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32
Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Starfleet Academy | 1x08 “The Life of the Stars” (startrek.website)
submitted 1 day ago by ValueSubtracted@startrek.website to c/startrek@startrek.website
36 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

A visiting instructor arrives at the Academy and uses an unorthodox method to help our cadets process the emotions of recent trauma. At the same time, a cadet faces an unexpected challenge that will alter the trajectory of her life forever.

Written by: Gaia Violo & Jane Maggs

Directed by: Andi Armaganian

There is no spoiler protection in the episode discussion threads, and spoiler tags are not necessary!

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[–] haverholm@kbin.earth 4 points 1 hour ago

Hoo boy, that hit me harder than I expected. We're rewatching Disco at the moment, and Tilly ranks high for me in that show. My partner squees almost every time SAM is on screen, so having both of these ladies in focus was a high point.

The theme of overcoming traumatic loss, both among the students and in the Doctor's withdrawal from personal connections... it brought up stuff from my own life, and I think the lessons conveyed in this episode were very considerate and well formulated. Healing through art and drama, huh? Thanks for that, Trek ❤️🖖

This show continues to go in unexpected directions, and digging deep in more ways than one. Very welcome after a few years where the most interesting talking point about current Star Trek has been the captain's quiff.

[–] buerviper@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

I think overall a solid episode. I agree with some commentators, the SAM plot should have been the main focus (basically because that would make it a Doctor episode). The stakes were indeed low, because you know SAM won't die. I'm also intrigued in how she'll behave from now on.

The theatre plot, no idea. Why do they need Tilly to do it? Especially if all she does is ask "What do you think this line means?" Like a high school literature teacher. You'd think they bring her because she experienced trauma herself, but it's not even brought up really? Anyway, their therapy consisted of reading the lines, some drunk shouting and reconciliation. Not sure this is how it works.

The previous episode is still the weakest of the season to me, by far. This one again felt like two plots that were a bit cut short. I think the idea of dealing with trauma in these young people is a good theme for an episode, but I'm not sure what the episode is trying to tell me. I think it would have been more interesting to see the War Academy's approach to trauma therapy (I mean it's one of their cadets that died) and compare it to SFA, and then maybe we'd get something out of this. Overall, a 7/10 for me with a tendency towards 6.

[–] hopesdead@startrek.website 4 points 5 hours ago

If anyone is curious as to why the Protostar crew have only had a single mention, Aaron Waltke has clarified that PRO was being written at the same time as SFA.

[–] bgainor@thelemmy.club 8 points 18 hours ago

"The only thing that allows me to bear my infinity is not having to love anyone" may be one of the most devastating lines I've ever heard.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 7 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (2 children)

10/10. No notes.

In my view, perhaps the strongest episode yet.

Just goes to show that YMMV remains a truism.

I wonder why the old TOS fans like me are less impatient with fundamentals of human existence being presented through the growth of young adults?

Sincerely, resilience in the face of trauma is something many 30 and 40 year olds struggle with. I didn’t see this as sophomoric at all.

So, I wonder why episodes like this aren’t landing as well for folks 20 or even 30 years younger than I…

[–] SaltSong@startrek.website 2 points 5 hours ago

I wonder why the old TOS fans like me are less impatient with fundamentals of human existence being presented through the growth of young adults?

I'm a TNG person myself. One thing that I very much liked about TNG, DS9, SNW, and to an extent VOY was the competency porn. (And then totally inverted in LDK)

This show doesn't have much of that. It doesn't even have what ENT had, which learning to be the professionals we want to see. This is still kids learning to be adults. That's a different journey entirely.

Don't get me wrong, I quite like it. But it has issues. But then, don't they all?

[–] themoken@startrek.website 7 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I don't have any issue with seeing young adults growing and dealing with trauma. This episode has a lot of pieces working together in the overall storyline, I just don't think it was that compelling within the episode.

