Star Trek: Picard - S2 E5 - "Fly Me to the Moon"
By: Maggie Lovitt
From Collider
March 31, 2022
‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 2 Episode 5 Introduces New Roadblocks as the Crew Tries to Save the Future | Review
Q targets Picard's ancestor in an attempt to change the trajectory of the future.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Star Trek: Picard opens on the mysterious blond woman (Penelope Mitchell) that Q (John de Lancie) was toying with in “Watcher” as she embarks on a failed space mission simulation. It’s clear that his toying and taunting has gotten under her skin and the fate of the future hinges on her self-confidence. She is, after all, Jean-Luc Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) great-aunt Reneé Picard—a reveal that comes shortly after the cold open.
“Fly Me to the Moon” is an episode that might make some audiences rewatch the first season of the series to get a refresher on who characters like Dr. Soong (Brent Spiner) and his daughter (Isa Briones) are—especially since the pair also play Data and Soji. The episode is also rich with lore from Star Trek: The Original Series, thanks to Picard making the connection between not-Laris (Orla Brady) being a Supervisor, much like Gary Seven (Robert Lansing) was in “Assignment: Earth.” It’s convenient when you have a universe with a well-cataloged slate of in-world history texts that makes it easy and natural for its characters to pontificate like they’re reading a Memory Alpha Wikipage.
While Q may be focused on meddling with Reneé’s future with the Europa Mission, he has more than enough time to also provide Dr. Soong with the data (pun intended) to help cure his sick daughter. He pulls out all the stops—from an ominous message on Soong’s computer to an intricate calling card embellished with the letter “Q” to a grand gesture of providing him with a life-saving cure after his medical license is revoked (by Lea Thompson, no less). It’s not entirely clear yet what Q’s angle is with Dr. Soong, but it would seem that he’s trying to stop him from creating his Soong-type android, including Data and the subsequent programs that will produce Dahj and Soji, and more importantly Picard, whose consciousness was placed in the synthetic golem last season. Could this be his new plan now that he knows Picard is on his case?
Back on Earth, Raffi (Michelle Hurd) and Seven (Jeri Ryan) are able to stop bickering and dancing around Raffi’s grief long enough to stop the bus transporting Rios (Santiago Cabrera) and the other detainees. With this plot point behind them, it will be interesting to see how it affects Rio’s trajectory moving forward—he has now seen first-hand a darker side to human history that they were blessedly free from in the more progressive future they’re trying to save.
With the core cast still split up for most of the episode, ”Fly Me to the Moon” is divided into two plotlines that eventually converge aboard La Sirena. When Picard and not-Laris arrive aboard the ship, Picard assures her that he trusts his crew above all others and that they can trust them, but within seconds they come across the crew hauling away an incapacitated French police officer, a dead Borg Queen (Annie Wersching), and Agnes (Alison Pill) covered in her blood. Not entirely the most reassuring discovery when you’re trying to convince a being like a “Supervisor” to trust you.
With the life-or-death stakes increasing by the second, the crew regroups and plans how they are going to infiltrate a glamorous party that Reneé is set to attend. Fortunately, Agnes took historic coding classes at university and is confident that she can crack into the system long enough to dupe it into recognizing Rios and Picard. With the plan set, Agnes swans her way through the event just long enough to get herself arrested for acting suspiciously. However, in the final moments of the episode–when she is supposed to be cracking into the system–it is revealed that the Borg Queen did not die, but assimilated part of herself into Agnes. Now neither of them will ever be alone. The twist sets the stage for even more drama and roadblocks as the crew tries to stop Q before it's too late.
The Ready Room | Resurrecting The Borg Queen For Star Trek: Picard
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Poor Agnes. In the first season they made her a murderer (albeit under the influence of a mind meld), and now she has Borg Queen nanoprobes in her.
The Laris Supervisor seems to be a normal human in this one, like Gary Seven was in TOS. No sign of the power she used to take people over in the last episode. Maybe it was technological?
Brent Spiner and Isa Briones return, and Lea Thompson makes an on-screen appearance after directing the previous two episodes (this one was directed by Jonathan Frakes).
A good episode, IMO.
What did you guys think?
Absolutely. And I am pleased to see Brent Spiner having airtime.
Agreed. I know he felt he couldn't play Data anymore, due to his age, but he's such a good actor, and brings so much to the series, that I'm glad there's a role for him.
I was a bit disappointed in this one - mostly with the Adam and Kore Soong scenes. If this is 2024, the tech used in their scenes is way too advanced, and they forgot the "sci" part of "sci fi". Genetic stabilizer? How did Kore's disease not kill her pretty shortly after birth?
And who hired the DHS bus driver? He was going the wrong way on the highway.
I did like Agnes's storyline, and also feel sorry for her. She has been my favorite new character in the series.
Oh, you're probably right. I wasn't even thinking about that. I was preoccupied thinking about the Soong family tree, and how weird it is that one family line would have so many genius-level geneticists and android makers over a timespan of several centuries. Brent Spiner has played four of them so far (according to Memory Alpha) – Noonian, Arik, Alton, and Adam.
I didn't even notice that, lol. Now I have to watch again. One thing I did notice was that tricorders can apparently be used to knock people out now. I can't remember if we've ever seen that before.
And, yeah, Agnes is cool. I like her, too.
For a while there I was wondering about the Borg Queen's shields not working when Agnes used that old shotgun from the chateau on her (which was conveniently loaded, lol), but then I remembered Picard using a Tommy Gun on drones in First Contact. I suppose Borg shields only protect against energy weapons like phasers.
I forgot about the Borg personal shielding. I guess they didn't adapt to physical projectiles the first time around.
I had to watch the bus scene again, too, to make sure I was right.
Neat trick with the tricorder.
Fun fact - Isa Briones, who plays Daj/Soji/Kore, is the daughter of Jon Jon Briones, who played the magistrate/Seven's husband.