One of the best episodes of the series. One of my personal favorites. Q at his best. It'll be hard to find words to describe the depth and quality of this episode.
It starts in an emergency situation. Picard is brought in by Riker and put on a bed in sickbay with a blast wound to his chest. He explains they were attacked outside of the conference that they were at. Crusher determines that his artificial heart has failed due to the power surge and they proceed to try to revive him. His body shudders a couple of times and then the scene fades to white. Picard is standing in bright and apparently unending whiteness and he sees a white clad figure coming towards him. He reaches to take his hand and when the figures steps forward into focus you see that it's Q. What's amazing is how they take a serious matter like Picard possibly dying and inject just the right amount of levity at the right time. Who else but Q? "Welcome to the afterlife Jean Luc. You're dead." It's not funny but it is because it's Q who delivers that line. And their subsequent debate on whether or not Q is God is as much fun as any Q episode while being inoffensive to religious people. Whether you believe in evolution or creation, when Picard states that the universe is not so badly designed that the afterlife is run by Q nobody can disagree. The fact that it's Q gives the audience the comfort of knowing that Picard is most likely not really dead but then returns smoothly to the seriousness of the situation when Q observes quite logically that he wouldn't fake Picard's death when he could actually kill him at any time. Nobody can disagree with that either. He encourages Picard to feel himself for a pulse and conjures up an image of his father warning him against joining Starfleet with the same disdain for the career that René had in Family, all of which makes Picard uncomfortable. With one final jab of humor for this scene, Picard almost seriously wonders if he's in Hell when Q taunts him with the idea that they'll have eternity to spend together.
Then Q cuts to the chase by showing Picard the reason for his "death"... his own artificial heart. Picard slowly starts to remember the conference and the attack. Q asks him how he got the heart. This is one of the writing moments of Star Trek that I've come to appreciate over the years. Picard told the story of his artificial heart to Wesley in the episode Samaritan Snare. So we've always known that Picard had a rowdy youth and they took what was just a Leave It To Beaver moment in the second season and turned it into something beautiful. In the white heavenly atmosphere they turn to see Picard as a young man fighting with three Nausicaans (first seen in this episode though mentioned a few times before.) One of the Nausicaans turns Picard around and stabs him in the back. The long blade pushes straight through his chest to the other side and the young man sinks to his knees and laughs before he falls over unconscious. Picard watches the scene and stands over his young body which remains in the white plain with them amazed by the stupidity of it. Even Q marvels at the way the young Picard laughed about his own fate. Picard expresses regret over his arrogance and ego. He compares his younger self to Q and laments that if he'd only been a little more disciplined in his youth that he wouldn't have died from a power surge 30 years later. Q, noting this little foot in the door, asks him what he'd do if he had to do it all over again. Like most people when remembering a regretful situation, Picard admits that things would be different. The next thing you see is Picard in an older style of uniform being slapped in the face. He's back in his quarters on a star base he was stationed at after graduating the Academy. After the woman leaves, his two friends, Corey and Marta laugh and chide him and take his disorientation as a plea for sympathy which they won't give because he's such an unrepentant womanizer. When they leave Q appears again. Picard thinks this is a fantasy not unlike the Robin Hood adventure, but Q insists that it's really two days before his fight with the Nausicaans and he has a chance to do it over again. Picard refuses to cooperate knowing that changing the past can change history but after assuring Picard that he's not that important in the big scheme of things anyway, he guarantees that the only future it will change is his own. Then Picard remembers that he's late for another date that he'd scheduled for that evening which was the reason the first woman had slapped him. So, being motivated by the thought of dying and being left to hang out with Q forever, he leaves to keep the date and attempt to change events as they happened.
