What I’m Watching: Star Trek: Picard (Season Finale)

Star Trek: Picard: Season 1, Episode 10 “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2” (B+)

Now, this was a pretty formidable finale, and I’m quite pleased that I stuck with this show through an initially unexciting few episodes to see how much it improved. This episode did a good job of rehabilitating some characters whose true motivations had come into question, namely Agnes, Soji, and even Narek. Picard was a strong anchor for all of them to guide them in the right direction and explain what was most right, and he even managed both to fool an entire Romulan fleet into thinking there were hundreds of ships in front of them right before he defused an intergalactic confrontation. I was worried that Agnes was going to try to kill some of the synthetics, but fortunately she just wanted to rescue Picard so that she could utilize his wealth of experience to figure a way out of all this. Narek appealed to Raffi, Rios, and Elnor to understand his perspective, and Picard was ultimately able to talk Soji down and broadcast his message of support for her kind to everyone watching so that no misunderstandings would ensue. Riker showing up in charge of the Starfleet cavalry was quite satisfying, and there was no way that a show with a character’s name in it would kill off its lead. Agnes and Soji working together to bring Picard back to life but keep him human enough was a great way to end it all, and that final shot of the crew getting back into their seats, including Seven of Nine, got me very excited for a second season, whenever that will be.

Season grade: B+
Season MVP: Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine