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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Subspace Rhapsody (2023)
Well...that was a thing
I don't care much for Musicals, outside of your traditional Disney film, the only one that I actually liked was "Singing in the Rain", but in general I tolerate them; especially if there are important story beats. In the case for SNW, it's the 3 romantic relationships going on this season.
James Kirk & La'an: As interesting as that potential relationship could've been, as long as the showrunners are claiming to follow canon it was doomed to fail, or in this case it never gets started. And ironically it's probably the best handled relationship in the show.
But we did learn a few things, that James is currently in a complicated relationship with Carol Marcus and she's pregnant with David. Given the timeline, that tracks with TWOK.
Pike & Batel: They're going through the usual relationship issues you'd expect. But the whole thing sets off Flags for me. For one Pike has been resigned to his garbage fate in the space wheelchair in a few years, so the pursuit of this relationship seems futile. Plus the idea of Pike intentionally dragging his potential future wife through the experience of watching him go through all that seems wrong on so many levels. And then there's the season finale where Batel could potentially die from a Gorn attack, which if that's the case seems kinda contrived to certain extent.
The whole Pike & Batel relationship shouldn't even be a thing due to Pike willingly accepting his terrible future. It would be one thing IF Pike decided to change his fate, so he'd be free to make that choice and pursue a future with Batel. But it's not, he's still pursuing it as if his fate isn't even a factor, which is baffling since Pike should know better. At best it's narratively disconnected-like the writer was completely unaware or ignored the elephant in the room; or at worst it seems irresponsible & selfish.
And lastly, Spock & Chapel: Which overall seems like a waste of time, seeing how the showrunners are willing to break them up so fast, after dragging out this whole "will they, won't they" for a season and a half, only to break them up two episodes into their relationship. Chapel comes off as completely disinterested in Spock at this point, and poor Spock seems like he's the only one actually trying to make it work. It makes her entire infatuation with him come off as incredibly shallow, and makes Spock an idiot for even giving her a chance.
It's like as soon as the "chase" was over, and Chapel finally had Spock, she didn't know what to do with him. And now she just wants to get rid of him. She has a career that's taking off and she needs to focus on that, and not have Spock "suffocate" her with all this love & attention he's been trying to give her.
The whole situation is contrived, like the kind of artificial drama you'd get from a soap opera and bad romantic fanfics, where the root problem stems from one or both characters not communicating for no apparent reason. Because the Plot just needs them to break up.
And IF this is supposed to be canon with TOS, it just diminishes Majel Barrett's portrayal overall.
Context matters. And the context that SNW adds makes Spock completely justified in ignoring Chapel's feelings for him. Why give the woman who (very publicly) stomped your feelings into the ground a second chance? She basically left to pursue her career and new life, and when it didn't work out, she's crawling back to her old boyfriend-because she remembers that he genuinely cared at one point. You know, before she lit the relationship on fire.
Spock's constant refusal to reciprocate her feelings, now come off as him just not wanting to deal with that mess again, rather him just sticking with his Vulcan ways.
In my opinion, it retroactively makes TOS-Chapel seem more pathetic & desperate.
If the writers were smart and the showrunners had a better understanding of TOS, Spock x Chapel should have never happened, at least not this early. They could've kept their season one dynamic going for the entirety of show's duration and it would be perfectly fine and somewhat canon compliant.
But writing around pre-established events in a prequel series in a smart way, seems like a tall order for these writers. And being subtle seems completely out of their wheelhouse.
As for the rest of the episode, it's fine I guess. Though I think the whole Musical aspect to be nonsensical Trek-wise without the inclusion of some godlike entity magically pulling the strings. Cuz from a scientific or Sci-fi perspective it doesn't make any sense. It just comes off as yet another show wanting to copy "Buffy" because their musical episode was really popular back in the day. And ever since then, every other show wants their version of "Once More With Feeling".
And having yet another gimmicky episode this season seems like a waste of an episode given how short these Streaming seasons tend to be. Maybe if there were more episodes or closer to a traditional 22-26 episode season it would be more acceptable.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Those Old Scientists (2023)
Looks like "Lower Decks" is officially canon.
As cool as the idea is to have a crossover episode with "Lower Decks", it feels like a wasted episode in an already short season with only 10 episodes. If it was 22-26 episodes, it would be fine. But as is, it could've been spent doing something more important than what amounts to a glorified gimmick.
For the most part, very little was accomplished. Pike basically learns to let people in who want to spend time with him and by that extent allow people to just celebrate his birthday with him, especially if he's aware that he doesn't have much time left.
Which kinda rings hollow since he COULD change his future, and not condemn himself to that garbage fate. But instead of seeking a better alternative, he chose a while back not to do anything about it, because the plot says so-cuz canon. (S1E10-"Quality of Mercy")
An excuse that holds increasingly less weight the more changes this show makes to Trek canon in general.
Then there is Spock's and by extension, Chapel's story arc thus far. The last two episodes made it actually feel significant, like it served a purpose in moving those characters forward. But then Biomler just reconfirms (to Chapel's face) that she's basically wasting her time with Spock and their relationship won't go anywhere. Spock will not only revert back to his previous self, that he will double down on being even more "Vulcan" than he was before. So, all this emotional development for him is pointless, and that Chapel made absolutely no impact on his life. Going by Chapel's reaction, it looked like it was soul crushing for her to find that out.
And there was an interesting moment when Spock went to confront Boimler about what he said to Chapel, but it basically amounted to him saying that he'll just keep on doing what he's doing now. Even though it ultimately pointless in the grand scheme of things.
