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

[Yistaan]

Well tensions need to rise again for the next war that happens (and ends) in Errand of Mercy.

General Chang: Chancellor, a Federation starship recently dropped off a bunch of people on Ceti Alpha 5, near Klingon space.

Chancellor: Did you scan them with a cloaked ship?

General Chang: We even contacted them via subspace radio and they asked for asylum in the Klingon Empire. We were going to consider it but our scans showed they were augments. Likely it was a trap by the Federation to infect the entire Empire into smooth-headed augment virus victims and finish what they started a century ago. We told their leader "Revenge is a dish best served cold" and denied his request to leave the planet.

Chancellor: A federation plot to infect all of us! We're going to war! And replace all Klingon armed forces with augment virus victims. They can't infect us if our frontline soldiers are aleady infected!

 

[Tiran O'Saurus]

Genius.

 

[lawman]

Okay, I realize I'm jumping in a year after the fact, but I just watched this...

...and that was one of the worst Trek episodes I've seen in a long time.

It wasn't consistently awful through-and-through (like some episodes of VOY or ENT); it actually had potential. Then in its last few minutes it completely squandered that potential in the most destructive way possible.

Let's be clear: I don't think the Klingon War in DSC was a good idea from the start, so I'd be happy to see it left in the past and never revisited. And if it must be revisited, I don't think making M'Benga and Chapel PTSD-plagued front-line veterans is a good way of doing so. But if you're going to do that, some earlier parts of this episode at least managed to raise some of the real issues of personal recovery and forgiveness that would have to entail.

But whatever potential it had to address those issues thoughtfully, it blew all to hell with the ending.

This was outright character assassination. We're supposed to accept that Dr. M'Benga outright murdered an unarmed man, a Federation ambassador, in his own sickbay? And that Christine Chapel watched the man bleed out on the floor, and then helped M'Benga cover it up? No.

And then the command crew sweeps the whole thing under the rug after an informal hearing aboard ship? No detailed investigation? No formal charges? No trial? No involvement from Starfleet or Federation officials? Never mind character assassination, that's just an insult to the intelligence of the viewers.

And in the process it does no service to any of the themes that were raised. It offers no deeper insight into healing, or forgiveness, or diplomacy, or the struggle to remake one's life. It just ends.

This was needlessly bad. And I really don't see the point of it.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

This was outright character assassination. We're supposed to accept that Dr. M'Benga outright murdered an unarmed man, a Federation ambassador, in his own sickbay? And that Christine Chapel watched the man bleed out on the floor, and then helped M'Benga cover it up? No.

I get where you're coming from, even if I had the opposite opinion of the episode. In fact it's my favourite of the whole series.

If it was anyone else (aside from maybe Ortegas) I would've considered the ending to be character assassination too, but M'Benga is basically a new SNW character without a whole lot of focus in the previous 17 episodes, so they're still in the process of establishing who he is. Plus Chapel helping him cover it up is the flipside of Number One helping him cover up hiding his kid in the transporter in season 1. They both chose loyalty to a friend over their duty in the moment, but they believe they're doing the right thing. Was it the right thing? Personally I'd say no, but I appreciated how messy the situation was.

And I accepted the rushed investigation because it's one-episode story and those tend to be in a hurry to pack things up as they reach the end credits. It would've worked out the same with the full trial, the episode just got to the point faster.

I guess the point of it all is given away by the still-faulty biobed. M'Benga gave in to his rage and got his revenge, but it didn't fix anything. His trauma hasn't been healed, he hasn't got closure, all he's managed to achieve is to kill a bad man who was doing good in the world. That's the insight I saw in it.

 

[Frightscape One]

I agree that this is probably my favorite episode of SNW so far.

But I don't think it was character assassination at all. M'Benga was defending himself. Dak'Rah went after him after he discovered M'Benga knew his secret. (He was right next to the table where the dagger was while M'Benga was on the other side of the room.)

M'Benga repeatedly asked him, pleaded with him, to be left alone. He didn't listen and just kept going on. Dak'Rah was harassing M'Benga.

Considering Dak'Rah came across as an untrustworthy person and his actions and orders for killing civilians and children on that moon... he had it coming.

 

[fireproof78]

Amazing to still see the differences in perception of this episode. I'm still amazed at the absolute carte blanche given to Dak'Rah and how his intentions must be good while M'Benga must be bad.

 

[Yistaan]

Amazing to still see the differences in perception of this episode. I'm still amazed at the absolute carte blanche given to Dak'Rah and how his intentions must be good while M'Benga must be bad.

