Tear Jerker / Star Trek: Picard

Tearjerking moments in Star Trek: Picard.

WARNING: Spoilers are unmarked.

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Season 1

1x 01 — Remembrance

• Picard's dream of playing poker with Data near the beginning of the episode. Data asks him why he's stalling, to which Picard, likely realizing that it's a dream, slowly replies that he doesn't want the game to end.
• Dahj and her boyfriend are adorable, and when he’s joking about her tragic drink tastes (all vanilla) he’s stabbed in the chest.
• Why Picard left Starfleet: In the wake of a devastating attack on Mars, Starfleet decided not to send a humanitarian fleet to aid the Romulans, pretty much on the basis of them being "the enemy." In response, Picard resigned in anger.
  • All the more heartbreaking when one remembers what happened with the Klingons and the destruction of Praxis a century prior. There with an enemy brought to their knees by disaster, Starfleet said that they must help. Now, though, they chose to "let them die," to quote a certain Starfleet captain.
  • What's more, the Romulans had been the Federation's allies during the Dominion War, and Star Trek: Nemesis had ended with the hopes of peace finally coming between the two powers, only for it all to come to nothing, not because of Romulan treachery, but because of Federation apathy. What Nero told the Kelvin Timeline's Captain Pike was true: The Federation, the longtime "good guys" of the franchise, did nothing while billions of Romulans died.
• The fact that Mars was blasted to hell—both the surface colonies and the Utopia Planitia Shipyards. This is where the Enterprise-D, Defiant, and Voyager were built, and now it's gone. Like the destruction of Vulcan in the Kelvin Timeline, this is a wound that the Federation will never truly recover from.
• Dahj detects the squad of agents hunting her down, and she and Picard make a break for it. Jean-Luc Picard, the first freshman cadet to win the Academy marathon, is soon gasping for breath after two flights of steps. It's a painful reminder of the frailty of our hero.
• After everything Picard does to find out who Dahj is and why she came to him soon after he promises to help her, she dies trying to protect him during a fight with another mook squad.
• Dr. Jurati talks about the aftermath of the synth attack, and how crushed Bruce Maddox was when his work was brought to a halt and how their department and, by extension, the field of research that they had committed their lives to had been all but dismantled.

1x 02 — Maps and Legends

• Picard is past his prime, and his name has been damaged in the eyes of the Federation by his rescue attempt on Romulus, and so his plea to Admiral Clancy, though heard, is denied.
  • Clancy's reaction isn't any better. She has a severe Broken Pedestal attitude towards Picard, whom she feels should have followed his orders and preserved the Federation by leaving Romulus alone. She understands why he did it, but as an admiral, her loyalty to Starfleet comes first, and she shoots down Picard's proposal as an nonconformist and self-righteous action.
• Picard speaks with Dr. Benayoun, a former doctor from the Stargazer, who says that Picard has an "abnormality" in his brain. Benayoun says there are multiple prognoses and treatments, but all of them end the same way. This seems to be what drives Picard to get back into space—if he's going to die, he isn't going to die at the vineyard, he will do so in space.
  • It also becomes clear that, at some point, Picard either forgot or decided to disregard Kirk's advice to him in Generations: Not to let Starfleet promote him away from the bridge of a starship, where he could "still make a difference". Nearly three decades later, Picard is starting to come to the same conclusion, but now he has burned too many bridges with Starfleet for them to let him anywhere near formal command.

1x 03 — The End is The Beginning

• The opening scene establishes the relationship between Picard and Raffi as not merely a commanding officer and their executive officer, but as friends. Her belief that "JL" will find some last minute way to save the day keeps her spirits buoyed...until Picard informs her the rescue is not going through no matter what they try to do. Worse, not only did Picard's last-minute gambit of threatening to resign fail to work, but the fact he intends to see it through and leave Starfleet hits Raffi hard. Then, to make matters worse, she's sent for by the CNC. We don't see much more, but it's clear the intervening 14 years were hard on her, to the point her warm relationship with Jean-Luc has been replaced with a deep, bitter anger that is decidedly not forgiven or forgotten, even by the end of the episode.
  • Raffi also points out that, unlike Picard, she didn't have a "fine chateau" to retire to, but a hovel in the desert where she's been living in exile from Starfleet and everything she ever cared about. Starfleet was her passion, and where Picard left of his own volition, Raffi was dismissed. And the worst of it? Picard didn't contact her once during those intervening 14 years, only coming to her at all because he needed something.
• Both Raffi and Rios are clearly suffering from severe trauma. For Raffi, losing her security clearance and being booted out of Starfleet led to a long decline into alcoholism, addiction and, by 24th-century standards, poverty. She's a very long way from the passionate officer we saw in the flashback. Rios, meanwhile, is deeply traumatized by whatever happened when he was XO of the USS Ibn Majid, saying that every night for the past ten years, he has nightmares that include seeing his captain's "blood and brains splattered all over a bulkhead".
• When the Zhat Vash attack, Picard makes a valiant effort to protect his comrades, even getting a solid hit or two in, but then the reality of his being in his 90s hits and he's quickly overwhelmed by the Zhat Vash agent and flung to the floor.
• As Picard moves to speak with Rios on La Sirena, he looks briefly at the captain's chair before sitting next to Rios at the operations console.

