I was left heartbroken when I learnt this about Admiral Jean-Luc Picard’s childhood in Star Trek: Picard

In Star Trek: Picard, we get a closer look into Admiral Jean-Luc Picard’s (played by Patrick Stewart) life beyond Starfleet. One of the storylines that is brought into the limelight is Picard’s tragic relationship with his mother, Yvette Picard (played by Madeline Wise). The trauma of growing up in a dysfunctional home is clearly reflected in Picard’s decisions and emotions as an adult.

In Picard Season 2, Q (played by John de Lancie) alters the timeline and sends Picard and his friends to the past. Picard visits his family home and is forced to face his childhood trauma. He grew up thinking that Maurice Picard (played by James Callis) was an abusive father but in reality, Maurice was protecting his wife who was struggling with severe mental illness.

The audience previously saw Captain Picard’s mother in The Next Generation Season 1, episode 6 titled ‘Where No One Has Gone Before’. In the episode, the Enterprise crew members would experience visions from their past. Picard would find himself having tea with his mother (played by Herta Ware) in a corridor. He has a brief interaction with her until he is interrupted by a crew member.

Picard’s traumatic childhood explored in Star Trek: Picard Season 2

In Star Trek: Picard Season 2, we see a young Picard growing up believing that he had an abusive father who was responsible for his mother’s suicide. In a canon moment, Picard also admits to the moment from The Next Generation when he had envisioned having tea with his mother, who appeared to be much older.

Picard was close to his mother, with whom he would often engage in imaginary games. She encouraged his love for the stars, which would ultimately lead him to pursue his role in Starfleet. But unknown to him, his mother was suffering from a mental illness. His father, Maurice, would try to help her, which Picard perceived as abuse towards his mother.

Maurice’s actions were also not conventional. He would often lock Yvette up and would also leave Picard alone with her. As Picard grew up, he developed animosity towards his father. But when he realizes the truth about his mother, Picard feels remorse that he did not get to reconcile with his father before his death.

In one of the flashback scenes, in episode 9 titled ‘Hide and Seek’, we see a young Picard using a skeleton key to unlock the door to the room where his mother was locked in. At this point he did not know that his mother was ill and regarded his father’s action as nothing but brutal. In truth, Yvette did not seek help for her illness, which made Maurice take measures he deemed fit.

Later when young Picard is sleeping, Yvette goes and hangs herself in the atrium. He would grow up blaming himself for her death. He associated the artium with the dreadful memory and refused to restore that part of the house.

Picard had chosen to put his career above having a family life. He would often appear aloof even to his crew members. Now that the audience has a deeper understanding of his childhood, Picard’s personality seem more relatable.

While both his parents had flaws, he did have some meaningful moments with them. But as Picard got older, all that remained were scars. At the end of Season 2, it is revealed it was Q’s final act to help Picard move on from his lifelong trauma. Picard eventually makes peace with his past and leaves behind the guilt that he had carried all his life.

ALSO READ: Sisko and Captain Picard never came to terms over this Star Trek conflict (but both found their ways to deal with the Borg trauma)

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