Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x08 - "The Elysian Kingdom"

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I think I'll stick with the 8. The ending was good and changed the tone of the episode but it felt too much lime just trying to resolve a dangling thread and not doing it properly. (Wesley in Journey's End levels.) But it's not that dangling of a thread as it's still a "young" story element without giving us the feeling this was the end of the road with no hope for his daughter. Just two episodes ago he knew there was a chance and given something to help. But now... It's this or she dies or they stayed trapped in this fantasy?

Ehhh...... I dunno. I'm leaning on a 7 as I think about it more, but will probably stick with an 8.

Bur if this is the "worst" this series can get, then we're okay in my book. I'll take this over any of the NT given over the last few years.
 
Luckily that finished much stronger than it started, because the first half of the episode...woof. Too much shapeless silliness, too little story.

They made two big missteps with this one. One was waiting so long to introduce Hemmer; the story had no juice until M'Benga had someone to talk to and start working to figure out what was going on. The other was justifying each new plot development with M'Benga saying how it was just like X from the book. We should have learned the plot to the book in the opening scene -- especially how it ends -- so we could make those connections ourselves. I think it would really help the ending to the episode if we knew going in that the King has to let something he loves go, and then we can realize that for M'Benga it's his daughter.

This could have been a 9/10 episode, but instead it's maybe a 6/10.
 
I think it would really help the ending to the episode if we knew going in that the King has to let something he loves go, and then we can realize that for M'Benga it's his daughter.
.

I could have sworn M'Benga mentions very early on when he's reading to Rukya that the King must make a difficult choice involving the Mercury Stone, because I remember thinking "Oh crap, that's what he was talking about having to choose between."
 
I could have sworn M'Benga mentions very early on when he's reading to Rukya that the King must make a difficult choice involving the Mercury Stone, because I remember thinking "Oh crap, that's what he was talking about having to choose between."

I hate this part.
But you wanted me to read it to you.
I know.
It's just I always wish the Huntress would come along and help.
You know, like get together with Sir Adya and rescue the king.
But that's not what happens.
King Ridley is forced to choose.
Give up his greatest weapon...
The Mercury Stone.
...or rescue Princess Thalia.
I know.
But what if we could change the ending?

Read more at: https://tvshowtranscripts.ourboard.org/viewtopic.php?f=1328&t=54573
 
I thought the first quarter/third was pretty ridiculous, but then it started to win me over and by the end I was totally sold. I was preparing to give this a 2 at one point, but they pulled it back around quickly. Uhura’s performance was top notch. Like, seriously love her.

I’m really hoping for one of the final episodes to show Pike with some really strong leadership, we’ve not seen enough of that magic he had in Discovery as a strong leader and Captain. Other than that, this season is stellar.
 
For the first 15 minutes I was thinking “This episode is pure crap!” because it just felt odd but in a bad way. But then I just really started enjoying it especially when Hemmer showed up. Then the ending made me choke up. The resolution to Rukiya’s illness really surprised me. It sadden me and delighted me at the same time.

I think the only thing that bugged me was Anson Mount’s performance. I just didn’t care for it. I was having Inhumans flashbacks. And not in a good way.

A solid 8. It would’ve been a nine if the episode had landed better for me at the beginning.
 
It was cute. I'm surprised that Rukiya's storyline came to such an abrupt end.

There's no chance in hell that I would've given my daughter to an alien entity that I had just met.
 
First 10 for me since the premiere episode. Really loved the way it started out as a silly TOS episode. From the look to the music instrumentation…..and transitioned into a moving story about the unselfish love of a father to insure his daughter survived…..even without him. This is the strongest season of Trek……maybe ever.
 
Dopamine...? What dopamine...??
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The only other real option is death……

That’s the absolutely wrenching thing about the Rukiya arc. What kind of a childhood is it living connected to a machine? But when your child can’t survive for long outside of it? And someone offers you the chance to let your child survive unencumbered even if it means they have to leave? Like @SeamusShameless says, it would fucking break me, but it’s the right thing for my child. Hard decisions for sure. We’ve had some great allegories this season and I’m loving that SNW is not shying away from these harder story points.

This is what Star Trek should be.
 
On vacation this week, so I'll make it brief.

After two somewhat underwhelming episodes (compared to the strong opening run of the series) I felt this was something of a return to form. I thought this was excellent use of camp (as opposed to last week), enjoyed seeing many members of the cast able to flex their acting chops with a different character, and liked that it had a coherent character arc for M'Benga. I am let down that the issue with his daughter was resolved so early in the season (and after the tease about a possible treatment two episodes back) but this show seems to be committed to make up for its short season runs by doing a DS9 speedrun, so I'm onboard with it I guess. Not a perfect episode, but an entertaining one which contained both elements of comedy (well, "lightheartedness") and surprising pathos.

My major quibble with the story - what the hell happened to the mooks that Una shot with an arrow? It was jarring, particularly because soon thereafter M'Benga made a comment about having to fix things "before anyone gets hurt." I hate hate hate the "disposable extra" trope in Trek. Just because we don't know the names of the random crewmen doesn't mean their lives do not matter to the named characters.
 
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