ST: SNW 2.02
Jun. 22nd, 2023 04:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIt's a trial episode, and only at the beginning I realised ST: SNW hadn't done one yet. (Every ST show has at least one, and most have more.)
Now, the thing with trial episodes is that they don't really depend on suspense about the outcome if a regular crew member is involved. I mean: everyone knew Spock wouldn't end up getting executed in The Menagerie, Data wouldn't leave the ship in Measure of a Man, Dax wouldn't end up in prison in Dax, T'Pol in the Enterprise episode where she's on trial for Vulcan AIDS and so forth. It's a bit different if the person on trial isn't a series regular (case in point: The Tin Drum, except that while this starts out as an investigation against a one episode character whose fate therefore is uncertain, it ends up with Picard in the dock, at which point the outcome is sure again). But still, what makes a trial episode better than just okay is if it manages to provide actual emotional and intellectual stakes for the characters. Meaning: Measure of a Man does stuff like Riker having to present the prosecution and being warned if he doesn't do so competently, the case will be decided against Data anyway, which results in him actually being effective, much as he hates it, which means Picard as Data's advocate is really challenged. Moreover, the question as to whether Data is a sentient being or an extraordinarily versatile toaster really at this point of the show (second season) is worth debating, and then the episode makes the next step by letting Guinan steer Picard to the realisation that creating sentient androids equals slavery if they're not allowed the self determination at the same time. All of which is fascinating to watch even if you're not really concerned the episode will end with Maddox leaving with Data in tow.
On the "nice try, but not good" side for me is, say, that DS9 episodes where Worf is on trial, for for that matter the s1 Dax one. Both try to generate their suspense from a Whodunit factor, i.e. Sisko in both cases has to figure out what really happened in order to save his series regular, and on a whodunit lever, they're middle-level solid, but we don't really really learn anything new about the accused crew member or the defendants and no one has life changing realisations or anything like that.
So, where does episode 2 of s2 of SNW fit? On the one hand, it every evidently tries to be an ethics debate type of trial episode, and like Enterprise with the AIDS allegory, it also tries to connect the issues at hand with current day issues, what with the repeated parallization of Illyrians with persecuted or discriminated against minorities (earlier ST would have just listed religious and racial discrimination, this one includes "how we love" as one of the earlier prosecution reasons). Also, it does something unusual in trial episodes by not making Pike Una's advocate (though he assists and of course is the one to convince the lawyer in question to take her case to begin with), instead, in an even more blatant parallizing, the advocate is a guest character who starts out resenting Una for having "passed" and assimilated into Federation society where other Illyrians could not, and the regular other than Una whose emotions are most focused on isn't Pike, it's La'an. (Which given her relationship with Una and her initial reaction to last season's reveal makes sense.)
But alas - this episode doesn't trust its audience. At all. It really does what ST is often accused of, hitting everyone over the head again and again with the message, to the point where we get flashbacks to Una's earlier testimony which we've seen just ten minutes ago so we really, really, REALLY understand what the guest character just did and what the message is. (I'd rather have the dialogue between Picard and Worf at the end of The Tin Drum, which also verbalizes how McCarthysm happens but does assume the audience has been following the plot along.) Moreover, there's a basic problem with making the law against genetic modification for Starfleet members your cause du jour in a show that's set pre TOS, because we know the law is alive and well a century later on DS9, and that in turn means our heroes won't be able to do anything about this other than for their own crew member, which frankly isn't good enough after spending an episode building up the Illyrians as sci fi equivalents of persecuted minorities. And by making the prosecution to blatantly in the wrong, there is no real tension or ethical debate in this ethical debate episode.
This said, the episode isn't without its virtues. I loved the scene between Uhura and La'an with Uhura refusing to do something unethical in the cause of the defense. (Standing up not to an enemy but to a friend for a core belief = now that's a good character scene!) I did like and appreciate that Pike gets told putting him on the stand could only hurt Una's cause and that he actually accepts this and trusts the judgment of the professionals. It was good to see April gettng a bit more fleshed out, and every scene between Una and her advocate screamed exes in addition to that "you left us behind" issue. Plus La'an throughout. But it's still a "Dax" the episode type of trial episode, and not a Measure of a Man kind of trial episode, and that's a bit of a shame.
