In today’s streaming landscape, few shows are afforded the chance to deliver happily ever afters, and even fewer of those—who are given the chance to wrap up their stories—take it upon themselves to deliver finales that are satisfying from beginning to end. From the start, Star Trek: Picard has been one of the best series on television. It smartly paid homage to the past, while charting its own course through the stars, and with the final season it returned fully to its Star Trek: The Next Generation roots with legacy-making success.

Other franchises could learn from what Star Trek has delivered with Picard. Your beloved heroes can be flawed, and their offspring can be tormented by galactic baddies, and everyone can still make it home at the end of the day. Franchises like Star Trek are precious and generational and when you’re bringing something so monumental to a close, you don’t want to leave your audience in tears of sorrow, you want to leave them with tears of joy.
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To perfectly bookend the Season 3 premiere, which was aptly entitled “The Next Generation,” Star Trek: Picard comes to a close with stunning visuals and a deep well of emotion with “The Last Generation. ” The episode opens with a dire message from President Anton Chekov (voiced by the original Pavel Chekov actor Walter Keonig) who warns that Earth’s planetary defenses are falling to the Borg’s attack, and while he urges listeners to save themselves from the young who have been turned against them by the Borg, he remains hopeful that there is a way out of the situation.

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The crew of the Enterprise accesses the damage that Spacedock is sustaining and, while it is managing to hold its own against the fleet’s attack, Riker (Jonathan Frakes) questions where the cavalry is to save Earth. Unfortunately, as Data (Brent Spiner) reveals, the hails from the Federation and all other ships in the vicinity have gone completely silent. They are all that remains of the cavalry. With the realization that they are all that stands between Borg destroying Earth, they track down where the Borg Cube has been hiding within the gasses of Jupiter, and discover that they are using Jack (Ed Speleers) as a Command signal to broadcast their assimilation. With the solemness of a parent and the determination of a captain, Picard (Patrick Stewart) explains that in order to save Earth, and the galaxy, they will have to sever the beacon’s connection: no matter the cost.

From there, the episode is split into three distinct locations: the Enterprise, the Titan, and the Borg Cube. Each of which is gorgeously and impressively designed; lit and flawlessly designed to build on the intrigue and the anticipation of the unfolding story. Even the camerawork at times increases the sense of foreboding, creating a very off-kilter and uncertain sensation. While you may feel confident that Picard will deliver a well-crafted ending, you’re not entirely certain if everyone you care about will make it out alive.

Aboard the Titan, Seven (Jeri Ryan) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) try to make the most of their reduced crew, even though the over twenty-five crowd isn’t exactly their best and brightest. They do manage to take back the bridge by setting their phasers to the portable beam-me-up, and transporting all of the Borg-infected crew to the locked-down transport room. While they do technically have the upperhand, Seven realizes that the Titan is still connected to the fleet formation and, in order to get out of the situation alive, they are going to have to figure out a way to disconnect from the fleet without the Borg realizing what their doing—which proves to be quite the challenge. Once they locate the Enterprise and piece together that Picard and the crew chose that ship because it wasn’t compatible with the fleet, Seven concocts a plan to cloak the Titan, scramble the fleet’s scanners, and hope like hell that they have enough firepower to shoot their way out of formation. Like a true Starfleet Captain, Seven delivers a short but rousing speech to the crew to instill them with hope that they can get through this situation and that the risk is worth it.

Back on the Enterprise, Deanna (Marina Sirtis) remarks that she’s never felt anything like this version of the Borg Cube before—all she feels is quiet suffering. Naturally, Beverly (Gates McFadden) asks if she can feel Jack, but all she can feel is that he has been completely consumed by the Collective. Worf (Michael Dorn), who is prone to practical nihilism, theorizes that Jack is likely past the point of no return, but Picard is confident that Jack is still in there. After all, Picard should know what it’s like to be used and abused by the Borg.

While the Borg Cube is doling out a lot of damage with their broadcast, Data reports that it’s only 36% operational and almost all of its resources are being used to send out their message. Rather than attacking the Enterprise, the Borg Cube lowers their shields and—as Picard recognizes—it’s an invitation. Their plan comes together quite quickly after that: in order to sever the connection between the Collective and the assimilated fleet, they’ll have to find the beacon on the Cube and destroy it. Unfortunately, Geordi (LeVar Burton) is certain that the only way they’ll be able to destroy that beacon is by beaming down onto the Cube and accessing the system directly. Beverly and Data manage to pull the life signs from the Borg Cube and isolate the one that is Jack’s, which will help them locate where he is too.

