Agreed not as good.
The jarring cut though fit. It is supposed to be through the lens of Beto’s footage. Shuttle footage got disrupted so we picked back up from the return to ship.
Were they helping the side that had the nine million dead or the other one? I’m not sure. I thought that was part of the discomfort that at first hot take they were helping the aggressor side. Maybe I’m confused.
Yeah I didn’t know if I just wasn’t in the mood for it, but I see others are meh on it, too.
This is a case where LowerDecks did it first - and better. Especially that episode with the Ro…mulans.
We knew they had to be setting up something with Ortega’s brother being ‘authorized to do a documentary’ and him always filming stuff - and this then became it as seen thru ‘his eyes’ and biases - and we learn at the end the why. I didn’t mind certain aspects of it - but missed what was missing - the crew genuinly interacting with each other and solving the issue of the week - this style was too jumbled that we (the audience) never got the full story.
And I was so hoping the alien was going to have a baby along that was going to attach to a nacelle.
I’m not sure why I should care about Oretega’s brother learning a lesson. He was a pretty weak character to begin with and now I care even less about him. If he had spent the previous episodes subtly badmouthing Starfleet at the very least there would have been some sort of narrative throughway for his character to this episode. Instead, his bias is just out of the blue. Or was there foreshadowing and I just missed it?
They were helping the nine million dead people.
Well he did have a character arc. This episode revealed the reason he had a chip on his shoulder about Starfleet was he was scared that his sister had almost died from the Gorn. That part did make sense I just didn’t like how his dialogue sounded like someone on Tumblr in 2025.
Am I the only one who half expected the creature to have something to do with spore trans dimensional ones from Disco?
Did Star Fleet Command care anything about anything other than either gaining control of it or minimally preventing the weaponized creature getting under Klingon control (since the planet that weaponized it had previously apparently worked with the Klingons)?
Nice that this ship is good people. Family for each other. But bottom line is the clear message that they would be those “just following orders” even if they found the orders repugnant. And being real: they have more often been functioning in military capacities than pure exploration for its own sake.
I was wondering at how the Jikaru was moving; it seemed to be moving wings up and down which might work in an atmosphere. But in the vacuum of space? And the question posed by the documentarian (is Starfleet a group of peaceful explorers and scientists or are they a military force?) sounds like one I’ve heard people pose in real life.
The jikaru was very pretty.
I assumed it has a biological version of a solar sail to move. Either way space born life is a staple of Star Trek and Sci Fi in general so I’ll allow it.
They said some technobabble converting something into some sort of particles explanation that Ortega I think said amounted to it being like it had an engine.
Something about ion generation.
Like the captain said, that is “classified.” But, surely, the Federation embroils itself in foreign wars out of pure magnanimity.
And it’s 4.5 Vulcans.
Cool, thank you.
Well that was zany.
Heads-up, 4.5 Vulcans has a pretty long post-credits scene.
Yeah. It was zany and fun. But honestly the season is too much fun. I like the goofy eps, but the series overall is out of whack towards the wacky? It’s becoming excessive in its campy fun.
That’s always been enough for me with Trek. Long story and character arcs are overrated.
So far this season we have five serious episodes and three light ones.
Serious:
Hegemony, Part II
Shuttle to Kenfori
Through the Lens of Time
The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail
What Is Starfleet?
Light:
Wedding Bell Blues
A Space Adventure Hour
Four-and-a-Half Vulcans
I don’t need the long story arcs. Stand alone eps are wonderful. (Do like characters I care about which usually means they grow.) But Star Trek isn’t ‘60s Adam West Batman. Lower Decks worked so well partly because it had more of a serious make you think balance than you went in it expecting. I’m thinking this is more than every other ep is leaning into comedy and camp or “special” (the playing with the documentary format)?
Three all out zany. The “special” documentary bit. A zombie ep. A Raiders of the Lost Ark one. So yeah less than half truly camp, some more covers of other sci fi motifs. And really only one that hit the sort of story I personally love from the universe Trek (The Sehlet Who Ate Its Tail.) Not perfect but in the ball park.
I am still a fan. Enjoying it. But I do want to see the characters and the universe not only as funny or as takes on broader tropes.