belt. 

“You know, you’re rather pretty,” said Narissa. “Or would be, if you weren’t a disgusting half-meat.”

What followed was a fantastic fight, which would stand up to any from William Shatner’s Trek days. You’ve just got to watch it. Seven eventually won. She threw Narissa into a crevasse and said:

“This is for Hugh!”

In  La Sirena , Agnesreported that she detected incoming warp signatures. Seconds later, the Romulan fleet arrived. On the flagship, General Oh’s crew told her that they found the synth settlement.

“Sterilize the entire planet,” said Oh. 

Below, sirens blared as the Androids were alerted to the arrival of the Romulan fleet. The orchids launched and attacked the Romulan ships. Picard and Agnes watched as the Romulans opened fire on the flowers. 

Honestly, there was so much going on in the scene that it was hard to see if the orchids actually took out any Romulans. You’ve just got to watch it.

After all the orchids started to fail, Agnes asked Picard again what his plan was. She said that they ought to do a “Picard Maneuver” in jest, but then realized that that was a real thing. That was a reference to the TNG, Season 1 episode called “The Battle.”

“You made it look like the  Enterprise  was in two places at once!” said Agnes.

“It was the  Stargazer , and it was a long time ago,” he replied, as he piloted the  La Sirena  through the Romulans and orchids. “It would be useless against so many enemy vessels.”

Picard said they had to trick the Romulans into thinking there was more than one ship against them, like when an ancient airplane would scatter bits of mirror to confuse enemy radar. Agnes said they’d need a “wacky fundamental field replicator with a neurocotomic interface. Then she picked up the device that Rios used to fix the ship, and it created multiple images of her face scattered about the bridge. She smiled like the Cheshire Cat.

On the planet, as Soji continued to work on the transmitter, Picard contacted her and said that he was going to sacrifice his life to get them to stop building the transmitter.

The Romulans announced that the orchids had been neutralized. Oh ordered them to target the “abomination’s nest” on the planet. 

Agnes used the device to create copies of the  La Sirena  (with warp signatures) to fool the Romulans. Oh saw the  La Sirena  but ordered her fleet to ignore it.

“Ready planetary sterilization pattern number five,” she said.

NOTE: This caused heartburn among some. Why not have different levels of destruction? I think this was a nod to the TOS episode, “ Errand of Mercy ,” where the Klingon Kor orders a “implement special occupation order number four.” Sounds a little similar, doesn’t it?

When Agnes created the duplicates, the Romulans attacked. For a few moments, it worked, but eventually, the real  La Sirena  was hit, and all the clones disappeared. The ship started to spin out of control. On the planet, Soji was monitoring and cried out when she saw what happened. 

Either way, Soji activated the transmitter, and it created a portal above the planet. Oh saw that the portal was open, and ordered the ships to fire — but just before they did, a fleet of Starfleet vessels warped in.

It was Riker! He was acting captain of the  U.S.S. Zheng He . Riker told Oh that the Federation had designated Ghulion IV as a protectorate, according to the terms of the Treaty of Algeron — which was a reference to the treaty agreed to by the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire in 2311. This created the Neutral Zone and prohibited Starfleet from using cloaking devices.

Oh said that the Romulan claim to the world took precedent. Riker then played Picard’s call to Starfleet, made earlier.

“General or Commodore… or whatever you’re calling yourself… right now, I’m on the bridge of the toughest, fastest, most powerful ship Starfleet has ever put into service,” said Riker. “And I’ve got a fleet of them at my back. We’ve got our phasers locked on your warp cores. 

“And nothing would make me happier than you giving me an excuse to kick your treacherous Tal Shiar ass,” he said. “But instead, I’m going to ask you one time to stand down.”

Oh ordered her ships to prepare to fight. Riker ordered that his ships have “weapons to full.” 

As Picard watched from  La Sirena , he suddenly grabbed his head in pain. He had Agnes give him a sedative so he could continue. He contacted Soji again to plead with her.

“You’re not the enemy — you’re not the Destroyer,” Picard said to her. “If that doesn’t convince them, then they will have to answer to the Federation.” 

Soji pointed out that this was the same group that banned synths. Picard noted that if they wanted to destroy the Androids, then they’d join forces with the Romulans. 

“I believe in you,” Picard said. “That’s why I saved your lives, so you could save ours in return. That’s the whole point. That’s why we’re here. To save each other.”

Just then, a bunch of nasty, mechanical tentacles started to push through the portal in space. YUCK. They were nightmarish. If you’ve seen any of the Matrix films, these creatures were like the sentinel droids.

Soji smashed the console for the beacon, and the portal closed. The Romulans retreated and left. Picard called Riker on the  Zheng He , and Riker explained that he asked for temporary assignment when he heard that Picard asked for help. 

“I’m supposed to sit around in the woods making pizza while you have all the fun?” he asked Picard. 

Riker, and all of those shiny ships, left as well. 

As soon as they were gone, he grabbed the back of his head again. Soji watched as Agnes laid him down. Soji asked if they could get him to sickbay on one of the Starfleet ships. Picard said there was no point. Agnes agreed. Soji beamed them to the planet.

All of Picard’s team gathered around him as he lay. Picard patted Elnor’s cheek. He told Raffi that she was “quite right.” He then died in her arms!

Later, Rios and Seven shared a drink and watched the sunset. Rios said that he would never follow another charismatic captain again, but he did it anyhow. Seven said she told herself that she’d never kill someone because it was something they deserved. 

Raffi sat on a hill overlooking the settlement, and Elnor walked up to her and cried. She held him.

Picard opened his eyes and started talking to Mr. Data. Picard thought he was in a dream, but Data told him he was in a simulation. 

“Data, am I dead?” he asked. 

“Yes, captain,” Data replied.

They chatted about dying and how they both died. Data said that he knew he was dead, but that he had no memory of how it happened.

“My consciousness exists in a massively complex quantum reconstruction, made from a copy of the memories I downloaded into B4, just before I died,” said Data. 

“You don’t remember your death — I can’t forget it,” said Picard. They discussed Data’s final moments (as seen on Star Trek: Nemesis ).

Data asked Picard if he regretted sacrificing himself for Soji and her people. Picard said that he did not. Data then asked Picard if he though Data would regret sacrificing his life for Picard. 

Data explained that Maddox salvaged his memories, and Altan Soong recreated his consciousness.

“I don’t much care for him,” said Picard. He then told Data that he regretted that Picard never told Data that he loved him. Data said… in a very “Data” way that he knew. 

Data told Picard that Soong and Jurati scanned and transferred his consciousness. Data asked Picard when he returned, to terminate his consciousness. 

“You want to die?” Picard asked. 

Data said that he wanted to live, briefly, knowing that his life is finite. This statement is a direct call back to the TNG two-part episodes, “Times Arrow,” where Data said almost the exact, same thing to Geordi.

“Mortality gives meaning to human life, Captain,” said Data. “A butterfly that lives forever is really not a butterfly at all.”

A door slid open, and Picard walked into complete white light.

When he came to, Picard looked up and saw the faces of Soji, Agnes, and Soong looking down on him. He asked if he was real, and Soji said that he was. They put his mind in the ‘golem.’ 

They explained that he had no special powers, and the brain abnormality was gone. He asked if he was now immortal. Soji said they gave him the same amount of years that he should have lived naturally. He said that he would have liked a few extra, even twenty more. 

He got up and announced that he had a promise to keep. The audience saw Data sitting in a chair, listening to the song “Blue Skies.” Picard pulled out what looked like USB thumb drives from a device, and Data grew old and died. 

It was Picard himself in the room holding Data’s hand as he passed. 

SO SAD. Even as I watched again, I felt like we all lost a friend. This time for good. Not like after Nemesis, when I expected another Trek film to follow so, they could bring Data back. This time seems like we won’t see Data again. 

As Blue Skies (sung by Isa Briones) still played, the audience saw Agnes kiss Rios on board the  La Sirena , Raffi, and Seven holding hands. Picard called them all to the bridge, and even Soji showed up. 

“Engage!” said Picard. And the Alexander Courage Trek theme played as the  La Sirena  warped into the stars.

“Now that they’ve lifted the ban on synthetics, I’m free to travel,” said Soji.

“Me too!” said Picard. 

Rios asked if he was ready. All of his crew turned to him and waited for him to give the order. Soji, Seven, Raffi, Rios, Elnor, and Agnes. 

TREK REPORT SUPPLEMENTAL:

What a sad yet satisfying ending. Sad because Data is gone, but there was so much to love and look forward to for Picard’s next adventure. He has a crew, he has a ship, and he has a lease on life. I can only imagine that Season 2 of Picard will be even better!