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In another long-awaited moment for the season, Picard finally seems to fully accept what it means to be a parent. While he’s come a long way throughout the back half of the season, it’s the moment between him and Beverly on the Enterprise bridge, where he acknowledges that she has brought him this far, and now it’s his turn to bring home, which feels like a monumental shift for the character. We’ve seen Picard go through a lot across the three-season series, but this is truly his final frontier: fatherhood. The weight of the moment is alleviated soon after by an unintentionally hilarious line delivered by Worf. After Riker agrees to go down to the Borg Cube with Picard, Worf offers to go with them to make it a “threesome.” There are a lot of ‘eyes, look your last’ vibes as the trio departs the Enterprise, made all the more ominous by Picard’s parting words.

As one may expect after the crushing defeat the Borg faced decades ago, the Borg Cube is not the hive of activity it once was. It’s quiet—too quiet, as Riker points out grimly. It is, for all intents and purposes, a tomb filled with Borg who have died and been consumed by the remaining Borg. Once Beverly sends over Jack’s location, Picard recognizes exactly where he is because he’s still somewhat compatible with the Collective. With this realization hanging heavy between them, Picard explains that it’s time for them to part ways. He has to go be a father. The trio says farewell to each other and, if you didn’t know better, you may truly believe that we’re going to lose one or all of them. Before Picard goes headfirst into danger, he once again assures Beverly that she did everything right with Jack, which serves as their farewell too.

Picard descends further and further into the eerie depths of the Borg Cube, which is where he finds Jack in his full Borg glory being used to broadcast their message of assimilation. Where Jack failed to use his phaser on the Borg Queen (voiced by Alice Krige), Picard has no qualms about firing upon her twisted, gaunt form. This season of Star Trek: Picard has focused heavily on the theme of “home,” particularly with the notion that crews become families and starships become home. It’s not lost on the audience that Picard is steadfast in his belief that he’s going to bring Jack home, and the Borg Queen makes a point of saying that Jack is already home.

The Borg Queen is so sickeningly pleased with herself when she calls herself Jack’s mother, taunting Picard with the fact that she and Jack share a common loneliness—one born out of Picard abandoning them both. Picard tries to bargain with her, offering himself up to her in return for freeing Jack. But these Borg aren’t looking to assimilate: they’re looking to evolve. Which happens to be another theme consistently used throughout Season 3. At last, we get the answer about why the Changelings and the Borg joined forces, and it’s extremely simple. Revenge. They both had their reasons to lash out against Starfleet, and together they saw a path forward toward evolution, using biology against Starfleet, and propagating their new future throughout the galaxy. They wanted to create a new generation of Borg who were designed to not only assimilate but to annihilate.

While this is unfolding, Worf and Riker manage to track down the location of the beacon and relay it back to the Enterprise. But their victory is short-lived, and a few of the remaining Borg awaken and attack them. They both take quite a few hits, with Worf sustaining the worst of them—enough to make the audience nervous about his fate. Things really start to reach a fever-pitch at the halfway point, as the Enterprise starts to take fire from the Borg Cube and the Titan starts to draw the attention from the fleet. Everything is going wrong, and hope feels fleeting.

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One of the best moments in the episode comes about in the midst of the chaos. When Geordi points out that he didn’t have time to get the weapons systems fully up and running, Beverly jumps right into handling the weapons manually. Everyone aboard the Enterprise looks equally impressed and terrified that their beloved doctor didn’t even hesitate when unloading the full array of weapons. She makes a good point, however, a lot has happened in the last twenty years! And a lot is continuing to happen. And another incredible moment comes right on the heels of this one.

The path to the beacon at the heart of the Borg Cube is an impossible journey, according to Geordi. It’s essentially a maze, one filled with tight turns and impossible navigational requirements, and even the best of the best wouldn’t be able to safely traverse it. At least that’s what he thinks. The new and improved Data giddily assures Geordi that he has it. It may be statistically impossible, but he is confident in what his gut is telling him. Of course, Geordi is willing to put his faith and trust in Data—even when the outcome seems bleak. They manage to work their way through the Borg Cube, thanks to Data’s impressive navigation skills, but it feels like too little too late. Back on the Titan, they watch in horror as the Spacedock falls, leaving the Earth utterly defenseless to the Borg’s planned attacks, and every major city and every major populated area becomes their target.

