Well that was a fun palette cleanser after a couple of rounds of heavier stuff. Although I suspect the burgeoning relationship between Spock and La’an will have some segments of the fanbase (namely, those who are full-on Spock-Chapel and/or La’an-Kirk shippers) up in arms. Personally, while I would rather have our main characters not dealing with romantic entanglements with their fellow main characters*, Spock and La’an are, as I’ve written in recent weeks, pretty evenly matched as characters. Both have trouble opening up emotionally, both value competence in their work and personal lives, and both have recently had their hearts broken. So, you know, not a bad rebound choice – especially since, if things fall apart, they’re the two crewmembers who will be most likely to move forward with their jobs and lives with minimal fuss. But as for the episode itself, well, it was what it was – which was a nice callback to some solid episodes of Trek past, as well as a nice parody of The Original Series.
*One of the reasons the Batel-Pike relationship works, in my book, is because (despite her prevalence this season) Batel is a recurring character. She’s not intimately tied to the crew in the present or future (which is what makes Kirk such a poor choice for a romantic partner on the series). She exists just far enough outside of the main storyline of the series to pop in when necessary for a story but she also isn’t crucial for the series to move forward.
Next Generation fans will likely remember that Picard was fond of using the holodeck to play out his own fantasy of being a private eye, and over on Deep Space Nine Doctor Bashir had a very memorable turn as a James Bond-coded spy (a turn so good that the series was almost sued by MGM over the episode). So, having a character try to solve a mystery on the holodeck – which, naturally, malfunctions and forces the character to risk their life to save the day – isn’t anything new to Trek. And having the main cast dress up in fun costumes and play characters so very different from the ones they normally get to play is also a time-honored Trek tradition – one which, I’m happy to say, this cast took to with aplomb.
As for having characters learn very important lessons – here, that you don’t have to go at it alone (for Scotty – Martin Quinn has been killing it in the role this season) and that you can trust your heart as much as your head (for La’an) – it’s also something that has popped up more than once in Trek over the years. But for all the fun and silliness of the episode (honorable mentions to Celia Rose Gooding for really getting to let loose as the unscrupulous agent and Paul Welsey for that hilarious William Shatner impression), the episode was definitely more style than substance when it comes to the series as a whole.
A couple of notes on things that stood out for me over the course of the fun, if frothy, 45 minutes. First, Ortegas was reinstated with Una stressing that she trusts her. Not sure if that’s going to turn into anything (as I’ve said, I think that’s a story point that needs to come back one more time to allow Melissa Navia the chance to really breakdown the trauma that is still likely within Ortegas following her ordeal), but we got a chance to see Scotty address his own trauma from the Gorn attack this week. I think the series owes it to Ortegas as a character to give her a chance to actually verbalize just what is going on with her before it lets her take that big step forward. And it doesn’t need to be a huge thing – it could simply be a conversation with Uhura in the mess hall. But it would be a disservice to an already under served character if the writers let this one drop off now. Second, as much fun as that holodeck simulation was, that speech about the power of sci fi shows had me rolling my eyes a bit more than I think the show was hoping for. Yes, Star Trek inspires people – it has for generations. And yes, The Original Series was cancelled after one season and the love of the fanbase helped bring it back (and, now Strange New Worlds has also, effectively, been cancelled, so this speech can be retconned into a commentary on that as well). But it didn’t hit the way I think it was meant to and felt a bit too self-congratulatory. A quibble, but still.
But, after three episodes delving into the psyches of some pretty traumatized characters, a break was needed. I’m not that much of a monster that I didn’t laugh a bunch and enjoy the episode for what it was. And I’m sure we’re going to head back into my preferred mode of character driven stories next week. So, for a holodeck episode – in an era of Trek where the holodeck is very much not a thing (for good reason, we learned) – it was a fun ride.
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