RATING: 5 out of 5

Patrick Stewart Allison Pill Isa Briones Evan Evagora Michelle Hurd

Santiago Cabrera

Harry Treadway

SPECIAL GUEST STARS

Jonathan Frakes Jeri Ryan Brent Spiner

Casting by … Liz Dean, C.S.A. Music and theme by … Jeff Russo Costume Designer … Christine Bieselin Clark Edited by … Andrew Coutts, C.C.E., Steve Haugen Production Designer … Todd Cherniawsky Director of Photography … Philip Lanyon Supervising Producer … Ralph Gifford, Kirsten Beyer, April Nocifora, Jason Zimmerman Co-Executive Producer … Ayelet Waldman, Damani Johnson, Samantha Humphrey, Doug Aarniokoski, Dylan K. Massin, Aaron Baiers Executive Producers … Eugene Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, James Duff, Patrick Stewart, Heather Kadin, Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Alex Kurtzman

Based upon “Star Trek: The Next Generation” created by Gene Roddenberry

Created by … Akiva Goldsman & Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer & Alex Kurtzman Teleplay by … Michael Chabon Story … Michael Chabon & Akiva Goldsman Directed by … Akiva Goldsman

Unit Production Manager … Dylan K. Massin First Assistant Director … Maria Mantia Second Assistant Director … Alison Troy Associate Producer … Robyn Johnson

GUEST STARRING Peyton List Tamlyn Tomita

CO-STARRING

La Sirena Computer … Kay Bess Romulan Officer … Brian DeRozn Rune … Matt Perfetuo Codex … Mike Perfetuo Arcana … Jade Ramsey Saga … Nikita Ramsey

Executive Story Editor … Nick Zayas

Theme from STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE by Jerry Goldsmith Lullaby #2 by … Jay Chattaway

Set Decorator … Lisa Alkofer Set Decorator Coordinator … Stephanie Feinerman Property Master … Jeffrey Lombardi Property Master Assistants … Michael Vines, Lexi Fry Supervising Art Director … Iain McFadyen Art Director … Joe Comeau, IV Assistant Art Directors … Dylan Bocanegra, Shannon Walsh Art Department Coordinator … Marina Abramyan

First Assistant Art Directors – Set Design … Alan Farkas, Forest P. Fischer, Scott Herbertson, Noelle King, Robert Andrew Johnson, Steven M. Saylor, Ron Yates, Adam Gelbart

Script Supervisor … Heather Harris A Camera Operator … Kenny Brown B Camera Operator … Jess Cannon Sound Mixer … Peter J. Devlin Boom Operator … David Raymond Location Manager … Scott Trimble, LMGI Location Manager … Peter Martorano Assistant Location Manager … Jonny Ramos Permit Coordinator … Christine Hazlet Security Supervisor … Jesus Valez Key Assistant Location Managers … Jimmie Lee Acre, Nick Carr, Melissa “Zippy” Downing, Philip Fracassi, Will Jorgenson, Jun C. Lin, James Parker, Tommy Woodward

Lead Creature Designer … Neville Page Department Head Make-Up and Prosthetics … James Mackinnon Assistant Dept. Head Make-Up … Silvi Knight Prosthetics by … Vincent Van Dyke Key Prosthetic Make-Up Artists … Richard Redlefsen, Alexei Dmitiew Make-Up Artists … Robin Beauchesne, Peter De Oliveira Costume Supervisor … Mitchell Ray Kenney Assistant Costume Designers … Alexandra Casey, Anthony Tran Key Costumer … Amy Arnold Department Head Hair … Maxine Morris Assistant Department Head Hair … Maria Sandoval Production Accountant … Anna Keeper First Assistant Accountant … Jeff Steck Key Second Assistant Accountant … Kathryn Igarashi Second Assistant Accountant … Nicholas Lau Payroll Accountant … Adam Boucher Assistant Payroll Accountant … Jimmy Vasquez

Chief Lighting Technician … Ross Dunkerley First Company Grip … Walter ‘Bud’ Scott 1st Assistant A Camera … Jamie Felz 2nd Assistant A Camera … Casey Muldoon 1st Assistant B Camera … James Barela 2nd Assistant B Camera … Luis Gomez 2nd Company Grip … Maxwell Thorpe Assistant Chief Lighting Technician … Buzzy Burwell

Digital Imaging Technician … Marc Clancy Computer Playback Supervisor … Martin Garner Lead Engineer … James “Vinny” Visconti Playback Tech … Don Thompson Lead Playback Designer … Chris Kieffer Playback Graphic Designer … Andrew Jarvis Video Assist … Scott Crabbe Fixtures Designer Supervisor … Mike Visencio Best Boy Fixtures … Dave Theirlhart Rigging Gaffer … Sean Higgins Rigging Key Grip … Josh Drew Rigging Electric … Scott Ballew Rigging Grip … Paco Rodriguez Digital Loader … Samar Kauss Digital Utility … Kyle Jacobs Utility Sound Technician … Chris Hall

Production Supervisor … Matt Sagona Production Coordinator … Nicole Orefice Script Coordinator … Charles Dewey Assistant Production Coordinator … Stephanie Barnes Office Production Assistants … Pearce Lawrence, Joanna Monfreda, Justin Nickels, Evan Throop, Ellen Gannon

Lead VFX Supervisor … Jason Zimmerman VFX Supervisor … Ante Dekovic VFX Producer … Aleksandra Kochoska VFX Project Manager … Sunny Ye VFX Lead Artist … Charles Collyer Compositors … Greg Wadsworth, William Marker Senior VFX Coordinator … Marina Abramyan VFX Coordinators … Shawn Ewashko, Chelsea Wynne, Ricky Macks

Stunt Coordinators … Scott Rogers Special Effects Coordinators … Jeff Khachadoorian, Andy Weder, Leadperson … Jason Bedig Construction Coordinator … Tomas Sallvin Transportation Coordinator … J. Smith Transportation Captain … Rick Kelleher Transportation Co-Captain … David Lee Haggerty

Post Production Supervisor … Ruben Michael Molina Assistant Editor … Brian Santistevan VFX Editor … Kevin Laneave, Bernardo Rodriguez, Ericka Edgerley Robbins VFX Assistant Editor … Cynthia Ludwig Post Production Coordinator … Sydney Hoffner Post Production Assistant … Nikki Elmer Casting Associate … Kendra Shay Clark Researcher Consultant … Anthony Maranville Writers’ Assistants … Diandra Pendleton-Thompson, Kiley Rossetter Dialect Coach … Trent Pehrson Craft Service … Nathan Marcuccio Craft Service Assistant … Rodney Fields On Set Caterer … Mario’s Catering Catering Supervisor … Christian Gonzalez

Assistants to Mr. Kurtzman … Monica Shapiro, T’Essence Minnitee, Aviel Mann Ballo Assistant to Mr. Chabon … Elize LaPlante Assistants to Mr. Goldsmith … Arianna D’Andrea, Skylar Ojeda Assistant to H. Kanin … Tallinn Keeifer Assistant to A. Baiers … Maggie McFarren Assistant to Mr. Aarniokoski … Jimmy Moreno Assistant to D. Massin … Grace Gregory Writers PA … Eamon Hartnett

Sound Services by … Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services Sound Supervisor … Mathew E. Taylor Sound Designers … Tim Farrell, Harry Cohen, M.P.S.E. Sound Effects Editor … Michael Schapiro Re-Recording Mixers … Todd M. Grace, C.A.S., Ed C. Carr III, C.A.S. Mix Techs … Charles Hamilton, Mike Jimenez Dialog & ADR Editor … Sean Heissinger Foley Editor … Clay Weber Foley Artists … Alyson Dee Moore, Chris Moriana Foley Mixer … Darren Mann Sound Assistant Editors … Deron Street, Damon Cohoon Music Editor … Stan Jones Score Engineer and Mixer … Michael Perfitt Scoring Assistant and Additional Music … Tracie Turnbill Orchestra Editor … Sam Lucas Score Wrangler … Matea Prljevic Music Supervisor … Liza Richardson Dailies Services provided by … EC3 Post Services provided by … Company 3 Company 3 Producer … Giovanni DiGiorgio Sr. Online Editor … Heydar Adel Final Colorist … Stefan Sonnenfeld Additional Color … J. Cody Baker Editing Systems … Pacific Post Main Title Design by … Prologue Visual Effects by … Ghost VFX, Crafty Apes, DNEG, FX3X, Mackevision, Technicolor VFX, Filmworks/FX, Inc.

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Recap / Star Trek: Picard S1E10 "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2"

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" Mortality gives meaning to human life, Captain. Peace, love, friendship... These are precious, because we know they cannot endure. A butterfly that lives forever is really not a butterfly at all. " — Data

