History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E14Tapestry

* ForWantOfANail: Picard's near-fatal stabbing turns out to be a big nail, as it drove him to take risks and excel.
-->'''Picard:''' There are many parts of my youth that I'm not proud of. There were... loose threads -- untidy parts of me that I would like to remove. But when I... pulled on one of those threads -- it unraveled the [[TitleDrop tapestry]] of my life.

* FakeBetterAlternateTimeline: Captain Picard has [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane a dream or vision]] in which he is told that he died due to his artificial heart being damaged by a compressed teryon beam. He is given a chance -- which he accepts -- to avoid the fight which caused him to need the artificial heart. [[ForWantOfANail He is then shown that the attitude that he needed to avoid that fight would have meant that he would take fewer risks in the future and as a result, among other changes, he would never become captain of the ''Enterprise'']].

* ButterflyOfDoom: Picard initially refuses to change anything about his life for fear of damage to the timeline. A frustrated Q eventually has to promise that nothing bad will happen if he does anything differently. Sure enough, when he arrives back into the present time of his new life, everything is the same except for him.

* FakeBetterAlternateTimeline: Captain Picard has [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane a dream or vision]] in which he is told that he died due to his artificial heart being damaged by a compressed teryon beam. He is given a chance -- which he accepts -- to avoid the fight which caused him to need the artificial heart. [[ForWantOfANail He is then shown that the attitude that he needed to avoid that fight would have meant that he would take fewer risks in the future and -- as a result -- never become captain]].

* YouAlreadyChangedThePast: Implied: after realizing he SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong by getting stabbed in that brawl, Picard's response is to laugh. Now, considering that Picard laughing after being stabbed was already an established part of Picard's story...

* AbsenteeActor: Creator/LeVarBurton doesn't appear onscreen as Geordi, [[TheVoice only as a voice calling "Lt." Picard]]. There was a deleted scene where they worked together, having a similar dynamic as between Geordi and Barclay in the "proper" timeline.

* BedmateReveal: Picard wakes up after his fling with Marta only to discover that it's Q lying beside him. Regretting the night's events, Marta has [[NotStayingForBreakfast left early]].

* GodGuise: Q shows up to Picard after his accident, claiming to be God. Picard doesn't buy it, as he refuses to believe the universe is "that badly designed".

->'''Q:''' ''Au contraire''. He is the person you wanted to be -- one who was less arrogant and undisciplined in his youth; one who was less like ''me''. The Jean-Luc Picard ''you'' wanted to be, the one who did not fight the Nausicaan, had quite a different career from the one ''you'' remember. ''That'' Picard never had a brush with death; never came face-to-face with his own mortality; [[CharacterDevelopment never realised how fragile life is, or how important each moment must be.]] So his life never came into focus; he drifted through much of his career, with no plan or agenda, going from one assignment to the next, never ''seizing'' the opportunities that presented themselves. He never led the away team on Milika III to save the ambassador, or take charge of the ''Stargazer'''s bridge [[YouAreInCommandNow when its captain was killed]], and no one ''ever'' offered him a command. ''He'' learned to play it ''safe''. [[BreakThemByTalking And he never — ever — got noticed by]] ''[[BreakThemByTalking anyone]]''.

Picard now admits he was wrong and asks Q to let him [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong put things back the way they were before]] -- again. Q says "Before, you died in Sick Bay. Is that you want?", but Picard responds by saying "[[DyingAsYourself I would rather die as the man I was,]] [[FateWorseThanDeath than live the life I just saw]]". So Q sends him back, he starts the fight and gets stabbed in the heart for his troubles, and as he knows his life is back on track, [[ContinuityNod he now knows why he laughed]]. He laughs still in Sick Bay, his artificial heart stabilizing.

* NobodyCallsMeChicken: When the Nausicaans call the trio cowards, Corey is immediately itching for a fight.

Riker is amused at the idea of a HotBlooded Picard, so Picard starts telling him about an earlier encounter with Nausicaans as the Enterprise flies away.

Q tells Picard that Corey [[FiveSecondForeshadowing is rigging the table anyway]], so Picard goes to Corey and threatens to report him if he doesn't stop. Corey is aghast at Picard's sudden stodgyness, but Marta is even more impressed and after a night of passion, Picard turns over in bed to say "Good Morning" to Marta, only to [[BedmateReveal find Q there]], Marta [[NotStayingForBreakfast having slipped away]]. Picard locates Marta and discovers that she deeply regrets the encounter, believing that they were BetterAsFriends. Q points out that Picard has insulted or alienated everyone he's interacted with so far.

->'''Q:''' ''Au contraire''. He is the person you wanted to be -- one who was less arrogant and undisciplined in his youth; one who was less like ''me''. The Jean-Luc Picard ''you'' wanted to be, the one who did not fight the Nausicaan, had quite a different career from the one ''you'' remember. ''That'' Picard never had a brush with death; never came face to face with his own mortality; [[CharacterDevelopment never realised how fragile life is, or how important each moment must be.]] So his life never came into focus; he drifted through much of his career, with no plan or agenda, going from one assignment to the next, never ''seizing'' the opportunities that presented themselves. He never led the away team on Milika III to save the ambassador, or take charge of the ''Stargazer'''s bridge [[YouAreInCommandNow when its captain was killed]], and no one ''ever'' offered him a command. ''He'' learned to play it ''safe''. [[BreakThemByTalking And he never — ever — got noticed by anyone.]]

Picard now admits he was wrong and asks Q to let him SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong -- again. Q notes he'll die on that table, but Picard says "[[DyingAsYourself I would rather die as the man I was,]] [[FateWorseThanDeath than live the life I just saw]]". So Q sends him back, he starts the fight and gets stabbed in the heart for his troubles, and as he knows his life is back on track, [[ContinuityNod he now knows why he laughed]]. He laughs still in Sick Bay, his artificial heart stabilizing.

