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Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 2x08 "Under the Cloak of War"
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this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
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I liked it, but two things went a bit too far.
The bio-bed acting up was just too silly of an issue to bring up. I mean this is starfleets flagship with the best of the best on board and M'Benga keeps working on this bio-bed, never fully fixing it? Sounds weird.
Second, they are making this whole keeping a person buffered in a transporter thing way too useful. Like the only downside seems to be that if you get a malfunction you may need to "delete" the person. I remember some episode of another series, was it Rikers clone in TNG? Where they were worried about integrity of the pattern, since it was stored so long. Did not seem to be a problem for his daughter though. Don't like how this is so trivialized, it would solve so many problems if this could be done "professionally".
Actually made an account because of this comment. At times like this, I'm grateful my government mandates literature courses for fourteen year olds. The biobed is symbolic. Most obviously of the doctor's mental state. And it's not subtle. The episode explores the duality of M'Benga. The doctor and the soldier. The biobed heals people. After seeing Rah, M'Benga's PTSD is triggered hard. Intense anxiety, struggling to breathe. You see him clutch what is presumably a medical tool. The next scene you see him in, he's trying to repair biobed-2. At the end of the scene he reaches for the tool again once he learns that he'll be dining with Rah. He spars with Rah, then has another attack in the shower.
At the culmination of the episode, you see M'Benga with a case containing his effects, notably a dagger. Rah in the scene ostensibly represents healing, and the doctor doesn't reach for that this time. He reaches for the D'k tahg. The biobed is offline; he's not a doctor, he's the Butcher of J'Gal.
[And just as an aside, millennia ago, doctors and surgeons were quite separate. It's in the hippocratic oath. Doctors don't do surgery. Butchers actually would do surgery; they're skilled with knives, cleavers the removal of tissues and such. It's one of the reasons Kirk teases Dr. McCoy with the nickname sawbones; saying he doesn't know anything of medicine but butchery. So, for M'Benga, whether surgeon or soldier: butcher.]
So the final lines. You see M'Benga with another case, he puts the tool away.
Then you see the power flicker as the screen displays "!SYSTEM ALARM!". And he's talking about himself. Rah enters sickbay→ the biobed breaks→ Rah is killed→ the biobed is repaired. Rah enters sickbay→ the doctor breaks→ the doctor kills Rah→ the doctor is healed (but in truth not). The story is told through flashbacks because he's having flashbacks. "I told myself I don't want to go home different. My family deserves better. I see now that's impossible."
The biobed is him. Him is the biobed.
Also, shit breaks. I don't care how advanced, how much effort, how much money. Shit gonna break. Shit not gonna be replaced. How often did turbolifts break on the -D? Did they throw out the lift system and replace it? Nope. Regular maintenance. Some are just offline for repairs. So it goes.
Personal attacks are out of line.
Excellent post, absolutely right about symobolism
You raise some good points but your condescending intro was seriously unnecessary and uncalled for.
Sure it could be symbolic. It could also be just a bio-bed. If its used as a metaphor it is a terrible one in my opinion, seeing as this is an advanced future with massive technological advancement. Why out of all people on this ship is it M'Benga doing this, never succeeding, but at no time an actual engineer, you know, like someone with 1000+ years experience, is asked to fix it? I get it that its part of his character that he is handy, but still this is medical equipment, its essential, it needs to work 100%. How would this not be escalated to relevant personel? This is not the war times depicted in the flashbacks, they have resource to do this. Also quite some time has passed since the Gorn attack.
I rather agree with one of the other posters who said its a setup for something to come.
So, thanks for your comment but seriously work on your attitude if you consider posting more than just this one comment.