Deron Generally
Deron GenerallyStar Trek Picard
Paramount Plus
Season 2 Episode 4
Watcher
With time running out to save the future, Picard takes matters into his own hands and seeks out an old friend for help. Meanwhile, Rios ends up on the wrong side of the law and Jurati makes a deal with the Borg Queen.
So after jumping into the past with no plan and no idea what they’re looking for, Picard’s crew gets separated and have no way of communicating with each other or getting back to their landing site. With Picard stuck on the ship outside his ancestral home with Jurati, they are forced to turn to the Borg Queen for help in getting communications back online. The Jurati/Borg Queen dynamic is definitely one of the more impressive and surprisingly interesting ones this season. There are some subtle and nuanced moments between the two that are both tense and a little scary.
Picard continues to deal with the ghosts of his past as he keeps having visions of his mother. There definitely seems to be something there, I just wish we got more in this episode other than the same flashback of images with no context. Picard’s journey to find the Watcher is more interesting when he meets with a young Guinan (Ito Aghayere). Their dynamic is tense because she has a completely different personality than the character we know and her desire to leave Earth gives way to some sometimes heavy handed, but not entirely wrong opinions on the current state of political and social discord.
Rios’ adventures in an ICE detention center do much the same thing and it leans too hard into social commentary too often, but it doesn’t overshadow the rest of the episode. If anything, it feels like an unnecessary distraction. The Watcher lore and storyline definitely feels more intense and interesting than the rest of the side missions in the episode even with Seven and Raffi providing comic relief via a car chase that literally feels like it takes place in the same four block area.
There are some great moments in the episode including the return of the bus punk from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home as well as an interesting moment with Q, but there is a lot that is overblown in the episode and ruins the pacing. The episode highlights are really just the moments with Picard and Guinan and Jurati and the Borg Queen. The ending does make me curious for what comes next though.
Star Trek Picard S02XE04
