Spock used the Vulcan lute in TOS specifically to help him meditate and center himself. In Amok Time he’s trying to play the lute to calm down when he has his freak out and smashes the computer. And in Way to Eden he explains to the space hippies that the lute helps him channel his feelings. So that’s a great shout out for SNW to recognize that part of his character.
I didn't have an issue with the combat drug. I think it was a character moment, not simply an action moment. If you remember that scene, Chapel asks him if he always carries the drug, and he says yes. When you combine that answer with the other things he says about his experiences during the war it becomes clear that the drug is not simply a gimmick so they can fight Klingons hand-to-hand. It is a tangible symbol of his reaction to the war; PTSD in a hypospray.
Nurse Chapel is going the way of Kira Narice, a reluctant but ver capable fighter with deep personalist feelings, one a Dr, the other the Kia ( eventually so I'm told)
I like that this episode essentially introduced us to Spocks own Kobyashi Maru! His first day in "The Chair" and he needed to confront his emotions on if to take the command decision of killing two of the crew or not to obtain the larger objective. Possibly inspiration for him designing the test for starfleet academy.
I think Spock leaving the Bridge to tend to Chapel and M'Benga serves a couple of purposes. It hits the right emotional note as you say, but also it highlights just how young and brash he is compared with TOS and later, he likely doesn't have enough experience to be a captain in action yet hence Pike leaving him aboard a ship with a skeleton crew in spacedock. Famous last words indeed! Lol. I really loved that Uhura got to stand her ground with the tech guy, it shows how she's grown in confidence and knows her systems so well. A nice nod to Nicholls' Uhura whom Spock said there was no one better equipped to do repairs on her console by the time of Who Mourns for Adonais.
I see the cognitive blocks as just a new way to express what we already knew. Vulcans use logic to keep their emotions suppressed, and that logical thinking, when ritualised over decades of practice, could be thought of as cognitive blocks.
Regarding Spock leaving the bridge after they beam M'benga and Chapel back. He left the bridge because he is emotional, he wasn't thinking logically at that moment. Sure, he shouldn't have left the bridge but it made sense that he did considering his emotional state.
Absolutely right. Notice how this tiny freaky little nitpick of hers only comes out when it involves Nurse Chapel and Spock? Kirk would have done it if it were Spock or UHURA or McCoy so why can't Spock do it with Chapel? Is Jessie's little sarcastic costume displaying a little ANGER here? Kirk ran down to the transporter room all the time. Are we upset that Spock and Kirk aren't going to be GAY together?
Yeah but this is early Spock. Pre-Kirk Spock. Why is he so soggy? Why are 90% of the tears on this show Spock’s? Because Spock was emotional in the Kelvin verse and those films did well? Probably. But I didn’t like it there and I don’t here. I REALLY don’t like the idea he rejects emotion later because he can’t be with Nurse Chapel. (Someone he’s not even in a relationship with.). But I’m worried it’s headed that way.
Pelia was definitely the highlight of this episode! She was funny, she was brave, the fact that she joined the enterprise out of boredom. There is absolutely NO WAY she can replace Hemmer as ship engineer, but it will be interesting to see how she performs later on this season
Hemmer is and will always be the GOAT. But after this episode I wanna be on Pelia's crew. She's fun. I have a hunch that the Lanthanites are the Trek explanation for the "little people" and other sprite stories across planet Earth. If Pelia's an indication of average height, and the accent fits, plus a distinct dislike of boredom. It makes sense to me.
This episode dealt with internal conflict. Spock: unvulcan vulcan, war tourtured doctor, the highlander untroubled by what we expect from those sorts. Spock especially was always a character used to explore our very human lack of unity. Here, all the characters revealed this. Along your lines, this had TOS movie feel. The klingons have been portrayed like zealots in DIS. Here, we saw the charm of DS9 klingons who could be convinced it is a warrior's honor to farm. I think, as you said, not the strongest episode, but it was charming. SNW is never empty. Great review.
It is also very much in character for the production team is given that it's something that dates all the way back to the original series and reusing Enterprise sets for various Starbase corridors
See I'm assuming the superhuman drug is being set up here for a M'Benga/Chapel centric episode later this season. Most likely M'Benga. I think the PTSD we saw in this ep is definitely going to be dealt with down the line, so we'll probably get the explanation then.
Yeah, that's how I viewed it: now that his daughter's gone, they're setting up a new arc/storyline for M'Benga (and maybe Chapel, too) stemming from his time during the war and possibly the history/effects of that drug or what they did with it. Maybe a "the past is coming back to haunt you as you deal with the consequences of your actions" moment, maybe just dealing with PTSD.
I really hoped Uhura will sing when she came to his quarter, but they probably thought it would be too much for this use of lire. We will probably get it later.
- I'm not okay with the fighting drug scene. The good guys on Star Trek using drugs to fight seems like little Jimmy oughta get some meth to deal with those bullies at school. - Stealing the Enterprise so casually here undoes so much of other stories' gravity including Spock's trial in The Menagerie where he is charged with mutiny (not the first in his family!). - I cringed at them waiting for Spock to pick a phrase to go to warp but secretly hoped he'd say "Giddy up!" - Chapel is hot and she's very cool as a character. Remember she's got intimacy issues as well though she is every bit a match for Spock or anyone by any measure. I don't think there is more in store for them beyond the tension because she's as apt to run as he is if things got serious (she's actually a remarkable match for someone in my past with whom peace could never be found though it was always so tantalizingly close). Plus we definitely don't want a love child of theirs popping up with the Borg in a couple decades.
I initially assumed the drug they used was Cordrazine- The one that made McCoy go wild, but that was a red liquid. If they had gone with that angle though and maybe even had M’Benga and Chapel have to fight against the paranoia McCoy experienced, that woulda been a smidge more interesting! But as is, it was a smidge odd. I did like the way they played with time through that whole sequence though!
I'm actually relieved to hear you bring up the super soldier serum. I was wondering if I completely missed this being introduced last season but I guess not. From what I got from Wheaton's show they wanted to feature Olusanmokun fighting because the actor is a highly trained martial artist. Personally I really would have like it better to just say the character is also highly trained and not introduced Captain America serum out of nowhere.
Honestly, t's really going to depend on if they DO anything with it in future episodes with regards to the Green Go drug for me, like there is a interesting angle with Chapel's work in the pilot being applied to combat and in general exploring the affects of wars on healers and such BUT if they don't do anything then yeah it was just a random action piece for the sake of a random action piece.
I think there will be a background story for the combat drug. There was something unspoken which I really hope will explored later this season. The Discovery sickbay makes sense because the vessel was a crossfield class shop lime Discovery. It had a different drive section but that can be be auae it doesn't have a spore drive. Spock being hesitant during his first command would probably mirror Saru to much. Since he is more emotional after the gorn incident I'm willing to accept it as long as they convincingly show him becoming the logical Spock of TOS.
I loved Uhura asserting herself the way she did when that guy was trying to just reboot comms without checking to see if it was okay with her, first! Pelia was AMAZING! I loved how she was basically like "oh boy, looks like I gotta teach these kids how to steal a starship properly!" and is /totally/ into it!
I will say it’s not the first time we’ve seen it! We saw it with Tuvok in that episode where they’re like ‘yeah we took away his cognitive blocks and now he’s just very emotional and angry about shit.’
Unless they simply never bring up the drug again, the vibe I got is that the Federation does not actually condone the use of it, nor do they even actually know about it. The way the scene read to me is that this was a thing M'Benga and Chapel concocted to avoid a certain death situation during the war and that M'Benga has permanently kept on him in secret to feel safer. I assumed it was the introduction of a new larger plot point going forward, not just an asspull to allow for an exciting action sequence that we'll never see again.
my only complain this episode was the power level of the stimulant! i can imagine a doctor being able to whip up a cocktail of drugs out of desperation. and i can imagine someone traumatized by war to bring said Stim-Pack to any mission that involves Klingons. but it giving a *human* the ability to soundly defeat several Klingons, while surrounded and outnumbered, in unarmed combat, during the comedown? with no physical or psychological hangover? that thing would be standard issue on every Federation away-mission!