The drama class half of the episode didn't really go off. Maybe because I only know the play from what the episode told me about it, but I think it's more like the actual growth part got cut off. We spend time with drunk Tarima (yawn) and then short cut the cadets actually performing the play with each other. That would have been the climax of that story, them getting into character, relating to it, working through it and reaching some sort of understanding or catharsis but that scene gets hand waved. Probably needed a full 45 minutes to do right too.

Or the Sam story, which was closer to the mark but still failed to create tension or consequences and ended up getting resolved neatly with a happy ending. Give Sam half an episode to be dead, for people to be sad, and the Doctor half an episode to reflect on it, resolving to do better before tying it up with a bow and it could have been great.

I love that the show isn't constantly balls to the wall action and we're getting a lot of character focus but the story juggling bit this episode in the ass and it isn't the first to be trying to do too much and fumble the execution.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 3 points 18 hours ago

I only know the play from what the episode told me about it

I was unfamiliar with it too, but I feel like I got what I needed to from the description.

I unfortunately found Tarima's messy response to her trauma very...familiar, on multiple levels.

[–] grozzle@lemmy.zip 5 points 18 hours ago

this is great Trek, among the best Trek, all about how to keep going after loss and failure, with help, and, just as important, by giving help if you can.

it got me all face wet like the end of TNG "The Offspring", Data's daughter, but the focus there was more on loss than what Data learned and how he grew from his loss. This ep was a celebration of that resilience after trauma.

[–] sanzky@beehaw.org 2 points 15 hours ago

great episode. I do wish the actress who plays Tarima was better acting. I think her scenes were the weakest

[–] end0fline@piefed.social 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Since we didn’t really get to see, I wonder how Sam’s personality is going to change in next week’s episode. A whole 17 years, having an actual childhood, being added to your life could make for an interesting transformation.

Kasq looks like a location straight out of No Man’s Sky. What a creepy vibe it has.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I wonder how Sam’s personality is going to change in next week’s episode.

I was thinking the same thing. In theory, she shouldn't have any memories of her time at the Academy to date...maybe the Doc was able to describe it to her in excruciating detail.

[–] exaybachae@startrek.website 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

The gurl is a bot, and can read and relate to all earth plays in a day of gleeful scanning. Pretty sure she can experience growth from child to teen, then download and integrate a year at the academy and process that input with the new perspective, then move forward still being the same person, just being more complex as a result of the upgrade.

The biggest issue with her 17 year childhood is that she appears to be alone with one other hologram on a starship, which wouldn't exactly allow her to experience and process many normal experiences for people living in communities with mortal folk and pets n such--unless they added life like simulations, other school students, neighbors of varying ages and attitudes, pets that die...

She needed opportunity to deal with real world stresses as they typically increase in severity with age, but she just seemed to get a very performative and sheltered 17 year biological development cycle added to her program.

Seemed to miss the mark by a mile.

[–] Klanky@sopuli.xyz 3 points 8 hours ago

I was wondering about her socialization as well, although I guess the Doctor/The Makers could have created an entire holographic world for her. But then imagine the trauma of all your childhood friends and memories being 'fake', so I don't know if that would be good either!

[–] hmantegazzi@startrek.website 20 points 1 day ago

They mention she was going to have both sets of memories, but definitely having a childhood of her own will change her perspective on both her previous experiences and what comes next.

[–] aky@startrek.website 10 points 1 day ago

So... I cried

[–] showmeyourkizinti@startrek.website 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

[–] bgainor@thelemmy.club 5 points 19 hours ago

I literally spent the whole episode whispering "don't kill SAM, don't kill SAM" to myself

[–] Lemmchen@feddit.org 1 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (4 children)

Maybe I'm just getting too old and grumpy for this teeny drama emotional crap, but for me this was the worst episode yet. I get that this was effectively trauma therapy after the Miyazaki incident, but boy was it not entertaining. It's all just "oh, we are so damaged, nothing will ever be the same". There's nothing really at stake, no tension, no climax, just whining and speaking way too much in metaphors for my liking. I'm still watching Star Trek here after all and not some artsy independent movie.

