On this season of Star Trek: Picard: The timeline is broken. After the crew is sent to a totalitarian nightmare timeline, they realize Q went back in time to change the present. That timeline’s Borg Queen (BQ) helps them travel to 2024 when the incursion happened.
Here are some important things to remember for the season finale recap:
-Laris is sweet on Picard but he pushes her away because the guy has issues with feelings.
-A giant Borg ship appears and the Borg Queen (BQ) unlike any we’ve seen tells Picard, “There is no more time.” Picard initiates an autodestruct. The crew finds themselves in an alternate timeline.
-A strange Q sent them there. They escape and travel to 2024. Elnor dies.
-They meet a Watcher named Tallinn who looks just like Laris. Her mission is to make sure Renee Picard boards the Europa mission.
-BQ half assimilates Jurati and the two battle for her body.
-Adam Soong has created a clone daughter, Kore who looks just like Soji. She finds out and takes off. BQ/Jurati tells Soong if he wants a legacy he needs to stop Renee from being on the Europa Mission.
-BQ/Jurati and Soong try to stop Picard but fail. Jurati convinces her BQ half that they can assimilate people who want it. They take the La Sirena leaving the crew on Earth. BQ/Jurati tells them, “To succeed there must be two Renee’s. One who lives and another who dies.” Picard doesn’t accept this.
-This whole time Q appears sick and Picard has been dealing with the childhood trauma of having a mother with mental illness who he absolutely adored.
Okay! Ready to explore the end of the road not taken one last time in Star Trek: Picard’s “Farewell?” Let’s engage!
RELATED: Read our full recap of Star Trek: Picard’s episode 9 “Hide and Seek.”
Guardian
At the chateau, Rios (Santiago Cabrera) mentions BQ/Jurati’s prophecy about Renee, “To succeed there must be two Renee’s. One who lives and another who dies.” When Laris hears this, her eyes well up. Picard (Patrick Stewart) knows why. They transport back to LA.
Tallinn (Orla Brady) hands out her version of tricorders. They note there is a fleet of vehicles at Soong’s. To protect Renee, Tallinn will transport to the Europa Mission HQ. Picard steps next to her right when she transports.
Picard and Tallinn arrive at Europa HQ, she’s ‘s not happy that Picard came. He knows that she intends to sacrifice her life for Renee’s. She says, “My fate is not yours to decide.” She brings up that he feels responsible for his mother’s death. “We can’t control who we lose… I don’t need saving. I never have.”
Rios, Raffi (Michelle Hurd) and Seven (Jeri Ryan) beam into Soong’s mansion. They hear him monitoring the launch and analyzing his drones. It’s a trick. It’s recorded audio and Soong’s not there. Right then, Picard sees Soong at HQ. Soong’s audio may be fake but not the drones. Seven thinks he’ll use them to destroy the rocket. Raffi realizes Soong knew they’d find the drones. They’re hard-wired to explode. She’ll try to gain manual control.
Tallinn disguises herself in a Europa Mission work suit.
NASA’s Director Lee balks at Soong’s (Brent Spiner) request to meet the astronauts. He brings up his massive donation and she relents.
In Renee’s (Penelope Mitchell) room, she looks in a mirror and says, “I’m actually ready” She turns and sees Tallinn, she was expecting someone named Maya and notice Tallinn is wearing Maya’s suit. Uh-oh.
Soong continues to berate Lee on purpose so he can make a quick exit which he does. I mean he’s really a dick.
Tallinn looks familiar to Renee. Tallinn says, “I need you to listen to me or your life will be in grave danger.” Tallinn lists parts of her life that no one would know including putting a figure in her Mom’s casket when she was young because “To this day you think if you fly out far enough you’ll find her.” This gives Renee pause.
Tallinn tells her she tried to hide it but at times couldn’t. She picks up the sailboat pendant Renee always has with her and says she gave it to her when she was 10 and her little sailboat capsized. Tallinn remarks that Renee always thought she had a guardian angel and she was right.
Raffi tries to access the drones but they launch. Raffi tries to override the system.
Tallinn tells Renee she wants to get her on the ship, “Your life depends on trusting me.”
