Sitting down to watch this and didn't see a thread yet... I got ya covered DJariya !

“My name is Erica Ortegas and I fly the ship.”

🤣

If there is a connecting thread for these episodes and for the season, I do not know what it is.

These last few episodes seem to be stand-alone and I’m not seeing a connection.

This was supposed to be more of a stand-alone episodic show, like TOS. I like it.

Loved Ortega in this.

Fun episode! I like how Pike asked the doctor to come along on the away mission, not for his medical expertise but because he's a badass fighter.

Actually felt a real sense of peril for the crew in this one. Also, made me wonder why there wasn't a system in place that would allow the ship's computer to better help the incapacitated crew get out of danger. Which feels very relevant in the current context of developing AI and how much power we are willing to give it.

I, too, like the more episodic format of this show. Definitely gives it a vibe similar to TOS or TNG.

I hope they aren't trying to palm this ep off as an Ortegas Ep. I heard some say this was sold as an Ortegas Ep at one of the panels.

Decent Ep.
Pros:
-I really felt the horror of the memory loss in many scenes
-Ortegas threading the needle with the Enterprise

Cons:
-Not liking M'Benga being turned into "Enterprise Muscle". Its clear from his comment...neither does he.
-We got a lot of La'ann this ep, last ep, and the ep before. Meanwhile fans are begging for more Ortegas... #MOrtegas

… and that is what’s great about it, IMHO. Enough of dragged out season long arcs and “big bads”, frankly.

They only have three male characters in the main cast, and their chief of security, who should be the "muscle," is only three feet tall. Pike should probably their go-to ass-kicker like Kirk was in TOS, but, for whatever reason, they didn't go in that direction with the character.

I don’t mind the “story of the week” premise, I guess I was just looking for something deeper (like the Gorn threat in the first episode of the season) to come to the head at some point.

I agree. At the beginning I excited because I thought we were finally getting our Ortegas episode, and even though I loved he expanded role here I hope we get a true Ortegas centric episode.

Loved her threading the needle. That was awesome. Also as awesome as it was to see Riker fling an asteroid seems like Ortegas did it first.

As little as we've seen on her I think she's hands down the best pilot we've had so far. I really get a sense that she's flying the ship. Now I'm sure a lot of that is because of the improved SFX especially with the console but even just with her performance alone, she does an excellent job conveying that she has a real sense of actually piloting the ship.

Agreed on La'an. I do love the character/actress but we've gotten a LOT of her this season. I feel like season 1 did a much better job of balancing the characters and making sure each of them had a chance to make an impression. Even if it was just from a line or two. We're almost halfway through the season and we haven't seen much of Uhura, Chapel, Pelia, and what happened with Transporter Chief Kyle? He had a great tiny story arc in Season 1.

Even Pike and Spock seems to have taken a bit of a back seat this season. Still loving this season/show I'm just being greedy.

Another great episode. Had a real TOS feel to it with a strong interesting premise along with the classic Starfleet crew member mucks up the prime directive/arms the natives/obtains godlike powers trope.

This one hit on a real personal note with me trying to come to terms with an aging father and my own kids growing up and just life in general moving at warp speed. I do wish they gave a little bit more of a nod to M'Benga's daughter. Like have him be the one that makes a connection with the local guy.

I thought it was okay. Definitely had a TOS vibe, but the planet and ship pieces felt a bit rushed. I really liked the Pike bookends, yet if this were TOS it would have just been a Captain’s log around orbit to discuss why they were there and straight into things.

I agree that we’ve gotten a lot of Laan, or just anything at the expense of Pike and Spock.

Speaking of, was that bit at the end of season 1 just a nod to Trek V? I assumed something was going to come
of that.

To be fair, we are getting less Pike because Mount's child was born at the time of filming and he took time off. Not sure why we have seen less Number 1. I mean shit, we complained about not having a lot of Number 1 last season...

I didn't know that. That's great if it's for a personal reason. I'm all for better work life balance.

At least two of this season's episodes are concepts other shows would drag out for an entire season and it's nice having a complete story in an hour.

Flinging that asteroid directly into a large asteroid field probably wasn't the safest idea for the planet.

Very neat idea, and it's actually a followup to The Cage where Pike mentions losing his former yeoman and assumed he was dead.

It was a little odd though seeing Pike and Batal cozying up like that so soon after Una's trial.