Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x08 - "Under the Cloak of War"

[Jedi Marso]

Speaking of Chapel, it's rather sad that we never saw a happy minute in their romance. I figure it's deader than Khan at the end of Star Trek II. It would have been nice to have seen some happiness for a little while. We know that by TOS that it wasn't a thing, but would it have hurt to see a little joy for a little while?

I'll hate to see her mooning over him in TOS because all she does is push him away in SNW. Talk about self-destructive.

Some relationships are doomed from the start. This may well be one of them. (Notwithstanding what we already think we know from TOS).

On a related note, I rewatched TOS "This Side of Paradise" the other night. For people thinking there is going to be some booming romance with Leila, the facts do not really bear that out. Until Spock gets hit by the spores, she laments more than once that he basically couldn't (wouldn't) give her the time of day in their past association. His sudden, undying love for her after being hit by the spores seems to be a convenient plot element and little else.

 

[Mudd]

I mean, maybe, but it seemed to me that this guy had a much more direct role in committing war crimes than, say, Wernher von Braun did.

Depends on who you decide to believe. Here's one minor example, out of many:

How Much Did Wernher von Braun Know, and When Did He Know It?

There’s no question that [Von Braun] knew about the slave labor?

He was in the underground plant at least 12 to 15 times. As I found out in the testimony that he gave for a war crimes trial in West Germany in 1969, he mentioned that he’d been through the underground sleeping quarters, which had been built in the tunnels in late 1943 for the concentration camp workers because the above-ground camp hadn’t been finished or hadn’t even really been started. And those underground accommodations were horrific. And he walked through that area and through the mining area.

 

[Nerys Myk]

What bonding elements would make pink?

What ever they make erasers out of.

 

[valkyrie013]

Interesting.. Don't know how to rate it..
Very MASH like.
Sad for the Luna kid..
Another Andorian makeup variant.. Like it better than the eyebrow antennas of Disco and hemmer.

But the ambassador was weird.. Be like saying to Hemmler .. Come on over to be an ambassador.. We know you killed alot buy hey.. Second chances and all.. Ah no..
Also the klingon makeup just seems too fake.. Looked more real in the berman era.

 

[gvn2fly]

Rah himself - seemed to go out of his way to provoke M'Benga...why? He seemed to be a bit sadistic to me. If he was truly a good guy, he'd have left him the hell alone.

To me, he was never a good guy. He ran away when his men were being murdered and when the Klingons believed it to be him and no one else came forward he said he did it because he was reformed. He was never reformed it was all a lie. Then he used that lie to work with the Federation because it was in his best interest at the time and he had nowhere else to go.

 

[Airmandan]

He didn't compel them. I thought that was clear. He wanted them there and suggested it would go far to promote peace if they did...
oh wait, I guess he did.


Diplomacy is so weird. It's such a long game.

When your commanding officer “suggests” that you come to dinner, it’s not a request.

 

[Noname Given]

The story doesn't tell us whether it's better or not. It leaves us feeling uncomfortable over whether or not M'Benga made the right choice, which is why it feels like a Deep Space Nine episode since it's the only Trek that consistently didn't tell you what to think at the end of "message" episodes - that felt more comfortable throwing out an "issue" and letting you mull over it and feel uncomfortable...

By your end comment it shows you really haven't watched a lot of the original Star Trek (1966-69) have you? That's the Star Trek franchise series DS9 borrowed that aspect from.

 

[Tuskin38]

The Orion captain in the last episode, the actor played Joseph Seed in FarCry 5. In this episode, the Andorian was portrayed by Kyle Gatehouse, who played Ethan Seed in FarCry New Dawn, and a FarCry 6 DLC.

The FarCry games are made by a Canadian company, so it would make sense there would be a bit of overlap.

 

[Mudd]

To me, he was never a good guy. He ran away when his men were being murdered and when the Klingons believed it to be him and no one else came forward he said he did it because he was reformed. He was never reformed it was all a lie. Then he used that lie to work with the Federation because it was in his best interest at the time and he had nowhere else to go.