Then there's the moment Una finds out she's a role model/postergirl for Starfleet, with her "Ad Astra"-line from S2E2 being a well known slogan in the future. Which on the surface is kinda cool.
But then you remember that Dr. Bashir's dad is STILL incarcerated in a Federation Penal Colony for Genetic Modifications in Boimler & Mariner's time, which kinda diminishes the outcome of that courtroom episode to a degree.
The problem I continue have with this show is that it likes to cherry-pick which part of canon to adhere to, while basically retconning everything else, all the while still claiming that this is somehow the Prime Universe. If that were true, then stop changing things, and learn to write around them.
Because when you give your characters easy outs, and then have them ignore it for stupid or contrived reasons, it makes your character look dumb and your story pointless.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Lost in Translation (2023)
Best episode of the season so far
This is probably the best episode I've seen this season, and the most well written. It genuinely has the feel of a late-TNG episode, which is the honey spot for most Trekkies. It had just about everything:
Spock & Chapel playing 3D-Chess while talking about their new relationship. More Sam Kirk, with probably the most screen time he's had on this show; and him actually interacting with his brother James. Which leads into La'an actually meeting this James Kirk and slightly acknowledging the Timetravel shenanigans from episode 3. We actually get to see Una being a field commander with the Away Team-which is rare for some reason.
I mean she's more or less the "Riker" of the show- the 1st Officer, and she barely goes on any Away Team/Landing Party missions. It's nice to see her actually doing more of her job, instead just being treated like a background character.
But first and foremost, this as a Uhura centric episode that has a bit of character development, but unlike M'Benga's "Elysium Kingdom" episode, it actually has a satisfying resolution to one of Uhura's backstory threads, while also incorporating all the times Hemmer spent with her in a way that was meaningful to the overall crisis of the episode.
The weak point in the episode was Una's and Pelia's beef with each other. Una never spent enough time with Hemmer for her to have that much resentment towards Pelia replacing him. The halfhearted excuse she came up with her being "mad her for giving her a 'C' in Engineering Class" actually made more sense, than piggybacking off Uhura's plot thread.
And Hemmer. I still miss Hemmer, he was a really good character that they unnecessarily killed off way too soon, and this episode further cements what a missed opportunity that character was, and "All Those Who Wander" will forever be on my blacklist. But I digress.
Overall, it gave most of the principal characters something to do in a way that makes sense to the central plot, and during it's quieter moments catches up on the characters' relationships thus far-which move their development further in a meaningful way, while taking away from the main focus of the episode.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Among the Lotus Eaters (2023)
A classic Trek episode with some issues
This episode is a prime example of what classic Trek was all about, exploring strange new worlds and Prime Directive shenanigans, with the added twist of this NOT being their first visit, but their second visit, which outside of a "Lower Decks" episode is practically unheard of in most Trek shows.
And this time around it's Rigel 7, which was a planet Pike & crew visited roughly 5 years ago, and featured in the original TOS pilot "The Cage". Things quickly went sideways and they lost three crewmen, and they had to evacuate in a hurry. But by doing so they inadvertently left behind some of their gear and now the locals of this primitive civilization are brandishing Phaser Rifles and carving the Starfleet delta symbol all over their architecture. So, Starfleet has tasked Pike & crew to go back to Rigel 7 and clean up their mess.
Fairly straightforward premise, it's classic Trek. Which as a whole is pretty good, but the reason I rated it the way I did is because of certain narrative elements that are I found lacking at best and contrived at worst.
The episode has 3 plot threads: the central mission on Rigel 7; Pike's long distance relationship with Captain Batel and his fear of commitment; and other is Lt. Ortegas wanting to experience a change of scenery, than just piloting the ship.
The central mission is mostly fine, it's one of the strongest aspects of the episode, it's basically what old Trekkies live for. However, it ignores some of the "special aspects" certain characters have. Fairly early in the episode, the crew and the landing party discover that the radiation surrounding the planet basically causes people to forget things; the longer they stay around it the more they forget.
The ONLY character that should be immune it's affects is Una. As the show has pointed out a few times, Una has a healing factor due to her being a genetically modified Illyrian. So, the radiation and its effects shouldn't bother her too much. But she's the second character to go down for whatever reason.
Pike's side story is mostly good, BUT they omit one key issue as to why he's not willing to commit, which would've made far more sense than Pike just wanting to self sabotage his relationships-"The Menagerie".
In about seven years time, Pike will be in an accident and stuck in a vegetative state. Pretty sure that's a far better reason to be apprehensive about having a relationship, than just a simple fear of commitment. But episode completely ignores it. It's almost like the showrunners forgot that it was a major story arc for Pike last season, and that Pike resigned to his fate-for highly contrived reasons, so that it adheres to canon.
Which I find laughable since this show and the first two seasons of Discovery practically threw canon out the window a long time ago and made plenty of sweeping plot changes despite the showrunners claiming that this is supposed to be the Prime Timeline, a timeline that is supposed to lineup with everything from TOS-ENT. But I digress.
Then there's Ortegas' part of the episode, which was probably the most disappointing. You'd figure that she would play a much more significant role in the episode since they're devoting the episode's C-plot to it.
It started out with her excited to be part of the Landing Party because she wanted a change of scenery. But why though? Is she bored of the day-to-day monotony? Did some crewmen make a comment about Piloting being her only role? Is she looking to move up in the ranks? Who knows?
Whatever it was, apparently it's not that important, it's just another day. By the end of the episode she seems perfectly content with just flying the ship.
When I saw a clip from this episode a few months back, I assumed it would be akin to "Thine Own Self" from TNG-the one where Counselor Troi took the Bridge Officer's Exam. At the very least I assumed we'd find out a bit more about her backstory, her motivations, or something.
