Star Trek: Picard is finally giving viewers what they’ve been wanting since the show first premiered. Throughout Season 3, the show has slowly been reassembling the original cast of The Next Generation (TNG) for a grand reunion, all while telling a story that builds off plot threads from not just that show but also Deep Space Nine and Voyager. In a lot of ways, it feels like a total 180 from previous seasons and has been a major jump in quality for the show. But as we approach the finale, a flaw in this season’s strategy has started to show. Seeing the original cast of TNG back together is a delight, but now Picard has too many characters and not enough time to go around between them all.
The First Half of the Season Was Full of Strong Characters
Picard took a restrained approach to bringing the old crew back together. The first episode only features William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) alongside the titular Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Over the next few episodes, the show slowly introduced other members of the original cast, taking its time in building up to the triumphant reunion at the end of Episode 8, “Surrender.” But in the meantime, the show introduced a variety of other characters, both returning from previous seasons and entirely new for this one. Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) were the only characters to carry over from previous seasons (other than Picard himself). Both of them picked up story threads from previous seasons, with Raffi struggling not to relapse and Seven trying to find her place in the Alpha Quadrant and Starfleet. The show also introduced new characters, such as the captain of the USS Titan-A Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick), Beverly’s mysterious son Jack (Ed Speelers), and Titan Helmsman Sydney La Forge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut).
In the early episodes, most of the cast (excluding Raffi and Worf (Michael Dorn), who had their own adventure on M’talas Prime) were all stuck together on the Titan trying to evade the Shrike and its menacing captain, Vadic (Amanda Plummer). This led to some rich character drama, allowing the show to really dig into its characters. Some standout moments include Picard and Beverly’s conversation after the revelation that Jack was Picard’s son or Raffi and Worf’s excellent dynamic on M’talas Prime. Shaw’s character was particularly fascinating, and it was a delight watching him slowly overcome his disdain for ex-Borg and come to respect Seven and Picard despite his reservations. The season could’ve sat back and rested on the nostalgia of bringing the TNG crew back together for one last adventure. But instead, it committed to telling compelling stories about its characters, old and new.
The Cast Got Too Big
Unfortunately, that approach ran into some trouble after the midpoint of the season. As the rest of the TNG cast returned and Raffi and Worf joined up with the crew of the Titan there was less and less time for characters to breathe. There were still good character moments--such as Data (Brent Spiner) and Geordi La Forge’s (LeVar Burton) very sweet reunion scene and Riker and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) reconciling while held captive on the Shrike. But these moments were fewer and farther between. Characters that weren’t the TNG crew started to have less to do. Raffi hasn’t done anything substantial since arriving on the Titan other than technobabble about Picard’s stolen corpse. Shaw and Seven have mostly been relegated to being side characters, their plotlines falling to the wayside even as they should be becoming even more relevant because of the direction the show is taking.
The most frustrating part is how the season set up arcs for these characters that should have directly involved them in the events of the later episodes. Much of Raffi’s characterization in Seasons 1 and 2 is built around her tumultuous relationship with her ex-husband and son. It would make a lot of sense for her to provide some insight into Picard’s struggles with Jack. Or take Seven and Shaw, both of whom have a deeply personal history with the Borg. Episode 9 (“Vox”) made this especially relevant with its reveal that the Borg were working with the Changelings to infiltrate and destroy Starfleet. Given how much they were both used to foreshadow and set the stage for the plot of the final two episodes, it’s not great how much they’ve been sidelined by this point.
The Cast Size Will Negatively Impact the Ending
It’s not that Picard is actively trying to cut them out. Now that the entire cast has been brought together on the Titan, there’s simply not enough time to give every character the resolution they deserve. With one episode left to go, can the show resolve the central conflict with the Borg and all its interpersonal drama at the same time? Jack and Picard will definitely have time to resolve their differences during the climax of Episode 10, but what about characters like Seven and Raffi? Both have been on this show for longer than anyone other than the titular character himself and yet it’s hard to imagine Season 3 making time to resolve their lingering threads. Season 3 broke them up with little fanfare and hasn’t addressed their relationship beyond a single scene for the sake of a joke. And then there’s Raffi’s estranged family, which hasn’t come up since Episode 2. Picard has spent a lot of time exploring the emotional impact of Raffi losing her family, and it seemed like Season 3 was planning to bring some resolution to that story. But now that seems immensely unlikely since the focus seems to be almost exclusively on the TNG crew coming to save the day one last time.
That’s not to say everything has been bad or ignored. “Vox” gave Shaw a satisfying (if disappointing) conclusion to his story, finally using Seven’s preferred name to hand over command of the Titan with his last breath. But it does feel a little hollow, given how little we’ve seen from him over the last few episodes. While it’s understandable for the show to want to focus on the crew of the Enterprise-D and give them one last hurrah, that’s not the only thing that this season promised with its first few episodes. And it’s a shame since Shaw, Seven, Raffi, and the others have all been compelling characters. They deserve a last hurrah, too.