Star Trek: All Good Things - Reality Vs Fiction

What Happens In The Episode: In many ways, All Good Things serves as an omen and a cautionary tale for Picard. Q could very well have left him to his fate, though chose to act and give him the tools to understand the paradox. Along the way, Picard learned of the defect in his brain. This defect would rear its ugly head in Star Trek: Picard.

While it would serve to drastically shorten his life, the events of All Good Things also taught him what was important around him, not least in the relationships he had somewhat avoided with his crew. The final shot of him joining the poker game summed up what the audience knew the whole time - this was a family, separated only by duty.

What Really Happened: As the years went by, he served as Best Man at the Riker-Troi wedding, along with commanding the Romulan relief effort that Geordi was also in charge of. He felt the loss of Commander Data keenly, freeing his friend from purgatory in the years that passed. He knew to call on the Rikers when in trouble, leaving only his relationship with Worf and Beverly uncertain in the future.

He may never have become an ambassador, nor created any temporal anomalies in the Devron System, but the Picard of All Good Things displayed a respect and love for his crew that absolutely shone through in the years that followed.