Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 7 - "Monsters"
Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) backstory in Star Trek: Picard season 2 has a glaring plot hole: the absence of his older brother, Robert Picard (Jeremy Kemp). Star Trek: Picard season 2 is answering pivotal questions about Jean-Luc's life and why he has chosen to remain alone instead of having a family. The answers lie in Jean-Luc's past and the childhood memories he has suppressed involving his mother, Yvette (Madeline Wise), and his father, Maurice (James Callis).
Star Trek: The Next Generation established that Jean-Luc was estranged from Robert for much of their lives until they reconciled in the TNG season 4 episode, "Family." Robert was, like their father, a traditionalist who disliked technology and remained at Chateau Picard to tend to the family vineyard. Meanwhile, Jean-Luc was a dreamer who "ran away" to join Starfleet, which fueled Robert's resentment. Star Trek: Picard season 2 digs deeper into the family's secrets and reveals that Yvette, who favored Jean-Luc, suffered from mental illness. Jean-Luc remembered Maurice as a cold and stern man who abused Yvette, but the truth was that his father was desperately trying to protect his sick wife, as well as their children. As Tallinn (Orla Brady) observed when she entered Picard's psyche, Yvette had a "monster" in her mind that made her a danger to herself, and Robert's actions were to keep his family safe. However, Jean-Luc preferred to remember his mother as his inspiration and his father as the enemy until Tallinn helped Picard realize the truth about his parents.
Yet missing entirely from Jean-Luc's recollections of his childhood is his older brother Robert. In fact, Robert has only been fleetingly mentioned in Star Trek: Picard season 2, merely to establish that he exists. Yet Robert not having any role or bearing in Jean-Luc's memories is a glaring omission. Growing up in their French vineyard, the two Picard sons may not have been close but Robert was the older brother who looked out for Jean-Luc, even if they resented each other. Did Robert know about their mother's psychological problems? Maurice was closer to Robert than Jean-Luc; did their father confide in his eldest son about his sick mother? If so, this would add crucial context to TNG's "Family" as to why Robert was so resentful to Jean-Luc beyond their sibling rivalry.
It's strange that Robert doesn't have any role whatsoever in Jean-Luc's memories in Star Trek: Picard season 2. After all, Robert and Jean-Luc made peace with each other in "Family," and it was knowing he had the support of his loved ones back on Earth that helped Jean-Luc recover from being turned into Locutus of Borg. In Star Trek Generations, Captain Picard's family was killed off. Jean-Luc learned that Robert, his wife Marie (Samantha Eggar), and their son, René (David Tristan Birkin), died in a fire. This tragic loss made Jean-Luc realize that he would be the last Picard since he never married and had children, which is a sad burden Jean-Luc carries in Star Trek: Picard.
Robert being completely absent from Star Trek: Picard season 2 makes Jean-Luc's memories and revelations feel incomplete. It also dilutes Robert's importance to the Picard family, even if he wasn't close to the younger Jean-Luc. The inexplicable lack of Robert begs many questions that Star Trek: Picard doesn't seem compelled to answer. Rather, the show appears to dismiss Jean-Luc's older brother from Star Trek: Picard season 2's pivotal narrative because he's inconvenient. However, Tallinn realized that Jean-Luc's personal discoveries about himself and his parents aren't finished, and there's "more to the story" yet to be told. Perhaps this means that Star Trek: Picard will weave Robert Picard in at last because Jean-Luc's family history isn't complete without him.
Star Trek: Picard Season 2 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.