Star Trek: Picard is back, and with it comes a whole new bunch of characters for us to explore, both familiar and new. We know that we’re getting the return of The Next Generation characters like Whoopi Goldberg’s Guinan and John de Lancie as Q, but we’re also getting a deeper look into some characters we briefly met in season 1, like Orla Brady’s Laris, who lived with Jean-Luc on Chateau Picard with her husband.
But heading into the new season, we get to explore a new kind of Picard right off the bat, as he is now Admiral Jean-Luc Picard at Starfleet while still living like he did in his retired life. When he’s at his chateau in France, he’s hanging out with Laris and … is that Picard flirting?!
Picard and Laris are sitting out back at his chateau, and he says that he loves these days on Earth when he can relax and spend the day drinking wine, and he leans towards Laris and reaches out to touch her. So I most definitely was ready for them to smooch for Picard’s sake.
Laris and Jean-Luc’s relationship
In the first season, we know that Laris cares for Picard, though she’s still married to Zhaban at that time, because she’s mad that the two of them are going on a “suicide” mission to try to find answers. She knows it’s dangerous for Picard, as he’s suffering from Irumodic Syndrome, and she wants to protect him. But with Zhaban’s passing and Picard’s new life as a Golem (after his memories were transferred to save him from death—it’s a whole thing), it seems that what was holding the two back is beginning to shift.
And so, the two almost kissing is incredibly telling given what then happens at the end of the episode, when we learn about Q’s (John de Lancie) trick on Picard throughout the entire premiere episode. The first thing Picard does when coming “home” to the chateau is ask for Laris, his concern not too much about himself but instead about the woman who has been at his side through his health struggles and his new existence.
Is the second season of Picard going to explore their relationship more? Hopefully, but also now there’s the Q of it all, so maybe Picard has bigger problems on his plate to worry about. Would be nice to see him get a kiss, though.
(image: CBS)
