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ladyluscinia · 7 months

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Organizing my thoughts on OFMD 2x01 - 2x03

Strong start to a season. I really enjoy the black comedy aspect of the show, and the "all these people are kinda terrible" aspect, so win for me! The opening scene gave me a lot of thoughts. Actually, lots of stuff gave me thoughts that I'm gonna dump here (as I rewatch the episodes since I spent the first go around whooping and cheering more than paying attention to details lol) so I can start picking through them more coherently.

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Ok, first. OHMYGOD EDWARD AND IZZ- *I am yanked off the stage* Ahem. BlackHands thoughts will go into a different post, so as not to overwhelm the many other things going on worth discussing. (Link to post)

So. Real first point:

Kraken Era

Big thing I was absolutely wrong about was how dark Edward's Kraken arc would go. I was counting on a very handwavy resolution that would still let him do some fucked up shit, but I expected it to be mostly externally directed violence that toed up to a potential line but didn't quite cross it. Reminiscent of Flint's vengeance rampage after Miranda is killed. Self-destructive harm but only tangential harm of others in your social sphere.

That is... we did not get that. But what we did get I am very here for.

I'll be honest - I wasn't sure they were bold enough in a romcom to blast right over the line into horrifying and then be so audacious it looped back to funny, but they did. And I think the tone is working for them so far. Big saving grace is they went way further with Edward's cruelty but they counterbalanced it by going way further with the suicidal themes, which made the whole situation more extreme and sympathetic. He should still probably apologize tho.

The Breakup Boat

Frenchie my beloved! Also Fang & Jim & Archie & Izzy! Literally the breakup boat is a resounding success all around and I adore every second of their fucked up trauma bonding. Win after win after win.

Frenchie is repression king and it's hilarious. I love how he gets named first mate for presumably being the only one who sounds plausibly honest when getting interrogated, tries to turn the job down, and then doesn't follow a single order while vibing. Also the bonding with Izzy?!? He's steps in during the intervention. He hides him after Edward shoots him, and then later he's checking in on him and leaning against his leg in the cell. Please Frenchie get all up in that Edward and Izzy mess!

And I'm trying not to turn this into a breakup boat recap but also Fang sobbing through basically every scene. The wooden boy story. Jim's terrible voices. Izzy hiding in the walls. "He's our dick" to "He was your friend" holy fuckkkkkk. And the whole mutiny scene was amazing. Jim saying fuck this toxic bullshit and Izzy saving them all!!! (Sidenote: love how all the nameless extras got washed overboard in the storm. More bodycount!)

The tearing into a seagull like zombies scene - perfect. Archie recognizing Stede (did they tell her about Stede in hushed whispers or was it literally just Izzy's singular statement?). All backing each other up on the "retirement" story. Izzy taking the blame to motivate Stede in trying to defend the crew again.

Trauma bonding WIN!

Also sympathetic Izzy has been real forever despite misreads of S1 and the mistaken predictions they spawned, but once again... Izzy!!!

BlackBonnet "On A Break"

They are idealizing each other so fucking hard. Also Stede what on earth are you talking about in the first episode??? "He's just blowing off some steam." "I'm afraid that your life is better without me?" MY GUY are you reading that list of what Edward has been up to??? Denial so strong.

So we have Stede still full of self-loathing and simultaneously convinced Ed couldn't want him but also avoiding the realization that he hurt him really bad because Ed wanted him. And we have Edward actively suicidal over feeling unlovable and determined to murder-suicide his situationship and the kids, except he can't kill himself so he's trying to make everyone else do it.

(And, you know, Edward is very pointedly refusing to see how the people around him would care for and support him if he would let them - even when they straight up offer it to his face - because he is more concerned with the misery of his own twisted narrative about being fundamentally unlovable than whether or not that is a true statement. Stede doesn't want him and everyone else is just a prop for his depression's final act. Very "I don't have any friends" of him - shoutout to that flashback in his purgatory sequence too.)

