I've been thinking about why I'm less in on this show than average, and watching the human Spock episode I locked into some things that are bothering me.

Firstly, a lot of the plots feel too light. When I think of episodes of SNW compared to older Trek, it seems like less is happening. I think it's partially the decompressed nature of modern TV, but it's also because this show spends so much time focused on romantic drama. Discovery was bad about this too. It's like every episode, Pike and Captain Girlfriend, La'an and Kirk, Spock and Chapel.

I think because of this the sci-fi ends up being somewhat tossed off. In this episode the aliens in the vortex aren't explored at all, they're just a plot device to turn Spock human. Who are they, why are they there, what do they want? None of it is explored, and nobody in the show seems all that concerned. You can almost feel the hand waving.

Instead the show is focused on more relationship drama with T'Pring and her family. Which honestly was pretty pointless. If we, the audience, are supposed to want Spock and Chapel together, we not only don't care if Spock can fool T'Pring's bitch mother, we kind of want him to fail. Especially because we know from TOS T'Pring cheats on Spock and essentially tries to get him killed. We're not rooting for this relationship on any level, so why is it the central conflict of the episode?

I think the better way to tell this story would be to focus on Chapel. She's in a situation where she's tasked with turning a Spock that could love her back into a Spock that can't. That's the real dilemma of the story, and this episode sort of glossed over it. Chapel was emotional about it, but she never questioned what to do. Which is another area this show tends to come up short, presenting strong moral and ethical dilemmas.

All that said, I don't hate the show. It's just more Voyager-level than something that lives up to TNG and DS9 for me.
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In this last episode the resolution of the main plot was poorly done. I thought that



and she should have seen that much more quickly. Also when




no one asked her to go into any detail at all other than a vague conversation with the doctor. And then when she finally got it and went to the Captain he just took her word for it and



just so we could all see that, boy, that Captain Pike is such a hell of a guy who believes in his people, such a leader! The episode turned Pike into a cartoon character to make a Mary Sue out of Uhura. They're pushing Uhura's character too hard just like they've done with the pilot girl. It's forced and hurts the show. I did enjoy the fan service pay off in the very final scene. That was nice. Still, kind of a mess, I hope they do better.
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Yea, I agree. Plot holes all the way through. I agree with what Jamie posted also. I don't watch Star Trek for fucking romance. As I posted earlier, I need more pew pew bang bang along with more SciFi. They're turning the show into the damn Dating Game.
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Well, that was an interesting episode.
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Holy fucking cringe, we're getting a musical episode....


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Why does ST have to have at least one goofy episode per series?

Not a fan of musicals in general, so this next episode will probably be the one I actively hate of this series.

However, they've done such a good job with this series to date, I'll give this a chance. And then hate it after.

The silver lining I guess is that at least they're getting this nonsense out of the way now, so we can get back to real ST episodes the rest of the way.
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wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow
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The Buffy musical episode was highly regarded in its day. Granted the suspension of disbelief hurdle was so much lower there given the subject matter.
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Just finished the last two episodes. I really enjoyed both of them, although part of me feels like I shouldn't have. Yeah, Pike should have been in some shit for destroying a crucial Federation resource. Just like Picard should have been in some shit for not using Hugh to destroy the Borg. It is what it is. And the cross-over with the cartoon was hilarious.

I do look forward to some serious battles in space shit. Doesn't look like we're getting that next week, though.
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It's not just that it would have been a controversial decision. It's the way that the decision was portrayed in the show; from Pike simply asking 'are you sure?' to Uhura ordering the Enterprise to fire and Pike standing back and nodding. Contrast that with Guinan first talking to Picard in Yesterday's Enterprise.
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It’s good but we need some more action.
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I don't hate the time travel stuff like some of you guys do. The mirror universe stuff, though, uggghhh. That crap in DS9 was so lame.
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I likened the feeling I got from watching that episode to the Next Gen episode, where their DNA was reverting back to their early beings. The feeling that you have no control and something powerful was coming after you. I dunno, I may be the only one but that's what I was reminded of. And that was one of my favorite episodes of TNG.
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Oh, good Lord. :-)
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Just watched the Lower Decks crossover episode. I enjoyed that way more than I thought I would.

I have low expectations for the Broadway musical episode.
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