Among the Lotus Eaters

I am really enjoying these self-contained episodes much like how TNG/DS9/Voy/ENT did it. I am also enjoying that there is no swearing or extreme violence/gore like Discovery/Picard had.

The writing and set design are also really good in SNW. The plot was concise and had good pacing. The visual effects in SNW are always striking and the ship while pristine looking feels inviting like Ent. D did.

Keep up the good work.

I do second others in saying that the audio could be better. Often the music/bass/effects are overpowering the dialog. Also the tinnutis ringing was painful coming out of speakers.

This season so far has been superb, the first episode was good enough, setting several things to follow, the second was excellent, in the vein of TNG classics, the 3rd one again, truly different and a great classic time travel adventure like ST IV or Voyager Future's End.

But this episode is somehow hard to watch. I saw other people say the same thing, maybe it's a pacing issue, especially in the first half. Despite that, it's a good idea and I like the characters. Compared to Conundrum (TNG S05E14), which was a lot more fun to watch, this episode is the weakest of the season so far. It's not bad, but it's hard to get into. Even so, I gave it a good rating, because overall, I like the idea, and how it goes at the end.

This episode, 'Among the Lotus Eaters', is currently the lowest rated episode of season 2 of 'Strange New Worlds'. It's ranked lower than the first episode of this season, 'The Broken Circle', which is easily the worst episode of this season, and frankly, one of the worst episodes of all of 'Star Trek'.

In my review for 'The Broken Circle', I noted the conspicuous absence of 'strange new worlds' in a TV show that contains the phrase in the title, nor am I the only reviewer to point this out. Well, 'Among the Lotus Eaters' finally gives us a strange new world, and an interesting science-fiction story with our characters stuck on a planet which causes perpetual memory loss, and features good performances that stretch the range of our trio of main actors to top it all off and... it's the lowest rated episode of the season.

Some of you are your own worst enemies. Enjoy the next Star Trek reboot from Paramount with Khan and the Borg getting trotted back out for the millionth time, only now they'll be angsty teenagers challenging each other to starship Tokyo Drift races as they fly around shooting lasers at each other to 'Rage Against the Machine' songs, Fast & Furious-style... and that's if your LUCKY.

I'm not saying "love this show". SNW is not a great Star Trek show, overall. But this episode, specifically, is interesting science-fiction. I fell in love with 'Star Trek' because it had interesting, humanist science-fiction like 'Where No Man Has Gone Before', 'Return of the Archons', or 'The Motion Picture'. You should commend these rare wins. You can still criticize stuff like the lack of discipline/decorum of the bridge crew, the grating use of modern lingo and other stuff this series gets wrong, while at the same time acknowledging the positives. You're sending mixed signals to the writers by dumping on the most 'Star Trek'-like thing they've ever done in the entire run of this show.

Anyway, this is a good episode and it's the closest thing to actual 'Star Trek' this show has offered thus far. Rant over.

This segment delivers adventure in Pike's mission to Rigel 7, but more significantly deals creatively with several serious themes, including memory and the importance of each worker's contribution.

He's assigned to fix a violation made seven years earlier when the Enterprise somehow violated the Prime Directive -evidence showing up now that the primitive civilization visited on Rigel 7 is now using scientific knowledge learned from Enterprise left behind on the planet.

Crew member Ortegas is in the spotlight, as she is unfortunately teased at the opening of the segment, thinking she'll be able to be in the landing party but instead forced to stay aboard the ship, needed to navigate in orbit carefully through a debris field surrounding the planet.

Pike with La'an and Dr. M'Benga land and discover an old crew member Zac believed killed in the earlier mission is still alive and ruling the planet, also bearing a grudge against Pike for leaving him behind. A form of radiation causes severe memory loss on and near the planet, affecting everyone (including Spock, Ortegas and others back on the Enterprise) except the ruling class led by Zac.

A fine guest appearance is delivered by Reed Birney, who helps our heroes on Rigel 7 and explains the strange bifurcation of memory that occurs there. His personal desire NOT to regain his detailed memories (only the basic memories like talking and performing routine daily activities remain) is a crucial plot point, nicely resolved in the show's climax. And Ortegas poignantly saves the ship and learns a key lesson in self-esteem.

Although I enjoyed this episode, as someone who suffers from tinnitus, I found the show difficult to listen to. As the synopsis explains, some crew members suffer memory loss while exploring the planet. What you should be aware of, especially if watching in full surround sound, is the sound engineers chose to depict memory loss with a high-pitched tone resembling ringing in the ears. Personally, I found myself blocking my ears to get through these scenes. There are MANY of these scenes.

I just thought I should give that heads-up to fellow sufferers.

I enjoyed the story and liked that part of the episode revolved around Lt. Ortegas. From a storytelling perspective, the writers did a nice bookend with her character. Otherwise, the episode has nothing groundbreaking to add to the overall series, but it's decent filler.