15 essential Captain Picard episodes to get you pumped for his return

“The First Duty” (S5E19)

Picard perks: Picard and Friends.

What it’s about: In season 7 episode “Lower Decks,” Sito Jaxa is on board the enterprise, and we get to see Picard from her point of view. He brought her on board the so he could ensure she had a fair chance to start her career after the events of this episode in season 5.

Picard visits his old stomping grounds; that is Starfleet Academy. But not all is well on this trip, why golden boy Westley Crusher is involved in a fatal piloting crash. On the team is Tom Paris- we mean Nicholas Locarno. (This writer’s pet peeve is that several Voyager actors show up on TNG. This is a rare case where keeping the actor/character would have made sense.) Locarno, team captain, bullies Crusher into keeping the team’s story straight so that no one gets into trouble.

Can you remember the guilt you felt as a teenager when an adult stood up for you even when you were wrong? Feel reminded of that when Picard orders La Forge and Data to analyze the crash data to help defend one “their own.”

We also see Picard as an adult have a new lense on his youthful mistakes, speaking to the groundskeeper. His faith in Westley never wavers. Once photographic evidence is in front of his face, it’s like his eyebrows are trying to figure out a way that Westley isn’t lying.

Picard does some background digging on the popularity and hype surrounding the student body flight crew and confronts Westley. Even after Westley confesses and accepts his punishment, he and the captain are not completely healed and okay. The betrayal of trust takes a toll on their relationship and boy wonder feels it.

It’s not the best Picard episode, but it sure shows us a different side of him and reminds us of how Picard is constantly rectifying and overcoming his personal struggles in order to uphold a standard — in his case, the prime directive. Remind us never to let Captain Picard down.

Picard quotes:

• “You knew what you had to do. I just made sure that you listened to yourself.”
• “The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether it’s scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth! It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based. And if you can’t find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened, you don’t deserve to wear that uniform.”