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seraph5 · 2 years

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Welcome to my unhinged rantings about the season finale of SNW in general and why I think Spirk is now dead in the water.

SOME POTENTIAL SPOILERS BASED ON S2 SET PHOTOS.

Ok so I love Balance of Terror, I love that the Romulans began with this ornate double speak, Mark Lenard who played the Romulan commander (and then on the strength of this performance later played Sarek) brought a staggering gravitas to the role, the cat and mouse games they played through the episode were delicious and it was a shining example of Kirk railing against attacking and not seeking war where one could be avoided. Given all this I did not love they they kind of gutted that episode, placed Kirk in a more combative position and used it as a vehicle for Pike’s acceptance of his future. I kinda feel like I wish Kirk wasn’t in it at all.

This was an alternative timeline so I’m trying to give it the benefit of the doubt but aside from Kirk being disappointingly combative in a moment when he should have been exemplifying cool-headed restraint, I also found him to be not charming and flat. He also came off as profoundly unslutty which made me sad. I know this episode didn’t give him a lot of moments to be charming or complex or indeed slutty so maybe given a different timeline he will be different. But also maybe not you know. Which brings us to spirk.

Ah spirk. Spock and Kirk as a story device work so perfectly because they are two parts of the same whole. JJ didn’t know what to do with a relationship this close so he settled for begrudging affectionate rivalry and then awkward put upon friendship. It looks like SNW is content to swerve even more off the exceptionally-close-relationship path by giving meaningful character development meant for the two of them to share to female love interests. With Spock it’s t’pring AND chapel and with Kirk, given the kissing photos we’ve seen from season 2 of SNW it’s gonna be ba-da-ba-ba-ba La’an.

La’an makes sense as Kirk’s love interest. They’ve both suffered severe trauma at a young age and in fact when La’an discussed her experience with the Gorn I did literally think of Kirk’s experience on Tarsus IV. La’an is also intelligent, strong, beautiful, determined and tough. So instead of wiling away nights playing chess or chatting or rolling around in one of the ships gardens at night mind melding (it happened in the books) Spock and Kirk will be operating on a fully bros level with lady problems instead. I can almost guarantee that.

I feel like it’s really a testament to how much I genuinely love this show that in spite of them very likely killing spirk with a hammer in the streets and gutting balance of terror that I cannot wait for next season and I just wish they were given way, way more episodes to play with. You don’t get a ‘Geordie and Data play Sherlock Holmes’ ep if you only have 10 eps in your season. You don’t get a trouble with tribbles ep if you get 10 eps a season. You don’t get a ‘Lwaxana makes everyone horny with her menopause’ ep if you only have 10 eps. And that’s a crime my friends.

#star trek #star trek strange new worlds #strange new worlds #SNW #spirk #spoilers

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lenievi · 10 months

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snw2 #6

My personal episode ranking based on my enjoyment: 3 - 6 - 4 - 2 - 1 - 5

such a GOOD episode

(this time I’m leaving all my feelings and thoughts as they occurred as I went through the episode, so it’s a mess and I mention things that the episode explains later. I mean these posts are pretty much just for me anyway)

Kirk/La’an in the preview!!! why are you teasing me so?????? (also the parallels in the preview between Kirk/La’an and Spock/Chapel.... if you’re experimenting with Spock/Chapel, I want you to experiment with Kirk/La’an, ok? I think that sometimes people misunderstand, because I don’t expect or even want Kirk and La’an to live happily until Kirk’s 60 and dies, I just want them to give them a chance... for a year or two (which is entirely plausible because there are years before Kirk gets the Enterprise where we don’t know anything about a girlfriend), it’s about the journey, not the endgame - and I feel like people are always focused on endgame. After ep 3, I made a mistake and looked around the fandom and the amount of people who would just be like doomed doomed doomed is annoying. And like, so what? I know people do this with Spock/Chapel too, even though with them it’s way more about glee than anything else, and it’s also pretty annoying)

....... wow they robbed us of Pike’s promotion ceremony? Does it mean it’s just for this episode so he and Kirk can meet? Like seriously? This is so hilarious if true

Pike: “I’ve been given a command of the Farragut” LMAO (this is some... convoluted writing lbr)

- awww Uhura’s watching video of Hemmer to learn T_T

- Una’s finally doing her job. amazing.

- oh, Uhura now has a single room. Interesting. So maybe only cadets share rooms?