Why dedicate a plot thread around Ortegas, if you're not going to do anything significant with her? The only thing we learned is that she's "Erica Ortegas and she flies the ship."
On the whole, it's an okay episode. But they need someone to keep better track of the show's continuity. The cast is still its strongest asset, and is basically what continuously saves this show from itself.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (2023)
Back to the Future
This episode touches upon the Temporal Cold War that a sizable portion of "Enterprise"(ENT) revolved around, and "Voyager"(VOY)S5E24-"Relativity".
A Federation Temporal Operative from the 29th Century tasks La'an with saving the past, to preserve the future. Which inadvertently ropes Paul Wesley's James T. Kirk into this week's episode. I mean they went to the trouble casting Paul Wesley for Kirk last season, might as well get squeeze he in from time to time, as long as he doesn't show up too often. This is Pike's time, and too much Kirk can be a distraction.
For the most part it's a pretty good episode, the only problem I have is that it pushes back a significant event in Trek canon by another decade or so, because the showrunners believe that Star Trek is set in our direct future, instead of world "like" ours like how series has always been. Which is arguably an issue whenever you have characters from your futuristic show travel to the past-which happens to be our present day.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Ad Astra Per Aspera (2023)
The obligatory Courtroom episode
I'll be honest, this is probably the best, most smartly written episode of SNW thus far. Courtrooms episodes in Star Trek tend to be really strong, and this episode is no exception. The big difference between this and how a supposed lawyer show like Disney+ She-Hulk, is that the people involved in SNW's courtroom actually sound like they know the law.
The only thing holding it back from perfection, once again is the lack of subtlety in some scenes. Which I'm pretty sure was an executive decision made after the fact, and not the fault of the writer or the director.
Like during the Defense's argument, they had a flashback to the defendant's testimony, that literary happened a few minutes beforehand. Like really? Some of us actually pay attention, and the arguments are easy enough to follow for those of who watch reruns of "Law & Order" all the time. That bit of handholding was unnecessary.
Speaking of handholding, there was moment when two characters held hands, and for some reason the camera was oddly zoomed in on their hands. I guess the showrunners thought we'd be too dumb to notice the subtle hint that these two characters may have been more than friends.
But as good as this episode was, I feel like it's ultimately pointless. If we're to go by Trek canon, the issue addressed in this episode won't really get resolved until the DS9, which relatively speaking is a really long time from when this show is taking place.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Broken Circle (2023)
Still Boldly Going
Let's get this out of the way, I like "Strange New Worlds". The characters are likable and compelling, I like the esthetics of the show, I like the traditional episodic nature of the episodes, mixed with continuing character arcs, so even though the mission-of-the-week may be random and somewhat inconsequential, the characters are always evolving in significant ways. Some better than others.
That being said, my main gripe with season one is how a few of those character arcs got resolved, such as Pike's destiny with the space wheelchair, and M'Benga's dying daughter. With the better ones still being ongoing like Spock & Chapel's evolving relationship* and La'an trying to deal with her hangups with the Gorn. And the Gorn War itself.
Season two begins where season one left off, Una is incarcerated by Starfleet Command for lying about being human, she's an Illyrian-a race of people who dabble in genetic engineering, which the Federation frown upon. Pike takes a few vacation days to fly to the other side of the quadrant to fetch some kind of super lawyer to defend Una at her trial. Which leaves Spock in charge, and Pike absent for the rest of the episode-which isn't an issue in the slightest. Post TOS Trek have been about having an ensemble
The main plot is perfectly fine, with the usual twists and turns you'd expect. With a few callbacks to season one, overall I thought it was a stronger season premiere than last season. But most importantly, we have proper looking Klingons. The TMP/TNG kind, not whatever Discovery was trying to push.
The only issues I have are the new Chief Engineer, Pelia played by Carol Kane. She's basically playing redux of her previous character from Taxi, Princess Bride, and Grandmama from Addams Family Values-your mileage depends on how much you liked those characters. I don't care much for the character, but I guess I just need to see more of her in show.
And there's Spock's not so subtle bouts of emotion concerning Nurse Chapel. I know it's a follow up to what happened last season (S1E9:All Those Who Wander) which was a bit contrived, and for the most part it's played off well enough throughout the episode due to Ethan Peck's performance, except for one scene on the bridge when the someone or probably Akiva Goldsman , decided to over emphasize Spock's reaction to possibly sacrificing Chapel (and M'Benga) to stop a false flag operation by the extremists.
Which is an issue I've noticed with the showrunners in general, it's like they either don't understand Subtlety or they think the audience isn't smart enough to catch on. The annoying thing is that it's not consistent, it just pops in odd places, like it was something decided after the fact, because it doesn't flow with the rest of the scene.
Despite my gripes, it's still a mostly good episode. It just hope in future the showrunners either learn the meaning of subtlety or trust their actors' ability a bit more.
Wednesday (2022)
Was not expecting this show to be good
Going by the fact Netflix was producing this and the promos were making this show out to be "CW-esque", my expectations were pretty low. The only reason I gave it shot was because it's more or less a spinoff of The Addams Family.
And after slogging through a lot of poorly paced and terribly written western TV shows this year like Rings of Power, various MCU shows, and whatever Alex Kurtzman passes off as Star Trek these days, "Wednesday" is like an Oasis in a desert.
The show is basically Veronica Mars with Wednesday Addams, or a Goth version of Nancy Drew for those who never watched the former. What that means for the layman is that it's a murder mystery show with Wednesday Addams being our titular detective at the center of it all. And oddly enough, the premise actually works.
