Star Trek’s 10 Finest Jean-Luc Picard Episodes, Ranked

Each “Star Trek” fan has a favourite Captain, to various levels of precise rank. It is perhaps James T. Kirk, it is perhaps Benjamin Sisko. For lots of us, it is laborious to beat the legacy of Jean-Luc Picard, previously of the Enterprise-D. “Star Trek: The Subsequent Technology” star Sir Patrick Stewart launched himself with chilly effectivity at first, a person seemingly so inflexible that having an empath round made sense. However Picard, like the remainder of his crew, was flawed and human. Behind the noble French-English veneer was a person with a lifetime of troubled relationships, and a soul scarred deep by the Borg.

Picard introduced with him quirks that turned fandom legend, just like the Picard Maneuver, which appears him snappily tugging at his tunic at any time when he will get out of his chair, or the barked phrases “Tea. Earl Gray. Scorching,” at irregular intervals. He additionally introduced us probably the greatest actors within the franchise, who eagerly went for lusty archaeological adventures with the identical vigor as Shakespearean courtroom drama. It is an period that outlined Stewart’s profession, however by no means contained it — he is as liked as Professor Charles Xavier (and several other others!) as he’s Picard. These are our ten greatest picks for Captain Picard’s greatest voyages on the starship Enterprise, regardless that they’re all winners in our hearts.

Whereas “The Better of Each Worlds” was an epic two-part occasion that noticed the fandom perched on nails all through a full season break to find whether or not or not Captain Picard can be free of Locutus of Borg, the precise reply to that was difficult. “Household” picks up within the aftermath of Picard’s restoration from a Borg Dice and the tip of a large, doubtlessly Starfleet-ending battle at Wolf 359. Because it begins, Picard returns to his household vineyards (of infamously doubtful high quality, as we would later uncover) on Earth to think about what’s subsequent for him.

It is an uneasy go to; Picard is not on the most effective of phrases along with his brother, Robert (Jeremy Kemp), and he is contemplating leaving Starfleet altogether. However because the brothers regress into their infantile, mud-slapping behaviors by the use of dealing with their points, Picard’s stoic facade lastly cracks: he weeps, as any veteran may, for the violations he confronted and the horrors he dedicated whereas consumed by the Borg. Taken as a complete, the episode is usually a little heavy handed. However Stewart’s sudden collapse right into a scared little one, if briefly, is a reminder that everybody breaks underneath sufficient stress. Even our heroes. Wolf 359 and Locutus can be with Picard for the remainder of his life, “Household” is the place one other a part of that journey begins.

Wanting again, it is wild {that a} slapstick romance tangle-up between Picard, Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry) and a Ferengi (Frank Corsentino as Daimon Tog) occurs simply two episodes earlier than the Borg seize Jean-Luc. But that is what occurs in “Menage a Troi,” when a Betazed shindig will get out of hand and Lwaxana is kidnapped by her erstwhile suitor. So much occurs on this episode, however the meatiest little bit of it’s within the finale, when Picard, famously aggravated by Lwaxana’s obsession with him, has to play a jealous lover so as to rescue her from Ferengi paws.

It is a metaphorical Broadway showstopper at gunpoint for Picard. Stewart, a classically skilled Shakespearean actor, busts out a number of sonnets and even a bit of little bit of Tennyson’s elegiac “In Memoriam” so as to profess his willingness to present all for love, barely hiding his internal glee at going full ham even whereas pretending he hates this. In the long run, his Ferengi opponent is cowed, and Lwaxana goes straight for the throne (Picard’s lap) upon arrival, prompting our noble captain to all however blurt “I need to go, my planet wants me.” If you cannot get to a hammy park efficiency of “A Midsummer Evening’s Dream,” this episode will do in a pinch.

Sir Patrick Stewart by no means made his love of Shakespearean drama into an overbearing side of his profession as Picard. If something, he made the format extra approachable and human. “Tapestry” just isn’t itself impressed by the Bard, however Sir Stewart’s efficiency as he explores his personal lifetime with out one near-fatal incident could be very a lot according to “Hamlet” and its earthy questions on youth and dying. It is even balanced by the correct quantity of humor as John de Lancie’s Q returns, this time as an ersatz archangel, completely gleeful about needling Picard in any respect the most effective moments.

As soon as upon a time, a younger Picard was, extra overtly anyway, a roughhouser not afraid of entering into a number of scraps right here and there. It resulted in a single hell of a life lesson, and Picard’s synthetic coronary heart sometimes wants care. However Q affords him a satan’s dream whereas Picard’s ticker will get tinkered with: what would life had been like if he’d averted simply that one fateful bar combat? The reply lies in a downright philosophical acceptance of mortality, an understanding of the joyful dangers of life. Picard laughs as he embraces near-death. It is a hell of a visible metaphor, and Stewart makes it land with simply the suitable contact of gravitas. Rattling great things.

