[Editor's Note: This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 6, "Bounty."]The latest episode of Star Trek: Picard ends with Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) having found himself in quite a pickle. After breaking into Daystrom station with Raffi (Michelle Hurd) and Worf (Michael Dorn), Riker is caught in the midst of their escape, expecting to be strung up by Starfleet brass. Instead, he finds himself in the clutches of the very captain they've been running from for the past six episodes. When Vadic (Amanda Plummer) takes him hostage on the Shrike, he walks in with all of the Riker bravado that we know and love him for, making jokes at his jailer's expense, insisting that he's never betrayed his friends in worse circumstances over the last three decades. Little does he know Vadic has already taken his only weakness hostage—a forcefield lifts revealing Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) in a holding cell as the episode ends.
Recently Collider's own Maggie Lovitt sat down with Picard Season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas to unpack this episode, which features the reveals of the final three TNG cast members we've been waiting to see. When asked about his favorite moments from this particularly epic hour of television Matalas had plenty to choose from. He called out several delightful moments including "Jack and Seven looking at the ships," "The Titan decloaking and coming to the rescue," and Shaw's (Todd Stashwick) fanboy moment when he meets engineering legend Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton).
Matalas also had high praise for that final Riker scene, in which Frakes is in top form leaning into Riker's comedic side—Matalas even compares his performance to iconic adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) who's set to make his own epic return later this year. "I love Riker taking the punch at the end, and saying, 'Ooh, look at you. How much of that goo shit did they pour into you?'" He continued, "he's just like Indiana Jones. He's fantastic."
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 6 Sees The Whole TNG Gang Join the Series
In addition to bringing Deanna and Geordi into play, "Bounty" also saw the return of Brent Spiner in a new iteration of Data which includes other Soong prototypes Lore and B-4. But these familiar faces weren't the only ones introduced this week either! Geordi's return also saw Burton's real-life daughter Mica Burton make her first appearance as Geordi's daughter Alondra La Forge. During his conversation with Collider, Matalas also called out a moment between Geordi and his eldest daughter Sidney (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut), which sees excellent performances from both actors: "I love LeVar and Sidney's scene, you know, 'You taught me that, you taught me to believe in family, that the crew is my family.'"
You can watch this episode, which Matalas calls "one of his favorites" right now on Paramount+. New episodes of Star Trek: Picard Season 3 hit the streamer every Thursday. Make sure that you check out Lovitt's full conversation with Matalas for all the behind-the-scenes details on Episode 6 when it goes live. In the meantime, you can check out our recent conversation with Burton and Frakes below.