Wedding Bell Blues

It's a silly Spock episode, what could go wrong? After the intense course of emotions from season 3's awesome premiere episode, settle in for a celebration of the Federation's centennial with a few special guests along the way!

In all seriousness, this episode provided a setting for what SNW does best: give Spock his time in the limelight. Focused on his emotions, intelligence, and the choices he makes for himself and the needs of the many, we get to see what kind of Vulcan he truly is. Though it's a bit awkward at first, the evolution of his relationship with a couple of the guest stars is wonderful to watch and insightful to a degree.

Rhys Darby plays a wonderful "Wedding Planner," shall we say, and is a suitable successor to a legacy character that shall remain (full) nameless.

Give it a watch. Star Trek was made to go full throttle in both directions and the two-part season premiere was a wonderful exercise. LLAP🖖

Oh dear. Spock is so looking forward to Nurse Chapel returning to the refitted Enterprise after three months away.

Spock has learned to dance and got a valuable gift. Only he has given her time and not been in contact with her for three months.

Anything could had happened in those three months. Nurse Chapel arrives with the renowned Dr Roger Korby and they look like an item

An emotional Spock heads to the bar. Luckily there was no queue for a drink. The new bartender (Rhys Darby) has just the tonic for Spock.

After the action packed series three opener. There was less wham bam in this one. It was more frivolous and fun. Probably original Star Trek fans will get more out of it though.

You could call it fun, you could enjoy the sweetness of whipped cream or you could enjoy the glitters on a Christmas tree or the lovely paint on a house. This was a short fun ride.

But these things don't make good stories.

Good stories have at least some depth, some frustrations between characters, dialogue and emotions. Preferably more than two.

It would also be nice to see something that resembles Trek a bit more.

This whimsical episode gives fans a chance to see the beloved crew off -duty and opening up a bit, but the screenplay by Kirsten Beyer and David Reed is a fantasy that never takes flight.

What unfolds like Spock having a dream of marrying Nurse Chapel instead plays like a weak carbon of the classic Star Trek episode "Charlie X", in which Robert Walker Junior so memorably played a child-like alien who wreaks havoc with the Enterprise performing his often violent whims as a brat with super powers. Several elements of the original are carbon copied here.

But this time it's a Wedding Planner who's the culprit, played in okay fashion by guest star Rhys Darby in a role that cries out for the comic mastery of a Nathan Lane. He creates an alternate reality that traps Spock and conveniently creates rom-com cliches as Spock vies with Chapel's new boyfriend Cillian O'Sullivan.

Spock simply is too stiff to be funny here, and the jokes and pleasures of the over-produced segment are few. A tolerable entertainment, but overall lame.

The cast and the viewers needed a lighter episode after the 2-part "Hegemony" and Wedding Bell Blues fit the bill. While I'd love the Spock/Chapel relationship to be reconned, this episode plays it out perfectly.

It's always great to see the crew in fish out of water scenarios, whether alternate dimensions or timelines, broken holodecks, or incognito situations and this episode checked the box perfectly. I think this episode also did a great job of setting up storylines for episodes later in the season.

Everyone looked amazing and it was a wonderful introduction to the beings that will take an interest in the inhabitants of the Enterprise for the next few hundred years.