1x 04 — Absolute Candor

• The recurring theme of Picard having let down those who looked up to him hits again with Elnor, a Romulan refugee who was cared for by the Qowat Milat. But their order traditionally only takes in women, having made him an outcast in the place he called home. As a child, he clearly idolized Picard, looking up to him as the father he didn't have. Then the attack on Mars happened, and Picard went away for fourteen years. Despite him accepting Picard's cause, it's clear he is very hurt by the abandonment, and Picard takes that as seriously as the other people he's let down.
  • The recurring theme is particular to point out. At one point, Picard outright admits that he did give up and walk away from everything, that he "allowed the perfect to be the enemy of the good," that being unable to save all of the refugees made him give up saving any. It's a far cry from the Picard who would call out what he saw as betrayals of the uniform and failure to live up to those ideals.
• Shortly before Picard beams away when he's recalled by Starfleet, a young Elnor sheds a tear because he's so hurt that his father figure didn't spend as much time with him as he had promised. Imagine what the poor boy must have felt when he gradually realized he'd probably never see Picard again.
• Elnor asks Picard, "Did you ever miss me?" After a 14-year absence, it would be easy for Elnor to believe that Picard had stopped caring about him. Even after the latter replies, "Of course I did," it's obvious from Elnor's expression that he doubts Picard's sincerity.

1x 05 — Stardust City Rag

• The episode opens on Icheb being stripped for Borg parts by unscrupulous doctors who want to sell his implants. Seven shows up to rescue him, but they've already done so much damage that Icheb is slowly dying and cannot be saved. She offers to stay by his side until he passes, but he pleads to her to kill him now to end his suffering. He was the closest thing she ever had to a son.
  Seven: I'll stay with you—
  Icheb: [struggling to speak because he's in so much pain] Now, Seven. Please.
  Seven: [tearfully while holding him] I'm so sorry. My child.
  • Worse when you remember that this is the SECOND time Seven has had to watch her adoptive son die, having been forced to watch as One let himself die of his injuries, rather than lead the Borg to Voyager.
  • Even worse because it's strongly hinted that Bjayzl and Seven were a couple, meaning that Seven probably feels some responsibility for Icheb's death because of being used by her sociopathic ex-girlfriend to find him.
• Raffi goes to Freecloud to reconnect with her son Gabriel. She became estranged from her family after her paranoia about the synth attack consumed her life, and she's hoping for a second chance. But Gabriel grills her about the conspiracy and she defensively tells him that she was right given what she knows now. She's forced to leave again, getting only a fleeting opportunity to meet her daughter-in-law and unborn granddaughter.
• For three decades, Picard has been haunted by his brief time as a prisoner within the Borg Collective, and is extremely reticent to talk about it. But now he's finally presented with someone else who was rescued from them and is able to let that guard down.
  Seven: After they brought you back from your time in the Collective, did you honestly feel you'd regained your humanity?
  Picard: Yes.
  Seven: All of it?
  Picard: ...No. But we're both working on it, aren't we?
  Seven: Every damn day of my life.
  • During her final confrontation with Bjayzl, Seven implies that she was lying to Picard because she wanted him to still have hope at least.
  • Between the intentionally bad French accent, the ridiculous costume, and the over-acting, Picard's undercover act as an amoral exB-trafficker is clearly meant to be comical, and Seven's calm eyeroll somewhat takes the sting out of his vicious words during the scene. But then the episode reminds you at the end that he was likely talking about his own experience, not just playing the creep by making assimilation sound like rape.
    Picard: [to Seven] Disgusting thing. [to the underling] Once they get the Borg inside them, there is no coming back. No matter what they think. [to Seven] Defiled is what you are! Damned! Cursed.
    Underling: Quite a prize. Rare to find one with so many implants still fully operational.
    Picard: She is not one of the new ones. The Borg entered her when she was une jeune fille [a young girl]. You are going to have to dice her up to get it all out.
• Jurati and Maddox were a couple, which makes it even sadder when Jurati kills him because Oh told her the secret of the Zhat Vash/brainwashed her, and whatever it is so horrified her that she's on board with their efforts to destroy Soji.

