Spoilers Was Picard Season 3 an Allegory for anything?

I have come to realise that Star Trek has always been steeped in allegory, though I only recently discovered this fact myself... I just blindly enjoyed the stories, ships and characters etc more than often oblivious to any deeper meaning. I am, however, curious about the allegory(s) present, if any, in Picard season 3 and would love to hear your thoughts and ideas as to what they may be.

There could be many hidden allegories interwoven in to the season long narrative, or perhaps this seasons story was just totally random creativity and fan servicing with no basis in reality; a piece of pure light hearted escapism with the occasional bit of rollicking fun. I sometimes read too much in to things, but it is fun to speculate on the writers motives and agendas even if we are way off the mark. It is important to remember that allegory is often open to interpretation and there may be other meanings present in the story as well. The only people who *really* know the meanings and subtleties of their work are the writers themselves.

Please note, I will also be discussing events that take place at the end of the season, so there will be spoilers hence the spoiler tag.

To begin with, at the start of this season, we had the situation where Captain Shaw was refusing to refer to Commander Hansen as Seven of Nine, causing Seven to almost feel ‘bullied’ by her senior office and disenchanted with her role within Starfleet. I remember some of us discussing how at the time this seemed like an allegory of an issue within trans rights, with the use of preferred names in an official ‘by the book’ environment, names which are not listed on official documentation or identity records due to various reasons. Looking back at these early season 3 interactions between Shaw and Seven and knowing how the season ends, in particular regarding Shaw’s character developments, do we still believe this to be the case?

I have a few other allegorical ideas of my own from this season, but will start with the most obvious and post about my other theories separately later on in the thread if anybody is interested to know about them.

In the season finale, we see the Borg utilise a new process of "biological assimilation," which does not require nano probes, implants or technological augmentation. Picard season 3 has had a recurring theme of pathogens and virus infection, specifically in regards to the Section 31 infection of the Founders (Changelings) and Janeway’s infection of the Borg with a neurolytic pathogen. We have to assume that the pathogen which the Borg are suffering from in Picard season 3 is the same as that from Endgame, however we are shown that the Borg were adapting to this neurological pathogen, I cannot see how they would not eventually continue to adapt and overcome it. I do not want to repeat myself, but the Artifact in season 2 of Picard seemed pretty much unaffected by the pathogen and functioning as a standard cube.

Anyway, This new assimilation process causes the youth to become a part of the Collective once ‘activated’, after a preliminary infection via Changeling sabotage of Starfleet wide transporter systems. Upon activation, the resulting assimilations lead to the partial annihilation of the older population who could not be assimilated using this method. It is possible that this could be interpreted as an allegory for the way that COVID-19 has affected our society, with young people initially becoming infected and transmitting the disease to the elderly, resulting in a devastating loss of life among the older generation. In the end, everyone is vaccinated, the youth are cured of the Borg blight and the deaths of the older generations stopped - however *not* reversed with a reset button.

I am sure that I read a long time ago that one of the creative staff, I forget who, wanted to do a story reflecting COVID and its effects on our world but could not think fo a way of doing it.

Any other allegory ideas?

 

Could Fleet Formation mode be an allegory about the dangers of AI, taking human decisions out of their hands? Much as the Borg have always been; save that this shows the dangers of playing voluntarily into it?

It could also be a social commentary on an increasingly youth-obsessed culture in the global West. In the end, of course, more "analog" technologies, wisdom, experience and the bonds of family forged by longevity and shared pain and triumph are what gets the crew through; rather than the whizzy latest tech and younger upstarts?

That aside, it was a deeply personal season for captain and crew - a wild romp high on emotion driven by 36 years of world-building... but it was light on allegory. And that's fine; it couldn't be all things to all people. First Contact didn't have an overriding allegory that I could see, but it was easily the best of the TNG films.

 

Allegories? No. Messaging? Yes. I don’t think there is enough thematic unity to the season to say that there is a consistent correspondence between story and commentary. Certainly, family and making amends were recurrent. However, we don't get the big bad until the penultimate episode. The whole mechanism of the danger, which I think does line up with conservative cultural criticism, is only mentioned once, then never repeated. Not much to hang a hat on.

Overall, serialization doesn't sustain allegory. The more episodes, the more the series needs to explore different themes or relationships.

 

if the baby borg virus was an allegory it is a pretty disturbing one that suggests young people can be manipulated by technology. I think it was more of a plot device to make the 'olds' have to save the world.

 

Season 3 was all about the generational war. The young were the instruments of the end of the world and it was up to the old to put a stop to them. Also a cautionary tale against technological development, the advanced technology screwed everyone over, old technology saved the day.

 

Or maybe it's an allegory about the awesomeness of classic cars.

 

It did feel like it had an...undertone about the fundamental generation divide but I was trying to just get fanwanked and didn't want to see it. I'm also well over 25

 

A rose is a rose is a rose, though surely a rose by any other name would smell as sweet?

 

It was an allegory for "whee-oo, we sure do love that TNG cast!"

 

The perfect rose… maybe producing more ‘allergies’ in fans than ‘allegories’ though due to is high concentrations of pollen and nectar…

 

That's not exactly news.

Agreed.

"Allegories" are overrated.

 

A Rose is but a rose, until the rose becomes… Bad Wolf.

 

I don't think it was an intentional allegory, but the plot device of the Borg control signal assimilating anyone below the age of 25 definitely read to me as, "The Boomers have to battle with Zoomers who have been brainwashed by TikTok scary technology from evil foreigners."

 

Empty calories. It was about family. It offered nothing new and asked nothing demanding of us.

 

Old man finds out he knocked up ex-girlfriend who ran off with his kid and has to kill technozombies.

You know, common real life conditions

 

Best episode of timey-wimeyness.

 

• The risk of blowback from war, especially using WMDs, radicalizing your opponents
• Family, legacy, what we leave the next generation

 

It was an allegory for how, in modern office design, actually lighting workspaces produces great results.

 

There was the deadnaming thing with Seven. Otherwise it was just a mindless nostalgia romp.