In "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", a small but great moment for me is how Alt. Kirk is against 'fixing' the timeline because he and his reality won't exist anymore. And he maintains that position until La'An accidentally mentions his brother being alive and Kirk is just stunned by this and immediately after that point, he's totally on board with restoring the timeline. Classic Kirk - the thing that flips his decision is he emotional link to his family and friends. He could be very logical in TOS, but he was so loyal to Spock and McCoy, he would often break the rules to save them.

Spock engaging in Bloodwine Diplomacy is a nice touch. In the sixth film it was Spock who opened dialog with the Klingons.

Regarding Under the Cloak of War: For me, the near delirious panic in Chapel's voice when she realized the Klingons were massacring children was what sold the hellish reality of that fictional war. The portrayals in that episode were phenomenal.

The “You could just not look” scene in Those Old Scientists is amazing

I'm surprised Steve hasn't mentioned the obvious tie-in to Pike's story in the cliffhanger. "Among the Lotus Eaters" seems specifically positioned in the season to remind us of what happened on Rigel 7. Pike chose to retreat from the attack, leaving behind crew members there, which left him wracked with enough guilt that he considered resigning his commission, and then it also turned out that Zac was alive and irrevocably changed the culture on the planet. Now in Hegemony he's positioned in the same way. He's under an assault he can't hope to win and Starfleet is ordering him to retreat, which would mean abandoning the colonists and his crew who have been abducted by the Gorn. It's a clever parallel and I'm sure we'll see more of it if we can pry the money to pay these people fairly out of the grasping hands of the fucking execs.

I love when Pike refers to dealing with these particular time travelers as trying to keep a toddler from knocking over the furniture.

I agree with Steve about Paul Wesley. Watching him, I can believe that guy will become the Kirk from the TOS. He's playing a young Kirk that will grow into a captain. And I also agree on the weird timeline divergence from our own. To paraphrase MST3K: "Just repeat to yourself: 'It's just a show, I should really just relax...' "

I was telling my oldest about how painful it was to wait for the resolution on the Best of Both Worlds cliffhanger when I was nine. She thought it would suck to have to wait that long on a show you love. Then came the cliffhanger in the middle of basically all of Hollywood going on strike. Now, she understands the pain I felt in the summer of 1990.

I like how T'pring and Spock's relationship is strained by him living on a starship. He is constantly busy and being affected by anomalies which make their relationship strained. Also, T'pring's dad really needs to be rescued. He just wants to eat his vulcan chip.

im with steve on basically every take except his position on lower decks. that shit's hilarious. even the silly crossover was my favorite episode in this season. i see you trying to both sides it, and i aint have'n it. its beautiful.

The show would have been hard pressed to follow up the "perfect" first season with a second one that was equally strong. To their credit, I think they chose to commit more focus on making the bold choices over the safe ones. That tells me that after the first season, they trusted everyone's capabilities, so, the risks weren't completely doomed from the start. Both "Those Old Scientists" and "Subspace Rhapsody" have one thing in common that helped them immensely: they hung the lampshade early, proudly, and without hesitation. They made it known what the underlying tone was going to be, and committed to it. It was woven into the fabric of the show without being shoved right in the audience's face. #UnionStrong #solidarity

The only change I would make to "Those Old Scientists" would be, at the end when we can hear Rutherford and Tendi through the portal, to look through from the past side and see live-action versions of them. When I watched it, i thought, "Are we... are they gonna...", but no, we weren't, they didn't. Missed opportunity...

Re: Under the Cloak of War Morally M'BENGUOUS Come on, Steve, it was sitting right there!

The Broken Circle wasn't supposed to be the season opener, Ad Astra per Aspera was the original premiere but it was shifted because Anson Mount was on paternity leave when filming started. It's why he's not as present in the season as he had previously been, they gave him as much time off as they could manage.

I think, by and large, season two was better than season one. Sure, S1 has Quality Of Mercy and Spock Amok, but S2 has Charades, Those Old Scientists and Subspace Rhapsody. The average for both is probably about the same. Still impressed at how remarkably consistent the whole thing is. There's, at most, four episodes out of twenty that I'll probably skip on a rewatch. That is pretty damn good value, if you ask me.