1x 06 — The Impossible Box

• Picard's complete and utter dread of the Borg is at the forefront in this episode as La Sirena draws closer to the Borg cube. When Jurati mentions Locutus of Borg by name, he visibly flinches. He retreats to the holodeck recreation of his chateau study to calm down and gather information on the Artifact, images of the Borg and various Romulan senators appearing onscreen... as well as an image of Locutus. The camera pans slowly around until the image is overlaid on Picard's face, and Picard places his hand on the section of his face that was once covered in Borg implants. It's clear that while the wound may have closed over the course of First Contact, the scars it left run deep.
• Staring at the monitor as La Sirena awaits confirmation that Picard can board the Artifact, he is beset by flashes of his time as part of the Collective, as well as voice of the Borg Queen purring in his ear.
  Borg Queen: Locutus...
  • Picard withdraws Dahj's necklace from his coat to look at it, as if to remind himself of why he's there. As he does so, his hand visibly trembles.
• Hugh tentatively asking if Picard would be an advocate for the xBs is a moment of Fridge Tearjerker since Hugh is unaware of how little clout Picard has left these days.
• Narek's betrayal and attempted murder of Soji. He reveals her true nature in perhaps the cruelest manner possible, yet he's in tears as he walks away from her, clearly demonstrating how little he really wants to do it and that he truly was In Love with the Mark. Meanwhile, Soji can only scream in terror and beg to be released as the weapon he left behind is activated.
• Despite Picard leading the others in a slow clap, the sheer devastation on Raffi's face after speaking with Captain Bosch, who ended Raffi's call for authorization to get to the Artifact with a statement of "never contact me again," speaks to just how BAD all of this has impacted her. Once again, she has burned a bridge with someone in the name of Jean-Luc Picard. Little wonder that she was so determined to not speak with him when he came to her, if this is how her previous excursions to the edge of a cliff in his name have gone.
  • To add to this, she does this while drunk and possibly high on snakeleaf, even taking a long swig of the bottle as Rios walks her away from the comm. Meaning that she is high-functioning, and so these vices don't actually help her much, considering she can make these complex actions and decisions while inebriated. Yet she still indulges in them, just to numb the pain.

1x 07 — Nepenthe

• Last week's Crowning Moment of Heartwarming wherein Hugh shows Picard the positive work being done by the Borg Reclamation Project and the new chance at a life it gives the xBs becomes a Tear Jerker in this episode after Narissa has the xBs brutally cut down as retaliation for Hugh helping Picard and Soji escape, not long before she murders Hugh himself.
  • Hugh was forced to watch Narissa and her goons massacre the people he had looked after personally in cold blood. He weeps uncontrollably over their dead bodies, and when he's unable to cry anymore, he's so traumatized that he experiences a Heroic BSoD where he simply sits next to the corpses with a Thousand-Yard Stare.
  • Hugh's voice is broken when he tells Elnor, "Your friends, they're worried," and it's obvious from Hugh's tone that he's utterly devastated that he has lost his own friends in the worst way possible.
  • Hugh is a bright light in a dark universe, so it's tragic and cruel for his life to be extinguished by Narissa.
• Troi gives Picard a warm welcome, which slowly gives way to her nearly breaking down as she senses that he's not only on a dangerous mission, but also dying. Picard hugs her tightly and quietly comforts her.
  Picard: I'm fine... I'm fine... really...
• It turns out Riker and Troi's firstborn son died of a disease that could have easily been cured if not for the ban on synthetics. It gets worse when you realize this means Troi has gone through the same thing as her mother, driven home by their daughter being named after the sister she never knew.
  • To twist the knife even further, the disease that killed Thad Troi-Riker specifically could have been cured through the use of an active positronic matrix. Data ran on a positronic matrix, and it goes without saying that had he been alive to even meet Thad, he would have agreed faster than in a heartbeat. And not even because he was the son of two of his best friends, but because it would be the right thing to do. This is Dahj and Soji's father, and this is the legacy that Starfleet and the Federation would ban: The saving of lives.
  • Troi and Will are ready and willing to help Picard in any way they can, but Troi admits she's terrified that something bad could happen to Kestra as a result.
  Troi: I'm not as brave as I used to be, Jean-Luc.
  • The fact that Riker immediately realises exactly what Soji is when he sees her do one of Data's characteristic facial tics is both heartwarming, and deeply sad.
  Will: ...She's clearly an Android, and not just any android... I'd recognize that head tilt anywhere.
• Jurati's anxiety, fear, and remorse finally comes crashing down, leading to her attempting suicide and ending up in a coma.
• Elnor undergoes his own Heroic BSoD where he finds a quiet corner and takes on a Troubled Fetal Position, rocking back and forth. He feels guilty for failing to protect Hugh, and it may be the first time someone he cares about has died in his arms.
• Raffi describing herself as "the wreckage of a good person." She's broken and worn down, and while, in an emergency she can slap the pieces together, she still just doesn't feel like she is worth much or going to get better.

