Showrunner Terry Matalas slips into the director’s chair to give us a powerful penultimate episode, Vox. Written by Sean Tretta and Kiley Rossetter, this episode was first broadcast on 13 April, 2023.

Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the rest learn that the symptoms of Irumodic Syndrome were simply a side effect of what was really wrong with him, and what he has passed on to Jack (Ed Speleers). The Borg have been playing a long game. They altered Picard’s genetic code, a Borg seed if you will, that has grown to fruition in Jack.

But how can Jack control others? It seems that the same genetic code has been placed into transporter architecture, it’s coded into almost every one of an age who has used the transporter system. Jack is not only a receiver, but a transmitter, the Changeling and Borg plan was to weaponize him, allowing for the complete assimilation of the Federation.

And it’s Frontier Day!

The entire fleet is assembled in the Sol system, and they are about to introduce the new Fleet Formation protocol, an interlinking of all ships, which sounds way too Borg-like. And that’s because it is.

In one fell swoop, the Borg are able to take over everything, making a decades-long wait seem worth it.

Jack races off on his own, seeking out the Borg while everyone else struggles to concoct some kind of plan.

The Titan races to earth, but as soon as it comes in range, its system and its crew begin to fall to the Borg gambit, sending Picard and his old command crew on the run, and costing the life (apparently – some of us are holing out hope for a resurrection) of Shaw (Todd Stashwick).

Geordi (LeVar Burton) has a plan, they need an analog ship, and a seed that was planted earlier in the season about bay 12 pays off when Picard and company escape to the Fleet Museum and board the restored Enterprise D.

There are a lot of emotional punches in this episode, lots of easter eggs (oh so many), and you know that things are going to work out well in the end, but when the crew steps out on the bridge of the Enterprise, I was overjoyed and tearful, hope was restored in full. Everything WILL be all right in the end.

So let’s see how it all plays out in…

The Last Generation is the season and series finale. Matalas wrote and directed it, and it brought everything to a pitch-perfect close on 20 April, 2023.

While Seven (Jeri Ryan) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) find a way to retake the Titan and lead a bit of an assault against the Borgified fleet, Picard confronts a decaying Borg Queen (Alice Krige) as she uses Jack to run the assault on Earth. And that confrontation leads to him making a dangerous gambit to save his son.

Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Worf (Micheal Dorn) join Picard on his mission to the Borg cube, seeking the beacon that needs to be destroyed that will free the fleet, while Data (Brent Spiner) puts the D through her paces by navigating the immense cube.

Geordi, Crusher (Gates McFadden), Deanna (Marina Sirtis), the entire crew get their moment to shine and this episode is just the perfect wrap-up not only to the season but to the characters as well.

It’s a perfect ending, and I love the little nods to all the generations of Trek, names of ships, references, and President Anton Chekov (Walter Koenig). There is so much to love about the way Matalas wraps up the season and series.

This Trek has been so much fun, and I am one of the countless fans lobbying for Matalas to get another Trek series going (Legacy anyone?).

It’s a beautiful episode that hits all the right notes and is absolutely wonderful, and, is Trek, through and through.

You can enjoy the complete Picard series, the entire The Next Generation series, and The Next Gen films in the gorgeous limited edition boxed set, The Picard Legacy Collection available now from Paramount Canada.

Boldly go.