Picard now admits he was wrong and asks Q to let him SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong -- again. Q notes he'll die on that table, but Picard says "[[DyingAsYourself I would rather die as the man I was, than live the life I just saw]]". So Q sends him back, he starts the fight and gets stabbed in the heart for his troubles, and as he knows his life is back on track, [[ContinuityNod he now knows why he laughed]]. He laughs still in Sick Bay, his artificial heart stabilizing.

Picard admits that he was a HotBlooded jerk back then and wishes he could have changed it. Suddenly he is slapped by a woman. He realises he is alive, in a ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Star Trek II]]'' era uniform and being sarcastically applauded by his old academy friends, Marta and Corey, only they don't look so old. After they leave, Q appears and explains he's given Picard a chance to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. Picard refuses to become a ButterflyOfDoom, but Q solemnly assures him that no one will be harmed by any changes he makes to his own life.

->'''Q:''' ''Au contraire'', he is the person you wanted to be -- one who was less arrogant and undisciplined in his youth; one who was less like ''me''. The Jean-Luc Picard ''you'' wanted to be, the one who did not fight the Nausicaan, had quite a different career from the one you remember. ''That'' Picard never had a brush with death; never came face to face with his own mortality; [[CharacterDevelopment never realised how fragile life is, or how important each moment must be.]] So his life never came into focus; he drifted through much of his career, with no plan or agenda, going from one assignment to the next, never ''seizing'' the opportunities that presented themselves. He never led the away team on Milika III to save the ambassador, or take charge of the ''Stargazer'''s bridge [[YouAreInCommandNow when its captain was killed]], and no one ''ever'' offered him a command. ''He'' learned to play it ''safe''. [[BreakThemByTalking And he never — ever — got noticed by anyone.]]

* DamnedByFaintPraise: When "Lt." Picard talks to Riker and Troi in Ten Forward, they don't have too much to say about his performance as an officer. It's never a good sign when one of your highest praises is being punctual.

* IronicHell: Picard's not thrilled with the prospect of hanging about with Q... ''forever''. Life as an unremarkable Junior Grade Lieutenant isn't much better, either.

->'''Q:''' ''Au contraire'', he is the person you wanted to be -- one who was less arrogant and undisciplined in his youth; one who was less like ''me''. The Jean-Luc Picard ''you'' wanted to be, the one who did not fight the Nausicaan, had quite a different career from the one you remember. ''That'' Picard never had a brush with death; never came face to face with his own mortality; [[CharacterDevelopment never realised how fragile life is, or how important each moment must be.]] So his life never came into focus; he drifted through much of his career, with no plan or agenda, going from one assignment to the next, never ''seizing'' the opportunities that presented themselves. He never led the away team on Milika III to save the ambassador, or take charge of the ''Stargazer'''s bridge [[YouAreInCommandNow when its captain was killed]], and no one ''ever'' offered him a command. ''He'' learned to play it ''safe'', [[BreakThemByTalking and he never — ever — got noticed by anyone.]]

Picard now admits he was wrong and asks Q to let him SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong -- again. Q notes he'll die on that table, but Picard says [[DyingAsYourself he'd rather die as a successful captain than live as a nobody]]. So Q sends him back, he starts the fight and gets stabbed in the heart for his troubles, and as he knows his life is back on track, [[ContinuityNod he now knows why he laughed]]. He laughs still in Sick Bay, his artificial heart stabilizing.

* ContinuityNod: Picard's father resembles [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E2Family his brother Robert]] more than Jean-Luc.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The main theme of the episode was for Picard to understand the value of one's past and to realize that, for better or for worse, the past has shaped him into who he is today. Every part of his life is important, even the untidy parts, and to remove any single part of his past would unravel the tapestry of his life and turn him into a different person -- illustrated starkly by how changing the loss of his organic heart left him in an alternate universe where he was a lowly officer bereft of the passion and imagination that made him a Captain -- and that different person is not necessarily a '''better''' one.

* CallBack: "Samaritan Snare" was a season ''two'' episode, keep in mind.
* CharacterDevelopment: One of the episodes in which Picard becomes more open with his crew.
* ContinuityNod:
** Picard told the story about the Nausicaans to Wesley during a shuttle flight in season 2's "Samaritan Snare", and even mentioned he laughed when he saw that he was stabbed.
** Picard's father resembles [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E2Family Robert]] more than Jean-Luc.

An Away Team being beamed directly into Sickbay with a critically wounded Picard. Picard has been shot by an energy beam that has caused his artificial heart to malfunction. Doctor Crusher attempts to {{Technobabble}} it into working again. As she works, everything fades to white, and Picard starts to GoIntoTheLight until he finds Q at the end of it, who promptly announced that he's dead.

'''Q:''' ''Au contraire'', he is the person you wanted to be -- one who was less arrogant and undisciplined in his youth; one who was less like ''me''. The Jean-Luc Picard ''you'' wanted to be, the one who did not fight the Nausicaan, had quite a different career from the one you remember. ''That'' Picard never had a brush with death; never came face to face with his own mortality; [[CharacterDevelopment never realised how fragile life is, or how important each moment must be.]] So his life never came into focus; he drifted through much of his career, with no plan or agenda, going from one assignment to the next, never ''seizing'' the opportunities that presented themselves. He never led the away team on Milika III to save the ambassador, or take charge of the ''Stargazer'''s bridge [[YouAreInCommandNow when its captain was killed]], and no one ''ever'' offered him a command. ''He'' learned to play it ''safe'', [[BreakThemByTalking and he never — ever — got noticed by anyone.]]