Down a bit this week mostly because
the Rios part felt a bit contrived. The one of three that could be mistaken as an undocumented Latino/Hispanic of the 21 century is the one that gets injured and is taken to a clinic that helps the undocumented, which of course gets raided on the day he is there. Liked the actual scenes at the clinic though.
A good solid 8.
edit to clarify my train of thought
Well, yeah. And in "Past Tense" the two people of color were immediately locked up, while the white woman was helped by a kind stranger and taken straight into high society. Why are stories like that something to avoid? It seems to me a key reason you would want to do a time travel story in the first place.
The sunshine, the oppressive heat, and the omnipresent juxtaposition of opulence with squalor and decay... as a foreigner, I couldn't find a better way to describe LA if I tried, and they were all there in this episode.
As an LA resident who literally decided just 2 days ago I can't take it anymore and started planning my move, I cannot tell you how perfect your phrasing is. I may start quoting it in real life when asked to explain why I am leaving.
I'll have to give that 2-parter another watch; but it's crazy to me we've reached the "future'" date visited by Modern Trek.
I remember being a kid watching Berman Trek, and thinking, didn't those 60's writers know that we'd still be parsing all this decades later?!?! Why did they set the Eugenics Wars in the 90's?!? They should have known the show would endure long enough for this to become a continuity error!
Of course, I had no similar thoughts watching "Past Tense." Or "First Contact" for that matter! 2024 and 2063 both seemed impossibly distant at the time.
I like that Trek takes place in a parallel world but not entirely the same as ours.
If people are going to continue to watch it into the succeeding decades it has to get reboot or understood. Otherwise the writers will constantly have to reboot the entire franchise and cede ground so to speak every few years or else put all the events of Star Trek a century or more into the future.
I'm fine with that. Just keep pushing it forward.
I'm personally waiting to see what they're doing when First Contact Day comes and goes. The date is drawing nearer.
Count me in the "keep pushing it forward" camp. Star Trek is our future. If you need an explanation for any predictions that didn't match actual reality -- those 29th Century time cops fixed it.
If I'm still around at age 82 when we hit actual First Contact Day, I will then be willing to consider Star Trek has diverged from our timeline. But not a minute before!
Until then, they can just keep up with brilliant and lacerating reconciliations, like representing modern homeless encampments as they actually exist, just adding a Sanctuary District sign.
i’ll turn 75 on that day, I plan to hold a huge Star Trek costume party with me as the Vulcan ambassador.
Given how accurate the Sanctuary District prediction has turned out to be, you may also get to meet some actual aliens on your 75th.
Chris Brynner of Channel 90 is still part of 2020s continuity based on a Los Angeles newspaper headline so I guess some things didn't change at all when Q went back to tamper with history.
Oh yeah, Channel 90!
Another streaming service we all have to sign up for... (Not to mention Net Access and Interface Operations)