Jonathan Frakes directs Fly Me to the Moon, which brings us to the halfway marl of season two of Star Trek: Picard, and features a brief cameo by Lea Thompson who directed the previous pair of episodes.

Written by Cindy Appel, the episode debuted on 31 March, 2022, and reveals what Picard (Patrick Stewart) has to fix in the timeline, thanks to some information from not Laris, but Tallin (Orla Brady).

It seems Q (John de Lancie) is about to interfere with the Europa mission that is going to launch in three days. It’s lead astronaut, Renee Picard (Penelope Mitchell) a distant ancestor of Picard’s. If Q manipulates Renee so that she doesn’t go, the entire future will change.

But first, Raffi (Michelle Hurd) and Seven (Jeri Ryan) have to rescue Rios (Santiago Cabrera) and Jurati (Alison Pill) and the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) have a showdown, after things escalate at Chateau Picard.

Q is covering his bases as well, recruiting some help to deal with the Picard problem. He’s given some aid to Dr. Adam Soong (Brent Spiner) in helping to cure his daughter, Kore (Isa Briones) from a disease that makes sunlight fatal.

So we’re halfway through, and now we begin to understand what is at stake. It’s a nice halfway point, and while the season did start off strong, it’s definitely not as enjoyable as the first season. That being said, I’m enjoying this rewatch more than I enjoyed my original viewing of the season.

I’m having fun with it. And setting up a Mission: Impossible style break-in of the astronaut gala is a nice setpiece, which is spread over this episode and the following one.

Two of One was written by Cindy Appel and Jane Maggs, and Frakes settled into the direcotr’s chair again. It was first broadcast on 7 April, 2022.

Agnes, infected by the Borg Queen, helps get Picard, and the rest into the gala in an attempt to keep an eye on Renee on mission. We are given a series of flashforwards and backs, all centered around Picard. He’ll be injured by the end of the episode, and he’s also recalling a troubling incident from his childhood, something that could keep him trapped in his own mind.

As Renee struggles with whether or not she can go on with the mission, the Queen continues to persuade Jurati that they are connected and work better together, but she also takes over Jurati’s body to cause more problems.

She leaves the gala and heads out into the city.

Problems arise when Picard and Soong bump into one another at the gala, but Picard is able to find a way to have a conversation with Renee, and is able to work to convince her not to leave the mission. It’s a wonderful moment, and Stewart, as always, shines.

There is an important discussion about mental health in this episode, and it’s good to see that such serious issues alongside depression are being explored.

And Kore learns a truth about herself…

The whole idea of bringing Soong into the narrative seems like a way of shoehorning more into the story than was needed, and though it’s great to see Spiner, it didn’t feel like it was needed. They could have tighted up the story for me, and perhaps given us nine episodes instead of ten, but there are some great character bits with the entire cast.

I’ll explore more of Picard: Season Two next week, as I dive deeper into Paramount Canada’s release of Star trek: The Picard Legacy Collection, a gorgeous limited edition boxed set available now. Boldly go.