Yup, I agree. I discovered (or reaffirmed) what my secret sauce is for enjoying trek ------ It's variety. I have enjoyed Disco/Picard but I end up overdosing on the characters of Burham/Picard after a while. The variety of characters and creative storytelling keep SNW fresh.

I noticed you didn't mention the Klingons in Subspace Rhapsody. I was kind of only half watching, because I was doing something else, and songs can convey plot points without having to listen very closely until the Klingons. I always focus more closely whenever Klingons show up, and their performance got a good laugh of appreciation out of me that time.

This season had very consistent execution. Even during episodes like Among the Lotus Eaters where I don't like the core concept, the execution of the concept is always done well. Especially by the actors. I love all of these characters and the way the actors bring them to life. Edit: Spelling of Lotus as Locust, thanks Hudson.

I think my only issue with the Spock turns human episode was that the aliens refused to believe Chapel cared about Spock until she basically admitted she had romantic feelings for him. It felt really weird and forced. Like, they basically said that a person wouldn’t do something like that for a friend, which, what? Classic Kirk would totally do that for Spock. Trying to restore someone to their full self is something you’d do for anyone you care about - a best friend, a sibling, etc. Other than that I loved the episode

Chapel: get outta here, gimme some money too Spock: (stoic Depeche Mode rumblings) Love this season

I loved 'Under the Cloak of War' because if you want to talk about efficiency in storytelling, the sound design that gave us "incoming transport... incoming transport..." is on the same level as TOS Red Alert klaxon, or the self-destruct sequence of the films. It instantly spiked the tension and when it came back later in the episode, the incipient panic was real as the transporter malfunctioned. Then M'Benga makes the call, the tension is resolved, but the horror remains. Like the characters, you're left numb. The patient in the buffer is dead, the fresh wounded are on the pad, and 'incoming transport...' is still ringing in your years.

"Spock and T'Pring decide to take a break..." Cue off-screen interaction during "Amok Time:" Spock: WE WERE ON. A. BREAK!

They really messed up with Spock and T’Pring because they had too much chemistry. They really seemed to love and respect one another. They were really able to somehow balance the cold Vulcan with deep emotion. The writers created a situation where I can root for Chappell and Spock.

Subspace Rhapsody is probably my favourite episode of the series so far, for precisely the reason you mentioned near the end: it was Star Trek throwing science at the wall and seeing what stuck. I loved the episode itself to pieces, but what it represents, a boldness on the part of the creators, that puts it in that top spot.

I think I read Under the Cloak of War differently than you and Jason. I am not 100% sure if M'Benga did start the fight. I tend to lean towards believing he and Chapel when they say M'Benga defended himself when Dak'Rah attacked. I think we were told by his actions on J'Gal to escape, his moment of rage when he burnt his hands, and his lying about his actions on J'Gal that Dak'Rah was always ready to do what protected and advanced him. That look of, 'I want to murder you all' when he burnt his hands only to slide into the diplomatic smile looked like keeping up appearances to me. His defection to Star Fleet presumably saved his life instead of being put to death for failure. He wanted M'Benga to help him carry on this deception and image. M'Benga didn't want to do that because he knew the truth, and when he finally told him, and show him how much of the truth he knew, I think Dak'Rah attacked M'Benga so his lie wouldn't be exposed. I know a big part of the episode is that some wounds don't heal. But I don't think we should overlook that Dak'Rah wasn't a true agent of change. He was a lying, deceiving coward play acting as ambassador, who I think tried to murder M'Benga when he realized someone knew the truth.

Poor Sam Kirk, everyone seems to forget he was in the landing party and taken by the Gorn with the others.

I put season 2 just a hair above season 1 because of my well-documented love for the more absurd side of Star Trek. Also the Subspace Rhapsody soundtrack has been on a loop in my head frequently since it aired.

I really enjoyed this review! Your reviews with Jason are fun, but y'all tend to amplify each others snark in a way that is not always that helpful... so I appreciated your breakdown now that you've had a chance to chew on the season.

My personal rankings for anyone who gives a damn: Broken Circle: 7.0/10.0 Per Ardua, Ad Astra: 6.0/10.0 Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow: 8.5/10.0 Among The Lotus Eaters: 6.5/10.0 Charades: 10.0/10.0 Lost In Translation: 7.5/10.0 Those Old Scientists: 9.5/10.0 Under The Cloak Of War: PASS Subspace Rhapsody: 9.5/10.0 Hegemony: 5.5/10.0

I am very impressed with the fact that Steve correctly pronounces the Latin phrase used in the title of one episode, when even the actors themselves do not.

