Let's Talk About Picard's Parietal Lobe!

Spoilers follow for Star Trek: Picard Episode 2. [poilib element="accentDivider"] In “Maps and Legends,” the second episode of Star Trek: Picard, our stalwart title character has a conversation with one Dr. Moritz Benayoun (played by reliable character actor David Paymer), an old friend from Picard's days aboard the USS Stargazer (his first command). Picard, thanks to the machinations of the series so far, wants to lead an off-world mission aboard a starship, and requires a doctor's medical clearance in order for Starfleet to give him any sort of command. Dr. Benayoun, however, sadly breaks the news to Picard that there might be something medically suspicious happening with the parietal lobe of his brain. [ignvideo width=610 height=374 url=https://ift.tt/2GHtPRJ] This mention likely set off alarm bells in the heads of Trekkies everywhere. Picard's parietal lobe, you see, was actually a major plot point in “All Good Things...,” the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In that episode, Picard – very much in the vein of Slaughterhouse-Five – found himself “unstuck” in time, experiencing the present, the past (when he first took command of the Enterprise) and the future (as a retired admiral on his vineyard. Hm...) seemingly at random. In the “present” of “All Good Things...,” Dr. Crusher met with Picard in his ready room to announce that she, thanks to a specialized scan, located potential evidence of a rare and incurable brain disease called Irumodic syndrome inside Picard's parietal lobe. By the “future” of that episode – which falls in with the actual chronology of Star Trek: Picard – Jean-Luc had indeed been diagnosed, and his peers, Data and Geordi, were suspicious of his potentially disease-inspired raving about an “anti-time well” near the border of the Neutral Zone. Irumodic syndrome, we learn, causes the degradation of synaptic pathways, causing confusion, hallucinations, and eventually death. The first mention of Irumodic syndrome on Star Trek was in “All Good Things...,” and Picard says to Dr. Benayoun – when Benayoun brings up Picard's unnamed brain issues – that “I was told a long time ago that it might cause a problem eventually,” making a direct allusion to the scene where Dr. Crusher gave Picard his diagnosis. Benayoun says the issue could lead to one of a variety of syndromes. [caption id="attachment_2296147" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Dr. Benayoun has bad news for Jean-Luc.[/caption] Picard's future in “All Good Things...” was, of course, merely speculative (it could have even been a fantasy concocted by Q), and the events of Star Trek: Picard have now directly contradicted it regardless. But that “I was told” line obviously refers to when Dr. Crusher gave Picard a diagnosis of an ailment in his parietal lobe that could lead to full-blown Irumodic syndrome somewhere down the line. And Dr. Benayoun has now confirmed it, mentioning that whatever crazy journey he plans on making should perhaps kill him before the brain ailment does. One of the symptoms of Irumodic syndrome, as mentioned above, was hallucinations. In “All Good Things...” Picard had occasional visions of jeering jurors that leaked into his brain from Q's kangaroo courtroom fantasy (Trekkies know the fantasy well). Back in 1994, I personally operated on the assumption that the “All Good Things...” hallucinations were inserted into Picard's brain by Q. But they could have easily been actual hallucinations Picard was having right there in his vineyard. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-trek-picard-explaining-all-the-different-datas&captions=true"] The fact that Picard may actually have Irumodic syndrome (or something similar) in the continuity of Star Trek: Picard means that some of what we may be seeing is – dare we contemplate? – hallucination. Picard, usually a steely and clear-thinking leader may now be an unreliable narrator, and we, as viewers, now need to be vigilant in eyeballing cues as to what may or may not be real in Picard's eye. This would, of course, lead to an all-too-familiar narrative can of worms that we may or may not want to open. Are certain characters real? Is ANY of Star Trek: Picard real? Are we witnessing a fantasy/hallucination that Picard is having in his château? While these sorts of gotcha-just-kidding narrative tricks are usually cheaply employed (call it Tyler Durden syndrome), it could – could – be an ultimate nuclear-option-style “out” for the show's writers in case they end up clashing too much with established Trek canon (à la Discovery). That doesn't match with what came before? Uh... It was all a hallucination from Picard's Irumodic syndrome! At the very least, we now know that we need to be keeping an eye on Jean-Luc's brain health. For more on Star Trek: Picard, check out our history of the Borg, find out why Seven of Nine blames Picard, and get confirmation on which timeline Picard takes place in.