Edward's self-loathing throwing him into the water, but Edward starting to save himself well before merman!Stede shows up. Because he does, deep down, want to live with or without Stede. Very strong. Like that. Also the idealization on Edward's end of envisioning Stede as a legit magical being of golden scales??? Fuck, you two need to get some perspective.

Stede's Crew

Trauma Lucius I was not counting on, but Lucius going from BlackBonnet supporter to FUCK YOU STEDE was fun. Also Stede offering to be supportive and then immediately trying to nope right out.

Sea Witch Buttons!!!!!! We're going to get naked Buttons charging into a scene screaming about how he's a seagull or something, aren't we?

Confirmation that Oluwande can't read in the funniest way. Well I guess on reflection the scrolls are probably in Chinese so reading wouldn't help, so maybe this point is null.

I did like the note of Stede knowing "The Soul Reaper's" real name. Piracy hyperfixation bonus.

JimOlu vs JimArchie... If we get another poly ship then I'm calling SteddyHands real. I'm just saying.

Oluwande taking initiative to step up and flex his boytoy powers to advocate diplomatically for the crew - very Captain material of him. Also conveniently doubled as a distraction so he was essential to the plan. Go Olu!

Antagonists New and Old!

Spanish Jackie was a treat. I enjoy that she still hates Stede. The Swede literally became a new man by marrying her. AND WE SAW THE HUSBANDS!

Prince Ricky is so far just kind of a shady classist scumbag - presumably that's going somewhere.

Zheng Yi Sao on the other hand... interested what's happening with this whole armada plan she's apparently enacting. The whole Olu boytoy arc was fun. I'm not as into the whole "girlboss" approach to every single female character in this show so far, so, uh, concerned about that. Hoping for more exploration of how she's doing Stede's version of piracy but what exactly is off about it? Because so far there's no real reason to resist her, other than maybe the whole "I didn't conquer China by listening to pirates ramble about their feelings" bit.

Hornigold. Yeah, I know he was a subconscious manifestation of Edward's self-loathing but I still have hope. "Last time I saw you, you said you were gonna flay my skin and feed it back to me." Does that not sound like a great foreshadowing for S3???

#our flag means death #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd s2 #breakup boat #frenchie ofmd #zheng yi sao ofmd #ofmd 2x01 #ofmd 2x02 #ofmd 2x03 #ladyluscinia

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cozyforjate · 9 months

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okay but I'm just kind of obsessed with the Cayuga Gorn fight. Because the Gorn tail-swipes the phaser away from Spock and is probably gonna kill him in an ensuing one-on-one fight, but then Christine comes in (unarmed!), distracts them both momentarily enough for the Gorn to fling Spock away, and Christine just puts on her determinator face and goes right up to the Gorn to distract it from Spock. And remember, she's TERRIFIED of the Gorn. Just the idea of walking out in the open with one in the hallway before had her paralyzed and in tears of fright. But she was able to make it past into the frozen Jeffries tube and up to the Bridge. And then with a Gorn attacking Spock up there, unarmed Christine is ready to throw down. The fight becomes the pair of them basically throwing themselves at the Gorn to get it away from each other until Christine is able to grab the phaser. I LOVE IT. Also, I'm obsessed with the way Henry is red sting of fating them. He bookends the season with it. In 2x01, Spock is paralyzed in horror at the idea that he needs to order the destruction of the false flag ship he knows Christine is on and he waits WAY too long, but unknowingly waits just long enough for Christine and M'Benga to launch themselves out of the airlock. They'd have died if he shot any earlier than he did. And now in 2x10, you have them saving each other on the Cayuga and Christine is in space again, but this time they're together. And just the imagery is so beautiful and UGH, god. This is not the kind of narrative that feels fated to meet it's end in unrequited pining and indifference.

OMG! You described the Gorn fight scene so beautifully. I love how Henry chose the good ole "saving each other" trope for Spock and Chapel in season 2.

He wrote episode 1, 5 and 10. All 3 episodes were about Spock and Chapel taking risks to save one another.

