Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Finale Makes Another Next Generation Character an Admiral
Star Trek: Picard Series Finale was a rousing finish to Season 3, and it ended with some massive payoffs for the characters featured in the Season 3 story. (SPOILERS FOLLOW!) The finale episode "The Last Generation" featured a massive battle between the Federation and The Borg, with the latter having evolved to be able to infect living beings with assimilation into the Collective through organic means. With some help from Star Trek: The Next Generation's classic Enterprise-D ship, Jean-Luc Picard and his former crew – Worf (Michale Dorn), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) – all pull together to locate the Borg Cube, infiltrate and destroy it, and finally stop the Borg Queen.
In the aftermath of the battle with the Borg, the Federation has a lot of rebuilding to do. The Borg slaughtered many older officers in Starfleet's fleet of ships; the younger officers the Borg assimilated have a lot of terrible traumas to work through, and Starfleet has to replace some of its most important leading roles – including a new Admiral. After everything she did during her Starfleet career (and afterward), there's really no better choice than promoting Beverly Crusher to the rank of Admiral.
Beverly Crusher may have started out as chief medical officer on Enterprise-D when we met her in Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, it was made clear during the series (and in the films) that Crusher is more than qualified to serve in a command capacity. She captained the Enterprise through several key missions/battles; during the Picard finale, Crusher surprised everyone in her former crew (and the viewing audience) by seamlessly stepping up to take manual command of the Enterprise-D's weapons, laying down an array of phaser fire and Photon Torpedoes that decimate the Borg Cube. If all that battle prowess wasn't enough, Crusher also proves her brain is also one of the Federation's biggest assets: she figured out a whole new system of detecting the next-generation Changelings hiding in Starfleet, as well as the method for getting the Borg's sleeper DNA out of the Starfleet's transporters, and the infected personnel.
If you don't get the picture yet: Beverly Crusher can do more than most other Starfleet officers combined, and a promotion to the level of admiral is an honor long overdue.
Star Trek: Picard is now streaming on Paramount+.