Farewell (episode)

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

With just hours until the Europa Launch, Picard and the crew find themselves in a race against time to save the future. (Season finale)

Summary[]

Teaser[]

With the new Borg Queen on her way to the Delta Quadrant, Picard recalls to Tallinn and Rios the stories he'd heard of how the château had been "shot up" when the family reoccupied it in the 21st century; the bullet holes in the wall from the battle of the previous evening were from that battle. Rios asks if that means they're on the path to the right future, but Picard is not certain. Rios still thinks on the prophecy Jurati gave before leaving, about how there had to be two Renées, one who lived and one who died. Rios wonders how such a thing was possible. Picard looks up at Tallinn, who appears troubled at the idea, and says they will speak on it later. Just then, Seven and Musiker return, and Tallinn asks if they were all set as she pulls out her servo.

Transporting back to her apartment, Tallinn opens a safe and pulls out a device she says will work similar to tricorders, handing it to Musiker and another servo to Rios. Seven asks her to check on Soong's GPS; Musiker sees that his entire fleet of vehicles is still parked at his house. Rios knows that was where the Jurati-Queen hacked into the CSS La Sirena's transporters, which meant Soong had considerable remote capabilities at his disposal. While they investigated Soong's house, Tallinn would go to the Europa Mission launch; the astronauts' quarantine would end on launch day, and she would transport to the launch site to pass security and the bioscanners in the front lobby. When Picard asks what she plans to do, she says only that she is going to watch out for Renée, as that was what she does. Seven wishes her luck, and Tallinn does likewise. As Tallinn prepares to transport with her servo, however, Picard grabs her by the wrist and is taken with her, leaving the others wondering what he was doing.

Act One[]

As the communications herald the launch of the mission, the scene moves from the orbit of Jupiter and the destination moon, Europa, back to Earth, to the launch site in Southern California. Tallinn and Picard appear outside the base, with Tallinn asking what he was doing there. Picard bluntly says he knows what she is trying to do, and tries to convince her that she does not have to sacrifice her life for Renée's. Tallinn asks if Jurati would have any reason to lie, and Picard thinks she would have thousands, as she was now part Borg. But Tallinn thinks she was more Jurati at the end, with a view of all possible futures. Picard makes it clear that he does not believe in prophecy, and even if he did, there were many ways to interpret what Jurati said, and tells her he will not let her sacrifice herself just because she interpreted it a certain way. Tallinn bluntly tells him that that he did not get to decide her fate just because he was afraid she would die. She understands why he would feel that way, but reminds him that other people's lives were not up to him, and their deaths were not his fault – not Tallinn's, if it came to that, and not his mother's. They couldn't control who they would lose, or spare themselves the pain. But other people's choices were their own, and this was the one Tallinn had made. "I don't need saving," she tells him. "I never have."

Meanwhile, at his house, Soong is instructing the computer controlling the automated drones to target the reaction control thrusters of the Shango X-1 shuttle, while Rios, Seven, and Musiker transport in. But as they cautiously enter his lab, they find the computer is merely playing a recording of his voice giving the instructions. Seven calls Picard, reporting that Soong was not there. Picard looks down and sees why: the doctor is at the launch site. Musiker rages at the "entire bullshit scenario" meant to draw them away from Soong, but Rios is more worried about the drones. Musiker detects four heat signatures nearby, and opens a wall to reveal the hidden drones. Rios suspects that this was Soong's backup plan, and Seven agrees: if he can't stop Renée from boarding the rocket, he would use the drones to destroy the rocket itself. The drones will launch in less than four minutes; Musiker sees the system is encrypted, and that she could stop it if she still had access to La Sirena. With the ship gone, however, she can't stop the launch. Musiker realizes Soong knew they would find the drones, and finds they were rigged with explosives. Trying to tamper with them would set them off, killing the crew on the spot. Rios asks if that was it, but Musiker is determined it's not, and asks for whatever small tools, such as pliers or scissors, that they can find. If she can't disable them, she would take manual control.