The first episode does a good job of setting up the premise and introducing all the characters, quickly establishing everyone's relationship dynamics and their place in the show. And most importantly the main plot thread of this season-a mysterious creature that randomly kills people around town, and several seemingly unrelated side mysteries.
So, every episode is usually juggling multiple plot threads at once, whether that be character building moments or making progress on one of the several different mysteries running simultaneously. Every scene serves a purpose, which more than I can say about Andor or Rings of Power, which both squander or pad out their runtime with pointless filler or stretching out an already thin plot.
Now the all important question, is it woke? Yes & No. It does have a diverse cast of characters, yet it doesn't feel like they're going off a checklist. Most of the men in the show aren't doormats for the female characters, save for a couple of them-and even then they do stand up for themselves when they're pushed to far.
None of the female characters are infallible, including Wednesday herself. While she does excel at many things; she's not invincible, nor is she perfect, and surprisingly she is wrong from time to time. And she does have to rely on other people-a good bit of them being men. The biggest surprise is that she actually loves & respects her father Gomez-she's actually grateful for all the things he's taught her over the years.
She makes a few obvious snipes about "the patriarchy" and people "mansplaining" to her, but they are few and far between and even then the people she's saying this to either don't know what she's talking about or they're rolling their eyes at her, and never dwell on it-kinda the same way shows like "Daria" use to do it back in the day, but in this instance it's to a lesser degree. And unlike most female protagonists these days, Wednesday actually tries to learn from her mistakes, and experiences some personal growth.
And there's like one lesbian couple in the show, who are parents of one of the side characters, but they're not obnoxious about their inclusion, they're just there.
Does it bash White people for no apparent reason? Actually, it never comes up. At least not overtly. They do make references to the colonial days where they use to burn witches (or in this case outcasts) at the stake, so to speak. But the race of said people were never brought up.
Are Minorities (POCs) treated like the paragons of virtue that can do no wrong? Nope, they're treated like regular people/characters with no special treatment, and fill a wide variety of roles in the story like any other character would.
So, yes it's diverse, but diverse in a more organic way. And all the characters have a story arc, even some the antagonists experience some growth. Nobody stays static in this show.
After binge watching this show in one sitting, I'm really looking forward to what they're going to do next season.
Star Trek: Lower Decks: The Stars at Night (2022)
And thus they hit the reset button...
I found this season finale to be...disappointing to say the least. It's basically the same problem I had with "Strange New Worlds"-ie season long problems or major developments get resolved ridiculously fast with almost no consequence. And major character plots that COULD easily be mined for material over the course of multiple episodes or seasons quickly get resolved to an unsatisfying degree. And as the title of this review suggests, they "hit the reset button". Basically undoing any significant character development.
At the end of the season premiere Captain Freeman assigned Ransom to look over Mariner, essentially forcing her to be in the Bridge Officer program, but with the added threat of being booted off the ship if she screws up. Then halfway through the season, we're introduced to Petra Aberdeen, a rogue Archeologist who gives Mariner an Out- more or less a job offer if she ever got tired of Starfleet. Which Mariner immediately takes up after that highly contrived 9th episode.
At face value, I have no problem with this plot development, it could be interesting to see how the Cerritos and her crew would fair without Mariner there for few episodes or maybe an entire season, and occasionally check up on her in her new life, then slowly work on her somehow rejoining Starfleet. Maybe build on Petra's character a bit.
They do that...for like 5 minutes. It's like the showrunners were tripping over themselves to get Mariner back to the Cerritos and ditch Petra as quickly as possible.
The season finale ends with Mariner STILL not wanting to move up in rank (which has been her M. O. since season 1), but now she actually volunteered to be placed under Cmdr. Ransom again. But this time without the threat of being tossed off the ship. So, it's the same situation Mariner started the season with, but completely defanged of consequences.
As for Mariner's relationship with Jennifer, it's up in the air at this point. Given how they didn't even have a scene together after Mariner rejoined the Cerritos, and practically forgave everyone else on the ship except Jennifer. So, their relationship is effective reset back to how it was in season one-ie nonexistent. She's effectively back to being just another background character like Barnes & Jet. That's a rant for later**
Tendi is arguably doing the same type of work she has been doing for the past two seasons, just in a different Science department. The issue is that Dr. Migleemo is kind of an idiot. While he does have some good advice, it's mostly textbook fluff, with no real world weight behind his words, which is the exact opposite of Dr. T'Ana. So, Tendi still has to rely on Dr. T'Ana to be her true mentor. So, it's more like a lateral move for Tendi, but with an extra step.
Biomler had arguably the least amount of growth, the only significant thing about him is this "Bold Biomler" phase he's going through. However, the big moment he had at the climax of the episode, with Shax ejecting the Warp Core, has nothing to do with it. It's the same with thing Biomler does at least once per season, like "Temporal Edict", "Veritas", and "No Small Parts" in season one; "Strange Energies" and "First Contact" in season two. It's just what he does every season.
Then there's Rutherford, who simultaneously had the most development, and the biggest regression. In season one he just thought his cybernetics were a cool & useful tool, and didn't put much thought behind it. Then at the end of season two they hinted at some earthshaking conspiracy behind his implants. And this season he finds out his implant's true intentions and the badguy behind it all is conveniently killed off, effectively ending Rutherford's most important plot thread. And after all that, it's just another day, all it's significance disappeared as soon Buenoamigo & Texas class ships get destroyed. Rutherford goes back treating his implants like no big deal because it's still useful & cool, basically how his character was back in season one.
