10 Most Uplifting Star Trek Moments
4. Picard Tells Soji About Data - Broken Pieces
In Broken Pieces, Soji and Picard have finally met and grown to understand one another, albeit still tenuous. Their time on Nepenthe, while rocky in the beginning, finally managed to get Picard to show her the man he really is rather than the man experience has made him. This is a woman that, through her twin, he has watched die horribly and he has spent the season trying to save her. His actions when he gets her speak as someone who expects her to understand that completely. Conversely, she has never met him before and he may just be another Romulan lie.
Once they begin to understand each other a little better and arrive on La Sirena, they take a moment to wind down and grab a bite to eat. Soji asks Picard about her supposed father, the one and only Data. At first, Picard describes him as he has done a thousand times before. Soji then goes a little deeper, asking him what he hopes Data thought of him.
Watch this scene a few times if you can - there is stellar work on show. Picard hesitates, afraid to really go down that rabbit hole. He describes himself as he wanted Data to see him, twenty years after the fact. This isn't describing their relationship - this is describing everything Picard wanted to be for him. It is both heartbreaking and beautiful, capped with Soji's small - 'he loved you' at the end. This is the moment that Star Trek Picard earned its wings.