Family

4x02 The Best of Both Worlds (2) Brothers Star Trek: The Next GenerationSeason 4

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October 1, 1990

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45 minutes

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2024-09-11 12:50:48

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 SUMMARY

Stardate 44012.3. Picard meets with his older brother in France, and contemplates resigning his Starfleet commission after his ordeal with the Borg. Worf's adoptive parents spend time with their son on the Enterprise, and succeed in embarrassing him in front of his crewmates.

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 REVIEWS

A unique episode!

Written by kimmy on 2018-07-31
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

A one-of-a-kind episode, in that it’s very clearly outside of the format of the Star Trek space adventure: the only plot here is purely character-focused and psychological. Already in season 2 “The Icarus Factor” there were character-focused episodes, but this is taking it much further. An entire episode devoted to the Enterprise‘s stay on Earth and its orbit, recuperating, makes the importance of the Borg encounter even bigger in retrospect. It is so much out of format that this episode was not produced second, but later in the season, and was made at the insistence of writer Ron Moore that there was something interesting to be done here.

Picard‘s visit in rural France and his feud with his brother feel very right for the character (with the exception of that still unexplained impeccable English accent: pourquoi? and couldn’t Paramount figure out that the French don’t toast with “salut”?) If I didn’t know there were four more seasons, I would really have believed that Picard could be convinced to stay on Earth and change careers, so the episode was successful at that. I want to see more of Chateau Picard and nephew René! (pictured here) Worf‘s awkwardness with his visiting foster parents on the Enterprise is a highlight that is both humorous and very touching! Interesting that the parents are Russian (and very cliché at that!), extending the metaphor of Klingons-as-Russians/Soviets of TOS, only that by now the Russians are very sympathetic (we are in October 1990 and the USSR is in the middle of its collapse). And finally, Wesley seeing his father’s recorded message is not too creative but it does the work ad is also touching; given that Wes is about to written out of the show, I would have largely preferred for this moment to have come much sooner in the series.

You can tell by how much I have written: this is one of TNG‘s best, and I believe the choice to do such a different episode payed off in emotional attachment with these characters. By now, TNG is as much about the self-contained adventures as it is about its characters, and is richer for it.

Alumni-spotting:
I know Doug Wert, Jack Crusher here, from the defining UFO/conspiracy TV movie of the 1990s, “Roswell“, with Kyle MacLachlan!

The quote:
Sergei Rozhenko, to everyone he meets: “I have all the specs and diagrams at home!”

 TRANSCRIPT

Captain's Log: Stardate 44012.3 The Enterprise remains docked at McKinley Station, undergoing a major overhaul and refit following the Borg incident. I am confident that the ship and her crew will soon be ready to return to service.
[Observation lounge]

RIKER: Thank you. Please take that to Engineering.
(Crewwoman leaves with PADD, Worf enters)
WORF: Phaser upgrades are complete, Commander.
RIKER: Already?
WORF: And we have begun power supply calibration.
RIKER: You're just too damned efficient, Lieutenant.
WORF: Thank you, sir.
RIKER: Continue with the testing, Mister Worf. Here's the final schedule for the shore leave and for the personnel transfers. By the way, I'm looking forward to meeting your parents.
WORF: Sir?
RIKER: They're on the visitors' list. You didn't know?
WORF: No, sir. It is inappropriate for a Klingon to receive family while on duty. As humans, my parents do not understand.
RIKER: Well, I'm not sure that I would either, Worf, since this isn't a Klingon ship. If you don't want to see your parents, that's your business, but we don't get to Earth all that often. I'm sure we can arrange for you to have more off duty time while they're here.
WORF: No, sir. That will not be necessary.
RIKER: Dismissed. Mister Worf, if you're worried that they might learn about what happened on the Klingon planet
WORF: Not at all. I have already informed them by correspondence of my discommendation. I do not believe any human can truly understand my dishonour.