A moment later, Renee bursts into the hallway and sees Soong. She says “There’s a crazy woman. She says she’s my guardian from space.” He comforts her and takes her away.
Raffi gets control of drones for Rios.
In a stairwell, Renee feels sick and looks at Soong who says “Don’t worry. It won’t last long.” He gave her a fatal neurotoxin, “Looks like you’re about to create the future after all.” He leaves her there. Renee walks outside and falls into Picard’s arms.
Rios destroys the drones.
Picard notes Renee must have med-tech to help. He says this because it’s not Renee, it’s a disguised Laris. Remember when I said the tech she used to disguise her Romulan ears would come back? It just did. They watch the launch together. He says, “Look up.” Just as his mother said to him so many times. Cue the tears.
Laris decloaks so we see her and her lovely Romulan ears. She cries as she watches her mission come to a close. She mentions the chateau, “The secrets we keep. All the reasons we never tell someone we love them, they’re worthless… Sweet Picard, your guilt must have saved planets by now. Countless lives in trade for the one you couldn’t.” She was able to say goodbye to Renee because of Picard. She continues, “Absolve yourself or the only life left unsaved will be your own.” She dies in his arms.
We Are Away
Back at his mansion, a frustrated Soong watches the launch commentary. Renee tells an interviewer, “We are away,” while touching the sailboat pendant. Soong throws his glass then hears his computer. Someone’s hacking him.
Kore (Isa Briones) sits in a library with her VR headset destroying Soong’s files. She tells him, “This is for my sisters.” After, a pissed Soong retrieves a confidential file. It reads “Project Khan”!!!
A message pops up on Kore’s laptop, “Curious what’s next? Watch and observe.” It lists an address and Kore goes. A man walks up behind her, it’s Wesley. Frakking. Crusher! He says who he used to be. Now he’s a traveler of space and time. He and his colleagues dispatch supervisors (Laris) to ensure the “proper flow of time.”
He says what Laris shared previously. That the universe is a grand tapestry. It’s flawless, fragile and exquisite but always “a thread’s pull away from annihilation.” He recruits Kore to be a traveler and they beam away leaving this OG TNG fan screaming.
Butterflies and Absolution
At the chateau, Raffi, Rios and Seven gather the tech that could be butterfly effects while Ricardo and Teresa play. Seven says they’ll never know if it worked since they live there now.
Rios invites them to LA with him, Teresa (Sol Rodriguez) and Ricardo (Steve Gutierrez). Seven and Raffi talk about what they’ve been through and kiss.
Meanwhile, Picard places the skeleton key where he will find it as a child in the future assuring his mother’s suicide. He hears Q’s voice, “Bravo. Destiny left for the little boy you will be in the future to find.”
He finds Q in the solarium and they sit together. Q comments on Picard accepting his fate, “You chose the Jean-Luc you are. You absolved yourself… I told you this was about forgiveness Jean-Luc. Yours.”
Picard asks why to all this. Q responds, “Isn’t that the eternal question?” Picard presses about the deaths of Elnor and Tallinn. Q says Tallinn dies in every timeline and yet this is the only one she met Renee. Picard still asks, “Why?” Q tells him to finish the phrase. Picard does, “Why Me?”
And now we see what’s going on with Q. We also receive a beautiful resolution to Picard and Q’s 30-year relationship.
Q’s dying alone and doesn’t want that for Picard. He says humans’ griefs and pains fix them to moments in the past. “You’re like butterflies with your wings pinned. My old friend, forever the boy who with an errant turn of a skeleton key broke the universe in his own heart. No more. You are now unshackled from the past. As I leave, I leave you free.” I’m not crying, you’re crying.
Picard seems like a child and wants to know what is required of him, and why it matters. Q asks must it always be universal stakes, “It matters to me.” Q steps towards Picard and cradles Picard’s face, “You matter to me. Even gods have favorites, Jean-Luc. And you’ve always been one of mine.” Q then says time is almost out and he has one last surprise in store.
Picard takes the others outside. Q presents himself to their chagrin. A dramatic Q says, “And now as they say, for my final act.” Raffi doesn’t care. She wants to know about Elnor. She grabs Q’s throat. He comments that she could kill him in his weakened state but he will also die if he sends them home.