To be fair, a chunk of the reaction to Jason is because when he likes something and you don't it's usually funny, but when he disliked things during this season it was often for pretty bad reasons like him not understanding the ending of Under The Cloak of War, or him being a musical snob about Subspace Rhapsody, or him just complaining each episode about it not being about Ortegas instead of anything actually about the episode.

I love Pelia, her character works for me. I know I won't get this but I'd love to see an episode that involves Pelia and Flint. Like Pelia helps Flint design M4 with Richard Daystrom's help, which leads to Daystrom creating M5

I really liked this season. But Steve is right, the first one was better. Second one was solid enough that we can safely expect a good third season or even one who rivals the first.

Steve, I love ya buddy. I may not always agree with your opinions, political or otherwise but cool ; whom ever agrees on everything??? Keep on doing you brother. I look forward to watching and agreeing/disagreeing for many more years brother 🖖🏻

Season 2 was definitely weaker than Season 1, but it was by no means bad. The show took big risks with the Lower Decks crossover and musical episode. Both were a success. The show also did a great job developing characters like Uhura, Chapel, and La’an. But there were several things I didn’t like. First was how Pike was written. We saw very little of him as a captain and, when we did, he didn’t come across as a strong leader. The final moment of the finale paints him as someone who’s overwhelmed and unsure of himself. Second was the Spock/Chapel relationship. Even though we knew it wouldn’t last, I’m glad the writers decided to explore it. But why end it only 4 episodes after it started? It’s as if the writers decided character arcs could only last one season. Third, Ortegas wasn’t given enough material. I feel like the writers don’t know what to do with the character. Lastly, there was too much Kirk. The amount of screen time they gave to Kirk could’ve gone to one of the regulars like Ortegas or M’Benga. I hope the writers take advantage of the strike to reflect on seasons 1 and 2 to figure out what worked, what didn’t, and what areas need improvement.

I always appreciate your Star Trek essays and reviews. It did feel like the show-runners had agency to try just about anything as far as thematic concepts go. I did not expect a musical, that's for sure! I do feel like the inclusion of Pellia was a standout odd one. I loved Carol Kane's performance, but not her character. 'Immortal witch grandma hoarder' would not be my first choice to add to a Star Trek ensemble cast. I appreciated the Spock farse episode as much as everyone else did, I think- but overall, I believe the season suffered from perhaps one too many hard pivots in tone. I'd love just one more adventure where the crew has to solve a problem in the quintessentially unconventional fashion, but without a gimmick like time travel, or a musical, or cliffhanger attached. The 10 episode format leaves quite a few ideas on the table, alas. Thanks again for the great content, keep it up!

I agree about cliffhangers. It feels overly manipulative towards the audience. Essentially, "We don't trust you to come back for another season based on enjoyment alone. Instead, we're going to tap into the psychology of addiction and leave you unfulfilled." Great show, and great season despite that of course.

I liked the Broken Circle. It showed Spock struggling with his emotions, and accepting that, perhaps, he is not a 'Vulcan Vulcan'. I liked the whole season. Each episode gets 45+ minutes to finish an episode and still flesh out each character, which is incredible considering that we actually care about them. The only characters we really knew anything about in TOS was Kirk, Spock and McCoy - and even then, the stuff we get now is far more filling than the sprinkles we received back in the 60's. I'm hoping the studios get the heads out of their greedy a**es and pay these writers what they are due. Star Trek has always been more about the writing than the 'effects'. I hope the studio execs don't ruin this...we've got an excellent Star Trek in SNW that could easily be on the air for five years or more. Fingers crossed.

