Yep.
No.
If the writers just had Ortegas and La'an have an argument about La'an shooting the Gorn, where La'an just stated she got the green light from Pike and Una, it would have played better. Then, after Ortegas argues with Pike and Una about it, the Metron could have shown up again and warned Pike and Una that if the next Starfleet captain makes the same choice wit the Gorn as they did, it's the end of humanity. Nice foreshadowing of "Arena", and a satisfactory conclusion of the Gorn arc.
It would also have made it feel less silly that they ruined the ambiguity of "Under the Cloak of War" in "Shuttle To Kenfori" by having Ortegas wonder if the ship is harbouring murders. And be a neat little arc of its own heading into Pike handing off the Enterprise to Kirk
It comes from the writers of that episode being adverse to conflict among the female crewmembers. Which makes no sense to me, since we've seen Una vs. La'an, Una vs. Pelia, and Una vs Ortegas throughout the show.
Again I get the criticism. But season 1 & 2 had the same problems already - remember M'Benga's daughter in the transporter? She did a "Batel" way earlier.
If I had to choose between S1's fairy tale episode and S3's not-Dixon Hill - I prefer the latter by a mile.
For me the biggest difference is that as of now the novelty has worn off - in a bad S1 episode (and there were a few) everything was still excitingly new. While this season there were some clunkers and even the better ones felt like the writers already fell into some habits. But in no regard would I say S3 was 'bad' as a whole. They're all quite close in quality for me, and my biggest gripe really is that I wish we would have had a lot more episodes.
For what it's worth, the producers blame the two writers strike - which I kind of get, because "not as tightly written as it could be" would be my biggest criticism of the 3rd season:
'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Producers Promise Season 4 Will Be Better
Producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers lay the blame for season 3's uneven quality on outside factors.gizmodo.com
I thought season 3 was very different than previous seasons. The characters were behaving differently. They weren't themselves[/] as such anymore. They developed motivations and explanations for the characters in previous seasons as you could see a pathway to TOS for them. Then it was all gone in season 3. Chapel was the most obvious example. In season 1 and 2 she's bright, empathetic, a good friend and quietly falling for Spock. The end of season 2 established motivations for her running away from the relationship which were unresolved PTSD and Boimler telling her (to her mind) that Spock wouldn't love her so she ran. In season 3, she can't explain why she ended it and doesn't think to warn him that she's coming. She comes across as cold and quite shallow. Jess Bush had to fend off questions at a recent convention explaining to fans that she has no idea why they did it that way and it wouldn't have been her choice but writers were insistent. The season felt like playing Mario Kart where the characters were there but suddently behaving differently.
That sounds like a strong theory. The writers felt very different in season 1. I agree that season 3 felt like a shift towards Discovery. The stakes got huge - end of universe style stuff - someone is suddenly very important and destined to be special and traditional questions of ethics were dropped.
Yes I really enjoyed Spock and Chapel in season 1. They did a great job of introducing romance but still making this believably Spock. They were friends, they shared deep interests and values, they were there for each other and it was clear that they were quietly falling. I appreciated that Spock still comes across as in love with her in season 3 by little moments such as arriving early at her quarters for dinner and the plea in episode 5 but Chapel's behaviour isn't good.
La'an and Spock also didn't work for her. Is it casual, is it a rebound, is it a comfort thing? Who knows. Having Spock engaged to one woman (who we know he will return to), in love with another and dating a third. Goodness that's too much for Spock. The dancing was artfully performed and Christina is talented, but I thought La'an and Spock dancing was out of character. I would have enjoyed it a bit more with M'Benga rather than Spock but I mostly would have liked them to cap it at one dance.
Apparently Jess has hinted that she and Spock are not done so I guess they'll reignite that story.
Agreed, that felt very unfinished. La'an needed to face consequences in a military / paramilitary situation. Worf in vaugly similar circumstances they did a good job unpacking Worf's choice there. She's obviously gone through something awful but a security officer who shoots first and asks questions later is an obvious security risk. She killed a potentially huge ally. They needed to address the barriers between Erica and La'an and get La'an help.
If they thought that season 3 would be the end, then I'm suprised by how they chose to end it. Yes it was positive, which was appreciated, but the characters are quite far from their TOS selves. Spock is very far away from TOS. I understand why they rushed Korby and Chapel if they thought it was ending. They got very little out of that relationship but I hope they keep it that way and we hear she's engaged and then move on. I don't think there's much more to be gained. I'm suprised about Spock though and where they left him. Why wouldn't they have ended Spock and La'an if they thought it was the end? That would have set him up better for TOS.
Fair enough. Each to their own. I don't agree and felt that they were quite different in season 3 with some odd behaviours as I mentioned. Pike was quite inconsistent with how he treated Erica and Uhura for example for very similar behaviour.
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