“The Best of Both Worlds”. No sci-fi storyline in the history of television hit me as hard as that one.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Borg, now one of the most infamous villains in fiction, actually assimilates, Picard, one of the most beloved heroic leaders in the culture.

Besides the horrifying optics, it also introduced me to the concept of a season finale. I tuned in the following week expecting closure, but it wasn’t there. I would have to wait months before I found out how the Enterprise got Picard back.

Like myself, its still horrifying and angering. I still despise the Borg. No matter how many ways they twist around their mythology.

Which is why I couldn’t blame Liam Shaw this week when he brought up Picard’s history on that cube and the damage caused. He essentially crashed what should have been therapy for Picard and his son, Jack.

The truth is that this is most likely Picard’s last ride. There was no way to let him go out without revisiting one of the most important moments in the character’s history. And it had to be done that way. It had to be done brutally because it was done to us brutally.

It also explains why Shaw was the way he was when he met Picard and Riker. Take that story and magnify it by thousands, that’s the damage done by Locutus the Borg.

Great scene. Great episode.

See you next week.

If you’d like to contribute to my therapy bills from having to revisit this episode of television, please help me out below.