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| Picard and the Enterprise save the Earth one last time. |
Original Air Date: Apr. 20, 2023. Written by: Terry Matalas. Directed by: Terry Matalas.
THE PLOT:
The Borg have taken control of Starfleet!
With Jack in the Borg Queen (Alice Krige)'s clutches and acting as a transmitter, the Borg have remotely assimilated every Starfleet officer under age 25, granting them total control over all the starships assembled for Frontier Day. Earth's Spacedock is managing to hold off the assault, but Riker grimly observes that their defenses won't last long.
Seven and Raffi retake the Titan, using the ship's cloaking device to evade the Borg signal. Seven launches a series of sudden, short attacks on the assimilated starships to buy additional time. Meanwhile, Picard and his team take the reconstructed Enterprise D to the Borg Cube to confront the Queen directly. For Picard, it's a last chance to face his greatest enemy - and to rescue his son.
CHARACTERS:
Picard: It's clear that he doesn't expect to come back. The first half of the episode sees him making a series of farewells - to his old crew, to Riker specifically, and to Beverly. He not only forgives Beverly for keeping Jack's existence a secret, he acknowledges her choice in prioritizing the protection of their son: "You thought of Jack from the beginning, shielding him from danger. You did everything right." He faces his greatest fear - reassimilation by the Borg - in order to connect with his son. But first he directly gives Riker command of the mission: "I can no longer be your captain. I now have to be a father."
Riker: He is instantly nervous when they beam to the Borg Cube and discover no drones waiting for them. He observes that in all his years, he never had a "too quiet" moment that turned out well. As a father himself, he understands Picard's priorities completely. When the Enterprise tells him that time is growing short and that the ship will have to take action, Riker refuses to beam out without Picard, even knowing that this decision might mean his death.
Worf: "There was a moment today where I was worried we might actually survive." Worf has been awesome all season, and that carries through to the finale. He doesn't hesitate to join Picard and Riker in beaming to the Cube, even though he seems fatalistically resigned to their likely fate. He also acknowledges his friendship with Raffi with a particularly well-judged gift.
Data: Admits that he is having some trouble adjusting to having full emotions. Not, thankfully, in the manner of Star Trek: Generations' annoying "emotion chip" subplot, but rather in the way ordinary people sometimes struggle with strong emotions: an image that evokes nostalgia, such as a crew member petting a cat, or a strong feeling of hatred for the Borg over the misery they cause. This is generally well written, getting just enough attention to convince as part of Data's journey without being allowed to distract from the main plot.
Seven of Nine: The script wisely focuses on the TNG crew, splitting Seven and Raffi off in their own subplot on the Titan. Seven improvises like mad to disrupt the Borg plan as much as she can with the limited resources available. She is left with a very small crew that includes a nervous cook with some past piloting experience. She deals well with this, encouraging the man without coddling him. The implications of a modification she and Raffi make to their phasers is something that I'd love to see future Trek projects address, by the way.
Jack Crusher: It's made clear why his capture was so essential to the villains, as the Borg need him to transmit their assimilation signal. This does mostly make him more a plot device than a character in this episode: the mechanism of the Borg plan and the object of Picard's attempted rescue. Still, he gets a decent character moment within the Collective, where he finds the sense of belonging that's always eluded him - which is what Picard has to argue and urge against when he connects with him near the end.
Others: This season has a large ensemble, and it's inevitable that some characters will be moved to the background. To writer Terry Matalas's credit, every regular gets at least one moment. Geordi is left in command of the Enterprise, and he trusts Data with a near-impossible task. Dr. Crusher shows remarkable competence at tactical, surprising the others; as she explains, she hasn't exactly been idle over the last twenty years, which have involved a lot of running from various adversaries. Deanna's strong connection to Riker plays a critical role at the end. Meanwhile, on the Titan, Raffi provides unwavering support to Seven - though her best character scene comes opposite Worf. None of them are the focus of the episode, but they all get a moment or two to shine.
THOUGHTS:
Season Three of Picard has revolved, in large part, around themes of family and connection. The Last Generation does an excellent job of folding these into both the story and its resolution. Picard and Jack have awkwardly attempted to connect as father and son all season. By contrast, Jack's assimilation by the Borg sees him feeling an instant and effortless connection, one that Picard attempts to persuade him is illusory.
The Borg Queen describes the Cube as Picard's "true family." Picard reaches Jack through sacrifice: surrendering his command to "be a father" and facing his greatest fear in order to reach him. Deanna's link to Riker (her family) plays a major role in the climax. Even the epilogue carries the theme through, from Raffi's reconciliation with her son to the final scene of the old TNG crew sitting down for a hand of poker as the credits roll.
While I find myself somewhat missing the standalone storytelling of older Trek series, a well-paced season arc offers a big advantage: If previous episodes have done their jobs properly, the finale can hit the ground running. Previous episodes of this season established the overall relationships, as well as the situation and the stakes. That leaves this episode free to zip right into the action. The threads are quickly established: Seven on the Titan, trying to delay the Borg attack; Picard, Riker, and Worf on the Borg Cube; and the Enterprise crew. The episode moves quickly, with plenty of action and incident, but it never feels rushed or overstuffed. As a result, in addition to thematic unity, The Last Generation benefits from being extremely enjoyable to watch.
Complaints are relatively minor. The Seven/Raffi strand feels a bit disconnected from the rest of the episode; it would not be difficult to rewrite this script to remove them entirely. The worry I expressed in the previous review, that the Borg would render the previous changeling threat into an afterthought, ends up being fully realized. Exposition tells us that the changelings were important to the Borg plan. Still, after previous episodes made the changeling infiltration all encompassing, leaving Picard and his crew with nowhere to turn for help, in this episode the changelings are suddenly unmentioned and irrelevant. I could charitably posit that, after the failure of the plan, the infiltrators decided to pull out and wait for another opportunity... but it does feel as if the changelings went from practically omnipotent in previous episodes to borderline irrelevant at the end.
OVERALL:
Despite my gripe about the treatment of the changelings, this was an overall excellent finale. It uses themes established throughout the season in a way that connects both to the overall threat and to the characters. It finds important things for every character to do. It also moves fast and is highly enjoayble to watch.
I'll put more thoughts together about the season as a whole for my season overview. Ultimately, though, Picard's best season ends on a strong note. It's not quite the season's best episode - but it's a good episode, and a worthy finale.
Overall Rating: 8/10.
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