Tallinn watches as the astronauts make their way to the launch pad, and looks worried that she does not see Renée. She changes into a flight suit and follows them. Meanwhile, Lee, part of the Europa Mission's board of directors, is taking Soong around the facility, and the doctor asks to meet the astronauts, claiming that he wants to shake hands with "the men and women who are about to create the future." When Lee mentions the strict quarantine protocols, Soong asks if his donations to the mission didn't earn him "five minutes of facetime"; his guide relents, telling him they were about to suit up. Tallinn uses her security card to enter Renée's changing room, and finds her there alone. Renée remarks on how the mission was happening, and she was actually ready for it. She turns and finds Tallinn there, who she does not recognize, asking about Maya Orlando, the person on her suit-up crew. Tallinn tries to hedge, saying Maya wasn't feeling well, but Renée knows she was not on any of the suit-up crews, as she knew them all… and was also wearing Maya's uniform.

Lee expresses excitement at the mission, never thinking it would actually happen. Soong considers that attitude "terrible". Lee tries to clarify that she never thought it would be real, but Soong finds that "disrespectful", thinking he would leave her right there; after a second or two, he decides to do so.

Renée again asks to know who Tallinn is, thinking she has seen her somewhere before. Tallinn recalls that as a child, Renée had put a small spaceship toy into her mother's casket, and her dream of being an astronaut was motivated by the idea that if she flew out far enough, she would find her mother in the stars. Tallinn admits she had tried to hide herself from Renée, but there were times she couldn't. She picks up a small pendant of a sailboat and hands it to Renée, having given it to her after her real sailboat had capsized off Martha's Vineyard when she was ten years old. Tallinn had also been at the pre-launch gala a couple of nights earlier, and maybe "a dozen other glimpses" as well. Part of her, however, wanted Renée to see her, to know she was there. Renée had always thought she'd had a "guardian angel", and she had at least had a kind of guardian: Tallinn.

Adam Soong kills Tallinn — "*Don't worry. Won't last long. This neurotoxin… is fast and fatal. Looks like you're about to create the future after all.*"

As Picard watches Soong heading for the astronaut quarters, Tallinn tells Renée that all she wants is for her to board the ship, and asks Renée to trust her. Soong enters the hallway outside her changing room just as Renée emerges in a panic. She appears glad to see Soong approaching, talking about a "crazy woman" who claims to be a "guardian from space". Soong assures her it was alright, and has her accompany him to find help. Heading down the stairs, Soong calls security to go to the suit-up room upstairs, just as Renée begins to stagger in pain. Soong smugly pulls a thin layer of skin dosed with a neurotoxin from his hand, assuring her that it was fast… and fatal.

At the same time, back at Soong's house, the crew continues to try and bypass Soong's systems. Just then, the drones begin to launch in staggered intervals; Soong had programmed them that way to ensure at least one got off the ground. Musiker continues to work feverishly to gain manual control, and finally succeeds with one of them; Rios has full control over the drone, and Seven tells him to shoot the others down. Rios struggles with the controls as the drones fly across the Hollywood Hills, but ultimately Rios succeeds by crashing his drone into the other three, destroying them all.

Picard looks up to see Renée stagger out, calling him by name. As she collapses, Picard asks if there was some medical technology to save her, but she says it was too late. "Renée" is actually Tallinn, revealed a moment later as her masking technology fades away. She tells him she needs to see the launch. Hearing the rumbling of the engines, Picard tells her, as his mother had told him long ago, to "look up". Tallinn does, seeing the rocket launch, and is greatly relieved to see it. Tallinn admits she understands Picard better now, remarking on how his guilt had saved planets, countless lives for the one he couldn't save. She admits she finally revealed herself to Renée and told her the truth, and hopes that Renée will remember her, and know she had been worth all the effort. She tells Picard he had helped her do that, and tells him to absolve himself, or the only life unsaved would be his own. "Her eyes, they were so beautiful," Tallinn says as she dies, content that her job was done: Renée was fulfilling the destiny she had worked for so long to protect.