I think Season 2 and 1 were about even par. I really liked the risks season 2 took (crossover, musical). I would’ve liked to seen more Pike centered stuff but I realize the early part of the season Anson Mount was given time off to be with a newborn and what we got by the end was good. He was at his best in the Charades and the crossover. I also like La’an a lot more this season. They showed different sides of her and let her grow beyond the tough exterior. Pelia…kind of annoyed me. Carol Kane was fine. We just didn’t get much of her especially compared to Hemmer the year before. There are setups of her having an interesting backstory yet beyond the third episode I don’t think there’s much payoff yet. Brings me to an unexpected, pleasant and underrated MVP this season-Paul Wesley’s Kirk. I didn’t mind his first performance at the end of Year 1 but you certainly had to wonder where he was gonna go with it. By the end of the year, in just three episodes, he feels like Kirk without being a Shatner impersonation (or as you said Pine too). He’s also not playing Kirk as the Captain…he’s still the ambitious young lieutenant whose only getting his first chance as a first officer. I love the dynamic he has with the Sam Kirk actor and their chemistry. I really hope those two get an episode together and it actually is lending a real note of tragedy to the loss of Kirk’s brother in TOS that we never had simply because the character of Sam and their sibling relationship had never actually been realized. I was shocked at how well he and Chong and the Kirk-La’an thing worked. And there’s still a lot of potential to explore one of the most important characters in the history of the show right down to the fact we are set up with this being the period where he chooses between a family life and a Starfleet life with this being the period in his life where Carol Marcus is pregnant. Between what Wesley’s doing, the casting for Scotty, as well as what we are already getting from Peck and Gooding, I’m kind of onboard with the show at the end of Pike’s run (presumably after several more seasons) ending with a full on transition year into the TOS era with these actors and whoever they cast as Sulu or Bones (if not a reboot/remake). Yes I know that will be divisive and piss off a lot of people in the fan base but I’m secure enough in my love of TOS, coupled with the fact I like the chemistry I’m seeing amongst these actors, to see the story continue or be re-imagined. Really enjoy your Trek reviews. I will confess I did enjoy your more focused solo reviews from season one rather than the dual reviews from 2 with Jason. I get why you wanted that format and it’s obviously your show, I just found the more focused and prepared stuff more compelling and provoking. Frankly if you too posted highlights of yourselves watching portions of the episodes followed by reactions I think that would be a hoot (but likely more time consuming to put together I imagine)

I love in 'Charades' the trope of the 'hen pecked husband' in T'Pring - he's so clearly quite a chill dude who likes Pike's cooking, and is fairly relaxed about stuff... right up until the point of his wife commenting on stuff. Old trope, but a fun execution of the concept.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait . . . Pike gets a LAWYER to represent his First Officer? He didn’t presume being a Captain meant he was perfectly qualified to represent her himself? What new spore of madness is this?

My favorite moment was when Spock said he was going to spend the rest of his life standing there eating bacon!

Very good season. 👏 Those Old Scientists was my favorite episode. Frakes did a masterful job in directing it... 😏

Most of my problems with E1 were resolved in E8. Why M'Benga has super soldier serum. Why said serum wasn't pulled out of mothballs in future moments of existential desperation, like the Dominion war. Still could have done with only 3 or 4 Klingons to overpower, though. I really liked this season. I think it's actually better than S1, and amongst the best grouping of ST episodes ever. (90s Trek has more good episodes, but with 7 seasons x 26 episodes for TNG and DS9, how could they not. They had a much higher dud rate than SNW.)

My wife has been continuously playing the “Subspace Rhapsody” soundtrack ever since that episode dropped. While I loved that episode, I’m not quite as enamoured of the soundtrack as she is. Nevertheless, when I was getting ready for work one morning a couple of weeks ago, the a cappella version of the opening theme started playing out of every Echo speaker in the house and I thought, “How did I get so lucky?” 😊

M'Benga committed premeditated murder, FIGHT ME. He pulled out the case with the dagger in it, and the side view of the scuffle with Dak'Rah showed that he never got past M'Benga to get the dagger.

I like that they did the cliffhanger, it's a thing in old Trek. SNW definitely captures the 90s feel

I admit, I was concerned about your reaction to Those Old Scientists. But I'm glad you liked it! I also liked this episode and that's coming from someone who very much enjoys Lower Decks as a whole. I'm happy we're able to find some common ground, any common ground, with respect to LD.

That Dusty Rhodes impression out of nowhere simultaneously took me off guard, and cracked me up.

