I must be of the silent minority or something, but I really disliked the amount of advertising was done in this episode. I don't think I can remember this ever happening in trek before, but yeah. Not for me. Also, while I enjoyed that Kirk used chess to make money, the music choice ugh. What happened?

It's fine, I don't hate the show, just didn't like this episode and really it's a skip for me. Doesn't add enough to anything to be a required watch as part of a rewatch.

Pretty solid episode. Usually I dislike time travel episodes but this one worked given that it gave La'an opportunity for character development and the beginning of closure. I was a little worried that were edging back towards the temporal Cold War plot thread from Enterprise with the ending. Hopefully they will stay well clear of it.

One thing is the last 3 episodes in terms of content have felt like they belong in the back half of season 1. Not that it is bad thing, but there is the feeling that we are waiting for the season proper to kick off.

So, does a genetic engineering lab now have the corpse of a man from the future with all the future vaccinations, immunities, and whatever else that may provide?

Is this the Kirk that was in the project Phoenix project?

So.. La'an goes back in time to bootstrap paradox Pelia into becoming the engineer she is in the current timeline, and saves Earth's next Hitler from being killed, because without that, humanity never really gets it's shit together. And ::speculation alert!!:: maybe her leaving that gun there begins his murderous spree, so maybe she bootstrap paradoxed Khan into being the tyrant he becomes, too.

What a wild ride.

I just ... this series.. is just so consistently enjoyable. I love it.

So far, it's my favourite episode of the season.

Annotations at c/DaystromInstitute here.

This is the best episode of modern Trek since Magic to Make…

It hit all the right notes and felt so Star Trek. Don’t get me wrong, I love serialized seasons, but Star Trek is at it’s best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously, while also simultaneously dealing with serious plot points.

[Copying my post from the original thread and adding something to the bottom]

Christina Chong absolutely killed it, especially in that final scene. Imagine finding someone you can connect to for the first time in your life, and immediately lose them. It even makes someone who is usually very unemotional crack.

Also, Pelia is such a delightful character. Great addition to the show.

Other than that I’m not really sold on the episode. It’s over an hour long and it did feel (too) slow and meandering at times. And I feel as if it just existed to shove in Kirk once again (and once again in an alternate timeline scenario to stick to the Trek canon) and explain the postponement of the Eugenics Wars by some Temporal Cold War shenenigans.

Final nitpick: how can Spock exist in the alternate timeline if humans and Vulcans are enemies?

Others wrote about how it was interesting that La'an had to choose to keep baby tyrant Khan alive for the greater good (of the future paradise Earth). And I agree that it's an interesting conundrum – but that was given so little space in the episode that it fell entirely flat for me. La'an found out early on that Kirk didn't know Noonien-Singh but that plot point was dropped for 30 minutes and only brought up again in the final minutes. In that aspect it reminded my of "The Elysian Kingdom" last season where nothing happens for 45 minutes and the interesting stuff comes out of the left field at the very end of the episode.

Maybe I'm being too harsh (I'll rewatch the episode in a couple of days together with a friend) but for now I'd say this was one of the weaker episodes of the series.

Am I confused or is this a Star Trek “sub lemmy” that is super active? Is this an rss feed from Reddit or something?

If this is already this active, then fuck yeah lol

I guess I'm one of the few voices of dissent again... I enjoyed last week's episode, but this episode is disappointing again. The romance between La'an was very unnecessary and unnatural. They had no chemistry and it felt incredibly awkward. I still can't stand their choice for Kirk. Feels like I'm watching Darrin from Bewitched (or some other "ordinary working man" type character) doing cosplay and not a star ship captain, and certainly not a captain like Kirk. Not only does he not have "the look," but I hated the way he delivered all his lines.

The only breath of fresh air for me is that a disaster takes place someplace other than New York, LA, or the US in general. However, they definitely didn't hire enough extras for Toronto. Everywhere looked too under populated and not enough racial diversity (ie: where were all the Asians? Toronto is filled with East, South, Subcontinental Asians). I've never seen the streets of Toronto so sparse.

Minor thing but the teaser jumped straight into the opening credits (without fading into black first) and I thought that was cool.

That was such a great episode. I watched it last night and woke up thinking about it. Really great. I love the addition of Pella in the crew, and that La-An went to her for help later in the episode.

Do have to admit that I was a tad disappointed that Pella didn't come to her at the end remarking something about the clothes looking familiar.

And this James T. Kirk is growing on me! I first wasn't convinced, but he really was so good in this episode. The call at the end was so bittersweet.

My initial reaction is that that story was told very well and Christina Chong was phenomenal at acting it out too. But I think I need more time to actually digest the ramifications of what just happened to her too... yikes.

@ValueSubtracted
A nice La'an episode.

Small aside, but I appreciate the mention of how the timeline slowed down, and Khan was suppose to be in 1996

I ended up liking this a lot. For one, I'm glad Pelia really is a part of the cast now because I LOVED her introduction and was fearful she'd be a one-and-done character.

But secondly, in the past all I could see with La'an was (as someone else said) "a budget Camina Drummer". And I love Drummer, but seeing almost!Drummer every time La'an was on screen was so fricking weird.

I think this episode gave La'an some of the development she needed so I wasn't seeing almost!Drummer all the time.

(And for those who don't know Drummer is...go watch The Expanse. It's as if the new (is it still considered new?) Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek had a baby. One part grittier sci-fi universe, one part wonderful character/crew exploration.)

Really liked it. It was the best SNW episode for me so far. However I really don't like the whole changing of established continuity via time travel.

Really enjoyed this episode! Wasn’t quite sure where it was going at first but just went along for the ride and ended up really liking it. Refreshing to see a good temporal mechanics Star Trek episode again.

I’m not 100% sold on new Kirk yet but I also don’t dislike him either. It’s kind of surprising given how well Ethan Peck fits as Spock, I would have thought that Kirk’s casting would be equally spot on.

Still, curious to see where this goes, definitely loving the ride!

Another surprisingly good episode, this season is turning out the be a banger.