Act Two[]

Europa Mission (TV broadcast) — Soong watches Renée interviewed live on television, his plans in ruins

Inside his ransacked lab, a drink in his hand, Soong watches the news on television as Renée reports they were away at last. "On the wings of those who came before us," she says, holding the sailboat pendant Tallinn had given her. "Europa, here we come." Realizing that his future was not to be, Soong hurls his drink out of his hand, which smashes into the nearby cabinet. Suddenly, he hears something from his computer. To his horrified rage, he sees that all of his computer files are rapidly being deleted. It is Kore, using the Aspectus headset from a public library. Soong asks what she had done. "Made a new future," she replies. "For us both. This is for my sisters." The computer then reports a one-hundred percent file deletion; Soong's entire computer system had been purged. Soong is now left with nothing – until a thought occurs to him and he opens up a drawer in his desk, pulling out a confidential funding report from Soong Dynamics, dated June 7, 1996: Project Khan.

Meanwhile, Kore is alerted by a message on her laptop. "Curious what's next? Watch and observe," it tells her, before giving her an address: 460 Lowry Avenue in Los Angeles. Kore arrives at the address, a public park of sorts, and hears footsteps behind her. Thinking it was Q, she begins to tell him off about his "games", but it proves to be a much younger-looking man, who assures her they were very different, before greeting her by name. When she asks who he is, he says it was a "very long and very complicated story". Kore tells him she has nothing pressing, and so he begins by saying he had once been known as Wesley Crusher, but was now a Traveler of all of space and time. Kore thinks it to be a joke, but Wesley replies that the last time he told a joke, he inadvertently changed a century's worth of history, so tries not to be misunderstood. He goes on to say that he and his kind dispatched supervisors to watch over the "grand tapestry" of history, which was always a thread's pull away from total annihilation: a star can be born, but a ship lost, one species thriving while a civilization collapses. He admits that the tricky part was ultimately knowing when to step in. He tells Kore she has two paths before her: One would lead to a perfectly normal life, while the other would be to "everything else", but he could not guarantee her safety. He is recruiting her to become a Traveler, just as he had been. Kore replies that she had never been safe in her life, and so chooses to go with Wesley, who welcomes her as a Traveler. They both disappear in a transporter beam.

Act Three[]

Seven and Raffi kiss — Seven and Raffi share a kiss

Back at Château Picard, Ricardo "flies" his rocket through the house, while Rios collects all of the future equipment they had brought with them to ensure no "butterflies" would change their future. He, Seven, and Musiker realize there would probably be no returning to their future, and so they would have to live in the 21st century now. Seven wonders what they would do, and how money would work. Rios suggests going to Los Angeles, which Musiker jokingly calls "presumptuous"; Rios figures maybe he should ask first. Just then, Ricardo walks in to show Rios some "rocks" he and his mother Teresa found outside – corks from wine bottles. Seven remarks she has never seen Rios look so happy. Musiker asks if Seven was okay with the idea of staying in the 21st century, and Seven thinks she might be "better than okay". Musiker wonders, if Seven was done running from her Borg past, whether she could focus on herself for a change, while not wanting Seven to feel like she has to spend every waking moment with her. Seven cuts her off mid-sentence with a kiss; when Musiker asks what that meant, Seven laughingly tells her to "let it breathe". Looking around, Musiker then wonders where "JL" slipped off to.

Picard, holding the skeleton key he had recovered from the night before, walks up to the door to what would be his mother's room, pulls the loose brick from the wall, places the key in the hollow and covers it up again. "Bravo," he hears Q's voice say. "Destiny. Left for the little boy you will be in the future to find." Picard walks into the solarium to find Q sitting alone across from another chair, his head bowed. Q knows Picard had considered destroying the key, and asks that if the younger Picard had not found it, would he still have grown up with his mother? Would the shame have instantly lifted? But Picard had not destroyed the key, and had chosen to accept his fate, accepting who he was, and chosen who he was – a sort of absolution. And because he had, Q thinks that perhaps he might be considered worthy enough for someone else to choose, and perhaps might even choose to be loved. He reminds Picard that he'd told him it had been about forgiveness: his own. Picard asks him why, "the eternal question" as Q puts it, before he admonishes Picard to "know thyself". Picard despairs at all the loss, all the death, including Elnor and Tallinn's. Q points out that Tallinn would always die in every timeline, but this was the only timeline she got to meet Renée. Picard again asks why, and Q tells him to finish the sentence. Picard does so, asking that for over thirty years since their first meeting, why had Q been so focused on Picard? Q admits that he was "moving on", essentially dying… and he was dying alone. He does not want such a fate for Picard. He remarks on how Humans fixate on their griefs, on moments of the past long gone, like butterflies with their wings pinned. He knows Picard still considers himself as the boy who turned a skeleton key and broke the universe, and his own heart. "No more," Q says, saying Picard was now unshackled from his past; as Q leaves, he leaves Picard free. Picard asks why it all mattered, wondering if he would be required for some important event in the future. Q chides him for thinking everything had to have import on the universe as a whole, believing that one life should be enough, before answering Picard's question of why it mattered: That it mattered, Picard mattered, to Q himself. "Even gods have favorites, Jean-Luc," he says, "and you've always been one of mine." Q then says that time was almost up, but he had one last surprise in store.

