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Full spoilers follow for this episode. 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. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-trek-picard-photos&captions=true"] 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.) [poilib element="accentDivider"] [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/picard-clip-the-picard-squad-returns-to-the-borg-cube"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] 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. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-trek-picard-explaining-all-the-different-datas&captions=true"] 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?
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