[Picard's quarters]

(Picard is in casual clothes, packing a case)
TROI: So, where have you decided to go?
PICARD: Hmm? What? Oh, er, France. Labarre. My home village.
TROI: Really?
PICARD: Yes. It's the first time in almost twenty years.
TROI: Interesting.
PICARD: Counsellor.
TROI: I just find it interesting. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the man who couldn't be pried out of his seat for a vacation for three years
PICARD: It's Earth. It's home. Do I need another reason?
TROI: I don't know. What do you think?
PICARD: Your help has been invaluable during my recovery, but, look, I'm better. The injuries are healing.
TROI: Those you can see in the mirror.
PICARD: The nightmares have ended. All I need now is a little time to myself.
TROI: I agree. In fact, I'm delighted you're going. It's just that the choice of where you're going could stand some scrutiny.
PICARD: If you wish to believe that my going home is a direct result of being held captive by the Borg, be my guest.
TROI: Is that what you believe?
PICARD: I hate it when you do that.
TROI: Captain, you do need time. You cannot achieve complete recovery so quickly. And it's perfectly normal, after what you've been through, to spend a great deal of time trying to find yourself again.
PICARD: And what better place to find oneself than on the streets of one's home village.
TROI: Interesting. Have a good trip, Captain.
(She kisses his cheek and leaves him to his packing. He decides against some books, takes a final look around and walks out)

[Transporter room]

WORF: They still have not signalled?
O'BRIEN: No sir.
WORF: My mother is never on time. It is so human of her.
O'BRIEN: Well, you know women.
WORF: I am not looking forward to this. I wish they would come so it would begin and end sooner.
O'BRIEN: I know what you mean, Lieutenant.
WORF: Unlikely.
O'BRIEN: Last time my old man was on board I found him chasing Nurse Stanton around a biobed in Sickbay.
WORF: I am not concerned about my father chasing nurses.
O'BRIEN: Yeah, but it's always something with parents, isn't it.
FEMALE [OC]: Enterprise, this is Earth Station Bobruisk. Two to transport aboard.
O'BRIEN: Energising.
(A big, stocky silver-haired man, and a mature woman with lots of brown hair appear)
WORF: Mother. Father.
HELENA: Worf!
SERGEY: You look good, son. Put on a little weight, huh?
WORF: No.
SERGEY: Sure you have. Looks good on you. Still working out with those Holodeck monsters, I bet.
WORF: Let me take you to
SERGEY: Always good to meet another Chief Petty Officer. Sergey Rozhenko, formerly of the USS Intrepid.
(shakes hands)
O'BRIEN: Miles Edward O'Brien, sir. Good to meet you.
SERGEY: Don't call me sir. I used to work for a living.
HELENA: He's joking. The proudest day of his life was when Worf earned his commission.
SERGEY: Can you imagine an old enlisted man like me raising a boy to be an officer?
HELENA: Come on, Sergey. There's plenty of time to chat with the boys. Your father has been so looking forward to this.
SERGEY: Yes, I want to see everything. The whole ship. At home I have all the specs and diagrams of the Galaxy-class starships.
WORF: We are in the midst of a repair. I cannot give you a complete tour.
SERGEY: I'm sure if you asked the Captain
HELENA: You agreed not to embarrass him. Besides, we have come to see Worf, not the ship.
SERGEY: Fine. Fine. Okay.
HELENA: Your hair's a little longer, isn't it, Worf?

[Road]

(Picard walks down a tree lined road in the sunlight and breeze)
PICARD: All right, whoever you are, I can hear you.
(A boy comes out from behind the bushes)
PICARD: Oh, good lord, a highwayman.
RENE: A what?
PICARD: A highwayman. It's a robber who attacks travellers, but none have been reported in this vicinity for centuries.
RENE: But I'm not a robber.
PICARD: I am much relieved, sir.
(They walk together)
RENE: I know who you are.
PICARD: Then, you have the advantage.
RENE: You're my nephew, Jean-Luc. From the starship Enterprise.
PICARD: Then you must be my uncle Rene.
RENE: I'm not your uncle. It's the other way around.
PICARD: Too bad. I rather enjoyed the idea.
RENE: Why have you been away so long?
PICARD: Well, Starfleet keeps me very busy.
RENE: Father says you don't like it here.
PICARD: I'm sure you misunderstood.
RENE: No, I didn't. He said so.
PICARD: Well, Robert and I, we. Perhaps it's time to change all that.
RENE: You know, you don't seem so arrow. Arrow. You know.
PICARD: Arrogant?
RENE: Yes, arrogant. You don't seem that way to me. What does it mean anyway, arrogant son of a
PICARD: Let's talk about that later, shall we?
(Rene runs into a courtyard. There are big oak casks in an arcade)
RENE: Mummy! He's here! Mummy, he's here!
MARIE: Jean-Luc!
PICARD: Marie.
MARIE: It is so good to finally meet you.
PICARD: For me, too.
MARIE: How are you feeling?
PICARD: Oh, I'm fine.
MARIE: Well, Robert and I are delighted that you've come to stay with us.
PICARD: I was, I was thinking I, I might be imposing. I could very easily stay in the village.
MARIE: I wouldn't hear of it. It's your home and it will always be your home. Do things look that different?
(Mock Tudor Nouveau, with first floor protruding over the ground floor, tall brick chimney stacks)
PICARD: No. In fact, it's amazing how little it has changed. Everything is exactly as I remember it. The house, the hills, every tree, every bush seems untouched by the passage of time.
MARIE: Robert's worked hard to keep it that way. It's very important to him.
PICARD: As it was to our father.
RENE: Someday I'm going to be a starship captain.
PICARD: You look exactly like Robert when he was your age. I half expect to see myself as a boy come running out that door to play.
MARIE: Robert can't wait to see you.
PICARD: Rene already told me. Where is he?
MARIE: As usual, with his vines.

