Picard – Fly Me to the Moon Review

So, I wasn’t anticipating writing a review of Star Trek: Picard centered upon mass praise for Brent Spiner’s work this season. Sure, I had heard he would be appearing in the season as yet another Soong in a long line of Soongs, but I didn’t think that the series would allow him to truly flex his acting abilities and show us his incredible range. And I also didn’t think that I would welcome the addition of another character this late in the game (“Fly Me to the Moon” officially marked the halfway point for the season). But boy, what a performance from Spiner, what an interesting twist to toss into the story at this point – far more interesting than having the key character Picard and Co. need to save be a Picard relative whose space travel marked a key moment in humanity’s exploration of the cosmos – and what a joy to see Spiner and John de Lancie bounce off each other without Spiner being confined to the emotionless shell of Data.*

*Before people get in a huff – I loved the character of Data. And I loved Spiner’s work as Data. And I fully recognize that his performance was excellent – that’s not an easy character to craft and control for as long as he did. But Data also pigeon-holed Spiner in a way that didn’t allow audiences to fully appreciate his great range as an actor. This time around, seeing what he’s done in just one episode, I’m so excited to see how this character allows Spiner a chance to show off what he can do when given a chance.

There’s nothing more dangerous – or more compelling – than a character with nothing to lose striving to save someone they love. It’s a tale literally as old as the dramatic arts. Here, the trope was crafted to perfection: Soong has lost his backing and license to practice medicine and thereby has lost what he believes to be the means to find a cure for his daughter. Yes, he’s dabbling in potentially calamitous genetic research (which will continue being a theme for future generations of his line, culminating with the creation of synthetic life modeled after the very daughter he’s trying to save in 2024), but it’s so easy to place yourself in his shoes and think about how far you would go to save someone you deeply love. And giving us the visual of just what happens to his daughter when exposed to outside malignancies? Chilling.

We know that Q no longer simply has the means to snap and remove the Europa shuttle from launch, so it makes perfect sense that he would need to take alternative steps to further manipulate Renee Picard to scuttle the launch. I’m a bit less sure just how Q, who lacks his powers, was able to create the serum – I guess he still knows everything in the universe? But I’ll overlook that potential plot hole to continue gushing on the tete-a-tete between Spiner and de Lancie. That sequence in the diner? Incredible. Two great actors at the top of their game given a juicy as hell scene to dive into. Trek can get a bad rap among those who don’t watch it for being a bunch of technobabble and aliens. But the moments of the series where the shows truly soar are the human ones – where the futuristic elements can be stripped away (not necessarily in setting or plot, just in narrative and emotional resonance), and the dialogue hits at the heart of what it means to be human. A father realizing he might need to make a deal with a devil – despite not knowing Q, Soong definitely doesn’t fully trust him – is something anyone can relate to on an emotional level. And Spiner sells the shit out of it.

On the other end of the spectrum – you know, the side with aliens and that sort of thing – I continue to be amazed at the writers’ work turning around the character of Jurati. When I saw that she fell asleep and left the Queen to her own devices, I was annoyed – yet another chance to show us how inept this apparently brilliant scientist is by creating a massive crisis just when the team doesn’t need it. But to flip the script, having her kill the Queen but not before making the realization that their neurolink means the Queen lives on in her mind? Brilliant. A bit of a cheat, but I’ll allow it because it means more time watching Allison Pill and Annie Wersching play off each other while also lending an air of menace and threat to Jurati that should pay off somewhere down the line. After all, I can’t really see a simple way for the series to clear out the Queen from Jurati’s mind without serious outside help.

As for the Renee Picard storyline, it’s perfectly fine, nothing special. Yes, it’ll allow Jean-Luc a chance to put to rest some of his own demons in the process of helping her work through hers, but it’s pretty stereotypical stuff. I’m much more interested in Jurati’s future trajectory, and the lengths Soong will be asked to go to in order to receive what Q has promised – which we all know may amount to absolutely nothing, since even in his impaired state, I can’t see Q changing the future timeline once more. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m amazed at how much stronger this season of Picard is than its first. They’ve got a number of balls in the air, but I now have every faith that the series can keep on juggling.