One of the core tenets of Star Trek is an undercurrent of pacifism. The ships we see in any given Star Trek series are usually research ships dedicated to research and study missions. Just as often, they repair distant worlds, help planets with dire environmental problems, or taxi diplomats to important peace talks. And while the USS Enterprise is equipped with weapons such as phasers and photon torpedoes, they rarely receive a combat mission. More often than not, the crew of the Enterprise will threaten a potential enemy on the battlefield while still doing everything they can to avoid war.

The basic tenets of pacifism, however, are usually ignored in many Star Trek feature films. Because of their medium, the Star Trek movies typically require larger-scale stories and easily consumed conflicts that can be satisfactorily wrapped up in about 100 to 120 minutes. This requirement often dictates action-driven plots where "heroes" face off against "villains" and the drama is resolved with fights and explosions. It's a less interesting take on Star Trek , but the franchise's traditionally long-winded ethical dramas, wisdom has it, don't make for compelling cinema.

The "action movie" approach was complete the third season of Star Trek: Picard, a series ending with the USS Enterprise-D flying into the Borg stronghold, weapons blazing. That season saw the last remaining Borg in the galaxy use an insidious transporter-based brain infection to take over the Federation. The only way they could be stopped, viewers are told, is to blow them all up in a thrilling action scene. The only thing missing from Enterprise's frontal assault is "Sabotage" on the soundtrack.

The finale is very slick and exciting ... but it's also in direct contrast to the second season of Picard, where wiping out the remaining Borg in the galaxy was seen as a genocidal tragedy.

At the beginning of second season of picard Picard (Patrick Stewart) is conjured into an alternate dimension by the trickster god Q (John de Lancey). In this parallel universe, Earth has become a galaxy-wide genocidal military force that devotes all of its resources to the destruction of other species in the galaxy. Picard learns that his "evil" counterpart is a bloodthirsty warrior who keeps the skulls of his enemies in his lair. Picard, of course, is appalled by this universe.

Indeed, Earth is preparing to celebrate the public, televised execution of the last Borg in existence: an insidious Borg Queen played by Annie Wersching. Picard and his "good universe" compatriots see public execution as one of Earth's greatest moral failings, even going so far as to save the Borg Queen from the chopping block. They then travel back in time to 2024 to find out how Earth became genocidal in the first place. Genocide should not be tolerated, even with the worst of enemies.

Ultimately, the second season of Picard ends with the Borg Queen merging with Dr. Jurati (Alison Peele) and becoming a kinder, gentler, more cooperative cyborg enclave. No one, it is said in that season, is incapable of redemption. Even the Borg can be saved.

This attitude, however, makes the action-packed third season finale of "Picard" seem somewhat bleak. In Season 2, it's vital that the Borg are saved, saved from execution, and allowed to evolve. However, in the third season, the Borg are considered irredeemable villains who need to be executed to restore moral order. Just because Data (Brent Spiner) carries out the execution in a really cool way using the Enterprise-D doesn't mean the Borg are any less victims of genocide at the hands of Earth.

As I previously wrote about /Film, The Borg fell victim to overexposure. For years they seemed cold, heartless, and incapable of being stopped, and Trekkies fell in love with them as an existential threat to the Federation. Unfortunately, due to overuse, the Borg became less and less threatening over time. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "I, Borg" (May 10, 1992), it was revealed that the Borg drones could be cut off from their collective and regain their individuality. In the two-part "Descent" (21 June and 20 September 1993) many Borg were seen following such a process. And of course, on Star Trek: Voyager, one of the main characters was the rescued Borg, and the series became very much about Seven of Nine's (Jerry Ryan) rediscovery of humanity. The Borg were no longer soulless cyber-zombies, but humans in need of rescue from their mind-wiping mechanical implants.

Even Picard is involved in rescuing Borg drones. One of the main settings of the first season is a mass de-assimilation site dedicated to extracting the Borg from the collective. The Borg were no longer formidable villains, and Starfleet seemed to have figured out how to deal with them a long time ago.

That is, until the third season of Picard, where they were transformed into villains again. The Borg were about to disappear after all, having exhausted their own resources in their limitless quest for assimilation, and needed a last-ditch effort of mass atrocity to survive. However, instead of reaching out to the dying Borg and offering them the means for peaceful survival, the Enterprise-D chooses instead to open fire.

Is the finale exciting? In action movie fashion, that is. Does it reveal a grave ethical contradiction? Yes. It does that too.