Now, that was a fun, albeit pretty light in terms of any real story*, episode. As a fan of Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia is great and deserves more to do), I’m always happy when the writers remember that she exists and let her take center stage (even if that’s only happened a grand total of three times in the four seasons of the show and two of those times included her saving the ship while trying to recover her memory). And getting to the root of the aggression between Scotty and Ortegas before it festered into a distraction in the series – and without turning it into some sort of romantic attraction expressed through frustration – was a smart move on the part of the writing staff. I just wish the episode had felt a touch more weighty and less like a story about how we can all learn to work together if we give each other a chance. There were just too many After School Special vibes in the conclusion and not enough actual adult levels of interaction one would really have with a coworker.
*All of the supporting players in this week’s outing were clearly have an absolute blast playing inebriated and uninhibited version of their characters. Interestingly, this episode was filmed second, but slotted into the third spot, which makes me wonder if Spock, Kirk, and La’an here are meant to be coming off that harrowing ghost ship experience or if this was genuinely meant to be the second episode of the season. and then got swapped after filming. Because the relationship between Kirk and Spock didn’t feel like one between two people who just went through what they went through, while La’an was so absent I couldn’t get a real feel on where her head was at.
I appreciate an episode that lets characters “act out of sorts” and asks someone who is normally not in charge to take steps to save them. It’s fun for the cast, it’s a different flavor for the audience, and we get to see just what the different characters might be like in vastly different circumstances. But the central through line here was Scotty and Ortegas burying the hatchet and figuring out just why they cannot stand the other. And for the revelation to simply be that they’re jealous that the other person is better at something they are absolutely horrific at doesn’t quite make sense considering the amount of vitriol the pair had coming into this episode. I can understand Scotty being mad that a hotshot pilot never bothers to think about what her actions might be doing to the engines. And I can understand Ortegas thinking Scotty is intentionally trying to handicap her ability to keep the ship in one piece when she’s asked to take on dangerous piloting missions. They have genuine gripes with each other. But to resolve it by learning that Ortegas always felt lesser than her brother and also sucked at engineering despite wanting to be an engineer while Scotty sucked at flying and is jealous when others can? That just seems both too simple and not a reason to have the level of anger they both had.
Now, both likely still have PTSD from their time with the Gorn – although I think the show has a moratorium on ever mentioning the Gorn again at this stage. So, perhaps working that into the story might have helped make it seem less like a children’s squabble and more like two soldiers who have seen a lot and don’t want to ever be placed in that position again. I mean, being afraid that the ship might suffer in a real attack because a pilot pushes it too hard all the time when she doesn’t need to – that is a genuine fear. Because Scotty lost his old crew in an attack, and might worry about that. And a pilot who worries that she might be hampered by an engineer when she desperately needs to go all-out to save the crew because she’s been in situations where she couldn’t? That’s a great reason for some anger.
But instead, it was the whole “I looked in my heart and saw the truth and now I know and won’t do it again!” ending. It was too easy, too light, and really didn’t seem like something either one of them had the time to think about and realize prior to that moment. It didn’t really feel true to either character, frankly. And it didn’t tell us much about either character, which was the biggest issue of it all. This was a spotlight episode and we only learned surface-level information about our two leads. We could have gone so much deeper. That being said, it was fun. There was some great stuff with Kirk and Spock (even though the continuing friendship between them doesn’t really make sense on a canon level, considering they create their friendship over the course of The Original Series). Anson Mount was having the time of his life. And that absolutely counts for something as well.
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