TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-10 "The Last Generation"

And so, it's the last episode of Star Trek: Picard, or is it the last episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation? Or the first episode of Star Trek: Legacy, or whatever the inevitable spin-off is going to be called. This episode, like the whole season, balances two goals: to tell a good, thrilling story, and to indulge the old school fans in some wholesome nostalgia. It succeeds far better at one of these than the other.

On last time - SPOILERS below, although, to be fair, you can probably guess most of what happens.

STORY

Season three suffers from the same problem, to a degree, as the previous two: the pacing is shot. While this season paced itself better than the others, it still slowed down a lot in the middle, before charging at full pelt towards the finish line. It's exacerbated by the series dumping the Changeling conspiracy storyline at the last minute and making everything about the Borg, which is massively to the season's detriment. If the Changelings had remained involved with this last battle, it might have worked, but they scarcely get a look in.

The actual plot here is straightforward: get to the beacon, shut it down or blow it up, before the assimilated fleet wipe out the Earth. But there's so much else going on around it that it adds to the rush. It's certainly exciting, but it makes it harder to feel invested in the emotional moments because there's so much else going on all the time. When you add to how unnecessary the sudden shift to the Borg apocalypse feels, it's really hard to get invested in the events. 

That's not to say that the Borg material doesn't work, although there are issues. It's great to have Alice Krige back as the Queen, even if she's only voicing her (although there's no reason Annie Wersching couldn't have played her - these two season were filmed back-to-back). We've had a few different iterations of the Queen now, and this one - desperate, ghoulishly hanging on, living off the very flesh of her drones - is particularly chilling. I also like that she's embraced evolution, moving the Borg from a group who were only interested in technology (as they were first introduced), to a collective that tried to reach perfection by combining tech and biology, to one that seems to be on the verge of embracing fully organic technology. Something genuinely interesting could have been done with this, had there been any time to explore it.

While before I said that the Borg and the Changelings didn't quite fit, on reflection, the Queen is right. Both cultures were nearly wiped out by Starfleet using germ warfare, something which this story doesn't stop to consider for long. There should be some serious questions for Starfleet about how their previous actions have had consequences as serious as the wars they were originally designed to fight, and how betraying their principles has led to such retribution. 

Quite why the Queen blames Picard for all this is unclear. Yes, they have previous, and she's long had an obsession with him that she's now transferred to Jack, but it was Janeway who infected her with the pathogen that, seemingly, all but wiped the Borg out. Picard gets closure when it comes to the Borg, but Data and Seven, who also had complex relationships with the Queen (or at least a Queen - it's complicated), get no such material.

Including the Borg as the major villains appears to tie the three seasons together, but on reflection, it actually shows up the issues with the approach taken. Each season used the Borg in a very distinct way, and none of them seem to have any consequences with regard to each other. It's baffling that Agnes and her collective aren't contacted - surely they would be the best weapon against the "classic" Borg? Yet, save for a brief mention by Shaw half a season ago, their existence is utterly overlooked. It's hardly the only example of this season dropping the rest of the series like a stone so it can do the nostalgia run. We have no idea what the long-term status of the Romulan civilisation is, or their relations with the Federation. Equally, in spite of the focus on both Picard and the new Data's status as extremely sophisticated androids, the entire culture of synths that drove the first season has been forgotten. On a more personal level, Laris is still out there waiting for Picard, who seems to have forgotten about her completely, while Seven and Raffi's relationship has ended with as little explanation as it started. 

Picard's embracing of fatherhood is rather beautiful, thanks to some touching dialogue and truly excellent performances by both Stewart and Speelers, but the "love saves the day" ending is a cop-out. That didn't work when they did it on Doctor Who with the Cybermen, and it doesn't work here. It's a shame, because Jack's temptation by the Collective is genuinely well done, and with enough time to breathe and some more logic applied, this entire plotline could have been made to work. 

