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“It took two months to really hone and craft that scene, with many different writers,” Matalas reveals. “All of us contributed to it, including Patrick [Stewart] and Gates [McFadden] and Jonathan [Frakes, who directed the episode]. We rehearsed it many times. It was the most difficult scene of the season to get right. But it was important to get it right because it’s a pivotal scene for Jean-Luc and Beverly as characters, Matalas notes: “It needs to do quite a bit. You need to understand his point of view, which is, ‘My God, what have you done?’ And her point of view is, ‘What do you expect me to do?’ By the time she’s finished with the explanation, you need to truly understand why she would do that, and I think Gates’ performance is just phenomenal in that scene. It did get “emotional” on the set while filming the scene as well, Matalas recalls: “Both Patrick and Gates have strong feelings about their characters, and it’s not a traditional Star Trek: The Next Generation scene.”  — Terry Matalas, on Picard and Crusher's pivotal scene in Episode 3