As Picard walks into the living room, Seven looks up and asks what was wrong. Picard replies that nothing was wrong, indeed quite the opposite. Leading them outside the château, they find Q there. Musiker is particularly unhappy to see him, but Seven tells her to try not killing him until he reveals what he wants. Q dramatically says he was time for his "final act". Musiker's first question is about Elnor; Q feigns ignorance, and when accused of killing Elnor, points out that it had been the alternate Seven's "idiot husband" who had done that. Musiker grabs Q by the throat, and he admits in his weakened state she could very well kill him; sending them all home most certainly would. He then asks if everyone was ready to return. To the surprise of the others, Rios elects to stay behind. Picard protests, warning about the change in the timeline this will cause, but Rios believes he never truly fit in, having spent a lot of his time on a cargo ship with five holographic versions of himself. He had never had a family in any real way until he met Picard and the others, but going to the past with them, he had now found a home of sorts with Teresa and Ricardo. Picard understands, and tells Rios to "make a good future". Rios wonders if it was always supposed to be this way, and that time was a funny thing; Q agrees with that latter assessment, much to his own surprise. Musiker sadly hugs her old friend one last time, and warns Teresa about how he was a "handful". "Piece of cake," Teresa replies. Picard approaches Q, who considers it "most unexpected", thinking perhaps there would be some surplus energy left to him afterward, enough for "a surprise, a gift". He bids Picard farewell, as it was time for him to go. "But not alone," Picard replies; "isn't that the point of all this?" Picard embraces his old adversary, who is moved by the gesture. "See you out there," Q says, as he snaps his fingers.

Picard finds himself back aboard the USS Stargazer's bridge in 2401, with the Borg Queen taking control of the ship, ten seconds from the auto-destruct sequence activating, and "Non, je ne regrette rien" playing. Picard orders the sequence canceled, and the crew to stand down. Knowing what he does about the Queen, Picard tells the crew to let her proceed, and mentions he had once told a friend about what the song had meant to him. While he did not have time to teach them the words, he believes that the Queen has had four hundred years to consider them. "Haven't you, Doctor?" he says. The Queen disengages her tentacles from the consoles, and retracts the mask over her face – the face of Agnes Jurati.

Act Four[]

Picard is glad to see a familiar face, and that she understands what he had told her about the song, how it had calmed him as a boy. The Jurati-Queen replies that she hoped it would calm him now. He now sees why she sent the signal, one she knew he would understand, and asks if it was still Jurati in there. She replies that she is, at least in part, but if they did not act, many would die, in this here and now. Picard asks about the threat she warned about, and why she has taken control of the fleet. At the helm, Ensign Kemi reports a massive spike in neutrino emissions focused on the center of the quadrant. Not hearing a response, she turns to find that Captain Rios is not there, and asks where he is. Picard orders her to remain on task, and bring the reading on screen. It appears to be a fissure of some sort; Seven consults the sensors, but is not clear what it is. What is clear is that if its triquantum waves keep increasing, it would devastate most of the sector, if not the entire quadrant. The Jurati-Queen has calculated that the only way to protect the quadrant was to harmonize the fleet's shields with her ship's, which was why she had begun taking over the vessel. Picard now realizes this is why he had been summoned: she needed someone with authority that she could trust, and who could trust her as well. "We needed a friend," she confirms. Meanwhile, Starfleet Command is trying to ascertain Stargazer's status, warning that they would consider the ship compromised if they did not answer soon. Seven turns to Commander Moshe and tells him to advise Starfleet they were in active negotiations. As Seven knew more about the Borg than anyone, even him, Picard uses his authority to give her a field commission of captain and command of the Stargazer. As she takes the captain's chair, Seven instructs Lieutenant Sing at communications to hail the fleet and tell them that Picard has authorized giving the Queen control, and orders the crews not to resist. "Agnes, be brilliant," she says. "Always," the Jurati-Queen replies.

