As the year comes to an end, Caleb must choose between the life he thought he wanted and the life he’s built for himself at Starfleet Academy. Meanwhile, Nahla breaks protocol in one final gambit to keep a promise to Caleb.
Written by: Kirsten Beyer & Kenneth Lin
Directed by: Jonathan Frakes
There is no spoiler protection in the episode discussion threads, and spoiler tags are not necessary!
Well, that’s a lot. I’m not sure why I didn’t expect a cliffhanger, and I hope there won’t be one at the end of the season.
As we saw the wall of omega-47 mines, it occurred to me that Brakka had told Ake what he wanted in episode 6 — a return to the isolation of planets that gave him and the Venari Rahl their power — but neither she nor Vance appreciated the scale of his ambitions to return to the anarchy of past century.
And the Federation should have anticipated this kind of challenge to come from some quarter, even if they’d come to detente with the Emerald Chain. Those who benefited from the systems that were built up over the century of the Burn would have nostalgia for it and distrust against the Federation would not vanish quickly.
I appreciate the narrative structure of the season, Anisha and Caleb Mir represent those who struggled to get by around the powers and forces of the Burn. There is a personal story and a societal story about making choices to take the risk to move towards something better — as found family and as a society.
As it goes on, this show reminds me increasingly of The Magicians, on which SFA showrunner Noga Landau was a head writer at one point. There’s the quotidian developmental, coming of age challenges of students in their undergraduate years juxtaposed with massive and truly menacing events.
Glad to see Caleb hit paydirt on finding his mum. But… are we sure he’s a genius if he never thought to try that moon’s name as an encryption cypher? Maybe I’m expecting too much of people in a future burdened by a thousand years of cognitive debt from “AI” use.
I finally, completely bought the Caleb/Tarima romance when they cut the coy quippage and he simply told her she was like music to him. There was more raw, naked acting in that exchange than in their sex scene together.
You can tell a month has gone by from the length of Vance’s beard. Nice touch, implying he’s been too busy tracking down Braka to groom himself.
Suddenly, Ake and Kelrec seem direly unsuited for their jobs. “Oh hey, is that planet in the Federation now? You know the one, what’s it called?” Come on, I’m pretty sure you expect your cadets to know that from day one!
Not sure how I feel about the Omega-47 threat. First, I’m sort of disappointed that Starfleet has been developing that kind of WMD. Boo, Science Division!
Second, it feels a bit like a retread of The Burn, at least in the way it leaves warp travel obsolete, if only locally. It’s more of a threat to the franchise’s premise than to the peoples inhabiting the fiction, you know?
But generally speaking, I actually liked this episode. Any last-but-one episode will be saddled with a lot of setup for the season finale, but it was pretty fun and organic how SAM, Genesis and Darem were drawn into Caleb’s mad dash rescue attempt. SAM’s personality changes could have used some more space to be explored, hopefully we’ll see more of that next week.
It’s fairly impressive that over the course of 8-9 episodes, the cadets’ relationships have solidified to a degree that Caleb wanting to rejoin his mum over staying with his friends felt like a real betrayal. And his teardown of Darem and Genesis even more so. That was brutal.
I was more sorry to see Jay-Den and Tarima sidelined as this episode progressed, but I assume they’re let out of Ake’s office to join the action eventually. Holy shit, wait. Ake’s office is in the saucer section, right?
Edited to add: I think I’m going to enjoy rewatching the scenes from the Ukeck market. I only caught a Ferengi or two at first glance, but there has to be other familiar aliens, right?
But… are we sure he’s a genius if he never thought to try that moon’s name as an encryption cypher?
It whizzed by pretty fast, but they did say it’s something he used to try pretty often, and eventually gave up on, and started concentrating on more complicated, “adult” searches. I kind of like that.
“Oh hey, is that planet in the Federation now? You know the one, what’s it called?”
It did stand out, especially when the planet in question is friggin’
VulcanNi’Var. I assume that’s some exposition for the newbies that will become relevant in the finale, but it was definitely odd.Caleb wanting to rejoin his mum over staying with his friends felt like a real betrayal. And his teardown of Darem and Genesis even more so. That was brutal.
I’m definitely more attached to these kids than I expected. And Tatiana Maslany is talented enough that her sudden-but-inevitable betral next week is going to be a real gut punch.
All in all, I agree that it’s a pretty good table-setting episode.
they did say [the Ishana cypher] something he used to try pretty often
…but not at all for at least two years? Because that was the cache of messages from his mum. It feels odd, but it’s probably best not to think too hard about it.
This ep had some rough spots, like a concert where you can hear the orchestra is still tuning their instruments before they get started for real. I’m pretty excited for the symphony.
My memory is hazy, but I think there was an, “I stopped trying after _____ happened” line. For the life of me I can’t think of what it was, and it’s possible that I hallucinated it.
My recollection is that he said, “I stopped trying after that one after she escaped from the penal colony.”
Edited to add: I think I’m going to enjoy rewatching the scenes from the Ukeck market. I only caught a Ferengi or two at first glance, but there has to be other familiar aliens, right?
There’s a Lurian (Morn’s species)!
Is it just me, or did the reuse some of the sets or set dressings from Picard season three and Discovery seasons one and three?
We hear that the production packs things up and puts them in storage as much as reasonably possible.
Why did they bother introducing the Athena’s bridge crew if they’re not going to use them?
I guess reunification between the Vulcans and Romulans must have taken a while if Vulcan was renamed to Ni’var in Nahla’s lifetime.
Convenient that they waited until the school year was over to lose most of the school.
Why did they bother introducing the Athena’s bridge crew if they’re not going to use them?
Alex Kurtzman has said on a couple of occasions that this series is less expensive to produce that you might imagine, and I do think there have been a handful of moments throughout the season that seemed like cost-cutting measures. This was definitely one of them.
Annotations for 1x09 are up at: https://startrek.website/post/36408558
Damn. That was an unexpected ending.
Wonder what Frakes has in store for next week.EDIT: It was heartwarming to see the R’uustai again.
EDIT 2: I thought I had heard Frakes directed two episodes.
Frakes says this was the last Star Trek episode he has directed. None of the filming since has fit his schedule.
Bella Shepherd, who plays Genesis, said in an interview that Frakes was originally booked for direct her character’s feature episode in season two, but then he couldn’t be available because of conflicts but was expected to direct a later episode. It sounds as though they couldn’t make the schedules mesh.
