- 30-second episode preview (AVI, 2Mb)
- Picard realizes that Q has given him a chance to change his destiny.

Synopsis:

After Picard loses his life in a surprise attack, Q gives him the chance to change his destiny.

Gravely injured in a Lenarian attack, Picard slips into a white, seamless limbo while Beverly struggles to save his life. There, he encounters Q, who informs Picard that he is dead and this is the afterlife - and that Q himself is God! Picard refuses to believe that he is dead, let alone that Q is the supreme being. But Q is determined to prove otherwise. He produces the artificial heart that failed Picard and caused his death, which triggers Picard's sense of regret. With Q's urging, he admits that, given the opportunity to live life over, he would do things differently.

Picard's wish is Q's command. He is suddenly a young ensign of 21 and Q gives him the opportunity to relive and avoid the fight that led to his being stabbed through the heart. If he succeeds, he will return to the present with his real heart intact, and the galaxy's history will remain unchanged. If not, he will die in that present and spend eternity with Q.

Initially, Picard was stabbed when he rigged a gambling table to help his Starfleet friend Corey get revenge against a Nausicaan who cheated him. Since he must avoid that conflict, he attempts to talk Corey out of gambling in the first place. Corey plays anyway, the Nausicaan cheats him and wins, and Corey naturally asks Picard to help him get revenge. But Picard refuses, backed up by a another friend named Marta, and a furious Corey storms off.

Further changing his past behavior, Picard spends the night with Marta. But in the morning, she worries that they have ruined their friendship. When Picard, Marta and Corey get together that night, the tension between the three of them is palpable. Then things get worse. Three Nausicaans appear and taunt the group, hoping to provoke a fight. Picard sees the Nausicaans prepare to draw their weapons and quickly knocks Corey to the floor in order to prevent the fight from occurring. But since Corey and Marta can't understand Picard's actions, they see them as a betrayal and walk away in disgust, announcing to Picard that they are no longer friends. Q congratulates Picard for changing his destiny, and he is thrown back into the present time. However, he has returned to the U.S.S. Enterprise as a lieutenant, junior grade.

According to Q, everything is as it should be - the changes in Picard's present reflect the changes he made in his youth. But Picard is unable to go about his business as a lowly astrophysics officer. Disoriented by the lack of respect he encounters at the hands of his former subordinates, he speaks to Troi and Riker about his chances for advancement, and is crushed to hear that while he is a good, reliable officer, he just doesn't stand out. Desperate, Picard summons Q and begs that he would rather die than live any longer as an average, dreary man. Q obliges and the dreaded fight ensues. However, at the moment he is stabbed through the heart, Picard wakes up in Sickbay in the present time, surrounded by a very relieved Beverly, Worf and Riker. Despite the traumatic ordeal, Picard realizes that he feels grateful toward Q, who gave him a chance to understand why he is the man he is today.

Timothy Lynch's Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode Reviews 

WARNING: This article contains considerable spoiler information about 
"Tapestry", TNG's latest offering. Those not interested in reading said 
spoilers had better get off now.

Wow. Best damned Q storyline I've seen in four years.

Yes, that takes us all the way back to "Q Who", when once again Q used simple 
techniques to send Picard one hell of a message. Guess what, folks -- he did 
it again, and most interestingly to boot. More later, after this lengthy 
synopsis:

Sickbay is in chaos, as a critically injured Jean-Luc Picard is beamed 
aboard. After being shot at close range with an energy weapon, Picard's 
artificial heart has malfunctioned, and he is dying on the surgical table. 
His vital signs begin to fade even further...

...and Picard looks around himself into a gulf of impenetrable whiteness. He 
sees nothing for a few moments, and then sees an angelic figure approaching 
him, shrouded in light. He takes this "angel's" hand, and the angel becomes 
more recognizable:

"Welcome to the afterlife, Jean-Luc," says Q. "You're *dead*."

