debates among the crew

[Mudd]

I can pick two Berman-era episodes that might have similar flavors, "The Defector" and "Duet". Where they don't measure up is that we are prompted to take a side in a way that is more heavy-handed.

TNG invited us to identify ourselves with the Federation, couching it in the comfortable premise that the Feds are both good and right.

But they're never made to live up to that.

SNW's "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" rehabilitated the Trek narrative and even elevated it in ways that were decades overdue. It's one of my favorite Trek episodes, but one I can't rewatch.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

My general impression, which admittedly may be widely off the mark, is that Hawkeye's arguments were often proffered with a smug sense of moral superiority, reliant more on emotion than logic, and framed by incredulity that anyone could disagree.

Having seen every M*A*S*H episode a good 47 times, while noticing differing character approaches during all the years, I believe Mike Farrell's BJ Hunnicutt eventually became MORE guilty of this trait*, more so than Hawkeye, who had usually valid reasons to vent. In the end, Alda seemed more mellow by comparison while the formerly-easygoing Hunnicutt became borderline insufferable (and not merely to Winchester, who I'll mention was played a by TNG guest star to fend off the digression pouncers.)

(*He accepted offenses when none were intended, which reasonable people should object to.)