Star Trek: Picard Season 2 continues with “Watcher,” a much more cohesive and exciting episode than the last (not that “Assimilation” was bad by any means), once again directed by Lea Thompson.
The season’s main plot is developing quickly, with our heroes in three different locations on 21st century Earth: Jurati and the Borg Queen aboard the crashed La Sirena, Picard in Los Angeles, and Raffi and Seven hunting for Rios. Each of these groupings of people provides an opportunity for some great character development, insightful dialogue, and a bit of levity.
Picard, unable to contact his away team in LA, decides to beam there himself after gaining some insight into their situation with Jurati. The cyberneticist had been subconsciously making use of the number fifteen in several ways, including moving 15 beads on an abacus and choosing a bottle of wine from a 1915 vintage. This leads to the conclusion, given the date of their arrival as April 12, 2024, that the temporal divergence is three days away, so time is literally of the essence now.
He arrives at the familiar 10 Forward Avenue to meet a much younger Guinan in the process of closing up her bar and departing Earth due to her disillusionment with humanity. Ito Aghayere plays this “new” Guinan, and she is absolutely fantastic, delivering very poignant dialogue to describe her disillusionment, words that anyone in the modern-day could easily use to describe the apparent state of our world.
Picard tries in vain to convince her not to give up on humanity and to have patience, but she replies that those with the luxury of patience look like him and not her. His mention of a Watcher, however, gives Guinan pause; she isn’t this Watcher, but she knows who is and agrees to let Picard meet her “Supervisor.”
Meanwhile, Jurati is alone aboard La Sirena with the Queen, and once again the banter between the two is a highlight of the episode. Jurati needs help keeping the transporters running so she can get Raffi, Seven, and Rios back once the former finds the latter, and the Queen is able to provide that help, so Jurati gives her the benefit of the doubt and extends some trust, leading to this great exchange (paraphrased):
Borg Queen: “Beware the species that has not yet purged that word, they’re simply begging to be conquered.”
Jurati: “You mean ‘help?’”
Borg Queen: “‘Trust.’”
Seven and Raffi head to the LAPD to get a lead on Rios, during which they have an encounter with a familiar-looking punk on a city bus playing loud, obnoxious music (Side note: I absolutely LOVED this scene and laughed so much I had to pause the episode). After a somewhat heated encounter with a desk sergeant, they discover that information on ICE detainees isn’t kept at the LAPD but at the ICE detention centre, 25 miles away.
Without reliable transporters, the pair have little choice but to steal a police cruiser and drive there, leading to a fantastic car chase through LA which showcases the amazing chemistry between Michelle Hurd and Jeri Ryan. They could easily lead a 25th century-set buddy cop show where they’re fighting injustice as Fenris Rangers! Please be reading this Mr Kurtzman!
Rios and Teresa have been brought to the ICE detention centre, their fates uncertain in the face of brutal officers, once again making one believe the Confederation’s future may already be taking shape. Teresa is soon released, but Rios is going to a Sanctuary District on the Mexican border, in spite of the entirely truthful accounting of his identity and purpose to an ICE officer.
Word of this gets to Raffi and Seven thanks to Raffi’s hacking of the police computer, luckily at around that time Jurati restores communication. With the Queen’s help, the stolen police cruiser’s occupants are beamed into the vicinity of the bus carrying Rios.
At MacArthur Park, Picard and Guinan encounter a clear-eyed young girl who threatens Guinan before leading Picard toward a tunnel. There, he sees a well-dressed woman and asks if she’s a friend of Guinan’s; she responds with “Absolutely not” then turns, and Picard recognizes her as Laris though devoid of Romulan racial features.
The Supervisor then touches Picard and the two disappear in a squarish (and familiar-looking) puff of smoke. . . Last but not least is what could be described as a “stinger” akin to the post-credits scenes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Q delivering a cryptic monologue while observing a blonde woman at Jackson Roykirk Plaza. A snap of his fingers, and… nothing. “That’s unexpected and most unfortunate,” Q says.
Overall, I found this episode delightful and filled with great character pairings, performances, and exceptional writing. It’s also filled with many callbacks and easter eggs to previous Trek shows and movies, many quite surprising. Hopefully, the momentum continues into next week’s “Fly Me To The Moon!”
READ MORE LIKE THIS
Picard airs on Paramount+ in the United States, and on CTV Sci-Fi Channel and Crave in Canada. Outside of North America, the series is available on Amazon Prime Video