1x 08 — Broken Pieces

• Seven is forced to face the existential horror of becoming a new Borg Queen in order to defend her fellow xBs against the Romulans, with no idea if she'll be able to leave the Collective again. Jeri Ryan has one of her greatest acting moments as her character confronts her greatest fear.
  Seven: Assimilate them? Invade their minds? Suppress their identities, enslave them? Again?
  Elnor: You can release them when we win.
  Seven: They won't want to be released, and I... I might not want to release them.
  • Her Big "NO!" at Narissa decompressing the Artifact and launching thousands of helpless drones into space - all those people who, as was emphasized just a couple of episodes prior, were victims of the Borg, like Seven herself, now being hurled out into the vacuum of space. Even if standard drones can survive, these Borg are disconnected from the Collective and have been in stasis, which likely means they could not be recovered.
    • Made worse by the fact that, like Icheb's death mirroring that of One, this ALSO acts as a counterpoint to Seven's early days, when Chakotay spaces the Borg drones on Voyager to prevent them seizing control of the ship.
• Just how broken Jurati is. After the truth comes out, she confides in Picard about how Oh had Mind Raped her and she now thinks of suicide every day as a comfort. Things do look up slightly for her after meeting Soji.
• Rios sitting with the few reminders of his unpersoned ship and mentor in his room refusing to see anyone followed by finally seeing Raffi and telling her the true story of what happened on the ibn Majid causing his Dark and Troubled Past while she tries to comfort him with a cup of coffee.

1x 09 — Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1

• Picard and Elnor share what could likely be their final farewell.
  Picard: I'm beginning to feel that all we do these days is say goodbye.
  Elnor: [voice breaking] Yes, but this time's worse because you're dying. [...] I'm torn, you need protection now more than ever.
  Picard: The xBs need your protection much more than I do. And you must try to get the defensive systems here back online.
  Elnor: I may never see you again.
  Picard: Well, that's true of any two people who are saying goodbye.
  Elnor: Picard...
  Picard: El... I'm very, very proud of you.
  [Elnor's Trying Not to Cry]
  • Seven is also struggling to hold back tears after watching their exchange. She understands that they're a Family of Choice, just like she was once with Icheb.
• Raffi gives an Anguished Declaration of Love to Picard. He is shocked, but just as saddened by it as Raffi is.
• When Picard attempts to persuade the androids that they should evacuate, Altan refuses because the Federation had refused to listen to Picard after the synth attack on Mars.
  • To make things worse, Soji sadly but firmly agrees with Altan, saying that with the android's planet at risk of destruction, they don't have room to prove Picard right or to redeem him for what happened with the Romulans.

1x 10 — Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2

• Elnor and Seven have a rather grim and sad exchange about the xBs.
  Elnor: Would the xBs be better off dead? Everyone hates them, they have no home. They don't belong anywhere.
  Seven: Am I better off dead? I'm an xB, I have no home, I don't belong anywhere. Why don't I just put a phaser to my head and get it over with?
• Picard's death (even though he gets better) has everyone in tears. Elnor in particular is a sobbing wreck at the loss of his father figure.
• It turns out that Data survived in the form of the remnants of his positronic brain that Maddox used to create Soji and Dahj. However, Data asks Picard to kill him as Data believes that he can't truly have been alive without being able to die. What follows is a heartbreaking sendoff to the character set to "Blue Skies" as Data gracefully lies down on his couch in his quantum simulation and ages into dust as an image of a TNG-era Picard holds his hand, with both their silhouettes merging into the spectacular planetary nebula outside the room, thus metaphorically becoming one with the universe they spent so many years exploring together.
  • Just to up the punch to the audience even further, the cover of "Blue Skies" was sung by Isa Briones, who portrayed Soji and Dahj.

