“Fly me to the Moon” is mostly unnecessary time filler in a season that is beginning to look like it could have benefitted from less episodes

I am not sure why series commit to a certain number of episodes when they are arch based and do not have enough story to fill the number of episodes they’ve committed to.

Take, “Fly me to the Moon.” A perfectly fine episode, I guess. There’s nothing glaringly wrong with it unless you look into the grand scheme of the season long arch that Star Trek: Picard is following. As part of a grand plan, very little happens and very little matters. Raffi and Seven’s car chase doesn’t matter. Rios getting picked up by ICE doesn’t matter. It’s resolved and over and it makes me wonder why it was even included in the first place.

Certainly, I am not saying that the episode was a waste… far from it. I’m saying it was partially a waste and could have easily been combined with the events from the previous episode to create a stronger arch. This season could have been eight episodes or even six easily and it would have been tighter and more focused.

There are strengths, of course. I was relieved that Isa Briones has been brought back when it looked like she had been unceremoniously sidelined this season. Evan Longoria’s disturbing reappearance gives me hope that Elnor isn’t truly gone. Of course, Brent Spiner is always a plus.

My biggest happy with the episode is Orla Brady returning as The Watcher, Tallinn. Star Trek: Picard honestly does not have enough Orla Brady. The only thing that would make me happier than having more Orla Brady would be for the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation to return for a whole season, but what are the odds of that happening? I mean, honestly?

While the meandering pace of the series does get annoying, the show is still delivering the goods, though mostly on the Jurati and Borg Queen front. While I love Annie Wersching as the Borg Queen and everything she’s done to freshen up the part and make it her own, this was really the first time I’ve thought of her as an actual threat. With “Fly me to the Moon,” she was scary and wonderful and I loved it, especially where it leaved Jurati and the Queen at the end of the episode.

Finally, can we talk about some of the cringy dialogue? “That’s not a therapist! That’s Q!” Thanks, Jean-Luc, I think we caught that. Why are we giving Sir Patrick Stewart lines that sounds like they came straight out of an episode of Scooby Doo?