Picard scoffs at the notion that he is dead, and even more so at Q's claim of 
being God. "I refuse to believe that the afterlife is run by _you_ -- the 
universe is not so badly designed!" Q, persistent, brings other evidence to 
bear, and Picard sees and hears his late father scold him for coming to a bad 
end with Starfleet: "Dead ... *before* your time." Maurice Picard fades, 
but Q then calls up the voices of Picard's "victims" -- the many people who 
have died over the years through Picard acting or failing to act. 

He offers Picard a chance to express regrets for a "sordid" past, but Picard 
says that if he really is dead, "My only regret is dying and finding you 
here!" Q, acting hurt, points out that he was not the cause of Picard's 
death -- Picard's artificial heart was. When asked how he lost his real 
heart, however, Picard only mutters that it was a mistake from his youth. 

Q quickly pounces on this regret and displays the event to Picard, who sees 
his young and cocky self get stabbed through the heart by an angry Nausicaan. 
Agreeing with Q that the fight wasn't smart, he claims to have been a 
different man then. "Arrogant, undisciplined, with far too much ego and far 
too little wisdom. I was much more like *you*." Picard continues on, 
regretting that he hadn't learned responsibility until after being stabbed 
through the back, and notes that if he'd been more responsible then he'd have 
a real heart and wouldn't have died when he did.

"So if you had to do it all over again?"
"Things would be different."

Suddenly, Picard is slapped by a young woman, and finds himself back in a 
very old uniform surrounded by two of his old Academy friends, Corey and 
Marta, looking as young as they did after graduation. He turns down their 
invitation to join them for a bite to eat, saying he'll catch up with them 
later. They leave, remarking that "Johnny"'s just marking time until another 
date.

"Captain" Q arrives, telling Picard that he's got his second chance -- he is 
now back at the ripe young age of 21, fresh out of the Academy, and ready to 
change a few things about his past. Picard initially objects, saying that 
changing history could have horrible results, but Q scoffs at that. "Nothing 
you do here will cause the Federation to collapse or galaxies to explode. To 
be blunt, you're not that important." When even that fails to get Picard 
moving, Q gives him his word that the only changes occurring as a result of 
this will be to Picard. 

Q tells Picard that he has two days until the encounter with the Nausicaans 
that robbed him of his heart. If he can change enough by then to avoid 
getting stabbed, then he'll be back in the "present" with a real heart. 
"Then I won't die?" "Of course you'll _die_ -- it'll just be at a later 
time." If he doesn't avoid getting stabbed, the two of them get to spend 
eternity together. This, if nothing else, goads Picard to action -- but at 
the moment, the "action" expected by history is that he keep his date with a 
young woman named Penny...

Penny, however, is not impressed by this quieter, less hormonal, more 
"contemplative" Picard, and when Picard turns down some rather blatant 
romantic offers, she throws a drink on him for insulting her and leaves. 
After a quick exchange with Q, Picard turns his attentions to his friends' 
activities. Corey is having fun playing a billiards-like game called 
"damjat", and winning handily. He defeats his current opponent, and leaves 
the table to relax -- but then, a Nausicaan walks in and challenges him to a 
game.

Picard tries to convince Corey that the game is a big mistake, but Corey 
dismisses it as paranoia and plays. While he plays, Picard tells Q of what 
is to come if nothing changes. Corey will lose, and realize later that the 
Nausicaan cheated. He will want revenge, and enlist Jean-Luc's help in 
rigging the table later to turn the situation around. It will provoke the 
Nausicaan and indirectly start the fight. 

Sure enough, very quickly the Nausicaan wins, gloating all the while. That 
evening, Corey comes to the correct conclusion that the Nausicaan used a 
magnetic device to alter the path of the balls, and suggests rigging the 
table to make it backfire. Picard, however, insists that that will solve 
nothing, and possibly just make things worse. Corey is stunned by Picard's 
refusal ("When did you start backing away from a good fight?"), and stalks 
out when Marta agrees that forgetting about it may be the best choice. Marta 
says she's impressed with Picard's new responsibility, that she believes 
comes from the new Ensign's bars they both wear. When Picard remarks that 
the rank will take some getting used to, she voices regret that they can't 
get used to it together, adding after a brief pause "...the three of us, I 
mean."

