Star Trek: Picard opens with a host of mysteries, many of which have been unraveled, but there's
still a lot that's been left unsaid. Here are the biggest unanswered questions from
season 1 of Star Trek: Picard.
At the end of Picard's season 1 finale, the heroes are on board La Sirena, presumably
on their way back home. Captain Rios and Dr. Jurati seem to be continuing their relationship,
while a new romance appears to be blooming between Seven of Nine and Raffi. Picard and
Soji are there, as well as the Romulan warrior Elnor.
But will this crew stay together? After all, none of them are active Starfleet officers.
La Sirena has no extended mission to explore anything. Jurati came aboard as a spy for
the Zhat Vash, Rios has more than completed the job Picard's paying him for, and Elnor
has concluded the mission he vowed to help Picard complete.
We're guessing something will pop up in season 2 of Picard to keep its titular hero in the
stars - and in the meantime, the writers have provided the glue for these characters to
stay together. Even though Elnor only officially agreed to the mission to save Soji, he idolizes
Picard and will probably go wherever the retired admiral does. Jurati has romantic reasons
to stay on board La Sirena, as does Seven. As for Soji, after learning that her life
on Earth was a sham, why not follow her new, real-life friends on other adventures?
One character who is conspicuously missing from the end of Picard's season 1 finale is
Narek. The Romulan spy spent most of the season seducing Soji so he could manipulate her into
triggering her memories and revealing the location of her homeworld. Eventually, we
learn that while Narek and other members of the Zhat Vash are merciless, their goal isn't
without merit. They mean to stop a galactic apocalypse they call Ganmadan which they believe
will be caused by a higher order of synthetics called the Synthetic Alliance that Soji and
her brethren mean to summon. The last we see of Narek, he and some of the heroes had tried
and failed to destroy the synthetics' beacon. We don't see him aboard La Sirena when it
leaves, and the Zhat Vash fleet leaves Coppelius without beaming him up.
Picard showrunner Michael Chabon addressed this through his Instagram. Apparently there
wasn't enough time to show the resolution to Narek's story, which presumably would include
learning Seven of Nine killed his sister. In an Instagram story, Chabon wrote,
"Yeah. Narek. We know, we know. A casualty of the editorial process, alas. The intention
was for him to be taken into Federation custody."
That doesn't necessarily mean that will prove to be what happened, however. Since we never
saw it happen, the writers could always choose a different fate for the sneaky Romulan.
The season 1 finale of Picard has its heroes facing two opposing threats. On one hand,
there's the massive Romulan fleet ready to destroy everyone and everything on the planet
Coppelius. On the other, there's the Synthetic Alliance that Soji means to summon to protect
her and other synths. Unfortunately, the Alliance's method of protecting other synthetic life
is to eradicate all organic life - Romulan, human, and everything in between.
We don't see much of the Alliance, but we're shown enough to be convinced of the danger.
After the portal opens, we see huge mechanical tentacles reaching out. Picard convinces Soji
to shut down the beacon and close the portal, keeping whatever was on the other end of those
tendrils in their own corner of the universe.
We're left without knowing much about the Synthetic Alliance. How did it come into being?
Where are they from? How many of them are there? Do they truly mean to wipe out all
organic life, or have we misunderstood their intentions? But perhaps the most pressing
question of all is, now that they know about the synths on Coppelius, will we be seeing
them again?
"Stardust City Rag" has possibly the most shocking ending of any episode in Picard's
first season. After being reunited with her colleague and lover Bruce Maddox, Dr. Jurati
murders him in La Sirena's sick bay. In "Nepenthe," we learn that the Zhat Vash spy Commodore
Oh approached her on Earth before Jurati joined La Sirena's crew, and used a mind meld to
give her a vision of the galactic apocalypse the Zhat Vash fear.
Once the other heroes learn of Jurati's betrayal, they initially seem eager to get her off the
ship. Picard has every intention of turning her in to the Federation. Later, they seem
more understanding, believing she was not in control of her actions when she murdered
Maddox. Shortly after the airing of the season finale, Michael Chabon answered fan questions
for TrekMovie.com. While the season ends without Jurati being arrested, Chabon clarified,
"She will put herself in the hands of the law."
So we know Jurati intends to take responsibility for what she did, though it remains to be
seen what legal consequences she'll have to face. Then again, the Federation has changed;
it might be tough to predict what they'll do.
Along with Seven, some other Star Trek alums show up in the first season of Picard. Data
appears several times, we get to see Riker make pizza, and Deanna Troi proves as insightful
as ever. We even get a chance to see Jonathan Del Arco reprise the recurring Next Generation
role of Hugh, a Borg drone who becomes an individual.
But what about everyone else? Wesley Crusher was nowhere to be found in the story even
though Wil Wheaton hosted Picard's aftershow, The Ready Room. We don't hear from Beverly
Crusher, Worf, or Geordi LaForge, nor do we know what any of them have been doing in the
intervening years. Worf got a new job in the series finale for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,
but we don't know whether he still holds the position or if he's moved on.
"Commander how would you feel about being named Federation ambassador to Qo'noS?"
"I am not a diplomat."
Additionally, there are still plenty of fans wondering whether their favorite characters
from Deep Space Nine and Voyager will ever make an appearance in future episodes of Picard.
