So, in this season of Star Trek: Picard, Picard and his crew are trapped in 2024 attempting to restore the timeline that Q tampered with. After speaking with Guinan, who for murky reasons that still do not satisfy me, does not remember or recognize Picard even though they met back in the 1800s (when Picard also met Mark Twain.) She tells Picard that he should seek out The Watcher, a mysterious alien presence who has been keeping an eye on humanity. Guinan takes him to MacArthur Park to facilitate a meeting between them. The Watcher then possesses various human park attendants as it guides Picard to the portal that will take him to their actual meeting spot.
So, who is The Watcher?
When Picard arrives he is surprised to see that The Watcher has taken the form of his will-they-won’t-they friend, Laris, a Romulan from the 25th Century. It turns out The Watcher, and others like her, are responsible for maintaining, and secretly guiding, the flow of humanity’s progress and Earth’s history. Which means they really don’t like time-travelers jumping and mucking about.
This specific Watcher is here on Earth to ensure that Picard’s ancestor, an astronaut named Renee, goes on the Europa space mission to one of Jupiter’s moons. However, Q, posing as her therapist, has been undermining her confidence and increasing her anxiety in an effort to prevent her from completing her space travels. It is unclear what she is supposed to actually do on the mission (Picard has vague memories of learning that she possibly discovered a sentient microorganism), but Picard and The Watcher are convinced that if Q is trying to stop it, then it must be vital to fixing the timeline. What Renee does on the mission could have huge ramifications and add twists to the story.
Have we met The Watchers before?
If your Trek memory goes deep like Jean-Luc’s, you know the answer is yes! Picard discovers that The Watcher holds a similar role to Gary Seven (a character from Star Trek: The Original Series). Gary Seven was introduced in the TOS Season 2 finale episode “Assignment: Earth” in which the crew of the Enterprise traveled back to 1968 to research the time period. The Enterprise accidentally intercepts Gary Seven’s arrival and learns that he is there because his predecessors were killed in a traffic accident. While Gary Seven appears human, he is actually an alien who is from a distant planet and works for their time-keeping agency. Also, he has a very, very good cat named Isis.
Gary Seven was actually meant to have his own spinoff series created by Gene Roddenberry, with “Assignment: Earth” acting as a backdoor pilot episode. Unfortunately, the network passed on picking up the pilot for a full series. However, Gary Seven, his assistant Roberta, and Isis do show up in tie-in Star Trek novels and comic books from time to time. The one episode “Assignment: Earth,” (till his mention in this season of Picard), remains the only feature of them that is Star Trek canon.
(Image: Paramount Plus)
