Two Boston Globe Writers Reflect on Captain Picard and Patrick Stewart

Two journalists at the US newspaper The Boston Globe, John Hilliard and Jason Laughlin, have published a conversational piece about English actor Patrick Stewart and his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the science fiction series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Both describe themselves as long-time fans of the franchise.

A character rooted in emotional truth

Hilliard argues that Stewart rooted the character in emotional truth. Laughlin adds that Picard felt as layered as the complex figures who would populate prestige television a decade later. Unlike anti-heroes such as Tony Soprano or Walter White, though, this was a character viewers could admire: he loved his job, was passionate about archaeology, Shakespeare and music, and held to his ideals even at great personal cost.

They also cite an episode in which Picard confronts an admiral who begins a witch hunt aboard the Enterprise. Picard's speech about censorship and lost freedoms is, in Laughlin's view, an example of moral clarity.

Episodes that stayed with them

Laughlin singles out an episode in which Picard returns to his home village in France after a traumatic assault and reconciles with his brother. Another, "The Inner Light," shows Picard living an entire lifetime as another person on an alien planet; in the end, all he keeps is a flute. Hilliard stresses the episode in which Picard tells young officer Wesley Crusher that a lie of omission is still a lie.

Hilliard describes Picard as a gentle, patient teacher, in effect "everyone's Space Dad." Laughlin notes that Stewart was 47 when he started playing the role, and that now, as he approaches that age himself, the best episodes carry new meaning.