Reliving the past after having grown over 30 years isn't easy and Picard is awkward as his sits with this older woman who is aggressively making advances on him. He insults her by calling her a handsome woman and Q appears again to gloat. Marta, who is also present, laughs about Picard losing his touch (with women) after Q returns to bar tending. We then see the set up for the fight with the Nausicaans. His friend Corey is playing a type of pool game called Dom-Jot. He's easily winning which is no surprise to Picard. A group of Nausicaans come in demanding a game with Corey. Picard tries to warn him that they're bad losers and tries to urge him not to play. Corey is stunned that Picard is being so reserved and ignores him. Marta is surprised as well. The game proceeds and Q appears again to talk about it with Picard. Picard explains that the Nausicaan will win because he's cheating which Q finds delightful. He then tells him that later that night he would find a way to rig the table so that Corey will win the rematch which Q finds shocking and humorous. So we see that when Picard is first telling Corey not to play, he's trying to stop the fight before there's even a reason for one. The Nausicaan wins as Picard said and later on back in Picard's quarters Corey rails on about getting revenge. Picard tries to talk him out of it which causes Marta to note that it's usually Picard who plans out revenge. Picard is trying to reason with Corey as an experienced adult but Corey just sees it at Picard losing his nerve and becoming a wet blanket. He leaves angry and determined to find a way to give the Nausicaan a payback himself. Marta is supportive of Picard's position and is attracted to this sudden display of maturity he's showing. She begins to show some romantic interest in him now but is promptly interrupted when Q appears as a delivery person with flowers for Picard from one of his many girlfriends. Marta laughs it off and leaves but Q notices that Picard may have another regret about not having ever tried to have a relationship with her. He's uncomfortable again in discussing his personal life with Q and leaves to find Corey.
He finds him in the facility where the Dom-Jot tables are. He's rigging the table and thinks that Picard is there to help him. When he discovers he's not, they fight some more but Corey won't yield to reason and is tired of Picard "mothering" him. It nearly comes to blows and Picard even threatens to tell the gaming foreman. Cory feels betrayed and leaves. It looks like he's averted the crisis, but the past continues to play out. Later on he's talking with Marta in his room telling her that he and Corey remained friends for years after this and he hopes he's not hurt their friendship. Marta doesn't really understand that but she continues to be impressed with and turned on by his new serious nature. She asks him if he ever thought about the two of them getting together and he admits that he had. They give in to the feeling and spend the night together. When Picard wakes up the next day the tension of the story is broken again as he turns to find Q next to him in bed. Q is enjoying all of this immensely. Picard defends his actions by pointing out that Q is the one that gave him a second chance to begin with. Then he goes and tracks down Marta who is now uncomfortable in his presence because of the night they spent together. She feels it's ruined their friendship. To me, this is a weak point in the story. A one night stand is not a mistake I've ever made, so I'm not speaking with authority and I'm also not suggesting that this sort of thing couldn't ruin a friendship. But, it just seems like it happened a little too fast. After all, she's the one who initiated their encounter and I don't think her regret would be this instantaneous... that she'd probably try to pursue some kind of relationship which would inevitably not work out because they were all getting ready to be separated soon anyway. Perhaps over a couple of weeks, but not overnight. However, it was necessary to show that Picard meddling in his past is doing nothing but causing trouble. She mentions that the three of them were to get together for drinks before they were sent to their first assignments and Picard tries to give her an out seeing that she's uncomfortable, but she insists on going along with it.
So they sit awkwardly drinking at the bar, trying to toast to their graduation year and not really feeling it. The Nausicaans come by wanting their rematch. Corey's ready to give it to them, but Picard keeps things from escalating first by stopping Corey's responses to the Nausicaan and then by stopping him from hitting the Nausicaan after he insults Marta. This only humiliates Corey as the Nausicaans leave, laughing. He tries to apologize, but Corey declares their friendship over and Marta leaves, no longer impressed with his reserved nature, but blaming him for Corey's humiliation. Q appears to congratulate him on preventing his own stabbing. Instantly the scene changes to the bridge of the Enterprise. Picard is in a blue uniform carrying a PADD and being questioned by Worf as to why he's there when the report he's holding is for Commander LaForge. Picard asks Worf what his rank and position is. He learns that he's a junior grade lieutenant working in astrophysics and that the captain of the ship is a man called Tom Holloway. They can see he's disoriented and Data offers to take him to sickbay but he calmly assures him that he can go by himself.
