How Deanna Troi might be the key to saving Jack Crusher

This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 8, “Surrender.”

This week’s episode saw the return of Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) in a large role than what she’s played up until now. And it was clear from the beginning that Troi’s powers are much stronger than what we ever saw aboard the Enterprise, but perhaps that is simply because she’s being given something of importance in this series—to help Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) deal with the images that have been spinning around in his head for far too long and to get the answers Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer) dangled in front of him on the Titan.

Showrunner Terry Matalas, in an interview with Collider, said that Deanna was always the key to solving the mystery with Jack.

"“We always knew at the beginning of the season that Deanna Troi was going to be the one who unlocks that door. She’s going to be the one that puts it all together. We only had Marina for a limited amount of time. We knew that we would have her for, essentially, the last four episodes, and we developed the story to make that happen.”"

Marina Sirtis’ Deanna Troi is back and better than ever on Star Trek: Picard.

As Matalas said they had Sirtis for a limited amount of time, it was important that she be an essential part of the plot. Making her the one that puts it all together is smart. Onboard the Enterprise, Troi could always sense what was happening, and for her to sense that darkness surrounds Jack solidifies what we’ve been seeing all along.

The best part about Deanna’s return was her willingness to travel through Jack’s mind to reach the red door that has been taunting him all season. I’m glad to see that Matalas has given Deanna a strong part to play in this story instead of just making her feel feelings. On top of that, we got to see the Will and Deanna reunion we’ve been waiting for since the beginning of the season.

With Deanna set up to help solve the mystery surrounding Jack Crusher and only two more episodes left in the series, most likely, things are going to move fast from this point. There’s a lot of ground to cover before Star Trek: Picard wraps for the final time, but we’re glad Deanna is back to help see it through to the end.