That speaks to motive, but not to what he did for the Federation. There's no indication that "it was all a lie." He seemed to believe that he was somehow making up for what he'd done. But his acceptance of responsibility and guilt were, at best, facile and self-sparing.

Part of what made the situation so hard for M'Benga was that he suffered such inner torment for having killed a few pretty nasty characters who were responsible for a lot of deaths, and Rah felt so little true guilt for having committed so many horrific killings.

Not that Rah's work on the Federation's behalf was a lie, but that it was built on lies - and worst of all, that it was built on a self-congratulatory claim of responsibility for something he himself had done, and regretted terribly.

 

[gvn2fly]

That speaks to motive, but not to what he did for the Federation. There's no indication that "it was all a lie." He seemed to believe that he was somehow making up for what he'd done. But his acceptance of responsibility and guilt were, at best, facile and self-sparing.

Part of what made the situation so hard for M'Benga was that he suffered such inner torment for having killed a few pretty nasty characters who were responsible for a lot of deaths, and Rah felt so little true guilt for having committed so many horrific killings.

I agree. Regarding your first paragraph, I do think this is true. M'Benga said Rah wanted to use him to make himself feel better for what he had done. Rah didn't dispute this.

 

[Noname Given]

Transporter records would tell if the ambassador had brought the dagger on board with him or not.
I don’t suppose Starfleet will investigate the matter too deeply.
Having a Klingon ambassador get aced by a traumatized veteran onboard the flagship?Yeah but no.

There are no transporter records once the buffer is cleared it seems.

 

[gvn2fly]

Not that Rah's work on the Federation's behalf was a lie, but that it was built on lies

I touched on this in a previous post, but do we believe Rah would have let M'Benga reveal the truth to the public? It could have ended his position with the Federation (assuming they didn't already know). To me, this makes the ending a bit more ambiguous.

 

[Mudd]

BTW, we don't know who struck first in the fight between M'Benga and Pike, but we do know that Christine told a whopper to protect her friend. She saw nothing.

Also, I suppose that Christine knew that the blood of Rah's officers was the result of M'Benga's violence and not Rah's - Joseph may never have confided to her just what he did, but she knew pretty well what he intended to do, and what the ultimate result of his self-assigned mission was.

 

[Ogrebear]

Well, that was a different tone from the last one...

Ug, they have to give us Discovery flashbacks at the start? That Klingon design... yuk.

The Klingon Ambassador Dak'Rah looked great! Proper makeup and wardrobe.

I like how Uhura is the voice of reason and hope in this episode. She seems genuine in wanting to believe Rah and his mission.

Wonder where Ortegas served and what action she saw?

So that's how the Federation got raktajino.

Then we got dark- good use of the greenscreens for the Federation MASH on J'Gal there.

The guff commander Martinez we first meet, I think he should have been Tellerite. Howard as a Tellerite would have been fun.

Does Starfleet not have phycologists to help people deal with PTSD?

Even with orders Pike might have been more sympathetic, esp if he has access to M'Benga's war record as The Ghost.

M'Benga having a secret, kickass special forces history reminds me of a Shepard in another Franchise.

Dinner: have we ever seen anyone actually eat anything hot Pike has served on this show?

Awkward dinner was as awkward as I thought it might be.

Nice to see an Andorian in a speaking role- esp on without the 'extra bits' from DIS.

I knew Inman was going to die from the moment we saw him.

I liked how Chapel and Spock tried to talk but couldn't. Like Spock cannot speak the loss of his 'sister' I guess.

Why where children recovered by the Black Ops team sent to take out the Klingon Commanders?

Like how they explained the 'Protocol12' stimulant - was the set M'Benga and Chapel used previously an old brew, or has M'Benga kept making/refining it?

Rah def should have walked away from M'Benga when he had the chance.