Season 2

2x 01 — The Star Gazer

• Picard and Laris share a drink in memory of the recently-deceased Zhaban. Laris explains that Romulans honor lost loves by seeking out new loves, and confesses her feelings for Picard, only to be rejected.
• The same conversation reveals a possible reason why Picard has always shied away from long-term romance: An abusive childhood resulted in him seeking out the loneliness of the stars as an escape, and left him emotionally withdrawn.
  • The Reality Subtext makes this even sadder: Patrick Stewart also grew up with a father who was abusive to his mother, as he describes here (trigger warning in the link for discussion of domestic violence).

2x 02 — Penance

• For all his annoyance and weariness at having to deal with Q again, the moment Picard realizes there's something wrong with the celestial trickster his irritation is replaced with a look of genuine concern:
  Picard: Are you…? Q, you're not well.
• Q showing Picard the collection of his alternate self; several bleached skulls on display. One of them belongs to General Martok, a well loved supporting character on Deep Space Nine, while another belongs to Sarek, a man whom Picard deeply respected and shared consciousness with. Q drives the point home by adding that Confederation Picard executed Sarek in front of his wife and son.
• Picard learning that Laris is dead in this alternate universe.
• Picard's reaction to the holographic recording of General Picard, he just looks so disgusted with his alter ego.

2x 03 — Assimilation

• Elnor's death. Rafi takes it especially bad, blaming Picard for it because he chose to save the Borg Queen (who was draining power from the rest of the ship, including sickbay) for the sake of the information she has on how to fix the timeline.

2x 04 — Watcher

• It's hard to see Guinan, one of the wisest, most optimistic and most beloved characters of the TNG-era, look so beaten down and defeated by 2024. From her perspective, she has witnessed the worst that the human race has to offer for two-hundred years and now she has very much given up on humanity and just wants to go home. As she poignantly puts it to Picard:
  Guinan: You know they're actually killing the planet? Truth is whatever you want it to be. Facts aren't even facts, anymore. A few folks have enough resources to fix all the problems for the rest but they won't, because their greatest fear is having less. (tearing up) They got one tiny ball in the entire galaxy, and all this species wants to do is fight! (bitterly) I've given them long enough.

2x 05 — Fly Me To The Moon

• Dr. Adam Soong is desperate to save his daughter Kore from her genetic disease. Q gives him a cure that's 100% effective but it's only temporary, cruelly letting Kore go outside for the first time in her life and leading father and daughter to believe she's really cured before it wears off. At the end of the episode Adam is utterly defeated, realising that he's a hostage to Q's whim if he wants any hope for Kore.

2x 06 — Two of One

• Renée Picard has a breakdown and almost runs off from the gala and the mission. When Jean Luc catches up with her, she's clearly distressed and in tears.
• Kore discovers the horrifying truth: She's not Soong's daughter but the latest in the long line of cloned children Soong has used genetic manipulation to bring to life. She can only stare in shock at the video files of how each of her "siblings" died and Soong moved on to the next, that her "father" is an obsessive madman and her entire life is a lie.
  • Perhaps worse is the conversation that sparked this with Soong making it clear that saving her isn't out of actual love but because she's "my life's work," making Kore realize that he's cared more for her as a success to his "legacy" than a real person.

2x 08 — Mercy

• During their search for Agnes, a lot of trauma from Seven's assimilation is brought up.
• Raffi's guilt of Elnor's death. She had guilted him into staying in Starfleet instead of going back to Vashti.
• Q is indeed dying. He was initially fascinated, excited to finally experience something new after centuries of the same thing. Instead he's withering away and seeing his power diminish. There is no grander cosmic plan for helping Picard. He's doing it for redemption.
  Q: I now have a lifetime. Does a single act redeem a lifetime?

2 X 09 — Hide and Seek

• While the timeline is set right, Seven has to adjust to her Borg attachments returning. She muses on how she lived longer as Seven than as Annika and "it was nice to be normal" for a bit.
• Picard remembers the death of his mother by suicide, discovering her hanging in the gazebo, and how much his mother's death affected him. It also recontextualized the scene in the first season episode Where No One Has Gone Before in which his elderly mother is asking him to join her for tea.
  Yvette: "Dead? But I'm always with you. You know that."

