As with Star Trek: Discovery, the show’s latest risky spin-off, Star Trek: Picard, is mired in darkness. Here, in the bitter twilight of Jean Luc Picard’s professional life, the Federation is wrought with corruption and Picard wears an immovable, puzzled scowl. There’s no Worf proclaiming he is “not a merry man”, there’s no Data dressed up as Sherlock Holmes. There’s no Q. There’s just death, despair and a disgraced Federation admiral on a renegade quest for justice. Oh, and a dog called Number One.
Amongst the Star Trek opening episodes, the first glimpse of Picard holds its own. Like Discovery, its lavish cinematography gives it the feel of a big budget movie. The action scenes are, when they come, fast-paced and brilliantly choreographed. But, for the most part, this is a contemplative curtain-raiser. While it lacks the oddball genius of Deep Space Nine’s opening extravaganza, it’s still riddled with big questions about trust, purpose and destiny. It could have gone so wrong but, thankfully, Star Trek: Picard does most things right.
Most of the early action, such as it is, focusses on Picard’s sleepy chateaux in France. It’s 20 years after the events of Nemesis and a disgraced Picard’s life has been left in tatters by events surrounding the destruction of Romulus. Picard has been left alone with his books, his thoughts and his regrets. “The dreams are lovely, it’s the waking up I resent,” Picard laments in typically poetic fashion after one particularly vivid, nostalgia-heavy vision.
At times, to the show’s detriment, it indulges a bit too much in lingering shots of Picard looking wistfully into middle distance. “I suppose you always had one eye on the stars,” proffers one of Picard’s housekeepers as he, somewhat clumsily, looks up at the stars. Well, yes, that’s kind of the point. But such missteps are rare and once enough exposition has been littered through the opening couple of episodes, Picard’s dull life is suddenly given some much-needed impetus.
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The main mystery, without giving too much away, centres on the legacy of the now-destroyed Commander Data. With synthetic lifeforms banned from the Federation following an android rebellion on Mars that cost thousands of lives, Picard must follow a breadcrumb trail of clues left by his former friend to understand what really happened on that fateful day. Expect that, right there, to take up the majority of the opening season. And from the clues contained in the opening episodes, it’s going to be a fun ride.
The arrival on Picard’s vineyard of a mysterious young woman called Dahj really kicks the narrative into gear. Suddenly we’re off to Boston then San Francisco, Okinawa, Mars, a half-destroyed Borg cube, and the Vasquez Rocks before landing back in sleepy rural France. It’s an early display of the show’s ambition, but not one that overwhelms a script that is as tightly written as it is expertly delivered by Patrick Stewart and an ever-growing ensemble cast. Where Discovery, especially in season one, felt a bit loose and all over the place, Picard remains focussed.
And, as you might expect given the title character, Picard feels a lot closer to the Trek canon than Discovery did during its opening season. This is a political and personal drama set amongst the stars, where a former Starfleet hero must set out (almost) alone against a powerful, as-yet-unknown foe to bring about justice for one of his oldest and dearest friends. In this respect, it’s classic Star Trek – but the level of darkness and scheming on display is, somewhat inevitably, a reflection of the real world, where those in power can no longer be trusted and our freedom must, once again, be fought for.
While Star Trek has (almost) always placed faith in institutions, Picard poses a very 2020 question: what if all these institutions fail? What if greed, corruption and duplicity replace service, honour and the Prime Directive? For Picard, the challenge will be how it seeks to tackle this darkness. A failure to do so risks turning this show into a relic of a bygone sci-fi era – but there’s enough in the early episodes to suggest it’s up to the task.
Crucially, this isn’t some glassy-eyed reunion. Yes, some of the Next Generation cast will pop up from time to time, but as Picard makes clear, his latest mission will require the help of someone who hates him and has nothing to lose. This is a righteous rebellion against power and corruption, not a series of chin-stroking, philosophical debates about the nature of existence in Conference Room A. Towards the end of the third episode, just as the action really gets going, Rios, one of Picard’s new misfit associates, summarises what’s really going on: “I’m not in the habit of consulting anyone about anything,” the moody Rios says, taking a long drag on a cigar before pouring himself a stiff drink. Cosmic capers with Q this most certainly is not.
And there’s something strange about seeing Jean-Luc Picard surrounded by a new cast of characters. It’s like bumping into an old friend from years ago and struggling to make sense of them in their new life. There’s still a lot of the old Picard here, but the bitterness, anger and renegade spirit take a bit of getting used to.
Patrick Stewart was, apparently, uninterested in reprising the role of Jean Luc Picard. It’s easy to see why Star Trek: Picard changed his mind. In feel and narrative this is almost a complete departure from The Next Generation. And that’s no bad thing. It allows the show to explore new complexities in the character of Picard and the fractious universe in which he lives. The loveable pomposity of old is almost entirely stripped away, but what’s left behind is far more interesting, far more human.
Star Trek: Picard is out now on Amazon Prime. Read our guide to the best shows on Amazon Prime to see what's worth watching
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