• Alien Arts Are Appreciated : Seven of Nine and Raffi play the Vulcan game kal-toh.
• Alien Sky : At the end of the campfire scene, there is a shot of the Coppelian night sky with its distinctive two red moons.
• Ambiguous Situation : It's uncertain whether Altan Soong merely deactivated Sutra or terminated her.
• And This Is for... : As Seven kicks Narissa to her death, she declares, "This... is for Hugh !"
• As You Know : Narissa reminds her brother that "Our parents died for this, Narek. Many more gave their lives."
• Attack Pattern Alpha : Nedar orders her crew to ready Planetary Sterilization Pattern Number Five.
• Audible Sharpness : The familiar "schwing" sound of Elnor unsheathing his tan qalanq is heard before we see him on La Sirena .
• Back in the Saddle : Riker has returned to Starfleet as an acting captain for the rescue mission at Ghulion IV.
• Big Badass Battle Sequence : Zigzagged . On the one hand, there is a battle sequence between the Romulan armada and the Coppelian space orchids, with La Sirena flying through the chaos. The Romulans then do battle with illusory copies of La Sirena . On the other hand, when the Starfleet armada shows up, Oh calls off the battle and retreats to Romulan space.
• The good news: Picard is able to persuade Soji to disable the beacon by risking his life to save Coppelius. Soong discovers Sutra's role in Saga's death and deactivates her, ensuring that Sutra cannot simply try again. With the immediate threat gone and the Federation declaring Coppelius a protectorate, General Nedar orders the fleet back to Romulan space rather than fire on the Starfleet armada. The Zhat Vash's role in the destruction of Mars is revealed, and the Federation lifts the ban on synthetics. However...
• Dahj, Bruce Maddox, Hugh, Saga, and a lot of the xBs are dead, and knowing the truth about what happened on Mars doesn't change the fact that thousands of people died, and one of the Federation's oldest colonies was destroyed during the Zhat Vash's crusade, as was the Romulan Empire's capital world by extension. Picard succumbs to his brain abnormality, but his mind is transferred to the golem that Altan Soong built, allowing him a chance to say goodbye to Data's consciousness in a quantum simulation, who is allowed to die shortly thereafter. Nedar escapes with the Romulan fleet, and while her "Commodore Oh" identity is completely burned and she can no longer influence Starfleet policy, she's still free to pursue the Zhat Vash's agenda. Worst of all, the Higher Synthetics are still out there, and nothing is stopping them from investigating this attempt to call them.
• Black Sheep : Lampshaded by Narek, who's the failure in his Zhat Vash family, which also includes his deceased parents, so he's desperate to his prove his worth. Narek : I found her, Narissa. Me . The family disgrace, the Zhat Vash washout. I found Seb-Cheneb.
• Blatant Lies : After Seven of Nine forces Narissa to discard her disruptor, the latter claims that she's unarmed. Seven sees right through her fib and removes Narissa's concealed knives.
• Book Ends : "Blue Skies" is heard during the opening Picard/Data Dream Sequence in the pilot . It plays again when Picard terminates the simulation housing Data's consciousness and allows him to die.
• Borrowed Biometric Bypass : Jurati reluctantly yanks out Saga's good eye so she can gain access to Picard's locked room.
• Borrowed Catchphrase : Jurati: (to Picard) Make it so.
• Bottled Heroic Resolve : During the space battle, the dying Picard asks Jurati to inject him with polisinephrine to keep him going. This has the side effect of hastening his death, but he accepts that as inevitable anyway.
• Brain Uploading : Soong and Jurati manage to scan Picard's mind and then temporarily store it in a complex quantum simulation before his brain functions fully cease, and later they upload it into the android golem and then sculpt the golem into a copy of Picard's body.
• Break Them by Talking : Narissa tries this when Seven starts to get the upper hand in their fight, remarking that the latter should've put a phaser to her head over all the trauma that she'd been through as an xB, especially recently. Seven retorts that she still has something to live for: specifically, avenging Hugh.
• Butterfly of Death and Rebirth : A synth butterfly is fluttering around Rios, Seven, Raffi, and Elnor when they are reacting to Picard's death. While Picard's consciousness waits to be transferred and then revived within an android golem, a virtual butterfly appears in Data's hand, and it flies away when he explains why he wants his life to be finite. Data : A butterfly that lives forever... is really not a butterfly at all.
• Jurati suggests using the Picard Maneuver , but Picard explains that it would be useless against so many ships. However, the core of the Picard Maneuver, using a warp microjump to create an afterimage as a decoy, inspires their Doppelgänger Spin deception.
• Data's attitude toward mortality references a conversation that he had with Geordi in " Time's Arrow ": Data : I have often wondered about my own mortality as I have seen others age around me. Until now, it has been theoretically possible that I would live an unlimited period of time. And although some might find this attractive, to me it only reinforces the fact that I am... artificial. [...] Geordi : Now that you know you might not? Data : It provides a sense of completion to my future. In a way, I am not so different from anyone else. I can now look forward to death. Geordi : I never thought of it that way. Data : One might even conclude that it brings me one step closer to being human. I am mortal.
• As Data's consciousness dies, he puts on the smoking jacket that he wore in the anti-time "future" , now ironically several years in the past.
• Catch-22 Dilemma : Rios needs to replace the fused intermix reactor, but to do that, he needs to use the maintenance replicator, which is powered by said reactor. Luckily, the repair tool that Saga gave him can solve the problem.
• The Cavalry : Starfleet shows up in massive force; not just a squadron of starships as Admiral Clancy stated, but an outright armada of the best starships in the Fleet to play chicken with the Romulan armada. Thankfully for all involved, the Romulans blinked.
• Chekhov's Gun : Saga's omnitool from the previous episode comes in handy when Picard and Jurati need a specific device that the ship doesn't have.
• General Nedar's dialogue reveals that the Romulans have at least five different settings for planet-wide sterilization, and they very nearly obliterate the androids (and presumably all plant and animal life as well) on Coppelius.
• The extragalactic synths intend to annihilate all biological life in the Milky Way, and there are robotic tentacles emerging from an interdimensional portal, but Soji breaks the beacon's console before they fully enter our space.
• Color Wash : In the scene where Narek and Narissa first meet on the Artifact, there's a greenish-grey hue.
• Combat Stilettos : When Narissa tosses away her disruptor, we can see clearly that the heels of her boots are high enough to be impractical for hand-to-hand combat, and they juxtapose Seven of Nine's flat-heeled boots. This may be a contributing factor to Narissa losing their Designated Girl Fight .
• Commonality Connection : After Picard passes away, Rios and Seven of Nine bond over the broken promises that they've made to themselves, and they're also tough, cynical Anti Heroes .
• Seven and Raffi can be seen playing kal-toh in the ending, a game often played by Tuvok on Voyager .
• It would be difficult not to think that the process of uploading Picard into a synth golem was similar to the process that Noonian Soong used to upload the mind of his wife, Juliana, into an android body long ago .
• Once again, hyperpowerful AI has a thing for tentacles .
• Continuity Snarl : Narek states that the ancestors of Romulans and Vulcans "came" to Vulcan, rather than evolving there, resurrecting a longstanding question of where ancient Vulcans came from. Spock suggested the former origin story in TOS : "Return to Tomorrow" ; T'Pol stated the latter in ENT : "The Forge" . Meanwhile, TNG : "The Chase" indicated that all humanoid sentients evolved from a common ancestor seeding the galaxy, but declines to state whether Vulcan was one of the seeded worlds.
• Cry into Chest : Elnor cries into Raffi's chest, with the latter taking on a motherly role and the former is a son figure who's mourning for his surrogate father Picard.
• Curb-Stomp Battle : 218 Romulan warbirds face off against twenty or so Coppelian Orchids. After the onslaught is over, Jurati reports to Picard that 200 Romulan vessels remain.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul : Lampshaded by Rios when he's concerned about the potential side effects of using Saga's omnitool to repair his ship. Rios : Honestly, I'm a little afraid of it. Like, if I use it too much, it's gonna eat my soul.
• Death Glare : It's evident from Elnor's threatening expression that he very much wants to kill Narek when he has the latter at swordpoint, and the murderous look in his eyes doesn't go away even after Narek puts his hands up in surrender and declares that he chooses to live. Elnor's ferocious glower reappears when he sits across from Narek at the beginning of the campfire scene, but it diminishes to a Disapproving Look while the latter is narrating the Ganmadan myth.
• Declaration of Protection : Riker states that, pursuant to the Treaty Of Algeron, the Federation has declared Ghulion IV as a Federation protectorate and therefore under Starfleet's jurisdiction. Oh tries to argue that their claim takes precedence, only for Riker to play back Picard's even earlier message asking for Federation assistance.
• Designated Girl Fight : Seven vs. Narissa. Seven comes out on top, being the stronger of the two.
• Destruction Equals Off-Switch : Soji smashing the control panel for the beacon immediately shuts it off.
• The Determinator : Picard is very clearly dying, yet he still flies La Sirena through a battle while making a Patrick Stewart Speech .
• Died in Your Arms Tonight : Picard succumbs to his neurodegenerative disorder while he's being held by Raffi, his friend and former second-in-command.
• Dirt Forcefield : After walking a long distance from La Sirena to Coppelius Station in the blazing heat, Elnor looks pristine when he arrives at the entrance, which juxtaposes Narek's sweaty appearance and the subtle but visible dirt marks on the latter's clothing.
• Disappointed in You : This is Altan's reaction to Sutra's murder of Saga, right before knocking her out with a stun device.
• Disapproving Look : Elnor glares at Narek throughout the latter's campfire story because he doesn't trust a Zhat Vash agent whose sister had murdered Hugh.
• Disney Death : Picard dies of Irumodic Syndrome, but is almost immediately brought back when his consciousness is uploaded into a new android body. It is unknown what became of his original body.
• Disney Villain Death : Seven kicks Narissa down a chasm in the Artifact, proving once again the importance of safety rails.
• Picard is under house arrest at Coppelius Station.
• Narek is subdued by the synths again and taken into their custody, but we don't see what happens to him afterwards.
• Doppelgänger Spin : To buy time, Picard and Jurati create fake sensor duplicates of La Sirena to confuse the Romulan fleet.
• Drowning My Sorrows : After Picard's death, Seven and Rios share "what passes for alcohol" on Coppelius.
• Due to the Dead : Picard gives Data a proper eulogy right before terminating him. "It says a great deal about the mind of Commander Data that, looking at the human race, with all its violence and corruption and willful ignorance, he could still see kindness, immense curiosity, and greatness of spirit, and he wanted more than anything else to be part of that. To be a part of the human family. ' We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. '"
• Enemy Mine : Narek brokers a truce with Rios and Raffi to stop the androids from summoning the higher synthetics.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones : When Narissa reunites with Narek, she gives him a hug.
• Everybody Cries : Picard's death has everyone in tears, even the gruff, broody Rios. Elnor, especially, is a sobbing wreck.
• Eye Cam : After the synth Picard is activated, the first images that his new artificial eyes process are a hazy-looking Soji and Jurati.
• Eye Remember : The memories of a Soong-type android are stored in its optical processors, so when Altan Soong attempts to transfer the deceased Saga's memories into a V-module as a memento for her "twin sister" Arcana, he runs into problems because the damage to Saga's eye has corrupted the data stream. However, he's able to partially restore the final moments of what Saga saw before she died, and he's horrified to discover that Sutra is the actual murderer (while Narek, who was blamed for Saga's death, turns out to be the accomplice).
• Eye Take : For a couple of seconds, Narek's eyes almost look like they're about to pop out of their sockets because he's so frightened by Elnor and the latter's sword being so close to his neck.
• Face Death with Dignity : Data's consciousness. He has a glass of wine, prepares the sofa, and then lies down with a content look on his face.
• Fantastic Racism : Narissa continues to display her disdain towards the xBs when she belittles Seven of Nine. Narissa : You know, you're rather pretty. Or would be, if you weren't a disgusting half-meat.
• Finale Credits : The end credits for this episode feature a blue nebula instead of a plain black background. The music is arranged differently with a faster tempo and a more upbeat tone, with the over-all effect being that the crew of La Sirena is warping to a glorious new adventure.
• Foo Fu : Agnes asks Soong if he can use his "cryptographic kung-fu" to get into Maddox's encrypted files.
• The Friend Nobody Likes : After Picard confesses to not liking Altan Soong, Data acknowledges the status of the entire Soong family as this trope. Data : Hmm. The Soongs can be... I believe the phrase is... an acquired taste?
• Full-Name Ultimatum : After several failed attempts to contact "JL," Raffi tries "Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, retired" just to see if that will get his attention. Narek explains that comms are being jammed.
• Picard is under house arrest and his cell is Maddox's old room. He's comfortable and there's plenty of sunlight, but he envies the freedom of a synth butterfly.
• Data's simulated house is also a nice place, but it's still a prison for him because his mind can't exist outside of it.
• Give Me a Reason : Riker explains to Oh that he has a fleet of top-of-the-line Starfleet ships and is itching for an excuse to use them on her. Oh very nearly gives him one, but backs down when Soji decides not to summon the higher synthetics.
• Go into the Light : Inverted , as walking into the light brings Picard back to life.
• Go Out with a Smile : As Picard is dying, he grins at Soji because he's glad that she made the right choice, and he affectionately smiles at Elnor, who's the closest thing that he has to a son.
• Gory Discretion Shot : We don't actually see Jurati tear Saga's eyeball out of its socket with her bare hands, but we do hear a lot of gross squishy noises as she does so.
• Gratuitous French : Picard utters a mistimed " Adieu " (Farewell) after Riker ends their transmission.
• Rios whispers " Ay caramba (interjection which denotes surprise)" when he marvels at the effectiveness of Saga's omnitool as it repairs his ship's intermix reactor.
• While waiting for Soji to get out of the way so that he can launch the modified drone, Rios mutters to himself, "Move, mija note  colloquial contraction for "my daughter," although in this case the meaning is "young girl" , move."
• Gunboat Diplomacy : Starfleet sends a fleet of a couple hundred starships to convince the Romulans to depart peacefully.