Some have said that they jumped the shark this season. If so they did it with a double inverted backflip over top of a "very special" serious episode, whilst whistling Faith of the Heart, and stuck the landing in a superhero pose on the transporter platform. If I have one problem with the show in general it's that 10 episodes per season isn't enough. I'll take the first 20 episodes of this show against the first 20 of any other Trek series, but we need more per season. I don't think we need 26 episodes, but 15 per season would be nice.

I think that Paul Wesley does a nice job as Kirk.

Cliffhangers are ok when one season ends in June and the next season begins in September. When there is an entire year or more between seasons, then a cliffhanger is way to much.

I generally don’t like cliff hangers either, and as someone who came to Star Trek late, and binged all of it, and having strange new worlds season two as my first week to week Star Trek, I really did love this cliff hanger. A great end to a great season.

Did I imagine that Pike's dithering wasn't just the weight of the decision, but also a callback to his foreknowledge of the beepchair destiny?

part of me wants an appearance by Janice Lester because all these women in command positions makes her look even more thoroughly unhinged by comparison. Like it's clear she wasn't denied command because she's a woman, she probably just didn't pass the psych screening

Omg, didn't notice while watching, but Uhura's earrings are lime green in SNWs similar to Uhura's in TOS!

"Are she and Pike gonna co-parent or what?" Superb. Always love your videos, Steve. 😆

The crossover and musical were both fun, but "Ad Astra Per Aspera" is one of my all-time favourite episodes of Star Trek.

I think the funniest line I've ever heard in any Trek is Captain Pike's plaintive "But flipping it open is the best part," when confronted with a TNG-style communicator. Oh, so good. I'm afraid Anson Mount's exceptional gift for understatement and subtle, silent reactions will result in him being underrated. I surely hope not. He's the main source of humor in this show. (And the fact that he plays all the other roles so very well might obscure that!) Also, I missed a call-out to the altered credits in the appropriate episodes!

I really enjoyed season two apart from the musical episode.

I LOVED both seasons. I certainly hope we don't have to wait TOO long for Season #3.

The “Gorn Attack Ship” label always cracks me up. Not “Gorn Heavy Cruiser” or “Gorn Dreadnaught” but “GORN ATTACK SHIP” so the 7 year olds knows they’re bad.

"We were on a break!" (@18:25) My brain has already mashed this episode's obvious next step with an episode of Friends.

The Best of Both Worlds cliffhanger worked because it was a decisive moment, Riker not just making the decision but actually giving the order. That created the tension that kept us all waiting eagerly. This cliffhanger ended with Captain Pike becoming an indecisive idiot and coward who should immediately be removed from command. He literally has multiple crew asking for his decisions and orders because he takes so long panicking. It is a horrible moment of character assassination that would never be written by somebody with an understanding of leadership or command.

My problem with "Charades" is the idea that Spock's emotions are automatically tied to his biology when it's made abundantly clear that Vulcan logic is a cultural development (it's like a person of mixed Black/White lineage suddenly having a penchant for Hip Hop just because the White half is removed);still, it's funny.

One of my favorite things about the musical, is Pike's gradually increasing frustration in the opening number. Laan cutting the Transmission at the end of "private conversation" was great too... And of course, dragging the Klingons into the finale was perfect.

I enjoyed S2 of SNW but im definitely a little more down on it than you. The show's 10 episode season length really hurt the season I think. It really struggled to build up momentum through the season, actor availability played a part in that, sidelining two of the series leads in the opener wasnt great, and after that there were a lot of single character plus guest star episodes. There werent a lot of episodes that showed off the whole crew and when those episodes did happen they were gimmicky episodes like the musical and animation episode. I didnt mind those episodes in isolation but, one per 10 episode season would have been fine, 2 in 3 episodes was a bit much (especially when the one in the middle was so tonally different). Above all I just want to see more of this crew, working together to solve a problem and I feel like we got more of that in season 1. And much as I enjoy Kirk and Scotty's portrayal in this series, I want to see more of this Enterprise crew and not those references to another show (which the producers of nu trek cannot help themselves but shoehorn in).