I'm not saying Dak'rah's good and M'Benga must be bad. But the Starfleet way has been to save lives. And also a devotion to the truth (there's a Picard quote somewhere where Starfleet's entire mission is the truth, albeit this has gone out the window in New Trek as Federation coverups and Section 31 plots happen seemingly every week now).

We're also told MULTIPLE times in Trek that Klingons have multiple organs etc. and are notoriously difficult to kill (they were even able to still get Kurn to sickbay in DS9 and save him after Worf impaled him). Meaning the implication is that M'Benga and Chapel, literally being in sickbay, could've saved Dak'rah if they wanted and sorted out the details later. Heck, M'Benga might even have been cleared considering, as you and others pointed out, Dak'rah was harassing him. But it's implied that M'Benga and Chapel, rather than let the truth come out and take the chance that it won't completely find him (M'Benga) blameless, let Dak'rah bleed out in a room full of advanced medical equipment.

And then the command crew sweeps the whole thing under the rug after an informal hearing aboard ship? No detailed investigation? No formal charges? No trial? No involvement from Starfleet or Federation officials? Never mind character assassination, that's just an insult to the intelligence of the viewers.

I think we're supposed to take away that while nothing formal ever happens to M'Benga, there's enough smoke there that Kirk demotes him from the CMO position as M'Benga no longer holds that job in TOS.

 

[fireproof78]

I'm not saying Dak'rah's good and M'Benga must be bad. But the Starfleet way has been to save lives. And also a devotion to the truth (there's a Picard quote somewhere where Starfleet's entire mission is the truth, albeit this has gone out the window in New Trek as Federation coverups and Section 31 plots happen seemingly every week now).

Except we are told that by the heroes. But we see Starfleet officers act out of bounds in relationship to their trauma all the time. M'Benga is not the first officer to not comply with the truth. Despite Picard's high minded speeches he does not speak for all of Starfleet as is regularly demonstrated by corrupt admirals, or other officers who take matters in to their own hands because they disagree with a rule or law.

There is an ideal, and then there is the grim reality of war. Sisko demonstrated it, Kirk demonstrated it, and Janeway demonstrated it. M'Benga is not out of step here.

And this is not a new Trek thing. Starfleet has had conspiracies, and bad actors, and coverups since the beginning.

KIRK: Captain's log, Star date 1313.8. Add to official losses, Doctor Elizabeth Dehner. Be it noted she gave her life in performance of her duty. Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell, same notation. I want his service record to end that way. He didn't ask for what happened to him.

We're also told MULTIPLE times in Trek that Klingons have multiple organs etc. and are notoriously difficult to kill (they were even able to still get Kurn to sickbay in DS9 and save him after Worf impaled him). Meaning the implication is that M'Benga and Chapel, literally being in sickbay, could've saved Dak'rah if they wanted and sorted out the details later. Heck, M'Benga might even have been cleared considering, as you and others pointed out, Dak'rah was harassing him. But it's implied that M'Benga and Chapel, rather than let the truth come out and take the chance that it won't completely find him (M'Benga) blameless, let Dak'rah bleed out in a room full of advanced medical equipment.

Possibly. We don't know. We know M'Benga knows how to kill Klingons and is capable of fighting them. We know that Klingons can be killed with knife wounds as shown by The Albino and Kang making the last ditch effort to kill him when Dax hesitates.

I don't find M'Benga blameless but I don't side with Dak'rah either. He was clearly duplicitous and eager to save his own skin and the front he was putting forward.

 

[Drunk Superman]

Perhaps, unlike McCoy, M'Benga is familiar with Klingon anatomy. Knowledge that can be uses to slay as well as save.

 

[lawman]

I can agree about the symbolism of the faulty bio-bed at the end... although I don't think M'Benga had the presence of mind to interpret it with any sense of regret about the hollowness of revenge. His voiceover suggests that it's more just a matter of resignation that some things (including his sense of self) will stubbornly remain broken beyond fixing.

I can't remotely agree that Dak'Rah "had it coming." To me he came across not as "untrustworthy," but as someone who was sincerely trying to turn his life around and attempt to balance the scales for past acts (even if he allowed certain public myths about those past acts to persist). The entire Federation diplomatic corps presumably agreed with that judgment. You (or M'Benga) are free to disagree, of course, but at most that would warrant a trial with due process—it hardly justifies murder. (Nor, hopefully needless to say, does pestering someone who asks to be left alone.)

