Star Trek’s Biggest Questions Answered in Picard Season 2
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Star Trek: Picard Season 2 answered some of the biggest questions about Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) that have lingered since Star Trek: The Next Generation. Admiral Picard returned to save the galaxy with a diverse new crew at his side Star Trek: Picard season 1, but season 2 delved into Jean-Luc’s past trauma and got to the bottom of the pivotal decisions he made in his life that made him a Starfleet legend. In Star Trek: Picard In season 2, Jean-Luc and his friends were thrown into an alternate reality created by Q (John de Lancie) where the United Federation of Planets never existed.
In Star Trek: Picard Season 2’s rebooted reality, a sinister version of the Federation called the Confederacy rose to power and conquered the galaxy. To restore reality to its proper course, Picard and his crew traveled to Los Angeles in the year 2024 to find the focal point that Q changed, which turned out to be Jean-Luc’s astronaut ancestor, Renée Picard ( Penelope Mitchell). Our heroes also made new enemies, including Dr. Adam Soong (Brent Spiner), as well as new allies like Tallinn (Orla Brady). Jean-Luc emerged victorious Star Trek: Picard season 2, but he also walked away changed from the answers he — and the audience — learned about the former Enterprise captain.
Why Picard chose to never marry and remain single
The central question Star Trek: Picard Season 2 essentially existed to answer why Jean-Luc Picard remained single his entire life. Captain Picard had some romantic links in TNG and the feature films, but unlike his number one, Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Jean-Luc never settled down and started a family. The answer turned out to be a trauma buried in Picard’s subconscious: when Jean-Luc was a young child, his mother, Yvette Picard (Madeline Wise), succumbed to her mental illness and committed suicide. Jean-Luc blamed himself and this became the source of his lifelong decision to remain single.
It turns out that all the time-changing manipulations of Q are Star Trek: Picard Season 2 was driven to the singular outcome of forcing Jean-Luc to face his buried trauma. The reality of the Confederacy was Q’s way of showing Picard an extreme outcome of what it would be like if he never learned to love. As incredibly convoluted as it was, Q’s plan ultimately worked, and Picard emerged from Season 2 freed from his lifelong guilt and ready to try romance with Laris (Orla Brady).
What can die?
The Q Continuum are immortal beings though Star Trek: Picard Season 2 proved that a Q can die. Although Q chose to refer to his mortality as “passing on” to a new plane of existence, Q as he has been since his debut in Star Trek: The Next GenerationIt seems that the premiere is no longer. Q was dying during Picard Season 2, which caused him to lose his powers while in 2024. But before he died, Q had enough energy at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 2 to return Jean-Luc and his friends to their 25th century starting point in the restored Prime Timeline and also resurrect Elnor (Evan Evagora).
How did Picard meet Guinan? (And Can Guinan Age?)
Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) is Jean-Luc Picard’s oldest friend and confidant, and Star Trek: Picard Season 2 revealed how far Picard and Guinan really go. Picard Season 2 established that Guinan and Jean-Luc met at his bar, Ten Forward, in 2024 Los Angeles. Young Guinan (Ito Aghayere) was a very different person back then who was sick of humanity’s cruelty and was getting ready to leave Earth until Picard helped her gain a different perspective.
Star Trek: Picard season 2 seemed to contradict and reconnect the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter, “Time’s Arrow,” which set Guinan meeting Picard in 19th-century San Francisco. However, this is explained by the fact that Q changed the timeline so that Star Trek: The Next Generation never happened In the meantime, Star Trek: Picard Season 2 revealed that an El Aurian can choose to age, which explains Whoopi Goldberg’s older appearance as Guinan. Similarly, Q decided to age to match the older Jean-Luc.
Who was the first Picard in space?
In Star Trek: Nemesis, Captain Picard told Shinzon (Tom Hardy) that he was the first Picard to leave the solar system. But Jean-Luc was not the first member of his family to go to space. That honor goes to Jean-Luc’s ancestor, astronaut Renée Picard, who commanded NASA’s Europa mission in 2024. Stopping Renée’s spaceflight to Jupiter was the key to Q turning the line of time, which would lead directly to the Confederation. Protecting Renée, who was both a genius and suffering from mental illness, from Q and his agent, Adam Soong, became the mission of Jean-Luc and his friends in 2024 Los Angeles.
Who were the supervisors of TOS “Assignment: Earth?”
Star Trek: Picard season 2 unexpectedly answered a 54-year-old open question Star Trek: The Original Series: Who were the Supervisors of the COUGH episode, “Assignment: Earth”. In that Star Trek classic, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) met Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), a human charged with alien powers to be an overseer and protect humanity. Star Trek: Picard Season 2 revealed that Tallinn was a Romulan who was also an Overseer, and that she and Gary Seven are agents of the Travelers, tying together the mythologies of COUGH i TNG together
What happened to Wesley Crusher?
Speaking of travelers, Star Trek: Picard Season 2 culminated in the surprise return of Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton), who is also a traveler, one of the intergalactic beings that traverses time and space. Wesley’s last previous canonical appearance was a brief cameo Star Trek: Nemesis. Before that, Wesley left the USS Enterprise-D to explore the galaxy with the Traveler (Eric Menyuk) in TNG season 7. In Star Trek: Picard In the season 2 finale, Wesley appeared in 2024 Los Angeles to recruit Kore Soong (Isa Briones) to the Travelers. This sets up the potential for Wesley and Kore to reappear elsewhere in the other Star Trek series on Paramount+.
Can the Borg be defeated?
Star Trek: Picard Season 2 brought back the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching), but with a twist: This alternate reality incarnation of the Borg Queen was a broken shell of herself who suffered the Collective’s complete annihilation by of the Confederation. The Borg have been the greatest enemies of the Federation since they were introduced Star Trek: The Next GenerationBut Star Trek: Picard Season 2 showed that the Borg were defeated by the utter ruthlessness of the Confederacy.
While Starfleet will never adopt the Confederacy’s tactics (or results), the fact that the Borg Queen merged with Dr. Agnes Jurati (Allison Pill) signals a new future for the Borg and the Federation. The “Agnes Borgrati” collective, who entered the Prime Timeline from the erased Confederation reality, are now allies of the Federation and will possibly share technology and tactics. This sets up the possible defeat of the Borg and the Borg Queen from the Prime Timeline sometime in the Star Trek future.
Seven of Nine joins Starfleet?
When Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) joined Star Trek: Picard season 1, it was revealed that he never joined Starfleet due to the fear and prejudice he encountered as a recovered Borg. Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) almost resigned in protest before Seven chose to leave Earth and join the Fenris Rangers. Set doubted he could ever be Starfleet material until Star Trek: Picard Season 2 gave him a number of pivotal realizations.
Seven learned that, as President Annika Hansen, she was the leader of the Confederation in the alternate reality. Although she was horrified by her alternate self, Seven also realized that she had innate qualities as a leader. At the end of Star Trek: Picard in season 2, Admiral Picard gave Seven a field commission and put her in command of the USS Stargazer. This opened the door for Seven of Nine to eventually become a Starfleet officer. He actually becomes Commander Seven Hansen of the USS Titan-A Star Trek: Picard season 3, proving that Seven of Nine is Starfleet to the core.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 premieres on February 16, 2023 on Paramount+.