The only significant thing that happened is that T'Lyn, the fan favorite character from season two, finally joined the Cerritos, and that was in the last 2 minutes of the episode. And as much I love her character, her role next season is questionable-will she be a legitimate part of the main cast or just another reoccurring background character like Barnes, Jet, or Jennifer?
Now to my Jennifer rant**
Jennifer's character was incredibly short changed. First she was created to be a one note background character like Barnes or Jet. Then suddenly Jen gets setup to be Mariner's Deus Ex Machina in the season two finale, by saving her from being spaced. Then in season three she's setup to be Mariner's girlfriend only to symbolize how good Mariner's life was on the Cerritos AND how far she's fallen in "Trusted Sources". So, she only existed for cheap drama.
Jennifer unfortunately was never meant to be more than a plot device for Mariner, that became especially clear when Jennifer & Mariner never had a follow up scene in the season finale when Mariner was doling out forgiveness like it was Free Sample Day at the supermarket, purposely excluded Jennifer.
According to an Interview that YouTuber Jessie Gender did with Lower Decks creator, Mike McMahan, that is indeed WHY Mariner & Jennifer were allowed to have a relationship in season three. Which makes the whole relationship come off as incredibly cheap and disingenuous. It retroactively makes me kinda hate "Hear All, Trust Nothing", and I actually loved that episode the most out of this entire season. Just thinking that the whole B-plot of that episode existed for the sole purpose of quickly selling their relationship, so that it can artificially boost some contrived drama three episodes later actually pisses me off.
The fact that the showrunners have said that romantic relationships will never be a focus of this series, and yet when they somehow let Mariner x Jennifer become a thing was highly suspicious from the get-go, especially since EVERY romantic relationship featured on the show has been played off as a joke or a one-off plot device not meant to go anywhere beyond one episode.
If this show didn't haphazardly reset the status quo, I'd actually be excited about next season. But at this point, the only thing I'm looking forward to is T'Lyn and maybe whatever they're doing with Badgey-though I'm pretty sure they'll somehow drop the ball on that too.
Star Trek: Lower Decks: Trusted Sources (2022)
Ah, this old troupe...
I did not like how this episode played out. Mainly because it mis-used the old "Delinquent being misunderstood" troupe. Which like every other fanfic or angsty teenage drama with a "bad boy" protagonist seems to do. Some better than this episode pulled off.
The outcome itself was projected since the ending of episode "Reflections", when Petra Aberdeen, the snarky archeologist girl, gave Mariner an Out, a job offer if you will, for whenever she got feed up with Starfleet. While I do appreciate the writers utilizing "Chekhov's Gun"--ie every element of a story, even the seemingly unimportant ones, must be necessary; I just don't like how the story arrived at that solution in this particular case. There were plenty ways to get to the same outcome without misrepresenting every character in the show just so that a contrived plot twist can happen.
The plot of this episode has the Cerritos going on another routine Second Contact mission, but Admiral Buenoamigo throws a wrench in this by allowing a news reporter tag along on this mission. Of course this stresses out Captain Freeman, so she instructs her crew to be on their best behavior. Enter Mariner seemingly trying to make a bad situation worse, by making sure this reporter knows "the truth" about her fellow crewmates.
Right off the bat Mariner is acting more "Mariner" than usual, like suddenly she reverted back to her season one-self, ie being sloppy, tracking a mess everywhere she goes(blueberry pie filling), and wanting to butt into everyone's business. Looking like she's intentionally trying to get on the captain's bad side, by going out of her way to talk to this reporter so she can "keep it real".
The problem lies with the plot twist; that being everyone else was sabotaging their interviews by acting uncharacteristically unprofessional, while Mariner was literally the only rational one defending the crew-which is "the truth" she was talking about this whole time.
"The delinquent being misunderstood"-troupe. Like I mentioned before it's an old troupe, but it's a troupe that the writers seem to have a passing understanding, but don't truly get how it's supposed to work, at least in a believable way.
The other issue is HOW did she know that she had to do this? She didn't know what the other crewmen said during their interviews, nor does she possess any prior knowledge of any negative bias the reporter might've had against ship.
You may be thinking of episode 3:"Mining the Mind's Mines"-where Mariner & Co. Thought the Cerritos had a bad reputation among the fleet, but they found out that everyone else actually admires the Cerritos and the wacky adventures they get tangled up in.
So, how did Mariner know she had to jump to the crew's defense? It's almost as if Mariner read ahead in the script and knew what she had to do. It basically happens because the plot says so-ie the writer wasn't talented enough or smart enough to come up with a better, more organic way to get Mariner to leave the ship and take Petra's offer.
So, now we have our highly contrived "low point" for Mariner, and everyone who SHOULD know her best, like her supposed Bridge mentor, Ransom-who was the first one to throw Mariner under the bus; or her friends and girlfriend(who supposedly loves everything about her) who were quick to assume that Mariner was at fault, or in the case of her girlfriend-break up with her.
If any of these characters actually behaved in character or actually remember the season and a half of plot development that Mariner's character went through, this whole scenario would have and SHOULD have played out differently.
Star Trek: Lower Decks: Grounded (2022)
Ironically, the best nuTrek out right now
Let's be honest, the first 3-5 episodes of season one were rough. Litter with a lot of the flaws that plague "current year" writing-ie POC Mary Sue protagonist, ineffectual male characters, random misplaced humor, etc.etc. But halfway through that season, when the writers & the showrunners decided to throttle back on Mariner's "Mary Sue-ness", Boimler stopped being the butt of every joke, Rutherford & Tendy started to show they were actually competent at their jobs; that's when the show actually became watchable, dare I decent.