Great season review. I am really enjoying strange new worlds. I really liked the musical episode and the crossover episode but I'm not sure which of the 10 is my favorite. The crossover was just silly and fun and the musical did something that rarely happens anymore for me, it made me smile and hopeful. I also had no idea how they could do a musical episode and I don't like musicals but of all the goofy mcguffins used in the past this one seemed more believable than say for example Star Fleet discovering something on the edge of the Vulcan system that the way ahead of us alien science explorers never noticed or Chapel being the magical sole survivor. I was one of the turds that dragged your friend a little about the musical but I don't think I was too harsh, I hope. Also since everything has to be political these days apparently, I think your political stuff is exceptional and insightful, I mean it's not really hard to be on the side of not hating everyone and everything but you do it well. Thanks.

Like it or not, Lower Decks shows such a deep love and appreciation for the Star Trek fandom and lore that I personally think its fantastic. It's animated, so it can do things that before now were impossible in a Trek show, due to technological or budgetary constraints. It shows us a contemporary Trek; not one set before events we've already seen, one instead where all that lore and fanservice serves as a backdrop for new characters. The Lower Decks crew loves Star Trek as much as we do, and we can relate with the love of Starfleet and the desire to join as much as they can.

IMHO, Number One's trial should not have been resolved so quickly. It could have been a season-long arc, resolved in time for her to participate in the action of the last few eps of the season.

The songs of "Subspace Rhapsody" weren't bad, except for Una's song to La'An, which I didn't care about. And the finale...It's a good song, and who doesn't want to see Klingons doing K-Pop...oh, everybody? Ok. But anyway, the finale felt like it should have been on Lower Decks. I watched it and thought "I could really see the Cerritos crew singing this."

One question about the season finale, the random border that the Magog oops I’m sorry the Gorn put through that system. Why didn’t the enterprise just wait for the planet to orbit around the sun till it was on the right side of the line planets still orbit in that system, right?

That Dusty Rhodes bit popped me good lol. Love the review, as usual, your writing and presentation are top tier. Keep up the great work!

IDK if most viewers of "Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow" noted, but it was cute how Kirk asks "so this is New York?" and the billboard in the background clearly reads "Toronto Eaton Centre". The joke?Zillions of TV & movies shot in Toronto, Toronto stands in for NYC. FOR ONCE, a show, filmed in Toronto, turns that on its head & Toronto is mistaken for NYC. Well played!

I would really like an in depth review of every episode like you did for the first season. I really don't care for looking at two guys talking about what they just saw... Nothing personal or anything but I like people having a script that they learned or read from. It makes everything so much more organized.

The 2nd episode was kinda weak as a legal themed episode by Trek standards. The refugee argument was sort of Jus ex Machina that just so happens to neatly resolve an otherwise impossible legal argument

It’s gimmicky, it’s dumbed down to appeal to a mass audience, it needlessly screws with cannon, but if it keeps the franchise going, then I approve.

Steve: SNW season 2 was a good year for ST. I agree that it was not as good as season 1, but it was better than the first 2 seasons of TNG or most of the season 3 of TOS or a majority of Voyager or Enterprise. The writers of this show are obviously fans of ST, and they seem to have learned from mistakes from past series. I agree with you that fan service is not always good, but SNW seems to be able to walk a line between blatant fan service and pushing the boundaries of episodic television. I like this version of Spock, and Uhura is better used as a character than Nichelle Nicols was able to do in the TOS version, but my willingness to suspend disbelief and get into the story and characters are why I watch ST. Kirk and Picard are representations of people in the time that their adventures were made, idealistic people who were reacting to real world situations with the best response that they could based on what was accepted behavior in the real world. Fictionalized people are always representing some aspect of modern reality, a society where, in my lifetime, we have seen advancements in the way that we respond and respect differences between cultures and people. Not everyone in the world is a straight cisgender white man, and I am, but I get a taste of what it is like to be an outsider through the characters I admire, not only in ST but in all of fiction. The characters and stories of SNW represent the best of what we, as a modern society, have to offer. So was TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, and all the rest. Comparing TOS to SNW is kind of silly, because though TOS represented the best of what we were as a society in the 1960s, it's 60 years later and now SNW is doing the same thing with modern sensibilities. Is ST woke? Only in the way that ST is trying to say can't we all just get along, and getting along today means acceptance and understanding of views outside our own existence and experiences. Woke means being awake and aware, not politically correct.

I love how Sam Kirk was totally grooving to the Klingons’ musical number.

