The third season of “Star Trek: Picard” finally delivers what many fans have been hoping for since the beginning of the series: a true revival of the cult series “Starship Enterprise: The Next Century” aka “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. .’, in which all the protagonists from that time return. In fact, Season 3 works largely with no knowledge of the first two seasons (although we’ve already met Raffi there and Picard has developed his amicable relationship with Seven of Nine).
And that’s not all: The Picard’s third season even makes it explicitly clear from time to time how irrelevant supposedly dramatic developments from the first two seasons actually are. The fact that ex-enterprise captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) received an artificial new body after his (temporary) death at the end of season 1 was already quite irrelevant in season 2 and in season 3 it becomes an alibi in two subordinate clauses mentioned , but plays absolutely no part in the plot or character development. And the finale of the second season also seems to no longer suit those responsible for the series…
New Borg in “Picard” Season 2…
After the return of Picard and Co. to their timeline, the second “Picard” season finally ended with the Starfleet icon on the USS Stargazer taking on his old comrade-in-arms Dr. Meet Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill), who, after merging with the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching), has become the new leader of a reformed Borg collective that no longer resorts to forced assimilation of others and values the individuality of its individual members .
That one of the biggest and at the same time most popular threats to the ‘Star Trek’ universe was suddenly so humanized and softened (and even wanted to join the Federation, with Picard of all people welcoming them with open arms) repelled many Trekkies (including the author of these rules). ) in the already very controversial second season of “Picard” particularly angry. Apparently this was not hidden from the “Picard” makers.
… that no longer play a role
Not only is the quasi-cliffhanger built here about a looming new threat in space whose imminent arrival the new Borg intends to watch on behalf of the Federation, the start of Season 3 is no longer picked up at all. Also has been there in recent times Amazon Prime video* And Paramount+* the fourth episode published an open dig about the “shit” the second season has made up with the good-natured Borg.
When USS Titan Captain Shaw (Todd Stashwick) reports on his traumatic experiences during the devastating Battle of Wolf, in which the Borg, with the support of the then briefly assimilated Picard, claimed thousands of lives, he also angrily remarks: “Forget the weird shit that happened on the Stargazer, the real Borg are still out there.”
This short line of dialogue not only sounds like obvious self-criticism, but it makes it clear: you can’t completely ignore the outcome of the second “Picard” season, since it’s part of the official “Star Trek” canon after all. In hindsight, however, the whole thing is now turned so that that the Jurati Collective is really just an independent small Borg splinter group, separate from the great unity of the real (and still existing) collective of unscrupulous and soulless cyborgs, bent on constant perfection and expansion.
Fortunately, the revision of the Borg has now been rolled back quite a bit, even if season 2, as mentioned, now seems a bit more unnecessary than it already is.