• Gunship Rescue : The Federation fleet arrives moments before Oh can begin sterilizing the android homeworld.
• Heel–Face Turn : As soon as Altan Soong discovers that Sutra murdered Saga and then used Saga's death as a pretext to manipulate the other synths, he immediately helps the crew of the La Sirena by disabling Sutra during an intermission in the beacon activation ceremony, and giving Elnor, Rios, and Raffi the signal to attempt to destroy the beacon itself.
• History Repeats : Lampshaded by Narek, who thinks that the Romulan end-times prophecy isn't about the future, but something that happened in the past and will again if they don't stop it.
• How Dare You Die on Me! : Picard expresses to Data how he felt about the latter's sacrifice in the Scimitar incident so many years before . Data: Apparently, I had ended my existence in the hope of prolonging yours . Picard: That's right. Before I had even grasped the nature of our predicament, you had conceived and executed it. I was furious! Data: My apologies, Captain. But I am not certain I could have done otherwise. Picard: True. That might've been the most Data thing you ever did.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate : Data's consciousness asks Picard to terminate him because he feels that life has no meaning if it never ends, and he has no means within the simulation to end his own existence.
• If I Wanted You Dead... : When Rios asks Narek why he shouldn't blow him up with a photon torpedo, Narek holds up his bag of molecular solvent grenades and then points out that he's been chucking rocks to get their attention.
• Instant Death Stab : The footage that Altan manages to retrieve from Saga's optical processors shows that her systems shut down right after Sutra stabbed her left eye. Saga's right eye is still intact, but the fact that it doesn't record anything further proves that she's dead.
• Ironic Echo : Early in the episode, when Elnor suggests that the xBs might be better off dead, Seven sarcastically asks, "should I just put a phaser to my head and get it over with?" Fast forward to Seven's fight with Narissa, and Narissa (who's implied to have been watching the goings-on on the Artifact) asks Seven, "why didn't you just put a phaser to your head and get it over with?"
• Jacob Marley Apparel : When Picard meets Data's consciousness, he is still dressed in his Starfleet uniform from Star Trek: Nemesis . He changes into a smoking jacket when he is preparing to "die."
• There's no mention or hint that Agnes is going to turn herself in for the murder of Bruce Maddox, although the suggestion that she was acting under the influence of the Admonition and a hostile Mind Meld likely explains this. Starfleet has a long tradition of overlooking actions taken under alien influence.
• Similarly, Soji appears to get off scot-free despite having tried to initiate a galaxy-wide xenocide. The fact that it was a desperate effort to defend her people against anti-android fanatics who were about to massacre them because they thought she was an apocalypse-bringing demon probably has something to do with it.
• Commodore Oh (a.k.a. General Nedar) gets away free despite being the mastermind of the destruction of Mars (although her usefulness as The Mole within Starfleet has come to an end). It should be noted, however, that had she continued the battle after Soji deactivated the beacon that was summoning the higher synths, it's likely that she wouldn't have gotten away with it. As it stands, she's almost certainly Persona Non Grata in Federation space because she had a colony massacred for a robophobic jihad, her life's work is ruined within the Federation because Starfleet knows that the A500s were hacked, and there's nothing stopping the Federation from warning other governments - including other Romulan splinter states not under the Tal Shiar's heel - about the Zhat Vash.
• Karmic Death : Narissa gets one of these, kicked into a Bottomless Pit to her doom aboard the Artifact by Seven of Nine.
• Know When to Fold 'Em : Oh orders her fleet to stand down and withdraw when Soji destroys the communications array, demonstrating that she won't be the Destroyer.
• Living Is More than Surviving : The galaxy-wide Fantastic Racism against the xBs is so harsh that Elnor wonders aloud to Seven of Nine if their bleak existence is worth living. Elnor : Would the xBs be better off dead? Everyone hates them, they have no home. They don't belong anywhere. Seven : Am I better off dead? I'm an xB, I have no home, I don't belong anywhere. Why don't I just put a phaser to my head and get it over with ?
• Manchild : Invoked by Rios when he attempts to persuade Elnor not to kill Narek. Rios : Hold up, kid, we've disarmed him, searched him.
• Manly Tears : Elnor sobs in Raffi's arms after Picard succumbs to his neurodegenerative disorder.
• Misery Poker : Rios and Seven of Nine engage in a brief game of this while sharing a drink after Picard's death. Seven declares herself the winner without Rios objecting. Rios : I said I would never do it again, and then I fucking did it again. Seven : Same. Rios : Never again do what? Seven : (scoffs) So many things. But in this instance, never again kill somebody just because it's what they deserve, just because it feels wrong for them to still be alive. You? Rios : (sniffs) Never again let another self-righteous, hard-ass, old starship captain into my heart. Never again have to stand there and watch him die. Seven : Was there anything you could've done to prevent it? Rios : No, I guess there wasn't. Seven : Hmm, then I win.
• Mourning a Dead Robot : Picard honors Data's wish to die peacefully after having his consciousness housed in a computer in the 18 years since Data's body was destroyed in Star Trek: Nemesis . He eulogizes Data while unplugging the memory sticks housing his consciousness, surrounded by Altan Soong (the son of Data's creator), daughter Soji, and roboticist Agnes Jurati.
• My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours : Like Narissa had used the treaty to justify murdering the xBs and Hugh, Oh tries to use the Treaty of Algeron to claim Ghulion IV (Coppelius) as being under Romulan jurisdiction on account of arriving before Starfleet. Riker trumps her claim by replaying Picard's Priority One message formally requesting Starfleet's help, which he broadcast a day prior to her arrival.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot : Narissa is confused as to why Narek wants to use molecular solvent grenades against "flowers" (the Coppelian vessels are specifically called Orchids, but he doesn't seem to know that), and he clarifies that his intended targets are "Ship-killing flowers that fly."
• Oh, Crap! : Narek is so terrified when Elnor's tan qalanq is near his throat that he practically jumps out of his chair. Elnor: Feldor stam torret. (Please, my friend, choose to live.) Narek: ( Eye Take ) I do. I very much choose to live.
• Orange/Blue Contrast : The sapphire blue wings of the synth butterfly that Picard admires gradually become bright orange; it expands from the center, spreading outward towards the tips before receding and returning the wings to their original blue shade.
• Our Hero Is Dead : Picard's brain abnormality becomes lethal. Fortunately, the golem that Dr. Soong built hasn't been used yet.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat : Riker and Oh engage in a bit of it after the confrontation has passed. Riker offers to escort her fleet out of Federation space. She declines, stating that it won't be necessary. Riker insists.
• Patrick Stewart Speech : Picard is able to convince Soji not to be the Destroyer. Picard: Soji, please power down the beacon. Show them how profoundly wrong they are about you. You're not the enemy. You're not the Destroyer. If that doesn't convince them, then they will have to answer to the Federation. Soji: The same Federation that banned us and threw us on the scrap heap? Picard: If we wanted to destroy you, Soji, we would've joined forces with the Romulans. We would be training our phasers on you right now. We aren't. We won't. You know why? Because we trust you to make the right choice. I trust you, Soji. I know you. I believe in you. That's why I saved your lives, so that you could save ours in return. That's the whole point. That's why we're here. To save each other.
• Pet the Dog : Narissa initially wants to join Narek in stopping the synths, but when he rants about finding them despite being the family screw-up, she backs down and lets him take the lead while remaining behind to use the Artifact's weapons.
• Post-Victory Collapse : After succeeding in talking down Soji, Picard collapses from his brain abnormality because it has become fatal.
• Pragmatic Villainy : General Nedar (or "Commodore Oh") proves to be a Reasonable Authority Figure when she orders her fleet of Romulan warbirds to stand down and depart when confronted by the Starfleet task force under Captain Riker. It permits her to be a Karma Houdini and to advance her agenda elsewhere.
• Narissa asks Narek if he fucked any synths at Coppelius Station.
• While talking to Seven, Rios berates himself for letting "a self-righteous, hard-ass, old starship captain" into his heart, and then having to watch him die. Rios : I said I would never do it again, and then I fucking did it again.
• Pretty Butterflies : A synth butterfly wanders into Picard's Gilded Cage and lands on his hand. He takes a moment to appreciate its beauty before letting it go.
• The Prophecy : Narek recounts in vivid detail the full story from Romulan mythology of Seb-Cheneb and her twin sister Seb-Natan ("the Foreteller," whose name is spoken for the first time in this episode), and it's far more violent and gruesome than what we've heard earlier in the series. Rios compares it to Ragnarök and Judgment Day. Elnor, a fellow Romulan, has heard this tale before and dismisses it as such, but Narek has a different opinion. Raffi : But do you really... you really believe that this is a prophecy? Narek : No. I believe it's history. And the fascinating thing about history is... it always repeats itself.
• Rapid Aging : As Picard shuts down his simulation, Data rapidly ages into an old man before dissolving into dust with the rest of his simulated environment.
• Sutra murdered Saga, although Narek was an accomplice.
• Narissa beamed to another section of the Artifact when the xBs were trying to kill her.
• Revenge : Seven of Nine states firmly just as she kicks Narissa to her death that she's doing this for Hugh.
• Science Fantasy : Because Saga's omnitool can mold itself into anything that the person imagines (which by the franchise's standards is closer to Fantasy than to Science Fiction ), both Raffi and Rios are totally baffled over how it works as it repairs La Sirena 's intermix reactor, and they're former Starfleet officers who would've seen a lot of strange things throughout their careers. Raffi : Uh, what's happening? Rios : Nothing that makes any sense.
• Screaming Woman : Narissa screams as she falls to her death.
• Shut Up, Hannibal! : Narissa taunts Seven about being an xB and suggests that she should just kill herself. Seven responds by kicking her ass and then kicking her down a massive shaft as revenge for Hugh.
• Space Battle : The Romulan armada unleashes a barrage of disruptor fire against the ship-disabling Orchids while they're in orbit around Coppelius.
• Stealth Expert : Elnor can out-stealth two spies. Narissa and Narek, who are Zhat Vash operatives, aren't aware that Elnor is listening to their conversation off-screen, and when Narek departs from the Artifact, he's clueless that Elnor is tailing him. Later, Elnor sneaks into a room on La Sirena and startles Rios, Raffi, and Narek; they don't notice Elnor's presence until his tan qalanq is right next to Narek's throat.
• As a Romulan, Elnor is stronger than a human, and he punches a couple of Soong-type androids with sufficient force to cause them to fall down.
• Narek kicks an android hard enough to knock it over. Although he's soon overwhelmed by two of them, Narek is stronger than a human by virtue of being a Romulan, and being able to hit the android with that much force is still more than what an average human can do. He can also pin Saga to the ground, plus he falls from a great height and lands squarely on his two feet without getting hurt.
• When Seven of Nine fights Narissa, the former is stronger than the latter, so that means Seven is stronger than a Romulan woman.
• This is averted with synth!Picard. The golem that Soong put Picard's mind into is designed to be similar in physical function to Picard as a human at the time of his physical death, minus the illness, and also was programmed to eventually grow older and die per his desire not to be immortal.
• A Tankard of Moose Urine : Seven of Nine and Rios take turns sipping from a bottle with an unspecified green beverage that is the closest thing to alcohol on Coppelius. It tastes so gross that they both wince when they drink it, and Seven outright tells Rios that she doesn't recommend it, yet they don't stop passing the bottle. Any port in a storm.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork : Elnor doesn't like or trust Narek, but he agrees to work with him to destroy the beacon that will summon the extragalactic synthetics.
• Teleport Interdiction : Coppelius Station has transport inhibitors that prevent beaming, so Rios, Raffi, Narek, and Elnor have to find another way to sneak the modified drone which contains Narek's molecular solvent grenades into the colony.
• When told that the synths are concentrated in one settlement, Oh orders the entire planet sterilized just to be sure.
• Upon seeing Narek throwing rocks at La Sirena , Rios threatens to blast him with a photon torpedo. That would surely obliterate Narek — and at that close range (just a few meters), La Sirena as well.
• That Came Out Wrong : Raffi suggests to Rios to "imagine a fix" when using the thought-controlled omnitool. She then has to clarify that she's not referring to drugs. Rios: Have you been, uh... hitting the horgl again?
• Trojan Prisoner : Narek volunteers to pretend to be the captive of Rios, Raffi, and Elnor so that they can turn him in for Saga's murder. It's a ruse so that they can enter Coppelius Station and get close enough to the beacon to destroy it.
• Unfolding Plan Montage : The scene switches between Narek, Rios, Raffi and Elnor discussing how they will gain access to Coppelius Station and being inspected by the android guards at the entrance. It fails when Soji grabs the solvent detonator and throws it away from the transmitter before it goes off.
• The Unreveal : So what was that thing that the synths almost summoned? And what would it have done had it emerged? And could Picard have reasoned with it?
• Wham Line : Data revealing to Picard in his simulation that the Captain's life isn't quite over yet: Data: When you leave... Picard: Leave? Sorry, I don't understand, I thought you said this was a simulation. Data: Yes, sir. But you are not.
• No update on Laris, Zhaban, and Number One, either, although one assumes that they wouldn't be in any trouble on Earth.
• Ditto the murder charges that Jurati is facing in the death of Bruce Maddox, for which she seems to have been Easily Forgiven .
• Data believes that his life is meaningless if he cannot die, which is why he wants the simulation that houses his mind to be deactivated.
• Soong and Jurati also make sure to design Picard's android body to die after what would have been his natural lifespan, assuming that he was perfectly healthy apart from the brain abnormality, because they overheard his conversation with Data and know that he wouldn't want to be immortal. That said, Picard semi-jokingly points out that them adding 10 or 20 years to his new body would not have ruined the moral.
• Star Trek: Picard S1E09 "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1"
• Recap/Star Trek: Picard
• Star Trek: Picard S2E01 "The Star Gazer"

