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.

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.

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.

Indeed, it’s the name of the entire video series. I think he’s done three of them now?

Until next year.

We are, but I don’t think any country on Earth believes that drones are the solution to every problem. Ukraine has revolutionized drone warfare, but even they are actively working to get new planes.

I don’t believe there is a kill switch, but the basic truth is that they don’t need one - the Americans control the maintenance pipeline, which is just as effective.

As much as I love the Arrow, I think there’s a case for the cancellation - the tide was starting to turn against dedicated interceptors, as the article notes.

But there’s no excuse at all for the absolute gutting of the domestic industry that followed.

Quarries.

I’m NOT a defense analyst, professional or amateur.

Me neither, not by a long shot. From the various analyses I’ve consumed over the last few months, the suggestion is that the F35 is superior if you’re attacking another country, but the Gripens just might have the edge defensively.

Our airstrips, maintenance facilities, fuel depots, all of it would be targeted and destroyed first.

This arguably gives the Gripen an edge, since its most famous feature is that it can be deployed relatively easily from highways and other non-standard surfaces.

But yeah, if you set aside the issue of American relations, there are some pretty big questions of doctrine to sort out.

Bit of a mixed bag.

reduce duplicative work

Never a bad thing.

and operative costs

Red flag when you’re not also talking about the efficiency and quality of the work being done.

strengthen digital sovereignty and security

I don’t think anyone’s going to argue with that.

That’s the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.

Well, it’s not just the portrait.

Two of many good questions.

I assume this is primarily for the GTA commuter rail where that’s less(?) of an issue.

But in any case, the VIA rolling stock is pretty old, AFAIK.

If anyone’s counting, this is the third episode this season involving hallucinations (SNW: “The Griffin incident” and SNW: “Level Five Transporter Accident” being the other two).

We can add Spock’s hallucinations of Ortegas and Scotty as plants in “Human Best Friend” to that list.

I actually had no idea who Deidre Hall was

For those who have never seen it, she’s been on “Days of Our Lives” for 50(!) years.

The key line is “Space adventures leave little time for humans to deal with their inner struggles”. This line is important because it is wrong.

It’s a little odd - I agree that it’s the key line of the episode, but I don’t think it’s necessarily meant to be universally true (though it does reflect Pike’s beliefs, or at least his avoidance of dealing with his own stuff [Edit: This is almost universally true of our captains over the years]), and I don’t think it’s really the point of the episode.

What I took away from it is a meditation on reality and perception - in a way, maybe the key line was actually what Pike said about the details fading, but the memories remaining. I think anyone who has experienced enough loss in their lives would find that pretty impactful.

I was enjoing the soap opera silliness up until that point, but I ended up really respecting the statements they were making through Pike’s journey. It takes on an added dimension when you consider where he ends up, living out the rest of his days in a Talosian illusion. I wonder if Juliet will be there…

What the heck, I might as well make this my top-level comment and include some other scattered thoughts:

• Soap operas deserve more respect than they generally get - those people work.

• On that note, it was great to see Marlena herself, Deidre Hall, as the counselor. It’s hard to imagine a better choice.

• I’m glad Spock slept through this one - he’s hallucinated more than enough this season. And Ethan Peck crushed it as Evil Twin Sybok.

• One thing I do think has been missing this season is connective tissue for the character arcs. I suppose it’s been there for La’An, but she’s mostly been treading water. It was nice to see her dealing with the fallout of a breakout she initiated, but it still seems fragmented. The same can be said for pretty much everybody else.

Long-term commitment is definitely a concern, especially if/when there’s a change in government.

I also think they’ll eventually run into a housing supply issue - at some point, they’ll run out of buildings to rehabilitate and have to rely on new builds.

So what did you think about the parts of the article which described what they are doing to address those very challenges?