WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 10 of Star Trek: Picard, "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2," now streaming on CBS All Access.
The opening scene of Star Trek: Picard featured a number of familiar sights to fans of The Next Generation: the Enterprise-E; a poker game; tea, Earl Grey, hot; and, most importantly, the late Commander Data. Despite being deceased, Brent Spiner's android science officer loomed large over the first season. Nowhere was that more visible than the finale, which allowed the titular character to finally sit down and give his old friend a proper send-off.
Until the finale, Data proved to be a character gone, but not forgotten. His sacrifice to save Picard at the end of 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis had left the retired admiral in a prolonged state of mourning and experiencing recurring dreams about the android. In the premiere, it's discovered scientists were able to create artificial life out of Data's remains, producing his two "daughters" in twins Dahj and Soji. The latter's entire arc in the back half of the season is about her learning about her late father, as well as his relationship with Picard. Brent Spiner even had a direct role in the two-part finale, although he appeared as Data's human "brother," Dr. Altan Soong.
When we see Data again, it's for yet another sitdown with his former captain. This time, the two are in a study covered in gray matte, save a roaring fireplace. Data clarifies to Picard they are not meeting in a dream this time, but a quantum simulation. Both of their consciousnesses have been salvaged posthumously -- Picard from a brain scan done in his final minutes, Data from memories left in the android B-4 prior to his death -- and kept in this simulated world.
Although this isn't exactly the Data Picard remembers, he still uses the opportunity to tell him everything he's wanted to since his death 20 years ago. He expresses his anger for Data's sacrifice, before the android reminds him of his own, having just put his health on the line to save the synthetic population of Coppelius. Picard then tells Data he regrets never telling him he loved him when he was alive. But Data replies there was a part of him that felt that unspoken love, something that immediately comforts Picard.
Unfortunately, their catch-up is soon to come to an end. Picard's consciousness is about to leave the simulation to be placed into a new body, symbolized by a bright light coming from the door behind him. Before leaving, Data makes one more request: When he's corporeal again, terminate his consciousness. Baffled, Picard asks if he's requesting to die. "Not exactly, sir," Data replies. "I want to live, however briefly, knowing my life is finite. Mortality gives meaning to human life, captain. Peace, love, friendship. These are precious because we know they cannot endure. A butterfly that lives forever is really not a butterfly at all."
It's an extremely profound moment for the Data character. He spent seven seasons and four movies seeking to understand humanity, in order to become more like the people around him. But there are some things that his artificiality robbed him of, namely an ending to his story. Picard, having gained the closure he's wanted for decades, agrees to the request. The two friends regard each other one last time as captain and commander before Picard walks through the door.
Once back in the real world, albeit with a synth body, Picard gets to work on granting Data's final wish. He holds an impromptu service in front of the chips containing his consciousness, attended by Soong, Dr. Jurati and Soji.
"It says a great deal about the mind of Commander Data that, looking at the human race with all its violence and corruption and willful ignorance, he could still see kindness, immense curiosity, and the greatness of spirit," he says. "He wanted, more than anything else, to be part of that. To be a part of a human family."
And Data gets to experience that family in his final moments. As Picard speaks, a vinyl version of "Blue Skies" plays. It's an extremely pertinent song, given it not only played at the beginning and end of Nemesis, but also the beginning of the season. Data is changed out of the uniform he died in, instead wearing a comfortable robe. Laying out on the couch that will serve as his death bed, he takes the hand of a TNG-era Jean-Luc Picard. Content, Data finally undergoes perhaps the most quintessential human experience: Growing old and dying.
Picard finishes his eulogy with a quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest: "We are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is rounded with a sleep." Indeed, the presence of Data, even after death, was still the stuff of dreams throughout Star Trek: Picard, appearing at times to serve as a source of comfort to his beleaguered captain. But the series gave an incredibly powerful and emotional send-off with the character, allowing Picard to get closure and move on from his coping mechanism, finally letting his old friend sleep.
Star Trek: Picard stars Patrick Stewart, Alison Pill, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera and Harry Treadaway. The first season is available on CBS All Access.