Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x04 - "Watcher"

[Sakonna]

I am loving what Annie Wersching is doing as the Queen, but... did anyone see infamous Broadway disaster "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark"? It is crazy to me the degree to which this quippy take on the queen is EXACTLY the same as the villain from that show, Arachne, right down to being suspended in precisely the same way. (Or at least, exactly the same as that character was at the two points I saw it. The show was revised many times over the course of it's years-long preview period)

The most infamous number from that show is when Arachne gathers a bunch of spider minions and they sing about stealing shoes. I am glad the Queen being upper-body-only means we don't have to worry about that here.

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I complained about the execution of the Queen's half-body in the 2nd episode, and I still think it wasn't great. Lots of awkward camera angles. But they have more than made up for it the last two weeks! The effects have been perfectly done in "Assimilation" and "Watcher."

 

[gweeps]

Q was trying to influence her and failed cause he's lost his powers.

Hence why he'll need outside help re: Soong.

 

[cooleddie74]

If the timeline change is so bad it affects Q of all beings then this is bad.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Terry Matalas confirmed to me on Twitter that the timeline in 2024 has changed and therefor Guinan doesn't recognise Picard.

https://twitter.com/TerryMatalas/status/1507019504663945219

That shit is sloppy.

If you do your job right, and say everything when its supposed to be said, you don't have to make amendments after the show goes to air, because you half assed it.

It's called "word of god canon" and it's an open sore, since any one that worked on the project or put money into the project suddenly has the right and power to contradict actual the episode, or make impossible claims, about how what you saw and heard is not what you saw and heard.

 

[Sakonna]

Something else I'm wondering -- John De Lancie has said he's only in

Spoiler

six

episodes this season. Since he's been in all of the first four, we only have

Spoiler

two

Q appearances left? I can't imagine how that's going to work, they've barely done anything with him yet.

I wonder if some of the material has been redistributed in editing, like perhaps the end of "Star Gazer" was originally included in "Penance", or this weeks final scene originally belonged to an episode where he had more material.

 

[Guy Gardener]

If the timeline change is so bad it affects Q of all beings then this is bad.

Q-Less.

Q's powers are stripped by the continuum, and then he gets them back, because he preformed a selfless act, which would never happen in the Confederation.

The Q and the Grey.

A Q Civil War. All the Q Die, because Q doesn't get Q pregnant, because there's no Voyager in the Delta Quadrant.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

This episode felt like a holding pattern. There were some good dramatic moments, nothing terrible, but a lot of stuff that was repeated, expected, or action-y.

"And I still hate you...": total fan service, totally going to sing it all day. Moreover, it felt like it was the same character who had actually matured.

NuGuinan was a downgrade, but was Guinan enough for me. Picard not revealing himself seemed unnecessary, and it slowed down the dialogue. I don't think that the scenes moved the plot or the drama, except maybe Picard explaining his motives. It would have been easier for Raffi and 7 to find the Watcher before saving Rios.

Rios is very charming as the deported man. I don't think this story is weaving well with the whole. Maybe there should have been an illegal immigrant version of Gabriel Bell that Rios will replace?

Annie Wersching continues to impress me, especially with her facial expressions, but the scenes between her and Raffi were too few and short to move me.

Picard continues not to understand the lyrics of Je ne regrette rien.

 

[Sakonna]

Q-Less.

Q's powers are stripped by the continuum, and then he gets them back, because he preformed a selfless act, which would never happen in the Confederation.

Oh, I love being the first with a correction. That's "Deja Q", "Q-Less" is the DS9 Q ep.

 

[eschaton]

That shit is sloppy.

If you do your job right, and say everything when its supposed to be said, you don't have to make amendments after the show goes to air, because you half assed it.

It's called "word of god canon" and it's an open sore, since any one that worked on the project or put money into the project suddenly has the right and power to contradict actual the episode, or make impossible claims, about how what you saw and heard is not what you saw and heard.

Matalas clearly didn't overlook anything here though. He made a creative choice which differs from the one you would have made.

I think part of the issue is sloppy scripting? Some of the dialogue seems to indicate that the cast only has a few days to stop the change in the timeline. But clearly the change in the timeline already happened, since they're from that future (at least their bodies/ship, if not their minds). Hence it's really that they have three days to undo the change that has "already happened."

This of course makes no sense, because something which happens three days in the future can't have already happened, but it's hard to get away from this shit in time travel stories unless you go with strict causality loops - which makes for shit drama, since the characters have no agency.