When he gets there he finds Q instead of Crusher. He is livid because he didn't think the future would be changed. But Q reminds him that nothing has changed except him. Since he was responsible in his youth and spent his life playing it safe, he's now safely analyzing data as an astrophysicist, but not in command of a Starship. But now, all levity is gone and this sobering reality is sad for both him and the audience. He can't believe it so he finds Riker and Troi in Ten Forward and asks for an evaluation on the spot. They're caught off guard and a little hesitant as they explain to him that he doesn't stand out as an officer and that he's not in line for a command post because he's never taken chances and accomplished the lofty goals he's set for himself. When the senior staff is called over the intercom, he moves to get up but then realizes that he's not part of the senior staff. He's then called by Geordi who is asking for the analysis that he's been carrying around with the forcefulness he usually employs when keeping Barclay in line. Picard calls for Q to stop it and Q doesn't answer. It's quite heartbreaking. He continues to talk to Q as he's in the turbolift alone and when it opens up he's not in Engineering but back in the blinding white heavenly plain with Q. He is offended that he now has to live life like this but Q points out to him that he's only living the life that he thought he wanted by not being so brash and arrogant as a young man... not as much like Q. He points out that his brush with death taught him how precious life was and helped him to seize the opportunities that came later in his life such as leading a crucial away team mission that saved an ambassador's life or taking over on the Stargazer after its captain was killed. He never distinguished himself as somebody who could be in charge so nobody offered him a command. Picard realizes the mistake and asks to go back so he could allow the fight to proceed as it originally did. Q tells him that if he does that he'll die in the attack at the conference but Picard decides that he'd rather die as the man he was than live the life he'd just seen. His wish is granted.
It takes up exactly where it left off when the Nausicaans had threatened Marta and instead of trying to keep the peace, Picard starts the fight in defense of his friends. They all join in and it's a brawl. Then Picard is stabbed again through the heart and laughs once more only this time we must assume that it's out of joy for knowing that he's pleased with the life he's had and no longer has any regrets. His laugh of the past fades into a laugh on the sickbay bed where he has been revived. Everyone around is confused but relieved. Later he's talking to Riker in the conference room and wondering if it was all a dream or if Q really did take him through this experience while he was at the point of death. He feels grateful if he did. Riker doesn't understand how he could feel grateful since it was such and unpleasant experience from start to finish. And Picard explains that by pulling out one fiber, he ended up unraveling the tapestry of his life, speaking the title of the show. Riker is amused at the thought of a wild young Picard and it fades out with Picard relating another story of when he'd had a run in with Nausicaans.
It's fitting that this review falls just before Christmas. When this episode was written it was supposed to play out like A Christmas Carol with Q taking Picard through several mistakes in his past, but it ended up being more like It's A Wonderful Life in which changing one important event made a life altering change; only the change affects Picard not the lives of those around him. The lesson he relays to Riker isn't a new one to anybody who has lived long enough to be in a really successful or happy place in life. Every event in our past whether bad or good contributes to who we are today. And it also applies even if you're generally dissatisfied but still have one viable joy in your life like a spouse or living in an ideal location. In both cases we realize that if we were to alter any event in our past, no matter how painful, we may not end up successful and happy, or with that spouse, or in that beloved location. This episode also causes and opposite reflection. I know of a guy who regrets that he didn't take more chances in his younger years and feels like he's grown up to be a Lt. Picard when he had the potential to be a Capt. Picard. Not necessarily a bad thing, but that's a different opinion for a different day. This episode can have such a broad impact on people's lives if they've never stopped to analyze themselves before. It touches on a deep and complex matter of growing as a person over the years. Five Stars... six! ten! It's off the charts
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