Star Trek: 10 WORST Things Captain Picard Has Ever Done
2. Held A Pointless Grudge For Thirty Years
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but so is having the wisdom and knowledge of a person’s intent. Ro Laren was someone who Picard knew very well, so her defection to the Maquis shouldn’t have come as big of a shock as it was, nor as the betrayal he inferred it to be. Being fair to Picard, one can be single minded when in the mission, so much so that it’s hard to see the wood for the trees.
He was, however, more concerned with the mission than the person undertaking it. Ro was clearly affected by the plight of the settlers in the Demilitarised Zone, and tried to tell him as much. He responded as a captain, not a confident. This would come back to haunt him. Thirty years would pass before he would encounter Ro again. She thankfully elected to return to Starfleet before the Dominion alliance with the Cardassion Union, which definitely saved her life.
There, she served her time, then worked her way back up the ranks once more. She confronted him on the Titan-A, as even after all that time, it was the pain between them both that proved they were who they said they were. In those few moments they had together, they both saw the futility of the grudge that had kept them apart. If we strictly judge by what we saw on screen, then this would be the last time that they would interact. It may have been too little, too late - but it was something at least.