2 X 10 — Farewell

• Q revealing the ultimate reason for everything he's done this season — he's Dying Alone, and doesn't want that sort of pain for Picard.
• Picard gives Q a hug, ensuring that he won't die alone. Q looks like he's on the verge of bursting into tears.

Season Three

3 X 1 — The Next Generation

• When Picard and Riker meet at 10 Forward Avenue, Picard thanks Riker for giving up his family time to meet him. Riker replies that Deanna and Kestra will appreciate the time away from him. Regardless of whether they at all do, it is very difficult to hear that a beloved character like Riker thinks that his wife and daughter feel that way about him.

3 X 3 — Seventeen Seconds

• Riker's Tranquil Fury towards Picard after the Shrike is able to disable the Titan-A and send it hurtling towards a gravity well. For years, you've always seen these two as best friends and even when Riker screwed up with something, Picard had his back. However, Picard ended up making such a monumental mistake in trying to fight the Shrike that Riker is pissed and throws him off the bridge.
  Riker: Remove yourself from the bridge. You just killed us all.
  • Picard is so guilt ridden he doesn't even try to fight back, he just leaves.
  • It's worse when the next episode retroactively confirms that it wasn't Picard's bad decision that cost all their lives, as Picard's move was actually both tactically and strategically sound... but Riker's own hesitance to follow through that cost them both their opportunity of attack and potentially their lives. Which doubles the tragedy of the moment as a close friendship is tested by their fears and anxieties catching up to them at the worst possible time and due to the smallest bit of mistrust between the two of them, it nearly cost them everything.
• Part of why Beverly never told Picard about their son, Jack, is over all the people she lost to space. She lists her parents, her husband, and then strangely (since we just saw him last season) Wesley. Apparently, Wes hasn't been visiting and probably doesn't even know he has a little brother. That or Beverly has for some reason disowned her oldest kid.
  • The likely reason for this is that Wesley became a Traveler after the events of the TNG-episode "Journey's End". As we know from last season, not only is Wesley still a Traveler at this point, but he also remarks that Wesley Crusher is who he was known as "a long time ago". Presumably, we can infer from those things that he is not in a position where he can stay in contact with Beverly. This is not just very sad in itself, but it also makes Beverly's feelings and actions a lot more understandable.
• When Jack asks Riker if he has family, he proudly says he has a wife and daughter. One can then see the pain on Riker's face as he tells Jack that he had a son.
  • As heartbreaking as it already is to see Riker struggling with the grief over his son Thaddeus, it becomes even more devastating in light of a scene early in the episode. The scene is set shortly after Thaddeus' birth and shows Riker and Picard celebrating. Riker tells Picard about the fears of losing his son he experienced during the delivery, and about how becoming a father made him completely dedicated to protecting his child.

3 X 4 — No Win Scenario

• After learning of just how bad off they are, Riker goes and tells Picard he was right about Riker's fear of loss, and his voice breaks as he talks about watching Thaddeus being buried.
• We finally learn why Shaw has such hatred towards Borg and ex-Borg: he was one of the survivors of the Battle of Wolf 359, one of ten who was ordered onto an escape boat while over forty others were left behind. He has some major Survivor's Guilt as he doesn't understand why his CO would pick "some dipshit from Chicago" over everyone else, herself included.
• The way Shaw starts the story ensures the emotional punch lands early for Deep Space Nine fans, as Shaw mentions that he's met Picard before he arrived aboard the Titan, even if Picard doesn't remember it. Picard's reaction shows that he's heard this more times than he cares for. Further, Picard refuses to defend himself, despite being a victim of the Borg himself, having been assimilated and forced to fight Starfleet against his will. He just lets the other officer go off on him before quietly leaving.
  • It's worse than that, if you are paying attention through the scene, Picard is actively holding back having an emotional break of being reminded once again of his worst trauma and the weight of what he was forced to do when Locutus — He has such an intense resentment towards himself that hearing Shaw's story is enough to launch him into a painful place he genuinely doesn't want to be in, but takes it anyway because he hates himself that much for what happened at Wolf 359.
• The flashback to Jack visiting Picard at Ten Forward without introducing himself also counts as he asked if Picard ever had a real family. Surrounded by a bunch of cadets and that being an understandably sore subject, Picard's response is to simply state that Starfleet is the only family he's ever needed. Ouch.