[Vineyard]

(Robert is tasting the red grapes, making sure they are all right)
ROBERT: So, you arrived all right. Welcome home, Captain.
PICARD: Hello, Robert.
ROBERT: You've shuttled in from the village?
PICARD: No I decided to walk. I met Marie and Rene.
ROBERT: Good. Good.
PICARD: It's good to see you.
ROBERT: Are you tired?
PICARD: No.
ROBERT: Make yourself at home. You know where everything is. We generally eat about eight. I must try and cure this poor, sick vine. I'll see you shortly.

[Crusher's quarters]

CRUSHER: So, you'll have a chance to visit the surface?
TROI: Maybe. Will and I have been talking about going back to Angel Falls.
CRUSHER: Oh, Venezuela's beautiful.
(doorbell)
CRUSHER: Come in.
(A crewman enters with a box. Beverly takes it)
CRUSHER: Great. Thank you.
(When she opens it we see the label - Lt Cmdr Jack R Crusher, USS Stargazer NCC 2893)
TROI: Something from home?
CRUSHER: I left it here in storage a long time ago after Jack died. Odds and ends, mostly.
TROI: (reading a book title) How to Advance Your Career through Marriage?
CRUSHER: It was a joke. Jack sent it to me while I was still in medical school. It was his way of proposing to me.
TROI: What's that?
CRUSHER: It's for Wesley, from Jack. I'd forgotten it. Maybe I was just trying to forget it.
TROI: Why?
CRUSHER: Jack recorded a holographic message to Wesley just after he was born. It was a gift for when he grew up. Jack was going to make many more of them. He never had the chance.
TROI: Are you afraid of what it might say?
CRUSHER: No, I just don't know if it'll do more harm than good. Wesley's finally come to terms with his father's death.
TROI: Wesley has a lot of questions about his father. Things that you can't answer for him. Perhaps seeing this will help him understand.

[Engineering]

CREWWOMAN: Check completed, sir.
SERGEY: So we walked into the school and we don't know what to expect. Is Worf hurt? Is he in some kind of trouble? The door opens and there is our little seven year old sitting on a chair and glaring across the room at five teenage boys, all of them with bloody noses.
HELENA: And then the principal looked up and said, please tell me he's an only child.
WORF: We have taken enough of the Commander's time.
LAFORGE: No, no, no, we're way ahead of schedule here.
SERGEY: I just wanted to tell him the story about
HELENA: Enough stories, Sergey.
SERGEY: Okay. Okay. Enough stories. Well, how about giving us a look at the new engine core. I used to be a warp field specialist on the old Excelsior class.
LAFORGE: I'd be delighted. Mrs. Rozhenko?
HELENA: No, no, no, no, no. You two go ahead. Your father will be hours. Worf, why don't you show me the arboretum?
WORF: Commander La Forge, call me when you, when my father wishes to leave.
SERGEY: I can find my own way. Turbolift four is just over there, right? I have all the specs and designs at home.
(Worf and Helena leave)
LAFORGE: The theta-matrix compositer makes the recrystallisation process ten times more efficient than the old Excelsior class ships.
SERGEY: Amazing. Commander, if you have a couple of minutes, there is something else I want to ask you.
LAFORGE: Sure, Chief.
SERGEY: It's about my son.