Episode 1, 5 and 10 also have such visually stunning & romantic Spapel moments that make you think "The love story between Spock & Chapel is the central component of the show". *winks at Akiva Goldsman*

This is not the kind of narrative that feels fated to meet its end in unrequited pining and indifference.

Feels that way, doesn't it?

With how successful SNW is doing, it's safe to say that we have seasons ahead of us. So we'll see where they will take Spock&Chapel's story next. It will come to an end eventually, but how they will get there is still unknown.

SNW has been bending canon since day 1. They can easily change the timeline of Chapel's engagement with Korby. And something tells me that they will. Bcoz Jess Bush is a star! And Chapel is one of the main characters of this show. I doubt she'll leave SNW anytime soon to go get engaged with Korby and won't return to The Enterprise until TOS. Just doesn't make sense when they invested so much time and effort into the character and the relationship between Spock&Chapel.

Besides every TOS interaction between Spock&Chapel changed forever now. We know Chapel's love wasn't unrequited in the past and now we can say that Spock wasn't indifferent. He's a man who loved a woman, lost her love and turned to his Vulcan ways to suppress his feelings to protect his heart. And 2x10 made it clear that Chapel wasn't leaving Spock bcoz she fell out of love, her feelings are still there. I think we are heading to a rather tragic end for them. My guess is, when it's all said and done, neither character will look bad. If anything, we will feel so sad for them.

#i'm an optimist sue me #spapel #spock and chapel #spock x chapel #christine chapel #spock #i will go down with this ship

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lonesomedreamer · 2 months

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SNW Liveblog: “Under the Cloak of War”

another installment of Grimdark Trek in which SNW tries its hand at “Conscience of the King” without understanding that episode’s ethics.

or: The Wrath of M’Benga

A fantastic look for her! (Finally.)

Ortegas sucks, is judgy/borderline racist, and insubordinate. What else is new?

The choice to put war in Christine and M’Benga’s backstory still makes very little sense to me. I know Christine was underdeveloped in TOS, but this background has nothing to do with that character.

“Chris needs us [at dinner].” Why, though? They both clearly have pretty bad cases of PTSD (M’Benga almost had an actual heart attack in the previous scene), whereas Pike does not. So why does he need them there, for (lack of) moral support? Christine’s dating a Vulcan—maybe she should call M’Benga out for being illogical.

Protective boyfriend Spock!

“Our captain needs us.” This again? He needs them for what? And as CMO, M’Benga should be well aware that neither he nor Christine are medically fit to represent Pike, the Enterprise, or the Federation at large in their current emotional states.

NOT the Superpower Serum subplot coming back. It was stupid in 2x01, it’s stupid now.

Why do Klingon prosthetics/makeup look worse now than they did in the 80s? His scalp looks like it’s made out of plastic. (Which maybe it is. But that's the problem.)

Christine’s often emotionally unavailable partner is attempting to be warm/supportive/empathetic in his own way, and she’s pushing him away. I do understand that SNW!Christine is traumatized and suffering from PTSD, which may cause her to behave in ways others see as irrational…but she was able to cope with the horrific events of “All Those Who Wander” and to offer emotional support to Spock afterwards despite the likelihood that those events were probably upsetting/triggering. So her behavior here makes no sense to me. Maybe the writers hadn’t thought up this backstory for her back in Season One…

“War changes people.” But this episode isn’t going to explore whether it actually changed Rah, is it? Or whether he is/can be/should be redeemed?

“How can we represent a Federation that believes in peace if we say some people aren’t allowed to make up for their past?” Wow, the writers are actually allowing Pike to be articulate AND correct? Granted that he’s been a total insensitive dumbass so far, but I’m still impressed.

“And when you find whoever’s in charge, you make them pay.” Jess Bush is a very talented actress. So it’s a real shame that this is the material she’s been given. Trek is about people overcoming things like the desire for vengeance and being better humans—about choosing to be better, in fact! Yet this nurse is advocating vigilante justice?