Suddenly, Q comes in carrying flowers for a "John Luck Pickerd", and Marta, 
assuming they're from one of Picard's recent "conquests", makes a hasty exit. 
After a quick observation that Picard's relationship with Marta might *also* 
be changed this time around, Q tells Picard that Corey is at this very moment 
rigging the table.

In very short order, Picard finds Corey and startles him. Corey is initially 
glad to see him there, but that turns into shock when he sees that Picard is 
there not to help, but to talk Corey out of this course of action. Picard 
refuses to go so far as to fight Corey about it, but he says he'll tell the 
gambling foreman about the table. Corey bristles, and bids a cold farewell 
to "Ensign Picard."

Later, Picard complains about Corey's reaction to Marta, who reassures him 
that he'll get over it. The conversation again turns to how different Picard 
seems, and how attractive she finds it. Picard admits that he's thought many 
times about the two of them getting involved. "Why didn't you ever say 
anything?" "At this moment ... I really have no idea why not." They fall 
together...

The next morning, Picard wakes up naked in bed -- with Q lying next to him. 
"Morning, darling." After Q riles him about his now-abandoned "just friends" 
claim about Marta, Picard meets Marta for breakfast. Unfortunately, he soon 
finds that she feels they've ruined their friendship with their rash acts, 
and that she very much regrets what has occurred. After promising to see him 
one last time at the trio's final get-together in the evening, she leaves.

Q smirks. "Well, let's see -- so far you've managed to get slapped by one 
woman, a drink thrown in your face by another, and alienate your two best 
friends. You're doing pretty well so far -- the only thing left to avoid is 
getting stabbed through the heart!"

That evening, a very tense dinner is made still more tense when the 
Nausicaans enter and challenge Corey to damjat once again. Picard claims 
they're not interested, and physically prevents Corey from attacking them 
even after the Nausicaans insult Starfleet and make lewd remarks about Marta. 
The Nausicaans laugh and leave, but Corey has other ideas. He tells Picard, 
"I don't know who you are any more, but you're not my friend." Marta leaves 
with Corey after a brief "Goodbye, Johnny." 

Q, however, congratulates Picard -- he's survived. Picard finds himself back 
on the Enterprise, hale and hearty -- but dressed in a blue uniform, and 
holding the rank of Lieutenant j.g. in astrophysics. Picard finds that the 
captain of the ship is now one Thomas Halliway, and heads to sickbay.

When he arrives, he finds Q waiting for him. "Vell, vell, vell -- vot seems 
to be ze trouble, Loytenant Picard?" He assures Picard that, true to Q's 
word, nothing *has* changed except for him. He is now the product of his 
"new" youth -- safe and sound, making tests and analyzing data, "and 
delivering reports to your superiors."

Picard hastens to Ten-Forward and speaks with Riker and Troi about his past 
and future career. Both say he's a very good, very ... _competent_ ... 
officer, but add that he's never been willing to take the chances necessary 
to reach his always-lofty goals. Riker, however, says he'll see what he can 
do to move Picard into engineering or security, and that "we'll see" about 
command. Riker and Troi are called away to a bridge officers' meeting, 
leaving Picard to stew over his fate until Geordi summons him, wanting the 
very report he's been carrying for quite some time.

In the turbolift, Picard complains bitterly about his fate to the 
presumably-listening Q. When the lift opens, however, it opens back onto the 
white "afterlife", with the angelically garbed Q waiting and wondering why 
Picard can complain about having gotten a second chance.

"I can't live out my days as that person! That man is bereft of passion ... 
and imagination! That is not who I am!"

