[Editor's Note: This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard, Season 3, Episode 2, "Disengage."]This week's episode of Star Trek: Picard brought with it the revelation that Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) secretly had Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) baby, and that's why she disappeared for the past 20+ years. In a plot twist that feels like a fever dream to longtime fans of their relationship, confirmation that they share a child comes in a stunningly beautiful scene set at the end of the episode. While Riker (Jonathan Frakes) has suspected that Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) is the offspring of his former captain and CMO since moments after their first meeting, Picard is reluctant to believe it himself. When time runs out for Picard to decide whether it's worth risking the crew of the Titan to protect Jack, Riker awakens Beverly to confirm that he is, in fact, his son.
Recently Collider's own Maggie Lovitt sat down to discuss the latest episode with Season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas. During their conversation, Lovitt asked Matalas about how the writers landed on bringing Jack Crusher to life and the answer happens to stem from Picard himself. After seeing Picard experience a pseudo-father-daughter relationship with Soji in Season 1, it felt like a natural progression to explore a father-son connection. With a mirror universe setting seeming a little too far-fetched for the final season, Matalas turned back to one of Picard's longest and most complex relationships. "It was actually a discussion with Patrick [Stewart] where I was trying to ease into the question of, 'What if it was Beverly Crusher?' And then he asked it before I did. Once he asked the question, I said, 'It was a great idea.'"
Not wanting to tell a story that had already been told, referencing Admiral Kirk having known about his own child with Dr. Carol Marcus, Matalas explained:
"You had to have Beverly Crusher have really legitimate reasons for keeping this away. So we went into a deep dive into Beverly and who she was, and we found it kind of started to make sense the more we talked about it, and the more we talked about it with Gates [McFadden]. Gates brought her own motherhood into it. And then as we brought Gates and Patrick together, and we talked about it, we were able to craft, I think, reasoning in the storyline that made sense."
Riker Recognizes "The Brash Young Man" Picard Could Be in Jack Crusher
While Picard is hesitant to believe he has a son, both Riker and the audience are quick on the uptake, easily seeing the legacy of Jean-Luc reflected in this perfect embodiment of both he and Beverly. Riker recognizes "the brash young man" Picard could be in Jack right away. It also doesn't hurt that Speleers looks like Stewart and McFadden, "I think there's a look too. I think if you look at Beverly and you look at Picard, there's certainly a bit of a hybrid happening here. I just thought that would be really fun." Matalas explains that though the official reveal doesn't come until the end of the episode, it's certainly not something they were hiding, "I didn't ever want to dance around it," said Matalas. He continued:
"Right away, the second he says, "I'm her son," I wanted them to be like, 'They know. They both know what's up.' And the idea that Riker pokes him a little bit. It's like, 'There's just something about him.' And to play the denial, for Picard, that is, 'it just can't be true. It just can't be true.' So that [when] he has that admission by the end its really satisfying."
Why That Picard/Beverly Bridge Scene Is More Effective Without Dialogue
If you've seen "Disengage," then you likely held your breath through those final moments when Riker brings Beverly out onto the bridge to see Picard. Despite not having seen each other in over 20 years, with their deep, storied history the two of them are able to have an entire conversation with looks alone. It's a beautifully crafted scene from Stewart and McFadden's performances to the visual framing and the music cues that tug on your heartstrings.
Lovitt made sure to ask Matalas about what went into creating this long-awaited moment. He explained that he had been able to pull off something similar when he worked on 12 Monkeys, "It was a key moment that happened with two characters. I remember the network in the studio at the time, they were telling me, 'There's no way that can work. There's no way you can convey basically an entire conversation of dialogue with looks.'" Matalas' instincts paid off though, "I thought with the right music cue and the right looks, and the right everything, I really felt like it could work. And it did."
Despite all of the clues laid out for Jean-Luc, Matalas and the writers knew that "the only thing that would convince him, that would pull him out of his denial, was to look Beverly in the eyes, and for her to confirm it." However, when you go to put pen to paper for that conversation, adding words tends to make it feel clunky. With acting talents like Stewart and McFadden, they are much more powerful when fueled entirely by the emotions on each of their faces. Matalas explained:
"There really is no great version of that conversation. Do you really need to hear, "'s he my son?' 'Yes, he is, Jean-Luc.' It's not great. But, there's something absolutely beautiful about these two characters who haven't seen each other in decades, and she's been absent the entire episode. At the most intense moment, Riker brings her onto the bridge, and they lock eyes, and he knows. It felt to me that it could work. I wasn't sure if I was going to get it past Patrick, but he went for it. He never doubted that it could work, and so we did it."
New episodes of Star Trek: Picard land on Paramount+ every Thursday. Check out our recent conversation with Stewart and McFadden down below, and be sure to check out our full post-mortem with Matalas on Episode 2 "Disengage".