Should The Inner Light have had a bigger impact on Captain Picard?

The Inner Light is one of the most beloved episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

With beautiful imagery and masterful storytelling, The Inner Light captivated fans from its first airing. Now, it remains in the top rated Star Trek episodes and is most always on the must-watch lists. It’s even Patrick Stewart’s favorite episode. But WhatCulture poses a question that I’ve never thought of before. Should the events of that episode have been mentioned again? Should they have had a stronger outward impact on Captain Picard’s life?

We see the Ressikan flute again, and that’s an homage to the episode and a full life that Picard lived through on Kataan. But Picard never talked about it, and there was no outward sign that it had a long-lasting effect on him even though it would have been difficult for it not to have left an imprint. But should we have seen more?

The Inner Light shared a beauty that remains in a class of its own.

It’s hard to do a follow-up on such an episode, even though the writer wanted to write a sequel to it. (And it’s one that I would have loved to have seen based on the storyline.) But some events in our lives (and in the lives of characters we love) have an impact that no one else can see. That doesn’t mean we didn’t feel anything. I think it’s the same with Captain Picard.

While it might not appear that this episode changed him, I think inwardly, it did, as it would any one of us, if such a thing were possible. When Captain Picard’s family was killed, he was noticeably broken, but then it was over. That doesn’t mean he didn’t still feel the pain. So while Whatculture calls this an overrated episode, I’ll have to disagree. There are some episodes that are best left alone to resonate with the viewers.