Star Trek: Picard - S3 E10 - "The Last Generation"
April 20, 2023
'Star Trek: Picard' Season 3 Finale Review: One of the Most Satisfying Series Endings Ever
“What began over thirty-five years ago, ends tonight.”
In today’s streaming landscape, few shows are afforded the chance to deliver happily ever afters, and even fewer of those—who are given the chance to wrap up their stories—take it upon themselves to deliver finales that are satisfying from beginning to end. From the start, Star Trek: Picard has been one of the best series on television. It smartly paid homage to the past, while charting its own course through the stars, and with the final season it returned fully to its Star Trek: The Next Generation roots with legacy-making success.
Other franchises could learn from what Star Trek has delivered with Picard. Your beloved heroes can be flawed, and their offspring can be tormented by galactic baddies, and everyone can still make it home at the end of the day. Franchises like Star Trek are precious and generational and when you’re bringing something so monumental to a close, you don’t want to leave your audience in tears of sorrow, you want to leave them with tears of joy.
To perfectly bookend the Season 3 premiere, which was aptly entitled “The Next Generation,” Star Trek: Picard comes to a close with stunning visuals and a deep well of emotion with “The Last Generation. ” The episode opens with a dire message from President Anton Chekov (voiced by the original Pavel Chekov actor Walter Keonig) who warns that Earth’s planetary defenses are falling to the Borg’s attack, and while he urges listeners to save themselves from the young who have been turned against them by the Borg, he remains hopeful that there is a way out of the situation.
The crew of the Enterprise accesses the damage that Spacedock is sustaining and, while it is managing to hold its own against the fleet’s attack, Riker (Jonathan Frakes) questions where the cavalry is to save Earth. Unfortunately, as Data (Brent Spiner) reveals, the hails from the Federation and all other ships in the vicinity have gone completely silent. They are all that remains of the cavalry. With the realization that they are all that stands between Borg destroying Earth, they track down where the Borg Cube has been hiding within the gasses of Jupiter, and discover that they are using Jack (Ed Speleers) as a Command signal to broadcast their assimilation. With the solemness of a parent and the determination of a captain, Picard (Patrick Stewart) explains that in order to save Earth, and the galaxy, they will have to sever the beacon’s connection: no matter the cost.
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What an AWESOME finale!
I don't know how it could have been any better. What a great send-off for the TNG crew!
I loved it!
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How cool was it to hear Walter Koenig's voice as Chekov's son?
Take it in, one last time.
Imagine how HUGE the Borg cube had to be to fly a Galaxy class starship around inside it.
The 1701-D takes its place in the fleet museum (albeit a little big for its observation ring), next to what looks like Picard's other ship, the Stargazer.
The Titan is rechristened as the Enterprise G, but isn't the Enterprise F is still in service?
The Enterprise G's Bridge crew; with Captain Seven of Nine, First Officer Raffi, and Counselor Jack.
The final scene of the TNG crew. Another one to take in. It's very likely the last time we'll see them together.
And in the post-credits scene.... Q returns, because of course he did!
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For those not in the know... There's quite a bit of clamor going on about the possibility of a Picard spin-off series called Star Trek: Legacy that would take place on the (now) Enterprise G, with (now) Seven in command, along with Raffi and Jack (apparently), and the rest of the crew from this season. And let's not forget Q coming back to haunt Picard's son, LOL. Sounds great! I'm all for it.
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And finally, a couple of quick points on the new season of Strange New Worlds – Carol Kane is the new chief engineer (never would have guessed that one), and the Klingons look normal again!
That's a great teaser trailer above. Be sure to watch it, and beware of revolving doors.
I'm going to constantly be expecting her to say "I'm not a witch; I'm your wife!"
I finally got around to watching the last episode and was struck by what seemed to me to be a somewhat glaring omission(?). Where were Agnes and her Borg in all of this? My guess is they just left them out as it would have moved away and detracted from the final story line. But imagine Agnes's who are part of the Federation taking on the bad Borg. That would have been interesting.
That was amazing!! It was everything I was hoping for, including a great ending. It does look like they are setting up a sequel with 7 as the captain and Jack as her number 1?
Wait to see what happens there.
I think Raffi was First Officer. Jack was only an ensign via an accelerated training path at the Academy?
That could be
Great final episode, though I still missed Agnes not showing at all if the Borg were involved. I'd be all in on the spin off if it happens.
Yeah, someone really screwed the pooch with the Borg story last season. I hate that, but I loved this final season. It's the best of the three by far, imo.
But now that I think about it, because of all the timeline weirdness, the Agnes Borg are probably something separate from the regular collective in the regular timeline. I guess they could still be out there peacefully guarding that portal thing.
I just caught up, and wow! Such a good finale! Leaving room for more.
One bone to pick - surely, Geordi could have had somebody else take over at tactical, so that Beverly didn't think she was firing the shot that would kill her own son. That just seemed over-the-top cruel.
Great to see, or at least hear, Alice Krige as the Borg Queen again. She's such an excellent villain.
I need to know what Seven's catch phrase is going to be. I was half hoping for Janeway's "Do it", and half hoping she'd come up with something new for herself. So I guess I'll be watching the spinoff.
And ending with the TNG crew playing poker - excellent homage to the TNG series finale.
I think Terry Matalas should write all Trek series from here on out.
I didn't even think of that. Shouldn't Worf have been on Tactical?
Totally with you on that. If they go ahead with the spin-off, he'd better be the show runner.
He was still on the Borg cube at the time. IMO, the logical choice would have been either Data or Geordi himself. The only other person available would have been Deanna, and she'd have thought she was killing her husband.
Oh, yeah.
I wonder if that dilemma came up in the writers' room.
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