This character wasn't believable. How could a Starfleet science officer be a complete idiot?
This was a one-off setup where the audience is supposed to enjoy watching the asshole get what's coming to him. It's cheap writing. Apparently we're supposed to be happy that a young Starfleet officer gets killed.
We've seen jerk Starfleet officers before like Hobson or Stiles. By the end of the episode these characters learn they were wrong, and we assume they grow and become better people. In STD the jerk character just dies. No growth. No redemption.
And did they think they were being clever that the blue shirt died instead of the red shirt? You could see it coming from a mile away. Again, this show is totally juvenile.
Well Trek doesn't really have a history with dark humor. It's not all that bad of a thing to do. What's wrong with doing some dark and twisted things from time to time. Expand the stuff that you can do on Trek. DS9 I think danced with that stuff but we have never seen a Trek show fully embrace it. Why can't they do something like on "Orville" were someone gets their leg cut off, fall from the ceiling during a scene all because of a prank.
Jason