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Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2

A final confrontation on the synthetics' homeworld, Coppelius, pits Picard and his team against the Romulans, as well as the synths who seek to safeguard their existence at all costs.

Jonathan Frakes

Brent Spiner

Peyton List

Tamlyn Tomita

Jade Ramsey

Nikita Ramsey

Cast appearances.

Patrick Stewart

Michelle Hurd

Santiago Cabrera

Alison Pill

Harry Treadaway

Evan Evagora

Isa Briones

Episode Discussion

They should have let him die.

Great season finale.  Looking forward to season 2. 

Damn, they killed off one of my all-time favorite Star Trek characters for the second time!

Did Brent also help to write it as Nemesis? Just kidding. But seriously, they had his consciousness all this time and couldn't transfer it? Or at least make it possible for other not dead people to interact with?

I strongly have to disagree here, in my opinion this was badly written and the last 15 min felt like 3 hours, all this moralic cringeworthy stuff. 

just don`t understand who would give such low scores for this episode and even before it was aired.

This was great episode and well-worth season finale, just perfect, great story all-around all season. Little bit unnaswered who were those synthetic beings trying to get it through that portal? I have some idea but not really sure, maybe they were the same syntetic AI beings from Star Trek Discovery, kinda looked fammiliar when i saw them and maybe that portal was from another time? certanly will be very interesting to see if they will come back in Season 2. 

And of course Picard was just absolutely brilliant in this season finale, don`t want to spoil it just yet what happens with Picard but it will be very interesting where will his character go, do next, in the next season, just can`t wait for the Season 2.

Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.2 Production
• 3.3 Continuity
• 3.4 Reception
• 3.5 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Special guest stars
• 4.3 Guest starring
• 4.4 Co-starring
• 4.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 4.6 Stunt doubles
• 4.7 Stand-ins
• 4.8 References
• 4.9 External links

Summary [ ]

La Sirena makes a turbulent journey through a transwarp conduit , with Agnes Jurati hiding under a desk in her quarters repeating, "Please be over." On the bridge, the three former Starfleet officers Jean-Luc Picard and Raffi Musiker watch the conduit stream by with professional aplomb while Cristóbal Rios holds the helm steady as the computer reports that the graviton field is holding at ninety percent. Soji Asha watches the viewscreen with hope and fascination. Finally, they emerge in orbit of the fourth planet of the Ghulion system . Rios confirms with Soji if it was the planet she was looking for, and she nods. Picard asks if they had beaten the Romulans to the planet; Musiker scans and finds no sign of any Romulan ships, or any other ships for that matter on both long and short range sensors. She congratulates Soji for getting them there "really damn fast" with the transwarp conduit, before saying she never wanted to do that again, revealing how nervous she actually was. Jurati enters the bridge , wondering why they had not gone to Deep Space 12 . Rios says only that there was an unexpected "change of plans", and Picard adds that they traveled twenty-five light years in just fifteen minutes, which explained the turbulence. She notices the planet with the electrical storms and two red moons, which Soji identifies as Coppelius .

Just then, the red alert klaxons sound; the " snakehead " ship has followed them through the conduit, and begins opening fire on them. Rios tells Jurati to take a seat and activates the seat belts on everyone's chairs. La Sirena exchanges fire with the ship, before getting in behind it and apparently disabling it. Musiker reports the single life sign is very faint; Soji believes it to be a trick, but Picard reminds her of the difference between killing an attacking enemy and watching a wounded one die, before telling Musiker to beam the life sign to sickbay . Just then, the ship suddenly appears behind them; it used its cloaking device as a holographic projector to fool them. As he attempts to evade the Romulan disruptors , Rios notices an "unexpected" arrival: The Artifact , now regenerated and bringing its weapons back online. Musiker suddenly detects five incoming "bogeys" from the surface, which appear to be gigantic orchids ; they begin enveloping La Sirena , the snakehead, and the Artifact. La Sirena 's lights go out, and Rios uses his lighter in the darkness; the orchid has disabled all of the ship's power. Just then, the ship begins to shake violently as the orchids begin pulling the three ships through the atmosphere , with the Artifact's sheer size causing a shock wave through the atmosphere. As the orchid begins to burn away, showing the sky around them, they see Picard sitting slack in his chair, eyes closed. " Thank you for coming… everyone, " he says in a dazed voice, as the crew rushes to him.

Act One [ ]

Picard begins experiencing flashbacks before he awakens in La Sirena 's sickbay, with Jurati hovering over him. She informs him that Rios has opened the shutters to let light in, as there was no power, and that she had found an old medical tricorder in the ship's medkit. She had found no sign of head trauma or anything else to cause him trouble, but she appears worried about something she found on the scan. She initially chalks it up to the tricorder being old, but when Picard asks what else it could be, she is unable to answer. Knowing full well what she found, Picard gently assures her the tricorder was fine as Jurati tears up.

