Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Star Trek: Picard and Macbeth

“Penance.” By Akiva Goldsman, Terry Matalas, and Christopher Monfette. Perf. Patrick Stewart and John de Lancie. Dir. Doug Aarniokoski. Star Trek: Picard. Season 2, episode 2. Paramount+. 10 March 2022. DVD. Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, 2023.

Shakespeare doesn't appear often in Star Trek: Picard, but we just have to take what we can get.

In this episode, Q returns for yet another test—either of humanity in general or of Picard specifically. When he starts to allude to his plan (in his usual ambiguous manner), Q suggests that Picard is guilty of something and that his guilt is akin to Macbeth's. For Q, the answer to Macbeth's query "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?" is decidedly in the negative:


I've noted that Star Trek: Picard is, in general, all kinds of terrible, and Season Two seems to be the worst of the three. That applies to its use of Shakespeare. Instead of carrying this allusion forward, making oblique or direct reference to it during the rest of the season and wrapping the season up with some great Shakespeare-related insight, this is it.

Perhaps there will be something in Season Three that provides more Shakespeare. We can but hope.

The Episode at IMDB.

For more connections between Star Trek and Shakespeare, head to Shakespeare and Star Trek Complete.

Click below to purchase the complete series from amazon.com
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