“Don’t let hate ruin your soul.” These are some fundamental Trek ideas! But they're coming from the “bad guy,” so I guess the writers ARE saying that “some people aren’t allowed to make up for their past”...

M’Benga violently murdering someone in flashback...yikes??

I saw a comment about how disturbing it is that SNW keeps making its two medical characters special-op types, and it’s true. McCoy might have had faults, but he honored his oath to the letter. First, do no harm. He was an empath, arguably the conscience of the show—not for nothing do fans very often portray him as the symbolic “heart”/pathos of the TOS triumvirate! Pain, suffering, and death physically sickened him. He could never have fatally stabbed someone, in a rage or otherwise. Justified or not. That’s the kind of doctor I want on my peaceful intragalactic exploratory mission. Didn’t the Rukiya subplot and its highly questionable resolution make M’Benga morally ambiguous enough???

…well, that answers that question.

There are definitely cameras on the Enterprise. Probably even in Sickbay. We know this because of common sense and because they pulled the “tape” when prosecuting Kirk in “Court Martial” and then again when Sarek confronts Kirk in Search for Spock! Christine could NOT cover up the truth here. (And while I’ve seen some people argue that the truth is ambiguous, I strenuously disagree. M’Benga murdered Rah.) Nor should she. Though she’s a traumatized war survivor like M’Benga, and Rah is a criminal from the same war, the CMO of the Federation’s flagship stabbing a (probably-unarmed) diplomat in a time of peace AND while on duty is a most definitely court martial offense. To put it mildly! Even if M’Benga was driven by his severe PTSD to react violently when Rah confronted him, he should be relieved of his duties, placed on medical leave, and treated. He should NOT continue serving on the Enterprise. This is even more severe and alarming than his rash decision regarding his daughter in Season One, and it should be the end of his Starfleet career. WHY did they write this?!!?!

Not only does no one properly investigate, Pike kind of shrugs and side-eyes M’Benga slightly before closing the case. A diplomat was killed on his ship under suspicious circumstances while alone with two people that Pike knew were struggling emotionally as a result of said diplomat’s presence… and he just takes their word for what happened and moves on?!

tl;dr They’ve ruined M’Benga. Twice. The Rukiya subplot was pretty bad, but at least his ultimate goal was for his daughter to live. This is also bad, but it makes M’Benga—a DOCTOR—a cold-blooded killer (both in war and in peacetime) in a universe that has always stood against violence and vengeance and for dialogue and reconciliation. It’s still a “war is hell, peace is the way” message, but it’s weakened by the choices made by its characters. War is bad because it irrevocably traumatizes and destroys people. Healing doesn’t exist, not even in the utopian twenty-third century with all its advanced medicine. What kind of message is that?

Thanks, I hate it.

The Good: Babs Olusanmokun and Jess Bush both give amazing performances (better than the script/character arcs deserve by far), and Robert Wisdom was also great as Rah—Spock being a supportive boyfriend! ♥—a nice allusion to TNG: Spock mentions Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” (quoted by Riker in TNG S1)

The Bad: wildly out-of-character/unethical behavior and violence that contradicts and undermines the whole spirit of Star Trek!!! Babs’ excellent acting is undercut by an abysmal story (again)—an unnecessary war backstory for Christine so that she, too, can be Traumatized™—pointlessly sabotaging Christine and Spock’s relationship after just two three episodes* for, idk, drama?—bad Klingon makeup/prosthetics—Ortegas is a terrible officer—Pike is a terrible captain—no exploration of whether Rah was actually a changed man

I won’t comment on the war flashback scenes except to say that I don’t think they needed to be as gory or as drawn-out as they were to be effective. That’s on-brand for SNW, though.

Season 2 Pike is a completely ineffective leader who appears to command very little respect and even less authority. He really is the Sitcom Dad of captains—well-meaning, oblivious, and kind of bumbling.