Crew That's Expendable (to the tune of Age of Aquarius) When you're travelling through the galaxy To distant worlds war past Mars Make sure that your adventures Do not kill off your main stars. You can do this with a Crew that's expendable. Crew that's expendable...

As a heavily biased ship nerd, that first episode, even with it giving us the duel with a Klingon D7, a Constitution class, and a kitbashed Starfleet ship (Which could've been enough to entertain me at least - "Peak Performance" is elevated for me by the wargame sequence with that wonderful Constellation class model, for instance) the jankiness of the whole plot was just... That second episode, though, was one of my favorite SNW episodes, a quality "courtroom" episode to be sure because it reflects contemporary issues of human rights vs. archaic institutions. Just find it interesting how the one with the most "ship stuff" going on didn't do it for me even on a surface level, but the courtroom one got me this time round. "Lost in Translation" was another that I particularly enjoyed - A creative use of TOS characters that fit with the way they're written originally, while doing new things with them.

Loved this review, Steve. Only place I disagree is episode 2, "Ad Astera per Aspera". It's the best Trek court room episode, full stop. Yes, better than "Measure of a Man" IMO and for me is the season's best episode, as good as anything in season 1. It has an unmistakable message & very clearly hammers it home, whilst still working excellently on a narrative level, and even goes on to the pay off in the cross over episode. It goes out to bat for every marginalized and minority out there and hits a 6 (or I guess a home run, if you're the type savage who prefers baseball to cricket).

12:45 One thing I realized from the episode: The romulan temporal agent tells La'an they've been messing with human history to slow our development. This isn't just about adjusting the timeline of the Eugenics Wars, it's also about adjusting the timeline for all the technological developments that didn't happen as the original series predicted and trying to justify why we aren't as advanced as we thought we would be in the 1960s, why we're still dealing with problems our ancestors thought would be solved by now and probably why the space race shifted into a comercial enterprise, with scientific exploration placed lower in the priority scale.

I didn’t think about it during the episode, but why did the Federation just accept the Gorns demarcation line without demanding the evacuation of their colony? That just demonstrates weakness and condemns hundreds or possibly thousands to a terrible death

The review simply confirms that the season was meh for me. I don't regret watching all episodes but I will not rush out and rewatch any anytime soon.

The "Those Old Scientist" episode is my favorite because they made reference about NX class Enterprise. Just got Finished Star Trek Enterprise and it made me happy.

As a Canadian who lives near Toronto. I am happy they did not waste time pretending they were in the USA when the show is filmed in Toronto and it was just easy to acknowledge that they were in Toronto. Easily my favourite episode of season 2 was Those Old Scientists. I enjoy Lower Decks so it was so great seeing the crossover. I was lucky because i was at home watching TV when CTV Sci Fi in Canada randonly aired the episode on a saturday without any notice. The program guide just said special presentation. And yes it was. I never watch TV live and watched this episode twice sitting through commercials. Strange New Worlds airs on traditional TV in Canada. I have watched the episode 3 times cause i enjoyed it so much.

Overall I agreed with your break-down. I am also not a musical genre lover but enjoyed the show with the singing, weird as it was (Singing in the Rain is about the only musical I can consistently sit through and enjoy). I thought Captain Pike was a standout character in the Discovery series and hoped they would give him and his crew their own series and I have not been disappointed, I have consistently enjoyed both seasons, you should have seen my frustration when the last episode of season 2 ended on a knife edge - Nooooooo! I have to wait around a year (if we are blessed!) for the continuation of this gripping story. I really hope they continue in the same vein with great character development and engrossing stories, I'll forgive them the left-turn with the weird episodes, you never know what you might get. I will be rooting around for more of your content, very enjoyable review, happy new year!

Key takeaways: Spock is a Klingon Bloodwine Samurai. This Kansan approves of the court martial episode title. Love what they've done with La'an in Season 2 (coupled with Christina putting out some really good music). Human Spock is funny. Spock to T'Pring about Chapel: "We were on a break!" They're all Orion Hurricane Samurai (and, apparently, so is Mariner). Once they get those Gorn eggs out of Captain Batel, she'll probably want a c@#$sucking gin and tonic. Cliffhanger Indiegogo: "Help the Enterprise crew not die on a Gorn ship."

