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.
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