Season 3 Of ‘Picard’ Rights The Ship
'Picard's third season is a staggeringly ambitious labour of love.
In case you haven’t heard, Season 3 of Picard has landed. And it’s incredible.
A month ago, I was talking with a friend of mine about how much I love Star Trek. It’s a common topic between us — he just co-wrote William Shatner’s banger of a new book, so it came up pretty naturally. And halfway through our conversation, I received an email. I’d just been sent the first six episodes of the new season of Picard. Alright, fine, I thought. I’ll give it a shot.
I inhaled them. They absolutely engulfed my brain, and I had to sit there for the ensuing weeks, stewing, knowing emphatically what the creators of the show had pulled off, but not allowed to explain why. It was torture. I had Trek-obsessed mates who kept trying to bribe me for plot details, and let me tell you, I have never received so many baskets of mini muffins.
“Look”, showrunner of Picard, Terry Matalas tells Junkee. “Our goal was to tell one final Star Trek: The Next Generation story. The last time we saw them all together was… Star Trek: Nemesis. Right? Well, what would it be like to see them decades later? What would it be like to see Geordi La Forge with a family? What would it be like to see William Riker with a family, but dealing with loss? To see Worf still on the track he was on after the Dominion War? And what would it be like to have them all come together in what is (I hope!) a deeply personal story about family, and legacy, and what we pass on? And what we leave behind?”
I tell Terry how deeply satisfying it feels to watch a show that just gets Star Trek to this degree. He lights up. “That means a lot”, he says. “That means the world, Paul. I hope for viewers this is a really satisfying send-off, and I hope that it’s a rollicking good time, but also that it brings a tear to your eye, you know? I mean, one of the main compliments directed at the show — and the main criticisms – is how we deal with nostalgia. But that’s all by intentional! Walk into someone’s house they’ve lived in for sixty five years… you’re gonna see some things that relate to what they’ve been through already! Right?” He laughs, before becoming thoughtful and pausing for a moment. “Hopefully”, he continues, “the takeaway is… you’ll feel like you’re with this family again, on an adventure that feels… right.”
One of the best things about this season of Picard? The music. “Can you imagine”, says Terry, “10 hours of Star Trek feature film music? Because that’s what Stephen did.” Terry is talking about Stephen Barton, the composer who does something I thought impossible until now: threading together all the various sounds, themes and leitmotifs of Trek, and combining them perfectly into a kind of crystallised work of auditory genius. I tell Stephen Barton this on a phone call at about ten in the morning, LA time. Stephen is stuck in traffic, and I can hear angry beeping drifting down the line.
“Paul, it was incredible”, he yells over the noise. “When we got in there to start recording, most of the players (the musicians) were either in the LA philharmonic or the Hollywood Bowl orchestra, and lots of them played on the original stuff! We had players who played on First Contact, who played on The Next Generation, the TV show… they all know Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Dennis McCarthy (perhaps the three most noteworthy Star Trek music composers)… there were times when I just let them go, let them do their thing! It was such a privilege, really.”
Stephen begins to tell me what he thinks of the season as a singular body of work. “This is meant to be an ending of sorts,” he says. “I think as a season, and the way the story unfolds, and the way that it ends… it’s just so wonderful. And particularly with Terry, as well, because the things Terry does better than anybody is that he sticks landings. He knows how to write an ending! Terry is just phenomenally good at pulling that off.”
I thank Stephen and tell him to go, just to ensure I don’t get him into a major traffic accident, but he keeps me on the line for one more thing. “Before you go”, he yells, “I think there’s this feeling of catharsis as you watch this season. To whatever degree you think the story needed a proper ending, or had one already, or had one that you hated, or if you had a favourite character who you thought deserved a better send-off… for me, this season takes all of those pieces, and just treats them with the greatest of love and respect. And it’s made by people who grew up with Trek, and who care deeply about it. Terry has crafted a really compelling landing, and then stuck it. If you’re a fan of watching something with so many loose ends get really worked through, and go through twists and turns, then come to a deeply satisfying conclusion… this is for you.”