By season 5, it was clear that Captain Picard was one hell of a hobbyist historian. “Darmok” lets him deliver these expertise right into a most uncommon and abrupt diplomatic mission, one the place failure will get each him and a fellow captain killed. That captain is a Tamarian named Dathon (Paul Winfield), and he is put them each on this state of affairs for causes that are not instantly clear.

The Tamarians are immediately fascinating; their language is allegorical, that means they communicate in phrases that, to at the moment’s ears, may sound like Tumblr memes. “Darmok and Jalad, at Tanagra” has a particular that means to Dathon’s folks, and till Picard understands what it’s (two males, aspect by aspect, eagerly dealing with hazard collectively), they’re all caught. The important thing lies within the Epic of Gilgamesh. Picard’s loving, gusto-laden efficiency of a simplified model of our historical hero’s journey would not simply pull delight from the now-dying Captain Dathon. It is a reproduction of what it needed to have been like way back, when storytellers shared legends round campfires. Picard’s love of historical past helps him click on with a stranger, and as bittersweet as it’s, it makes for a terrific episode that will lastly get a follow-up in “Decrease Decks,” the place a Tamarian has efficiently joined Starfleet. Allegories and all.

It is deliberate that probably the greatest episodes of “Picard” goes out of its approach to not evoke the unique no-win state of affairs, the Kobayashi Maru. The Maru, which was once a Starfleet state of affairs for studying how to deal with failure, is as an alternative a hammy tribute to all the time making it out. In “No Win State of affairs,” Picard, the reluctant Shaw (Todd Stashwick), and Riker (Jonathan Frakes) go head on in studying to just accept the worst and darkest components of their lives. Surviving the mess they’re in is an afterthought.

It is a talky episode (with some surprisingly blue language), nevertheless it’s by no means gradual. Matched with flashbacks that present a gregarious Picard blissful to carry forth about his years in Starfleet to a younger crowd hanging off each phrase, a lonely holodeck bar brings out years of missed alternatives between Picard and his estranged, unknown son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers). It is misplaced time finally interrupted by Shaw, who’s been at dagger’s edge with Picard and Riker since they got here on board. The explanation: Wolf 359, the place Shaw was one of many final survivors on his ship towards the Borg and their figurehead, Locutus.

Stewart takes a quieter function towards each males’s frustrations, reflecting again to them his regrets and nightmares. Simply as these seemingly jovial flashbacks reveal that Picard has all the time had just one household, Starfleet, to his son’s sorrow, it additionally reveals that, with out Starfleet, nightmares and all, Picard can be misplaced. It is Picard at his most open, laying out the subtext of a personality all of us knew for merciless however obligatory examine.

“The Inside Gentle” is a beautiful, bittersweet episode that reveals up on each best-of-“Trek” record, maybe to a brand new fan’s annoyance. But it surely’s a go-to choice for good cause, as Picard spends the majority of the episode residing a full life as one other individual, along with his personal humanity and persona coming via at each flip. Kamin is the final reminiscence of a useless world, an envoy to a society that ended over a millennia in the past. It is a small factor, maybe, to a galaxy that may velocity throughout quadrants and settle new worlds. However to those misplaced folks, it is every part they’ve to present.

Picard wakes as Kamin after a probe zaps him on the bridge of the Enterprise. Picard is aware of rattling effectively who he’s as he confronts a spouse he would not acknowledge, however this “Twilight Zone” nightmare settles right into a dream because the phantasm by no means wavers. He settles into life as Kamin, steadily conscious that their world is doomed, however doing what he can to let his household take pleasure in their final generations in consolation. However this society closes the circle by bringing Kamin, in his outdated age, to the launching of a really particular rocket.

The second brings Picard again to himself, realizing what’s truly occurred, and why his long-dreamed life issues. When he awakens, solely a half hour after the probe zapped him, there’s one present left to present him: the little flute he’d discovered to play. In the event you do not choke up when Picard performs it softly, now alone with these reminiscences solely he can curate, you are fabricated from sterner stuff than us. For Patrick Stewart, that is nonetheless his greatest second.

“Star Trek” is commonly at its best possible when it tackles huge concepts head on, throwing us at actual life points and forcing us to consider them in new methods. “The Subsequent Technology” had its first grand second of this with “The Measure of a Man.” Nominally about Lt. Cmdr Information’s (Brent Spiner) risk of departure, it is truly a hardcore authorized drama concerning the worth and identification of the human soul. At both finish of the battlefield stands Picard for Information’s protection as a full and authorized sentient being, and Riker, unwillingly pressured to be the Satan’s Advocate on behalf of Dr. Bruce Maddox (Brian Brophy), who needs Information turned over to his lab as a analysis topic.

