‘Star Trek: Picard’ reunites the old crew for its ‘Generation’-al third and final season

Review by Brian Lowry, CNN

After a pair of slow-going voyages that sought to blend old and new, “Star Trek: Picard” warps back to its roots in a third and final season filled with familiar “The Next Generation” faces. While building the show around its AARP-eligible cast two decades after the last movie imposes certain limits, getting the band back together feels like a clear case of giving the loyal audience what it wants.

Coming 36 years after “Next Generation” launched in first-run syndication, “Picard” capitalizes on all the equity baked into those relationships, which is solid compensation for past missteps, including the decision to download the consciousness of its namesake, played by Patrick Stewart, into a synthetic android body.

The 10-episode season (six of which were previewed) opens with Jean-Luc Picard receiving a distress signal from Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), pleading for his help and closing her transmission with the “X-Files”-ish warning to “Trust no one.”

Seemingly eager for a new adventure, Riker (Jonathan Frakes) joins Picard on the mission, which — surprise — winds up tying into a major threat to the Federation, one that results in encore appearances by series cast members Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner and Jeri Ryan.

It’s fun seeing the old band back together again, even fleetingly in some cases, and that isn’t the end of the callbacks, nostalgia and unexpected twists.

The simplest pleasures come from the interactions between Stewart and Frakes, whose professional camaraderie is enriched here by their connection as longtime pals who, especially in the latter’s case, seldom miss an opportunity to note that they’re getting a little long in the tooth for this sort of perilous swashbuckling.

The season doesn’t fare as well with the villain, which takes a while to reveal itself, and there’s a clunky nature to some of the writing. Always a little flowery, the dialogue about the nature of family — including the kind created within an institution like Starfleet — borders on sounding downright saccharine in places.

“Picard” always felt like its principal appeal would be as a sort-of “Next Generation” revival, and even with the crew scattered, promoted and in some instances retired, this new season mostly makes good on that promise. That’s separate, of course, from the issue of Paramount overfishing the “Trek” waters in its determination to build its streaming service by leveraging one of its most loyal fan bases with sundry spinoffs.

“I am not a man who needs a legacy,” Picard, in Stewart’s older but still-majestic speaking voice, says during one of the later episodes.

Yet the truth is, Stewart and “The Next Generation’s” legacy is already secured. The third season of “Picard” doesn’t boldly explore any fresh frontiers, but thus far, it looks like a fitting way of sailing into the sunset.

“Star Trek: Picard” premieres its third and final season February 16 on Paramount+.

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