I would pay extra for a Wes Anderson directed Star Trek film. Spoilers.
This episode was a huge relief. I was worried after the first couple of episodes this season that I wasn’t enjoying this series any more. I laughed more than I have in quite a while, and it had two solid and enjoyable plots. While it may not be destined for the ‘best episodes of all time’ list, it definitely rekindled my enthusiasm for the series.
What stood out for me about the Boimler plot was that they were drawing on references from outside of Trek. This used a lot of very specific James Bond callbacks, plus a bit of Apocalypse Now, which was a refreshing new flavour for the show. And it was a good mix of classic Boimler shenanigans combined with a real plot about him advancing as a junior officer.
The Mariner plot was off to a bit of a shaky start in my head, as I spent too much time thinking about how this wasn’t the Jennifer I remembered from earlier episodes. Fortunately that turned out to be good writing foreshadowing things rather than bad writing forgetting things. More of conventional ’save us from the monster’ plot, but it had a nice clockwork approach with the elements built up in the background.
The episode also continues having ust a little inch forward for T’Lyn in characterisation and motivations. She’s well past background status now, and I’m interested to see where the show is taking this.
Quick hits:
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The Cosmic Duchess is a pretty starship.
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Nice continuity on Boimler’s beard.
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Yay, Jennifer’s back.
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Was the Tholian Web in the big battle scene last time? Probably, I’m consistently bad at spotting additions to the sequence.
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Tendi’s enthusiasm for scanning is very character consistent and cute.
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This is not the Jennifer that I remember from earlier episodes. Not sure if that’s foreshadowing or bad writing.
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The Boimler subplot is gradually edging into a James Bond sequence.
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Possibly the greatest Boimler scream to date.
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OK, that river is definitely a James Bond reference, the colour is unmistakable.
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Counting the sides to work out it’s an icosahedron was a genuine laugh out loud moment for me.
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And now it’s Apocalypse Now.
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It was foreshadowing. Phew.
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‘Month of Hell’ – that’s the kind of callback I can really appreciate.
931 down.