Well, it's unclear if there's no physical or psychological hangover, given we don't get a lot of time with M'Benga and Chapel afterwards (arguably, they could've still been feeling minimal effects of it when they went into space), so I do hope it gets followed up. I'd prefer it doesn't turn into a "secret addiction" storyline, but would like to see it be part of an episode focusing on M'Benga's past during the war.
I'm hoping they're forcing this "super serum" plot point as a way of creating some sort of defense for Una next episode or perhaps integrating it into a more interesting/important story beat later on. Otherwise it is a little weird that they would just be carrying around "super serum" all the time and yet it's never come up once during all the threats they faced in S1. So far this first episode isn't as good as I expected from all the great episodes from last season, but it has a lot of enjoyable bits..
I don't care about Klingons looking different; there are all sort of hand-wavium reasons for that. What I do wonder is why Kirk's cabin was a studio apartment (at best) in TOS and Pike's is, like, 20,000 square feet with a frickin' fireplace and full kitchen. Just kidding, I love it all. Can't wait for this new season!
Pelia is a great character! So happy that she's staying... Nichelle Nichols was such a great singer! Incredible 😢😢 P:S. Pelia reminds me of Heinlein's "Howards"
I think that this episode connects to Spocks previous on-screen command quite well since in this he is more connected to his human and emotional side while in OG he was trying to do it in a Logical and Vulcan way probably because of what's gonna happen in this season and what did happen in this episode. It makes the episode in OG much better.
The injections reminded me of Clarissa Mao in The Expanse and I sometimes confuse confuse La’an with Camina Drummer. I love both characters so it doesn’t bother me.
The Broken Circle may have needed more Federation weapons for additional false flag operations. They're making a major investment - banking on it to achieve the war with a single incident is a bad plan if they can avoid it, and some relatively cheap hand weapons would let them follow it up to establish a pattern without paying a huge amount more again.
I agree, Ethan peck killed that line but no more "whats your line" moments lol. And yeah the medical crew in combat was odd, i almost wonder if thats gonna become important somehow.
Regardless of the look, I’m glad the Klingons aren’t speaking Klingonese. The biggest flaw in the Disco ones, to me, was the lack of bombast and overwrought prose. When you had actors speaking Klingonese, in rather short sentences so the subtitles could fit on the screen, that robbed them of the texture and scenery chewing that made TNG-DS9 era Klingons so much fun. It’s also interesting to see the transition into “Cold War” style relations with the Klingons. Because that real-world political situation is so long ago (there are cast members on this show born after the fall of the Soviet Union), that doesn’t show up in media as much. I’m looking forward watching SNW’s take on it, whether or not there’s more of it this season.
i wonder if m'benga and chapel where not part of starfleet during the war but starfleet intelligence and the drug was left over form that time. i really want to know more of their past during the war as they where not on the enterprise during that time
About the Super drug - it feels particularly jarring for Chapel, because we saw in The Serene Squall she’s really not a fighter, & a drug that boosts your strength, reflexes etc. is one thing, but being able to fight is a skill.
I....honestly wonder if she isnt a fighter because of what she and M'benga apparently did in the war, like she very much CAN fight but she does not want to due to the memories of what she did fighting klingons.....gosh i'm really excited to see where that character arc goes.
@@kaitlyn__L Yes, but when she comes face to face with one of the pirates the fight is just a scramble on the floor until she gets him with the hypospray. She mostly tries to avoid the pirates. I imagine she snuck up on the ones in engineering.
I love this show. They offer fantastic deep dives into the TOS characters and episodes. I agree with you about some of the plot points. Especially the “Bane” serum being injected. But I do love the running gag of what the person says when they are in the Captains Chair. I want them to keep that going on everything 😊 26:03
One thing that definitely should be highlighted with that ending of Spock drinking blood wine with the Klingons is that it feels very much like an early Ambassadorial moment for Spock, who would, of course, go on to be a highly respected Ambassador later on in his life. While that moment didn’t lead to peace right away with the Klingon Empire, it is a moment where both sides were able to put aside differences and just have some fun hanging out together…and all thanks to Spock not being afraid to drink blood wine…😅 Remember that last season Spock seemed rather uncomfortable doing diplomatic things, that was more T’Pring’s thing…now though, it seems Spock has finally developed those skills and now we know just why he became soooo good in that role later on…😁
I was a bit gobsmacked by Spock stealing the Enterprise, and everyone else going along with it so easily. Everyone is a little too comfortable with the idea. I'm not mad or even that frustrated, but it made the episode a little silly. I think it hit stronger on the humor beats, but starting a season with a funny episode is weird. "Weird" is a good word for this episode. It's awkward weirdness. The pacing was really fast to me. I remember thinking at the start of the episode when Enterprise was still in dock that they had a lot to do in order to steal the ship and get to the edge of Federation space to pull off a rescue. It seemed like it was going to be a two-parter, which would have been bold as well. Also, Klingon sensors apparently suck if they can't spot a firefight until it's right on top of them.
Jessie- I think that the green super drug was not necessarily approved by Starfleet but both nurse Chappell and Dr. M’Benga used it during the war - remember Dr. M’Benga hid his child in a transporter buffer ( that was not per Star fleet regs) . Mines were used during the war etc. A lot went out the window when Star fleet got desperate.
Both characters are clever, so I think that they could have done it another way. But since they went there, I think that they should explore this. What side effects does this drug have? Is it addictive? Is it restricted now that the war is over?
While I do agree that Star Fleet and the Federation does get dirty when they get desparate, in many iterations I've seen it done it's always been wrapped around a significant discussion regarding the ethics in question. Here it sort of feels like a one-and-done plot item that's cast away after it's outlived it's usefulness in providing a justification for an action scene. I'd change my mind if future episodes discuss it, but if this ends up the only mention of it I would be pretty disappointed in that.
I don't know why (I've only watched this one once) but I got the impression that this was a drug developed in the field out of desperation, not something Starfleet R&D'd and distributed, and Chapel and M'Benga had to use it before together. Maybe it was even something M'Benga came up with himself. It read to me like some sort of hyped up emphetamine that was useful for fighting Klingons because it increased reaction and alertness and dulled pain--small edges a doctor would want to give to people. But it did strain credulity that they were able to take out so many seasoned Klingons, even with drugs.
I never saw captains choosing their go phrase as a joke, more like a rite of passage that can be funny and/ or fun. It's like naming a character/ weapon for a RPG or titling your first novel.
Literally finished the episode and ran over here to check your views on it. Really enjoyed this premiere; maybe not as much as the premiere for Season 1 but I enjoyed it for sure and I'm really looking forward to seeing where we go so boldly!
Bit of a wobbly Season Starter, but I'm excited anyways for what's to come; bit to corny action stuff in the middle there. Also things not very well explained, e.g. green steriod; but overall enjoyable. Liked seeing the 'Crossfield' as well; cool kitbash.
I definitely agree that this episode felt awkward. It felt like an episode where the writers were held hostage by higher-ups and were forced to write something action-packed to grab the audience's attention because they have zero respect for people's intelligence. The whole episode just felt a bit...off. Here's hoping the rest of the season shifts back to the vibes that the first was putting off.
The stolen ship is the same class as Discovery so having the same sickbay makes sense. I liked the drug thing. I had no idea they had previously served in an ugly war before. It made me appreciate their characters better and they clearly didn’t want to use the serum. The federation does some unethical things. It played well.
Bit underwhelming of a season starter for Snw but still looking forward to next week. I'm apprehensive about how their going to handle Spock's emotions subplot because I'm not interested in a love triangle. The green super steroids had me thinking I forgot some plot detail from S1.
