Hello! Hi! It’s #PicardPositivity’s Clancy day, a character I love a perfectly normal amountlot.
Yes, she has, generously speaking, only three scenes, plus the HQ front desk clerk’s chipperness about her and Oh’s knowledge that Clancy is holding back information from Oh (which, to me, suggests Clancy is possibly aware that Oh is not to be trusted). Yet there is so much in those three scenes!
CLANCY: There is no “we,” Jean-Luc.
Boundaries. Clancy isn’t going to let Picard presume to be part of Starfleet’s obligations when he left fourteen years prior (in the midst of a crisis he contributed to causing) and he had just slandered Starfleet on a galactic news show.
CLANCY: You think you could just waltz back in here and be entrusted with taking men and women into space?
Values. To me, “entrusted,” speaks to the value Clancy places on the lives of those “men and women” that aren’t in the room with her and Picard, but for whom she is responsible. (And I love that Clancy sees people, not “officers” or “personnel” — individuals.)
Clearly, I’ve analyzed every line associated with this character. With post length in mind, though, I’ll skip to:
CLANCY: You want an apology?
Humility. It’s not her fault that the show is Star Trek: Picard, not Star Trek: Clancy. Picard was right that Bruce Maddox was part of Data’s technology being used to to create new synthetics with the Romulans somehow involved — and, like any good leader, Clancy owns her (quite reasonable) error. To me, her offer to apologize, which I believe is stated more sincerely than it may appear in text, is admirable, and the fact that Picard ignores it and starts lecturing and insulting her is not very nice of him.
Oh, and in terms of how things are stated, this is out of chronological order, but her iconic line also is important to contextualize:
To me, Clancy’s eyebrow furrow on “hubris” indicates confusion — after what he did and said, Picard should be better than his own, tone-deaf request. Clancy listened to him, which she most certainly didn’t have to do, and now she’s angry and confused and proceeds to remind Picard of the facts he’s ignored as he nursed his hurt feelings.
Anyway, I could plunge further down the rabbit hole (please send me an ask if you want more), or I could go ahead and share links for some results of my analysis of this character and what she signifies for the Star Trek universe.
The Autobiography of Kirsten Clancy (T) — the arc of her life, from her childhood on Mars to her rise through the ranks of Starfleet, her family, her service, her triumphs, her failures; it’s all here
Through Another’s Eyes (T) — other people’s insights on Clancy: Jean-Luc Picard when interviewing her for a pilot’s post on the Enterprise-D, her best friend Sonya Gomez when drinking together one evening during the Dominion War, her onetime commanding officer Edward Jellico, and her fellow Martian Simon Tarses
In Bed (E) — a half-dozen(ish) vignettes that dip into the autobiography timeline from the point of view of Clancy’s very loving spouse
The Point (T) — a friendship ficlet in which Clancy and Tom Paris meet at a Starfleet Academy party; she’s a senior and he’s a freshman who needs the good advice she provides (though, of course, he starts out trying to hit on her, to which she immediately replies, “Fuck off”)
To me, Kirsten Clancy — the first, onscreen, female Commander-in-Chief of Starfleet — is a powerhouse of achievements and ideals who owns her mistakes and achieves greatness. She’s also sassy and smart, gets to exhibit righteous anger, and is pretty fucking fantastic.
Thank you for coming to my Trek Talk about this character I love so much.