- soooooo, the preview did lie to me, okay. I mean, I expected it, but I wanted Una and Kirk to meet :((((

- omg thank you for 1. Sam being jealous 2. the brothers not having a loving buddy buddy relationship 3. love seeing that Jim’s biases against soft sciences are actually still very much present

considering that Sam has a family, a wife and kids, I wonder if Kirk Sr. doesn’t consider that enough... and that’s why Jim is always going after career because that’s what his father instilled in him. = to be a man, you’ve got to be successful, you’ve got to aim high, you’ve got to be the best. And so Jim goes through that life while yearning for a home and family... and eventually, he just gets an empty house.

- I really like these types of episodes where we can see everyone. This is already so much better than last week’s episode

- Spock and Chapel do play chess together. Yay :D

- oh, wow, it’s gonna be Chapel who ends it? (just me theorizing, because she’s like pulling back now :/) That... hmmmm, will make tos!Chapel look worse. Please, handle the relationship with care or officially make SNW a different timeline where stuff in TOS happens differently (I know ep 3 did that, but also a lot of people are sooooo stubborn against it, like, ok, they changed the years, but it doesn’t mean that what happened in the episodes changed. But... anyway, handle it with care and don’t make tos!Chapel look bad because she’d still be pining even though it’d be her fault that the relationship ended. I mean we’ll see how it goes...) Also LMAO at Spock actually being extra invested. He really wants this to work, and Chapel is probably going to break his heart? (even though that is not what TOS implies but could be interesting. I’d actually prefer if we could get them having a relationship together, but... yeah)

love how Kirk implied that Spock might be losing against Chapel in chess lol (Kirk was like, ok, I guess Vulcans are good at chess BUT they’re also easily distracted. Noted.)

- why can’t all episodes just have everyone interacting, so we can learn more about their dynamic?

- uhmmm, Pike, you shouldn’t be your crew’s friend......... (I kind of miss the lack of proper professionalism like it was in TOS. I know, I know, different times, but...)

- is Kirk literally going to meet everyone from his future crew in this episode? (we’re missing Chapel and Spock atm, even though he already saw them playing chess)

- and as I was just wondering where is La’an since it’s a security job, she appeared. Good. Would be stupid if they kept her away from an episode with Kirk (can they meet pls?)

- why is everyone calling Kirk “James”??? (do the writers have some fanfics wishes for Uhura to do that or what? Wouldn’t an ensign call her superior officer by the title? Now, what’s missing is Kirk calling her “Nyota”)

- akhdkjahfjshdjfghjdsgjsgjsh

La’an: James? Pike: You two know each other?

akdhjahfjdshjghsjghsj

- I’m glad that Pike is there for Uhura too btw (I just don’t think a captain should say he’s an ensign’s friend, that’s all)

omg omg omg Thank you so much for that Kirk/La’an scene

1. just the way he opens up to her because he doesn’t want her to think he’s one to chase every pretty skirt

2. Kirk not truly growing up on Earth but jumping from an outpost to an outpost, from a planet to a planet is my long time headcanon. (So I’m gonna take it and use it so much.) Kirk not really growing up with a father around as well. (which might also mean that Kirk’s parents’ relationship might not be ideal, but we’ll see. So much validation in this little scene. Gonna probably be really annoying about it later)

3. La’an just... smiling at him T_T idk I’m just so happy with this scene

4. Kirk being all “I didn’t forget you owe me a drink” kshdjkahfjkhdjkghjsdhgjsh

it must still be hard for La’an, but tiny steps

- thanks for giving me good scenes with Una in this episode (but I still have the same problem when it comes to the relationships. They showed Una and Hemmer interacting once...)

- and when I thought they would ignore Spock, they had to insert him in lol At least, that’s out of the way, and now they can just exist while having adventures with other people. I like it was together with Uhura and that Uhura introduced them and that it was completely casual, but omg please stop with Spock needing to clean dishes after Sam Kirk.

McCoy: So, Jim, how did you and Spock meet? Kirk: He came to my table when I was talking with Uhura to clean a glass after Sam. Can you believe that? Who does that in a bar?

(I kind of entertained the thought that “meet James Kirk” was about Spock (or rather it was literally the first thought when hearing the line), just edited in that way in the trailer, and... I was right lol)

aaaand is Pike like going to loose the Fleet Captain badge in the next episode? Is that really what will happen? Temporary promotion for one single mission. Okay. Sounds... like a good writing (I think it’d be better to just ignore The Menagerie than do this... are you gonna not let them meet after this or what?)

anyway, such a good episode, and I’m actually so glad that they left Spock out, because people would probably just talk about that and wouldn’t focus on Uhura, and she deserves it so much. (the fact that startrek.com’s promo pic about the episode is Kirk and Spock is so insulting - it was like three seconds)

I kinda like that it felt like Kirk wasn’t actually sure about his “charm and jokes”, that he feels like he needs to use them, but they’re not really him, and it will take him years to grow comfortable with them.

