Picard: His greatest episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Image: Paramount Pictures

2 – All Good Things… Part 1 and 2

What’s better than a episode of The Next Generation that focuses on Jean-Luc Picard? An episode that focuses on three different version of Jean-Luc Picard, that’s what.

When The Next Generation was ready to go off the air and move to the big screen, “All Good Things…” was how they said goodbye. The episode follows Picard in three different timelines, the past, present and future as Q reappears to put Jean-Luc and humanity through one more test.

What makes the episode really stand out is how Stewart manages to pull off such a daunting feat. Not only is he playing Picard as he is in the present, scars and all, but also as he was in the premiere episode “Encounter at Farpoint” which is a very different Picard than the one we all came to know and love. Add in a future version that has married and divorced Beverly Crusher and you have three very different versions of the same character.

As a result, “All Good Things…” really shines as an example of why Picard became such a favorite among the fans. It shows the evolution of the character through seven seasons and how much he changed and grew. Which is something you can’t really say about Kirk or even Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager.

Then there is that final scene, where Picard asks if he can join the poker game with the rest of his command staff. It is a microcosm of the character’s journey and how he always thought he had to keep a professional distance from his crew yet discovered he was wrong. These people are more than his crew. They are his family.