Star Trek

This episode was striking in that it showed the crew of the Enterprise being the best of the best Starfleet officers. Pike going to literally the brink of death to find his #1 the best lawyer in the galaxy, Uhura telling La'an off for making an illegal request, La'an trying to poke holes into weak chinks in security, and Una stepping up to lay it all out on the table so her friends won't have to keep her secret and be in danger for doing so. Amazing. No wonder they're posted on the flagship.

I LOVED this episode.

When I was a child and watched TOS and TNG for the first time I remember how I was amazed by those Starfleet crews who come from so many different backgrounds and who worked together for a good cause. I really shaped my worldview. And this episode brought all those memories back through Una's story.

And on top of that comes an allegory about the struggles that minorities (still) face today.

Classic Star Trek.

Random sidenotes:

• those dress uniforms look *chef's kiss*
• the same goes for Neera's dresses and the dress of her assistant. I'm a guy and I'm envious of those dresses. 😄
• I really like how everyone has slightly different hairstyles every now and then. Captain Batel styled her hair in three (or even four?) different ways in this episode alone. It feels so much more realistic than what everyone having the same hairstyle for years or even for the entire series, like it has often been the case for previous Treks.

I was so hyped for SNW. Then at the s1 finale I was so hyped for this arc. And it was better than I could've imagined.

If I had to name a single favorite moment, it'd be when (SPOILER) Una admits to turning herself in. That unyielding integrity is what makes her such a badass, and a great number one for Pike.

I largely quite like SNW, but this episode had some extremely questionable eugenics apologia laced into the narrative.

I think the broadest problem with nu-trek (though it's strongly reined in in SNW) is the heavily maudlin over-scoring and the bathos-laden dialogue. When almost every exchange between two characters sounds "perfectly written" and is dripping in score, it's hard to take seriously.

If SNW employed like, 20% more restraint in that regard, it would sing.

Man, someone's gotta be cutting onions around here or something.

I dunno if I'm just getting old or if newer Trek just hits harder.