STAR TREK: PICARD - WHO IS THE BIG BAD?

SPOILER ALERT! We speculate who the Big Bad of Star Trek: Picard Season Three will be revealed to be in the two final episodes!

With the revelation that Vadic and her changelings are no more (after Star Trek: Picard Episode 8), who will emerge as the Big Bad of Picard Season Three? Who has radicalized these embittered changelings and infiltrated Starfleet at all levels? I have no idea! We know Jack Crusher, the newly revealed son of Jean-Luc and Beverly, is involved due to his vision, ability to control people and visions of red vines and a red door. We also know someone stole Jean-Luc Picard’s corpse and removed the parts of his brain infected with Irumodic Syndrome—that may have not actually been said syndrome. Confused yet? For fun, let’s take a look at some of the possible contenders.

The Borg - Somehow, there’s something in Jack that he inherited from Picard that is going to allow the changelings to control Starfleet. Maybe the Borg Queen is orchestrating this. I don’t think this is the case, but Jack was hearing voices. Although, my impression is that the Big Bad is going to destroy the Federation and/or Starfleet. They’re not targeting Picard or the Enterprise-D’s former crew specifically. They just happen to be in the middle of things because of the Picard/Jack connection.

Locutus - This one is a little higher on my list just because I’d like to see Patrick Stewart as Locutus one more time. Maybe Locutus wasn’t a creation of the Borg, but something that they assimilated and in turn used “in” Picard all the way back in “Best of Both Worlds”? The Irumodic Syndrome is really a leftover or side-effect from that experience.

Pah-Wraiths - This was a DS9 thing, and I don’t think they’d go this way so late in the season. With only two episodes to go, that’s a lot of explaining and there’s no one other than Worf that was connected to DS9 and these Bajoran anti-prophets. Vadic says whatever is connected to Jack is an ancient evil who is currently weak, so that is in the Pah-Wraith’s favor—but speaking of ancient evils…

Armus - This is midway on my list as I can see the possibilities (ancient evil!), but then it is pretty out there for a character who appeared in a “meh” episode of the first season of TNG. Although Khan was only in one season episode and he got a movie, so who knows? Armus,the oil slick that killed Tasha Yar, could be a distant cousin of the changelings—maybe even one of the 100 that the Great Link sent out into the galaxy many years ago. And he would be pissed at Starfleet for stranding him on that planet.

Species 8472 - No indication on this one. The last time we encountered them in Voyager, they had an understanding with Janeway and crew, so there would have to be some retconning if this were the actual reveal. I don’t think that’s the case here though.

Gul Dukat - While I’d like to have Marc Alaimo back and see Dukat return and the talking head boss resembles him slightly, I don’t think the writers would go this way for the same reason I don’t think they’d go with the Pah-Wraiths. He’s not a TNG villain. But the changelings were a DS9 villain, too, you say? Yes, and we also had to have Worf monologue who they were and had you not seen DS9 a lot of that context would have been left out of you understanding of who the Founders, Great Link and Dominion actually were.

Something Else - Yes, this is the one I’m going with. It’s going to be something ancient and weak with a grudge against Starfleet or has to eliminate Starfleet to carry out their desired task. Somehow, it’s connected to an experience that Picard had that gave him what was misdiagnosed as Irumodic Syndrome.

Who do you think is the Big Bad? We’ll know very soon!