Star Trek: Picard

As fun as Star Trek: Picard Season 1 and Season 2 were, Season 3 is an exceptional return to the world of The Next Generation, and a fitting send-off for a corner of the franchise that has held an important place in the hearts of audiences for well over 35 years.

Only Season 4 of “Discovery” and the initial season of “Strange New Worlds” have come close to what “Picard” Season 3 manages. In a landscaped glutted with content, where nothing seems to break through, this is an actual “event.” A well-crafted one at that. And, barring some catastrophic downturn in the final episodes, quite a legacy.

Picard‘s final season brings back Next Generation favorites and introduces new wrinkles in what is easily the best season yet.

At no point does the final season feel like a show running on empty, as characters are grounded, situations grow organically, and antes are upped as momentum is maintained.

This season of “Picard” doesn’t feel like fan fiction; it feels legit.

More than anything, though, it’s Star Trek: Picard’s decision to finally embrace the audience’s affection for The Next Generation that helps it soar. From the use of archival clips of that show to music queues, callback characters, and visual references, this is a Picard that at long last lets itself savor the legacy of being a Star Trek series.

It’s wonderful. It’s also officially the end. Trekkies will be overjoyed – and then devastated the fun is over almost as soon as it has begun.

Cinematic, emotional, and actionably nostalgic, the third season of Star Trek: Picard feels like the truest representation of what returning Patrick Stewart and the TNG era was supposed to be for.

A bravura send-off for Jean-Luc and the gang that gratifyingly recaptures the feeling of Star Trek at its nineties peak. It’s just a shame it took three seasons to get here.

In its final season, the series beautifully captures his thematic journey while also sprinkling in some welcome, but not oppressive, fan service.

While it’s a long march getting there, the show (in its third season) finally feels as if it’s taking some cues from its progenitor.

It's a compelling adventure so far, but it also feels like a movie-sized adventure stretched a bit thin by the need to fill 10 episodes. Still, it gets the important things right, staying true to cherished characters and making it a pleasure to see them together again.

Jean-Luc is reunited with an old friend while searching for another in an exciting and fun – but maybe a little too callback-heavy – rethinking of the Star Trek: Picard format.

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.