The 3rd and already final season of Star Trek: Picard makes me angry. Angry that it took two average seasons with more downs than ups before we get the Star Trek series that we wanted from the start.
Since February 17th, the 10 final episodes will be published weekly on Amazon Prime Video and Paramount+. What to look forward to in Season 3 and why no Star Trek fan should miss this sci-fi highlight? You can find out here in the first impression. And best of all: you don’t necessarily have to have seen the first two seasons!
One final mission for Picard brings back the crew of the Enterprise-D
Season 3 starts with a surprise. For the first time since Star Trek – Nemesis we see Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden). She doesn’t treat the sick, but instead uses a phaser rifle to defend herself against enemy fire on a small ship. From the very first minute it is clear that this is about no ordinary Picard season sequel acts.
Watch the German trailer for Star Trek: Picard Season 3 here
Star Trek Picard – Season 3 Trailer (German) HD
Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) will have to wait a little longer for his well-deserved retirement. When he receives the cryptic emergency call from his former colleague, from whom he has not heard in over 20 years, begins a new mission: Save Beverly Crusher and uncover a possible conspiracy within Starfleet.
For this rescue mission, he joins his closest confidante: Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes). Picard and his former Number One turn to the USS Titan, where they hope for support from (now) Commander Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). A daring adventure unfolds from here, which eventually brings other well-known TNG characters such as Worf (Michael Dorn) and Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) back into the cosmos of the former Enterprise captain.
Much more should not be revealed at this point about the plot of the final season for spoiler reasons. But any fans of the Rick Berman era will be delighted with how much reverence, respect and love new showrunner Terry Matalas continues the legacy of shows like The Next Generation, Voyager and Deep Space Nine.
Picard Season 3 is much more than just Star Trek nostalgia
For fans of the first Picard seasons there is a damper. Except for Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd), the important previously rebuilt characters do not return. Instead, there’s a fantastic reunion of the TNG main cast, the together in front of the camera for the first time in over 20 years stands. That alone makes Season 3 a must-see event for many Trekkies.
Paramount
The great Star Trek reunion
The Star Trek reunion of the old warriors is much more than just a simple nostalgia festival. It sheds light on familiar figures from new and unexpected perspectives, whereby Family, love and loss defining key themes are. It feels like a class reunion. The circumstances of former friends have changed, but their nature has not.
The characters are the clear strength of season 3. Beverly Crusher is finally allowed to shine, as she was rarely allowed to do in The Next Generation and Will Riker turns out to be a fantastic scene thief, whose chafing dynamic with Jean-Luc Picard (“Shut up Will!”) shows what the series has been missing so far: strong personalities that challenge both Picard and Patrick Stewart.
that relationships on a foundation built over 30 years build pays off in strong character moments with sometimes shattering emotional catharsis. And yes, it’s finally being revealed what really went down between Picard and Beverly back then.
Paramount
Beverly Crusher turns Picard’s world upside down
The whole thing is garnished with a few new and outstanding characters, all of which have the potential to become fan favorites. There’s bitter Titan Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick), Geordi La Forge’s daughter Sidney (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut), and the enigmatic character of Ed Speleers, who is at the heart of the season’s most emotional development.
The obstinate and cigar-quartzing opponent Vadic (Amanda Plummer) should also be mentioned. a classic Star Trek villain, who chases the main characters through the galaxy in a warship. Plummer follows in the footsteps of her father, who already plays the iconic villain General Chang in Star Trek VI – The Undiscovered Country, the final adventure of Kirk’s Enterprise crew.
A Needed Reboot: Why Picard Season 3 is the Best
Picard Season 3 is a reboot in the best sense. Here will be as good as fixed everything that didn’t work in the first two seasons. A big problem so far has been that Picard’s squadrons have been declining rapidly after strong starts. Instead of narrative chaos, the story is now reduced to two parallel main storylines that merge after just a few episodes.
The best change, however, is the setting. Season 3 of the Star Trek series, which is otherwise far too earthbound, takes place almost entirely in space, on the spaceship USS Titan and various space stations. This causes Picard finally like a Star Trek series through and through feels – with lots of Starfleet uniforms, technobabble, ship atmosphere and space action.
Paramount
Seven of Nine is finally part of Starfleet
After two seasons of violently resisting Picard from being a proper Star Trek series, fans are getting a well-deserved one here Continuing TNG-era motives and conflicts with lots of canon references. Season 3 distances itself radically from the previous ones. So there is not even the previous Picard intro to hear, while music, lettering and the plot itself a lot more tied to the Star Trek past are.
Picard Season 3 is by far the best of the series. The narrative is thematically dense, homogeneous and finds the ideal balance of action, suspense and dark, emotional and often even unexpected, but never inappropriately funny scenes. I have cheered, cried and laughed. And that’s more than I expected from Star Trek: Picard.
If this level is maintained in the final episodes – I was allowed to see six episodes in advance – the best Star Trek series since the end of Deep Space Nine awaits us. And that makes me disappointed and angry at the same time. Why not like this?
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