Ruk-roh! Picard finale speculation

Next week will be the season finale of Picard (!!!!!), set up by a twisty "Et In Arcadia Ego part 1," in which we meet Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, son of Data-daddy Dr. Noonian Soong. Brent Spiner is great as Data, but because Data is so gentle (as Picard rightly says), Spiner is even more fun to watch chewing the scenery as Lore or as a Soong (Arik Soong in Enterprise was fabulous).

Soong the younger reveals that there are higher-level, synthetic beings out there, watching us, and that the sub-space frequencies needed to contact them are encoded in the Admonition, the crazy-making ancient vision the Romulans have been passing on for millennia. Conveniently, Soong has already created the necessary beacon to summon these beings.

Meanwhile, we also learn that Soong has been working on a “golem” that requires mind-transfer technology. Now, where have we seen this before?

In the TOS episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of,” Christine Chapel's ex, Roger Korby, has found an ancient android, Ruk, tending machines that can make androids -- and can transfer people's minds into them. Ruk (you remember Ruk -- he's Lurch!) is the survivor of an ancient battle with the “Old Ones, the ones who made us.” But is Ruk the only survivor? Or have his people been out there, waiting and watching, maybe as self-appointed defenders of all future synthetics, knowing that eventually organics will always turn on them, as the Old Ones did? Has Soong been working with information about these beings all along? Is that how he’s making the golem, as Korby once did, and how he conveniently creates a beacon so quickly?

Meanwhile, there’s the question of Discovery and Control, and whether Picard ties in with that story, as I and many others have speculated. Is this an alternative to that theory, or could both be true? Might Control have reached back in time to manipulate Ruk's people into serving its purposes? Or might a message from the Red Angel somehow have called on past synthetics to come to the aid of organic life? The message in the Admonition is ambiguous:

"Life begins, the dance of division and replication. Imperfect, finite. Organic life evolves, yearns for perfection. That yearning leads to synthetic life, but organics perceive this perfection as a threat, when they realize their creations do not age, or become sick or die. They will seek to destroy them and in so doing, destroy themselves. Beyond the boundaries of time and space, we stand, an alliance of synthetic life, watching you, waiting for your signal. Contact us and we will come. You will have our protection. Your evolution will be their extinction."

Who will seek to destroy whom? Who will have their protection? Whose evolution will be whose extinction? (Putting on my copy editor hat for a moment: Kids, this is why pronouns need clear antecedents!)

Maybe -- and this would fit the theme of Picard, that fear of the Other is the root of all evil -- there will be a spiritual evolution, which will cause the extinction of a false distinction between different kinds of life? Tune in next time...

I love that Picard is leaning into the theme of another of my favorite TOS episodes, “Errand of Mercy,” in which fear of the Other drives each side to believe in the absolute rightness of its own cause,  inevitably leading both sides down the path of violence and hatred. In Picard, that's exactly what happens to the Romulans, the Federation, and now, the synths. I doubt it's a coincidence that the Federation-Klingon conflict in "Errand of Mercy" only ends with the intervention of superior beings, the Organians, and now, in Picard, we're getting some outsider superior beings, too.

One of the things I hated most about TNG (especially in its early seasons) was the idea that somehow, humanity achieves a level of perfection that makes it immune to such basic failings as prejudice and tribalism. That didn’t feel believable or true, so it felt like the show was pushing Utopian Kool-Aid; I mistrusted its rose-colored vision. By contrast, in TOS, there was a sense that we can make huge strides forward, but goodness will still be a struggle, and no matter how far we come, there will always be more to go. I love that Picard is restoring that sense. It seems so much more honest, and in a way, more hopeful, because it speaks to the possibility of improving ourselves despite our weaknesses.