I love that this is where Spock started playing his string instrument. I’ve started playing guitar, since I’ve been looking for my next phase of my career.
(I suspect on Ortegas' controls, it's like when you take the option to flip the up/down arrows when trying to play a flying game with keyboard or console controller. So maybe even the Gamergate crowd coul relate. (And, ooh, meeting Young Guinan. I think she'd be very crushworthy when not playing Guinan in a cynical mood. :) ) I think where I maybe had a problem was that the whole 'having to steal the Enterprise' plotlet was ...a little strained about them even having to do that. (I think it would at least have been a cool addition to cut to April in his office getting reports about the 'core breach' and sighing, "All right, that'll have to do, blow the gangways and tell them to go." :) (Also it really fits that M'Benga would have a Vulcan lyre cause in TOS it so happens he was actually familiar with Vulcan medicine from some previous posting. Which I guess would be a reason for McCoy to not be doing the doctoring in an episode or two.)
SO happy to see an older woman character in series, especially one this level of fun! Haven't seen an attitude that refreshing since Dr. River Song! 🎉😌👏🏾✨
One thing I found interesting was that the seems to be low-key suggesting fans stop worrying about visual depictions of aliens and technology matching up. Mitchell says the ship that takes off from the planet looks like a Crossfield-class, but it's notably different from Discovery and Glenn. It helps to establish that the shows just look different as opposed to needing to retcon changes.
I was thinking it was a Frankenstein ship. Saucer from a Crossfield, nacelles from some other ship. I know Disco wasn’t a standard example of its class because of being the test bed for the spore drive but I wouldn’t have thought it was so heavily modified as to have a whole different secondary hull.
I'm finding it sort of funny that I'm the flip-side of the potential issues you had (which I get!). Where as I couldn't look at the screen when Spock tried out his "warp command" I was totally down for the idea and execution of Chapel and M'Benga having actually been present for the Klingon war, AND them kicking a whole bunch of ass along the way in this episode. It adds some interesting shading to them both, and you're right, it does highlight (whether the show fully acknowledges it in future episodes or not) another big contradiction/hypocrisy of Starfleet. All I could think of during the fight was "this is really pretty damn good fight choreography, and wow, they look good." I, too, love the intro of the lyre...and it kinda makes me love M'Benga more that he was just like "how do I get this guy who's trying to fall back on logic process his emotions....AHA!...music/mathematics...he'll be able to reconcile that no problem." Also love that we have a little more filling out of the personalities of the bridge crew in the conspiracy to get Enterprise out of dock. And yeah, by the end of the episode I was down for Pelia. Also, La'an and her LOOKS at everything. I'm going to be quiet now. I promise.
Regarding the Lanthanites, Spock said "among other humans"... It seems they might be a human subspecies rather than entirely alien. Brings up some questions. Could random humans birth a Lanthanite? Can Lanthanites birth baseline humans? Are mixed families possible? Pelias accent was distinct enough that Uhura could put it together with her age to identify her as a Lanthanite, do they all come from some particular region of Earth? Is Flint a Lanthanite?
I was disappointed the Klignon commander wasn't a (pre-chancellor) Captain Gorkon. Would have setup why Spock stands for peace with the Klignons and Gorknon Star Trek 6 The Undiscovered Country.
Also, I haven't thanked you for cheering me up with all of your happy distractions in a while. So I thought I would come back to this video and say so! Thanks Jessie! You rock!
I am jealous. I am jealous. Of Jessie Gender. You got first dibs you got first dibs, I am jealous of you! Meanie! Not fair you got previewed. ;_; I really liked this episode. A part of me is kind of annoyed that the case with Number One remains unresolved. Another part that has me concerned was Spock's behavior, though I did like the beats with him and Nurse Chapel. It adds some depth to the relationship between Spock and Chapel in the original series.
I liked this episode well enough. I loved the hints at M’Benga and Chapel’s history. I loved the new Chief engineer. But I wasn’t a fan of the slow-mo stuff and the “plot to restart the war” felt super thin and didn’t feel like a threat. There were no stakes. I think if you swapped out a subplot for an actual head of this coalition, it would’ve been better. It was also nice to see classic Klingons again.
I was a bit disappointed the writers didn't subvert the 'Engage' scene. What I think should have happened: Spock: "Take us to the system of interest. Warp 5." Ortegas: "Are you going to say it? Your thing?" Spock: "My what?" Ortegas: "Your thing. Every captain has their thing." Spock: "Lieutenant Ortegas, we are in a stolen star ship responding to a distress call. Do not delay in your duties."
2:42 if that’s true then it would be an ironic echo to why the original Star Trek pilot The Cage was rejected by Paramount executives: too brainy, not enough action. 😅
Granted, Anson Mount is the nominal lead of the show, but is it really a "bold choice" to do a Star Trek episode centering on Spock? ;) I suspect they're going to make us suffer in regards to Spock and Chapel. We all want it to happen, but we also all know that it's not meant to be. In Christine's not too distant future, I suspect at this upcoming scientific archaeological conference that they deliberately seeded in the first scene, she is fated to meet one Dr Roger Korby. And don't forget that Spock has a appointment with destiny and a date with Leila Kalomi rapidly approaching. Of course, things won't work out between Spock and Leila, and with Christine now committed to Korby, Spock chooses to focus his energies once again on his relationship with T'Pring. And they'll live happily ever after. Right? So will Christine and Roger. Right? Nah, they're going to make us suffer with this one. They will delight in our pain as they repeatedly twist the knife. However, I don't believe all is lost. Recall in the third season of TNG when Picard that has a young cadet he attended the Sarek's "son's wedding". My head canon has the two of them reconnecting after Star Trek 6 eventually leading to the wedding in question. Got to have a happy ending, right?
This episode did something that only really the premiere episode of Gotham season 5 has done: made me realise just how much I missed the show while it was off air
This morning before I left for my job, I was watching; Intelexual Media: America's #1 Problem; level of literacy - 54% of American between the ages 16 - 24 read below 6th grade level. This is quite shocking. There is so much data that doesn't predict much good, and this in part explains a lot of the state USA is in. After returning from working, I was kinda expecting a Jessie video, and here it is. Sorry, I don't have anything to add to Star Trek things, but I did listen to your video...
Spoilers below for any skipping the spoiler section. . . . . . I think the fight scene choreography was weird. It was presented as this badass moment for these two characters, but Chapel felt like she was punching air most of the time and Mbenga. There was no weight to the fight. Though I did like how Mbenga seemed to hold up a little longer against the Klingons as the syrum was wearing out because his story in the episode seems to center around a hatred of Klingons due to whatever he experienced in the war and so it makes sense that he probably had natural adrenaline helping the serum last longer whereas Chapel doesn't hold that hatred and thus she wasn't able to remain in that state as long.
I'm fine with the "Captain needs a special line" joke as long as they stop having finale episodes where two fleets of enemy ships face off. That trope needs to go
This episode really didn't do it for me. The juicing up scene really took me out of it. Whole thing felt like filler to drag out Una's story. But hey, advantage of an episodic show- there's always a chance to do better next week.
I love your uniform, Jessie! It was a fun premiere, but I agree with you on certain aspects of the plot. Some of the plot points just didn't work for me or make sense. I am loving the Carol Kane character! ❤
Heh, the magic hypospray miraculously saves the day! I mean, there's a lot of sci-fi license in the tech of ST and granted, the green Hulk juice skirts a lot of problems (not the least of which is precious episode running time) but I was good with that! I can even believe that a residual effect of the drug is helping one survive the dire event of getting air-locked but hey, I'm sooo glad to see SNW coming back and hitting the ground running! Anyway, cheers on a nice review!
