How Deanna Troi's Betazoid Powers Have Evolved
Editors Note: This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Episode 8, "Surrender."
This week's episode of Star Trek: Picard finally saw the full return of Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) at the height of her power. We caught up with Troi and her husband Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in a holding cell aboard the Shrike where they worked through some of the shared trauma of losing their son. In the back half of the episode, when Deanna and Will return to the Titan, Deanna is almost knocked off her feet as her Betazoid senses are overcome with an overwhelming darkness clinging to the young Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers). In the big Ready Room reunion scene, she explains that the darkness isn't necessarily coming from Jack, but rather that it has a hold on him. Finally, the episode sees Deanna sit down with Jack for a counseling session. Jack's been avoiding opening that red door all season, and "Surrender" leaves us with bated breath as Deanna decides to go through it with him.
Recently, Collider's own Maggie Lovitt sat down with Picard Season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas to discuss this pivotal episode and break down all the behind-the-scenes details. During their conversation, Lovitt asked Matalas if Deanna's Betazoid powers—which grant her empathic abilities that extend beyond the ship—had grown stronger in the years since we'd last seen her use them back in Star Trek: Nemesis. Matalas said that they asked themselves that question while writing the season. While it could be argued that The Next Generation often downplayed her skills, Deanna is an accomplished empath, and the series did establish that she has the ability to communicate telepathically with other species that share the same abilities. In Nemesis, Deanna is able to see through the eyes of another telepath, using her skills to reveal their cloaked ship. In the last two episodes of Picard, it's been revealed that Jack can use telepathy in a similar manner, having used it to save Sidney La Forge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) from the Changelings in Episode 7, and in an attempt to take back the bridge this week.
At the end of Episode 8, Deanna joins Jack inside his mind—something we've only seen her do with her mother in the Next Gen episode "Dark Page," from Season 7—and she's able to open the door that has haunted his nightmares all season. Matalas explained that they'd known that Deanna would be the key to this mystery from the jump. He told Lovitt:
"We always knew at the beginning of the season that Deanna Troi was going to be the one who unlocks that door. She's going to be the one that puts it all together. We only had Marina for a limited amount of time. We knew that we would have her for, essentially, the last four episodes, and we developed the story to make that happen."
Deanna Troi Unlocks Star Trek: Picard Season 3's Biggest Mystery
In terms of how they crafted the final moments of this episode, Matalas knew that they wanted to be able to show this scene visually, rather than showing Deanna and Jack simply having a conversation. "We wanted to put her in the space of that unlocking," said Matalas. "So it feels like you want to do that visually and not strictly through talking through it. Although, she is sitting across from Jack, but she is visualizing much more than she does." After 20 years, and given Jack's own telepathic abilities, it makes sense that Deanna would be able to put herself in his mind so that she can see what he does.
New episodes of Star Trek: Picard are available on Thursdays on Paramount+. Don't miss Lovitt's full conversation with Matalas on Episode 8, and while we wait to see what's behind that red door, you can check out our recent interview with Speleers down below.
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