Stepping into the main hold, Picard addresses the crew, telling them that he is going to bring Soji to her people and warn of the Romulan invasion force coming to exterminate them. He also reveals the abnormality in his brain that he has known of for years, and that his condition had been diagnosed as terminal just before they left Earth . However, he makes clear that there's nothing that can be done about it, he expects that to be the last word on the subject, and that he is not to be treated like a dying man for risk of "pissing me off". He then asks for a status update. Rios reports that the ship is structurally intact after the attack and the crash landing , but the orchid had disabled the power. Musiker adds that the planet is class M , and before the "space flower" disabled them, she had detected a settlement . Soji identifies it as Coppelius Station , some five or six kilometers from the crash site, and she suspects that it was the place where she was created; however, she admits her memories are jumbled, and that she had not been there long before Bruce Maddox took her and her sister Dahj away. Jurati asks if the inhabitants are going to hate them but Soji doesn't think so, given what Picard had told her about how open-minded and unbiased Data was, but Rios reminds them that they had crashed his ship without asking his name first, which he believes seems a little biased. Picard asks when the Romulans will arrive. Musiker believes the conduit has allowed them to negate the Romulans' head start, but she anticipates it could be very soon, within a day or two. Picard then suggests they go out and take a walk.

Musiker hands Soji a phaser in case they encounter any angry reptiloids, homicidal fungi, or "asshole Romulan ex-boyfriends". Stepping onto the desert-like surface, they see the crash site of the Artifact, to which Soji considers good riddance; Rios reminds her that they still had friends on board the cube when they left. Picard knows time is of the essence, but he wants to see if Elnor and Hugh survived, even if it's only a small chance. Musiker points out that Coppelius Station, or "Synthville" as she calls it, is the other way, to which Jurati suggests splitting up. Soji, however, considered Hugh a friend as well, and believes it best to stick together… just in case of any homicidal fungi.

The party enters the shattered remnants of the cube, seeing the xBs that survived the crash moving around; one of them identifies Picard as " Locutus ", which makes him freeze in fear. However, Elnor sees him and joyfully embraces him, glad to see he is alive. Dead Romulans kicked to the floor from the upper levels herald the entry of Seven of Nine , who asks if they had arrived for the cleanup, or just liked to make messes. She relates to Picard her experience in interfacing with the queencell , and how she had seen La Sirena in the conduit with the snakehead in pursuit, and so she opened another conduit to come after them. Picard mourns what has become of Hugh, before he sees the xBs working to try to bring the replicators back online; he then asks if it's possible to bring up the long range sensors . The sensors are activated, and Musiker and Rios see what they're facing: a fleet of 218 Romulan warbirds. Meanwhile, Soji looks through the photographs of herself and her sister Dahj in her ruined quarters.

Picard has explained his illness to Elnor, who is shaken by the news, but also knows he needs protection now more than ever. Picard tells him that that the xBs need him more now, and tells him to keep working with Seven to reactivate the cube's defenses. When Elnor remarks that he may never see Picard again, he says this is true for any two people saying goodbye, and expresses his pride in Elnor. When Seven tells him to "keep saving the galaxy", he tells her that it was all on her now.

Act Two [ ]

" I feel as if I'm looking at Data. " " Data, if he'd gotten old and gone soft. "

La Sirena 's crew arrives at Coppelius Station, walking among the population, which begins to surround them. One of them, with yellow eyes like Data's, recognizes Soji and welcomes her home; Soji knows that her name is Arcana . Arcana recognizes Picard almost instantly as being Data's former captain, and reaches out to trace the lines in Picard's face, and the grief and endurance they represent, before welcoming them all. Arcana asks Soji if her mission was complete; when Soji confirms it is, her grim expression makes clear that success brings bad news. Soji warns about the Romulan fleet en route to destroy them all. Picard asks how many more of the orchids they had, and Arcana replies that they had started with fifteen, and were now reduced to ten. A man makes his way through the crowd, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Data, if he had been organic like the others. He identifies himself as Altan Soong , "mad scientist", the son of Data's creator Noonien Soong .

Soji relates her story to Altan and the others, blaming herself for the Romulans finding their world. Altan reassures her that she could not have kept a secret she didn't know about, and believes the ban brought out the "deceptive side" of Maddox. He explains that he had been against Maddox's plan because of the risk of bringing unwanted attention to Coppelius. Just then, Picard is approached by another android almost identical to Soji and Dahj, who brings him to the group. Rios believes her to be Jana , one of the two he met on the USS Ibn Majid , but Altan identifies her as Sutra , Jana's sister. Sutra asks Jurati about the Admonition , which Jurati admits she only experienced second-hand, but it was enough to convince her to kill Maddox; when asked if she still felt that way now, Jurati wondered if she had lost her mind. Sutra agrees that this was what drove the Romulans to obsession because they were driven to madness by a message not intended for them. Picard wonders if that meant it was intended for synthetic minds, and Sutra expresses a desire to find out. Arcana points out that they had only had one ship , and it had been destroyed when Jana and Beautiful Flower were killed. However, Sutra does not have to go anywhere at all. Altan explains that Sutra is well versed in Vulcan culture, having read Surak 's writings and has played the ka'athyra . Sutra has even learned how to perform a mind meld . Rios protests, but Jurati reassures him it was alright, and that Coppelius' people need to know. Though Jurati is terrified, Sutra reassures her and begins the meld.

Within the meld, Sutra sees the evolution of organic life, and its yearning for perfection – and in that yearning, they create synthetics. But organic life perceives synthetics as a threat because they would not age or suffer illness, and so they seek to destroy their creations, and in so doing destroy themselves. Somewhere beyond time and space, an " alliance of synthetic life " awaited a signal, and that "your evolution will be their extinction". As she breaks the meld with a shaken Jurati, all Sutra can say is, " Fascinating. "

Act Three [ ]

In Altan's lab, Jurati sees a butterfly , another synthetic creation; he says he had missed butterflies, so he created his own. She asks about Maddox, who Altan says spoke of Jurati often, and that his one regret was that he didn't bring her with him; Jurati confesses it was more like she didn't have the guts to go with him. Altan chastises Jurati for killing Maddox, telling her she put out a small, bright candle shedding its light in a vast darkness. Altan remarks on the "great debt" she owes… and asks if she is willing to help pay it, to give a life instead of take one. He has constructed a golem , but comments that Maddox was the expert on substrate work; however, he has regained an interest in the mind transfer process, commenting on a "sense of urgency".

Outside, Soji and Sutra argue about how to best proceed against the Romulan fleet. Soji tries to assure her that Rios will repair La Sirena to get them to safety, but Sutra is adamant that her plan is the only way, as the Romulans consider synths to be abominations. Soji is horrified at the potential cost in lives, and insists there must be another option. Just then, to Soji's shock, a struggling and injured Narek is brought in by the synthetics.

Inside, Jurati is holding Altan's synthetic cat, which he has named Spot II , when Rios checks in on her, saying he needed to get the ship back online. Jurati tells him that she is staying behind, to help Altan work on some unfinished work of Maddox's. Rios warns her to be mindful, as he does not trust them; Jurati asks if it was them or her he was worried about, before telling him not to forget her when it was time to leave. Rios assures her that she was many things, but "forgettable" was not one of them.

Later, Arcana gives Musiker a strange tool to help repair La Sirena , telling her to "use her imagination". Motivated by gratitude for all he's done for her, Musiker expresses her thanks to Picard for all he has done for her and tells him that she loves him, which he awkwardly reciprocates, before abruptly leaving.

Act Four [ ]

Picard opens a secure hyperchannel to Starfleet Command , explaining he has a first contact situation and a priority request to open diplomatic negotiations to protect Coppelius from an imminent Romulan attack.

In his cell, Narek asks his guard, Saga , for some water from the bag he was carrying; when she doesn't answer, he asks if that was how they treated prisoners. Saga admits they had never had prisoners before, and asks how the Romulans treat theirs. Narek, understandably, asks to change the subject, before asking again for his water. As Saga moves to deactivate the force field, Soji stops her, telling her Narek cannot be trusted. Saga assures her that she has been monitoring Narek's life signs, but Soji is adamant. Narek expresses his love for Soji, and that his attempt on her life in the Zhal Makh was motivated out of his fear that she would kill him . Soji knows he loves her, but at the same time, she dismisses him as a "sad and twisted thing", and that he disgusted her… but not nearly as much as she disgusted herself by pitying him. Narek tells her that he pities her as well, as the Romulan fleet was coming to rain down fire upon their world, and kill every last "so-called living thing" on it. Soji confidently tells him that they won't. Saga tells him that food and drink will be brought to him, as well as treatment for the injury to his head.

Picard continues to try to contact Starfleet, but is unable to reach them, finally giving up as Soji enters. She recognizes the room as Maddox's quarters, and admits she could not understand why Jurati had killed Maddox, and could not imagine taking life to save life. She finds herself unable to understand "the logic of sacrifice", something that Picard is not sure he likes the sound of. She asks if he believes it has no logic, no calculus of life and death, to which Picard replies that depends on the person holding the knife. Jurati believed she was doing the right thing by killing Maddox, but now she was horrified by what she had done. Picard counters by asking if she had done what was right, or that she believed she had no choice. Soji tries to reconcile the idea: perhaps killing was motivated solely by fear, the opposite of logic, but what if killing was the only way to survive?

Meanwhile, Narek looks up and is shocked to see Sutra, who tells Saga that she's taking over guard duty for her. She deactivates the force field and enters his cell, and tells him that she had been afraid that her desire to kill him would outweigh her immediate need of his services, and asks if he would like to get out.

Picard and Soji look up upon hearing screaming coming from outside, only to find Narek is gone… and Altan mourning over Saga, pierced through the eye with the hummingbird brooch she had been wearing. Soji is enraged, saying that she should have killed Narek when she had the chance. Meanwhile, Narek is making his way across the planet to the crashed Artifact.