As the Borg Queen warns Picard that he will kill Jack if he severs his connection to the collective, the crew of the Enterprise discovers that destroying the beacon will kill everyone on the Borg Cube. It’s do or die and, unfortunately, the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance. While they’ve all played fast and loose with who they’re willing to risk to save Jack, reality starts to set in. Deanna solemnly points out that if they wait too long to make a decision, the Borg will kill everyone, and with the subtlest of nods Beverly acknowledges that they have to do this—no matter the cost. Geordi relays this information to Riker, offering to beam him and Worf back aboard the Enterprise, but they also know what must be done. Once they destroy the beacon, they’ll have less than a minute to escape, and Riker is willing to risk his life for the lifetime of friendship he’s shared with Picard.

Riker and Worf locate Picard right as he makes the decision to connect to the Collective again in order to save Jack. After decades of running from his history with the Borg, Picard acknowledges that he finally has something worth fighting for again: Jack. Inside that connection, Picard locates Jack, and he’s completely drunk on the euphoria of the Collective. He rhapsodizes about how he can feel all of them and the fact that he’s no longer lonely. He’s convinced that what he feels is perfection, but Picard tells him what he feels is death. The euphoria isn’t real.

Picard and Jack have had their fair share of father-son moments, though none of them have had the emotional resonance of Picard’s desperate plea to save Jack from the Borg. Jack is fully convinced that the Borg is where he belongs, something that was set into stone before he was born—his fate. They’ve preyed upon the loneliness he’s felt and Picard sees right through that. He tells Jack that he is the piece of him that he never knew was missing, and promises that he won’t leave him. As the Borg Cube starts to implode and the ground shakes beneath their feet, Picard tells him that Jack changed his life forever. The realization that his father is willing to die for him is enough to pull Jack free of the Borg, but it almost seems like it’s come too late. Still, the Borg Queen fights to keep her control of Jack, but he’s fully aware of the fact that he is no longer alone.

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The Enterprise desperately tries to lock onto them, but it’s an impossible task. With the dark shadow of death descending upon them, Riker reaches out Deanna through their telepathic bond and tells her that he loves her and that he’ll be waiting for her with their boy on the other side. This heartbreaking farewell proves itself as an unexpected salvation. Now that Deanna can sense Riker, she is able to navigate the Enterprise through the Borg Cube so they can beam them up directly.

With the Borg once again—and hopefully permanently defeated—all is right in the world once more. Aboard the Titan, the younger crew breaks free of their assimilation before they can dole out any serious damage against Seven and her makeshift crew, prompting a sweet reunion between her and Sidney (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut). On the Enterprise the relief is palpable as Picard and the rest of the crew reunited with their loved ones. Jack in his full Võx glory all but collapses into his mother’s arms; Riker and Deanna share a much-needed kiss, Data and Geordi share a tender moment with an exhausted Worf who immediately falls asleep, and Picard welcomes Jack to the Enterprise, and it fully feels like welcoming him home.

As the series finale of Picard begins to draw to a close, Riker narrates his Captain’s Log, which starts at Stardate 1—the first of a new day. Through Riker’s narration, we learn that Beverly discovered a way to fully purge the Borg DNA from all the young officers, and developed technology to allow them to root out any of the remaining Changelings hiding out within Starfleet. This development leads straight into a long-awaited Star Trek: Voyager reunion.

In the aftermath of everything that went down on the Titan, Seven meets with Tuvok (Tim Russ), who luckily survived the Changeling attack, to tender her resignation. Instead of accepting her resignation, he shows her the officer review that Captain Shaw (Todd Stashwick) submitted long before Picard arrived on the Titan. While Shaw was tough on Seven, the report reveals just how deep his respect for her actually ran. Addressing her as Seven of Nine, rather than Hansen, he recommends her for a promotion to Captain—praising her for her ability to break rules and push the limits. He may be “by the books,” but he was looking forward to seeing how great the book she wrote would be. It’s a beautiful send-off for Shaw and the perfect closure to their embattled dynamic.

