Star Trek: Picard THE LAST GENERATION (Review)

We have come to the end of Star Trek: Picard. So much has been riding on this final season. Not just for this show itself but for the characters that reinvigorated the franchise more than three decades ago. A swan song for the command crew of the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D

Starting On A Different Beat

We start off with the new Star Trek title card that is on each of the current running shows, but even that gets assimilated. Yes immediately giving us that sense of dread and setting us all on RED ALERT.

Starting off on a black screen we hear a transmission of the President of the United Federation of Planets Anton Chekov, no not the one with the “newklear wessels”. Rather a descendent of Kirk’s helmsmen, voiced by the legend Walter Koenig himself. The opening even goes thru the same gas cluster as if it was an episode of The Next Generation.

They Were Here The Whole Time

The Borg Queen truly has been playing the long game. to the point of using The Giant Red Spot on Jupiter as the exit for a transwarp conduit, hiding and waiting. It is a perfect place to be camouflaged in the Sol system ready to strike at the Federation.

We go back to the same old tried and true meat and potatoes, Save the Crew on the Cube. Data insists on going as his super positronic brain would be a valuable asset, but he is overruled as that same brain will serve its purpose on the ship. Picard says his goodbyes and with Riker and Worf beams over to the open-armed/ unarmed Borg ship.

A Borg Is Just A Borg

As the elder away team searches the cube looking for Jack. The ship has a very different feeling it’s almost a ghost ship a shell of what it used to be. That’s because the Borg in their pods are dead, like dead dead. Their biologics seem to have been sucked out for what purpose… unknown.

Riker and Worf both find the hub with the schematics to the ship and are attacked by Zombie Borg. When they were both pinned down, and Worf took a shot to the shoulder. Worf had a blaster hidden in his Kur’leth.

Picard finds his son in full Borg regalia, and we get a view of The Borg Queen she is on death’s door that’s why she has been “vampiring” her drones just to get by. She goes on with the villain monologue on how the Borg needs to evolve.

Picard tries to speak to his son, but it’s not working and what does? Plugging into the hive mind to find his son. After an emotional scene of Picard admitting that Jack is the missing part making life complete.

Over on the Enterprise Jordi has the con with Diana at his side, Dr. Crusher at tactical, and Data at the helm doing their best to take on the cube. They realize that they can’t get into the structure to blow it up. Data convinces them from his gut and with thousands of teraflops of cognitive power he can lead them right to the center of the cube.

After a great action sequence careening the inner workings of the Borg ship. The Enterprise crew realizes that if they take out the transmitter they will destroy the ship and their family too. Worf, Riker, and Picard knew this risk before they beamed over.

With no way to find them, Diana has the AH-HA moment and uses her betazoid abilities to find her love. Springing to the helm she steers the ship right to Jack, Picard, Worf, and her husband. They zoom out as the Borg Queen is finally gone.

A Titan-sized Problem

With the last few remaining crew members on the Titan, Seven and Rafi take back the bridge with a clever new kit-bashed “Beam me up Blaster.” Having locked the junior officers in the transporter bay. The motley bridge crew figures out that the fleet formation is based on line of sight. Well, thank goodness for that “borrowed” cloaking device. They take several runs across the fleet as they turn their focus on Earth’s major cities all to no avail as the junior Borgs take back the ship. Before a firefight on the bridge ensues the Borg queen is eliminated.

Extra Extra Epilogues

Everyone gets their happy endings:

Admiral Crusher becomes head of Starfleet Medical and fixes the genetic problems from the borg using transporters, and fishes out the last remaining Changlings too.

Raffi finally gets her redemption as a mysterious benefactor released classified documents leaking her accomplishments in her undercover work. Thanks, Worf!

The Riker’s plan to finally see the galaxy again just the choice of destination is hard, to say the least.

Data is coming to terms with his new life experience, frequently seeing the counselor.

Geordi returns to the fleet museum to be the caretaker of Starfleet history.

Jack gets fast-tracked into Starfleet and his first post. We knew it as the USS Titan-A, but she has been rechristened as the Enterprise-G under the command of Captian Seven of Nine with Raffi as her number one.

Admiral’s Log: Star Trek Picard: The Last Generation

This just like TNG‘s finale was good, not great. The advancements we’ve had in 35 years have lent themselves to a visually stunning series. Having the show on Paramount+ gave the wiggle room to use more colorful language too. But this read exactly like a run-of-the-mill TNG “problem of the week” episode.

Going into this finale season my phasers have been locked on for a huge emotional reunion and resolution. This fell flat. I’m not taking away from ANY of the actors’ performances, but I think there could have been some changes for the sake of better storytelling. I’m glad that everyone got a happy ending, but I was so ready for something big, morbidly I was waiting for someone to die.

Will Star Trek: Picard lead to future spin-offs and other stories? Is there going to be a NEXT NEXT Generation?

Q knows?!

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