The problem I had with the action in this episode is it didn’t feel earned and seemed out of place. Serum or not, this was a long action sequence focused just on M’Benga & Chapel who weren’t a major focus of the episode prior to these scenes. This was a Spock & La’an story primarily, and secondary to that was introducing Pelia (Carol Kane). So it felt weird to spend so much time and have a big action set piece in the C plot. Not to say you can’t do that, Lower Decks does it frequently, but in this case it doesn’t contribute anything to the other story threads and messed with the structure and pacing of the episode. Given the amount of time spent on it, I think the goal is they’re setting up the serum for some arc they have planned. But this was a shakey start and took away from the rest of the episode. It’s not to say the episode is bad, but it could have been a lot stronger without that baggage.
This was a very good episode. My only gripe was Dr. M'Benga saying they "would freeze to death within a minute in space." You'll freeze faster standing in Antarctica than you will in space because of how heat transfer works. The reason we lose heat when we die is because the air sucks it out of this through convection and conduction, in space it can only be transferred via radiation of heat. This is something that Hollywood gets wrong constantly, with the only exception being The Expanse.
I totally agree with your review, pro and cons. You made me think about the guns, tho, maybe the intention was to use the guns on the surface to build more evidence against starfleet, I don't know. I wish they would have adressed this, as also the miraculous hypospray, or should I say, hyperspray? Lol
I agree that it was super weird that Mbenga and Chapel are allowed to take basically a super soldier serum when Number One is in trouble for genetic engineering, but oh well...maybe only permanent genetic alterations count?
The combat enhancing drug would be fairly easily developed from the same tech used for disguise purposes in season 1, if you can change facial features and the like with a short-term gene hack, then you can also enhance senses, amp up the arenal response, etc. My impression is that the main reason for the hand-to-hand combat focus is that the writers/producers wanted to utilize a resource they only recently became aware of. As if happens, Babs Olusanmokun, is a high-ranking Brazilian Jiujitsu practitioner. The origin of M'Benga's backstory involving time spent as a SpecOps medic or something of the sort is simply that they needed to explain the skills possessed by the actor portraying him.
When the trailer for the second season was released, there were people complaining that it looked like the cliffhanger of last season would too easily be brushed aside like Lower Decks, where Captain Freeman was escorted off the ship for her court martial for their cliffhanger and then it was all honky-dory early in the first episode of the next season. One of the problems with multiple shows of the same franchise is being released in the same year. It's harder to be original and not look like you're not borrowing/stealing from their family of shows.
I didn't realise the planet switching thing came from a comic. I know there was a treaty between France and Spain in the 1600s that did something similar with an island, and I thought that was where they got the idea from. Even still to this day, that island switches countries every 6 months
I saw the quick choice to take the enterprise as a reinforcement of Spock being emotionally driven. I liked M'Benga and Chapel fighting. I hope this leads to them working more of their backstory into the story. I also like the "coming out" comment.
I'm watching now on Roku TV - but easier to type on a keyboard so jumped on PC the engage (while still watching on TV lol)! Thank you for another awesome review! Picard Season 3 is a tough act to follow and SNW took it's own approach and is just as great! I loved SNW S2E1 - Carol Kane is fantastic - the entire scene where she busts the crew for something that would be a spoiler :) The chemistry between the entire cast, excellent acting, writing, directing, and visual effects are impressive. I love the humor weaved into the story and the character development was - wow! I'm so excited for Season 2 and watching your reviews - thank you again for another awesome Star Trek review!
Your commentary on the mysteriously convenient drug that just enables an action sequence is SO spot on and observant. The hypocrisy of it in light of the upcoming episode is ALSO SO observant. Kudos on some really, really informed, well thought out criticism. I hate to see Star Trek make any missteps, but I am hyper-impressed and emboldened that you confirmed my questions and concerns, while still enjoying this episode and series. Thank you for the great commentary. Love your channel. M
The mental blocks about emotion came from Voyager, Tuvok’s meld with Lon Suder broke them down and they had all those brain zappy things to try and raise them again.
The new engineer was just like, no shenanigans, unless i can be involved. I'm bored! Dr Obi's got 1 more secret to add to the list. Will anyone ever come calling for his daughter?! He figured out the secret to transcendence, but still needs to work through some of his issues, I guess? Fave line: "Vamanos." Lore questions about universal translator. if Ortegas was speaking Spanish the whole time, would that word get translated? Can the translator automatically understand language context?
the subtle way Ethan Peck portrayed Spock fanboying over our lovely new alien species absolutely made my entire week I am curious how Lanthanites differ from Guinan's species though. I hope there's a bit more of that. Like I don't need a lore deep dive but a few fun side comments about it would amuse me, esp since this character is very amusing and I bet Carol Kane's delivery of it would be absolutely amazing. But also back to Spock, I love that he was in charge for like 5 seconds and immediately went 'I see your regulations and have deemed them illogical. Let's go crew!' And I also love how strongly woven in comms was to the plot of this episode since this is the episode they dedicated to Nichelle. Edit: on the note of the serum, in general I didn't like it but it didn't catch me off guard, because in the moment my brain was like 'oh yeah I remember that' but then later I realized....I don't know why I felt that way. Is it something that was mentioned before at some point somewhere in any other show, marketing, hell even in a book at some point? Did I read talk about it on reddit or discord at some point? My brain remembered that serum being a thing but I have no idea why at all.
15:26 You know how Kirk would tell Sulu to go to warp? He would say "Ahead warp factor [whatever]." Captain Kirk reminds us that you don't need a catchphrase.
I wonder if T'pring will find out about Spock and Chapel and that's ultimately what causes her to choose Stonn as her husband over Spock. There was that whole bit in season 1 where she quite clearly considers Chapel beneath her for preety much racist reasons and how Spock expressing his human side around her was something that made her doubt their compatibility. She's clearly a very Enterprise-era style Vulcan in her attitudes to non-Vulcans...
When Spock asked the transporter chief where mbenga and chapel were, and he answered that they disappeared about an hour ago didn't sit right with me. Surely he should have informed Spock when they lost contact with them!
Spock used the Vulcan lute in TOS specifically to help him meditate and center himself. In Amok Time he’s trying to play the lute to calm down when he has his freak out and smashes the computer. And in Way to Eden he explains to the space hippies that the lute helps him channel his feelings. So that’s a great shout out for SNW to recognize that part of his character.
I didn't have an issue with the combat drug. I think it was a character moment, not simply an action moment. If you remember that scene, Chapel asks him if he always carries the drug, and he says yes. When you combine that answer with the other things he says about his experiences during the war it becomes clear that the drug is not simply a gimmick so they can fight Klingons hand-to-hand. It is a tangible symbol of his reaction to the war; PTSD in a hypospray.
Nurse Chapel is going the way of Kira Narice, a reluctant but ver capable fighter with deep personalist feelings, one a Dr, the other the Kia ( eventually so I'm told)
Good point
@@tortysoft Nurse Chappel is developing much different than her character was in TOS...IMHO anyway.
@@hawktriadin some really great ways, IMO. :)
I like that this episode essentially introduced us to Spocks own Kobyashi Maru! His first day in "The Chair" and he needed to confront his emotions on if to take the command decision of killing two of the crew or not to obtain the larger objective. Possibly inspiration for him designing the test for starfleet academy.
I think Spock leaving the Bridge to tend to Chapel and M'Benga serves a couple of purposes. It hits the right emotional note as you say, but also it highlights just how young and brash he is compared with TOS and later, he likely doesn't have enough experience to be a captain in action yet hence Pike leaving him aboard a ship with a skeleton crew in spacedock. Famous last words indeed! Lol.
I really loved that Uhura got to stand her ground with the tech guy, it shows how she's grown in confidence and knows her systems so well. A nice nod to Nicholls' Uhura whom Spock said there was no one better equipped to do repairs on her console by the time of Who Mourns for Adonais.
I see the cognitive blocks as just a new way to express what we already knew. Vulcans use logic to keep their emotions suppressed, and that logical thinking, when ritualised over decades of practice, could be thought of as cognitive blocks.
