Jean-Luc’s fatal illness in “Star Trek: Picard”: That’s what it’s all about – and how he overcame it

Over the course of the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his and Beverly’s adult son Jack (Ed Speleers), whom the ex-Enterprise captain has known nothing about for years, sort of closer. However, their relationship is still strained and the latest episode now gives another reason for that.

Jack apparently inherited his father’s dangerous brain disease. But what exactly is it about and how did Picard overcome it?

Bridge to “Star Trek: The Next Generation”

The background of Picard’s disease was once already in “Starship Enterprise: The Next Centuryaka ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ delivered. In “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow”, the legendary finale of the sci-fi cult series, Picard jumps back and forth through time. In the future shown, he lives – as actually in “Star Trek: Picard” – as an old man in a winery in France, but suffers from the so-called Irumodian Syndrome, which makes him demented and would sooner or later lead to death.

Back in the present, Picard then has Dr. Investigate Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) for the same illness. She does not (yet) find clear signs of Irumodian Syndrome in him in “Next Generation”, but she does a “minor structural defect” in the parietal lobe that could mean it is predisposed to certain neurological conditions, including Irumodian syndrome.

This fact was then revisited in the first season of “Picard”, when the Starfleet veteran’s medical examination again revealed “a minor abnormality in the parietal lobe” that could lead to several syndromes, some of which are treatable, but in the end they all end in death sooner or later…

Picard’s Death and Resurrection

… and it was precisely this gloomy forecast that actually came true at the end of the season opener. In the final, Jean-Luc succumbed to the said defect – after which his consciousness was transferred to an artificial bodywhich is modeled after the original Picard and will continue to age normally like him, but now without the brain bug.

The fact that we are actually dealing with an artificial Picard since then played only a very minor role in the further course of the series, even if there are at least minor excavations in season 3. The disease itself, which Picard overcame in this way, is now back on the agenda thanks to Jack Crusher.

What will become of Jack Crusher?

To what extent this will affect the fate of Jack and his relationship with his father in the four remaining episodes of the series remains to be seen. Jack doesn’t seem to have any visible complaints yet and it could stay that way (for now). Or as Jack’s mother Beverly once said encouragingly to Picard in “Next Generation”: “You could live with this defect for the rest of your life without getting into trouble. And even if that happens… many continue to live normal lives for a relatively long time after the onset of Irumodian Syndrome.”

As for Picard himself, the abnormality in his brain did not really lead to his death until he was 94 (!) years old. And maybe there’s another Android blank that Jack can transfer his consciousness to if things get worse one day – although we’ve since learned in “Star Trek: Discovery” that this procedure has been banned due to its low success rate no longer will. are. applied sometime in the future.

We’ll find out how Jack, Picard, and his old “Next Generation” companions continue in the remaining episodes of the final “Picard” season, always appearing Friday mornings on Amazon Prime Video and Paramount +.