The Broken Circle

I'm a day one Star Trek fan, in that I saw the first episode broadcast in September of 1966 and I've seen virtually all Star Trek since ...

Except I had to give up on Discovery due to stupid writing. I gave a pass on Picard 2 simply from reading the synopsis which sounded nothing but moronic ... and now this in Strange New Worlds, which started out with a decent set of season one shows?

I don't care what kind of boost they get, a doctor and a skinny nurse beating up mercenaries at odds of 6 to 2, with many of them Klingons? That COMPLETELY lost me. Stealing the ship shades of The Search for Spock? Just ... no.

The escape into space ... evidently written by second graders.

Just nothing, nothing, nothing about this episode made any sense at all. It's a great shame.

After watching Picard season 3 and getting to this, uh, yah nah. The fighting scenes were somehow more cheesy than tos and 90s trek. This episode was pretty half-baked. I really enjoyed season 1 for the most part, but good lord why are the writers and producers allergic to making a consistently good trek show in this day and age? Starfleet personnel once again acting like unprofessional bozos. If this is how the rest of the season is going to be I'm just not going to bother watching any more of this show. A hangover is a punishment for stealing a ship? Yeah that's fair.

I guess you can watch this episode for yourself and make your own call on whether this is what you'd like to see. It's a downshift from the solid start that season 1 brought in, not looking great so far.

Aside from the tiresome cliché of the recalcitrant admiral who doesn't get it, this episode was fantastic especially for the introduction of Carol Kane's Pelia. She was outstanding: mysterious, funny and alluring.

Unlike bureaucratic admirals, the comic relief engineer is a formula that works. Tig Notaro's Jett Reno has up to now been the pinnacle of the form. But James Doohan's Scotty was no slouch in that department; with Simon Pegg's rendition of the character much more overtly comic to good effect.

Kane, who has already given the world at least one absolutely immortal comedic character (Miracle Max's wife Valerie in The Princess Bride), could give Notaro a run for her money. Have fun storming the castle!

This episode was a bit of a rough start of the season. The tone of it is all wrong. The crew's bickering and disrespect of everything, and acting like an awkward old uncle trying to be hip, e.g. By saying "no presh" instead of "no pressure". This is not Star Trek.

But worst of all is the atrocious "acting" of Carol Kane, the new chief engineer. She's acting like her role was in a show for toddlers. Overacting to the point it would make theater actors seem subtle by comparison. I don't think I've ever witnessed worse acting in a production with a budget of more than a pocket change. Certainly not by any professional actor. Unendurable.

Anson Mount gets something of a day off, barely visible in this Season 2 starter, as crew members Jess and Babs get to take centerstage.

Several novelties mark the show, first off having Spock "steal" the Enterprise for a definitely unauthorized mission necessary to thwart some greedy folks on the verge of restarting a federation war with the Klingons.

Former colleague Chrisitna sends the warning, and it's Spock and his crew to the rescue. It's a rather serious and talky segment, leading to Babs & Jess excelling at hand to hand combat to selflessly save the day and survive under a minute of freezing unprotected (no space suits) in Outer Space before Spock rescues them on cue. Carol Kane as new cast and crew member is delightful, adding humanity to the show, even though she isn't human.