Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 4 - "No Win Scenario"Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick) reveals his traumatic backstory in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The chip on Shaw's shoulder was apparent ever since Picard and Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) boarded the USS Titan-A. But Shaw's animosity goes much deeper than the fact that Riker and Picard tried to commandeer his starship.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's series premiere, "Emissary," featured the lone one-on-one meeting between Commander Sisko and Captain Picard. Sisko had just arrived at Deep Space Nine, which had been left in shambles by the departing Cardassians, and he was none-too-pleased to be summoned to the USS Enterprise-D to speak to its Captain. Sisko was the First Officer of the USS Saratoga during the Star Trek: The Next Generation's Battle of Wolf 359, when Picard, who was assimilated and turned into Locutus, led the Borg to decimate Starfleet. Sisko's wife, Jennifer (Felecia M. Bell), died at Wolf 359, and Ben became a widower raising their young son, Jake (Cirroc Lofton). Yet Sisko's tense briefing with Picard was nothing like Captain Shaw's revelation in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 4.
Picard Season 3's Captain Shaw Gets A Big Moment DS9 Denied Sisko
Captain Shaw entered the USS Titan-A's holodeck recreation of 10 Forward and rudely interrupted iral Picard's bonding time with his son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers). With of the Titan's crew looking on, Shaw finally unleashed his barely-concealed fury at Picard. It turns out Shaw was an engineer on the USS Constance, which was destroyed at the Battle of Wolf 359. Shaw randomly survived the catastrophe, and he's been traumatized by it ever since. Locutus of Borg literally walking onto his ship to have dinner with Shaw pushed him over the edge. Todd Stashwick's powerful performance laid Shaw's pain bare, but Picard patiently absorbed Liam's hatred. After all, it isn't the first time a Starfleet Officer confronted Picard about Wolf 359.
Shaw got to unload on Jean-Luc in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 4 in a way that Commander Sisko couldn't on DS9. Sisko also had to swallow his anger at Picard/Locutus, and he immediately made clear that they'd "met before... in battle" at Wolf 359. Captain Picard understood what that meant, but he and Sisko continued their briefing and did their duty as Starfleet Officers. Shaw certainly broke protocol when he yelled at the iral on the Titan's holodeck, but it was a release that Commander Sisko probably would have relished had he chosen to unburden himself on Picard in Deep Space Nine's premiere.
Shaw's Behavior In Picard Season 3 Now Makes Sense
Now that Shaw's backstory has been revealed, his behavior in Star Trek: Picard season 3's premiere, "The Next Generation," makes sense and can be seen in a new light. Shaw refusing to greet Picard and Riker when they came aboard the Titan, Liam mocking Picard's gift of wine, and his thinly veiled insults about "ex-Borg" all track once it's understood Shaw was a survivor of Wolf 359. This also clarifies Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer) mocking Shaw's "psychological profile" in Picard season 3, episode 2, "Disengage." Shaw's entire "a**hole" personality may well be a result of living through Wolf 359 when 11,000 others died at the hands of Locutus and the Borg.
Captain Shaw and Commander Sisko share a common tragedy that ties to Jean-Luc Picard. Of course, Picard was not himself when he was assimilated and turned into Locutus of Borg, but the death and destruction of Wolf 359 still bear scars decades later. Sisko and Picard never saw each other again after DS9's premiere, and who knows if the evolved Emissary of the Prophets Ben Sisko became still holds a grudge against Picard? But Captain Liam Shaw's trauma in Star Trek: Picard season 3 ingeniously calls back to Commander Sisko and gives him a moment Ben never got on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.