 

[Guy Gardener]

There's a theory that Kira and O'Brien witnessed the timeline that leads to the Confederation when they refer to 2048 being so bad that even Earth hadn't been through that big a rough patch, making one wonder how bad that 2048 must have been to be worse than a nuclear war that killed 600 million people.

We saw the bad 2371, The Romulans claimed Alpha Centauri, and life on earth has dropped to a few thousand vagabonds. No confederation to speak of.

 

[gweeps]

Maybe the Continuem stripped Q of his powers again?

 

[Kevman7987]

Maybe the Continuem stripped Q of his powers again?

They told him to test Picard and are preventing him from overstepping his bounds because he must stick to the mission given?

 

[DarKush]

I liked this episode better than last week's, which was more of a setup, new status quo kind of episode. But this week we see more of the crew delving into 21st century LA. The comedy came off better than I thought it was when I saw some of the scenes in the trailers. I liked a lot of the callbacks I caught, especially the ones about the Sanctuary District and Kirk Thatcher's punk character. And if the Watcher is tied to Gary Seven in some fashion that would be quite sweet. And I'm glad they are finally going to use Orla Brady more. She has good chemistry with Sir Patrick and it's a waste to leave her on the shelf and not get her involved in the action. I would like some nod to the Eugenics Wars. Maybe they did and I just didn't catch it.

I was okay with the social commentary. That's what Trek has often been about. I like Rios's doctor friend. I'm liking Jurati a lot more this season and it's interesting to see how this Borg Queen is seducing her in a way, reminiscent IMO to how Krige's Queen operated. Picard so far seems superfluous. I get it, but at the same time don't, why he didn't stay on La Sirena and Jurati go out. Even as an android he's frail and can't do much when it comes to action. He didn't even seem to realize that Guinan had swiped his combadge.

When Guinan showed up, I did think she would remember him from "Time's Arrow". I've seen some explain that away, but I still wish it had been mentioned. This Guinan does come across different than we've seen her in the past, but I speculate that she's become deeply cynical. Even after "Time's Arrow" this Guinan maybe would've been witness to all the horrors of the 20th century, including the Eugenics Wars, and then the travails of the 21st. Her staying on Earth despite her crumbling faith in humanity did have me asking when exactly did she come to Earth and how did she get her, and how can she leave? Hopefully we'll see more of her and we'll get that evolution in her relationship with Picard.

I liked the interplay between Seven and Raffi though I hope they don't keep making Raffi angry all the time. I got a feeling she's going to be the angry one, and they'll just keep coming up with stuff to make her angry about.

I thought the scene with Q at the end was also intriguing. Hopefully the next episode will get more into the meat of what this season is all about. I think enough time has been spent on re-introducing the characters and setting up the new status quo. Now, let's get into why Picard and crew have been sent back.

 

[gweeps]

They told him to test Picard and are preventing him from overstepping his bounds because he must stick to the mission given?

Could be. Or maybe he is sick and this is the inevitable result? I wasn't expecting it though. And neither was he. lol

 

[NCC-73515]

The Q were humans before, and if the timeline isn't restored, they won't exist...

 

[Reanok]

I really liked this show alot alot it was nice to see a younger Guinan and delves more into her past on earth and what she's been dealing with in the twenty first century and Laris being in earths past is also a mystery. I enjoyed seeing in this show and the Juratti and Borg Queen scenes are well acted. And it looks like Q's powers aren't working out as he planned on doing something to the woman reading the Dixon Hill book.

 

[cooleddie74]

I'm glad they recast Guinan with a believable younger actress. Not that Deepfaking a younger Whoopi or coming up with a timey-wimey excuse why she looked like her 25th century self in the 21st century would have been that bad but it just works to convince you that this Guinan is different and has been negatively affected by the changes in the timeline.

 

[gweeps]

The last scene of the episode was gorgeously shot. Although I didn't get what Q was doing. Was he quoting the book the lady was reading? Why did she laugh after he snapped his fingers?

 

[Jayson1]

really hope they don't make the Q human. Because if that is the case it makes lots of things on TNG not make sense with regards to Q. I do like the idea of them being El-Aurians.

 

[Sakonna]

The last scene of the episode was gorgeously shot. Although I didn't get what Q was doing. Was he quoting the book the lady was reading? Why did she laugh after he snapped his fingers?

He was trying to overwhelm her with fear and self-doubt, but since she laughed immediately after the finger-snap, it showed it didn't work and his powers are gone.