Q, however, points out that it's the product of the youth Picard _wanted_ to 
have. This Picard is less arrogant, less undisciplined -- "The one who was 
less like *me*." This Picard never had a brush with death to add focus to 
his life, and always drifted from one job to the next -- never standing out, 
and always playing it safe. Picard admits that the changes he wanted to make 
were a mistake.

"Are you asking me for something, Jean-Luc?"
"Give me the chance to put things back the way they were before."
"Before, you died in sickbay. Is that what you want?"

Picard doesn't hesitate. "I would rather die as the man I was than live the 
life I just saw."

Q moves toward Picard --

-- who finds himself back in the bar in the middle of the confrontation with 
the Nausicaans. This time, however, when he's called a coward, Picard 
fights, and fights hard. Corey and Marta are removed from the fight quickly, 
but Picard manages to knock out two of the three Nausicaans. The third, 
however, grabs him and impales him through the back. Picard falls to his 
knees, sees the blade, and laughs...

...and is still laughing when he wakes in sickbay, alive.

Some time later, Picard and Riker discuss Picard's experiences. Neither is 
quite sure whether they were real or a near-death hallucination, but Picard 
notes that if it *was* real, he owes Q his gratitude for showing him just how 
essential those "unsavory" parts of his life were in forming the complete man 
he now is.

Whew. After that, I'm not sure I have the strength to actually write some 
*commentary* ... but I'll do my best.

I said earlier this season that "True Q" did a lot to put Q "back on form" as 
"the sardonic, Machiavellian trickster who doesn't much care who gets in the 
way of his aims." That side of Q was, indeed, a crucial part of him that had 
been neglected since "Q Who". However, what was left *out* of "True Q" that 
hadn't become fully apparent to me until now was that Q also serves as a 
powerful goad for Picard's actions and his very thoughts at times. I think 
it's very arguable that Q intended primarily to provoke Picard in "Q Who" and 
bits of "Deja Q", and that must have been the (unfulfilled, in my view) plan 
behind "Qpid". "Tapestry" could be considered as taking the Q-as-goad theme 
to its logical conclusion.

And goad he did. Q managed here to make Picard lose the most composure I 
think I've ever seen the character lose. (Death does seem to have that 
effect on people...) While Picard put up a reasonably good front of not 
caring about Q or about his new situation, it was very clearly just that -- a 
front. The Picard we saw responding to his father's condemnation was not a 
man in control of the situation, and the Lieutenant (pardon me, "Loytenant" 
:-) ) Picard we saw near the close of the show was a man rapidly becoming as 
defeated and nondescript as the man we were told he had already become. This 
Picard was forced by circumstances to be more on-edge and reserveless than 
he's ever been, and it worked like a charm.

The message sent by the show (basically "don't reject the skeletons in your 
closet, they're a big part of you") was a simple one, but by the same token 
one that probably rang true for nearly everyone watching. I certainly found 
myself thinking back to a few incidents from my "misspent youth" that I've 
occasionally thought would be better off changed or deleted, and I'll wager 
most of you reading this did as well. 

The particular incident chosen (and the bits of it we saw) was nicely 
selected, and fit very well with the stories of it we've already heard. The 
laughter, in particular, was probably the best recurring image we've seen 
since the breaking of the glass in "Cause and Effect", and occurred for many 
different reasons. When we were first told of it ages ago, Picard said he 
laughed out of shock; here, it's because he was a cocky young man; and in the 
end, it's because he knows he's saved his past/future. The final laugh had 
almost as much power to it as Stewart's laugh as Scrooge towards the very end 
of his one-man "A Christmas Carol", and that's no small feat.

Ned Vaughn and J.C. Brandy (Corey and Marta, respectively) were extremely 
well cast as Picard's old friends. Corey seemed a perfect partner to the 
cocky youth Picard was *supposed* to be, and Marta was just responsible 
enough to keep either one from getting killed. Both did a good job of looking 
and acting like recent Academy graduates (whatever they're supposed to look 
like :-) ), and of relating very well to their best friend suddenly turning 
into a stranger. Corey's pair of lines about "you sound like my mother" and 
"you ARE my mother!" to Picard rang extremely true to me, for example.