M'Benga attack being the reason Dak'Rah fled is interesting. You can see why Dak'Rah defected if he was indeed a coward who lost a planet, the Klingons would not accept the lost off honour, but the UFP might give him a chance. I suspect it was a very long debrief before Rah started work in the Diplomatic Corp.

Which does bring up an interesting question- where did Rah get the knife from? Presumably he was debriefed and stripped of everything he had? Therefore he could not have had the knife that killed the other Warlords on him to bring to Enterprise, therefore the other person in Sickbay must have had it, so that then leads to the question of How did M'Benga have it and the whole cover up unravels.

Chapel and M'Benga breaking their oaths to not aid an injured person when Rah was dying in sickbay. I am sure they could have saved him, they have managed worse injuries.

There really, really needs to be repercussions from this mess. M'Benga is going to be facing charges/jail time surly for killing an Ambassador in his own Sickbay!

The Federation having access to dead Klingons, prisoners of war, and defectors does lead to questions why a long standing Starship Doctor knew no Klingon anatomy some years later and let the Chancellor die - presuming same timeline etc.

Strange New Worlds continues to provide some quality entertainment, this one particularly deals with stuff Discovery added to the history, but it is nice to see some serious follow-up to it.

 

[Mudd]

I touched on this in a previous post, but do we believe Rah would have let M'Benga reveal the truth to the public? It could have ended his position with the Federation (assuming they didn't already know). To me, this makes the ending a bit more ambiguous.

You're right, we don't know. Yeah, the writer (and director) walked a very fine line to prevent there being any definitive answer not only to what happened but to what the characters intended. We know that Rah raised his voice angrily and shouted in a hostile manner - "So selfish a human!" and that was after M'Benga said (but we did not see) "Get your hands off me!" So it's certainly plausible that Rah did attack him first. But deliberately made unknowable as a certainty.

 

[Seven of Five]

It seemed like an ambitious episode, yet I'm voting a 7 for it in the end. I think the structure of the episode was used better on DS9, in particularly Necessary Evil, which still holds up as one of my favourite DS9 episodes years later.

I thought Ortegas was going to end up with some meaty scenes, but M'Benga seemed to steal the episode.

I enjoyed Number One's discussion with Pike regarding crew morale with the Klingon ambassador onboard.

 

[Mudd]

Which does bring up an interesting question- where did Rah get the knife from?

He didn't. M'Benga had it in his locker.

I don't know if the Deltan parsley was a deliberate misdirect, but it did have me thinking for a moment that they were going to go down the path of having someone try to poison someone at or after the dinner.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Well, that was a different tone from the last one...



Does Starfleet not have phycologists to help people deal with PTSD?

Ship's counsellors arrive the first Tuesday of the 24th Century.

Nice to see an Andorian in a speaking role- esp on without the 'extra bits' from DIS.

Indeed. We need more Andorians.

I liked how Chapel and Spock tried to talk but couldn't. Like Spock cannot speak the loss of his 'sister' I guess.

As others have noted, Spock/Chapel seems to have fallen rather flat rather quickly.

Chapel and M'Benga breaking their oaths to not aid an injured person when Rah was dying in sickbay. I am sure they could have saved him, they have managed worse injuries.

There really, really needs to be repercussions from this mess. M'Benga is going to be facing charges/jail time surly for killing an Ambassador in his own Sickbay!

The Hippcratic oath does appear to be truly dead here. I could see M'Benga having a SOF background and then becoming a doctor- once he does the latter, he should be a doctor and leave the knifing of Klingon ambassadors to others. I hope that the ending of this episode gets revisited by Starfleet Command in S3. There are questions that need some answerin'.

 

[Therin of Andor]

'Trask' is a bad name for an Andorian.

Va’Al Trask, according to the closing credits.

Thing I noticed first that Klingon blood is red again. It's not pink as it shoud be...

It has only ever been pink in ST VI and perhaps twice more? Usually red or almost black.

 

[cooleddie74]

What's an appropriate name for an Andorian? It had a "T" as well as an "s" in it. Sounds Andorian to me!