Star Trek: Picard Fixes The Biggest Problem With First Contact
Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard season 1, episode 6.
Star Trek: Picard episode 6 finally fixed the biggest problem with Star Trek: First Contact: Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) ruthlessness toward the Borg. After spending half of Star Trek: Picard season 1 gathering his crew and filling in backstory, the Starfleet legend finally came face-to-face with Soji Asha (Isa Briones), the late Commander Data's (Brent Spiner) synthetic daughter, aboard the Romulan's Borg Cube Artifact. Picard also had a heartwarming reunion with Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco) from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Most importantly, Jean-Luc gained a new perspective on the reclaimed Borg that addressed how his sheer hatred of them colored Picard's behavior in Star Trek: First Contact.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view. Start nowStar Trek: First Contact was the second (and best) TNG movie and it was a sequel to "The Best of Both Worlds" two-parter where Picard was assimilated by the Borg and turned into Locutus of Borg. Although the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D rescued Picard and restored him back to his human self, Jean-Luc never fully recovered from the trauma of becoming a Borg. In Star Trek: First Contact, Picard faced the Borg once again when they time-traveled to assimilate the Earth in the 21st century; Picard and the U.S.S. Enterprise-E followed them to 2063 where Jean-Luc encountered the Borg Queen (Alice Krige), who tried to turn Data into her new cyborg counterpart. But as Picard led his crew to battle the Borg, who tried to assimilate the Enterprise, he displayed a terrifying and violent new side against his cyborg nemeses - something Lily (Alfre Woodard), a 21st-century stowaway Picard was protecting, directly confronted him about. Picard eventually regained his stately composure but he still didn't deal with his lingering trauma.
In Star Trek: Picard episode 6, "The Impossible Box", Picard's hatred for the Borg flared up again before he set foot on a Borg Cube for the first time since he was Locutus. The retired Starfleet Admiral was terrified and overcome by his old trauma until the friendly face of Hugh met Jean-Luc and guided him through the Borg Reclamation Project. There, Picard saw the positive impact the work Hugh and the Romulans were doing to reclaim the Artifact's Borg drones and these scenes finally finished what Star Trek: First Contact started, showing Jean-Luc that he was wrong about the Borg and their potential to be redeemed after all.
The Problem With Picard In Star Trek: First Contact
Jean-Luc Picard displayed a frightening side of his personality in Star Trek: First Contact that was totally at odds with the wise and philosophical way Patrick Stewart played the Captain for seven seasons of TNG. First Contact's version of Picard revamped him into a literal shoot-first-ask-questions-later action hero. This ideally suited the film's sci-fi/action/horror tone and the Moby-Dick-inspired theme that the Captain had turned into Ahab obsessed with his white whale, the Borg - but it was also jarringly out of sync with the Picard Trekkers had come to know. This was especially true of how violent and ruthless Picard was, even to members of his own crew who were victimized by the Borg the way he once was.
Star Trek: First Contact's Picard was disturbingly unhinged; faced with the enemy who violated his body, mind, and soul, the Captain was hellbent on vengeance and he didn't care who he was exacting his revenge on. At one point, Picard ordered his Starfleet Officers to kill their fellow crew members who were assimilated by the Borg, remarking, "Believe me, you'd be doing them a favor," which didn't make sense since Picard himself was a reclaimed Borg his crew risked everything to save. To prove his insane point, when an assimilated ensign begged Picard to save him, the Captain coldly killed him with a phaser blast instead. In the holodeck, Picard annihilated a Borg with a Tommy gun despite knowing the drone used to be Ensign Lynch, which left Lily aghast.
To be fair, Star Trek: First Contact's action hero incarnation of Picard was a key reason why the film was so entertaining. Picard delivered immensely quotable dialogue, especially, "The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!" - which Patrick Stewart delivered with unforgettably intense ferocity. In that pivotal scene where Lily was able to get Picard to see past his anger and obsession, Jean-Luc finally regained his composure and realized he'd gone too far - to the point where he nearly came to blows with Worf (Michael Dorn). But while a rejuvenated Picard was able to team up with Data to beat the Borg Queen, he never processed the trauma that unhinged him in the first place. When the Borg were defeated, Picard just moved on like it never happened - until Jean-Luc had to face the Borg again in Star Trek: Picard and he finally dealt with his lingering issues from First Contact.
Picard Is Afraid He's Still Missing His Humanity
One of the best moments in Star Trek: Picard so far was the meeting between Jean-Luc and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) in episode 5, "Stardust City Rag". Since both are reclaimed Borg, no other main Star Trek characters could possibly understand the trauma Picard and Seven share and the episode brilliantly touched upon it. As Picard bid goodbye to Seven, who planned to beam back down to Freecloud to take her revenge on her enemy Bjayzl (Necar Zadigan), they had a touching conversation about how they both lost their humanity when they were assimilated. When Seven asked Picard if he truly feels he regained all of his humanity, Jean-Luc replied with startling honesty: "No. But we're both working on it."
So, 30 years after Star Trek: First Contact and his personal triumph against the Borg Queen, Picard admitted he still doesn't feel like a complete person. Besides being a heartwarming moment between Picard and Seven, Star Trek: Picard retroactively addressed Jean-Luc's behavior in Star Trek: First Contact, recontextualizing his violent obsession to reflect his deepest fears about his lost humanity. Even better, Star Trek: Picard episode 6, "The Impossible Box", finally gave Jean-Luc the crucial understanding about the Borg (and about himself) that he longed for but had eluded him for decades.
Star Trek: Picard Finally Gave Jean-Luc Hope About The Borg
While Picard finally meeting Soji is a pivotal moment for Star Trek: Picard's main story, in the macro sense, the scenes where Hugh tours Picard through the Romulan Reclamation Project are even more pivotal for Jean-Luc. Picard, the same man who believed in Star Trek: First Contact that the Borg were beyond saving, marveled at the work Hugh's project accomplished. The former Locutus even remarked in awe that he never dreamed the Borg could be reclaimed at the level Hugh and the Romulans were accomplishing. For the first time, Picard finally understood that what his Enterprise crewmates were able to do for him and for Hugh wasn't a rare occurrence; the Borg could be restored to their original selves pre-assimilation, just as he was. More importantly, Picard was able to reconcile his overall hatred for the Borg and saw that, like him, the Borg were actually victims.
It's curious that Jean-Luc was never able to achieve this realization about the Borg being capable (and worthy) of being reclaimed before - especially when it happened to him - but this is a breakthrough event in Picard's life. If only Jean-Luc could have understood this during the crisis aboard the Enterprise-E in Star Trek: First Contact; the Captain could have made a real effort to try to save the assimilated Starfleet Officers under his command. But to Star Trek: Picard's credit, the series forced Jean-Luc to face his trauma about the Borg at last and completed his redemption from Star Trek: First Contact.
Star Trek: Picard streams Thursdays on CBS All-Access and Fridays internationally on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: screenrant.com