Stephen is right. Picard‘s third season loves its heroes. It loves our heroes. The entire crew from Star Trek: The Next Generation are treated with absolute reverence. After a first season full of lingering grief and daddy issues, and a second season that started and ended well but felt like a lopsided temporal spring break in the middle, the perfect balance has been struck. The stakes here are high, but there are threads of effortless humour. There are moments of heart-rending pathos. The actors, old and new, are in top form. And best of all, none of the characters we know and love are being savaged, derided, or behaving in ways that don’t sit right.
The only truly divisive character so far? Captain Shaw. I’m honestly convinced he’s one of the best things about Picard‘s third season. Todd Stashwick is the superb actor who plays Captain Liam Shaw, the man in charge of the Titan, the ship upon which a fair bit of the early story may or may not take place. He’s… well, he’s a bit of a dick.
“I love characters like Shaw!”, says Todd, jubilantly. “I don’t decide how people see me, but I love taking on a character that, on the page, is easy to dislike. Very easy, especially since he’s poking the eye of legends. And people are very protective of their heroes! And look, some people enjoy that I’m doing that! It’s fun to take the piss a little! But I love characters who you will dislike the moment you meet them, and then I will wrestle you into loving them. And I also think audiences, when they do turn the corner on people like Shaw, love them even more.” “Because they have to work for it!”, I reply. Todd gives me a very Shaw-like finger-gun. “Exactly.”
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Just as a quick side note, I will say this about Captain Shaw. Yes, he was a dick to our heroes in the opening episode of the season. But perhaps it’s worth trying to figure out why.
Plenty of characters we now love in Trek have taken umbrage with the crew of the Enterprise and their methods, their motivations, their… cowboy diplomacy. Sometimes, it’s because they don’t have within themselves the kind of heroism or the chutzpah to get into a knife fight with a Nausican, and they know it, and that knowledge rubs them the wrong way. And look, it’s true: the best Starfleet heroes are those who take risks. Who swing big.
Shaw is prejudiced, moody, and a dick, but he’s in the right on the protocol front, 100 percent. What Picard and Riker are doing is profoundly risky. But his inability to break rules, to see beyond his anger and his baggage, will absolutely hold him back. Can he move above that baggage? Can he go from a highly competent Starfleet captain to a great one? Let’s find out. I’ll say this much: I trust this season to handle it beautifully.
“I’d also like to add”, Todd weighs in, “Shaw is right. He’s not wrong! He’s right! And I think people will realise… he’s not unreasonable. When he doesn’t have all the information, he can’t make decisions, right? And sure, he doesn’t make decisions people align with. He makes the best that can be made, given what information he has at any given moment. I mean, his delivery is salty! But I think, when push comes to shove, he’s a guy you want in your corner.” He pauses. “Plus, I think he’s kinda funny.” Another pause. “And… devilishly handsome”.
Terry Matalas agrees. “Shaw has a story. I think all of our heroes’ issues with Shaw are legitimate, you know? All of those microaggressions… look, Not even micro. Aggressions. All of those are there! But I think when you see more… you’ll understand those shades of who he is, and why, much better.”
Talking with Todd, and Stephen, there have been moments where they sound almost euphoric. They’re so intensely grateful to be working on such an absolute banger of a Star Trek story. I ask Terry at which moment he looked around the set and thought, oh my god. I’ve made it. I’m in it. I’m in Star Trek. Terry goes to reply, then stops himself. “Go on”, I say.
Finally, he relents. “OK, Paul. There’s a moment which… if I told you what it was, it would spoil the entire season for you. It was a high pressure day, in an absolutely legendary moment. And… it was a lot, let’s just say. It was…” And then he trails off, stuck in a memory. He gives me a dreamlike shrug, and grins like a kid. I can’t recall the last time I saw anyone so happy. So grateful.
Actually, strike that, I can. It’s the same look I had watching the first six episodes of the show.
New episodes of Picard Season 3 drop every Thursday on Paramount+.
Paul Verhoeven is an author, broadcaster and TV presenter. His books ‘Electric Blue’ and ‘Loose Units’ are out now through Penguin, and he hosts the podcasts ‘Dish Island’ and ‘Loose Units’. You can find him on Twitter, Instagram, and in person, if you can (he’s very good at hiding).