The fleet is put into grid formation, the Borg ship in the center, as the Jurati-Queen begins harmonizing the fleet's shields. However, the USS Excelsior's shield emitters are off, and Musiker instructs them to recalibrate. Elnor responds, surprised to see Musiker, and remarking the last thing he remembered was being on La Sirena. Musiker, relieved to see him alive, tells him to make the adjustments. As Elnor gets to work, Musiker realizes that Q had brought Elnor back, and Picard recalls he had called it "a surprise, a gift". Kemi warns that the object was about to go up, and Picard orders them to brace for impact. A burst of energy crashes into the shield, but after a long and tense moment, the shield holds. Picard commends the Jurati-Queen for saving billions of lives. "That was the idea… mister," she replies. Looking as the anomaly changes from fiery to a more blue color, Musiker wonders what it was; Seven thinks they had just witnessed the creation of a transwarp conduit, but not a kind she was familiar with. The Jurati-Queen explains that even with the knowledge of the Borg Collective, she did not know who created it, but believes it to be part of a greater puzzle, connecting to some kind of threat. She asks for provisional membership in the Federation to watch over the conduit, "a guardian at the gates".

The Stargazer returns to Earth, and the crew takes advantage of the hospitality at 10 Forward Avenue. Guinan apologizes for not being able to tell Picard sooner about what had gone on, but knew that if she guided him right and set him straight, he would circle around eventually. She also thanks him for setting her straight first back in 2024. She notes that he had always been more clever than observant, gesturing to a picture nearby on the wall that she had needlessly worried about Picard potentially noticing when he gifted her the wine… a picture of Rios with Teresa. They had begun a medical movement together, the Mariposas – Spanish for "butterflies" – and he had led them through hard times, while she helped whoever needed help, whenever they might have needed it. Ricardo grew up to lead a team of scientists that used the alien organism his 'auntie' Renée discovered during the Europa Mission to reverse the deterioration of Earth's environment. They would all visit her bar whenever they were in Los Angeles, and remarks on how Teresa could drink Rios under the table. Picard, curious, asks how their lives had ended. Teresa had lived to extended old age, but Rios had been killed late in life in a bar fight in Morocco over medical supplies, his last breath appropriately into a cigar; he had died as he had lived. Picard takes a pair of drinks from the bar and hands one to Elnor, raising a toast. "To family, then," he says, "because that's what we are, after all." With that toast, Picard tells them, there was somewhere it was time he got to. Guinan looks at him knowingly as he leaves.

Returning to his home, Picard finds bags packed in the hallway, before seeing Laris standing alone in the solarium. She had had the windows restored before she left, to give him something to look back to. Picard admits he had had enough of looking back, and decided to look forward from now on instead. He asks her where she was going, and she answers that she intended to find adventures of her own. Taking her hands, Picard – thinking on the lessons he had learned while in the past – says that while time could not give second chances, perhaps people could. Laris looks relieved at this, as they stand hand-in-hand and begin to talk. The view pans away outside the house, and looks up to the stars.

Memorable quotes[]

"And you are…?"
"That's a very long and very complicated story."
"Honestly, I've got nothing pressing."
"OK. A long time ago, I was known as Wesley Crusher. But now, I am a traveler of all of space and time."

- Kore Soong, meeting Wesley Crusher

"Well, hello. Nice to see you all."
"Q. Motherf–"
"Try not to kill him until we find out what he wants."