Regarding Spock leaving the bridge after they beam M'benga and Chapel back. He left the bridge because he is emotional, he wasn't thinking logically at that moment. Sure, he shouldn't have left the bridge but it made sense that he did considering his emotional state.
Absolutely right. Notice how this tiny freaky little nitpick of hers only comes out when it involves Nurse Chapel and Spock? Kirk would have done it if it were Spock or UHURA or McCoy so why can't Spock do it with Chapel? Is Jessie's little sarcastic costume displaying a little ANGER here? Kirk ran down to the transporter room all the time. Are we upset that Spock and Kirk aren't going to be GAY together?
Yeah but this is early Spock. Pre-Kirk Spock. Why is he so soggy? Why are 90% of the tears on this show Spock’s?
Because Spock was emotional in the Kelvin verse and those films did well? Probably. But I didn’t like it there and I don’t here. I REALLY don’t like the idea he rejects emotion later because he can’t be with Nurse Chapel. (Someone he’s not even in a relationship with.). But I’m worried it’s headed that way.
I just got completely starry-eyed with this episode from the moment Carol Kane stepped onscreen. The more of her we get, the better.
Something about Carol, I thought she was a delight in her role in Two and a Half Men. Having her become involved in Trek... Woohoo!!
she was best part
Jessie fully in her Tendi/Chapel era ♥️
I know She can't get any more whiter Even if she used bleach.
It shows off those sweeeeet dimples!
You should do your hair like Nurse chapel too!! It’s kinda close to it anyway just a little longer in front. ❤😊
Pelia was definitely the highlight of this episode! She was funny, she was brave, the fact that she joined the enterprise out of boredom. There is absolutely NO WAY she can replace Hemmer as ship engineer, but it will be interesting to see how she performs later on this season
She's not a replacement butt a successor.
Hemmer is and will always be the GOAT. But after this episode I wanna be on Pelia's crew. She's fun.
I have a hunch that the Lanthanites are the Trek explanation for the "little people" and other sprite stories across planet Earth. If Pelia's an indication of average height, and the accent fits, plus a distinct dislike of boredom. It makes sense to me.
Pelia, an awesome character. As I mentioned in Wil's Ready Room, Pelia would remind me if the Doctor or Romana beamed aboard the Enterprise.
I am so glad that I finally found out why Carol Kane has such a weird accent :)
@@williammitchell4417I NOTICED THE SAME THING!!!! 😅😂🤣😁
Pelia certainly has an old/young vibe to her and it just WORKS SOOOOOO WELL!!!! 😁
This episode dealt with internal conflict. Spock: unvulcan vulcan, war tourtured doctor, the highlander untroubled by what we expect from those sorts. Spock especially was always a character used to explore our very human lack of unity. Here, all the characters revealed this. Along your lines, this had TOS movie feel. The klingons have been portrayed like zealots in DIS. Here, we saw the charm of DS9 klingons who could be convinced it is a warrior's honor to farm. I think, as you said, not the strongest episode, but it was charming. SNW is never empty. Great review.
Our new chief engineer species name means "lying hidden." It feels fitting.
The captured ship did reuse Discovery’s saucer, so using those sets instead of redressing the enterprise sets does make sense in-universe as well
It is also very much in character for the production team is given that it's something that dates all the way back to the original series and reusing Enterprise sets for various Starbase corridors
See I'm assuming the superhuman drug is being set up here for a M'Benga/Chapel centric episode later this season. Most likely M'Benga. I think the PTSD we saw in this ep is definitely going to be dealt with down the line, so we'll probably get the explanation then.
Same--They obvious;y have shared history during the war.
Yeah, that's how I viewed it: now that his daughter's gone, they're setting up a new arc/storyline for M'Benga (and maybe Chapel, too) stemming from his time during the war and possibly the history/effects of that drug or what they did with it. Maybe a "the past is coming back to haunt you as you deal with the consequences of your actions" moment, maybe just dealing with PTSD.
"Warp me!" is the ultimate Captain catchphrase...no point in trying to top that! That being said, Spock's made me laugh out loud!
It beats "Frak me"😎
I really hoped Uhura will sing when she came to his quarter, but they probably thought it would be too much for this use of lire. We will probably get it later.
- I'm not okay with the fighting drug scene. The good guys on Star Trek using drugs to fight seems like little Jimmy oughta get some meth to deal with those bullies at school.
- Stealing the Enterprise so casually here undoes so much of other stories' gravity including Spock's trial in The Menagerie where he is charged with mutiny (not the first in his family!).
- I cringed at them waiting for Spock to pick a phrase to go to warp but secretly hoped he'd say "Giddy up!"
- Chapel is hot and she's very cool as a character. Remember she's got intimacy issues as well though she is every bit a match for Spock or anyone by any measure. I don't think there is more in store for them beyond the tension because she's as apt to run as he is if things got serious (she's actually a remarkable match for someone in my past with whom peace could never be found though it was always so tantalizingly close). Plus we definitely don't want a love child of theirs popping up with the Borg in a couple decades.
I initially assumed the drug they used was Cordrazine- The one that made McCoy go wild, but that was a red liquid. If they had gone with that angle though and maybe even had M’Benga and Chapel have to fight against the paranoia McCoy experienced, that woulda been a smidge more interesting! But as is, it was a smidge odd. I did like the way they played with time through that whole sequence though!
I'm actually relieved to hear you bring up the super soldier serum. I was wondering if I completely missed this being introduced last season but I guess not. From what I got from Wheaton's show they wanted to feature Olusanmokun fighting because the actor is a highly trained martial artist. Personally I really would have like it better to just say the character is also highly trained and not introduced Captain America serum out of nowhere.
Honestly, t's really going to depend on if they DO anything with it in future episodes with regards to the Green Go drug for me, like there is a interesting angle with Chapel's work in the pilot being applied to combat and in general exploring the affects of wars on healers and such BUT if they don't do anything then yeah it was just a random action piece for the sake of a random action piece.
I'm really enjoying Ethan Peck giving us these restrained but very powerful signs of emotion.
I think there will be a background story for the combat drug. There was something unspoken which I really hope will explored later this season.
The Discovery sickbay makes sense because the vessel was a crossfield class shop lime Discovery. It had a different drive section but that can be be auae it doesn't have a spore drive.
Spock being hesitant during his first command would probably mirror Saru to much. Since he is more emotional after the gorn incident I'm willing to accept it as long as they convincingly show him becoming the logical Spock of TOS.
I loved Uhura asserting herself the way she did when that guy was trying to just reboot comms without checking to see if it was okay with her, first! Pelia was AMAZING! I loved how she was basically like "oh boy, looks like I gotta teach these kids how to steal a starship properly!" and is /totally/ into it!
I will say it’s not the first time we’ve seen it! We saw it with Tuvok in that episode where they’re like ‘yeah we took away his cognitive blocks and now he’s just very emotional and angry about shit.’
Unless they simply never bring up the drug again, the vibe I got is that the Federation does not actually condone the use of it, nor do they even actually know about it. The way the scene read to me is that this was a thing M'Benga and Chapel concocted to avoid a certain death situation during the war and that M'Benga has permanently kept on him in secret to feel safer.
I assumed it was the introduction of a new larger plot point going forward, not just an asspull to allow for an exciting action sequence that we'll never see again.
my only complain this episode was the power level of the stimulant! i can imagine a doctor being able to whip up a cocktail of drugs out of desperation. and i can imagine someone traumatized by war to bring said Stim-Pack to any mission that involves Klingons.
but it giving a *human* the ability to soundly defeat several Klingons, while surrounded and outnumbered, in unarmed combat, during the comedown? with no physical or psychological hangover? that thing would be standard issue on every Federation away-mission!
Well, it's unclear if there's no physical or psychological hangover, given we don't get a lot of time with M'Benga and Chapel afterwards (arguably, they could've still been feeling minimal effects of it when they went into space), so I do hope it gets followed up. I'd prefer it doesn't turn into a "secret addiction" storyline, but would like to see it be part of an episode focusing on M'Benga's past during the war.