Speaking of casting, bravo to whoever found Clive Church to play Maurice 
Picard. It seems that Picard's brother Robert not only takes after his 
father spiritually, but also carries the strong physical resemblance. 
Maurice *looked* like I'd always pictured him -- how'd they do that? :-)

Picard's affair with Marta was interesting, not only in its consequences but 
in its origins. I think it's arguable that Picard may not have intended such 
a change to his past at all, but that the frustration he had with being 
unable to get Corey to act responsibly came to a head and made him decide 
that at least he'd change _this_ and see what happened. I'm not suggesting 
in any way that this was a conscious decision, but I think it's a strong 
possibility. (The aftermath of their one night together rang very true as 
well.)

But throughout it all, we had Q -- not only as an amused observer and a goad, 
but as a *guide*. Picard wouldn't have *known* how to change anything 
without Q's help in certain spots (warning him about Corey rigging the table 
is the strongest example), and might have made even more of a mess of 
everything than he did. While Q clearly had the time of his life here (at 
least verbally; some of his comments had me rolling), he also did appear 
to have some genuine concern here for Picard (despite the threat to spend 
eternity with him :-) ). It was intriguing, whatever else it was.

I don't really know exactly what there is to say about the show. It was 
fairly simple, extremely well acted, and devastatingly effective -- like "The 
Inner Light", it was human drama at its best. If we remove "Aquiel" 
(please!), TNG has been really getting its wind back in 1993 ("Chain of 
Command", "Ship in a Bottle", "Face of the Enemy", and now "Tapestry") -- I'm 
overjoyed to see it.

Some short takes:

-- I wish we'd gotten to see the *rest* of the original situation Picard 
found himself in. Back in "Samaritan Snare", Picard described the fight like 
this: "So, I walked up to [the Nausicaan], and I told him what I thought of 
him, his chums, his planet, and I may have mentioned something about his 
rather...questionable...parentage..." I'd pay good money to see that. :-)

-- The 21-year-old Picard we saw here fits in appearance with the 12-year-old 
one we saw in "Rascals". But when did he lose his hair?

-- There's a timing problem in here somewhere. Picard's 21 here, and he says 
it was thirty years ago. That's no problem, except that by referring to his 
class as the class of '27 [2327, presumably], the years don't work. *Forty* 
years would be a lot closer to the mark, and 61 seems a somewhat reasonable 
age for Picard. I wonder if the line was blown.

-- "To be blunt, you're *not that important*." What an ego-buster. :-)

-- Corey looked an awful lot like Nicholas Locarno to me. I wonder if 
there's anything interesting we can glean from that...

-- I had a nasty suspicion that the result of Picard not getting stabbed 
would be that Corey *would* -- but Q was, surprisingly enough, true to his 
word.

That's about it. "Tapestry" was a terrific piece of work, and I give it my 
strongest recommendation.

The numbers: all 10s. Save the reading space. :-)

NEXT WEEK:

Data and Worf attempt to locate the address to which they should send 
Father's Day cards. This looks utterly bizarre.

Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET: tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET: tlynch@juliet.caltech.edu
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"You are not God!"
"Blasphemy! You're lucky I don't cast you out, or smite you or something."
--
Copyright 1993, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
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Cast:

Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard™
Jonathan Frakes as William Thomas Riker™
Brent Spiner as Data™
LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge™
Michael Dorn as Worf™
Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher™
Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi™

Guest Cast:

Ned Vaughn as Corey
John de Lancie as Q
J.C. Brandy as Marta
Clint Carmichael as Nausicaan #1
Rae Norman as Penny
Clive Church as Maurice Picard
Marcus Nash as Young Picard
Majel Barrett as Computer voice

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