Star Trek: Picard (2020) Season Finale Review S1E10

As a lifelong Star Trek fan, of all iterations of Star Trek, I have really enjoyed this first season of Star Trek: Picard. Picard also happens to be the first Trek T.V. series to provide a follow-up story to the main character of a previous Trek series.  The first season of Picard so far has not failed to live up to its expectations. And just as star and executive producer Patrick Stewart said on numerous occasions leading up to the launch of the show, Picard is not simply a rehash of Star Trek The Next Generation.

This Picard is not the same man we last saw nearly 20 years ago in Star Trek Nemesis. He’s not the heroic Captain we all remember. He is a broken man who is deeply haunted by his experiences, be it from his assimilation by the borg, not being able to follow through on the rescue of the Romulans from the Impending Destruction of the Romulan star and probably most by the sacrifice his friend and former officer Commander Data made to save Picard’s life during their encounter with Picard’s clone Shinzon. Over the course of the first nine episodes of season 1 of Picard, we have seen him go from a man simply waiting to die, to recapturing that sense of purpose and life.

Episode 10 picks up right where episode 9’s cliffhanger ending left off, with Picard under house arrest on the synths homeworld at the order of Data’s “Brother” Dr. Alton Inigo Soong (played by Brent Spiner) with Dr. Giratti (Played by Alison Pill) apparently helping Dr. Soong with what appears to be his devious plan to allow his Synths to contact a race of superior A.I. synthetic life, that will essentially wipe out all organic life in the universe.

While this is going on, Narek (Played by Harry Treadaway) sneaks back on to the crashed Borg cube, where Seven of 9 (played by Jeri Ryan) and Elnor (Played by Evan Evagora) are having a heartfelt conversation. They are talking about the Ex-B’s Narek encounters his sister, the villainous Narsissa, who appeared to have beamed away from the Borg cube at the end of episode 8 (but was hiding in the cube the whole time). After their conversation, where he tells her sister she needs to get the weapons on the cube back online,  Narek who reveals himself to be the black sheep of his family. He decides it’s time for him to do the right thing and help our heroes instead. After grabbing a few supplies and weapons, he makes the trek back to the La Sirrena in an attempt, with Elnor having spotted him following close behind.

Back on the La Sirrena, Captain Rios (played by Santiago Cabrera) and Raffi (played by Michelle Hurd) are working on repairing the ship, with tools given to them by the Synths. Rios is able to bring the ship back online. When they discover Narek outside the ship trying to get their attention with a plan to stop fighting and work together to fight “Their common enemy.” Inside the ship, Raffi is trying without luck to reach Picard. Narek reveals the synths are jamming all communication frequencies.

At this point, Elnor appears with his sword ready to use it on Narek. After being talked down by Rios, Elnor puts down his blade, and the four of them discuss what’s to come.  Meanwhile, the Romulan fleet led by the treacherous Commodore Oh now fully revealed to be Tal Shiar General is quickly en route to the synth homeworld to wipe it from existence.

At this point, Naarek, Rios, Rafi, and Elnor execute a plan to get back into the Synth village using a captured Narek as bait. At this point, Girati shows she did not switch sides to work with Soong and the Synths and is hatching her plan to free Picard and get him back on the La Sirrena.

While Alton, who is working on the Golum Synth body that he has built to transfer his mind into, he learns that it was his Synthetic daughter Sutra who allowed and helped Narek kill her sister in the previous episode. This causes him pain, realizing Sutra was able to manipulate him and the Synths into doing what she wanted. He leaves to confront Sutra.

Narek, Rios, Raffi, and Elnor are trying to figure out where and how they can plant the detonators they have when Soong appears. Meanwhile, Picard and Girarti launch the La Sirena, Narrsia sees this on the borg cube computer and is working to get weapons online to fire at the ship when Seven appears telling Narrisa to get away from the console and throw her weapon over the side. Narissa and Seven get into a fight, which ends with Seven kicking Narrisa off the side of the ledge to her death.

Back at the Synth village, Dr. Soong tells the synths to keep an eye on Elnor. When he goes to speak with Sutra, he hands back the mockingbird pendant that sutra used to help kill her sister and deactivates Sutra.

Up above the planet, the Romulan fleet has arrived and is preparing to sterilize the entire planet. When Giratti brings the Synths planetary defense Orchids online, and launch an attack on the Romulans. While this is going on, Picard and Giratti, see that the Orchids are quickly being wiped out. They are trying to figure out what to do.