3 X 5 — Imposters

• Picard finally reconciles with Commander Ro Laren about 30 years after she defected to the Maquis. A short time later he has to watch as Ro sacrifices herself to buy the Titan a "fighting chance" as she says Picard once did for her. Watching the woman who was almost like a daughter to him ram the nacelle of the compromised Intrepid with her shuttle brings Picard to tears.
  • Riker's reaction to Ro's death is no less heartbreaking. While he had a different relationship with the Bajoran than Picard did, Riker had grown to respect her and was understanding of her post-Maquis return to Starfleet. Watching her dies leaves Riker equally devastated and trying to comfort Picard. When he tells Shaw they're being framed, you can hear the raw grief and fury in Riker's voice.
• Later, after Worf established visual communications with Picard and Riker he asked for Commander Ro, who was his handler at Starfleet Intelligence. Neither Picard nor Riker answer but the look of pain on Picard's face says it all for Worf.

3 X 6 — The Bounty

• Seven's melancholy reaction to seeing Voyager again, not just because it was where she was "reborn" but also that (even almost 25 years later) it's the only place she ever considered to be home. And she also implies that she's long lost touch with the crew.
• While it's not actually stated in the episode, there's still something almost...melancholy about seeing the Enterprise-A in the middle of all this. The Federation is in danger again — the kind of enterprise, heh, uniquely suited to the Starship of the same name. But the Enterprise-A's forever silent, its crew of heroes long gone, and it will never answer the call again.
• The reveal of Section 31 having acquired the body of the legendary Captain James Tiberius Kirk from Veridian III, and having it on ice, using it for their mysterious Project Phoenix, instead of letting him rest in peace, denying him a full honorable Starfleet funeral, closure for Ambassador Spock, Admiral McCoy, and Captain Scott, and a burial at his family home in Iowa. This despite his many years of dedicated service, great personal sacrifices and saving the day countless times. It's an added posthumous insult to the injury that was a great man's undignified death in the first place.
  • To add greater insult to injury, we see that Section 31 also has a new advanced Genesis torpedo in their premises. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk's son, Dr. David Marcus, was worried about Starfleet turning the Genesis torpedo into a weapon of mass destruction, and in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, David got murdered partly out of the Klingons' own paranoia about that possibility. The fact that Section 31 developed this second Genesis torpedo to presumably wield as a weapon means David's worst fears had come true at some point.
• Data being reawakened for the first time. Especially the fact that the first face he sees is that of his best friend.
  Data: Geordi?

3 X 7 — Dominion

• Seven contacts Tuvok for help, but it turns out that the Changelings have got to him, his impersonator implies that he, as well as the previously captured Riker only wish they were dead.
• Geordi pleading with Data to overpower Lore and help him save Sidney; he opens up about how much Data's death destroyed him and how much Data's memory made him a better person.
  Geordi: You made me a better man, a better father, better friend. And when you died, it broke me. But, see, you put me back together, you repaired me, the memory of you.
• She might be the bad guy, but hearing Vadic describe, in excruciating detail, the Cold-Blooded Torture she and her fellow POW Changelings underwent during the War in the clutches of Section 31 makes you realize that… well she has a reason to be angry with the Federation being blind to what some who claim to be working in their interests have done to other sentient beings. Yeah, the Founders did wrong during the War… but that doesn’t mean the Federation’s hands are entirely clean. Jean-Luc’s horrified “I didn’t know” just… icing on the tear-jerker cake.

3 X 8 — Surrender

• Geordi damn near breaks down crying when it looks like Lore has completely erased Data. Picard, as well, thinks he just watched his friend die for the third time.
  • Before that, Data, realising Lore is going to overwrite him, hands over his dearest memories to Lore. Lore asks why Data is giving him all these things. Data replies: 'Because you have had nothing, while I have had everything.' Lore, who up till now has only thought about erasing Data. is visibly taken aback and moved. Made all the more poignant by Data gently picking up and cuddling Spot. And telling Lore, 'This is Spot. This simple creature managed something quite miraculous. Something of which I did not know I was capable. In a way, he taught me to love. He is the best of me, the last of me.' As Lore takes Spot, one wonders whether Data's love for other beings is finally rubbing off on him...
  • Despite being what amounts to a Card-Carrying Villain over three and a half decades, Lore manages to go out on an Alas, Poor Villain moment as Data's memories overpower him and lead to the ultimate Fusion Dance between the two. As Data grabs his brother in a hug, the positronic Smug Snake can only muster one sentence as he disintegrates:
    Lore: Goodbye brother.
• Riker's explanation of why he left Deanna and Kestra in "No Win Scenario" turns out to be a case of Unreliable Narrator. He didn't do it to protect them from his grief over Thad's death, he did it because he realized Deanna was using her powers to suppress his grief without his permission, out of a misguided attempt to help the man she loved. Fortunately, the two reconcile after talking about what happened and why.
• The Titan-A bridge crew get pretty broken up with Tears of Fear listening to their shipmates being hunted down and killed by Vadic's mooks, and again when she has them at their mercy and executes Lt. T'Veen. Lt. Mura, in particular, admits to Vadic that he has a son, and Ens. Esmar is basically The Woobie as they're crying in terror throughout.

