I think the Ortegas episode was always going to be the Gorn episode, presumably the finale, given her history with the Gorn. True, she also has a history with the Klingon war, but they're clearly making the Klingons be M'Benga's thing. Hence, the season opener where they added combat medic into M'Benga's past.
Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x08 - "Under the Cloak of War"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
- Start date
The biobed was a metaphor. 'Some things are broken in a way that can never be repaired,' paraphrasing M'Benga's closing voiceover.
He's the broken medical monitor.
More to come! M'Benga is still broken.
At first I thought M'Benga was guilty but on rewatch I'm not so sure:
- the Klingon seems to check the case while M'Benga's back is turned, possibly seeing the knife with enough time to premeditate something (edit: we don't actually see what Dak'rah is bending over to look at because of the framing, but I'm pretty sure it was the case.)
- Right before the stab, M'Benga shouts "Don't!" Don't what? Grab the knife? Suicide?
- Think about what we know of their beliefs & customs surrounding death, as well as Rah's schpiel about people needing saints even if the story is a lie. Is it possible that after realizing M'Benga knew the truth, he decided to provoke this result? (Like, grab the knife and create a situation that would look like he got stabbed?)
On rewatch, I think either he stabbed himself or more likely grabbed the knife and attacked *knowing* M'Benga could fight it off and kill him in battle with honor.
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I would love them approach some contemporary sci-fi writers for stories, like how TOS had Harlan Ellison and Theodore Sturgeon.
Don’t think they’ll do on-again off-again because, with only 10 episodes a season, there’s no need to drag out this (or any story arc). Also the relationship already has a pre-determined endgame, so the whole “keep the audience guessing” part of most on-again off-again storylines doesn’t apply.
My take on Dak'Rah as a Klingon is that he was probably born to a Great House (almost certainly has to as this is before the Great Council), got his Generalship through nepotism, and proceeded to utterly fail (from his perspective) in this battle.
Losing all of his officers and running from a battle, he realized he'd only get a dishonorable death so he concocted his BS story about killing his men for being dishonorable. He thus adopts a "defector of conscience" story and adopts as much in the way of human mannerisms as possible and that he left the Klingon Empire because of their nasty warmongering.
The Federation buy it and ignore the Klingons calling him the "Butcher of J'Gal" as typical Klingon espionage and lies when they're actually telling the truth. They want to buy that he's a Klingon who saw the light and the guy is very good at social manipulation. Basically, they think he's Worf. However, he's not even Gowron (who was many things but not a coward). He's Duras.
The real question, though is what M'Benga said about wearing a mask so long that it becomes the real you. Dak'Rah committed countless war crimes but came to the Federation and acclimated to life there. He's not willing to own to his crimes (and justifies them through various ways) but may have simply adopted the culture of the Federation and come to believe his own lies. As a man who was never a true believer in the Klingon way, maybe he's now a "weekened warrior" of the Federation and a harmless peacenik.
But does that mean he is reformed? Does that mean that punishment for his crimes should not happen? Is all retribution revenge?
Losing all of his officers and running from a battle, he realized he'd only get a dishonorable death so he concocted his BS story about killing his men for being dishonorable. He thus adopts a "defector of conscience" story and adopts as much in the way of human mannerisms as possible and that he left the Klingon Empire because of their nasty warmongering.
The Federation buy it and ignore the Klingons calling him the "Butcher of J'Gal" as typical Klingon espionage and lies when they're actually telling the truth. They want to buy that he's a Klingon who saw the light and the guy is very good at social manipulation. Basically, they think he's Worf. However, he's not even Gowron (who was many things but not a coward). He's Duras.
The real question, though is what M'Benga said about wearing a mask so long that it becomes the real you. Dak'Rah committed countless war crimes but came to the Federation and acclimated to life there. He's not willing to own to his crimes (and justifies them through various ways) but may have simply adopted the culture of the Federation and come to believe his own lies. As a man who was never a true believer in the Klingon way, maybe he's now a "weekened warrior" of the Federation and a harmless peacenik.
But does that mean he is reformed? Does that mean that punishment for his crimes should not happen? Is all retribution revenge?
I agree with the metaphor. The full quote is "Chief Medical Officer's Log, Stardate 1877.5. Biobed two is working again. At least for now. But I know it's only a matter of time before it shuts down again. Some things break in a way that can never be repaired. Only managed."