I'm hoping they're forcing this "super serum" plot point as a way of creating some sort of defense for Una next episode or perhaps integrating it into a more interesting/important story beat later on. Otherwise it is a little weird that they would just be carrying around "super serum" all the time and yet it's never come up once during all the threats they faced in S1. So far this first episode isn't as good as I expected from all the great episodes from last season, but it has a lot of enjoyable bits..
I don't care about Klingons looking different; there are all sort of hand-wavium reasons for that. What I do wonder is why Kirk's cabin was a studio apartment (at best) in TOS and Pike's is, like, 20,000 square feet with a frickin' fireplace and full kitchen.
Just kidding, I love it all. Can't wait for this new season!
At least the Klingon makeup is better than the Klingons in discovery
Pelia's wanting to join the crew to combat boredom really reminded me of Simon Pegg's Kelvin-Scotty: "I like this ship! It's exciting!"
“All Transporter Chiefs Need to Be Twinks” has now inexorably categorized O’Brien as a twink in my mind, and I’m loving it 😂
Pelia is a great character! So happy that she's staying...
Nichelle Nichols was such a great singer! Incredible 😢😢
P:S. Pelia reminds me of Heinlein's "Howards"
Two things true at one time: 1.) I liked this episode. 2.) It seemed slightly sophomoric.
I think that this episode connects to Spocks previous on-screen command quite well since in this he is more connected to his human and emotional side while in OG he was trying to do it in a Logical and Vulcan way probably because of what's gonna happen in this season and what did happen in this episode. It makes the episode in OG much better.
The injections reminded me of Clarissa Mao in The Expanse and I sometimes confuse confuse La’an with Camina Drummer. I love both characters so it doesn’t bother me.
My heart melted & cried at the dedication... "Hailing frequencies always open..." 😢
An omage to Nichelle RIP 🙏
My life is a perpetual leaving of the bridge when I am needed most.
The Broken Circle may have needed more Federation weapons for additional false flag operations. They're making a major investment - banking on it to achieve the war with a single incident is a bad plan if they can avoid it, and some relatively cheap hand weapons would let them follow it up to establish a pattern without paying a huge amount more again.
I agree, Ethan peck killed that line but no more "whats your line" moments lol. And yeah the medical crew in combat was odd, i almost wonder if thats gonna become important somehow.
Regardless of the look, I’m glad the Klingons aren’t speaking Klingonese. The biggest flaw in the Disco ones, to me, was the lack of bombast and overwrought prose. When you had actors speaking Klingonese, in rather short sentences so the subtitles could fit on the screen, that robbed them of the texture and scenery chewing that made TNG-DS9 era Klingons so much fun.
It’s also interesting to see the transition into “Cold War” style relations with the Klingons. Because that real-world political situation is so long ago (there are cast members on this show born after the fall of the Soviet Union), that doesn’t show up in media as much. I’m looking forward watching SNW’s take on it, whether or not there’s more of it this season.
i wonder if m'benga and chapel where not part of starfleet during the war but starfleet intelligence and the drug was left over form that time.
i really want to know more of their past during the war as they where not on the enterprise during that time
Section 31? 🤔
About the Super drug - it feels particularly jarring for Chapel, because we saw in The Serene Squall she’s really not a fighter, & a drug that boosts your strength, reflexes etc. is one thing, but being able to fight is a skill.
I....honestly wonder if she isnt a fighter because of what she and M'benga apparently did in the war, like she very much CAN fight but she does not want to due to the memories of what she did fighting klingons.....gosh i'm really excited to see where that character arc goes.
I thought she was remarkably competent in Serene Squall tbh
@@kaitlyn__L Yes, but when she comes face to face with one of the pirates the fight is just a scramble on the floor until she gets him with the hypospray. She mostly tries to avoid the pirates. I imagine she snuck up on the ones in engineering.
I love this show. They offer fantastic deep dives into the TOS characters and episodes. I agree with you about some of the plot points. Especially the “Bane” serum being injected. But I do love the running gag of what the person says when they are in the Captains Chair. I want them to keep that going on everything 😊 26:03
One thing that definitely should be highlighted with that ending of Spock drinking blood wine with the Klingons is that it feels very much like an early Ambassadorial moment for Spock, who would, of course, go on to be a highly respected Ambassador later on in his life. While that moment didn’t lead to peace right away with the Klingon Empire, it is a moment where both sides were able to put aside differences and just have some fun hanging out together…and all thanks to Spock not being afraid to drink blood wine…😅
Remember that last season Spock seemed rather uncomfortable doing diplomatic things, that was more T’Pring’s thing…now though, it seems Spock has finally developed those skills and now we know just why he became soooo good in that role later on…😁
I was a bit gobsmacked by Spock stealing the Enterprise, and everyone else going along with it so easily. Everyone is a little too comfortable with the idea. I'm not mad or even that frustrated, but it made the episode a little silly. I think it hit stronger on the humor beats, but starting a season with a funny episode is weird. "Weird" is a good word for this episode. It's awkward weirdness. The pacing was really fast to me. I remember thinking at the start of the episode when Enterprise was still in dock that they had a lot to do in order to steal the ship and get to the edge of Federation space to pull off a rescue. It seemed like it was going to be a two-parter, which would have been bold as well. Also, Klingon sensors apparently suck if they can't spot a firefight until it's right on top of them.
He needed somebody to counter his idea. If McCoy had been there he would have asked, "Are you out of your Vulcan mind?"
Jessie- I think that the green super drug was not necessarily approved by Starfleet but both nurse Chappell and Dr. M’Benga used it during the war - remember Dr. M’Benga hid his child in a transporter buffer ( that was not per Star fleet regs) . Mines were used during the war etc. A lot went out the window when Star fleet got desperate.
Both characters are clever, so I think that they could have done it another way. But since they went there, I think that they should explore this. What side effects does this drug have? Is it addictive? Is it restricted now that the war is over?
While I do agree that Star Fleet and the Federation does get dirty when they get desparate, in many iterations I've seen it done it's always been wrapped around a significant discussion regarding the ethics in question. Here it sort of feels like a one-and-done plot item that's cast away after it's outlived it's usefulness in providing a justification for an action scene. I'd change my mind if future episodes discuss it, but if this ends up the only mention of it I would be pretty disappointed in that.
I would be shocked if they didn’t explore it. It makes no sense to think they won’t unless we’re assuming the writers are totally incompetent.
@@katrose5179 It's not necessarily incompetence. sometimes there's just so many storylines that they never get around to addressing a point.
I don't know why (I've only watched this one once) but I got the impression that this was a drug developed in the field out of desperation, not something Starfleet R&D'd and distributed, and Chapel and M'Benga had to use it before together. Maybe it was even something M'Benga came up with himself. It read to me like some sort of hyped up emphetamine that was useful for fighting Klingons because it increased reaction and alertness and dulled pain--small edges a doctor would want to give to people. But it did strain credulity that they were able to take out so many seasoned Klingons, even with drugs.
I never saw captains choosing their go phrase as a joke, more like a rite of passage that can be funny and/ or fun. It's like naming a character/ weapon for a RPG or titling your first novel.
"Lanthanite" probably comes from Ancient Greek _lanthanein,_ which means "to escape notice" ☺
My headcanon is that that Klingon captain was a younger version of Chancellor Gorkon.
Literally finished the episode and ran over here to check your views on it. Really enjoyed this premiere; maybe not as much as the premiere for Season 1 but I enjoyed it for sure and I'm really looking forward to seeing where we go so boldly!
I wait for Jessie's video to drop before watching the episode.
Bit of a wobbly Season Starter, but I'm excited anyways for what's to come; bit to corny action stuff in the middle there. Also things not very well explained, e.g. green steriod; but overall enjoyable. Liked seeing the 'Crossfield' as well; cool kitbash.
