With a few exceptions I've always found 'shipping a bit ridiculous - getting worked up, as so many have in the past and continue to do, over whether or not fictional people get together and live happily ever after does seem pretty silly. Having said that, I did kinda hope that at some point the powers that be, the showrunners / movie producers, or whoever was responsible would get over themselves and we'd see Picard and Beverly get together. As it is, we have no idea whether or not that will happen but for now, it would seem the Picard showrunners have elected to kill off a pretty interesting character (Zhaban) in order to (potentially) 'ship Picard with Laris. It remains to be seen whether or not it'll happen or if I'll find it even remotely interesting if it does, but at this point it seems rather contrived and, frankly, a cop-out. Each to their own, of course, but I found the Zhaban / Laris dynamic interesting. Throwing it away is something I find disappointing.
