Star Trek: Strange New Worlds "Charades"

[selenak]

This was weird, despite avoiding several trapfalls I thought it fall into when I saw the trailer. It found other ones! And yet...



What I was afraid of: a rerun of the Voyager episode Faces where Be'lanna gets parted into a Klingon and a human version, and while Roxann Dawson gives a good performance, it felt sort of pointless because we all knew the reset button was coming, and B'lanna didn't learn anything about herself she hadn't already known, either. Now, I'm not clear what the episode thought it was doing when on the one hand repeatedly emphasizing that Vulcans do have emotions (though they usually repress them due to their strengh), but on the other letting human!Spock act (textually, as in, called out in the dialogue) like a teenager discovering amusement, anger, joy etc. for the first time. On the other hand, I'm actually happy that the episode, adolescent behavior aside, didn't go the same route like the Voyager episode did (where Klingon B'lanna was the warrior and human B'lanna the engineer and thinker) . Spock had his genetic make up messed with by the aliens of the week, but adolescent impulses aside, he's still signalled to be the same person. The anger about other Vulcan's snobbery and dissing of Amanda and the defensiveness about her is there when he's half Vulcan as well. And he did learn something he hadn't known before, and did something he hadn't done before. Now SNW is in something of a continuity bind re: Spock and Amanda in that Spock in the early TOS episode The Naked Time has this heartrendering scene when he feels guilty about never having told his mother he loved her. And he doesn't use those words in this episode. But he does express the sentiment and his admiration for Amanda's strength in a different way after his genetic make-up has been returned to normal, and that was very satisfying to see.

(Also: I was thrilled to see Amanda again. I had really liked the actress in this part on Discovery, and had hoped SNW would bring her back.)

In general, this was way more of an ensemble episode than I expected, because I had assumed it would try for a Spock/Chapel romcom, which isn't the case. Not only does Christine spend most of the episode away from Spock, but her character beats are about figuring out she does not need the snobby scholar's validation, she's living her best life of science exploration and adventure on her own as much as it was about saving Spock (btw, really neat use of the thing established in the pilot, that this version of Christine Chapel has a specialisation in genetics), getting the Aliens of the week to repair their demage, and acknowledging she has feelings for Spock that at times go beyond friendship. And speaking of friendship, the episode did a great job of showcasing hers with M'Benga as well as hers with Uhura and Ortegas.

Another thing I was afraid of was that the episode would give T'Pring a jealousy or anti-human plot line, and it didn't. It actually gave her a good reason at the end of withdrawing from Spock after she spent the last season getting closer. He should have shared the truth with her (as Pike assumed he would from the start); as T'Pring herself says in their last scene, they even shared katras, and he still didn't trust her with this, while everyone else on the ship knew. Having T'Pring spend the episode defending Spock to her mother sets up the slap in the face this is for her as well.

But. On the downside, and about those other trapfalls. T'Pring's parents as Overbearing Mother/Hen-Pecked Father were walking clichés who didn't feel like characters, just plot points for Spock tro react against. And while the episode provided a good reason for the Spock/T'Pring relationship to go distant again that had nothing to do with a love triangle (phew!), there's still the problem last season set up, which is that T'Pring in this continuity once she decides she wants Ston instead could and based on her current characterisation would simply ask Spock to release her, whereas the TOS scenario made it look like she could not have done that.

I'm not sure the episode has sold me on Spock concluding he wants a romatic relationship with Christine Chapel, either, but I'm still wait and see about how this one will turn out, and could see the inevitable continuity ordained break-up contributing to him deciding romance is not for him, full stop. That Christine saw what the Aliens of the Week did to him as a violation and didn't want Human!Spock but complete, half Vulcan Spock emphasizes her understanding of him, of course. And might I say I am amused that SNW now has Chapel, Uhura and M'Benga all know about Spock's family background while Kirk and McCoy have no idea until Sarek and Amanda show up in Journey to Babel?

Bits and pieces:

- Pike teaching Spock how to cook was aw-worthy, as was Pike going to all the trouble of preparing those Vulcan dishes.

- The extra dimensional glitter cave where Christine confronted the aliens of the week looked endearingly TOS style cheesy

- Human!Spock being upset because he can't mindmeld anymore was practically the only time the episode didn't play Spock's changed genetic make up for comedy in his own plot line (as mentioned, Christine never thinks it's funny) before the final show down

- though I will say Human!Spock getting increasingly upset at Sam Kirk was hilarious

Comments

[chelseagirl]

I have Impending Sense of Doom Syndrome sometimes, knowing that certain things have to revert to pre-existing canon, despite the deepening of Star Trek lore since TOS, and the massive difference in the way female characters in particular are written. I can't imagine this Chapel quivering and offering Spock plomeek soup. And it makes me sad, because I really want this Spock/Chapel to work out, but of course ultimately they can't.

T'Pring's parents, her mother especially, were so obvious and cliched that they hardly seemed like Vulcans as I imagine them, at all.

[lirazel]

I remain so annoyed that the writers decided to name this character Christine Chapel, when she's clearly a different character. A character I like! But she bears no resemblance to the original one and it's frustrating that they're trying to make me believe they're the same character.

[misbegotten]

This episode solidified for me that SNW is another AOS. Which doesn't bother me in the slightest.

[lightofdaye]

I think the scenes with Spock and Amanda were the strongest and likewise I'm glad they brought back the actress from Discovery for it.

Most of the rest was kinda of difficult to watch for me. I didn't enjoy the focus on social awkwardness and cringe comedy.

And the end... well presumably the later episodes will pull back to match TOS but yeah... it feels far too far and a love angle cliche for him to actually start snogging Chapel.

[ironymaiden]

finally got caught up on this one. I have mixed feelings about it but the thing I'm really rolling around is my partner's comment that perhaps the most progressive/subversive thing about the crew in TOS is that Spock is mixed-race and passing

I think I can enjoy the idea of Spock and Chapel as exes in the future. may need to rewatch some TOS with that in mind

[kernezelda]

Agree with all, with the additional question of why the Vulcans haven't already explored their mysterious moon, as their technology has always been ahead of Earth's; did they request Starfleet to make a sensor run, or did Starfleet say let's explore for funsies?

[lirazel]

I was also relieved it was way more ensemble than it could have been. Good choice, writers! And I am an Amanda stan, so I'm always glad when she's back. (I do wish she looked old enough to be Spock's mother though!)

Another thing I was afraid of was that the episode would give T'Pring a jealousy or anti-human plot line, and it didn't. It actually gave her a good reason at the end of withdrawing from Spock after she spent the last season getting closer.

YES. But you're soooooooo right about her parents. I was really disappointed by how cliche and shallow that was.

[selenak]

Re: Amanda's apparant age, apparantly the actress during s2 of Discovery was ten years younger than Jane Wyman was when shooting Journey to Babel, which matches the timeline (i.e. TOS takes place a decade after s2 of Disco). It's a bit like with Marisa Tomei playing Aunt May from Civil War onwards: she's RDJ's age and easily old enough to be the mother, let alone the aunt, of a fifteen years old teenager, but because women today - specifically actresses - aren't dressed up as "old" when in their 50s, it comes across differently. Presumably with life spans getting longer, this will be the case in the future even more. This said, I would agree the actress doesn't look old enough to be Ethan Peck's mother, and given how actresses who do look older are treated in Hollywood for the most part, I see your point.

[lirazel]

It's the lack of age difference between the actress and Peck specifically that bothers me! I agree about the Aunt May thing, but it feels different to me in this situation because I'm expected to believe this woman gave birth to Ethan Peck and I...can't.