Season Two came around and started truly building these characters up, and while Mariner was still really good at more or less everything, her character stopped being smug about it, started to show a side of vulnerability, was actually wrong or lost from time-to-time, and above all else started to actually behave like a real human being and not the woke caricature she started out as (or what Micheal Burnam continues to be in Discovery).
Now we get to season three, and ironically it's the most Trek lore accurate series in all of nuTrek. It's like they actually care about Trek canon. And scarily has the better written characters and stories compared to the rest of the nuTrek shows. Unlike the other more recent shows, you can tell that these writers have actually seen Star Trek and understands how it works, and because they understand so well, that's why the jokes, the sight gags, and references work. And ever since that course correction halfway through it's first season, it has continued to work and get better, which the exact opposite of "Strange New Worlds" which seemingly fell apart halfway through it's first season and "Discovery" which has been getting worse as time goes on.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: A Quality of Mercy (2022)
And they took the lazy way out
I did not like this episode, basically most of my predictions were right. After how things played out in episode 8, I figured that the showrunners were more interested in quick & easy resolutions for their characters' arc than doing any slow burns that any other writer would've drawn out over the lifetime of the show. And I was unfortunately right. They also stick to canon whenever it's convenient for them, and break when it's not.
The showrunners still don't understand Quantum Mechanics or how basic time travel works, handwaving any deeper explanations with what basically amounts to magic by all accounts. And they still rely on plot contrivances just to get certain things to happen. It's like they lazily use canon to excuse why certain things happen instead of how, despite how much it may contradict something else that they themselves established earlier. Which is the problem when you have multiple writers and some not exactly being on the same page. And if the rumors are true that Alex Kurtzman had his hands in writing the last few episodes, it certainly shows.
And this being a time travel episode, they used one of the most annoying troupe of time travel, the "What if episode"-where nothing the characters do actually matter, but is mainly there just to teach a specific character a lesson, in this case Pike.
That lesson being: "Don't change your fate or else something ridiculously worse will happen". It's that kind of ridiculously contrived "What if" storytelling that killed Marvel's What if series in the comics. The concept being that the original story was the best possible outcome, and anything else would've been comparatively worse no matter. If anything it just proves how limited the writer's imagination is, and cements the long held belief that "a character is only as smart as the writer".
Which in the end begs the question: Why? Why go through all the trouble propping up the possibility of doing something different, but then chicken out at the last minute, is it because "drama" or did the writers unintentionally create an Out for Pike's character but still had adhere to the pretense that this is supposed to take place in the Prime Timeline and HAD to make this happen?
All evidence points to the latter. But if that's true why did they break and alter canon throughout "Discovery" and "Strangle New Worlds"?
If this is not an alternate timeline or a different universe, then the showrunners are straight replacing 50 years of established lore because it doesn't jive with their narrative and they're not smart enough to write around it.
Strange New Worlds HAD promise in those first six episodes, but episodes 7-10....those embers of promise quickly disappeared. The plot contrivances got dumber, and reasoning seemingly thrown out the window just to service the plot instead of the characters. There's a way to do both, but the people in charge aren't smart enough to know that.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Elysian Kingdom (2022)
By far the weakest episode of the season
I generally love Star Trek, but one of the Trek troupes I've never liked are the ones that involve Godlike Entities-those magical beings that both create & solve issues throughout the entire history of Trek. For me their existence takes away all the agency for the characters involved and the story itself. And this episode is no different.
After 7 episodes we finally get a purely M'Benga focused episode*, it finally circles back to his issue with his terminally ill daughter, Rukiya. Throughout the show so far, they've always touched upon it whenever it was appropriate for M'Benga's character. Whether it was a offhanded remark by other characters mentioning him talking or swapping notes with other doctors about experimental techniques, or the nontraditional solutions M'Benga applies to different medical situations, it always added to his character's drive to find a cure for his daughter. It's probably the most noteworthy thing about him.
I always figured that it would be series long arc of M'Benga slowly piecing together a definitive cure or treatment for his daughter, but this episode more or less magically handwaves the issue away due to the involvement of said Godlike Entity that resides inside of a Nebula.
The whole problem with involving Godlike Entities solving a character's or story's problem is that it usually feels unearned. Q is the ONLY exception to that rule, especially in his later appearances. Even though he may have triggered some of their scenarios, and may even provide some assistance here & there, it was Picard and his crew that did the work, and in most cases solved the problem on their own despite Q's involvement. He was just there to give a slight push.
The problem here is that this Nebula entity completely takes away all of M'Benga's agency with his daughter, a lifetime's worth of research seemingly for nothing. And it comes off as Rukiya just trading one cage for another, but with better perks.
The worst part is that this takes away a major part of M'Benga's character, and what made him so compelling. Now what is he going to do now that his main focus & inspiration is gone? Hopefully there's a future episode that covers this dilemma.
It's definitely a classic Trek troupe, but it's a troupe that I wish they would've steered clear of.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Spock Amok (2022)
The Shore Leave episode
It was a nice, laidback episode given what happened the episode prior, it's the perfect excuse for an impromptu Shore Leave episode while the Enterprise is getting repairs.
Apparently, Ortegas' is everyone's BFF/social butterfly of the bridge crew, seeing how she's generally friendly with everyone, but this particular episode it seems her & Chapel go back a ways, presumably from their academy/college days.
You have Una & La'an having a surrogate mother/daughter time-because that's definitely the vibe those two give off whenever they're together.
Pike with the classic Green Wraparound Tunic and him showing off his diplomatic skills.
