This episode is a prime example of what classic Trek was all about, exploring strange new worlds and Prime Directive shenanigans, with the added twist of this NOT being their first visit, but their second visit, which outside of a "Lower Decks" episode is practically unheard of in most Trek shows.
And this time around it's Rigel 7, which was a planet Pike & crew visited roughly 5 years ago, and featured in the original TOS pilot "The Cage". Things quickly went sideways and they lost three crewmen, and they had to evacuate in a hurry. But by doing so they inadvertently left behind some of their gear and now the locals of this primitive civilization are brandishing Phaser Rifles and carving the Starfleet delta symbol all over their architecture. So, Starfleet has tasked Pike & crew to go back to Rigel 7 and clean up their mess.
Fairly straightforward premise, it's classic Trek. Which as a whole is pretty good, but the reason I rated it the way I did is because of certain narrative elements that are I found lacking at best and contrived at worst.
The episode has 3 plot threads: the central mission on Rigel 7; Pike's long distance relationship with Captain Batel and his fear of commitment; and other is Lt. Ortegas wanting to experience a change of scenery, than just piloting the ship.
The central mission is mostly fine, it's one of the strongest aspects of the episode, it's basically what old Trekkies live for. However, it ignores some of the "special aspects" certain characters have. Fairly early in the episode, the crew and the landing party discover that the radiation surrounding the planet basically causes people to forget things; the longer they stay around it the more they forget.
The ONLY character that should be immune it's affects is Una. As the show has pointed out a few times, Una has a healing factor due to her being a genetically modified Illyrian. So, the radiation and its effects shouldn't bother her too much. But she's the second character to go down for whatever reason.
Pike's side story is mostly good, BUT they omit one key issue as to why he's not willing to commit, which would've made far more sense than Pike just wanting to self sabotage his relationships-"The Menagerie".
In about seven years time, Pike will be in an accident and stuck in a vegetative state. Pretty sure that's a far better reason to be apprehensive about having a relationship, than just a simple fear of commitment. But episode completely ignores it. It's almost like the showrunners forgot that it was a major story arc for Pike last season, and that Pike resigned to his fate-for highly contrived reasons, so that it adheres to canon.
Which I find laughable since this show and the first two seasons of Discovery practically threw canon out the window a long time ago and made plenty of sweeping plot changes despite the showrunners claiming that this is supposed to be the Prime Timeline, a timeline that is supposed to lineup with everything from TOS-ENT. But I digress.
Then there's Ortegas' part of the episode, which was probably the most disappointing. You'd figure that she would play a much more significant role in the episode since they're devoting the episode's C-plot to it.
It started out with her excited to be part of the Landing Party because she wanted a change of scenery. But why though? Is she bored of the day-to-day monotony? Did some crewmen make a comment about Piloting being her only role? Is she looking to move up in the ranks? Who knows?
Whatever it was, apparently it's not that important, it's just another day. By the end of the episode she seems perfectly content with just flying the ship.
When I saw a clip from this episode a few months back, I assumed it would be akin to "Thine Own Self" from TNG-the one where Counselor Troi took the Bridge Officer's Exam. At the very least I assumed we'd find out a bit more about her backstory, her motivations, or something.
Why dedicate a plot thread around Ortegas, if you're not going to do anything significant with her? The only thing we learned is that she's "Erica Ortegas and she flies the ship."
On the whole, it's an okay episode. But they need someone to keep better track of the show's continuity. The cast is still its strongest asset, and is basically what continuously saves this show from itself.
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