Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2.09
Aug. 4th, 2023 10:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakOkay, that was fun, though another tonal whiplash after last week. As far as musical episodes of shows which aren't musicals go, it's not quite Once More With Feeling or The Bitter Suite, but it's not just a gimmick thing for its own sake, either; several characters' stories do progress in a way that feels organic, the songs are all good without being great, and the gags are hilarious.
When Kirk showed up I wondered whether this was one Kirk guest starring too many, but no, his being there had a point, the point being to wrap up La'an's emotional arc through the year, and I have to say I thought it was really well done how they did this. Even with a twist to avoid the predictable (i.e. La'an blurting out in song about Alt!Kirk and her feelings); it makes sense that La'an the intensely private, super cautious, faced with the fact that due to the musical MacGuffin of the episode, she will sooner or later tell each and sundry in song what's going on with her, would avoid this by telling Kirk in dialogue and in circumstances of her own choosing, while we the audience also have her heard sing on her own before. (BTW, the actress is definitely one of the better singers of the crew!) And both La'an's solo song and her issues aren't solely about Alt!Kirk (or Kirk Prime, for that matter), they're about the way the experience with Alt!Kirk had allowed her the chance to emotionally open up because she was seen without her usual baggage, and that this is what she wants again. (Not that her grief for Alt!Kirk wasn't real, but it is a catalyst, not the deeper issue itself, and I like that the episode verbalizes this.) Meanwhile, there are of course Doylist reasons why La'an/Kirk Prime can't happen (at least not beyond a one night stand kind of thing, and had they gone this way, it would have felt like a weird rerun on several levels), and again, I appreciate the Watsonian, in character reason the episode found for not making it happen by letting Kirk Prime, once he knows the truth, tell La'an that in another life time, yes, but here he's with Carol Marcus, and she's pregnant. This works perfectly in terms of long term ST continuity, doesn't make Kirk look bad (au contraire) while still nixing any prospect of a Kirk Prime/'La'an hook up in the immediate future, thereby wrapping this story up - and best of all, La'an doesn't respond by deciding to withdraw into her shell once more but, as she tells Una post musical interlude, concludes from the entire experience she wants to risk emotional connection again (because, again, Kirk was the catalyst, not the goal of her development).
Meanwhile, Spock draws the opposite conclusion. Last week Christine couldn't open up about her pain to him, and this week she doesn't share her joy until the music compells her - and that exuberant joy (about her won researchfellowship) includes leaving him. Several things occured to me: this puts Spock exactly in T'Pring's position from several episodes earlier, who concluded that if he couldn't trust her enough but trusted everyone else on the ship, they neededto break up time apart, and: this was another good twist in expectations (which I had hoped for), i.e. the Spock/Chapel breakup happens not because of him but because of her. Now Christine might have several resaons in addition to really wanting that research fellowship - s1 had established her being commitment-phobic when it comes to romance, Boimler had basically told her she and Spock were doomed, and being reminded of her worst experiences recently also showed her she wasn't ready to share them. But from Spock's pov, it still comes down to him having tried a human-style romantic relationship out of his comfort zone only for it to fail on several levels. No wonder he concludes it's better to rely on being Vulcan again.
(Spock in the original ST pilot, The Cage, notoriously laughs and openly displays emotions in a way he doesn't in early TOS unless there's a space virus making the rounds, and while on a Doylist level this is early installment weirdness, it's nifty that the SNW writers seem to have taken their cue from this to make SNW era Spock more openly emotional in the Pike era and then deciding to go Vulcan again, thus building to his transition to the Kirk era.)
But of course it was obvious that any musical episode had to build up to Uhura, and indeed the episode teased us mercilessly by having her listen to everyone else's songs but not singing herself (except for some backup for Christine) until she figures out the solution in glorious solo and then leads the entire crew, because of course the solution to a musical problem has to consist in a big rousing ensemble finale saving the day. Uhura as the one who connects everyone else - both literally, as communications officer - and metaphorically works as well as it ever did, and while the voice of the actress sounds more noticably different from Nichelle Nichols than when she speaks, she can sing really well. Loved it.
More fun bits:
- the Una-and-Kirk teaching dance - "connect to your crew/will do!" - cracked me up
- when it turned out the Musical Improbility was spreading and the Klingons were affected, too, I was all set to complain that I wanted to see the singing and dancing Klingons and the musical didn't show it to me, but lo, then it did, in the finale, and it was short but great
(btw, I've heard the coomplaint that since Klingons love opera, they should not have reacted hostile to being musically whammied, but firstly, loving opera and loving musicals does not necessarily follow, and secondly, it's one thing to sing at your own choosing and another to be forced to do K-Pop style boyband dancing in front of everyone, and I can see why the Klingons were pissed off)
- also, just like "Once More With Feeling" madeandraste and self write a story with songs covering what the Trio was up to during that BTVS episode, I can't help but imagine L'Rell and Tyler/Voq, our main Discovery Klingons left behind at the end of s2, being affected by this (also someone needs to write the AU where the musical whammy happens when Lorca is still Captain; I mean obviously this would end his plans and derail the plot completely, but the musical posibilities...