3 X 9 — Vox

"Treat her like a lady, she'll always bring you home."

• Jack Crusher's breakdown and defection is heartbreaking to see. He's struggled his entire life to find meaning and community, his own father casually rejected him when he tried to talk to him the first time, and now that he's finally started to find a place that feels like home and people to call family, they panic and isolate him, treating him like an active threat, the second they figure out what's "wrong" with him. Feeling as isolated and alone as ever, he decides to go to the one group he knows will take him in: the Borg. It's clear that he doesn't enjoy what he's doing, but if he's going to be seen as a monster, then he'd rather be with those who accept him as a monster.
  • A bit of Jack's free will holds out while he confronts the Queen. He brings a phaser in, leveling it on her, clearly ready to kill her and put an end to this threat...only for her to taunt that he cannot shoot her, at which point he screams in rage before simply...giving up and letting himself be assimilated. As the nanoprobes course through his veins, he just looks utterly broken.
• The retroactive reveal that Picard has been inexorably tied to the Borg all this time as — rather than suffering Irumodic Syndrome as he, and the rest of the galaxy, originally thought — Picard's original body was killed by the genetic tampering the Borg did to him over thirty years ago and he had unfortunately passed that ticking time bomb of a condition onto his son derived from the darkest, most traumatic moment of his life. The sheer weight of the realization that he never escaped his greatest enemy and that they now haunt his son, compelling him the same way they did to Picard all those years ago, mortifies him to stunned silence.
• The last moments of Admiral Shelby as her own newly assimilated crew turns against her as her own plan to link up the fleet just aided the Borg takeover.
• Geordi realizing his own daughters have now been assimilated. He wants to break off to save them only for Data to bluntly say "and do what?"
  • On that note, these five words: "Jean-Luc, they took my girls." It has to hit home to every single viewer with kids of their own - which is a lot of them, considering how old the OG TNG audience is at this point.^note Also kudos for Le Var Burton are due here: thanks to Data's bluntness earlier, Geordi is mostly keeping it together (he says the line after giving a sitrep), but you can hear his voice crack and his face drop for a split-second as he says it - perfectly showing how horrified and scared he is.
• Shaw's Heroic Sacrifice to help the rest of the crew escape, dying in Seven's arms and, in his final moments, accepting his First Officer for who she is.
  Shaw: N-no... It's...it's not my ship anymore. It's yours. You have the Conn...Seven of Nine.
• Seeing the restored USS Enterprise-D as she is revealed to be the surprise waiting in hangar bay 12 is an emotional moment, not only for the command crew, but also for TNG fans everywhere. Consider the scene to be a Tearjerker of Joy.

3x 10 — The Last Generation

• As it looks like he's about to die, Riker speaks to Deanna, hoping her empathic power can at least pick him up.
  Riker: I love you, Imzadi. We'll be waiting. Me and our boy.
• Sidney is the first of the newly freed Starfleet officers to break down crying at the realization of what she did while under Borg control. Seven, who knows full well how she feels, just hugs her.
  • When Sidney regains control of herself, she first looks dazed, then looks down at the phaser in her hand and realizes she's pointing it at Seven. She realizes she was barely seconds away from trying to kill someone she cares about and respects, and could do absolutely nothing to stop herself. As she stammers out her desperate apologies, she just sounds utterly heartbroken.
• Seven is ready to quit Starfleet until Tuvok shows her a message Shaw made talking of how much he truly respects Seven and recommending her for captain.
• Of a more bittersweet variety. One year later, the Enterprise-D is laid to rest in the Fleet Museum, between Kirk's Enterprise-A and Picard's Stargazer, to be admired for generations to come (especially after what happened). As wonderful as it is to see the old girl given a proper send off, far better than what she got in Generations, make no mistake - this is the end, the last time we'll see her outside of cameo appearances. Geordi even sounds broken up as he orders the ship to shut down, not wanting the voyages of his Starship Enterprise to end anymore than we do.

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