Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

The show is going pretty well, so far. I did enjoy the wrath of Khan kind of ship fight.
Yes, it looked incredible. I always have enjoyed episodes that are a bit more ship-centric.
So when the Enterprise started groaning and creaking from the pressure, I was pleased.

Although I didn't understand why they couldn't deploy the shields while the space bridge was connected to the other ship. Shouldn't the shields have been extended out far enough or does this version have the shields that only extend out close to the actual body of the ship?