Well, on the plus side, this wasn’t a genre-specific episode. But once again, the idea behind the episode – at least the A plot, as the B plot on the planet was more successful – was stronger than the execution of it. And that failure of execution can be tracked to two key pieces of the story. First, we didn’t get nearly enough time to be charmed by the admiral and swept under his spell. It’s all well and good to have characters we love and trust tell us just how incredibly he is, and Joe Morton did a heck of job trying to sell a really hard role, but we need to see and understand just why people are willing to follow him into battle*. And the second? So much of the episode hinged on James Kirk, who is neither a main character on the series nor an actual officer on the Enterprise (although my god is he there a ridiculous amount – is he ever on the Farragut).
*When your climactic revelation is that the admiral’s biggest victory was a case of stolen valor, it makes it a bit easier to understand the choice to tell and not show us his prowess – after all, the choice by so many in his past to let his biggest lie continue to be seen as truth created the myth that allowed normally discerning people like La’an to idolize him. But still, we need to see the charisma that presumably allowed him to keep the power he had – he may have cowed some to keep his lie alive, but he couldn’t have done it to everyone.
I’m just going to lay it out there: I genuinely don’t understand why every character on the series seems so enamored with this version of Kirk. Paul Wesley is a perfectly fine actor, but he lacks the charm and the commanding presence that William Shatner brought to the role. I don’t understand why M’Benga would place his career on the line for him outside of a sense of honor to George Kirk and all he lost. Sure, M’Benga said it was because Kirk was willing to nearly die to save the planet from General Order 24*, but I’m inclined to believe Chapel’s reasoning: he’s looking for a way out of Starfleet and this is the fastest choice that allows him to tell himself he did it for a just cause. I have a hard time believing this particular plan is going to work though.
*Interestingly, Kirk will use the threat of General Order 24 himself on The Original Series, successfully winning a standoff in the process. While it has been mentioned at other points in Star Trek, it has never been used.
But to bring it back to how charmless and draining it is to have Kirk back in play, I have to admit how happy I was that La’an appears to be less than thrilled to see him again – even as the playboy of the galaxy tries to get her attention. Even Spock appeared unwilling to succumb to his charm when faced with disobeying a direct order – which makes sense, as many have pointed out that throughout The Original Series, Spock and Kirk weren’t actually friends but cordial work colleagues. All of this to say that boy do I wish we had gotten a story with any of the other characters on the show being faced with the moral choice between obeying an order and saving a planet of people. Especially with the deep bench on the series that the show has really failed to utilize this season.
Because yes, that’s a truly great dilemma to have an officer face – and a classic on at that. We’ve seen Trek characters have to decide whether to follow suspect orders, whether to order their officers to commit war crimes (looking at you, Captain Benjamin Sisko and your order to destroy the Maquis), or whether to take a step back and refuse on principle. It’s a heck of an arc to play out and it could have been done so well here if only we had a better understanding of just who this admiral was outside of his accolades and if it had been someone we knew and cared a heck of a lot more about than this incarnation of Kirk. Think of how interesting it would have been to see Pike faced with this dilemma or Una (who continues to get almost nothing to do on the show). Una, in particularly, would have been a great option since she doesn’t continue on Enterprise once Kirk is captain, and this could have been a step toward explaining why she’s no longer on the ship. It’s another missed opportunity that could have been really great with the right set up and the right character at the center.
As for the B Plot, well, that was much more successful. I’ve been waiting for Uhura to get the chance to shine and Celia Rose Gooding really rose to the occasion. This story arc was the perfect culmination of Uhura’s past (her close relationship with the late Hemmer, an Andorian like the pirates), her knowledge of communications, and her present role within the crew. And it nicely mirrored the A plot, with Uhura needing to make the choice to disobey a direct order for the good of a fellow officer. Getting a reminder of how smart, composed, and empathetic Uhura is – all qualities that make her more than worthy of that promotion she receives at the close of the episode – was also nice to have. The revelation that Cadet A’Sha decided that Starfleet wasn’t for her was also interesting – poor Uhura desperately wanted to be the mentor that Hemmer was for her, but she learned another valuable lesson in return: sometimes the best help you can give someone is to let them learn that they aren’t cut out for something. The growth of Uhura over the course of the series has been one of the major bright spots in the show, and this was a really great showpiece for the character and Gooding.
So, another mixed episode. This time around, at least we had a pretty solid character-driven B plot, even if the A plot had a truly great premise and poor execution. I am happy this wasn’t yet another very special episode and was a much more straight forward Trek adventure – one that grappled with moral questions and complex character choices. Which isn’t a bad thing, per se, and definitely a step in the right direction with only two episodes remaining this season (and six more in the truncated final fifth season to come).
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