Sutra addresses the populace, warning that the arrival of the organics has cost them yet another sister, and that in one day, the Romulans would arrive… which gave them just enough time. When Picard asks for what, she explains that she experienced the Admonition in Jurati's mind. For Jurati, and the Romulans, it was a warning – but for synthetics, it was a message. A higher race of synthetics were waiting for a signal, and the frequency was encoded within the Admonition. Sutra and Altan had worked to create a suitable beacon to summon them before the Romulan fleet arrives. Once summoned, they would seek out and unite all synthetic life in order to "excise" them from the "oppression of organics". Picard, however, quickly realizes what this means: the extermination of all organic life, in order to prevent the extermination of synthetic life. He speaks to the assembled synths, saying that while he knows they have no reason to trust the Federation after the synth ban and what happened on the Ibn Majid , there was room on La Sirena for all of them, and that he would see to their safety; once that was done, he would demand that the Federation listen to him and lift the synth ban. Altan, however, tells his "children" that the Federation did not listen to Picard after the attack on Mars , and they would not listen to him now, and informs Picard that he is now under house arrest . Sutra emphasizes that he cannot be allowed to walk free, as he will have them doubting their conviction . Soji, to Picard's shock, agrees; this was not like the Romulan rescue, and her people could not be his "means of redemption".

Sutra also calls for Jurati to be arrested as well. However, Jurati remarks on how much she has risked to be there, to see the culmination of her dreams made real in their community, and that she wanted to be part of that. If they wouldn't do it for her, she adds, do it for Altan – to help him survive what was coming. Altan agrees, saying that Jurati was as close to a mother as they would ever get. Sutra points out that "a mother would die for her children", and asks if Jurati was willing to do so, adding she would know instantly if she was lying. Jurati replies that she is telling the truth. Sutra tells the others to take Picard away.

Aboard the lead ship of the Romulan fleet, Commodore Oh is informed that long range sensors detect minimal defenses, and that the fleet will make planetfall in twenty-four hours.

TO BE CONTINUED …

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Nice work, honey. You got us here really damn fast. And I am never going to do that ever again. "

" There's a difference between killing an attacking enemy and watching a wounded one die. "

" One more thing, I have a brain abnormality I've known for years. I've never had any symptoms, so I never thought much about it. However, before we left the Earth, I learned that my condition was more acute. The prognosis was terminal, and there is no effective treatment. There will be no further discussion. Anyone who treats me like a dying man will run the risk of pissing me off. Is that clear? "

" Hope and the odds make poor bedfellows. "

" It must have taken appalling brutality to turn such a gentle soul to violence. "

" Oh man. " " How many? " " Uh, 218 warbirds. " " Ah. 218. That's not so bad. " " True. You really only have to worry about the first 109. "

" Keep saving the galaxy, Picard. " " That's all on you now. "

" I take it my face looks familiar. " " I feel as if I'm looking at Data. " " Data if he had gotten old and gone soft. Must be disturbing. I know it is for me. Doctor Altan Inigo Soong, mad scientist. My father had me, but he created Data - a fact he never let me forget. "

" The dance of division and replication. Imperfect. Finite. Organic life evolves, yearns for perfection. That yearning leads to synthetic life. But organics perceive this perfection as a threat. When they realize that their creations do not age, or become sick, or die... they will seek to destroy them, and in so doing, destroy themselves. Beyond the boundaries of time and space, we stand. An alliance of synthetic life, watching you, waiting for your signal. Call us, and we will come. You will have our protection. Your evolution will be their extinction. "

" What you did....shame on you, Agnes. You put out a small, bright candle shedding its light in a vast darkness. "

" Dr. Soong is giving me the chance to try to complete some work that Bruce left unfinished. " " Be careful, okay? I'm not sure how much I really trust them. " " Them, or me? Look just, don't forget me when it's time to go. " " You're many things, Agnes P. Jurati. Forgettable is not one of them. "

" After everything that you've done for me, I need to say thank you. I love you, JL. … Oh, you- you don't have to say it back to me. " " I don't? " " Well, n- not unless you want to. Uh, sor- yeah, no. It's fine. It's… it's fine. " " Okay. " " Okay. " " I love you too, Raffi. "

" I'm thirsty. Is this how you treat your prisoners? " " We've never had a prisoner before. How do the Romulans treat their prisoners? " " Let's change the subject. "

" I know what a sad and twisted thing you are. You disgust me, Narek, but not as much as I disgust myself for pitying you. "

" When I heard about what Agnes had done to Bruce, I couldn't understand it, let alone imagine myself doing something like that. " " Something like what? " " Taking life to save life. Hurting some to save others. I just- I guess I'm just trying to understand the logic of sacrifice. " " The logic of sacrifice? Hmm, I don't like the sound of that. " " So you think there is no logic? No calculus of life and death? " " I think it depends on if you're the person holding the knife. "

" Are you and your Federation any different from the Romulans? Banning synthetics was just a way of exterminating us in advance. " " So, you're going to destroy us all. You will become mass murderers. " " I'm not like you, Picard. I will rescue those I can rescue. My people will survive. "

" You will become the Destroyer after all."

Background information [ ]

• 5 March 2020 : Title publicly revealed. [1]
• This is one of seventeen Star Trek episodes with titles derived from Latin .

Production [ ]

• This is the first episode of the series not to begin with either a flashback or a dream sequence.
• This is one of only three Star Trek episodes with no depiction of characters wearing any form of Starfleet uniform. The other two are ST : " Calypso " and PIC : " Absolute Candor ".
• After the battle between La Sirena and Narek 's snakehead , Raffi's holographic display depicting Narek's life signs is a reuse of the animation of Seven of Nine 's Borg components from " Stardust City Rag ".

Continuity [ ]

• Though not mentioned in this episode, Altan Inigo Soong's work on transferring organic minds to positronic bodies is possibly inspired by his father Noonien's success on his own wife Juliana as shown in " Inheritance ".

Reception [ ]

• TRR : " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 " discusses the making of, and events in, this episode.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Released on PIC Season 1 Blu-ray and PIC Season 1 DVD .

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard
• Alison Pill as Agnes Jurati
• Isa Briones as Soji Asha / Sutra / Dahj Asha (photographs)
• Evan Evagora as Elnor
• Michelle Hurd as Raffaela Musiker
• Santiago Cabrera as Cristóbal Rios
• Harry Treadaway as Narek

Special guest stars [ ]

• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
• Brent Spiner as Altan Soong

Guest starring [ ]

• Tamlyn Tomita as Oh

Co-starring [ ]

• Brian DeRozan as Romulan Officer (off-screen voiceover)
• Matt Perfetuo as Rune
• Mike Perfetuo as Codex
• Jade Ramsey as Arcana
• Nikita Ramsey as Saga
• Zachary James Rukavina as xB/Nameless

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• John Ales as Bruce Maddox (archive footage)
• Apolla Asteria as a Coppelius android
• Michelle Chelle as a Coppelius android
• Rochelle Chelle as a Coppelius android
• Anna Chiasson as a Coppelius android
• Ashley Chiasson as a Coppelius android
• K DaCosta as a Coppelius android
• Antoine Holmes as a Coppelius android
• Spencer Holmes as a Coppelius android
• Scottie Hulin as a Coppelius android
• Natalie Kailey as a Coppelius android
• Sara Kelly as a Coppelius android
• Maya McClean as a Coppelius android
• Nandy McClean as a Coppelius android
• Marina Miller as a Coppelius android
• Jay Jay Moon as a Coppelius android
• Josh Moreno as a Coppelius android
• Celina Nguyen as a Coppelius android
• Kitty Nguyen as a Coppelius android
• Julia Nolan as a Coppelius android
• Liz Nolan as a Coppelius android
• David Paymer as Moritz Benayoun (archive footage)
• Geoff Samuels as a Coppelius android
• Greg Paul Samuels as a Coppelius android
• Anna Waldrum as a Coppelius android
• Illusory aging Human woman
• Illusory decaying fox
• Illusory humanoid arm
• Illusory soldiers
• Ten Coppelius androids

Stunt doubles [ ]

• Tim Storms as stunt double for Patrick Stewart

Stand-ins [ ]

• John Funk as stand-in for Patrick Stewart

References [ ]

admiral ; Admonition ; aging ; Aia ; alliance of synthetic life ; android ; arrest ( house arrest ); Artifact ; artificial intelligence ; asshole ; Attack on Mars ; ban ; baseball ; baseball glove ; battery pack ; Beautiful Flower ; Beautiful Flower's ship ; bio-function ; Borg cube ; brain ; butterfly ( Coppelius butterfly ); captain ; cat ; cell ; children ; chroniton field ; class M ; cloaking device ; commodore ; comm pin ; computing ; Coppelius (aka Ghulion IV ); Coppelius android ; Coppelius beacon ; Coppelius' moons ; Coppelius Station (aka " Synthville "); course ; Data ; day ; Daystrom Institute ; death ; decomposition ; deep learn ; Deep Space 12 ; DermaGel ; disruptor cannon ; doctor ; Earth ; eye ; father ; fear ; Federation ; first contact ; flower ; food replicator ; force field ; fox ; fungus ; general ; Ghulion system ; Ghulion system sun ; golden ; golem ; head ; holding cell ; holo ; hug ; Hugh ; hybrid ; hyperfrequency ; hypospray ; Ibn Majid , USS ; illusory android ; illusory robotic arm ; illusory Starfleet android ; imagination ; injury ; Jana ; ka'athyra ; kilometer ; larva ; La Sirena ; lava ; lie ; light year ; Locutus of Borg ; logic ; long range scanner ; mad scientist ; magic hand ; manipulator ; Mars ; mass murderer ; medical tricorder ; medikit ; memory ; micro processor ; mind meld ; mind transfer ; minute ; murder ; name ; Narek's snakehead ; neuro computer ; orchid (flower); orchid (weapon); " organic "; percent ; phaser ( type 2 phaser ); " pissing me off "; prisoner ; prognosis ; proximity alert ; pulse ; " puta madre "; Qowat Milat ( qalankhkai ); quarters ; Red Lady -type ; rehabilitation ; reptiloid ; Romulan ; seat belt ; short range scanner ; sickbay ; skeleton ; snakehead ; soccer ; Soong, Noonien ; " space flower "; Spanish language ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Command ; Surak ; symptom ; synapse ; synth ship ; Tal Shiar ; tan qalanq ; tattoo ; Televox ; three-dimensional chess ; tracking device ; transwarp conduit ; trauma ; treatment ; turbulence ; Vitruvian Man ; Vulcan ; water ; xB ; year ; Zhal Makh

External links [ ]

• " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 " at the Internet Movie Database
• Observations in PIC: "Et in Arcadia Ego I"  at Ex Astris Scientia
• " "Star Trek: Picard Episode 9, "Et in Arcadia Ego"" " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

Star Trek: Picard (TV Series)

Et in arcadia ego, part 2 (2020).

