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Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x04 - "Among the Lotus Eaters"

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Maybe Zac was responsible for inventory on evacuation?
Don't they need to hold the turbolift handles for the lifts to work?
Don't like the short and tight hairdos.

I had a mother in law and my father pass from dementia. Memory loss is an evil, horrible thing to have. "I'm a pilot - I fly the ship" over and over seems like a perfect response to memory loss.

Loved this episode. Classic Star Trek. Probably the best of the season. 10/10.
I always assume the computer has an easy mode setting. If it hears someone trying to get help and they're not accessing the correct interface, it offers assistance. Hell, computers can do this now. After all, what if a child enters the turbolift and needs to get back to its quarters but can't quite reach the handles or if an alien species is visiting and it has no "hands" by which to grasp the controls? So I figure it's just a failsafe type situation.
 
When even Picard learned to occasionally bend the rule you know the Prime Directive is a regulation designed to be circumvented not only for the sake of creating drama but to show that compassion goes above and beyond bureaucratic words printed on a readout or piece of paper.
Yup, the Prime Directive is a regulation designed to make members of Starfleet stop and think before they take an action.

And give Starfleet the ability to punish people after the fact who break the Prime Directive in ways that aren't morally justifiable.
 
Was Zac responsible for outfitting weapons for the away missions? When was the last time you've seen a Star Trek episode where they go to like a iron/bronze age civilization and every crew member is packing phase rifles?
Okay so, in the beginning of the episode they say they didn't know there were people there because they couldn't get clear readings (due to plotty convenient interference reasons) and that previous surveys had shown nothing, so they didn't know until they got there and were immediately attacked. That's what I heard.
 
Another splendid episode and one that proves once more that episodic stories can be still viable, interesting and original.

Very different approach to the “planet of the week” scenario that still mixed many classic Trek elements, such as the Starfleet officer gone native.

Also, like last week’s episode they still managed to cram a lot of stuff into the episode without making it feel frenetic, even delivering some tear inducing moments.

I like that Pike seems to have found some sort of balance between career and personal life, something that most captains we know never did.

I’m a bit dubious on how they got all those phaser rifles, but ok.

9
 
Yup, the Prime Directive is a regulation designed to make members of Starfleet stop and think before they take an action.

And give Starfleet the ability to punish people after the fact who break the Prime Directive in ways that aren't morally justifiable.
My thinking always was that a Starfleet crew couldn't, say, give a population phasers when they're living in 16th Century style any other way (or a shuttlecraft when they're using horses normally, etc.)

Only in my head canon do I think that some latitude is given when there is a threat on a planet's inhabitants that normally wouldn't happen (a computer being built by someone to control a population when it's not an inhabitant, etc.)
 
I can see how this didn't hit for some people, and I think that's pretty fair, but I really enjoyed this one. A good Pike episode (though I didn't miss him as much as others have) and a pretty classic sci-fi premise. Some bits felt rushed, though, and the ship-board b-plot was ... just acceptable.

Often, I'm amazed how much people pay attention to little trivial things about the universe rather than judging it as a creative work, but I will say: the Enterprise would never operate without a reserve pilot. In this case, the reserve pilot would be useless but still --- there have been many time when the command crew leaves their station and someone immediately takes their place. They don't have a bravo shift pilot to free up Erica for away missions? If, from a storytelling perspective, you want Erica on the ship, then give her more of a feisty leadership role, trying to get the crew and Spock to band together. Missed opportunity to Erica to point out to Spock that emotions are, sometimes, as rock solid as facts.
 
7. It was an entertaining story but nothing special.

Pros:
  • Great characterization.
  • Interesting setup.
  • Nice to revisit Rigel 7 and see what happened.

Cons:
  • A bit lightweight.
  • Overly pat ending.
It just didn't feel like there was much to this episode. The big lesson it seemed like it wanted to get across is that the details of your memories matters. No shit, really?

I would've liked a mention of Boyce. Maybe during the briefing. Pike could've told M'Benga that Boyce was the Doctor at the time. Also, Pike reflecting on how that mission affected him. "I was even thinking of leaving Starfleet after that." Not a big deal, but they would've been nice.
 
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Weird seeing some of the more mixed reactions to this episode online. Genuinely feel like this might be my favourite SNW episode so far.

Thought Mount was excellent here. I know in The Cage that Pike had a bit of a dark side, but it’s nice to see them lean into that again here. I certainly don’t need it every episode, but I hope they’ll explore that further as the show progresses.
 
I really enjoyed this one, maybe more than any of the others this season so far. We got to see the crew doing their thing together, overcoming the challenges of a hostile planet and a deadly form of radiation affecting their cognitive abilities, and parts of this were very evocative of TOS, right down to the gunfights and fisticuffs. It wasn't without its hokey moments, but it landed very solidly for me. Plus, it was good to have Pike back again.

I'm not feeling the Pike / Batel relationship, but that is just me.

The fate of Yeoman Zach is a loose thread with which much could be done later, given some thought and good writing. That was an interesting twist on the plot of The Cage, having him survive the initial mission only to go Ron Tracey on Rigel 7.
The Wrath of Zach,
 
Thought Mount was excellent here. I know in The Cage that Pike had a bit of a dark side, but it’s nice to see them lean into that again here. I certainly don’t need it every episode, but I hope they’ll explore that further as the show progresses.
People keep saying that in this episode and Cage shows Pike having a dark side, but is that really legit? Because this episode literally had a brain altering planet affect Pike and the implication is all the awful 1960s stuff he did in Cage ("Not used to having a woman on the bridge") is also a side effect from Rigel 7's brain altering properties. Which means it's not fair to say Pike has a dark side from these 2 episodes as he literally wasn't himself.
 
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