Season 3 of Picard creates one of the wildest contrasts in the Star Trek universe

One of the basic tenets of “Star Trek” is an undercurrent of pacifism. The ships we see in any Star Trek series are usually research ships intended for exploration and study missions. Often, they carry out repair work on distant worlds, assist planets suffering from severe environmental problems, or transport diplomats to important peace talks. Although the USS Enterprise is equipped with weapons such as torpedoes and photon torpedoes, it is rarely tasked with combat duty. Often times, the crew of the Enterprise threatens a potential enemy on the battlefield while doing everything in their power to avoid war.

However, the basic principles of pacifism are ignored in many Star Trek feature films. Because of their medium, the “Star Trek” films typically require broad stories and consumable conflicts that can be satisfactorily wrapped up in about 100 to 120 minutes. This demand often dictates action-driven plots where “heroes” confront “villains” and the drama is resolved with battles and explosions. It’s way less interesting for the Star Trek series, but wise that the series’ conventional long moral dramas don’t make for compelling cinema.

The “action movie” approach is gone everywhere The third season of Star Trek: Picard is ending As the USS Enterprise-D was transported to the Borg stronghold, the weapons burst into flames. This season saw the last remaining Borg in the galaxy use a cunning vector-based brain infection to take control of the Federation. Viewers are told that the only way to stop them is to blow them all up in a thrilling action scene. The only thing missing from the Enterprise’s frontal assault is “Sabotage” on the soundtrack.

The ending is pretty cool and dramatic… but it’s also in direct contrast to Season 2 of “Picard,” where the elimination of what was left of the Borg in the galaxy was seen as a genocidal tragedy.

At the beginning Season two of Picard Picard (Patrick Stewart) has been enchanted into an alternate dimension by the trickster god Q (John de Lancie). In this parallel universe, Earth has become a galaxy-wide genocidal military force, devoting all its resources to eliminating other species in the galaxy. Picard learns that his “evil” counterpart is a bloodthirsty warmonger who keeps the skulls of his enemies in his lair. Picard, of course, is disgusted with this universe.

In fact, Earth is preparing to celebrate the televised public execution of the last Borg in existence: the malevolent Borg Queen played by Annie Wersching. Picard and his “good universe” comrades see public execution as one of the greatest moral failings on Earth, and even go so far as to rescue the Borg Queen from the chopping block. They then travel back in time to the year 2024 to discover how Earth became genocidal in the first place. Genocide should not be tolerated, even against one’s worst enemies.

Ultimately, “Picard” Season 2 ends with the Borg Queen merging with Dr. Jurati (Alison Pill) and becoming a kinder, gentler, more cooperative cyborg. That season declares that no one is unable to be saved. Even the tower can be saved.

However, this situation makes the action-packed finale of “Picard” Season 3 seem rather bleak. In Season 2, it is crucial that the Borg be rescued, saved from execution, and allowed to evolve. However, in Season 3, the Borg are seen as irredeemably evil needs To be executed to restore moral order. Just because Data (Brent Spiner) pulls off the execution in a really cool way with the Enterprise-D doesn’t mean the Borg are any less victims of genocide at the hands of Earth.

As I previously wrote for /Film, The tower became a victim of overexposure. For years, they seemed cold, soulless, and unstoppable, and Trekkies fell in love with them as an existential threat to the Federation. Unfortunately, through overuse, the tower became less threatening over time. In the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode “I, Borg” (May 10, 1992), it is revealed that individual Borg drones can be separated from their group and regrow their individual personalities. In the two-part film “Descent” (June 21 and September 20, 1993), several Borges are seen after this operation. And of course, in Star Trek: Voyager, one of the main characters was a rescued Borg, and the show became largely about Seven of Nine’s (Jeri Ryan) rediscovery of humanity. Porgs are no longer just soulless cybernetic zombies, but people who need to be rescued from their mind-wiping mechanical implants.

Even Picard deals with rescuing the Borg drones. One of the main settings of the first season is the mass deabsorption site dedicated to extracting the Porgs from the group. The Borg aren’t such scary villains anymore, and Starfleet seems to have long ago figured out how to deal with them.

That was until Season 3 of “Picard,” where they were once again turned into villains once again. The Borg were on the verge of extinction anyway, having exhausted their own resources in their unrestrained assimilation endeavors, and needed a last-ditch effort from a collective villain to survive. However, instead of lending a helping hand to the dying Porgs family and offering them a way to survive in peace, the Enterprise-D instead chose to open fire.

Is the ending exciting? In an action movie way, it is. Does it reveal a serious moral contradiction? Yes. He does that too.