Picard Season 2 Explains Star Trek's Oldest Kirk Comparison
A voyage into the mind of Jean-Luc Picard provides a forensic examination of why Star Trek: The Next Generation's captain was so different to James T. Kirk. When Star Trek first aired in 1966, William Shatner's Captain Kirk perfectly fit the mold of a classic action hero — a dashing, daring maverick who wasn't afraid to break a few rules on his path toward saving the day. When Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered 21 years later, the sequel series' lead couldn't have been a bigger departure. After two decades of Kirk's buccaneering, here was a bald, tea-sipping, flute-playing bookworm who loved rules almost as much getting an early night.
The healthy lifestyle obviously worked, because Star Trek: Picard season 2 finds Stewart's character still exploring space and saving the galaxy into his 90s, and episode 7 («Monsters») peeks further behind Jean-Luc Picard's psychological curtain than any Star Trek series has gone before. With Picard in a coma-like state after being run over by Adam Soong, Tallinn enters Jean-Luc's mind to bring him out. Inside, she finds his father posing as a therapist, a young Jean-Luc battling dark monsters, and his mother locked behind a mysterious door. It's a Freudian dystopia of family baggage that Star Trek: Picard takes great delight in unpacking.
Related: Why Picard's Father Wears A DS9 Uniform (It's Explained By Generations)
Picard's troubled past lies at the core of «Monsters,» but the episode's tour around that big ol' synthetic brain also addresses the many stark differences between Jean-Luc Picard and James T. Kirk as Star Trek protagonists. That intention becomes clear during the paternal therapy session, where Picard is confronted with the question, "Does that bother you in any way,
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