Star Trek: Lower Decks closes small Star Trek: Picard plot hole

Star Trek: Picard tried but it still had some issues that other shows like Lower Decks had to fix.

Star Trek: Picard’s third season was a triumphant return for many fans, who finally got to see their long-awaited reunion between the Next Generation crew. Even if Patrick Stewart never wanted to see it happen. The third season was choppy and had its holes, but if you look beyond the plot, the emotions that the show was going for delivered. But that doesn’t mean the plotholes can be ignored.

Certainly not by someone like Mike McMahan, who is the showrunner for Star Trek: Lower Decks, and he’s become famous for his deep-cut references that most casual fans will have a hard time recognizing. So it’s not surprising at all that he took it upon himself to close a plothole that Picard created.

In Picard, fans saw a Genesis device, known for terraforming any type of planet into a Class M planet, so that it can be settled. It was seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and until we saw it in Picard, fans believed it was the only one in existence. In Picard, we found out that was no longer the case, as it was locked up in the Daystrom Station.

Lower Decks helps explain away minor plot point in Picard

Now, in Lower Decks, which is set before the events of Picard, fans find out that a Genesis Device has been stolen. That specific device was destroyed, but it’s now clear that whoever has the ability to create these devices is clearly mass-producing (as mass production can be had with such a hard-to-create item), giving fans a closed plot point for Picard.

The Starfleet Daystrom, had a Genesis device because someone had found a way to recreate it and was selling it on the black market, resulting in Section 31 (more than likely) obtaining the remaining device and keeping it secured at the unofficial black site of Starfleet.

While not confirmed, it’s likely Picard’s showrunner Terry Matalas just threw in the Genesis device as a simple easter egg, but considering how production works in Star Trek, it’s very likely that McMahon found out about Matalas’ inclusion and decided to add a bit more lore to the item.

Hence the Lower Decks episode in question; Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place.