The gritty particulars about legislation underneath Starfleet are minor asides; the meat of the matter is whether or not or not Information can legally be thought-about an individual, or is he property? Not solely does Picard get a few of the most interesting courtroom monologues in any sequence, however we additionally really feel his obligatory discomfort when he goes to talk to Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), who factors out the elephant within the room: the questions on Information’s personhood drift unpleasantly near America’s historical past of slavery, and to make him into property could effectively create a brand new slave class underneath Starfleet. Now much more conscious of the stakes, Picard pushes in direction of triumph on Information’s behalf, all whereas leaving the most important query open for us all to ponder: what will we really think about a soul, if we will not even delineate consciousness? Stewart navigates all of it thoughtfully, and his righteousness as captain and pal makes this episode an all time banger.

The Borg’s abduction would not be the one time Captain Jean-Luc Picard would discover himself stripped all the way down to bone and soul. The Cardassians had been launched in season 4 of “The Subsequent Technology” to create a extra relatable and interactive risk to the Federation, steadily revealing themselves as imperialistic fascists, blissful to subjugate planets. By season 6, Picard started to face their threats head on, finally discovering himself captured and positioned within the arms of torturer Gul Madred (David Warner).

“Chain of Command” would not maintain again on its intense and correct depictions of each psychological and bodily torment, and we spend these two episodes watching Picard being damaged down, piece by piece, by one of many coldest characters within the franchise up to now. It is a gorgeous episode that ends in triumph of the bleakest type, as Picard admits how shut he was to giving in.�

Stewart’s efficiency brings forth agony of probably the most uncooked sort, and Warner, who as soon as shared a stage with Stewart again within the ’60s, is greater than up for the problem of reflecting that agony again at him with the precise chill wanted to horrify us. Is it a enjoyable storyline? God, no. But it surely’s an impressive showcase for each actors, and an unmissable a part of the “Subsequent Technology” period.

Gene Roddenberry wished “The Subsequent Technology” to be weighed down by the unique sequence as little as potential, considerably to the sorrow of long-time followers desirous to know what the Vulcans had been as much as for the reason that ’60s. On the entire, it wasn’t a foul directive; it pushed the sequence to create new and attention-grabbing worlds to discover. However when the door to the previous did lastly open, it used one of many most interesting episodes of “Trek” up to now to take action. “Sarek” brings again the daddy of Leonard Nimoy’s Spock, Sarek (Mark Lenard), with a somber, painful exploration of growing older and loss.

Easy with its central battle — Sarek is stricken with a form of Vulcan emotional dementia, and it is bleeding off on the crew — the true story is a few man dedicated to serving his legacy to the close to exclusion of all else. Can we imply Sarek, or Picard? The reply is moot, as these two statesmen develop equal to at least one one other. And in one of many biggest sacrifices and kindnesses a human may supply a Vulcan, Picard ensures Sarek can full his work by carrying all of his emotional weight. It is vulnerability at its hardest.

As Sarek is free, for a time, to complete his diplomatic mission, we see via Picard the sheer weight of all that Sarek has carried. Weeping, screaming, angered, and filled with many years of loss and ache, from his estranged relationship to his son, to his incapability to inform the human ladies he is liked simply how a lot they’ve meant to him. It is horrible however stunning stuff, and Stewart’s efficiency makes it genuine, by no means hammy.

“All Good Issues…” helps deliver “The Subsequent Technology” to a spectacular conclusion; bringing Q again in one other chapter of his ongoing trial of humanity is an ideal bookend to the sequence pilot, “Encounter at Farpoint.” His newest trial state of affairs (however not a ultimate one, as “Picard” would go to point out) calls for that Picard show a worth of humanity poorly understood by even ourselves: instinct. His life is cut up into a number of timelines, all of which present some side we would have puzzled about post-series, however in all of them there is a lethal riddle to be solved. A temporal anomaly not like something Starfleet’s ever encountered, able to ending human life. Even whether it is simply one other of Q’s little tips.

It is a trial that, after we look intently at it, reveals refined clues about Q’s fondness for his greatest pal — even when Picard would name Q his greatest fiend. Certain, Picard reveals off how essential our human quirks are, however extra importantly, it is all about being human. Mortal. Flawed. Able to change. Q’s by no means had any of that and but, he is studying about it through his trials and tips. From Picard. And solely now, on the finish, does Picard, a bit of bit like Stewart at his first conference, learn the way a lot he means to everybody else. It is that understanding that brings him house to his buddies, to hitch that pleasant sport of playing cards for the primary time.

It is richly human stuff, and Sir Stewart makes shrugging off the outdated ego to easily be part of his buddies into one thing like taking off a coat and getting cozy ultimately. “Picard” would go on to underline what we already discovered right here: Jean-Luc Picard has all the time had a household of his personal, and he would do something for them. Endlessly.