![Star Trek: Picard – 2.5 Fly Me To The Moon [Recap & Review]](https://thathashtagshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/277448778_535181654888102_7004029520952718310_n-1200x640.png)
A Singular Purpose
In this week’s episode of Star Trek: Picard – Fly Me To The Moon, Picard finds himself with the Watcher who is not Laris (although they look identical). Her name is Talon. She tells Picard that she has a single purpose, to watch and guard a single individual: Renée Picard; Jean-Luc’s ancestor.
Your Profession
Back on La Sirena, the Borg Queen is going a little mad in her solitude. She taps into the cellular network and places an emergency call to the local police – luring them to the ship.
Seven and Raffi are focused on rescuing Rios from the bus without disrupting the timeline. They are able to disable the bus from a distance and Rios, knowing that a rescue is imminent, tells his compatriots to be ready to fight and escape. Raffi and Seven board the bus and, with some help from the detainees, free everyone. Raffi is briefly distracted by a young man she confuses with Elnor. It’s clear that losing Elnor is impacting her.
Picard, talking with Talon, learns more about her. She’s a “Supervisor,” which Picard connects to Gary Seven – a character from TOS whose ancestors were kidnapped from Earth more than 4,000 years ago to serve as protectors of history. She tells Picard that she abides by one rule: “She watches, but never sees.” He tells her that Renée is a singularly gifted and precocious young woman who is working for NASA. In spite of her gifts, Renée suffers from anxiety and depression; and she is struggling deeply with it. Renée is scheduled to be on the Europa mission (an actual NASA mission slated for launch in 2024). Talon shows Picard some of Renée’s therapy sessions and sees that her “therapist” is Q, who is trying to talk her out of going on the mission.
People Are Idiots
The next scene is of Dr. Soong (Brent Spiner), an ancestor of the nefarious geneticist Arik Soon and a distant one of Nooniang Soong. He is giving a talk to a panel (with a guest appearance by Lea Thompson who is a producer of the show). He is a genetic researcher desperately trying to find a cure for his daughter Corey (Isa Briones, who plays Soji). She suffers from a genetic disease that makes her hypersensitive to sunlight and other elements. So, she is forced to live in a cleanroom in the dark. The panel dresses him down for his illegal experimental research on people (prisoners), revokes his funding, and tells him he is no longer to engage in further research on genetics. He receives a message from a mysterious person online (Q) who tells him “I can help.”
On La Sirena, a lone police officer arrives at Chateau Picard and (after the Borg Queen uncloaks the ship) wanders on board. He goes in search of screaming (the Borg Queen) who quickly captures him.
Crackpot Talk
Dr. Soong and Q meet at a diner. He offers Q a serum that he claims is a cure for his daughter. He tells him to analyze it and, if he likes it, to call him so he (Soong) can return the favor.
Picard and Talon continue their talk about why Q is here. Talon asks Picard if Q is omnipotent, then why doesn’t he just snap his fingers and get her to change her mind. Picard acknowledges that he doesn’t know; something is wrong with Q. They form a plan to infiltrate a Gala that Renée will be attending prior to entering quarantine before launch.
On La Sirena, the Borg Queen calls for Juratti, telling her she “has a surprise.” Agnes, knowing that something is wrong, grabs the shotgun over the mantel and goes to the Borg Queen where she sees her with the Police Officer. She tries to leverage the Police officer in exchange for Agnes. Before the Borg Queen can kill the police officer, Agnes fires.
Testing the serum from Q, Dr. Soong realizes that it’s real. He injects his daughter and for the first time, she is able to swim in the sunlight without consequence. However, it isn’t permanent. After a few hours, she starts to react to the environment again and Dr. Soong has to bring her back into isolation.
We’re All Hostages to What We Love
On La Sirena, the crew arrives to find Juratti covered in blood. She tells them that she had to kill the queen to save the police officer. Picard and Talon arrive on La Sirena to see the crew carrying the cop off the ship.
Dr. Soong meets with Q again and asks him if he has a real cure that won’t wear off. Q tells him that he does. However, in exchange, he needs Dr. Soong to remove an obstacle – Picard (likely Renée).
Talon and Picard brief the crew. Rios asks Picard why this woman is so important. Picard tells them that he doesn’t know. All that history recorded about Renée is that she discovered a micro-biome on Io that she believed was sentient. Their plan to infiltrate the Gala, given its high level of security, will be difficult (if not impossible). Juratti will go in first and then (using her “history of antique coding” knowledge), hack the system from inside.
Juratti is successful in infiltrating the initial security screenings. However, after entering the party, she is quickly identified by security as someone not on the guest list and detained. It turns out, this was part of the plan. However, it is also revealed that Juratti is not alone. Just prior to her executing the Borg Queen, they “connected;” the Borg Queen becomes a part of her.
Fly Me To The Moon – Episode Analysis
This is my favorite episode of the season so far. I absolutely love that they are leaning into the canon – a brave thing to do with this fan base. We have another Dr. Soong. Similar to Dr. Arik Soong of the 22nd century, this one is an ethically questionable geneticist driven to find a cure for his ailing daughter. He seems to have only one child in the future, so he must succeed (but at what cost)?
The revelation of the Watcher (a Supervisor) caught me off guard! They really delved deep into the timeline for this figure. We last met a watcher in the Original Series, a figure named Gary Seven. Gary’s ancestors had been kidnapped from earth 4,000 years earlier and were bred over time to supervise events around the galaxy – including on earth. In the Eugenics Wars novels (that take place in the ’70s-’90s), Gary was the one who freed the augments (including the nefarious Kahn) and ultimately helped them to escape Earth before “retiring.”
Juratti’s relationship with the Borg Queen takes an interesting turn. Her engagement with the Queen’s mind left her vulnerable to a type of… assimilation. It seems that she absorbed the Queen’s consciousness. What will that mean for the characters? We have seen both Seven and Picard be de-assimilated, but neither of them had this level of connection with a Borg Queen.
And last, what is going on with Q? We still don’t know why he doesn’t have his powers. He seems a little mad (as in crazy). What in the universe has the power to disrupt Q? We have only seen that happen once and it took the might of the Q continuum. Why his focus on Renée Picard? Jean-Luc stated that we don’t know much about history from this time, so what she accomplished remains vague at best.
Let me know in the comments your recent fan theories!
This week they went for ‘Assignment Earth’… but I think they are also going to hook-in ‘City on the edge of forever’ in that: ‘Q’ is actually trying to help here. “Renai Picard really can’t handle this mission.” He tried at first with Psycho-therapy. But realized that this would not work. What he is doing with Dr. Soong is, he wants him to Clone her… Then by doing so, this Clone will be the one that actually makes it into the Europa mission and ‘Saves’ history.
Now what I mean by ‘City on the edge of forever’ is: Admiral Picard and the crew are going to have to come to terms with the idea, that they need to ‘Let go’ of the real ‘Renai’… By letting her live, or trying to get her on-board. This is where humanity goes the wrong way. Just like ‘City on the edge of forever’ or in ‘All Good Things’. Again it is Admiral Picard that actually may cause the time-paradox. With the Watcher…
This is all theory… but I’ll bet this is how it plays out.