Thank you for making him so serious. And thank you for making him immediately open up to La’an (and La’an knowing what to say back, so they kind of connected through understanding) T_T

I loved Kirk and Uhura together. Now, Mirror Mirror has so much background when it comes to Kirk and Uhura. Love it.

Now, since Pike was already randomly promoted, I wonder if we’ll still see Kirk or if this was his last episode in this season. They got everything out of the way. And tbh two episodes are enough lol

Next ep is the crossover (and he’s not in that one). Then I suppose it might be some M’Benga and Chapel and PTSD from the war episode (because I feel like that still needs to come up again), the 9th episode is ????, and then it’s the finale, which imho might have Batel (unless that’s 8 - you know, there’s a scene in the trailer where she is on some planet and some ship is attacking), so... Kirk isn’t really needed tbh

well, we’ll see

anyway, I was so worried about this episode, and I’m so happy they didn’t disappoint me T_T (doesn’t mean I’ll start trusting them though, but I got so much of my headcanon and even expectations validated. I’m so happy. I’m gonna be so annoying with all this Kirk info)

I mean, SNW just does that, doing what I expect (even though sometimes in a slightly different way), but it has to end one day...

#snw nonsense

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ssaalexblake · 2 years

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@ravensbystarlight Oh thank god. I thought I was the only one who was really underwhelmed by the episode. The ending with Una could have been fitted at the end of any episode. Also the scenes in the future didn’t exactly show the characters in a favourable light. Plus I really refuse to believe that the only way the situation with the romulans could have played out was just in one exact way with only a few key people 🤷‍♀️

I’m just??? WHy wasn’t ep 9 the finale??? You don’t do a character death in ep 9 like that unless what happens in ep 10 is an absolute knockout or a deliberate display of the fallout from the death. Plus, i feel like there could have been some resonance in Pike deciding he needs to have this happen to him to save these people and the future in the episode before, and suddenly one of his crew has to die to save the others and is willing to do it. And Pike accepts that necessity, and gives Hemmer his blessing even as he hates it because he Gets it now.

Then, they attend the funeral, are unexpectedly boarded and Una’s marched off unceremoniously and it makes it even more of a kick in the gut because just after a Funeral?? Do you have No shame???

I... Legit don’t get why they did it this way. It makes no sense. If nothing else, the Disrespect towards Hemmer not even getting a finale out of that story.

I am willing to give them a pass on the romulan thing bc i interpreted it as Pike was actively the problem here. Not as much as only Kirk could do it as much as Pike couldn’t, and if Pike was still captain then he’d end up doing it by default and horrors would follow. So even if random captain 88 Could theoretically have solved the problem as well, if Pike was in charge, they still couldn’t have solved it because Pike was in charge and had authority? Unless I missed something, that was how I took that one.

I think my main absolute gripe was what the ever loving Hell did they do to poor Erica??? Who was that character that actor was playing in this episode, bc they bore little similarity to Ortegas. Maybe a tiny bit like her fairy tale au self, but with no humour, just the urge to maim and kill. I’m pretty sure the Only reason Uhura was there was because she was supposed to be, they didn’t actually bother to do anything with her at all. La’an at least made sense to me? I’m on the fence abt her reaction to the Una question because on one hand, she was surprised and confused by the abruptness of it, but on the other... I imagine she’d be more angry about this all? Is she not Allowed to go talk to her friend in starfleet’s totally utopian forced labour camp or??? Did she just decide to write Una off after obviously forgiving her for the deception??? But then again, Pike apparently just went all business as usual about it, too, even if he doesn’t remember it.

This whole ep felt like a first draft. The bones are there both story wise and character wise but everything is slightly/blatantly off and needs a rewrite to get the weirdness out.

Also, Buy A Light.

I literally had the brightness on full and I couldn’t tell if the guards on the romulan commander’s ship were romulan or reman. I could not tell the species of the people in the scene, which is a new low in the era of not bothering to light tv and film.

#danni watches snw #ravensbystarlight #apparently i had more opinions abt this than i thought #but it was SO clunky #first draft clunky #how did this even happen??? the rest of the eps have been so tidy

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