And that's what it was: murder. We have no evidence that it was self-defense (not least because the scene was (shamefully) shot to obscure the details), and the build-up certainly doesn't warrant that assumption.

I'll grant that perhaps it's not outright character assassination of M'Benga, if only because he has (admittedly limited) previous appearances in canon, although it is at least a distortion of his otherwise admirable and humanitarian character as seen in those instances, not to mention (several more) appearances in Trek "fiction." However, it is definitely character assassination of Chapel, who is not someone we have ever previously had reason to believe would let a person bleed out on the sickbay floor and then lie about it under oath.

Nor can I easily accept the rushed ending as a mere artifact of "one-episode structure," especially given how much (poorly paced) time was given to the flashbacks throughout the episode. It speaks poorly of Pike, Number One, and Spock that they would be so quick to sweep this under the rug, and poorly of Starfleet that it would let them do so. And I'm really starting to get tired of stories that paint a cynical portrait of Starfleet and its personnel (even our protagonists!) not living up to their ideals.

 

[HellRod]

But the Starfleet way has been to save lives. And also a devotion to the truth (there's a Picard quote somewhere where Starfleet's entire mission is the truth, albeit this has gone out the window in New Trek as Federation coverups and Section 31 plots happen seemingly every week now).

Didn't Sisko play a part in a political assignation? Didn't he recklessly pursue a criminal to the point he poisoned an entire planets atmosphere? How bout Janeway. She straight up killed Tuvix and tortured a member of Starfleet. How bout Archer? He tortured and committed acts of piracy. Nevermind the various instances of Kirk acting less than perfectly civilized. Were these all instances of New Trek?

 

[Weyoun 251]

Didn't Sisko play a part in a political assignation? Didn't he recklessly pursue a criminal to the point he poisoned an entire planets atmosphere? How bout Janeway. She straight up killed Tuvix and tortured a member of Starfleet. How bout Archer? He tortured and committed acts of piracy. Nevermind the various instances of Kirk acting less than perfectly civilized. We're these all instances of New Trek?

I think the key difference is that they were typically scripted and played out to either show the character as being in the right or in Sisko and Archer's case to show them as being deeply troubled by their choice but ultimately it being "for the greater good"

M'Benga - being a secondary character so therefore not necessarily having the inbuilt goodwill - is shown in a far greyer light (so the audience may not afford the benefit of the doubt - although I appreciate on these boards situations like Tuvix are given that depth of discussion around morality that this situation has also raised) and with the specific act left ambiguous which I'd say is the more "New Trek" side to it in that they are more prepared to not have things as clear cut.

M'Benga feels to me like he has shades of Garak to him - we are meant to like him, he is depicted a generally genial and with a moral code... but both of them are products of their life experiences (Garak in the Order and M'Benga as both a doctor and a soldier who has had to make some choices that none of us would ever wish to be asked to make and is conflicted by it) and those experiences say that sometimes someone has to do things that are unpalatable or maybe even unforgivable (torturing Odo being the one that stands out for Garak) because the cost of their soul is deemed worth it for saving countless others.

The needs of the many - yes Spock sacrificed his own life for the crew so it is slightly different but it is still a decision that weighed up one sacrifice to prevent many

Edith Keeler - allowed to die so others could live. Yes you could argue it was "meant" to happen so was simply correcting the timeline but could you make the choice?

A runaway train can stay on its current heading and kill 50 people or you can divert it at the cost of 1 - did you take 1 life or save 49?

Showing our crews dealing with the impact of the decisions they make and owning them, growing from them, is part of the human experience and it feels believable that someone tormented by what happened under the command of this Klingon - this peace washed Klingon - would feel it was a price worth paying as balance for the death and destruction caused

What could be interesting - as we know relations with the Klingons deteriorate significantly - would be a follow up of this (in a similar vein to Worf's trial during the war) where the Klingons not getting the blood of a man who killed their ambassador leads to a return to a war state

 

[Lord Hierarch]

Klingons have honor! Humans have none!

Klingons did nothing wrong!!

Binary Star was an inside job!


Joke aside, no Federation officer has lived perfectly to Federation ideal. They've only ever tried. Picard excused genocide on behalf of the Prime Directive, Sisko let a Romulan senator get assassinated so the Romulans would join the war, Janeway helped the Borg so they kept assimilating, Archer stranded the Illyrian's after they helped because Earth came first, and Kirk? He stole Enterprise like 50 times to save the planet.

I might be wrong on the count.

