‘Star Trek: Picard’ Recap – ‘Fly Me to the Moon’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 205 of ‘Star Trek: Picard’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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It is definitely safe to say, that season two of Star Trek: Picard has been nothing short of a masterclass on how to inject social commentary into a Sci-Fi story. Since its first four episodes have conducted a stunningly deep dive into the problems and divisions currently facing modern mankind when it comes to race and equality. Which has in turn put some uncomfortable realities that we aren’t talking about enough on display and it has even posed the possibility that our future might be quite frightening if we don’t do anything to course correct now, while there is still time. But while that has made for fascinating television for certain, the kind that has given all of us pause, this is still a television series, one that has to move the plot forward in order to properly entertain and that… just hasn’t happened yet on this series.
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For we don’t know what Q’s plans are or why he’s doing all of this, since he still hasn’t explained to Admiral Jean-Luc Picard why he is so angry with humanity and why he feels the trial needs to be moved to the Nth degree. But now that we’ve reached the halfway point of season two, it would seem as though the truth about Q’s machinations are about to come to light. For ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ is an episode that made it clear who is the key to the divergence that will lead to the creation of the Confederation and who some of the players might be in putting together its foundation. But before we get into that, let’s take a moment and revisit a pair of important plot points. Since once of them resolved a big problem, while the other… created a new one.

In fact, let’s start with the good news, first. In that, Seven and Raffi were able to rescue Captain Rios from being lost to the world. Since they used their tricorder to shut down the bus he was on, and that in turn allowed for them to free Rios and everyone on that bus, and once he was back out in the open, they were able to return to La Sirena and discover some ugly surprises. For while they were away… the Borg Queen made a power play to assimilate the ship and Agnes for that matter as well, and it quickly became obvious to the away team that the good doctor had to make some hard decisions regarding the Queen's machinations. Since Agnes put down the Borg Queen with an old school shotgun, putting a return home at risk. But a bigger issue arose from this confrontation, that we will discuss in a moment.

Because with both of those plot-lines seemingly resolved, it was on to the plan to save the future and while the crew was dealing with the fallout of the Borg Queen’s problematic attempts to claim the ship, Picard was learning that one of the big keys to the forthcoming divergence, was a family member. Renée Picard to be specific. Whom we learned was an outright genius at twenty-four years of age and she was also an accomplished pilot, one that was set to begin a long journey into deep space via the Europa Mission. Wherein she would discover life on Io and bring it back to Earth and likely lay the foundation down for a future where humanity would be accepting of other species and a future amongst the stars. But Q was working quite hard to ensure… that didn’t happen. In fact, he went so far as to play her therapist and sow doubt into her mind about the mission, which might cause her… to skip it.

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But that wasn’t the only chaos that Q was working to sow within the timeline, because he also spent a little time hanging out with a Doctor Adam Soong. Who just so happens to be, yet another brilliant and tortured mind in this family’s long and winding lineage and he was of note for several reasons. In part because, he was a bit of a danger as a geneticist since he did some shady things with the human genome earlier in his career, to the point where his daughter was in rough shape physically and he harbored some serious disdain for modern humanity and how it works and well… Q used his worries about his daughter, and his temper, to enlist his help for his master plan. One that didn’t quite get revealed in that moment, mainly because the story shifted back to the Picard storyline since the admiral and his crew came up with a plan to try and keep Renée from doing something rash.

For she was preparing to enter quarantine for the Europa Mission. But before she did, she was going to attend the mandatory NASA gala event, was the perfect opportunity for Q and his new disciple to potentially bring about the divergence in question. Which forced the crew to go undercover as party goers to infiltrate this event and keep Renée safe and that’s when the other problem reared its ugly head. Since Agnes was the top choice to hack the ultra-secure system that NASA employed to keep the event private and well, an unfortunate passenger in Dr. Jurati’s mind kept that part of the plan from being executed in a quick manner. For the Borg Queen lightly assimilated Agnes before her passing and she’s active in her mind and ready to engage in the kind of chaos that only the Borg can and well, that might lead to utter disaster.

But while that is a juicy cliffhanger to leave us with, one that is the perfect way to close out a story full of surprises, it doesn’t truly reveal Q’s plan and the test in question. But it definitely sets the stage for things to come and gives one enough to work with… to speculate what Q might be up to. Which in this writer’s opinion, relates to his past endeavors with the test. Because time and time and again, Q has tasked humanity with thinking beyond its limitations and finding the beauty and majesty of what the universe can offer and perhaps, seeing Seven and the Admiral react in anger and from a place of revenge to an ancient foe in the premiere, was enough for him to wonder if we were capable of being the better species we claim to be in the 25th Century. And thinking outside the box and convincing Renée and potentially Soong, as to why we can and should be better... may be the only way to pass the test.

But while that theory would fit in with how Q normally operates, he is a bit mad in this adventure and is somehow losing his luster and power, so it could be wrong. But this seemed like the right time to ponder upon the nature of the plan and this episode makes it impossible not to. Since all the pieces are being placed on the chessboard and the game is about to begin. But before it does, we can bask in one quality ride. One that featured the wonderful return of Brent Spiner, playing a very different kind of Soong, and a cool twist with Isa Briones as his daughter. Plus, you can’t go wrong with a Lea Thompson cameo and a plot that really does engage us deeply and well, all this episode does is leave us hungry for more. Because this really was a wonderful setup and it should make the second half of season two of this iconic show, as epic as it gets. Until next time.

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