As soon as the Doctor leaves sickbay, the biobed sparks and displays "SYSTEM ALARM"
It was a signal that he's a Doctor not a biobed technician. One of the season 3 episodes is a 45 minute sub-space call with the makers who say he has voided the warranty with his unauthorized repairs.
That's what happens when you don't have enough qualified enlisted ranks. The Doctor needs a good Electronic's Technician.
I need to give it a re-watch but that's what I thought happened. His lies would bring him "dishonor" to himself (them having already dishonored him in the Klingon world) so killing himself would have "saved" him in some self-rationalizing manner.
Maybe a return to the customer service species from the Vulcan system.
My take on it was that they are a subspecies of Klingon like the Aenar are to the Andorians and the ships belong to a group of religious fanatics.or perhaps that the religious fanatics were in power at the time and then overturned when they went too far.
The Klingons wouldn't much care who Dak'Rah ordered killed in combat. They were put out over (believing) he ordered his own men killed. But if they believed he fled in cowardice, he would be deemed to be without honor - utterly reprehensible and barely even worth the dignity of a painful execution. His family (I assume a general would have a big household) would be dishonored for generations. Dak'Rah, being entirely mentally deranged (from a Klingon psychological perspective), was committed to never, ever allowing the truth to come out.
So once it became clear M'Benga knew the truth, one of them was going to have to die. So the options I see are:
So once it became clear M'Benga knew the truth, one of them was going to have to die. So the options I see are:
- Dak'Rah tried to kill M'Benga and wanted M'Benga dead (M'Benga justified).
- Dak'Rah started a fight, willing to kill M'Benga, but realistically knowing M'Benga probably could kill him and was willing to kill him (suicide by M'Benga).
- Dak'Rah killed himself (M'Benga innocent).
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The big question for me in the final scene is why M'Benga had the dagger in a boxing sickbay.
Was all a bit convenient.
I just hope they never explain it and assume we are all adult enough to know things look different in different series.
DS9/ENT explaining what we all knew was an IRL issue was a terrible idea
Klingon Honor
A lot of people think Klingon honor actually permits the massacre of noncombatants due to the actions of people like Duras in ENT and the behavior of Kor. However, I should note this is not actually true. "House of Quark" makes it clear that cutting down a Ferengi helpless before you was dishonorable and worthy of dis-commendation. The lawyer, Kolas, makes it clear that he's utterly disgusted by the massacre of refugees and believes Duras will LIE (and did in fact) about them being terrorists to gain unearned glory. Klingon honor says anything to achieve victory is justifiable but pointless massacres are still high on the monster scale.
I think that he was thinking about killing him when he opened the box with the knife. He warned him to leave and when he didn't and put his hands on him, he stabbed him.
A lot of people think Klingon honor actually permits the massacre of noncombatants due to the actions of people like Duras in ENT and the behavior of Kor. However, I should note this is not actually true. "House of Quark" makes it clear that cutting down a Ferengi helpless before you was dishonorable and worthy of dis-commendation. The lawyer, Kolas, makes it clear that he's utterly disgusted by the massacre of refugees and believes Duras will LIE (and did in fact) about them being terrorists to gain unearned glory. Klingon honor says anything to achieve victory is justifiable but pointless massacres are still high on the monster scale.
I think that he was thinking about killing him when he opened the box with the knife. He warned him to leave and when he didn't and put his hands on him, he stabbed him.
Considering the constraints within which they worked, DS9 did just fine. This is the kind of show Behr and Moore would have probably have loved to do.
SNW man....you never know what you're gonna get. Nothing hits harder than a hard hitter after a couple of weeks of fun.
The trekcore review of this episode is really interesting.
As i said in my initial post, I'm fascinated to read how people saw it.
Basically the trekcore reviewer does not like it at all! I thought it was the best of the series by far.
But, he raised some very good points and my opinion might be changing somewhat.
SNW is a very divergent show.
As i said in my initial post, I'm fascinated to read how people saw it.
Basically the trekcore reviewer does not like it at all! I thought it was the best of the series by far.
But, he raised some very good points and my opinion might be changing somewhat.
SNW is a very divergent show.
It may be my favorite SNW episode of them all. This one and last week's really show the series' range.