And Spock & T'Pring having relationship issues with added Mind Meld "hi-jinks", which at first is pretty eye rollingly cliché, BUT when you think about TSFS(The Search For Spock) or that one TNG episode with Sarek going senile, it's certainly a possible consequence of a Vulcan Mind meld, so I was okay with it. As a consequence, it gives T'Pring a more important role in Spock's life than a 1-off plot device.
But most importantly in my opinion, it sets up the Spock x Chapel dynamic and it puts an interesting take on it.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Ghosts of Illyria (2022)
A good episode with too many things going on
This is the first episode to juggle three different plot threads. This episode's A Plot is primarily focused on Pike's first officer, Una, and the audience finding out this secret that the showrunners have been hyping up since preproduction, and her dealing with a virus outbreak on the ship. The B Plot involves Pike and Spock more or less researching the background info for the A Plot. And the C Plot is whatever M'Benga is doing.
The show does a really good job of making the primary cast interesting & likable, with each new episode adding a little here and there to each character involved. Even if it's a seemingly throw away line, it adds to who these characters are.
That being said, not all the the plotlines in this episode, with exception of Una's, has enough time devoted to them to feel satisfying or that important.
It's still good overall, but Pike & Spock's plotline is just there to add context to Una's plotline, but doesn't support it directly. While M'Benga's plotline, while more interesting than Pike & Spock's, feels tacked on and not fully fleshed out-which really needed either an episode to itself or a bit more buildup & foreshadowing to help it out.
It's good, but not great. I still wish this season had more than just 10 episodes, so they can give these characters a bit more breathing room.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)
This is what Star Trek is supposed to be
It's been so long anything with the "Star Trek" name that actually resembles Star Trek, at least not since 2005 when "Enterprise" aired its series finale. So, after watching "Discovery", which was the highly contrived, nonsensical space adventures of Micheal Burnam-who is by all accounts is the very definition of a Mary Sue, and the exercise in character assassination that was "Picard"; watching "Strange New Worlds" is like giving a dehydrated man in the desert a bottle of ice cold water.
Unlike either shows, the cast characters are likable, interesting people, and I'm genuinely interested to find out more about them. The ship designs and the aesthetics look like a modernized version of the old 60s sets, instead of the lens flared-filled Apple store that was the JJ Abrams movies. And the main plot of the episode is classic Trek. No world/galaxy ending threat, just another routine mission where the crew has to solve a problem.
The only things keeping this from easily being a 10/10 is use of current day political unrest being used in basically a PowerPoint presentation in the episode's climax, which dates the show and will undoubtedly be used a political stick that'll used to "poke the bear" in the already politically sensitive time we live in, where people are sick politics being pushed in their entertainment. Especially when the subtleness isn't all that subtle.
And then there's the showrunners insistence that this series (and Discovery) is set in the Prime Timeline. For those who don't know, the Prime timeline consists of everything from The Original Series(TOS), The Next Generation(TNG), Deep Space Nine(DS9), Voyager(VOY), Enterprise(ENT), and the TOS & TNG movies. The exception are the JJ Abrams movies which are set in an alternate universe, the Kelvin Timeline. Where the characters are essentially the same but events unfold differently.
They all, for the most part follow a single continuity or timeline in this franchise. The thing is that Discovery(the 1st & 2nd seasons) and Strange New Worlds are supposed to be set BEFORE The Original Series, but after Enterprise.
The thing about prequels is that there are quite a bit of restrictions involved. Namely certain events that have or haven't happened yet, or the meeting of certain characters. And depending on the era, the level of technology involved around that time. Despite the obvious visual updates to sets and special FX, the shows use technology that technically didn't exist in the era they're set like the Holodeck, Universal Translators, etc. Things that only existed in the TNG era, and few technologies that are far more advanced somehow exists in a prequel set a century before such tech have been invented yet. And then there's the meeting of certain characters that according to the Prime canon, shouldn't have met yet or exist at all.
There are so many things that violate the Prime timeline canon, that this show should be labeled as a retelling/ alternate universe like the Kelvin Timeline from the JJ Abrams movies.
And depending on the type fan you are, and how much canon actually matters to you, it may affect your enjoyment of the series to a certain degree.
That being said, this episode gets so many things right, I'm will to overlook a few rough spots, and enjoy the show.
Harley Quinn: A Fight Worth Fighting For (2020)
Joker's back
Never expected this much development with the Joker, also never expected him to give Harley relationship advice either. Guess I've seen everything now lol.
Also liked how chill Batman was after Harley & Joker filled him in on what's been happening for the last 6 months.
It looks like Ivy is rushing ahead with this wedding just so she can forget about/ignore her attraction to Harley. And Dr. Psycho using Ivy to get to Harley was something I didn't expect, but I kinda saw coming after her wedding prep was constantly being interrupted by Parademons and she decided to confront him.
It looks like there's an actually push by the other characters for Harley x Ivy, despite Ivy shutting down that hope 2 episodes ago.
And believe me, I do still want Harley x Ivy to happen, but I'm pessimistic on it really happening. There were too many times in the comics where their relationship would fall apart or one of them dies, or something equally stupid would happen that keeps them apart.
It would be nice if their romantic relationship would've started a long time ago or at least have a full season to fully explore it(*cough s3 maybe *cough). It definitely seems like you can't have the main protagonist hook up with anyone unless it's the series finale, especially if they're lesbians. It's like an unwritten rule every animated show post "Legend of Korra" seems to follow.
Anyway, if Harley Quinn is only getting 2 seasons, and they somehow manage to be together in the end, I'll be satisfied, despite my gripes.