 

[Yistaan]

Sisko let a Romulan senator get assassinated so the Romulans would join the war, Janeway helped the Borg so they kept assimilating,

Janeway (or at least her alternate future self) also seemingly ended the Borg threat (although not before they unleashed the Frontier Day massacre) so the galaxy MIGHT give her some leeway over that. Apparently the IDW comics are now saying that the Romulans messed with their own star in experiments conducted when they entered in the Dominion War, meaning that the implication is Sisko has not just the blood of Vreenak but most of the Romulan species on his hands because his tricking them into the war caused them to make their own sun go unstable and blow up.

 

[Lord Hierarch]

Janeway-Borg I was more referencing that one dude whose species got assimilated after Borg beat Species-####. How many species were banking on the Borg losing yada yada.

implication is Sisko has not just the blood of Vreenak but most of the Romulan species on his hands because his tricking them into the war caused them to make their own sun go unstable and blow up.

That's stupid. The fuck.

 

[fireproof78]

What could be interesting - as we know relations with the Klingons deteriorate significantly - would be a follow up of this (in a similar vein to Worf's trial during the war) where the Klingons not getting the blood of a man who killed their ambassador leads to a return to a war state

Except he wasn't an ambassador. He was a defector.

 

[Frightscape One]

I can agree about the symbolism of the faulty bio-bed at the end... although I don't think M'Benga had the presence of mind to interpret it with any sense of regret about the hollowness of revenge. His voiceover suggests that it's more just a matter of resignation that some things (including his sense of self) will stubbornly remain broken beyond fixing.

I can't remotely agree that Dak'Rah "had it coming." To me he came across not as "untrustworthy," but as someone who was sincerely trying to turn his life around and attempt to balance the scales for past acts (even if he allowed certain public myths about those past acts to persist). The entire Federation diplomatic corps presumably agreed with that judgment. You (or M'Benga) are free to disagree, of course, but at most that would warrant a trial with due process—it hardly justifies murder. (Nor, hopefully needless to say, does pestering someone who asks to be left alone.)

And that's what it was: murder. We have no evidence that it was self-defense (not least because the scene was (shamefully) shot to obscure the details), and the build-up certainly doesn't warrant that assumption.

I'll grant that perhaps it's not outright character assassination of M'Benga, if only because he has (admittedly limited) previous appearances in canon, although it is at least a distortion of his otherwise admirable and humanitarian character as seen in those instances, not to mention (several more) appearances in Trek "fiction." However, it is definitely character assassination of Chapel, who is not someone we have ever previously had reason to believe would let a person bleed out on the sickbay floor and then lie about it under oath.

Nor can I easily accept the rushed ending as a mere artifact of "one-episode structure," especially given how much (poorly paced) time was given to the flashbacks throughout the episode. It speaks poorly of Pike, Number One, and Spock that they would be so quick to sweep this under the rug, and poorly of Starfleet that it would let them do so. And I'm really starting to get tired of stories that paint a cynical portrait of Starfleet and its personnel (even our protagonists!) not living up to their ideals.

Someone trying to atone for past deeds wouldn't be harassing someone who was clearly traumatized by that war... especially after being asked and pleaded to repeatedly to be left alone.

Dak'Rah was a cowardly opportunist who was doing all he could to try to maintain a comfortable life in the Federation since he would not only be unwelcome in the Klingon Empire but likely executed.

 

[No Grave Marked]

I'm not saying Dak'rah's good and M'Benga must be bad. But the Starfleet way has been to save lives. And also a devotion to the truth (there's a Picard quote somewhere where Starfleet's entire mission is the truth, albeit this has gone out the window in New Trek as Federation coverups and Section 31 plots happen seemingly every week now).

We're also told MULTIPLE times in Trek that Klingons have multiple organs etc. and are notoriously difficult to kill (they were even able to still get Kurn to sickbay in DS9 and save him after Worf impaled him). Meaning the implication is that M'Benga and Chapel, literally being in sickbay, could've saved Dak'rah if they wanted and sorted out the details later. Heck, M'Benga might even have been cleared considering, as you and others pointed out, Dak'rah was harassing him. But it's implied that M'Benga and Chapel, rather than let the truth come out and take the chance that it won't completely find him (M'Benga) blameless, let Dak'rah bleed out in a room full of advanced medical equipment.

Don't project TNG era morality on to characters in the TOS era. It was a different time, and that SNW respects that aspect is one of the many reasons I really enjoy it.

Not to mention that Picard himself was a hypocrite with respect to that moral poibt on more than one occasion during TNG's run.