'Star Trek: Picard' Episode 1: Picard explains why he left Starfleet to lead an isolated life in France
Grab your cup of Earl Grey tea because things are about to get complicated and well, emotional in 'Star Trek: Picard.'
The CBS-All Access show revolves around the sophisticated and thoughtful Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), the retired captain of the Starfleet. Far from the chaos of intergalactic missions, he is in his beloved France, with two Romulan staffers — Laris (Orla Brady) and Zhaban (Jamie McShane).
It is not exactly an idyllic existence as he has just had a wistful dream of playing poker with his close friend Data (Brent Spiner), who died a hero's death in 'Nemesis', before an explosion wakes him out of his reverie. When Laris and Zhaban tell him that he was muttering in his sleep, Picard sighs and says, "The dreams are lovely. It’s the waking up that I’m beginning to resent."
So what led Picard to isolate himself from the Federation and lead this somewhat lonely existence?
The gory details are revealed in a television interview (oh, sweet exposition). A journalist decides to question Picard on the anniversary of the Romulan supernova.
The event was first referenced in JJ Abrams's 2009 'Star Trek' reboot. The Romulans and the Starfleet were sore enemies, and yet empathetic Picard wanted to relocate the 900 million survivors to worlds outside the supernova's blast.
The snarky reporter tells him that this was a rather ambitious feat, more so than the Pyramids. Picard calmly answers that it was more like Dunkirk, and that he was saving refugee lives. However, things spiraled out of control when a group of synthetics destroyed Mars' defense net, eliminated the rescue armada and a shipyard, resulting in explosions due to which Mars is practically inhabitable today.
Picard says he does not know why the synthetics acted the way they did, but he never lost faith in his own close synthetic friend, Data. And the final explanation on why he decided to leave Starfleet: It had called off the Romulan rescue efforts, which he felt was 'downright criminal'. 'Starfleet is not Starfleet!" says an angry Picard before he storms off.
Yet, life has a strange way of turning out and Picard finds himself back in the thick of things after he comes across Data's daughter, Dajh, who is killed in a masked attack. She has a clone, Sojh, and Picard is determined to find her.
What will happen next? Find out on next week's 'Star Trek: Picard', which airs on CBS-All Access on Thursdays at 12.01 am.