[Chez Picard]

(a proper family evening meal is being served around a table in the paneled part of the main room)
MARIE: Your friend Louis wants you to contact him as soon as you're settled.
PICARD: Is he still trying to raise the ocean floor?
MARIE: Oh yes, he's very excited about it. He's been made a supervisor now, as his wife is constantly reminding anyone who'll listen.
ROBERT: I see no good reason why the Earth should have another subcontinent.
PICARD: It's really quite exciting, actually, if you understand the potential of exploring a new world on our own planet.
ROBERT: Well, I'm afraid that I do not understand this potential.
MARIE: The Mayor wants to give you a parade.
PICARD: A parade?
MARIE: Give you the keys to the city.
PICARD: No. No, no, no, no.
ROBERT: He just needs a little arm twisting, dear, coaxing.
PICARD: No. he does not. I'm here to rest and spend some time with my family.
MARIE: Well, I've already warned the Mayor not to make any plans without talking to us.
ALL: Salut.
(They all taste their red wine)
PICARD: Is this the forty six?
ROBERT: Forty seven. You've been drinking too much of that artificial stuff. What do you call it? Synthehol? It's spoiled you. Ruined your palate.
PICARD: On the contrary. I think that synthehol heightens one's appreciation for the genuine article.
ROBERT: Delicious, Marie.
MARIE: Thank you.
PICARD: Leave it to Robert to find the best cook in France, then marry her.
ROBERT: Yes, but sadly cooking is becoming a lost art. That's your wretched technology again.
MARIE: Robert and I have had more than a few discussions about getting a replicator in the house.
PICARD: I remember the same discussions between mother and father.
ROBERT: Father understood better than anybody else the danger of losing those values which we hold most precious.
PICARD: I don't see that you have to lose anything just by adding a convenience.
ROBERT: You wouldn't, but in my view, life is already too convenient.
MARIE: This is a very old argument.
RENE: I wrote a report on starships for school.
MARIE: And he won a ribbon for it.
RENE: The teacher said it was one of the best he'd ever heard.
PICARD: Good for you, Uncle. You know what? I once wrote a report about starships when I was about your age.
RENE: Did you win a ribbon too?
PICARD: I don't recall.
ROBERT: And I don't find your modesty very unconvincing, brother. Of course you won the ribbon. You always did.
RENE: Do you still have it? Your report.
PICARD: No, I don't think so.
RENE: Well, I still have mine.
MARIE: Why don't you go and get it, and then you can read it to your uncle.
(Rene leaves the table)
ROBERT: It's hard enough to protect him, protect him from all that's out there without you encouraging him.
PICARD: I am not encouraging him. If you weren't so narrow minded, if you allowed him to see the world as it really is
ROBERT: You raise your own sons as you would wish, and allow me to do the same with mine.

[Vineyard]

LOUIS: One man's idea of paradise.
PICARD: No, my dear Louis, two men. Robert's and my father's.
LOUIS: Never did I know anyone less interested in grapes than you, Jean-Luc.
PICARD: No, not true. I was interested. And I was proud that my family were helping to preserve the traditions. I just didn't feel bound by those traditions.
LOUIS: You always reached for the future and your brother for the past.
PICARD: There should be room for both in this life. And what about you, you old rascal. You've taken quite a shift into the future yourself.
LOUIS: Well, hydroponics turned out to be so dull.
PICARD: You should have listened to me at the beginning.
LOUIS: If I had listened to you, I never would have taken that cycling trip with the Bloom sisters.
PICARD: And broken your leg.
LOUIS: And got married twice.
PICARD: I hear you've been promoted to supervisor of the Atlantis project.
LOUIS: I'm one of two hundred supervisors, although my wife would have you believe I run the entire project.
PICARD: Well. it's certainly very exciting work. I've kept up on it in the journals.
LOUIS: Really?
PICARD: It's only. There's just one thing I don't understand. You were such a rotten swimmer, Louis. Thinking of you working on the ocean floor.
LOUIS: I suppose we all find ways to confront our greatest fears.
PICARD: Seriously, how do you plan to accelerate the buildup on the underside of the mantle without increasing the stress on the tectonic plates?
LOUIS: You really have kept up, haven't you? The truth is we don't know, yet.
PICARD: On the Enterprise, we used harmonic resonators to relieve the tectonic pressures on Drema Four. Obviously, it's not the same problem but
LOUIS: You know, it's such a shame. The government is looking for someone to take over the project. A real leader who'll go in there and get things moving. And they are looking for you, Jean-Luc. I know, I know, you'd never leave Starfleet.
PICARD: No, I'd never leave Starfleet.
LOUIS: That's what I thought, but if nothing else, why don't I send over some of the internal studies of the tectonic problem, since you're interested? We could use any thoughts you might have.
PICARD: All right.

