At first I was thinking, “I thought we had all agreed that we did not approve of hijinx” and I am totally unable to enjoy cringe humor. It doesn’t make me laugh, just…cringe.

BUT it turned out that it was in service of advancing two of Spock’s most intimate relationships and wow, that packed a punch. It was like, for us 21st century humans, the first time you looked at your parent and saw them as a fully fleshed-out adult with their own struggles, not just “mom” or “dad”.

T’Pring was 100% right to feel slighted by Spock not confiding in her, though I don’t think it was lack of trust on his part, I think it was more not wanting to have both of them in a situation where they had to deal with…hijinx. But that’s what marriage is, committing yourself to another person first, always. And apparently Spock is not ready for that yet.

So, that whole section for Spock on being a Vulcan, That’s the video clip they’re going to give new actors for Vulcans isn’t it? Right down to the prosthetics.

They’re also doing a really good job of playing out the long arc of T’Pring and Spock having genuine affection for each other to the point where we’re actually kind of going to be on T’Pring’s side when she finally reaches the conclusion of “Man, fuck that guy”

I keep watching this series and saying, see this is what we want. This was a fun episode that hit all it’s marks, science and technology, social issues, and an awesome story.

So… what was up with the door in the transporter room slamming shut in Pike’s face when he turned to leave Amanda and Spock? lol

Where all the comments

Ethan peck looked like he had a blast with this episode, screaming into a towel is a mood

I also enjoyed the “subservient” dad who really just wanted to eat good food and play charades but was shot down :'( but then the captain gave him leftovers with a cool snap :)

Also, as a meta comment, I really dislike the scenes where it’s clear they are just I don’t of the LED wall. It looks so fake and the actors just stand there in an obviously empty room. Season 1 of SNW had at least one episode of this, and season 1 of the mandalorian did too, and they really need to follow the mandalorian example.abkut having actual physical props in addition to the LED wall to prevent it from looking fake as hell

It’s insane how a series can be so good

I was not a fan of the spock chapel love story but this episode was def a banger

Annotations up at https://startrek.website/post/353200

It’s funny how both Pike’s and Uhura’s first word with a totally unknown species is “Hi!”

You’re Starfleet! Come on!

OK… they will have learned this lesson by the 24 century. 😂

Also, why treat the aliens like idiots? Why say: “You made him easier to talk to” instead of “He is now a different species.” This seemed to just have served as a plot point to make Chapel admit her feelings openly.

These minor quibbles aside it felt like an average TNG episode. And for me that means it is a successful episode.

Good for Ethan Peck. It’s like when Brent Spiner got to play Lore or Doctor Soong and express himself through other characters. Human Spock is basically another character. It would be nice to see him again some day.

The Kherkovians remind me of my worst customer service experiences. I bet Yellow and Blue aren’t even their real names, just aliases to mask the rep of the day.

I’m also convinced they have to be connected to the Bajoran Prophets somehow. A transport tunnel? An interdimensional liminal space? Come on!

The Vulcan comedy of manners was hilarious, especially the Awareness ritual, which is basically every thing your in-laws hate about you but told to your face with no pretense. Pike trying to get them to play charades was a little too on the nose, I think, right up there with “You’re astronauts on some kind of Star Trek.”

I was half convinced the mind meld would turn out to be a TAS: “Yesteryear” reference. Not gonna lie, felt a bit let down. They’re also really teasing us with this Korby stuff.

I also thought the reason Spock didn’t tell T’Pring was because he thought there was a risk T’Pril might pick it up during the meld.

While I enjoy them, I do hope the zany episodes don’t always revolve around Vulcans. As funny as they are (and teaching Spock how to talk like a Vulcan was gasping for breath funny) I don’t always want them to be the butt of the joke.

I thought this episode walked a really fascinating line in its approach to exploring the lived experience and cultural significance of mixed identities. Having the ancient alien species misinterpret Spock’s Vulcan DNA as an anomaly/pathology was a risky move from a writing perspective given the potential for reproducing language and ideas associated with eugenics. But doing so allowed what what I thought was a more robust examination of Spock’s character and his relationships, by way of separating one half of his identity from the other and seeing what happens (like a smaller scale of Community’s excellent “Remedial Chaos Theory,” which examined how the study group might be affected by the temporary removal of each group member in turn).

There was plenty to laugh at, of course. Ethan Peck could easily have gone too over-the-top in playing Spock’s surge in human emotions, but I think he threaded the needle really well in allowing through just enough Vulcan “muscle memory” (as it were) to tamp down the humania – and he still managed to be extremely funny. And Anson Mount as always shined with his subtle (and hilarious) comic timing as the host of the engagement ceremony. Watch the way he snaps his fingers when T’Pring’s father asks for more Tevmel --and how he continues on in wide-eyed stride on his way back to the group once Spock starts admitting to his “condition.” Mount is a performer who knows how to blend into the scenery rather than chew it – a distinct quality in a Star Trek captain and a consistently funny one to boot.

But what really made this episode work for me was the heart in addition to the humor. I have a friend who remarked earlier this season that she doesn’t understand why Star Trek is so obsessed with Spock’s human side; she’s much more attracted to his Vulcan side and is confused at what she sees as the constant efforts to make him “more human.” I can see her frustration, and this episode certainly turns into that skid a bit. But the show isn’t fantasizing or daydreaming about a Spock that’s fully human – it’s using the idea as a tool to understand his fuller and more complex identity, and to celebrate what makes Spock Spock. And I absolutely shed tears when Spock came clean to T’Pring’s parents about his condition, not just out of personal pride but as a way to express affection and appreciation for his human mother. What a wonderful moment.

And I think this episode’s true strength was in depicting how everyone in Spock’s life understood that being made “more human” didn’t make him better or more “fun” or more “relatable.” Not once did anyone murmur to anyone else something like, “Are we sure we want to fix him?” (which I could easily see Dr. McCoy saying, for example). Instead, everyone understood fundamentally the unique value of Spock’s half-human/half-Vulcan identity, and went to great lengths to bring it back. It might have been a bit corny to funnel that through Nurse Chapel’s romantic feelings for him, and having her have to admit those feelings to an ancient alien species – but it was smart, too. (And seeing her tell the Vulcan Science Academy that she didn’t think their fellowship was ready for her made me literally pump my arm, by the way).

Another solid Spock-centric episode in my book. I look forward to reading what everyone else thought!

Kinda sad we didn’t get James Frain back as Sarek for this episode. I could kinda see him bumping into Chapel and reminiscing about how the Vulcan Science Academy was absolutely awful to his 1.5 human kids.