Logline
Starfleet commandeers the Enterprise for an alien pursuit that grows far beyond its original orders.
Written by: Alan B. McElroy
Directed by: Sharon Lewis
Yaaay, a badmiral!
I really enjoyed this one. The core moral dilemma of orders versus morals, captured in a strong A story and a decent B story. Genuine character growth, and an out for M’Benga that made sense, was in character, and felt justified. The direction was really nice, it captured the tense nature of the episode. The treknobabble for the A plot was pretty decent, and in the B plot I enjoyed the cave set - it felt used and full, not bare like they sometimes do. I really enjoyed the acting here - the Andorian leader gave me a hint of cardassian in his analytical takedown of humans, and the badmiral was really enjoyable from his upbeat arrival to steady decline into madness. The two Kirks getting along really well was enjoyable, and the synchronised walk and talk at the end was a nice way to wrap up the episode.
From this season’s approach, I’m guessing this episode drawing from old war films, in particular I am getting flavours of submarine hunts, chasing after wakes, and handling big questions of WMDs, the sanity of the chain of command. This is exactly the way I like those references embedded, allowing the trek to shine through, rather than the gimmick taking over.
My only immediate quibble in this episode was when Uhura went Rambo in the caves, it did feel like the Andorians went down a little easy, but I wasn’t that bothered by it. A’Sha leaving is fine, I guess, she didn’t feel very present throughout the season anyway.
Please, more of this type of episode.
I’m guessing this episode drawing from old war films, in particular I am getting flavours of submarine hunts, chasing after wakes, and handling big questions of WMDs, the sanity of the chain of command.
Maybe it’s just because the writers of the (alleged) next Trek film have been talking about it, but I did think of “Crimson Tide” several times during this one.
A’Sha leaving is fine, I guess, she didn’t feel very present throughout the season anyway.
I can’t help but think there’s still more to come with her - they haven’t dropped her off yet, after all. Something about it seems unfinished, somehow.
Annotations for 4x08 up at: https://startrek.website/post/44454788
A pretty good episode that got a lot more interesting in the final act.
For the most part, it came off as a story that we’ve seen before, albeit a well-told one. But the reveal that Kirk drugged Reeger in order to make him unfit for commend is a genuinely compelling idea, as is the idea that M’Benga just torpedoed his career to cover it up.
The B-plot was decent, too - it was good to see Uhura do some ass-kicking.
They sure do like to talk about the Klingon War as if it’s ancient history when it only ended about five years ago, though.
M’Benga covering for Kirk is really good, I like that the setup for this was laid a couple of episodes ago. Kirk fighting on behalf of the crew to keep them from doing war crimes - it shows the level of camaraderie this crew has, which admiral reeger likely never experienced, and helps continue to cement Kirk as a member of the enterprise.
Hopefully being court martialled helps M’benga with his space madness
It also lays a foundation for his actions to (arguably) come back to bite him in the ass in “Balance of Terror,” when (presumably) the same Romulan ship reappears and starts wiping out colonies. I’ll leave it up for debate whether this is a good thing.