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“Part 2” does its due diligence, offering enormous spectacle and fan service by the bucketload (Captain Riker? Check! Picard Maneuver? Check!). But ultimately, this is (or at least tries to be) the story of an old man and the android that haunts his dreams. That’s what this whole thing has been about, right? Well, that’s what the first and last episodes were about anyway, everything in between was more to do with juggling the Borg, the Romulans, and various other ghosts from Picard’s past.

Showdown at Coppelius

All these elements crash into each other this week—the Zhat Vash forces, led by Commodore Oh, arrive at the Synth homeworld and unleash a barrage of phaser fire on the orchids, while Picard tries to stall long enough for Soji to change her mind. The conflict here largely rings false though, since it took seven episodes to really get in Soji’s head and only two to show her betray Picard and then come back around. On paper, it tracks that she might join Sutra to aid her fellow androids and perhaps that Picard’s speech would appeal to the humanity she’d gained throughout the season. But to say the show has actually done the narrative legwork to get there would be generous, at best. These things happen because the plot requires it, but there’s little to actually ground it all in discernible human (or android) drama.

Picard and Soji simply have not been given time to develop a relationship that would make this land, no matter how much Stewart  acts his heart out. Unfortunately, the same can also be said about all of Picard ‘s makeshift crew, made all the more apparent as he dies in their arms. Who is Jean-Luc Picard to Raffi, Jurati, Rios, and Elnor? We’re told in dialogue that he means a considerable amount to them, and vice-versa, but as they wipe away their tears it’s all too apparent that this bunch hasn’t formed the kind of bond the show thinks they have. We spent half the season getting these people together and even less of that watching them form or rekindle any real connection, and as such, this plays like capable actors trying to salvage material that just isn’t working.

Elsewhere, Seven of Nine tangles with Narissa—who despite seemingly beaming off Artifact and onto a ship in “Broken Pieces”, is actually still on the cube. She gets kicked down a shaft for her troubles, but all this serves only as a reminder of what a godawful villain she’s been. That she could be disposed of so quickly without impacting anything else shows what an afterthought this character was in the grand scheme. Seven later expresses regret over killing again (after the events of “Stardust City Rag”), but this doesn’t coalesce into anything resembling a meaningful arc.

It’s a shame a character who was once on a journey to both understand humanity and discover herself in the process is now grappling with whether it’s right to kill in the name of vigilante justice. This material is pretty blunt, lacking in nuance and could be given to any character really, making it all the more disappointing that it was handed to one of  Trek ‘s most fascinating characters. The ending shows some promise, with a relationship with Raffi set up for season two, so perhaps there’s hope yet.

Looking to the End

Speaking of the ending, there’s also the matter of the rather large elephant in the room—that Picard, having sacrificed himself to save the day, is now an android. First off, it was my understanding that his death was caused by the unnamed syndrome affecting his brain, so all his talk of “sacrifice” was puzzling and not properly communicated in the episode. Secondly, now that Picard’s an android, what else is there to do with him? The show initially presented itself as his last journey into the unknown, but now he’s been given a get-out-of-death-free card and a cure for the unnamed syndrome, so what now? What’s the emotional core of the show now its titular character has no real purpose beyond flying around in the ship, doing… something. “Mortality gives meaning to human life”, Data tells his old Captain in a bizarre robo-limbo, a sentiment that’d land a whole lot better had they not just put his consciousness in a new android body.

And speaking of the Data scene, it feels like a cloying, haphazard way to bring the show back to where it began. The idea that Data (or some version of him) is still alive comes entirely out of nowhere, while the rushed attempt to give him a fitting send-off might work if this element was introduced more than five minutes prior. The character already died back in  Nemesis  and the revelation of his continued existence, followed by his wish to be able to die, is straining for a level of poignancy that episode just can’t give it.

But hey, at least the show actually brought this thread back, unlike the situation with the Romulan refugees—who are apparently just stuck on their planet, despite the Romulans’ ability to amass a large fleet—or the fact that Jurati killed Maddox, but remains on the crew. Even the idea that the Federation had lost its way got swept under the rug, with the big ‘Starfleet to the rescue’ moment being a wholly triumphant one, despite no effort being made to show us how their position has changed. Sure, the synth ban is lifted, but that happens entirely off-screen, with none of our characters being involved in the decision. It’s all just paying lip service to ideas without any kind of long-term follow-up.

And that about sums up the season, really—some interesting ideas, and great performances, but nowhere for them to go. The episodes, bar one or two, just weren’t strong enough as standalone entries and the larger story was a puzzling, unwieldy mess that failed to say anything about the man at the center. Whether or not “Part 2” was the worst entry in  Picard ‘s first season is up for debate, but what it did was to highlight all that’s made it a well-produced but frustrating show that, sadly, fell shy of the mark. Until next season!

Further Thoughts

• The magical device that can fix ships and produce images out of thin air is oh so emblematic of the shows lazy, thoughtless writing.
• What was the point of Oh and Narissa infiltrating Starfleet, again? Throw that on the pile of forgotten plot threads, I guess.
• Boy, it’s going to be awkward when robo-Picard meets the rest of the old crew next season, huh.

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Screen Rant

Picard never appeared in star trek’s mirror universe but his doppelganger was just as evil.

TNG never visited the Mirror Universe, but Star Trek: Picard revealed that the Confederation of Earth's Jean-Luc was just as evil as any Terran.

• General Picard's reign of terror in the Confederate Earth was just as brutal as the Mirror Universe's Terran Empire.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation never visited the Mirror Universe due to a cooler, scientific approach by the producers.
• Fans had to wait until Star Trek: Picard to meet General Picard's evil alternate, as TNG rejected the idea.

Audiences never met the Mirror Universe version of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), but Star Trek: Picard revealed that he had an evil doppelgänger who was just as evil as anyone in the Terran Empire. In Picard season 2, the machinations of Q (John de Lancie) created an alternate timeline in which the United Federation of Planets becomes the Confederation of Earth. This brutal regime was the antithesis of Star Trek's Federation, drawing comparisons between the Confederation and the Terran Empire .

Both the Confederation and the Terran Empire placed humanity above all other species in the galaxy, leading to a bloody and brutal subjugation of other alien races. As Star Trek: TNG didn't visit the Mirror Universe , General Picard was the closest that fans got to seeing his evil counterpart. Just like the Mirror Universe version of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), the Confederation's General Picard was a cruel despot who had conquered countless worlds and killed scores of enemies .

Worf Ruled The Mirror Universe In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (No, Really)

General picard of confederation of earth was as evil as mirror universe.

Of the many reveals about Star Trek: Picard 's Confederation , the information about General Picard and his reign of terror was the most chilling. General Picard annihilated the Klingon home world Qo'noS, much like the Mirror Universe's Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) did in Star Trek: Discovery . Rather than command the USS Enterprise-D, Picard was in command of the CSS World Razer, a fearsome looking starship of which an oil painting was hung in the General's study . General Picard's study was also decorated with the skulls of some notable Star Trek figures, including:

• Borg Sentinel One of Two
• Grand Nagus Zek (Wallace Shawn)
• Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo)
• General Martok (J.G. Hertzler)
• Director Sarek (Mark Lenard)

Like his Prime Universe counterpart, General Picard also had a synthetic body, which he had acquired following a battle with Gul Dukat . The General's chateau was staffed by both Romulan and synthetic slaves, who maintained his home while he was on important business for the Confederation Corps. When Prime Picard arrives in the Confederation reality in Star Trek: Picard season 2, it's on the eve of Eradication Day, in which the General is scheduled to publicly execute the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching). The Borg Queen's skull would have joined the others in Picard's trophy room if Jean-Luc and the La Ceritos crew hadn't saved her.

Why Star Trek: The Next Generation Never Went To The Mirror Universe

The notion of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode set in the Mirror Universe existed from as early as 1987, when David Gerrold joked about a sequel to "Mirror, Mirror" in Starlog magazine which would have featured Edith Keeler (Joan Collins) and dangerous, carniverous Tribbles . Jerome Bixby, who wrote the original Mirror Universe episode of Star Trek: The Original Series pitched a sequel for TNG that would have featured older versions of the TOS characters . However, this idea was rejected by Paramount, who didn't want to feature them so heavily in TNG .

Of the many Mirror Universe episodes pitched to Star Trek: The Next Generation , hardly any of the failed pitches have become public knowledge.

A.J. Black's book Lost Federations: The Unofficial Unmade History of Star Trek suggests that the pulpy idea of a darkest timeline didn't sit well with " The Next Generation's cooler, scientific approach to Star Trek, particularly in the Piller era. " Black's assumption is largely correct, backed up by Michael Piller himself. Piller explained that he " wasn't interested " in revisiting the Mirror Universe during TNG , despite the multiple "Mirror, Mirror" sequels that were pitched to him . While Piller would eventually acquiesce and produce a "Mirror, Mirror" sequel on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , fans would have to wait until Star Trek: Picard to meet Jean-Luc's evil alternate.

All episodes of Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: The Next Generation are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Picard

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After starring in Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons and various other Star Trek projects, Patrick Stewart is back as Jean-Luc Picard. Star Trek: Picard focuses on a retired Picard who is living on his family vineyard as he struggles to cope with the death of Data and the destruction of Romulus. But before too long, Picard is pulled back into the action. The series also brings back fan-favorite characters from the Star Trek franchise, such as Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn), and William Riker (Jonathan Frakes).

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation is the third installment in the sci-fi franchise and follows the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew members of the USS Enterprise. Set around one hundred years after the original series, Picard and his crew travel through the galaxy in largely self-contained episodes exploring the crew dynamics and their own political discourse. The series also had several overarching plots that would develop over the course of the isolated episodes, with four films released in tandem with the series to further some of these story elements.