'Star Trek: Picard': Picard 'goes home' to Starfleet, only to feel more estranged
Jean-Luc Picard might not have much time. But he's ready for his one last mission.
In the second episode of 'Star Trek: Picard', Picard (Patrick Stewart) arrives at the Starfleet headquarters, after almost two decades. The place that was once his home, is now an alien institution to him. It's a painful realization: the place he revered, is no longer a home. He walks through those same hallways, and the emotion is etched in his eyes. It stings that the man at the front desk does not even recognize him.
Yet, the moment that hits hard is when he meets Admiral Clancy, who is frigid towards him. He tries to alert her about the imminent danger that surrounds Starfleet, but she dismisses his pleas. He requests her to be reinstated temporarily for 'one last mission', a crew and ship. Clancy is furious and lashes out at him for his televised criticism of Starfleet for abandoning the Romulans during the rescue operation years ago. Picard angrily answers that the Federation does not get to decide which species will live or die, Clancy snaps saying that it is exactly their role and that the Romulans had to die, in order for the Federation to stay alive.
Picard asks Clancy to not ignore him. "Ignore me again at your cost. You are in peril, Admiral."
She cuttingly answers, "There is no peril here. Only the pitiable delusions of a once-great man desperate to matter. This is no longer your house, Jean-Luc. So do what you were best at. Go home."
The weight of this answer is unmistakable. The Starfleet had always been Picard's home. He had lived for it, and if necessary, he would have died for it as well. He did not have his own family. The crew had been his family.
Yet, Picard's trust and faith in Starfleet had been shattered after they chose to abandon the Romulan rescue mission during the Supernova. The Starfleet decided to adopt this drastic measure after a terrorist attack on Mars by Synthetics. Synthetics were banned by the Federation. As Picard said in the previous episode, "Starfleet was not Starfleet." In short, it no longer stood for the ideals that Picard had always believed in.
The Enterprise and Starfleet was his home. But now, things had turned so sour that his presence would not even be acknowledged and all the times he had saved Earth, remain unforgotten. This abrupt conversation does far from discouraging Picard. He's more than ready to get back into intergalactic action and save Starfleet from the secret organization of villainous Romulans, and he will do it without the Federation's help.
'Star Trek: Picard' airs on CBS-All Access, Thursdays at 12:01 am.