BUT if they do get green lit for a 3rd season, it would be nice if they either continue to flesh out their romance, or if Harley goes all Tobey Maguire Spider-Man and leaves her feelings unsaid, it could be something the showrunners could continue building a case for.
Harley Quinn: Lovers' Quarrel (2020)
Finally brought out into the open
This episode had everything you could want, the Trinity mopping up Parademons and taking back control of the city like it's just another day of the week to them, Kiteman being Kiteman, Sy coming back, the whole "love pheromones" thing, and the added bonus of actually seeing the Harley x Ivy "sexy times" they kept skipping over on Themyscira.
With that out of the way, it looks like they're finally addressing the elephant in the room, no telling how Kiteman will fully process this. BUT it does seem that I was right, that the wedding is STILL happening, thanks preview thumbnail.
To me it was pretty clear at the end of "Bachelorette" that Ivy chose Kiteman and Harley should let it go. And that even though they made sweet, passionate love(twice) albeit drunk. She completely regretted it afterwards because she's in a committed relationship with Kiteman. If she wasn't, I'm pretty she'd be all for it. But Kiteman called "dibs" first, it just that Ivy discovered her attraction for Harley at a bad time and she's been trying to bury it ever since.
And I completely believe that Ivy totally deserves someone better than Kiteman, she does love that doofus for whatever reason. And Kiteman x Ivy does work well in this show. But so does Harley x Ivy, there's enough groundwork there, it's just bad timing and NOBODY likes Love Triangles, especially if the other party has done nothing wrong to justify their partner leaving them OR ignoring the better choice simply because the other was there first and the safer option.
I know there are some people in this community, Reddit, and YouTube that don't believe that Harley deserves a chance because they only she her as this spastic, random girl who's just toxic to everyone around her, and they can't be further from the truth.
If these people actually watched the show or hell just read the comics, they would know that Harley has grown significantly as a character.
Over the course of this show, she has definitely matured and calmed down a bit, and even though her priorities bounce around a lot, she always saw them through, and through her various exploits and mistakes, slowly realized what's truly important in her life. And Ivy was there to support her. Even at her lowest points, Ivy was always in the back of her mind, and she cared about her opinion the most. Even after their argument and all the drama at end of season one, it just redoubled her feelings for Ivy, which didn't truly become romantic until half way through this season.
But bad timing is a staple of all drama, but it does tend to expedite events or bring to things to the surface that people didn't realize were there.
That being said, I still wish they played up the romantic angle a lot earlier or at least had Ivy fully wrap her head around the idea instead of trying to bury it for the last half of the season.
This show definitely NEEDS a 3rd season, and 4th while they're at it.
Harley Quinn: The Runaway Bridesmaid (2020)
They finally did it
They actually did it. Harley x Ivy OFFICIALLY happened in this show...and it was in the last episode. And unlike in the comics, Ivy ACTUALLY wants to move forward in her relationship with Harley.
Too many times in comics, Ivy would only stay for few days then flake off to some place for months on end, because her protecting the environment was far more important than staying in one place and being with a Harley. So, this show automatically has THE best version of their relationship bar none.
Anyway, I love this episode, it definitely ended on a high note. And oddly this is one of the better series finale(?) I've seen in a long time. Harley was/is the better choice for Ivy. As Kiteman mentioned in his hilariously terrible wedding vows, Ivy was never truly into him at first, or even up to s2 ep3 ("Trapped") for that matter. He basically had to wear her down for her to even accept the whole concept of dating him.
Like someone else mentioned on a previous thread, Ivy was never truly into Kiteman. Ivy said in this episode, she more or less went with the flow of things.
In the first episode, Harley pointed out that Ivy had terrible taste in men-"Some reliable square who thinks he's "quirky" for playing on a Dodgeball team". Replace Dodgeball with Kite flying and you have Kiteman. He's more or less the same as her first boyfriend. The fact that this show foreshadowed this little tidbit from the first episode is kinda amazing.
And go back and watch every major moment in Kiteman x Ivy's relationship, and you can see how reluctant she was about everything: like being seen in public with him, or telling anyone she was in a relationship with him, or even Kiteman just proposing to her, she immediately panicked every time. It wasn't until later in that episode "Trapped", Harley had to convince her to give Kiteman a shot. Ivy was either pressured, guilt tripped, and talked into everything in that relationship. And oddly enough, you realized that Kiteman never really got to know Ivy. Yeah, they were together, but they never really "talked". And that realization hit her like a ton of bricks during the wedding vows. I mean c'mon, they've only been together for less than a year, marriage shouldn't even be on the table yet. At least, Kiteman finally knew to get off this ride. He did them both a favor and broke it off.
One of the writers of the show had interesting take on Ivy. He stated that since she never had anyone be nice to her in the past, she was extremely insecure. Once she met Harley, she was always afraid of losing her back to the Joker. She could not afford to give Harley her heart. The Scarecrow's toxin brought out Ivy's worst fear which was allowing herself to love Harley and in turn her leaving Ivy. When Kiteman came into the picture and was nice to her, she saw it as a way to assure that she would never be alone. She opted for the safer choice.
The most impressive thing about this show, Ivy's monologue about her feelings for Harley perfectly bookends this series, "Til Death Do Us Part" ended with Ivy being honest with how important her friendship with Harley was, and "Runaway Bridesmaid" ended with Ivy telling Harley how important just being together with her is, with the last line always stating that she loved her.
The only thing that kept this from being perfect was the runtime, this should have been an hour long, they could have fleshed out some more scenes, added more character moments, but they did well with the runtime they had. And for the love of god, there needs to be another season (or three).
But if this is the end, it's a good end. Far better than what any comic book would ever give these two.