“Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2” is the tenth episode of the TV show “Star Trek: Picard” and follows “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1“. It’s the first season finale. It’s available in the USA on the CBS All Access streaming platform and in many other countries on Amazon Prime Video.
Note. This article contains some spoilers about “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2”.
Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) frees Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) but the problem is to convince Soji (Isa Briones) not to contact the synthetic civilization that could exterminate the organics. At the same time, a defense against the incoming Romulan fleet is needed. Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner) makes a disturbing discovery.
“Star Trek: Picard” first season finale is full of emotions with a lot of nostalgia. I honestly don’t know what kind of impression the audience who don’t know the Star Trek saga may have had, particularly in the ending, which includes a celebration of Data (Brent Spiner).
It’s one of the cases in which it’s better not to analyze the various plot elements because there are various moments that at least are doubtful. What happens to Narek (Harry Treadaway)? What about the ex Borg who remained on the cube? Does the moment between 7 of 9 (Jeri Ryan) and Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) make sense? Clearly the emotional factor is predominant and from this point of view the episode works. The ending also works because Jean-Luc Picard shows his strength as a character also by offering his example, to the end.
Jean-Luc Picard’s personal story offers food for thought from a philosophical point of view. Maybe they preferred not to weigh down this season finale but I hope the issue will be addressed in the second season. For now I’ve seen even contradictory elements since the transfer of a human mind is a very transhumanist idea linked to longevity, but in the farewell to Data the concept is offered, which I consider a poor comfort attempt, that mortality gives meaning to life. From this point of view the original series was ahead, see in particular the episode “Requiem for Methuselah”, even if it wasn’t an uncritical celebration of immortality.
Despite its flaws, in my opinion “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2” is overall a good finale, especially for Star Trek fans. It’s a worthy conclusion for a first season that’s far from perfect, but with its strengths put on display that have overcome its flaws.
“Star Trek: Picard” immediately appeared an ambitious show, perhaps even too much to develop the first season’s story-arc in just 10 episodes. Perhaps it would have been better if the first season had told the Romulan crisis and the synthetics’ attack on Mars. This would have allowed to show some details about those events and to start developing characters like Raffi Musiker and maybe even Rios giving him a subplot. In that case, the second season would have told the events we saw in this first season. It wouldn’t have needed so many flashbacks, and some characters would have had a better development.
In short, an imperfect season but I wish we had seasons like this in all shows! It offered a story-arc that showed the problems of the Federation, but also offered an optimism that lately seemed lost even in Star Trek. The choice to focus on a great character like Jean-Luc Picard and on an immense actor like Patrick Stewart was overall winning. Now it’s impossible to say when the second season will arrive, but the experience will be useful to improve some characters and the pacing. For now we can rewatch this first season to capture the many details regarding Star Trek’s past and present. Engage!
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