[Ten Forward]

(Sitting at the bar)
SERGEY: It's a great crew, son, and they think the world of you.
HELENA: They really do.
WORF: Mother, Father, I wish you would be a little more reserved while you are on board.
HELENA: I know. We go too far, sometimes.
SERGEY: We're just excited to be here.
RIKER [OC]: Riker to Lieutenant Worf.
WORF: Worf here.
RIKER [OC]: I need to talk to you about the phaser test results.
WORF: On my way, Commander. Have Guinan call me if you need anything.
(Worf leaves, and Sergey and Helena get up, agitated and walk towards the windows)
SERGEY: Maybe we should just leave it alone.
HELENA: I can't just leave it alone. I'm his mother.
GUINAN: You know, sooner or later, everyone comes in here. They stand by those windows and they look out and the stare. They're looking for that little star they call home. It doesn't matter how far away it is, everybody looks anyway. I'm Guinan. Pleased to meet you. You're Worf's parents?
SERGEY: Sergey and Helena Rozhenko
GUINAN: Welcome. Sit, please. There's something I would like to ask you.
HELENA: Please.
GUINAN: How come you never gave him prune juice?
HELENA: I beg your pardon?
GUINAN: He said he'd never had it till he came here. Mow he can't get enough of it.
HELENA: Worf?
SERGEY: He never wanted any human food while he was growing up. Everything had to be Klingon.
HELENA: I learned to cook rokeg blood pie.
SERGEY: However, we never quite learned how to eat it.
HELENA: It was a difficult adolescence.
GUINAN: But you got through it.
SERGEY: We didn't do anything special.
GUINAN: Didn't you? Just look at him. I think he's pretty special.
HELENA: We knew it wouldn't be easy for him, growing up without other Klingons to go to for guidance.
SERGEY: We had to let him discover and explore his heritage by himself, let him find his own path.
GUINAN: So many parents could learn so much from the two of you.
HELENA: Well, I'm afraid that Worf feels that we do not understand him.
GUINAN: Well, part of him may feel that way, but there's another part that I've seen. A part that comes in and drinks prune juice. A part that looks out the window towards home. He's not looking toward the Klingon Empire. He's looking toward you.

[Chez Picard]

(Picard is at a desk by the front window. According to the computer screen, this Atlantis Project is to create a land mass over the mid-Atlantic ridge.)
MARIE: Jean Luc? Are you all right?
PICARD: I seem to have made a rather disturbing discovery. Louis mentioned the Atlantis project needed a director, and I found myself actually thinking about it.
MARIE: Why shouldn't you?
PICARD: Leaving my career, the Enterprise?
MARIE: Considering what you've just been through
PICARD: No, it's not that. Or is it?
MARIE: Besides, it would be wonderful to have you back home. Given a little time, maybe you and your brother might even get to like one another.
PICARD: Well, I already like his choice in wives. I never thanked you for your correspondence. It made me feel like part of the family.
MARIE: You're not like part of the family. You are part of the family, Jean Luc Picard.
(The door bell has chimed)
ROBERT: Don't worry, my dear, I've got it.
LOUIS: Robert.
MARIE: Louis, come in. Let me get you some wine. You can talk business.
ROBERT: Business?
PICARD: Well, there's nothing much to talk about.
LOUIS: I'm interested to know what you thought about our plans.
PICARD: I've only had a chance to glance at them. I've a few ideas.
LOUIS: Wonderful. We should discuss them with the board of governors. I've set up a meeting.
PICARD: Meeting?
LOUIS: Just a preliminary conversation. Tomorrow morning?
PICARD: Preliminary to what?
LOUIS: They want you. I mentioned your interest in the project, that's all. That's all I had to say. They jumped at the prospect.
PICARD: I never said there was a prospect.
LOUIS: At least listen to them, Jean-Luc.
PICARD: All right. Very good. Fine. I'll listen.
LOUIS: You won't regret it, Jean-Luc. I promise you. I'll see you in the morning.