Now, the thing with trial episodes is that they don't really depend on suspense about the outcome if a regular crew member is involved. I mean: everyone knew Spock wouldn't end up getting executed in The Menagerie, Data wouldn't leave the ship in Measure of a Man, Dax wouldn't end up in prison in Dax, T'Pol in the Enterprise episode where she's on trial for Vulcan AIDS and so forth. It's a bit different if the person on trial isn't a series regular (case in point: The Tin Drum, except that while this starts out as an investigation against a one episode character whose fate therefore is uncertain, it ends up with Picard in the dock, at which point the outcome is sure again). But still, what makes a trial episode better than just okay is if it manages to provide actual emotional and intellectual stakes for the characters. Meaning: Measure of a Man does stuff like Riker having to present the prosecution and being warned if he doesn't do so competently, the case will be decided against Data anyway, which results in him actually being effective, much as he hates it, which means Picard as Data's advocate is really challenged. Moreover, the question as to whether Data is a sentient being or an extraordinarily versatile toaster really at this point of the show (second season) is worth debating, and then the episode makes the next step by letting Guinan steer Picard to the realisation that creating sentient androids equals slavery if they're not allowed the self determination at the same time. All of which is fascinating to watch even if you're not really concerned the episode will end with Maddox leaving with Data in tow.
On the "nice try, but not good" side for me is, say, that DS9 episodes where Worf is on trial, for for that matter the s1 Dax one. Both try to generate their suspense from a Whodunit factor, i.e. Sisko in both cases has to figure out what really happened in order to save his series regular, and on a whodunit lever, they're middle-level solid, but we don't really really learn anything new about the accused crew member or the defendants and no one has life changing realisations or anything like that.
So, where does episode 2 of s2 of SNW fit? On the one hand, it every evidently tries to be an ethics debate type of trial episode, and like Enterprise with the AIDS allegory, it also tries to connect the issues at hand with current day issues, what with the repeated parallization of Illyrians with persecuted or discriminated against minorities (earlier ST would have just listed religious and racial discrimination, this one includes "how we love" as one of the earlier prosecution reasons). Also, it does something unusual in trial episodes by not making Pike Una's advocate (though he assists and of course is the one to convince the lawyer in question to take her case to begin with), instead, in an even more blatant parallizing, the advocate is a guest character who starts out resenting Una for having "passed" and assimilated into Federation society where other Illyrians could not, and the regular other than Una whose emotions are most focused on isn't Pike, it's La'an. (Which given her relationship with Una and her initial reaction to last season's reveal makes sense.)
But alas - this episode doesn't trust its audience. At all. It really does what ST is often accused of, hitting everyone over the head again and again with the message, to the point where we get flashbacks to Una's earlier testimony which we've seen just ten minutes ago so we really, really, REALLY understand what the guest character just did and what the message is. (I'd rather have the dialogue between Picard and Worf at the end of The Tin Drum, which also verbalizes how McCarthysm happens but does assume the audience has been following the plot along.) Moreover, there's a basic problem with making the law against genetic modification for Starfleet members your cause du jour in a show that's set pre TOS, because we know the law is alive and well a century later on DS9, and that in turn means our heroes won't be able to do anything about this other than for their own crew member, which frankly isn't good enough after spending an episode building up the Illyrians as sci fi equivalents of persecuted minorities. And by making the prosecution to blatantly in the wrong, there is no real tension or ethical debate in this ethical debate episode.
This said, the episode isn't without its virtues. I loved the scene between Uhura and La'an with Uhura refusing to do something unethical in the cause of the defense. (Standing up not to an enemy but to a friend for a core belief = now that's a good character scene!) I did like and appreciate that Pike gets told putting him on the stand could only hurt Una's cause and that he actually accepts this and trusts the judgment of the professionals. It was good to see April gettng a bit more fleshed out, and every scene between Una and her advocate screamed exes in addition to that "you left us behind" issue. Plus La'an throughout. But it's still a "Dax" the episode type of trial episode, and not a Measure of a Man kind of trial episode, and that's a bit of a shame.
no subject
Date: 2023-06-22 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-06-23 01:08 pm (UTC)However, since Una is reinstated at the end of the episode, I doubt it will be a seasonal arc, it seems on the contrary a pretty much wrapped up story now (as it was one of the two cliffhangers from last season, and the other one got resolved in the season opener).
no subject
Date: 2023-06-22 05:53 pm (UTC)https://youtu.be/Ss_J_4F_nIM
no subject
Date: 2023-06-23 01:10 pm (UTC)