We conclude our search for Shakespeare in Star Trek: Picard with the very last scene from the very last episode.
Spoiler Alert: Everything gets wrapped up quite neatly in Season Three (which is probably the best of the not-so-great show), and a toast is requested. Admiral Jean-Luc Picard obliges with a speech from Julius Caesar:
The speech is taken from the second (and duller) half of the play. Julius Caesar has been assassinated, Mark Anthony has gathered his troops, Brutus and his forces are fighting for their survival, and Caesar's ghost has not yet appeared to Brutus to utter his foreboding prophecy. Brutus speaks to Cassius:
There is a tide in the affairs of men,Which[,] taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;Omitted, all the voyage of their lifeIs bound in shallows and in miseries.On such a full sea are we now afloat,And we must take the current when it serves,Or lose our ventures. (IV.iii.218–24)
The speech is appropriate, but it might have been more appropriate at any of a dozen other points in the season—points where a brave and daring decision actually needed to be made. Here, it seems to suggest that not taking the flood means heading off to bed after a long day (and a long season of battles and betrayal) and taking the flood means playing a few rounds of poker.
The line that immediately precedes the famous speech is "We, at the height, are ready to decline" (IV.iii.217). It's part of Brutus' overarching argument: Our army is only going to get weaker from here, so we must strike while we're at our strongest. It's hard for me not to apply that to, at the very least, Season One of Star Trek: Picard . . . or, rather, to the last season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Then, the stories with these characters were at their height; Seasons One and Two of Star Trek: Picard show everything in decline.
But we also get Will Riker's anti-climactic addition to the speech: "We're grateful to have ridden the tide with you." It's a nice sentiment, but it takes the speech from a heroic determination to face the future come what may to a nostalgic reflection on the past when they were "at their height."
Still, Season Three catches the potential of the show more than the other two seasons. And it's great to hear noted Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart (who, I suspect, had something to do with the inclusion of Shakespeare here) wrap things up with a strong performance of a strong speech from Shakespeare.
The Episode at IMDB.
For more connections between Star Trek and Shakespeare, head to Shakespeare and Star Trek Complete.
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(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).
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