THIS is why I am a fan of this series!
Always great to be reminded that Pike and M'Benga have a friendship with so much history. Love that shuttle ride to Kenfori.
Great followup to Erica having PTSD, Dak'Rah, and Batel. And it didn't feel like it was too much. (Very much like DS9 with how they were able to pack so much character work and story within a single episode.)
Dak'Rah's daughter going after M'Benga makes perfect sense. Nice reminder that in Klingon society when a single family member is considered dishonored, it affects the rest of the house, especially their children. Her discommendation made total sense given Dak'Rah's crimes, and his betrayal of the Empire. Her going out like she did... she was definitely far more honorable than her father.
M'Benga: a good friend and a good doctor. Interesting revelation, being married 4 times. That makes sense, given his profession... it's not uncommon for doctors to have multiple ex-wives. (One of them is possibly by death, since it's implied based on his reaction to Rukiya naming her nebula friend Debra after her mother that she died at some point.) Seems we get a pretty clear answer on whether or not he killed Dak'Rah in self-defense. I'm glad it was answered, and as much as I would be fine with him killing Dak'Rah by self-defense... I'm actually MORE glad he killed him without it being that. Dak'Rah murdered a LOT of people, including a lot of children. And he cowardly went to the Federation, found a way to get into their good graces, and was living a life of luxury based off of lies. (Like so many Nazis who fled to South America and a number of them got away scott free, not actually having justice delivered to them.) M'Benga is my favorite character of SNW, and he just became even better, now that we know he provided justice to that cowardly, smarmy, child killer. Plus, it gives even more meat to an already awesome character.
Ortegas: I'm glad she is still getting story and focus with her trauma. She's being insubordinate, which is past the point of her usual behavior. I wonder if this will be a thread that runs for the rest of the season.
Number One: fantastic character. Super smart and knows her crew well. Open to ideas and will give her people chances, but will be tough when it needs to happen. Her taking Erica off active duty and putting her in chain of command training sessions was a great way for Una to give her another chance while still facing consequences.
Pike: great scenes with M'Benga and Batel. He definitely is a man who is having a hard time accepting losing someone he loves, even though he accepted his own fate more easily than Batel's. Which makes total sense, both as the character we know and just on a personal level as a person who has lost family to disease. I do agree with Batel, though, that it was entirely her call to make, and her not telling Pike that option is also her call. Especially her knowing him so well and how he'd be risking his own life on a very slim chance of her survival by being a human/Gorn hybrid. (I also love how Pike has an uncanny ability to find ways to skirt every order or treaty around and still not get the book thrown at him.)
Speaking of hybrids... that was a nice theme that was intertwining the two stories, the zombies on the planet and what Batel may become. As a horror fan, I LOVE how this was done. Not only was the horror effective, but it wasn't overly used, which was to the episode's benefit because of how gruesome a death like what we saw on the planet is. The horror was well balanced by so much character work. (Also loved the little bits of humor of 'don't call them zombies', as well as M'Benga saying how he never gets caught. Good horror usually has some bits of comedy in it. These bits were much funnier than last week's 'humor' with "Wedding Bell Blues".) The effectiveness of the horror easily jumps this episode half a point.
Great use of horror and excellent character work for a bunch of characters. Better than the season premiere, and far, FAR better than the second episode.
This is a 9.75 for me. (Since there are only whole numbers to vote for, this rounds up to a 10 here.) Might very well be the second best episode of SNW. ("Under the Cloak of War" gets that honor, currently.)
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