Whoa Nellie said:
……………
Picard: "And then, little by little, I realized that I didn't have those feelings anymore . . . twenty years is, after all, a long time."
Beverly: "And now we're friends."
…………….
They are telepathically linked there is no reason for them to lie about it. He doesn't have those feelings anymore and they have become friends.
I didn't mean exactly that he's lying, but there's a lot more going on than is said aloud. Like I said, there's a lot of questions about failure to communicate in Attached - from the opening conversation about Ogawa, to the Kes/Prytt divide, to the map that's so clear to the Kes operatives, but ambiguous to the Starfleet officers following it, to Beverly's anecdote about Tom Norris. Failure to communicate has also been a running gag in the P/C relationship ("There's something I've been meaning to tell you.")
Earlier in the episode, Picard and Crusher have discussed the difference between reacting to each other's thoughts and to each other's words. They misinterpret and still have to puzzle things out loud ("You hate having breakfast with me."). Quite early on, they come to a sort of mutual understanding that each should pay heed to what the other says, not what the other thinks.
In the firelight scene, most of what goes on is unspoken. We aren't privy to their thoughts, but neither of them looks very comfortable that it's all water under the bridge between pals. However, in order to properly rationalise whatever is between them, by their own rules they need to say it aloud. So two options they go for are the safe ground of "Now we're friends" which is of course an obvious truth whatever else they are, and Picard's avowal that he doesn't have "those feelings" anymore.
What's left ambiguous is what exactly "those" feelings are (does he mean his love for her? does he mean his guilt over it? is he deliberately shutting down further investigation into just what feelings he
does have now?). They finish with the friends line, but neither of them look as though they feel the matter is entirely resolved at this point. There's an ambiguity there.
Beverly says "Or perhaps we should be afraid." And then she walks out, literally shutting the door on a canon P/C relationship.
But Beverly's answer is precisely that - fear. Not an acknowledgement that there's nothing but platonic friendship between them, but fear over dealing with whatever else there is which they still haven't named (which IMO is the ocean of unresolved sexual tension). The look she gives him when she teases him about his dreams is downright lascivious. They have an opportunity where they're closer to the brink than they've ever been before, and they choose not to take it. Symbollically, yes, she closes a door and he blows out a candle, but on an opportunity to move their relationship forward, not on the whole notion that there are more feelings than just friendship between them. The sexual tension is still there to raise its head in 'Sub Rosa' and in the non Q-created present of 'All Good Things'.
They know there's a huge amount at stake should they try and fail - as explored in the potential future of 'All Good Things'. It'd take quite a catalyst to get them past that - and there's always the possibility that such a catalyst will never occur. Still, though they choose not to explore it, to my mind the fact that the sexual tension between them is clearly there always leaves the door open a crack.
Events in Insurrection would seem to nail the canon door shut. With the effects of the Ba'ku planet, a randy Riker starts chasing after Deanna. Picard does not chase after Crusher. Instead, he begins a romantic relationship with Anij.
Admittedly, my little shipper heart would have burst with joy if they'd used the movies to further P/C, and the fact that they didn't was, obviously, disappointing. It'd be disingenuous to deny that.
But I don't think Baku's about romantic trysts so much as it's about what-might-have-beens in general. For Picard it's the what-might-have-been of not having chosen Starfleet at all. That, and it gives him a sampler of a possible retirement - a chance to choose the quiet country life of his youth rather than the life of the Starfleet adventurer. Beverly's too much a part his real life to fit into that little experiment. Ultimately, he goes back to Starfleet and to adventure, presumably because he's bright enough to know what an awful, dull, schmoopy, miserable place Baku'd be full time. While he finds a part of himself he always wondered about on Baku, the real Picard belongs out in the stars, hanging out with the kind of people who get off their arses and learn to swim.
I love P/C, but I love Picard's character independently of that too, and I'd be more upset about what it meant for his character than for the 'ship if I couldn't dismiss Baku as him playacting for the novelty of it. He has a deep spiritual appreciation for the perfect frozen moment, but the Picard we know would never be content to live in it forever. We saw that with the Nexus in 'Generations'.
Whoa Nellie said:
I'm assuming you meant Qpid. Captain's Holiday was the first Vash episode. Qpid was the second.
Sorry. My not communicate good. I meant "Captain's Holiday" but in the sense that we meet Vash in that episode, and then there are a hundred and
eleven episodes after that, in only one of which she shows up again. QPid is indeed a great episode in lots of ways.
Sorry for my not good express
.
Yeah, for all the joy I have in P/C being relaunch novel canon, I've seen it done better in fanfic. (Mind you, I've seen it done a lot more poorly in fanfic too. There is very much bad fanfic on the internet, but this is true of all fandoms and all pairings.)
[You just don't like the relationship or something? 
I take it the two of them were SITTING on the bed with each other, since eating while lying down on the bed is quite awkward, no?]
You may want to reconsider the name of the site, though.
