And it's another gimmick/comedy episode.
I can't believe this. Is someone on the inside deliberately sabotaging Star Trek, the franchise I love and know so well? Or, as one of my commenters said awhile back, has Star Trek completely run out of gas?
This episode was, of all things, a Trelane school project submitted in the form of a soap opera, complete with melodrama, extreme close-ups, musical stings, and a word from our sponsor. Are today's soaps really like this, or was it way overexaggerated? The latter, I bet. Trelane's proctor, whose outfit made her look a lot like Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan, did thank Trelane for bringing these "ants" to her attention and that we were more complex than expected. She gave him a B-minus. Whatever.
We started with Uhura learning that Captain Pike is her biological father because secret babies are a big soap plot staple, and the culmination of the episode was a call-back to Pike having a daughter. More about that later.
Then we had a ridiculous transplant plot combined with an evil twin plot, where La'an broke Sybok (also played by Ethan Peck) out of prison so that he could provide a "living heart transplant" for the seriously injured Spock. Sybok had long Fabio-like flowing locks and wore an outfit that exposed his chest hair.
La'an did say a lot of lovely and true things about Spock before acknowledging that their relationship was over, and Sybok talked about how he resented how much everyone loved Spock. La'an and Sybok sublimated their attraction by playing a Vulcan game that looked like a cross between Jenga and Pick-up Stix before Sybok ended up on the operating table in Sick Bay covered with splatters of green blood.
Before performing the operation, M'Benga got the "hiding a dread disease" soap plot as he hid his shaking hands that were due to... space madness. Much like La'an saying wonderful things about Spock, this plot had Una and Ortegas offering M'Benga emotional support, which was nice.
This season has been light on Anson Mount and Captain Pike, so as it turns out, the core of the episode was Pike's "cosmic amnesia." A couple of weeks ago during dinner with the bridge crew, Pike was reminded that his alternate timeline daughter Juliet would have had a birthday. It triggered his grief for the loss of everything he should have had with Marie Batel, and didn't.
Pike expressing his grief was really the best part of this stupid episode. The possibility that he and Uhura could have dinner, spend time, maybe develop a father/daughter sort of relationship did bring the episode together. Uhura is an orphan, Pike essentially lost his wife and daughter. They could be good for each other.
Interesting that the focus was much more on the loss of an unreal daughter than on Marie, who actually existed. Maybe because Pike had a chance to say goodbye to Marie, but not to Juliet?
Bits:
— Captain's log, stardate 2654.9.
— The episode title is from the saga sell for Days of Our Lives. Pike's shrink, Dr. Chivers, was played by Deidre Hall, a long time Days cast member. "Chronitons" are time-travel-related particles.
— Trelane was introduced in the original series episode "The Squire of Gothos," and re-introduced in the Strange New Worlds episode "Wedding Bell Blues."
— Pike's daughter Juliet was played by Anna Mirodin both here and in season three's "New Life and New Civilizations."
Quotes:
Pike: "Are we back in the musical?"
Pike: "I've seen this before. Our lives turned upside down by a higher dimensional being who can evade those scans. This... fancy coat god... guy."
Pike: "How can something be both real and not real?"
Dr. Chivers: "Is this about the ship being trapped in a soap opera?"
Pike: "Yeah."
Dr. Chivers: "And what if it is? You've already dealt with time travel, Klingon zombies, with Batel's ascension. Even in the most unusual twists of fate — a surprise child, a medical secret, an evil twin — there is truth."
Uhura: "So there was no living heart transplant?"
Chapel: "No such thing as a living heart transplant."
M'Benga: "I certainly didn't rip open Spock's ribcage."
Chapel: "And I don't have secret backups of everybody's brains stashed in the supply closet... you guys didn't see that part. Never mind."
Let me express my extreme frustration with a rating of one out of a possible four fancy coats,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
I have the feeling that in the writersroom long before the season was started there has been a conversation like "let's do something different! Wouldn't it be cool if we based one episode on this and one on that, etc etc.* And then totally forgetting that that for a few episodes may sound fun but it starts to wear off soon and become hollow. It lacks the soul star trek has usually for me.
ReplyDeleteIn itself I wouldn't have minded the way this episode was done and I Guess it's a more lighthearted way to let some characters process some trauma / anxiety. But in the complete run, meh.
Like you said Billie, the plot for pike was good and Anson is a great actor. Did you mind the ugly cry at the end? I read some do. For me it fit.
I guess the other characters worked through some of their stuff too....
Was fun to see Marlena from days of our lives. I once watched that. She was possessed by the devil. Lol
Ok episode in itself. In this season... Well I said that. Multiple times.
Thanks again for the great review! (And I hope you enjoy the coffee ;) )
Apologies for typos and lack of good structuring. Having a bit of a fight with my phone. Hope it is still readable, I cannot edit it.
ReplyDeleteMira Ge, thank you so much for the coffee! and I think you have a good point. Maybe their mistake was already having season four in motion while three was airing, and they didn't take the third season criticisms into account.
DeleteSorry that you cannot edit comments. Blogger has its flaws, but we've been using it so long that we can't move to something else. Wish we could.
Oh, and I also thought the ugly cry was effective. Maybe some people think it's not manly?
DeleteI don't think manly was the problem. Or ugly. It was that it was completely unbelievable (they certainly won't be refering Mount for an Emmy for this), and it came after such a string of absolutely abysmal episodes. It was also a bad case of "here you have 45 minutes of pure dog poo, but we are going to try and give you 3 nice ones just to make amends".
DeleteThank god the next one is a decent one, because I had finally cut some slack to Kurtzman after Lost, and I have been realizing lately that I shouldn't have. He still ends up turning to shit everything he touches, even if S1 and S2 of SNW made me think otherwise.
I stand by my previous comment that Trek is played out, sadly. This is what, at least five gimmick episodes out of a season total of ten? Things are becoming cartoonish at this point (perhaps literally, in the sense of resembling the not-so-good animated Trek series).
ReplyDeleteTheShadowKnows, with each expensive gimmick comedy episode they are moving further away from a genuine reboot of the original series, something I really, really wanted. But I don't want it if the writing is like this.
DeleteFive minutes into the first scene i knew I hated this episode. Which sucks because of the season hadn't been so overstuffed with gimmick episodes I'd probably have really enjoyed this. I did like that we got more nurse chapel and the last five minutes where they finally gave Anson mount something to do were good. But please, for the love of God, never being trelaine back again
DeleteTheShadowKnows, I added a link to your earlier comment. Should have done it sooner. :)
DeleteI haven't watched any of this show, and, having for the first time skimmed one of the episode reviews here, am really glad I haven't. Holy cow, what a mess.
ReplyDeleteI have my TOS Blu-Rays, and I never tire of re-watching those. That's Star Trek. I have no idea what this stuff is.
NomadUK, to be fair, while this one was terrible, the next episode "Orders of Magnitude" is absolutely terrific. FWIW.
DeleteMuch like the puppet episode, I really enjoyed this one. I haven't actually watched any soap operas, but somehow I knew enough to recognize what they were doing with the dramatic pauses and zoom ins and so on. I laughed a lot, and IMO that's an important function of art too. I heartily disagree that Trek is played out. I think it has room for this kind of play. I would much rather have more of this than more dystopian sci-fi.
ReplyDelete