Blue Picard vs Red Picard

[Stadhart]

Tapestry is one of the best episodes of Star Trek - Q is great in any episode but this one really hit home for me

I live in a boring bubble - I'm good at my job and it pays my bills but it's soulless

I'm obviously not going to be captain of a starship lol but the message of this episode is so blunt. Take a chance or you will end up as a miserable fuck

I took the Blue Picard in my life unfortunately...my bills are paid but it's miserable

 

[Fuji Vice]

Picard choosing a likely death over a meager existence is what makes this one of the greatest episodes. I'm almost certain that his willingness to make that choice is what ultimately saves him in the end. Q never offers anything without a price, and in Picard's case, it's the satisfaction of seeing "Mon Capitan" in any other rule but that. Q has his fun, Picard makes the only logical choice based on who he is, and we're left with the ultimate retcon of him laughing when he's stabbed by the Nausicaan. Not the laughter he'd originally told Wesley about, which was the brashness of youth and invincibility, but the laughter of a man who knew that he'd made the right decision, and was willing to live (or die) with its consequences.

Plus, "flowers for a John...luck...pickard" is an all timer.