Finally: I’m really confused about what motivated the writers/showrunners to pursue the Spock/Christine storyline for, what, 16-17 episodes only to now have Christine be reluctant to even call their relationship…well, a relationship. She also seems to be the one undermining said relationship. Just to refresh: in TOS, Christine was the one who admitted to being in love with Spock; who signed aboard the Enterprise out of loyalty to her missing fiance (!); who loved Spock so much that she let his consciousness be placed in hers in order to save his life. And in THIS VERY SHOW, Christine stole a shuttlecraft and engaged in interdimensional travel in order to beg some aliens to repair Spock’s broken genome!

Not only do I support Trek’s decades-long promotion of peace 110%, I also support SNW’s (apparent) goal of fleshing out the underdeveloped female characters from TOS. That said, there was no good reason to put full-blown war in Christine Chapel’s backstory! Girl was studying to be a bio-researcher and dating a professor before she became a nurse, not serving as a combat medic! If the creators wanted this show to feature original characters in the Trek universe, they could have done that—just like every other (pre-Discovery) Trek has done before them. But what they actually wanted was to use familiar names to get more views/higher ratings. So those names got assigned to characters who are still, essentially, OCs. It is endlessly frustrating to me.

But still not as frustrating as what they’ve done to M’Benga. The writers of this episode really need to watch “Conscience of the King” again. On a loop.

*I skipped 2x07 because Lower Decks is not my thing, but I know the S/C sabotage actually begins in that one. :|

EDIT: After thinking about it more and sleeping on it, I think that even if it WAS ambiguous and Rah killed himself or it was somehow self defense, M'Benga and Chapel have a moral obligation to attempt to save the life of a man with a giant knife sticking out of his chest. Instead, they both stare at him as he dies on the floor. Reprehensible behavior either way.

#this one is ranty and negative and i'm sorry :\#sometimes my liveblogs are just nitpicky. this one is kind of angry.#disgusted might be a better word tbh? dismayed?#luth liveblogs snw

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this-is-a-love-story-isnt-it · 6 days

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Ok, so as I said in my post about that article where Kurtzman basically said that filler episodes should be avoided in Star Trek, I started talking about Farscape in the tags, but it started getting too long, so I want to make a separate post.

I was thinking about "filler" episodes in Farscape, and as I was looking through Farscape episodes, I realized that a lot of Farscape episodes can be considered "filler". I've recently started calling them "stand alone" eps, though. It sounds more accurate. I noticed that most of the time in Farscape, the major plot advances are in the multiple-episode arcs a couple times per season. Like, most of season 1 was what you would call standalone eps. Did it further the plot of "the peacekeepers are after us and John has wormhole knowledge that Scorpius will do anything to get?" mostly no. We see it in Nerve/Hidden Memory, and then at the end of the season in Family Ties. Then in Mind the baby (2x01) they're still inside of the main story arc of dealing with the peacekeepers who are after them and putting Talyn in danger also. Episode 5 is important for a lot of backstory (but also character driven). And then we don't get into any more major movement of the plot until the Look At the Princess trilogy (s2 eps 11-13).

And then the next time the plot gets moved forward is in the Liars, Guns, and Money trilogy (s2 eps 19-21), and then in Die Me, Dichotomy and Season of Death (s2 ep 22 and s3 ep 1).

And then Self-Inflicted Wounds parts 1 and 2 (s3 eps 3-4). Then ep 6 (Eat Me) is critical to the storyline of the rest of the season.

Actually, I'm looking at the season 3 eps, and season 3 is a pretty equal balance between plot advancement and character/relationship development. But especially with the multi-part episodes like the Infinite Possibilities 2-parter, and the Into the Lion's Den 2-parter there's plot advancement.

The season 4 eps 2-3 are major plot episodes. And then no more plot-heavy eps until Unrealized Reality, Kansas, and Terra Firma (eps 11-13). and I guess the rest of the season is actually pretty plot heavy except for ep 14. It doesn't sacrifice the character interaction and development, but the plot is moved forward or is key to the overall arc for the rest of the series after that.

So really, only less than a 3rd of Farscape episodes further the overall story along. Most other episodes are important for character development and world building. Some of them are true stand alones in that there isn't really a lot of character development, either, just kind of like a fun ep (Like Through the Looking Glass or John Quixote).