Raffi releases him. Q asks if they are ready to go home. Rios says he’s staying. Picard says he can’t because of the timeline. Rios says he never fit. He says he never had a family until he met Picard and the crew but he belongs with Teresa and Ricardo. “I’m home”
Picard says “make a good future.” Rios wonders, “Maybe it was always supposed to be this way. Times a funny thing.” Q says, “Yes it is”
They say goodbye. Q comments Rios staying is most unexpected. Maybe they’ll be some surplus energy. He calls it “A surprise, a gift. Farewell, mon Capitan. It’s time for me to go.” Picard replies ‘But not alone. Isn’t that the point of all this?” He embraces Q who cries and says. “See you out there.” At this point, my heart is aching.
Q snaps his fingers for the last time.
Je Ne Regrette Rien
We are back in the moment from the first episode with the BQ (Alison Pill) commandeering the fleet and Edith Piaf’s Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien playing. The ship is going to self-destruct. Picard remembers his mother and cancels the auto-destruct. He lets BQ proceed.
He tells the bridge he once told a dear friend what the lyrics mean to him, referring to Jurati at the chateau. “I believe she has had 400 years to consider them.” She retracts her face shield. It’s a Borg Queened up Jurati.
Picard asks if it’s still Jurati in there. She affirms but, if they don’t act, many will die. The helm says they’ve picked up a massive spike of neutrino emissions focused on the center of the quadrant. The helm then wonders where Captain Rios is. Picard says to stay on task.
They see the anomaly onscreen. It can destroy most of the sector. BQ says the only way to stop it is to harmonize the fleet shields with theirs which is why they needed Picard, “We needed a friend.”
Picard gives seven a field commission. She sits in the captain’s chair. and tells the fleet not to resist. Seven then says “Agnes, be brilliant.”
Jurati initiates grid formation at the anomaly and harmonizes shields which are reminiscent of Soong’s hexagonal shields.
Raffi hails her ship the Exclsesior. Elnor replies. They’re both stunned as they realize they are here together. A grateful Raffi says, “Q. Goddamn Q.” Picard recalls Q saying “A surprise. A gift.” The anomaly explodes but the shields hold. It stops. Picard tells the Queen she’s saved millions of lives. “That was the idea, Mister,” Jurati’s pet name for Picard.
They think they witnessed the creation of a trans-warp conduit however unlike any they’ve seen. They don’t know by whom either.
The Queen answers, “What you see is a piece of the puzzle whose final image is unclear but is tied to a threat. One which requires close observation. She requests provisional membership in the Federation so they can be a “guardian at the gates.”
To Family
On earth, Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) apologizes for not telling him about the past. She points to a picture on her wall of Rios and Teresa way back when. They started a medical movement together called Mariposas – which means butterflies in Spanish. Ricardo found a way to heal the ocean and clean the sky using alien organisms that his “Auntie Renee” discovered during the Europa Mission.
Picard asks how they died. Guinan says Teresa died of old age. Rios slightly younger in a Moroccan bar fight over medical supplies and his last breath was into a cigar. He died as he lived.
Picard turns to Raffi, Seven and Elnor. He toasts “To family, then. Because that’s what we are, after all.” Picard leaves because there’s somewhere he needs to go — the chateau. You know why.
There, he sees bags packed. Laris is in the solarium. She had it restored. She says she going on “adventures of her own.” He steps close, “There are moments in our lives we fear to relive and others we long to repeat. While time cannot give us second chances maybe people can.” These two are definitely getting together.
RELATED: Read all of Star Trek: Picard Season 2 recaps, here!
“Farewell” was written by Christopher Monfette and Akiva Goldman, and directed by Michael Weaver. Star Trek: Picard Season 2 streams on Paramount Plus.
- Gaming Meets the Racetrack: The Top Horse Racing Video Games Ever Made - March 19, 2025
- Everything Coming to Netflix in March 2025 - March 3, 2025
- Looking to Limit Your Screentime? Try These Sci-Fi and Fantasy Jigsaw Puzzles - February 17, 2025