[–] minorkeys@lemmy.world -2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

It's disappointing worldbuilding that there is no advanced mental/medical health services everpresent already that people just use whenever. Why isn't trauma recovery a medical procedure? Why isn't there a holodeck for use as a therapeutic tool? The hologram 'experiencing a childhood' is literally a version of that already. 1k years in the future and people need theatre to teach them to manage their mental health...

But such things would require the showrunners to give a shit about the science fiction part of startrek and not abuse the IP for a modern day teen character drama set in a generic tech fiction setting. The technology and the world in this show is not treated as a meaningful character itself, the science and technology is written for the convenience of the plot and does not form a cohesive or consistent world. This lack of object storytelling is a modern writing issue that makes the stories lack grounding in shared reality. Each episode of this show might as well just be a dream one of the characters had.

[–] Klanky@sopuli.xyz 0 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (2 children)

I agree that I felt this was the weakest. This felt like actors writing an episode for actors about the healing power of ACTING! Just...calm down and see a real mental health professional.

Caleb and Tarima have negative chemistry, and I wish the writers would stop trying to make that happen, but here we are.

The stuff with SAM was great and should have been the A-plot.

Overall I'm still liking the show but this week was a slog.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Just…calm down and see a real mental health professional.

I think it's clear that, much like Nog in "It's Only A Paper Moon", the cadets (particularly Tarima) have not been receptive to conventional therapy, which is extremely predictive of whether said therapy will be effective.

[–] Klanky@sopuli.xyz 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Fair point. I'm sure my thoughts on this episode will soften over time (they always do), but I think my dislike of both the character of Tarima and the way she is played are making it hard for me to be invested in her story lines.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 4 points 8 hours ago

I didn't expect this one to be quite as divisive as it seems to be!

But yeah, I can see why it would clang if you're not feeling the characters involved. I'm sort of in the same space with Darem right now.

Tarima is messy, but it's a very familiar kind of messy to me. Zoe Steiner is definitely taking a unique approach to the character, but it's mostly working for me. I thought her scene with Caleb in the botanical lab was quite well done, and not an easy task.

[–] themoken@startrek.website 4 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I think this one didn't come together as well as it could have. Should have focused on the Sam story more and done more to make it feel like she was in real danger. When she was dead I involuntarily yelled "yeah right!". Lo and behold a minute later it's resolved happily. The drama class and Caleb/Tarima story could have more easily been cut short without losing anything.

Probably one of the worst eps, but I'm happy to say that's actually a pretty high bar for this show so far and this is more meh than truly bad (here I'm flashing back to like 20 different Discovery episodes where the episode ended and I was tearing my hair out over how stupid they were - that's the real trauma here)

Also happy to speculate that, with two episodes left, the pendulum seems likely to swing back to excitement next week and I'm here for it.

[–] Klanky@sopuli.xyz 1 points 8 hours ago

Maybe it was because of Mary Wiseman, but for some reason this felt like a Discovery episode, and not in a good way. I liked Tilly on Discovery, but here she just annoyed me for some reason, felt very smug in all her dealings with the cadets.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 4 points 22 hours ago

It doesn't not sound old and grumpy...

[–] hopesdead@startrek.website 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I was not ready for the callback to “Real Life”.

[–] SaltSong@startrek.website 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I mentioned to my wife, after Sam had asked, that the Doctor had, in fact, been in love at least once, and maybe three times, but I wasn't sure one of them counted.

Seems I was wrong. That one did count.

[–] hopesdead@startrek.website 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Well they couldn’t show anything from “Blink of an Eye”. They never showed his son.

[–] SaltSong@startrek.website 2 points 5 hours ago

Also, that one didn't seem to leave any scars.

I think that refusing to hold her hand was unforgivable.

[–] khaosworks@startrek.website 4 points 1 day ago

Annotations for 1x08 are up at: https://startrek.website/post/36104352