I certainly took her line to mean the students. They'd just gone through something intense together in a short space of time. It's like saying, "I spent a week there one night."
Yes, that’s probably how that line was meant. It is somewhat confusing, though, and seeing how many viewers seemed to take away from this that Ake also just spent 17 years on Kasq — even though it doesn’t seem to fit with how they present the Doctor’s decision to spend 17 years of his life to be a parent to SAM as something special — probably means they should have been clearer with that line. She is a 400 year old woman, but I don’t think that means she has 17 years to waste spending time on a planet only to
not be part of SAM’s upbringing.
The question is: do you stay true to what happened last week? Is it congruent with that? And have the appropriate steps been taken to get the story to the climax that you want to achieve eventually. All drama is in some way written to effect, where a story will most of the time be constructed 'from the end', as it were: this is where we want to end up, so how do we get there? And most importantly: will it resonate once we do? To achieve that effect, the emotional involvement of the audience must be built up.
So, I was referring to all the characters really: Tarima, Sam, the Doctor. None of their particular problems was really and truly prepared or SHOWN to us before. The show simply TELLS us that they all have some big trauma, but it's hard to relate to it because we haven't seen the problem play out.
I think you’re being a little unfair to the show. I will agree that none of these storylines have been as effectively prepared as that storyline on
ER perhaps was, but that doesn’t mean that there was no gearing up for these storylines
at all before their payoff. Let’s not forget that they had 20+ episodes worth of screentime to introduce elements for the Mark Greene arc, whereas the current streaming standard of ten or so episodes gives the writers only so much space to try and juggle multiple moving elements and characters.
Let’s look at these individual characters and how their arcs played out in season one preparing us for this episode:
The fact that
the Doctor had some preoccupations about engaging SAM and becoming her mentor were introduced right in the premiere. He also showed a strong reaction when she mentioned the characters from
Prodigy. This continues in “Beta Test”, where he tries to ignore SAM fangirling about every word he says, effectively trying to not let her into his heart. Then there’s a rather emotional scene in “Series Acclimation Mil”, where he pretty coldly tells SAM that one just has to get over the loss of loved ones. The Doctor seems odd and we don’t really know what’s up with him. Then all of this comes to a climax in “The Life of the Stars” and we learn what’s plaguing him.
As for
SAM: “Series Acclimation Mil” firmly establishes that she’s not really able to process emotions like love, loss, friendship, ambition, purpose etc. She clearly
feels, but her Kasqian makers outright tell her that doesn’t matter. It introduces us to the idea that in the eyes of her makers she’s not able to fulfill their mission, because they are only interested in her assessment of the organics as threats, not in the how and why they feel. So it’s clear that already she’s surpassed the initial programming she received. In “Come Let’s Away” she’s shot which seemingly causes her to glitch. Those glitches are addressed again in “Ko’Zeine” and now in “The Life of the Stars” we learn that the glitches actually were about her problem of not being able to process human emotions. Seems like that story was actually set up pretty well.
Tarima’s arc up until “The Life of the Stars” has been one of a teenage telepath who is afraid of the destructive potential of her natural powers. It’s like telling a teenager to not feel too strong emotions; basically an impossible task. When we meet her we learn that she feels like she’s basically a Betazoid royal who’s lived in isolation, sheltered from the galaxy outside. We learn in “Come, Let’s Away” that she caused her father to go deaf, and that this likely forever changed how people back home treated and looked at her. In “Beta Test” she wants to visit Humpback whales, because she wants to meet a lifeform to which she doesn’t matter. In “Vitus Reflex” we learn that she’s all about getting freedom to be someone new. She chose the War College because she hoped it would teach her the discipline she needs to control her emotions/powers. She seems to avoid getting involved romantically with Caleb at first, but in “Series Acclimation Mil” she gives up a bit of that control to be with him. This letting her guard down continues in “Come, Let’s Away”, where it results in Caleb being angry at her for probing his mind. To save Caleb and the others she then decides to basically sacrifice her new-found freedom and let her destructive powers reign. It works, but it comes at a price. And in “The Life of the Stars” we learn that the price was that once more she now feels like her peers look at her as a danger.
In going through some scenes from all episodes this season to write this up I realized how well it all actually works together. I will agree that some of those individual seeds could have been sown more effectively perhaps, but to me at least it’s obvious that they planned those arcs very well ahead and attempted to avoid having anything feel like it’s coming out of the left field.
was not expecting that, I think he’s way too harsh with this one…
