Star Trek’s Worst Show Fixes One Of The Worst Movies

Now, this argument about Picard is going to require plenty of context, starting with what made the character’s Nexus fantasy in Generations so weird. The movie portrayed the Nexus as something that could allow people to live in their own personal paradise, which is why the villain, Dr. Soran, is so determined to return at any cost. When Picard is swept into this cosmic force, we surprisingly see that his own fantasy is to be a married family man surrounded by his wife and children on a happy Christmas day.

For Picard, this was part of an arc…earlier in Generations, he discovers that his brother and nephew had burned to death in a fire, making Picard the last of his family’s line. On the surface, then, it might make sense that he would have this particular fantasy, but here’s the thing: throughout The Next Generation, it was made abundantly clear that Picard hated children.

He was understandably sad about the fate of his brother and nephew, but after seven seasons of watching him be deeply uncomfortable around kids, it made little sense that Picard’s deepest fantasy would be having a brood of his very own. 

Decades later, the second season of Picard introduced a shocking detail that belatedly contextualizes this Generations plot point. We find out that Picard’s mother was mentally ill and killed herself and that he imagined his father was abusive for doing things like locking Mum up. In reality, the older man was locking her up for her own good, and it was Jean-Luc who let his mother out during one of her psychotic episodes, effectively allowing her to kill herself.

These insane revelations are just one reason why Season 2 of Picard is a low point in the series, but they do belatedly explain the title character’s fantasy back in Generations. Picard is a man who grew up being raised by a widower he thought was abusive, and they later fought over his decision to join Starfleet; Maurice Picard would die before they could ever reconcile.

Jean-Luc is someone haunted by memories of his own broken family and awful childhood, but in the Nexus, he can be the father he always wanted to have and raise children alongside a wife who is happy in a way his mother could never be. 

Now, none of this makes the Picard show any better, nor does it keep Generations from being the weakest of the movies featuring The Next Generation crew.

However, for long-term fans, it’s rewarding to finally have an answer to why the child-hating Picard had a Nexus fantasy about having several children. Ultimately, the Nexus was trying to heal him from subconscious trauma that he wouldn’t fully unpack and heal from for decades without the help of yet another cosmic force: Q.