Giratti remembers The Picard Maneuver. They begin to implement an updated version of it on a much larger scale, making it appear as though the La Sirena is in 200 plus places at once.  Commodore Oh thinks that this is a fleet of 200 plus ships orders them to turn their fire onto the hundreds of La Sirrena’s. Once the real ship takes a hit, it becomes evident to Oh what is happening. Just as Soji finished the beacon and activates it, the Romulans refocus their weapons on the planet.

Out of nowhere, a fleet of Starfleet ships led by Acting Captain William Riker Warps into orbit and orders Commodore Oh, to stand down or face the might of Starfleet’s flagship and its accompanying fleet. Oh refusing to back down orders her ships to prepare to fight. Picard’s brain abnormality begins to get worse during this, and it is obvious he doesn’t have much time left.  With Giratti’s help, Picard reaches out to Soji one last time, trying to get her to shut down the now operational beacon. He offers her the one thing that she says that her people were never given a choice. He offers his life and his assurance that the federation will protect the synths. She ultimately destroys the beacon, and The Romulans warp back to Romulan space.

As the Romulans warp away, Riker hails Picard, and they have one final conversation where he reveals that when he heard Picard’s SOS, he requested to be put back into service to help. After the federation fleet warps away, Picard’s condition gets worse. Soji turns off the transporter block and beams both Picard and Giratti back to the planet. Galant and motley crew gather around as Picard becomes weaker and closer to death,  each having their final words with him as he passes away.

Shortly after 7 and Rios share a moment and talk about both having said they would never do something, they said they wouldn’t do. 7 having killed someone again out of revenge, and Rios on allowing himself to fall into caring for another Captain only to lose him while Raffi and Elnor cry over having lost Picard.

Shortly after that, Picard reopens his eyes, sitting in a chair, thinking he was waking up from another dream when Data walks up and explains its not a dream but rather a simulation.

Where he also reveals that he is Data’s conscious recreated from a single neuron. In essence, Data is alive once again in a way.

Data and Picard have a beautiful discussion about life and death, humanity, and sacrifice. At this point, Data tells Picard he needs to leave. Because while this is a simulation, Picard is not and that Dr. Soong has created Picard a new body (the Synth Golum) and transferred Picard’s mind and consciousness into. Before “leaving,” Data requests that Picard do him a favor and deactivate his reconstructed consciousness allowing Data to die.  As Picard and Data say their goodbyes, Picard awakens and Giratti, Soji, and Soong standing over him.

Picard learns more about his new body and that while he was given a new life, he won’t live any longer than he would have otherwise lived had the brain abnormality never been in him. At this point, Picard says he has a promise to keep to a dear friend.

Cutting to Picard taking each of the data chips out of the computer holding Data’s consciousness. Intercut with Data laying down on his couch listening to a recording of Blue Skies (sung beautifully by Soji herself Isa Briones) as he lays down on his couch, and an image of Picard sits down next to him taking his hand. Data slowly slips into unconsciousness and begins to age quite rapidly. Till moments after Picard in the real world takes out the last chip and Data vanishes, seconds later, the image of Picard vanishes, and then finally, the surroundings vanish.

As the song continues to play out, it cuts back to the La Serena where everyone prepares to take off for the next adventure, with Soji joining them since the ban on synthetic life has been lifted she feels more suited for wandering instead of staying on her newly discovered home world. The ship warps off into space.

What can I say this was an amazing episode to end the series on, and opens the door to some truly incredible potential stories for seasons 2 & 3. Could this be what Q was talking about when he told Picard,  “that the exploration that awaited him was charting the unknown possibilities of existence” way back in the finale of TNG? We will have to wait and see.

There are some truly incredible performances in this episode. Each character has their moment to shine.  The episode manages to bring Picard back from “The Undiscovered Country” but not cheapen or lessen his sacrifice and death. The episode also gives Data’s arc a satisfying conclusion as well.

Speaking of Data, Brent Spiner’s final performance as Data was beautifully acted and written.  And his performance as Dr. Alton Soong was very well acted. I felt in episode 9 he was going to be revealed as being Lore upgraded into a flesh and blood synth body. Brent’s performance in episode 9 felt so in line with Lore, so seeing the resolution in episode 10 and it’s revealed he is, in fact, Alton Soong, and he wasn’t devious. He was also manipulated by Sutra in episode 9, which was handled very well.

Another highlight of the episode is when we get to see Riker back on the bridge of a ship one last time. Jeri Ryan had a great arc throughout this season, and this episode had several payoffs to her growth since her years on Voyager. Looking forward to seeing where next season takes her as well.

Akiva Goldsman did an excellent job of weaving together a satisfying conclusion for the first season as the director of this episode. Jeff Ruso’s score was another highlight as well and has consistently been one of the highlights of every episode this season.

I honestly can’t wait for season 2.

What did you think of Star Trek: Picard? Drop a comment and review below.