Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard.Star Trek: PicardSeason 3 might have been an overstuffed and divisive season in certain corners ofTrekfandom, butoverall it was a pretty solid send-off forThe Next Generation. The concluding chapter ofPicardalso sets up our new favorite romance — the genuinely sweet relationship between Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) and Sidney LaForge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) kept the story grounded in the every day and served to remind us thatStar Trek’smost important element is connection.
Jack and Sidney’s will they/won’t they dynamic added a flirtatious frisson in a fraught season populated by genocidal doppelgängers and old foes. Season 3 ofPicardperfectly reflected the fandom’s collective curiosity about love and relationships in the Trekverse, taking its thematic cues from both modern (Star Trek: Discovery,Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) and classic (Star Trek: Deep Space 9,Star Trek: The Next Generation) incarnations of the show.
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An Office Romance, Star Trek-Style
Romance has been a staple ofStar TreksinceWilliam Shatner’sCaptain Kirk (so handsome, even rocks fancied him) first gazed seductively at Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) on the bridge of theStarship Enterprise. The blossoming romance between Jack and Sidney is nowhere near as groundbreaking as that iconic hook-up, but the origins of their meet/cute are rooted in the romantic entanglements ofTrek’spast (and future) –Picard and Beverly,Deanna and Riker, Odo and Kira, Michael and Booker, Kes and Neelix (okay, so maybenotthat relationship). In a busy season, the writers still managed to tackle themes significant to Trekkies: our desire to connect and our need for intimacy. In a season with rogue Changeling Vadic (Amanda Plummer) hunting Jack and Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) across the quadrant, and an old enemy waiting in the wings to decimate Starfleet, it was vital to tell a universal story.
Over the course of the season, Jack and Sidney’s version of an office romance develops quite naturally, considering they both come from completely different worlds – literally. Jack has had a tumultuous upbringing traversing remote and dangerous parts of the galaxy with Beverly. Sidney has had a more stable life (apart froma few transgressions at Starfleet Academy) with family, community, and integration into Starfleet. It was interesting watching the relationship grow without it moving beyond the getting-to-know-you phase, from the telepathy-in-the-turbo-lift sequence – kind of icky, even if Jack was unaware ofthe Borg Queen’s manipulations– to him defending Sidney via mind-control, transforming her into a John Wick-style warrior.
In some ways, these two are polar opposites: Jack’s a charismatic, slightly dangerous daredevil and Sidney is careful, pragmatic, and by the book. Yet what makes them so compatible is both are fiercely loyal and will honor Starfleet’s code of conduct by doing the right thing, even if that means breaking the rules. Romance always has obstacles, and the subsequent joys, complications, and difficulties an individual will encounter on a starship. The intergalactic occupation ofStarfleet by Changelingsorthe Borg devising a cunning new strategy to assimilate Earthare minor obstacles for the loved-up. After all, love conquers all.
Star Trek’s Next Legacy
Season 3 showrunnerTerry Matalas’back-to-basics approach rectified the mistakes made inPicard’sprevious seasons. The introduction of additional characters directly tied to beloved legacy characters was ingenious and Sidney and Jack are immediately likable, well-rounded people the audience can root for. The season was fast-paced and barely slowed down, Changeling cults, the scenery-chewing Vadic’s relentless chase of the Titan, Jack’s mysterious ancestry, and the reintroduction of legacy characters. So unsurprisingly, as things progressed, the relationship between the two was largely sidelined. It didn’t help that there Jack’s entire storyline was exposition-heavy and involved large info-dumps.
Ultimately, though, maybe this isn’t such a bad thing. If you examine character development in this iteration ofTrek, Seven of Nine’s (Jeri Ryan) narrativeis a great example of how not to neglect an interesting character. But audiences are familiar with Seven, they’ve known her for 20+ years. Sidney was a secondary character inPicardso would have needed to take a back seat to the core characters, and let’s be honest:the show was pretty crowded before the revelation in the penultimate episode. However, this will prove to be a good thing if rumors of a new entry in theStar Trekcanon turn out to be true.
Less is more for Sidney and Jack; it leaves the door open for growth (and surprises) in a future installment ofTrek. There is still a lot of stuff we don’t know about Sidney or her family. Of course, most fans wanted to see a stronger focus on Sidney and Jack, and when compared to past relationships, it all feels a bit slight in comparison (the curse of shorter, serialized seasons). Meanwhile, the all-powerful (believed dead) Q’s (John Lancie) reappearance suggests we haven’t seen the last of Jack Crusher, Sidney La Forge, or the adventures of the Enterprise, Star Trekking, across the universe. If a new spin-off takes off — at warp speed no doubt — things are unlikely to run smoothly following Q’s ominous, threatening warning to Jack. There is also the small matter of Jack’s Borg-inherited psychic abilities, Seven of Nine finally making captain and the star birds resuming their office romance. The universe is full of possibilities, including romance.
All episodes ofStar Trek: Picardare now available to stream on Paramount+.