A wiser person elsewhere on the internet (actually someone going by "elevatorbullpen" on Tumblr - if you happen to read this, hi!) pointed out that this whole season has bascially been the reverse of Star Trek Generations. That film spoke about the dangers of nostalgia, by positioning the "pure joy" of the Nexus as antithetical to life and growth, while this season revels in nostalgia. Additionally, Generations had the middle-aged Jean-Luc Picard comes to terms with his lack of children and a Picard family legacy. Picard's relationship with Jack undoes that, just as his focus on Beverley threatens to undo his moving on to a new relationship with Laris. Heartwarming as all this is, it comes at the expense of genuine character development.

Troi gets to do something useful and not immediately fuck it up afterwards, which might go some way towarsd explaining how she's kept her job as a counsellor in spite of her clear failings in that field. The interplay between Troi, Riker and Worf remains some of the most entertaining material in the season. The threesome line pushed it maybe a little into Lower Decks territory, but who cares, it's the last one, let them have some fun. (Plus, you just know that's what happened between them between Generations and First Contact. No wonder everything is so awkward.) It's disappointing, though, that Worf never once mentions Jadzia, in spite of all the name-dropping. Neither does Riker and Troi's daughter Kestra ever get mentioned, even during all their talk about their family.

The Star Wars-esque attack run on the gigantic cube (improbably hidden within Jupiter, where the Borg have also managed to hide a whole transwarp conduit) is great fun, but ultimately, the plot is shut down and then it's onto the handshakes and back-slapping. No exploration of the thousands of lives that must have been lost, both Starfleet and civilian; no discussion of the horrifying PTSD that the many young officers must be experiencing after losing their free will and having their very genes corrupted. Everyone gets a promotion or a new ship (Starfleet's system of commission and advancement really is a joke, but we already knew that). An era of Star Trek gets closure, but the season's story doesn't.

(Additionally, the status of the Borg is very much up in the air now. Supposedly they've been wiped out, Agnes and the Happy Hive not withstanding. This seems very hard to believe. We've seen other cubes being reactivated, including one on Prodigy, which was left dormant following Janeway's attack on the Collective. It seems more likely that this was just one fragment of the Collective, the one at the centre of the pathogen's release as seen in VOY "Endgame." It would be very easy to bring the Borg back by finding another cube out there, dormant but ready to be reactivated and recruit a new Queen. The Borg are mentioned in Discovery so are still a concern in the 32nd century, it seems, and Lower Decks had that cute scene of "the far future" which had young Borg in a classroom with other races, although that is probably related to Agnes's lot. Either way, we'll be seeing the Borg again someday. They're Star Trek's Daleks - how many times have they been conclusively wiped out, only to return?)

NOSTALGIA

However, when assessed purely as an exercise in nostalgia, this episode, and the season as a whole, is a roaring success. There's a lot of nostalgic indulgence on TV at the moment - the one-off Power Rangers special, Once and Future, was also released this week, on Netflix. While it's nowhere near as well-made, written or performed as something like Picard, by its very nature, Once and Future basically served the same purpose "The Last Generation." It exists purely as an exercise in nostalgia, with the story designed purely to get in as many references to the past and as much spectacle as possible, utilising as many fondly-remembered actors as are currently available and could be afforded. (Once and Future was utter bobbins, but it was also rather sweet and I really enjoyed it.)

For those of us who grew up with The Next Generation and its spin-offs, this final instalment was a joy. One fan-pleasing moment after another, it was chock-full of surprising cameos and graitfying callbacks. No wonder the story was so poor - it simply wasn't the point of the exercise. This is fanwank, pure and simple, and while it's entirely possible to write something that's resolutely celebratory and indulgent and still has a good story, it's very clear what the priority was here. It wasn't even confined to the TNG era; The Voyage Home was heavily referenced at both ends of the episode.

Watching it, when the stakes were high, it really looked like not all our heroes would make it out alive. (Imagine if the Enterprise-D hadn't made it out of the cube, and we'd lost the whole TNG cast? Try bringing them back again after that!) In the end, we've actually ended up with more of the TNG command crew alive than we started with. In spite of the undoing of earlier storylines, it's hard to be mad at Data's resurrection, when Brent Spiner is so clearly having a ball playing this new, more emotive version of his greatest character. At the end, when everyone is promoted and their proper place, there's a rightness to it all. Of course, it had to end with a poker game; nothing else would suffice. (Although, I'm still amazed that the human officers are happy to play against a psychic and an android.)