We haven't seen Voyager's former captain Kathryn Janeway since her cameo in 2002's Star Trek:
Nemesis, and there are plenty of questions we'd love to have answered about the rest
of the Voyager crew. Is The Doctor still around? Would Chakotay, Torres, and other former Maquis
crew have to answer for their crimes after returning to Earth?
Then there are the Deep Space Nine alums. Besides Worf, we haven't seen any of the regular
cast of DS9 reappear in a Trek production since the series finale, though "Stardust
City Rag" shows us that Quark has moved his operations to Freecloud. Asked which two DS9
characters he would bring aboard La Sirena if he could, Michael Chabon named the enigmatic
exiled spy Garak and the Cardassian's best friend, Doctor Bashir.
At least one Next Generation cast member has already agreed to show up in season 2. The
day before Picard's series premiere aired on CBS All Access, Patrick Stewart appeared
on The View to invite co-host Whoopi Goldberg to reprise her role of Guinan for Picard's
second season.
"Please say yes."
"Yes. Yes. Oh yes."
With the revelation that the synthetic attack on Mars was orchestrated by the Zhat Vash,
the Federation lifts its ban on synthetic life in the Picard season finale. That's good
news for Picard, who is now a synthetic lifeform himself.
But while allowing synthetics to exist in the Federation may be the right thing to do,
it doesn't seem likely everyone is going to be comfortable with it. The attack on Mars
is portrayed as a deeply traumatic event for the Federation. We learn the fires caused
by the assault still rage on the red planet 14 years later. It's difficult to imagine
that with so much loss of life, there won't be a vocal group of Federation citizens against
the ban's lifting. It seems likely it will be a long time before the Federation sees
synths in regular use as they were at the Utopia Planitia Shipyards.
Picard might find himself the target of anti-synthetic prejudice. What will happen when those closest
to Picard find out that, biologically speaking, he's no longer human? Especially considering
Picard is the same man who unwittingly helped the Borg almost bring the Federation to its
knees?
After Picard's assimilation by the Borg and subsequent rescue in The Next Generation's
two-parter "The Best of Both Worlds," Dr. Crusher removes his Borg implants, but it's
clear he still retains some connection to the Collective. For example, in First Contact,
he dreams of the Borg shortly before learning of their new assault on the Federation and
he guesses they're on their way before Starfleet tells him. During the battle with the Borg
cube, he knows exactly what part of the enemy ship to strike, and in Picard's first season,
he recognizes the layout of the queenscell in the Borg Artifact, despite never having
been there before.
But Picard's first season ends with the hero's consciousness transferred into a synthetic
body. Which means, ironically, becoming fully synthetic may have finally freed him from
his connection with the Borg. We don't know exactly what it was that kept his link to
the Collective alive, but it seems reasonable that whatever it was would not carry over
to his new body.
Of course, anything's possible in Star Trek and we could eventually learn there's still
a part of Locutus within Picard. But maybe his goal to get back the rest of his humanity
somehow needed him, physically speaking, to lose it.
The Seven of Nine we meet in Picard is very much a changed woman since her days aboard
Voyager. In Voyager, Seven keeps her feelings in check as much as a Vulcan, while in Picard
Seven expresses powerful emotions. Speaking to Syfy Wire, Jeri Ryan said the moment Seven
finds Icheb and mercy kills him in "Stardust City Rag" is probably
"the first time that Seven truly let go of her emotions."
But that leads us to a big question: How are Seven's powerful emotions even possible? In
the Voyager episode "Human Error," Seven uses holographic simulations to help with her social
skills and to continue exploring her humanity. Eventually we learn that experimenting with
emotion is more dangerous than she realizes. The Doctor reveals her Borg implants include
a failsafe that will shut down her higher brain functions if her emotions are stimulated
too much.
"But I'm no longer linked to the hive mind."
"The technology's built into your node. It's simply remained dormant."
From what we've seen in Picard's version of Seven, that failsafe definitely should have
gone off if it's still active. Maybe after so many years of separation from the Borg,
the failsafe stopped working. Or maybe she finally allowed the Doctor or someone else
to perform the necessary surgery to deactivate it. Regardless, Picard doesn't give us the
answer.
Picard's first season ends with the Zhat Vash's plan to annihilate the synthetics foiled.
However, their ultimate goal of preventing the galactic apocalypse they believe the Synthetic
Alliance will cause is still achieved when Picard convinces Soji to destroy the beacon
and close the portal to the higher order of synths. Faced with the prospect of a battle
with a Starfleet armada, the Romulans leave Coppelius unscathed.
What happens to the Zhat Vash now? They've operated for centuries within the Tal Shiar
but now their existence has been brought to light. It isn't clear whether they're officially
sanctioned by the Romulan government. If not, then they've made a target of themselves.
Not only did they almost bring the Romulan Empire to war with the Federation, but they
failed in their mission. The Romulan Empire is not the kind of place where failure is
rewarded, or even tolerated.
With Ganmadan averted, there's technically no longer any reason for the Zhat Vash to
exist, though we're willing to bet they could find a reason to keep going. After all, Narek's
sister Narissa showed us that at least some of the Zhat Vash find any kind of artificial
life disgusting. Sadly, that kind of hatred usually defies logic and finds a way to thrive.
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