[Crusher's office]

WESLEY: I don't understand, Mom. What kind of message?
CRUSHER: I don't know exactly. Your father made it a few weeks after you were born.
WESLEY: Why?
CRUSHER: He felt it was important to say certain things. And to make sure that he didn't forget to tell you later.
WESLEY: Do you know what it says?
CRUSHER: No. But he wanted you to have this when you turned eighteen. And I want you to have it, too.

[Worf's quarters]

WORF: Enter.
SERGEY: Are we disturbing you?
WORF: No. No. I thought you were going to your quarters to sleep.
HELENA: We just came by to tuck you in.
WORF: Please. When I heard you were on the visitors' list, I was not sure I wanted you to come. I am glad you are here.
HELENA: We had to come.
SERGEY: Our boy was in trouble. After we read your letter about the discommendation from the Klingons.
HELENA: We don't exactly understand it all.
SERGEY: We don't have to. We know what kind of man you are.
HELENA: Whatever you did, we know it was for a good reason.
WORF: I must bear my dishonour alone.
SERGEY: That is not true.
HELENA: I'm sorry if this is too human of us but, whenever you are suffering, you must remember we are with you.
SERGEY: And that we're proud of you, and that we love you.
HELENA: You're our son.

[Chez Picard]

(Picard is making inroads into a bottle of the family produce when Robert comes in with flowers for the house)
ROBERT: Careful. You're not used to drinking the real thing. This synthehol never leaves you out of control, is that so?
PICARD: That's so.
ROBERT: This will. (pours himself the last dregs) Now there is something I'd like to see.
PICARD: What's that?
ROBERT: The gallant Captain out of control. Mind if I ask you a question? What the devil happened to you up there?
PICARD: Is this brotherly concern?
ROBERT: No. Curiosity. What did they do to you?
PICARD: You know what happened.
ROBERT: Not precisely. I gather you were hurt. Humiliated. I always thought you needed a little humiliation. Or was it humility? Either would do. (Jean-Luc storms out of the house)

[Garden]

ROBERT: Why do you walk away? That isn't your style.
PICARD: I'm tired of fighting with you, Robert.
ROBERT: Tired?
PICARD: That's right.
ROBERT: Yes. Tired of the Enterprise too? The great Captain Picard of Starfleet falls to Earth, ready to plunge into the water with Louis. That isn't the brother that I remember. Still, I suppose it must have seemed like the ideal situation, hmm? Local boy makes good. Returns home after twenty years to a hero's welcome.
PICARD: I'm not a hero.
ROBERT: Of course you are. Admit it. You'd never settle for less than that and you never will.
PICARD: That's not true.
ROBERT: Cancel the parade? In your favour?
PICARD: No! I never sought that rubbish.
ROBERT: Never sought? Never sought president of the school, valedictorian, athletic hero with your arms raised in victory?
PICARD: Valedictorian? Arms raised in victory? Were you so jealous?
ROBERT: Yes, damn it. I was always so jealous, I had a right to be.
PICARD: Right?
ROBERT: I was always your brother, watching you receive the cheers, watching you break every rule our father made and get away with it.
PICARD: Why didn't you break a few rules?
ROBERT: Because I was the elder brother, the responsible one. It was my job to look after you.
PICARD: Look after me? You? You were a bully.
ROBERT: Sometimes. Maybe. Sometimes I even enjoyed bullying you.
PICARD: All right. Try it now.
ROBERT: Did you come back, Jean-Luc? Did you come back because you wanted me to look after you again?
PICARD: Damn you!
(And he punches his brother, sending him flying over some barrels into the vineyard proper. There they fight in the muddy irrigation ditches, through the vines until they finally fall back laughing)
PICARD: You were asking for it, you know.
ROBERT: Yes, but you needed it. You have been terribly hard on yourself.
PICARD: You don't know, Robert. You don't know. They took everything I was. They used me to kill and to destroy, and I couldn't stop them. I should have been able to stop them! I tried. I tried so hard, but I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't good enough. I should have been able to stop them. I should! I should!
ROBERT: So, my brother is a human being after all. This is going to be with you a long time, Jean-Luc. A long time. You have to learn to live with it. You have a simple choice now. Live with it below the sea with Louis, or above the clouds with the Enterprise.
PICARD: You know, I think you were right after all. I think I did come back so that you could help me.
ROBERT: You know what? I still don't like you, Jean-Luc.

