Picard persuades the Watcher to help him, learning in the process that the point of timeline divergence may be his own ancestor. Raffi and Seven rescue Rios, Jurati has a close encounter with the Borg Queen, and then all of them must work together to try and repair the timeline. Meanwhile, Q approaches geneticist Adam Soong with a possible cure for his immuno-compromised daughter, working a scheme of his own.
Jonathan Frakes is back in the director's chair for this episode, and it's fitting since he directed the movie that first introduced the Borg Queen so long ago. Either by the nature of this script, or Frakes' own directorial instincts, the Borg Queen of this episode is suddenly much more like Alice Krige's original incarnation -- less quippy and sarcastic, more seductive and sensual. Annie Wersching is strong enough that the gear change doesn't strike me as jarring, and the increased intimacy makes sense for where the episode ultimately ends, with the Queen riding along in Jurati's consciousness.
I'm glad they're not stretching the taffy any farther to make us wait longer for a plot development we all knew was coming. Still, I do wish that the Queen's "escape" had been a bit more about how clever she is, and a bit less about how dumb our heroes were to leave her alone. (By which I mean: the scene in which the Queen systematically tries different voices to access the computer? That worked for me. Cutting to Jurati napping peacefully on the couch? Not so much.)
For Picard, it's two very similar episodes in a row: trying to convince a reluctant ally to partner up in a series of conversation-heavy scenes. There are enough revelations this week to keep it from feeling like too much of a "re-run": we learn that Picard's ancestor may be key to the whole story, Picard name-drops Gary Seven for the fans, and the mystery of why Tallinn looks like Laris is teased in all the Romulan-looking technology she seems to be using. I know Patrick Stewart's action days are behind him, but I'd still like something a little more... heh... "engaged" for his character in the coming episodes.
We have a long tradition of Soong family members looking like Brent Spiner, so I was quickly on board with his return this episode -- and with Isa Briones appearing as Adam Soong's daughter, Kore. I liked this little subplot for the way it tried to humanize a "mad scientist" type by showing us what is driving him mad. As for what Q is up to here? It seems like the audience is ahead of the characters here; we know that Q's powers seem to be on the fritz, which may explain "why mind games and not finger snaps?" Regardless, I liked John de Lancie in this more manipulative and sinister (and not all-powerful) gear. (And side note for the Soong subplot: the director of the last two episodes, Lea Thompson, now appeared briefly in front of the camera. Fun.)
It wasn't much of an episode for Raffi, Seven, and Rios. They recovered Rios I guess without disrupting the timeline? (I'd have expected a lot of butterflies from releasing all those other ICE prisoners.) But I am glad to see the band all back together, and quickly launching into probably my favorite of all story conceits: a heist! We even got some distinctly Ocean's Eleven style score from Jeff Russo. Of course, the plan was threatening to go sideways just as the end credits arrived, so we'll have to see how it all turns out next time.
The season-long plot definitely progressed this week, which I liked. The performances were great as always, which I loved. A few of the particular plot moves, I didn't like quite so much. So I think I'll give "Fly Me to the Moon" a B. Not a weak mark, by any means, though the weakest of this so-far very compelling season.
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