Raffi gets some satisfying emotional closure too, by way of her family embracing her again and her son happily agreeing to set up a time for her to reconnect with her granddaughter. When Worf comes in to say goodbye to her, they talk around the fact that someone—Worf—leaked information to her family about her classified valor accommodations, which helped tip the scales of her relationship with them. Elsewhere, we learn that Data is still adjusting to his newfound emotions, which include seeing Deanna for therapy. After everything they’ve been through, one has to wonder just how many people are seeing her for counseling! The hilarious part of the therapy session is that she’s busily looking at vacation spots to get away with Riker instead of giving Data her full attention.

From there, the episode jumps a year into the future and a lot has changed. Despite being reluctant to the idea earlier in the season, Jack has finally joined Starfleet and landed himself on an expedited track. Jack is convinced it’s due to nepotism—he’s the son of Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard after all—but Picard is confident that he succeeded on his own merit, and assures him that names mean almost nothing. Jack is clearly nervous about getting his post, but not exactly for himself: he’s nervous about the big thing that he and his mother have been keeping a secret from Picard. He reveals that he has been assigned to the U.S.S. Titan, only the starship has been newly christened, in Picard’s honor, as the U.S.S. Enterprise G. This reveal allows Jack to echo his father’s words with a twist: “Names mean almost everything.”

Aboard the newly christened U.S.S. Enterprise, Jack is greeted by Captain Seven and her Number One, Raffi. But before he gets his official placement, Jack pulls out his typical Jack charm, jokingly ordering the crew to head to Matalas while commandeering the Captain’s chair. After cooling his jets, Jack questions Seven about what role he’s going to be assigned to, and advocates for why he fits practically every role, except maybe science. Instead of posting him somewhere far away from the bridge, Seven smartly decides to keep him right where she can see him, as Special Counselor to the Captain.

With that out of the way, Seven takes her seat in the Captain’s chair and Jack questions her about what her catchphrase is going to be. Connecting back to what Shaw said about the rule-breaking book that Seven will write as Captain, Jack refers to her catchphrase as her “writing the opening line of your legacy.” Rather than reveal what it will be, Star Trek: Picard leaves audiences anxiously waiting for Paramount+ to greenlight Star Trek: Legacy.

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In a beautiful homage to the final chapter of The Next Generation and a fitting end to a series that started with Picard largely isolating himself from the world, Star Trek: Picard ends at 10 Forward, with Picard surrounded by friends and playing a captivating round of poker with not just his crew, but his family. So much of the season has centered around this idea of crew as family and starships as home and this final scene with the cast of The Next Generation truly exemplifies that theme. That idea extends even beyond the realms of fiction, bleeding into reality with this cast and, by extension, the audience that has found comfort and belonging within this corner of the universe.

The second season of Star Trek: Picard ended with the heartbreaking departure of one of the most constant fixtures of Picard’s life, Q (John de Lancie), and the series as a whole once again narrows in on the permanence of him in this universe. As Jack settles in aboard the Enterprise and begins unpacking his belongings (including a photo of his parents together) he quickly realizes he isn’t alone in his quarters. In the intervening time, Picard clued Jack in on Q’s existence (oh to be a fly on the wall for that conversation) and he quickly recognizes that he has now been caught in his web. While Q told Picard that humanity’s trial was over, it turns out that was just for Picard—not Jack. Star Trek: Legacy may not be greenlit at this time, but Picard ends on the perfect note to drive fans to demand more. Q tells Jack that his trials have only just begun, paving the way for so many exciting adventures for the thief, pirate, and spy that Starfleet gave a ship to.

As much as I fell in love with the new cast members from Seasons 1 and 2, in the end, all I needed was exactly what Picard needed: the crew of the Enterprise (new and old). Mix in the Borg and a Q after dinner delight and Star Trek: Picard became something that felt uniquely created for me. It’s difficult to put into words what Star Trek: Picard has meant to me, as a lifelong Star Trek fan and as someone who genuinely loves incredible storytelling that has the ability to reach out and leave echoes of itself within its viewers. From start to finish, the series has soared above and beyond expectations, but they left the best for last. How can you tell Picard’s story, especially one that pushes him into situations he has never faced before, without giving him the moral support of the people who know him better than anyone else in the world? It’s also a testament to what beloved franchises can do with their legacy: paying respect to the generation that ignited a passion in the hearts of fans while showing the next generation that they too can have adventures that resonate with audiences long after the credits come to a close. It’s not hyperbole to say that Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard is one of the best series finales to ever grace television screens, and hopefully, it’s the beginning of more stories that explore the final frontiers of characters we all love until the end of time.

Rating: A

Star Trek: Picard is streaming now on Paramount+.