- Q, Musiker, and Seven

"I never fit, you know? Nothing stuck. I mean, I was living alone on a cargo ship with five holographic versions of myself. Not very encouraging. But then, I met you. I never had a family in any real way. You changed all that. All of you did. This is where I belong. Jean-Luc… I'm home."
"Make a good future."

- Rios, explaining his reasons for remaining in the 21st century to Picard

"Farewell, mon capitaine. It's time for me to go."
"But not alone. Isn't that the point of all this?"
"See you out there."

- Q, bidding farewell to Picard

"I once told a dear friend what that song meant to me. Now, while I don't have time to teach you the words, I believe that she has had 400 years to consider them. Haven't you, Doctor? It's good to see you, Agnes."

- Picard, realizing who the Borg Queen really is

"Hail the fleet. The admiral has authorized full control by the Borg Queen. Tell them do not resist. Agnes, be brilliant."
"Always. Initiating grid formation."

- Seven, in command of the Stargazer, and the Borg Queen, formerly Agnes Jurati

"Excelsior, your shield harmonics need to be recalibrated. Do you copy?"
"We copy. Realigning now and… Raffi?"
"Elnor?"
"The last thing I remember I was on La Sirena."

- Musiker makes a surprising contact with Elnor

"Q. Goddamned Q."
"What did he call it? A surprise, a gift."

- Musiker and Picard realize that Q brought Elnor back to life

"You just saved billions of lives."
"That was the idea, mister."

- Picard congratulates the Borg Queen on her victory

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner. I just knew that if I guided you right, set you straight, you'd circle around eventually. And I also want to thank you for setting me straight first."

- Guinan, to Picard upon his return to 2401

"I thought maybe a little looking back might do you some good."
"I think I've had just about enough of that. Better to look forward."

- Laris and Picard

Background information[]

Production[]

2 May 2022: Title publicly revealed on StarTrek.com. [1]
During filming for this episode and "Hide and Seek", Patrick Stewart's throat was frequently irritated whenever smoke was used on set. He later explained: "Now, if you watched episodes nine and 10, you will hear that my voice sounds different. Whenever smoke is used onstage, I have to make a protest because — I know it’s not poisonous, it’s not going to harm — it gets onto the vocal cords. I particularly suffer badly from this. And it made me a little hoarse. So, at first, we were going to rerecord a lot of what I said, but I urged [executive producer] Akiva [Goldsman] and my fellow producers not to do that because the weakness in my voice was reflecting the weakness in the character." [2]

Music[]

The score of this episode cites the theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture as well as the main theme from Star Trek: First Contact.

Reception[]

After viewing the premiere of the episode, Patrick Stewart praised the job done by his fellow actors: "I watched the episode for the first time this morning, and I was so deeply moved by those scenes with John de Lancie and the content of those scenes because he was making himself, as a character, vulnerable. John can bring complexity to the simplest line. I mean that as a compliment. I’m envious. His whole attitude and the things he was saying and his gentleness and sensitivity, it choked me up. And then when we came to the moment when [Borg Queen] Alison Pill took off her mask. We had this curious angle shot, rather low into her face, looking up into her eyes. I’m afraid I began to weep, it was so touching. Because, of course, it meant that I was saying goodbye to John and to Alison, who are both wonderful actors." [2]

Cast and characters[]

Wil Wheaton reprises his role as Wesley Crusher. Wesley last appeared in a short cameo in Star Trek Nemesis and was last featured in TNG: "Journey's End". However, Wheaton had remained involved with the Star Trek franchise, most notably as a host of The Ready Room.
This episode marks the death of Q, portrayed by John de Lancie, as well as the death of Tallinn, portrayed by Orla Brady.
In addition, the deaths of Cristóbal Rios and Teresa Ramirez are also mentioned, after they lived their remaining life together in the 21st century.
Whoopi Goldberg appears again as Guinan, having last portrayed the role in the season premiere "The Star Gazer". In the intervening episodes, a younger Guinan was portrayed by Ito Aghayere.

