Jean-Luc Battles A Mind Clown In Episode 7 Of Star Trek: Picard Season 2

You’ll recall that at the end of episode 6, Picard (Patrick Stewart) had been run down by a bitter Adam Soong (Brent Spiner), acting under the instructions of Q (John De Lancie) who was, in turn, attempting to rewrite history and lead Earth to a fascist future. Picard fell into a coma and was rushed to the clinic of Dr. Ramirez (Sol Rodiguez) where Capt. Rios (Santiago Cabrera), Raffi (Michelle Hurd), Seven (Jeri Ryan), and the Watcher, Tallinn (Orla Brady) determine that he requires a mind-meld to survive; Picard has retreated into dreams. Luckily, the Watcher has a widget that will allow her to hack into Picard’s brain and interact with images in his subconscious. 

Inside his mind, Picard imagines himself being psychoanalyzed by a Starfleet shrink (James Callis), and is, in turn, recalling his own boyhood (wherein he is played by Dylan Von Halle) and he is interacting with his mother Yvette (Madeline Wise). But this is not Picard’s actual childhood, but instead a fantasy childhood wherein he is a young prince, his mother is a queen, and their castle is being infiltrated by monsters and evil clowns. This Trekkie remains skeptical that the appearance of a mind clown was a coincidence, and not an explicit reference to “The Thaw.” 

There has been a running subplot throughout this second season pertaining to Jean-Luc’s relationship with his mother. Picard rarely talked about his parents on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” other than facing a grumpy, disapproving dad in one scene in the episode “Tapestry,” so this is new ground for the character. It’s not ground audiences necessarily need covered, but here we are. In his fantasy, Picard envisions his mother as a noble protector from evil enemies. It’s only through the interference from the Starfleet shrink that Picard will come to realize that his mother was, in fact, bipolar, and that the monsters were in her imagination. The true identity of the Starfleet shrink will be revealed to be that of Picard’s father, Maurice.

Using sci-fi or fantasy conceits to literally face your traumas, fears, or remnants of a flawed upbringing is a fair narrative tool, it seems out-of-place in “Picard.” Jean-Luc Picard was not a character marked by trauma. He did have an artificial heart — a leftover from an ill-advised bar brawl experienced during his last days at Starfleet Academy — but Picard was an adult, mature, and resolute character. If anything, Picard was aspirational. Not a perfect superbeing, of course, but always working hard to lead well and improve himself. “Picard” has invented trauma for the character, just so there would be a reason for him to overcome it.