In general I agree, this season is good but not quite as good as Season 1. Here are my critiques: First episode is pretty solid, but they really do the whole "I'm going to steal the enterprise and violate the treaty (with no consequences)" too often in Star Trek, it's kind of a cliche. Also, as a long term issue, Pelia was an interesting proposition, but they didn't justify her enough to fill Hemmer's absence, as he was my favorite part of season 1 that they just killed off too eagerly. Second episode is fine, if a liiiittle too melodramatic for my taste. They could have played it a bit more subdued and it probably would have come out better. But I love a good courtroom episode. Third episode is great, no notes. Cements Wesley as my favorite rendition of Kirk. True to the character, his own take on the character and not at all a cliche. Episode 4 is also good and as you said, reminiscent of old episodes in a way that felt very deliberate. I remember feeling that there were some awkward cuts in that episode, made me feel like they shortened it or something. Fifth episode was quite good, but I did end up feeling it was Spock Amok again, but weaker. Episode 6 I had one thing that annoyed me probably more than it should have - blowing up the refinery as a resolution. To me it seems strange that detonating a refinery is less harmful than refining deuterium. I know we you can find little justifications for it, but I just think it was a shallow approach to solving that problem. Being unable to stop a refinery from refining also makes no sense, can't they just deactivate the reactor or something? Just have the resolution be that they shut it down and decommission it - the climax is Uhura figuring it out and convincing the crew that there is a species communicating with them. Blowing it up is so wasteful. But I will say I did love the episode aside from the careless resolution. I'm a big fan of LD so I enjoyed Episode 7. In Episode 8, I really did lose some respect for some of the crew. Pike told them to recuse themselves if they needed to, and everybody just made asses of themselves instead. However, I do think that this might be intentional - perhaps Pike losing his confidence in M'Benga will result in him looking for a new CMO Episode 9... As you said, they could have added more variance. Great concept and I will always applaud Star Trek episodes doing a concept that Star Trek has never done before. I would take that over an unambitious episode any day. My favorite parts were definitely La'An's parts. Episode 10, I think it was solid but I was a little distracted when I watched it so I don't remember it that well. Maybe I need to rewatch it.

With the exception of the first episode, this season was an absolute banger!

I agree with you on the portrayal of the Klingon War in Disco vs on SNW. I just watched through Discovery and it felt like most of what we got as updates were just “The Federation is winning the war :-)” or “The Federation is losing the war. :-(“ The impact on the characters isn’t really felt. Hell, the finale shows Klingon ships within sight of Earth and that is just kinda never mentioned again, despite it being absolutely catastrophic. We also only ever heard casualty counts in the 11,000 range several months into the war in Disco, which always felt low to me for how big the war was supposed to be. SNW mentioning 100 million dead feels much more impactful on the Federation and people who fought.

Too many "change of pace" episodes (which were great in themselves) crammed together making for a "change of pace" season....which you wouldn't think they would resort to it's sophomore effort. But everyone is too informal and....oh, Emo Spock and Chapel suck. Considering the circumstances, the season did well to not stink up the place but much more was expected...

I just couldn't believe La'an left her gun in Khan's room. Maybe his psychotic nature is her fault lol.

As far as I'm concerned, SNW might as well be Star Trek: Shenanigans and I AM HERE FOR IT.

ST:SNW is the best ST since the original series. Season 2 took a very slight step back for me - I felt the cohesion of the episodes wasn't there as well as the first go 'round - but it was still some of the best TV that was put out in 2023. I also didn't care much for the musical episode, but I am happy for those people who enjoyed it.

My problem with ad astra is that it felt like the prosecution wasn't trying very hard. Never made any arguments. Just , this is the law, and it was broken, that part disappointed me. I was hoping for some snarky comment like, maybe every ship needs a genetically engineered number one, to give us all such great first officers. An attempt to make her excellent record as an officer work against her.

I love these full season reviews!

I know the time travel "continuity housekeeping" isn't important to Steve, but as a defender of Nu Trek to grumpy fans, it's been a handy as fuck catch-all excuse whenever they complain about anything from Klingon foreheads to Gorn foreknowledge. I really appreciate that we have that "Romulans altered history a little bit" explanation, it just makes discourse much easier.

That the time travel episode did not put them in a major US City was a nice touch.