Continuity[]

This episode establishes that the time travel experienced by Picard and his crew during the course of this season were always part of the history of the prime timeline, thus creating another significant temporal loop involving Earth's history. Several similar loops have been previously caused by other Starfleet crews and even under Picard's own command. (DS9: "Past Tense, Part II", VOY: "Future's End", Star Trek: First Contact) Picard comes to this realization as he remembers that his ancestors had encountered the damage caused by the firefight against the Borg ("Hide and Seek") when they moved back to Château Picard during the 21st century. In addition, Guinan also states that she had always remembered her 2024 encounter with Picard but decided not to reveal it prematurely.
Rios collects several items left behind by him and his colleagues during their stay in 2024, including his combadge and a broken phaser. He collects these "butterflies", so that they don't pollute the timeline as advised by Jurati at the beginning of their time travel experience ("Assimilation"). However, ultimately Rios decides to stay behind in the past, likely impacting events of the 21st century himself, and formed Mariposas, an afilitate of UFP in 25th century.
Wesley Crusher is still a Traveler, following the events of TNG: "Journey's End". When he last briefly appeared in Star Trek Nemesis, Wesley was seen wearing a Starfleet uniform at the wedding of Deanna Troi and William T. Riker. A deleted scene from the film stated that he had ultimately returned and joined Starfleet, but whether this remains true is not addressed in his appearance in this episode.
The Travelers are considered guardians of the timeline and revealed to be the beings who dispatch supervisors such as Gary Seven and Tallinn. Wesley recruits Kore Soong as a supervisor, and together they embark to an unknown destination.
Crusher compares the timeline to an exquisite tapestry, always in danger of being unfurled by tugging at loose threads. Jean-Luc Picard previously used a similar analogy to describe his own life. (TNG: "Tapestry")
The file Adam Soong looks at in his final scene is labelled "Project Khan" and dated January 2, 1992 to June 7, 1996. Khan Noonien Singh left Earth in 1996 at the end of the Eugenics Wars. (TOS: "Space Seed"; Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) Soong's descendant, Arik Soong, would become involved with Augments descended from the project that created Khan during his career. (ENT: "Borderland", "Cold Station 12", "The Augments")
The death of Q is reminiscent of the suicide of Quinn, especially in regard to Q's acceptance that he is about to make an entirely new experience, something that has become very rare in the Q Continuum. (VOY: "Death Wish") The circumstances of Q's impending death are not further addressed in this episode, neither is the notion that he has to die alone. The latter raises questions about Q's final relationship with other members of the Continuum, most notably his son. (VOY: "Q2")
Seven of Nine receives a field commission into Starfleet at the rank of captain by Admiral Picard, taking command of the USS Stargazer. In the previous episode, Raffaela Musiker had mentioned that Seven would make a great captain, while Seven revealed that she gave up trying to join Starfleet after they were initially hesitant to trust her. ("Hide and Seek") Seven had already become captain of the La Sirena, after Cristóbal Rios had rejoined Starfleet. ("The Star Gazer")
As a final parting gift by Q, Elnor is resurrected and returns to the USS Excelsior alongside the other returning members of Picard's crew. Elnor originally died at the beginning of the season. ("Watcher")
The Borg Queen seen in "The Star Gazer" is revealed to be Agnes Jurati. She used the audible song "Non, je ne regrette rien" specifically to draw the attention of Jean-Luc Picard and to make him realize that she posed no threat. The two had discussed the song and its meaning for Picard while stranded in the year 2024 ("Watcher"). Originally, Jurati's tactic failed, resulting in the destruction of the Stargazer, but in this episode Picard realizes the situation and aborts the self-destruct sequence.

Links and references[]

Starring[]

With

Santiago Cabrera as Cristóbal Rios

And

Brent Spiner as Adam Soong

Special guest star[]

Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan
John de Lancie as Q

Guest starring[]

Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher
Penelope Mitchell as Renée Picard / Tallinn
Sol Rodriguez as Teresa Ramirez

Co-starring[]

Stand-ins[]

Margot Muraszkiewicz as stand-in for Jeri Ryan
Thadeus Welch as stand-in for Patrick Stewart

Previous episode:
"Hide and Seek"

Star Trek: Picard
Season 2

Next episode:
"The Next Generation"