When Kirk showed up I wondered whether this was one Kirk guest starring too many, but no, his being there had a point, the point being to wrap up La'an's emotional arc through the year, and I have to say I thought it was really well done how they did this. Even with a twist to avoid the predictable (i.e. La'an blurting out in song about Alt!Kirk and her feelings); it makes sense that La'an the intensely private, super cautious, faced with the fact that due to the musical MacGuffin of the episode, she will sooner or later tell each and sundry in song what's going on with her, would avoid this by telling Kirk in dialogue and in circumstances of her own choosing, while we the audience also have her heard sing on her own before. (BTW, the actress is definitely one of the better singers of the crew!) And both La'an's solo song and her issues aren't solely about Alt!Kirk (or Kirk Prime, for that matter), they're about the way the experience with Alt!Kirk had allowed her the chance to emotionally open up because she was seen without her usual baggage, and that this is what she wants again. (Not that her grief for Alt!Kirk wasn't real, but it is a catalyst, not the deeper issue itself, and I like that the episode verbalizes this.) Meanwhile, there are of course Doylist reasons why La'an/Kirk Prime can't happen (at least not beyond a one night stand kind of thing, and had they gone this way, it would have felt like a weird rerun on several levels), and again, I appreciate the Watsonian, in character reason the episode found for not making it happen by letting Kirk Prime, once he knows the truth, tell La'an that in another life time, yes, but here he's with Carol Marcus, and she's pregnant. This works perfectly in terms of long term ST continuity, doesn't make Kirk look bad (au contraire) while still nixing any prospect of a Kirk Prime/'La'an hook up in the immediate future, thereby wrapping this story up - and best of all, La'an doesn't respond by deciding to withdraw into her shell once more but, as she tells Una post musical interlude, concludes from the entire experience she wants to risk emotional connection again (because, again, Kirk was the catalyst, not the goal of her development).
Meanwhile, Spock draws the opposite conclusion. Last week Christine couldn't open up about her pain to him, and this week she doesn't share her joy until the music compells her - and that exuberant joy (about her won researchfellowship) includes leaving him. Several things occured to me: this puts Spock exactly in T'Pring's position from several episodes earlier, who concluded that if he couldn't trust her enough but trusted everyone else on the ship, they needed
(Spock in the original ST pilot, The Cage, notoriously laughs and openly displays emotions in a way he doesn't in early TOS unless there's a space virus making the rounds, and while on a Doylist level this is early installment weirdness, it's nifty that the SNW writers seem to have taken their cue from this to make SNW era Spock more openly emotional in the Pike era and then deciding to go Vulcan again, thus building to his transition to the Kirk era.)
But of course it was obvious that any musical episode had to build up to Uhura, and indeed the episode teased us mercilessly by having her listen to everyone else's songs but not singing herself (except for some backup for Christine) until she figures out the solution in glorious solo and then leads the entire crew, because of course the solution to a musical problem has to consist in a big rousing ensemble finale saving the day. Uhura as the one who connects everyone else - both literally, as communications officer - and metaphorically works as well as it ever did, and while the voice of the actress sounds more noticably different from Nichelle Nichols than when she speaks, she can sing really well. Loved it.
More fun bits:
- the Una-and-Kirk teaching dance - "connect to your crew/will do!" - cracked me up
- when it turned out the Musical Improbility was spreading and the Klingons were affected, too, I was all set to complain that I wanted to see the singing and dancing Klingons and the musical didn't show it to me, but lo, then it did, in the finale, and it was short but great
(btw, I've heard the coomplaint that since Klingons love opera, they should not have reacted hostile to being musically whammied, but firstly, loving opera and loving musicals does not necessarily follow, and secondly, it's one thing to sing at your own choosing and another to be forced to do K-Pop style boyband dancing in front of everyone, and I can see why the Klingons were pissed off)
- also, just like "Once More With Feeling" made
andraste and self write a story with songs covering what the Trio was up to during that BTVS episode, I can't help but imagine L'Rell and Tyler/Voq, our main Discovery Klingons left behind at the end of s2, being affected by this (also someone needs to write the AU where the musical whammy happens when Lorca is still Captain; I mean obviously this would end his plans and derail the plot completely, but the musical posibilities...
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Date: 2023-08-04 02:59 pm (UTC)The Klingon number was perfect. Whoever decided they should sing K-pop style rather than Klingon opera deserves to win an award for that. And everyone's bemused reactions throughout the episode to singing their feelings was wonderful. The entire cast did so well with their numbers--S2 has been knocking it out of the park the last several episodes, and "Subspace Rhapsody" took the show to a new level.
Both Christina Chong and Celia Rose Gooding are theatre singers as well as actors. Gooding's won an ensemble Grammy for Best Musical Theatre album, and has already been nominated for a Tony award. I think the showrunners saw their chance to write a musical episode and ran with it.
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Date: 2023-08-04 03:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2023-08-04 08:28 pm (UTC)Chapel just ditching Spock with that one joyous line and Spock's solo/dark reprise were both surprisingly brutal and efficient way to tie off that plot, assuming it is tied off. It's a disadvantage of the short seasons that they really didn't get to last long at all.
Finally it was nice that Uhura got the grand finale, and that she seems genuinely much happier at the end of the episode. The jokes were pretty on point especially Spock's interjections in the finale and everyone freaking out at Uhura humming the song just because she liked it.
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