So idk, it's kind of like there are 3 types of episodes in a lot of shows. I'm thinking of Farscape, Firefly, Fringe, and Star Trek here (like TOS, TNG, VOY, DS9). There are plot heavy episodes that contribute to the overall plot or main story arc, episodes that develop characters either in relation to the plot or just backstories, and then eps that nothing really happens except a fun adventure. With Firefly I actually don't really know if they developed a min storyline yet, except for the whole thing with River. I guess that was supposed to be the main arc? But most episodes were kind of standalone eps. Like adventure of the week kinds of things which allowed for character development and character interactions/relationship development. Fringe had a bunch of "monster of the week" episodes. Some of them gave character backstories or expanded what we know about the characters, but didn't really push the arc forward (or at least you didn't realize it at the time, but like 10 episodes later it turned out to be something significant lol).

But shows like Gilmore Girls... I guess shows like that are character driven most of the time. Most of the story arcs had to do with relationships. And there were arcs like Lorelai and Sookie opening their own inn, and there were a couple episodes that almost fully revolved around that. But it doesn't really have one main storyline or arc. Even sitcoms are like this. the story arcs are usually relationship related and each ep is kind of stand alone.

I'm thinking this main storyline and filler episode thing is unique to scifi shows, actually??? Specifically the "old" ones before they started making shows that only have 6-13 episode seasons.

New Star Trek series like Picard and Discovery are 98% plot and 2% character or relationship stuff. Same with a show I watched recently called Emergence. Character relationships were developed, but every episode contributed to the one storyline. Also currently watching Containment and it's the same way. Both of those shows had 13 episodes.

#farscape #firefly #star trek #fringe #filler episodes

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lindstromm · 10 months

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Some thoughts on Star Trek Strange New Worlds 2x01.

I liked Spock stealing the Enterprise. He didn't even have to agonize over the decision. La'an asked for help, Admiral said no, Spock steals Enterprise. He couldn't lie about it, either. I love how SNW is setting up the unhinged and logical TOS Spock, the one we know hijacks the Enterprise to help Captain Pike. Incidentally, I liked SNW 1x10 in which Pike finds out that if Pike avoids his fate, Spock dies. Spock knows that too. It really gives a good foundation as to why Spock would agree to do anything to get Pike back to Talos in TOS. This is a life debt he's got to pay.

I liked Chapel and M'Benga taking super-soldier serum so they could lay waste to a bunch of Klingons. Unexpected and funny. M'Benga is usually serious in contrast to Chapel's more unhinged personality and then it turns out he carries super-soldier serum with him all the time! Go crazy, my dude.

I did NOT like the reveal that there's going to be a war this season. The thing I disliked the most about Discovery was the war, the ongoing trauma, the way every episode was on the edge of total destruction and no one ever got to relax, not for a nanosecond. NO STOP DOING THAT. Star Trek is about going exploring because we don't have to fight wars anymore. Look at our favorite characters hang out with styrofoam rocks! Look at our favorite characters get stuck in zany situations! Look at everything reset with the next episode! That's what I'm here for. I loved season 1 episodes with the body swap, and the Elysian Kingdom. More of those, please. I don't want a war.

I'm looking forward to seeing Uhura's character develop. Last season, she seemed buttoned down and stand-offish. Her character arc was realizing she needed to let her guard down and make some connections. I saw glimpses of that in this episode, and I hope she dives in and fully integrates into the crew.

I don't care about Spirk shipping. I love Star Trek. TOS my beloved. I only passively ship Spirk, so I am not bothered by straight Spock. Ethan Peck's voice is divine and I could listen to him read train schedules. Pair him up with T'Pring. Pair him up with Chapel. Pair him up with Kirk. I'm fine with anything.

Also, i have extreme gender envy about Erica Ortegas's haircut and I am so happy Pike went to get Una back.

#strange new worlds #star trek strange new worlds #cw: spoilers #spoilers for strange new worlds

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