Star Trek: Picard Finale Review - 3 Ups And 5 Downs From Et In Arcadia Ego (Part 2)

1. Data

At its heart, this has been a story about Data. About the legacy he left in the galaxy, about the impact he had on society, and about the regret Picard has over the way things ended for him. This has been a story about tying up those loose ends of his death, and celebrating the life he lived prior to it. Despite all that though, he's barely featured in it.

We've had a few dream sequences, some great dialogue exchanged about him, and even Brent Spiner popping up to play yet another Soong robotics weirdo, but virtually nothing of Data himself. One of the season's closing scenes, where Picard is temporarily sharing digital dream space with the living memory of Data, made absolutely everything leading up to this point (the good and the bad) worth it.

We'll overlook the slightly jarring hair and makeup here (Picard himself even lightly makes fun of it with that “strange, beautiful face” line) and get to the very heart of the matter. By asking to die, and accepting that his life is precious because it cannot endure, he finally learns what it is to be human. It's as subtle, fitting, and emotive closing chapter on one of the best characters in Star Trek history.

"We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep".

Thanks for reading everyone. It wasn't perfect, but I've really enjoyed getting to spend 10 more episodes with Jean-Luc Picard. I hope you've found these columns insightful, or at the very least entertaining, and I'll see you all for Season 2.