“Star Trek: The Next Generation” ran for seven seasons from 1987 to 1994, giving fans some of the most beloved entries in the “Star Trek” franchise, and the final days of “The Next Generation” were exhausting and bittersweet. Its final episode, “All Good Things,” found Captain Picard adrift in time and faced with one last trial from the immortal trickster Q (John de Lancie). After facing Q and solving the time loop, Picard returns to the Enterprise, where he and his crewmates play a game of poker.
Though the crew indulged in games of five-stud throughout “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Picard never joined them until that final scene, where the captain expressed regret for not doing so sooner. The finale of “Star Trek: Picard” therefore brings these iconic characters full circle to the show that first brought them together, and it seems Jean-Luc Picard has retained his love for the game, and, of course, for spending quality time with the people (and Klingons and Betazoids) closest to him.
For a series that started with Picard isolated in his family vineyard, it’s heartwarming, and even poetic, that it ends with a game of five-stud poker alongside his old friends. All good things must come to an end, but the final shots of “Star Trek: Picard” prove that, sometimes, endings are just as sweet.
