How the Picard finale sets up Star Trek: Discovery season 3
The Picard finale was an all-round happy ending (depending on your point of view): the synths were saved, Seven kicked the conniving Narissa into a Borg pit and Picard was brought back to life… albeit as a synthetic golem.
All's well that ends weird!
Crisis may have been averted for now, but there are far bigger and badder things in the Federation's future. As Discovery season 3 is about to air, so let's look at what plot points Picard has set up — and why we already know that the Federation will fall…
Synth-Fulfilling Prophecy
Ancient prophecies, secret cabals and apocalyptic visions all converged in Picard's race to the finish line.
We discovered that the Zhat Vash was formed to avert an age-old apocalyptic myth, predicted by a time capsule left by a "federation" of synthetic life beyond the galaxy.
This message, known as the Admonition, warned that biological life would create synthetic life, then destroy it. The Romulans, being Romulan, decided to destroy synthetic life first.
As the conflict came to a head, the android citizens of Coppelius contacted the synthetic "federation" for help. This message was shut down, but not before we caught a glimpse of gigantic robotic tentacles reaching out through a wormhole. Creepy.
But have we seen this mysterious AI force before?
Taking Control
The main villain for Discovery season 2 was Control, the Section 31-programmed AI hellbent on wiping out sentient life.
Unable to destroy Control, the Disco gang opted to take the ship, and Control, into the far future, hoping they could find a way to defeat the AI there — or at the very least, take it far away from the precious Federation.
(Or maybe the writers just wanted a whole new sandbox to play in.)
So how are the two shows connected? Very strong parallels between Control, and Picard's mysterious AI threat, have already been established.
For one thing, they have similar motivations: the "federation" of synths wants to unite synthetics at the cost of biological life, while Control wants to wipe out sentient life.
Control was also a threat-assessment AI, spinning out predictions based on possible scenarios — which sounds a lot like the Admonition.
Speaking of the Admonition, how could a supposedly ancient message contain images of the Federation, Data, and the attack on Mars? Control's connection to Starfleet archives could be why.
On a production level, the Admonition actually reuses footage from Discovery, specifically, Spock's prophetic vision of an AI destroying the Federation — and this of course establishes another connection between the two shows, hinting that Spock's vision and the Admonition refer to the same event.
There are plenty more strings on this conspiracy-theory cork board, but let's leave it with one important fact: Control has access to time travel, and already used this to mess with Discovery's crew, appearing as a tentacled machine in the episode 'Light and Shadows.'
Even from the far future, Control could easily find a way to travel back to the past again. And maybe level-up to become the giant tentacled robot we saw in Picard’s finale.
The Federation Falls
It seems highly likely that Control and/or the synthetic alliance will become a major threat in Star Trek: Discovery season 3. Perhaps this season will see Control travel back in time, messing with the Federation enough to cause its downfall. And as things stand, it wouldn’t be too difficult to topple the Federation.
The Federation we saw in Picard was a far cry from the shining utopia of past Treks — the synth ban alone was distinctly morally murky, as Starfleet exterminated then criminalised an entire form of life. Gene Roddenberry would be ashamed.
But it’s not just about synths. In Picard's first episode we learned that Starfleet stopped helping the tragedy-stricken Romulans because several planets threatened to leave the Federation if aid was given to their old enemies.
Ominous. And what’s more ominous is that the Federation flag in Discovery season 3 features six stars, implying that the Federation now only consists of six civilisations.
So what finally split the Federation? Was it Control, reaching into the past and fracturing it further? Or did the union of synths attack after the events of the Picard finale?
Both Discovery season two and Picard season one were concerned with a looming AI apocalypse. Connections between the two shows might be subtle, but they’re very much present.
For now, we can only theorise about what this means for the Federation's future, but don't put away the red string just yet — there'll be plenty more evidence to connect the two shows when Discovery season three airs later this year.
Star Trek: Picard airs on CBS All Access in the US and Amazon Primeinternationally, including the UK. Star Trek: Discovery airs on CBS All Access in the US and Netflix internationally, including the UK.
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