[Chez Picard]

(There's mud, and muddy boots, on the carpet, and drunken voices singing 'Aupres de ma blonde, qu'il fait bon, fait bon, fait bon' dum, dum, dum. Marie enters from outside)
MARIE: What in the world? What happened here?
ROBERT: Ah
PICARD: It's entirely my fault, Marie.
ROBERT: Yes, I fell down, then he fell and then
PICARD: We both fell down.
ROBERT: We both fell down.
PICARD: Together.
ROBERT: We both fell down together.
MARIE: Have you two been fighting?
ROBERT: Fighting? No, certainly not.
MARIE: Shame on you both. What would your father say if he saw you like this?
PICARD: He'd probably send us both to bed without our supper.
MARIE: Well, perhaps it's just as well you got it out of your systems.
PICARD: Perhaps it was, Marie. Perhaps it was. I'll contact Louis and cancel the meeting with the Board of Governors. It's time that I was going.
MARIE: Already, Jean-Luc?
PICARD: The ship will be ready to leave orbit soon, and I belong on board. If I should ever doubt that again, I know where to come.

[Corridor]

WESLEY: Computer, load programme, Crusher One.
COMPUTER: Programme complete. Enter when ready.

[Holodeck]

(A man in a TOS movie era uniform is standing in the otherwise empty holodeck)
WESLEY: Run programme.
JACK: Hello, Wesley. As I make this recording, you are about ten weeks old. I wanted you to know who I am today. You see, this Jack Crusher won't exist by the time you're grown up. I'll be older, more experienced, and hopefully a little wiser. But this person will be gone and I want you to know who your father was when you came into the world. When I see you lying there in your crib, I realise I don't know the first thing about being a father. So let me just apologise for all the mistakes I'm about to make as you grow up. I hope you don't grow up resenting the fact that I was gone so much. That comes with this uniform. I don't know if I can explain why Starfleet means so much to me. Maybe you'll understand when you get this recording. Maybe you'll even want to try one of these on. But you'll probably be a doctor like your mother. You're only a baby, but it's remarkable. I can see in your face all the people I've loved in my lifetime. Your mother, my father and mother. Our family. I can see me in you, too. And I can feel that you're my son. I don't know how to describe it, but there's this connection, this bond. I'll always be a part of you, Wesley. Well, I hope this made some sense to you. I'm not sure that it does to me, but maybe I'll do better next time. I love you, Wesley.
WESLEY: Goodbye, Dad.

[Garden]

(Picard is in uniform, and the whole family is walking with him to the road)
MARIE: Come back and see us again. Goodbye, Jean-Luc. And be careful.
PICARD: Take care, Uncle.
RENE: You too. Someday, I'll be leaving for my starship, too.
PICARD: Well, there's plenty of time for that. You may decide to do something else as you get older.
ROBERT: Jean-Luc, here is a little of the forty seven. Do not drink it all at once, and if possible, try not to drink it alone.
(They embrace, Robert looks close to tears, then Picard marches off)

[Corridor]

HELENA: Is there anything you want us to send you from home?
WORF: No. Perhaps some of your rokeg blood pie.
HELENA: It's been a while, but I think I still remember how.
(Picard leaves the transporter room)
WORF: Captain. Welcome back.
PICARD: Thank you, Lieutenant.
WORF: These are my parents, Helena and Sergey Rozhenko.
(They shake hands)
PICARD: Delighted. Sir.
SERGEY: Quite a ship you have here, Captain.
PICARD: You had the full tour, I trust?
SERGEY: Well, actually, there are still a few areas because of the repairs
HELENA: Sergey. It's time to go.
SERGEY: Yes. Yes. Okay. I have all the specs and diagrams at home.
(The doors close on the family. Picard grins)

[Chez Picard]

(It's late evening)
MARIE: He's still out there. Dreaming about starships and adventures. It's getting late.
ROBERT: Yes. But let him dream.
(Young Rene sits under a tree, below a star-studded sky, and doesn't spot the streak of light whizzing off in the general direction of Orion)

 HISTORY

2024-09-11 12:50:48 - Pike: Added the transcript.