I definitely agree that this episode felt awkward. It felt like an episode where the writers were held hostage by higher-ups and were forced to write something action-packed to grab the audience's attention because they have zero respect for people's intelligence. The whole episode just felt a bit...off. Here's hoping the rest of the season shifts back to the vibes that the first was putting off.
Chapel's reaction when Spock clarified he wants to steal the Enterprise was totally, "You are SO HOT right now."
The stolen ship is the same class as Discovery so having the same sickbay makes sense.
I liked the drug thing. I had no idea they had previously served in an ugly war before. It made me appreciate their characters better and they clearly didn’t want to use the serum. The federation does some unethical things. It played well.
Bit underwhelming of a season starter for Snw but still looking forward to next week. I'm apprehensive about how their going to handle Spock's emotions subplot because I'm not interested in a love triangle. The green super steroids had me thinking I forgot some plot detail from S1.
Underwhelming??????? Seriously? Flippant, maybe, if you want, but not underwhelming!
I love that this is where Spock started playing his string instrument. I’ve started playing guitar, since I’ve been looking for my next phase of my career.
(I suspect on Ortegas' controls, it's like when you take the option to flip the up/down arrows when trying to play a flying game with keyboard or console controller. So maybe even the Gamergate crowd coul relate. (And, ooh, meeting Young Guinan. I think she'd be very crushworthy when not playing Guinan in a cynical mood. :) ) I think where I maybe had a problem was that the whole 'having to steal the Enterprise' plotlet was ...a little strained about them even having to do that. (I think it would at least have been a cool addition to cut to April in his office getting reports about the 'core breach' and sighing, "All right, that'll have to do, blow the gangways and tell them to go." :)
(Also it really fits that M'Benga would have a Vulcan lyre cause in TOS it so happens he was actually familiar with Vulcan medicine from some previous posting. Which I guess would be a reason for McCoy to not be doing the doctoring in an episode or two.)
Those dilithium miners should have learned about Rule of Acquisition # 35: Peace is good for business.
Spock: “we’re going to steal the Enterprise”
Me: “AGAIN they really need to put a lock on that ship”
SO happy to see an older woman character in series, especially one this level of fun!
Haven't seen an attitude that refreshing since Dr. River Song! 🎉😌👏🏾✨
One thing I found interesting was that the seems to be low-key suggesting fans stop worrying about visual depictions of aliens and technology matching up. Mitchell says the ship that takes off from the planet looks like a Crossfield-class, but it's notably different from Discovery and Glenn. It helps to establish that the shows just look different as opposed to needing to retcon changes.
I was thinking it was a Frankenstein ship. Saucer from a Crossfield, nacelles from some other ship. I know Disco wasn’t a standard example of its class because of being the test bed for the spore drive but I wouldn’t have thought it was so heavily modified as to have a whole different secondary hull.
I'm finding it sort of funny that I'm the flip-side of the potential issues you had (which I get!). Where as I couldn't look at the screen when Spock tried out his "warp command" I was totally down for the idea and execution of Chapel and M'Benga having actually been present for the Klingon war, AND them kicking a whole bunch of ass along the way in this episode. It adds some interesting shading to them both, and you're right, it does highlight (whether the show fully acknowledges it in future episodes or not) another big contradiction/hypocrisy of Starfleet. All I could think of during the fight was "this is really pretty damn good fight choreography, and wow, they look good."
I, too, love the intro of the lyre...and it kinda makes me love M'Benga more that he was just like "how do I get this guy who's trying to fall back on logic process his emotions....AHA!...music/mathematics...he'll be able to reconcile that no problem."
Also love that we have a little more filling out of the personalities of the bridge crew in the conspiracy to get Enterprise out of dock. And yeah, by the end of the episode I was down for Pelia. Also, La'an and her LOOKS at everything. I'm going to be quiet now. I promise.
Yeah, I didn't like the Compound V part. They could have just try to sneak up and end up cornered on the airlock. Better it ends up paying greatly
Regarding the Lanthanites, Spock said "among other humans"... It seems they might be a human subspecies rather than entirely alien.
Brings up some questions. Could random humans birth a Lanthanite? Can Lanthanites birth baseline humans? Are mixed families possible? Pelias accent was distinct enough that Uhura could put it together with her age to identify her as a Lanthanite, do they all come from some particular region of Earth?
Is Flint a Lanthanite?
I was disappointed the Klignon commander wasn't a (pre-chancellor) Captain Gorkon. Would have setup why Spock stands for peace with the Klignons and Gorknon Star Trek 6 The Undiscovered Country.
Also, I haven't thanked you for cheering me up with all of your happy distractions in a while. So I thought I would come back to this video and say so! Thanks Jessie! You rock!
I think Pelia might be connected to Flint.
I also loved that this was a low-key prequel to Undiscovered Country.
I am jealous. I am jealous. Of Jessie Gender. You got first dibs you got first dibs, I am jealous of you! Meanie! Not fair you got previewed. ;_; I really liked this episode. A part of me is kind of annoyed that the case with Number One remains unresolved. Another part that has me concerned was Spock's behavior, though I did like the beats with him and Nurse Chapel. It adds some depth to the relationship between Spock and Chapel in the original series.
I liked this episode well enough. I loved the hints at M’Benga and Chapel’s history. I loved the new Chief engineer. But I wasn’t a fan of the slow-mo stuff and the “plot to restart the war” felt super thin and didn’t feel like a threat. There were no stakes. I think if you swapped out a subplot for an actual head of this coalition, it would’ve been better. It was also nice to see classic Klingons again.
Fun fact: Anson Mount was off set for the birth of his child so they needed to write around that.
I was a bit disappointed the writers didn't subvert the 'Engage' scene. What I think should have happened:
Spock: "Take us to the system of interest. Warp 5."
Ortegas: "Are you going to say it? Your thing?"
Spock: "My what?"
Ortegas: "Your thing. Every captain has their thing."
Spock: "Lieutenant Ortegas, we are in a stolen star ship responding to a distress call. Do not delay in your duties."
Oh, I'm glad you confirmed the combat drug thing wasn't setup previously, I was SO confused!
2:42 if that’s true then it would be an ironic echo to why the original Star Trek pilot The Cage was rejected by Paramount executives: too brainy, not enough action. 😅
Granted, Anson Mount is the nominal lead of the show, but is it really a "bold choice" to do a Star Trek episode centering on Spock? ;)
I suspect they're going to make us suffer in regards to Spock and Chapel. We all want it to happen, but we also all know that it's not meant to be. In Christine's not too distant future, I suspect at this upcoming scientific archaeological conference that they deliberately seeded in the first scene, she is fated to meet one Dr Roger Korby. And don't forget that Spock has a appointment with destiny and a date with Leila Kalomi rapidly approaching. Of course, things won't work out between Spock and Leila, and with Christine now committed to Korby, Spock chooses to focus his energies once again on his relationship with T'Pring. And they'll live happily ever after. Right? So will Christine and Roger. Right?
Nah, they're going to make us suffer with this one. They will delight in our pain as they repeatedly twist the knife.
However, I don't believe all is lost. Recall in the third season of TNG when Picard that has a young cadet he attended the Sarek's "son's wedding". My head canon has the two of them reconnecting after Star Trek 6 eventually leading to the wedding in question. Got to have a happy ending, right?
As a musician I was super excited to see the Vulcan harp. This one looks like a playable instrument. I want one!
This episode did something that only really the premiere episode of Gotham season 5 has done: made me realise just how much I missed the show while it was off air
This morning before I left for my job, I was watching; Intelexual Media: America's #1 Problem; level of literacy - 54% of American between the ages 16 - 24 read below 6th grade level. This is quite shocking. There is so much data that doesn't predict much good, and this in part explains a lot of the state USA is in. After returning from working, I was kinda expecting a Jessie video, and here it is. Sorry, I don't have anything to add to Star Trek things, but I did listen to your video...
