Terrarium

This is probably the best episode so far of Season 3. Good themes, some interesting ideas and not too much of the humour that has spoiled a lot of SNW of late. This one seems to have a little more faith in the ideas and execution than more recent episodes. However, Ortega constantly speaking her thoughts gets very annoying. It's like the writers and director felt they needed spell out every single moment rather than thinking the audience might actually be able to work it out for themselves! But explaining everything aside, it's a much better effort all round. Looking forward to the season finale next week!

Episode pitch meeting: Let's take a Star Trek TOS episode, replace Kirk, (a male) with a female (or?), replace the male Gorn with a female Gorn, instead of having a mortal combat scenario, put a "Mine Ememy" buddy twist on it and in the end have a "Empire of the Sun", kill my enemy, who is now my friend, who loves airplanes just like me.

Perfect! Do it!

Oh and make the Metrons bald.

Yes, it remembered me of so many other episodes of other shows of enemies joining forces to survive. But then I do believe that it's exactly what gives our species strength, the incredible power of hope. It was a great episode, exactly in the realm of Star Trek. I just hope that more episodes are with themes that make us think, because episodes of muppets and everyone singing is really not what I am looking for when I want to see Star Trek.

A return to form after a few uneven episodes this season. It's clear the writers are drawing inspiration from earlier seasons to recapture those classic Trek vibes, sometimes it really works.

Some Trek staples I noticed:

Unbelievable Starfleet competency: Ortegas pulls off incredible feats of engineering mometimes literally building life saving devices in a cave with a box of scraps. Starfleet officers are supposed to be the absolute best of the best and the show doesn't always highlight this, so newer viewers might find it far fetched. But of course Ortegas can engineer amazing solutions, she's Starfleet.

Wild sci-fi mysteries: We've got a seemingly unexplained wormhole, an impossible planetary system, physics and biology laws being broken left and right... with an explanation for it all by the end.

Moral dilemmas everywhere: Nearly every scene brings ethical questions, and through them we get more insight into Spock, Una, Uhura, and Pike. I liked seeing a new side to Una, she's the source of conflict rather than the usual mediator. Strong character moments all around.

Visual spectacle: Some episodes this season have felt smaller, mostly on ship with even the view screen not having anything to show. This episode changed that with some beautiful, cinematic shots. Maybe they've been saving the budget for something big in episode 10? I hope so.

If I have one complaint, it's that Batel's storyline didn't progress at all. Given the setting, there was room for at least a quick call to Pike so we could see her reaction to the situation-and how her changed circumstances affect her perspective now.

Overall, a solid episode with classic Trek energy throughout.

Was losing interest in the series but this episode brought my interest back. Best episode of the season. The plot was more serious, more syfy, and was more true to the strange new world theme. I think the series should be written to follow this type of plot versus the season's previous episodes so far.