Remarkably, we were supposed to have even more cameos. Kate Mulgrew and Garret Wang were supposed to joing Tim Russ for Seven's interview. After name-dropping her multiple times this season, it's kind of weird that Janeway wasn't there at the end. It would have been nice see Captain Kim too (although it would have been much, much funnier if he'd still been an ensign). I'm genuinely not keen on Seven staying with Starfleet; I don't feel she should resign because she doesn't think she's cut out for it, but simply that Starfleet isn't really her path. The same goes for Jack Crusher. Not everyone has to end up in Starfleet for their journey to be valid.

But it still presses the right buttons when we see Captain Seven on the Enterprise-G with Raffi as First Officer, Jack-of-all-trades being cheeky on her other side, Sidney La Forge at the helm, all ready to lead the clearly signposted spin-off. (Although half the reason we wanted that was for Shaw, so with him gone, are we really that bothered? What would he think about a ship run by two ex-Borgs and a Borg's ex?) When the shuttle approached the ship-formerly-known-as-the-Titan, it was inevitable that the ship would be revealed as the Enterprise, although for a moment I did hope it would instead be the USS Picard. 

In true Marvel style, we get a mid-credits sequence, which might as well have been followed by a caption saying "the Enterprise-G will return." Jack is visited by Q, with John de Lancie filming the cameo quickly during his time on the previous season. There's absolutely no reason Q can't appear in spite of dying in that season; as he says, that's "thinking too linearly." I'd already assumed that the Q we saw last year was probably from millions of years into the future, heading back to visit his old friend one last time. It's an entirely unnecessary addition, but fun nonetheless. It's more surprising that we don't get a cameo from Whoopi Goldberg, given the time spent in Guinan's bar.

As frustrating as this episode proved to be as the culmination of both the season and the series, there were so many moments that made me smile that it's hard to dislike it. This will doubtless be comfort viewing in the future, and that was really the limit of its ambition in the first place. 

OBSERVATIONS

Walter Koenig voices the Federation President, Anton Chekov, seemingly the son of his character Pavel, allowing the original series cast a place in the events, and heavily calling back to a similar announcement in The Voyage Home. Aside from the obvious allusion to the Russian author, he is clearly named after the late Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in the reboot movies.

The opening sequence also recreates part of the original opening titles of The Next Generation, which is a nice touch. The modern Trek intro card has been changed for one episode, showing the Enterprise-D in place of the Titan and using the Borg theme from First Contact.

As well as Koenig and Krige providing vocal performances, Majel Barrett's computer voice is reused on the Enterprise-D. Riker's line, "I missed that voice," is a really lovely touch.

At the end of this episode, Picard remains admiral and Riker captain, both seemingly again on reserve rather than active duty. Data retains his previous self's rank of lieutenant commander. Geordi remains Commodore and Curator of the Fleet Museum. Worf still holds the rank of captain, but it's not clear if he is back in standard Starfleet service or still working for Starfleet Intelligence.

Dr. Crusher has returned to Starfleet, been promoted to admiral and is now Head of Starfleet Medical. Deanna Troi remains a commander, and is somehow back on duty as counsellor, in spite of her clear violation of medical ethics on numerous occasions (although I wonder if she's been stuck with Data every day because she's being kept from the many, many young officers who must have PTSD).

On the new Enterprise, Seven of Nine has been promoted to Captain, Raffi to commander as First Officer, and Jack is now a fast-tracked ensign with the completely made-up-on-the-spot role of "special counsellor." At least he admits it's nepotism.

As fun as Q's appearance is, I'd had prefered it if Wesley had shown up to meet his brother. At least to explain to him that's he's not dead, whatever his mother says.

This is only the second time an episode of Trek has had the same person credited as writer and director - Terry Matalas in this case. The previous instance was John Meredith Lucas on TOS "Elaan of Troyius" in 1968.

According to Matalas, Ro Laren was also supposed to appear again, having somehow survived the destruction of her shuttle earlier in the season. Thank god that wasn't followed up - you can't just undo every dramatic moment in the entire series.

Best line: "You are a part of myself I didn't know I was missing."