Spoilers below for any skipping the spoiler section.
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I think the fight scene choreography was weird. It was presented as this badass moment for these two characters, but Chapel felt like she was punching air most of the time and Mbenga.
There was no weight to the fight.
Though I did like how Mbenga seemed to hold up a little longer against the Klingons as the syrum was wearing out because his story in the episode seems to center around a hatred of Klingons due to whatever he experienced in the war and so it makes sense that he probably had natural adrenaline helping the serum last longer whereas Chapel doesn't hold that hatred and thus she wasn't able to remain in that state as long.
I'm fine with the "Captain needs a special line" joke as long as they stop having finale episodes where two fleets of enemy ships face off. That trope needs to go
This episode really didn't do it for me. The juicing up scene really took me out of it. Whole thing felt like filler to drag out Una's story. But hey, advantage of an episodic show- there's always a chance to do better next week.
I love your uniform, Jessie! It was a fun premiere, but I agree with you on certain aspects of the plot. Some of the plot points
just didn't work for me or make sense. I am loving the Carol Kane character! ❤
Heh, the magic hypospray miraculously saves the day! I mean, there's a lot of sci-fi license in the tech of ST and granted, the green Hulk juice skirts a lot of problems (not the least of which is precious episode running time) but I was good with that! I can even believe that a residual effect of the drug is helping one survive the dire event of getting air-locked but hey, I'm sooo glad to see SNW coming back and hitting the ground running! Anyway, cheers on a nice review!
The problem I had with the action in this episode is it didn’t feel earned and seemed out of place. Serum or not, this was a long action sequence focused just on M’Benga & Chapel who weren’t a major focus of the episode prior to these scenes. This was a Spock & La’an story primarily, and secondary to that was introducing Pelia (Carol Kane). So it felt weird to spend so much time and have a big action set piece in the C plot. Not to say you can’t do that, Lower Decks does it frequently, but in this case it doesn’t contribute anything to the other story threads and messed with the structure and pacing of the episode.
Given the amount of time spent on it, I think the goal is they’re setting up the serum for some arc they have planned. But this was a shakey start and took away from the rest of the episode. It’s not to say the episode is bad, but it could have been a lot stronger without that baggage.
Glad Im not the only one who felt this way about the premiere being so action heavy.
This was a very good episode. My only gripe was Dr. M'Benga saying they "would freeze to death within a minute in space." You'll freeze faster standing in Antarctica than you will in space because of how heat transfer works. The reason we lose heat when we die is because the air sucks it out of this through convection and conduction, in space it can only be transferred via radiation of heat. This is something that Hollywood gets wrong constantly, with the only exception being The Expanse.
Does anyone know what the meaning is of the eye gesture M'Benga does with La'an? They do it in the pilot too.
I totally agree with your review, pro and cons. You made me think about the guns, tho, maybe the intention was to use the guns on the surface to build more evidence against starfleet, I don't know. I wish they would have adressed this, as also the miraculous hypospray, or should I say, hyperspray? Lol
1:44 to “bald-ly” go no one have gone before.
I agree that it was super weird that Mbenga and Chapel are allowed to take basically a super soldier serum when Number One is in trouble for genetic engineering, but oh well...maybe only permanent genetic alterations count?
The combat enhancing drug would be fairly easily developed from the same tech used for disguise purposes in season 1, if you can change facial features and the like with a short-term gene hack, then you can also enhance senses, amp up the arenal response, etc.
My impression is that the main reason for the hand-to-hand combat focus is that the writers/producers wanted to utilize a resource they only recently became aware of. As if happens, Babs Olusanmokun, is a high-ranking Brazilian Jiujitsu practitioner. The origin of M'Benga's backstory involving time spent as a SpecOps medic or something of the sort is simply that they needed to explain the skills possessed by the actor portraying him.
When the trailer for the second season was released, there were people complaining that it looked like the cliffhanger of last season would too easily be brushed aside like Lower Decks, where Captain Freeman was escorted off the ship for her court martial for their cliffhanger and then it was all honky-dory early in the first episode of the next season.
One of the problems with multiple shows of the same franchise is being released in the same year. It's harder to be original and not look like you're not borrowing/stealing from their family of shows.
I didn't realise the planet switching thing came from a comic. I know there was a treaty between France and Spain in the 1600s that did something similar with an island, and I thought that was where they got the idea from.
Even still to this day, that island switches countries every 6 months
I saw the quick choice to take the enterprise as a reinforcement of Spock being emotionally driven. I liked M'Benga and Chapel fighting. I hope this leads to them working more of their backstory into the story. I also like the "coming out" comment.
I'm watching now on Roku TV - but easier to type on a keyboard so jumped on PC the engage (while still watching on TV lol)! Thank you for another awesome review! Picard Season 3 is a tough act to follow and SNW took it's own approach and is just as great! I loved SNW S2E1 - Carol Kane is fantastic - the entire scene where she busts the crew for something that would be a spoiler :) The chemistry between the entire cast, excellent acting, writing, directing, and visual effects are impressive. I love the humor weaved into the story and the character development was - wow! I'm so excited for Season 2 and watching your reviews - thank you again for another awesome Star Trek review!
Your commentary on the mysteriously convenient drug that just enables an action sequence is SO spot on and observant. The hypocrisy of it in light of the upcoming episode is ALSO SO observant. Kudos on some really, really informed, well thought out criticism. I hate to see Star Trek make any missteps, but I am hyper-impressed and emboldened that you confirmed my questions and concerns, while still enjoying this episode and series. Thank you for the great commentary. Love your channel. M
Funny how you mention "they used the original klingon look" when that's definitely not it haha.
"I would like the ship to go.... now." sounds like something a Pakled captain would say.
The mental blocks about emotion came from Voyager, Tuvok’s meld with Lon Suder broke them down and they had all those brain zappy things to try and raise them again.
The new engineer was just like, no shenanigans, unless i can be involved. I'm bored!
Dr Obi's got 1 more secret to add to the list. Will anyone ever come calling for his daughter?! He figured out the secret to transcendence, but still needs to work through some of his issues, I guess?
Fave line: "Vamanos." Lore questions about universal translator. if Ortegas was speaking Spanish the whole time, would that word get translated? Can the translator automatically understand language context?
the subtle way Ethan Peck portrayed Spock fanboying over our lovely new alien species absolutely made my entire week
I am curious how Lanthanites differ from Guinan's species though. I hope there's a bit more of that. Like I don't need a lore deep dive but a few fun side comments about it would amuse me, esp since this character is very amusing and I bet Carol Kane's delivery of it would be absolutely amazing.
But also back to Spock, I love that he was in charge for like 5 seconds and immediately went 'I see your regulations and have deemed them illogical. Let's go crew!'
And I also love how strongly woven in comms was to the plot of this episode since this is the episode they dedicated to Nichelle.
Edit: on the note of the serum, in general I didn't like it but it didn't catch me off guard, because in the moment my brain was like 'oh yeah I remember that' but then later I realized....I don't know why I felt that way. Is it something that was mentioned before at some point somewhere in any other show, marketing, hell even in a book at some point? Did I read talk about it on reddit or discord at some point? My brain remembered that serum being a thing but I have no idea why at all.
15:26 You know how Kirk would tell Sulu to go to warp? He would say "Ahead warp factor [whatever]." Captain Kirk reminds us that you don't need a catchphrase.
I wonder if T'pring will find out about Spock and Chapel and that's ultimately what causes her to choose Stonn as her husband over Spock.
There was that whole bit in season 1 where she quite clearly considers Chapel beneath her for preety much racist reasons and how Spock expressing his human side around her was something that made her doubt their compatibility.
She's clearly a very Enterprise-era style Vulcan in her attitudes to non-Vulcans...
When Spock asked the transporter chief where mbenga and chapel were, and he answered that they disappeared about an hour ago didn't sit right with me. Surely he should have informed Spock when they lost contact with them!