Literally a soap opera.
What the hell? Another damn gimmick episode? Really?
Well, yeah. But bear with it. The story has some compelling places to go and the gimmick helps to get us there.
So here's the deal, Sparky.
The cosmic entity who may or may not be a Q (It's a Q) who may or may not be Trelane (it's Trelane) who bedevilled the Enterprise in season 3 ("Wedding Bell Blues") is back, played by Rhys Darby.
This being who we will call "Trelane" is on board the Enterprise to finish a school assignment.
Who is what to do how why now?
Trelane is in what we will call "Q School" and his homework assignment is to present a paper on "Humans: Just What Is Their Deal Anyway".
To facilitate that assignment, Trelane has altered reality to play out like a soap opera.
Everyone is acting weird. Except for Pike who for reasons of plot is the only one not caught up in this hyper reality filled with such nonsense as super amnesia, space madness, secret children (Uhura is Pike's daughter) and evil twins (Ethan Peck has double duty as Spock and Sybok). Everyone is being melodratic.
Basically, Pike is like Deadpool, aware his reality is fictional.
Pike questions why everyone keeps pausing for dramatic effect before finishing a sentence.
He also hears the music stings when anyone says something particularly dramatic.
For everyone on the Enterprise, this is just... life. Except for Pike who sees the soap opera absurdity of it all.
Trelane is puzzled as well. Everyone is playing their parts in this melodrama but Pike insists on going off script. And his story arc keeps going to places Trelane does not anticipate.
Like when Pike's daughter Juliet shows up.
Who is what to do how why now?
Trelane is all "Wait! Since when did Pike have a daughter?"
To answer that, we have to go back to season 3 finale, "New Life and New Civilizations". Before Marie Batel, Pike's girlfriend, evolved into some kind of energy thingy to be locked into an eternal battle against evil to save the universe or something, Marie took Pike through a future where the two of them got to live their lives. They built a home together and had a daughter named Juilet and got to live out their lives into old age.
After living that whole lifetime together, Marie did her thing and went off to fight evil for eternity. Or something. It was sad.
Pike had made peace with the loss of Marie. However he has not made peace with the loss of that alternative lifetime. He has not made peace with the loss of his daughter Juliet.
Thought the cliches and conventions of TV soap opera, Pike, La'An, M'Benga, Ortegas and Uhura are forced to confront some uncomfortable truths about themselves and their unresolved traumas.
Before we get to the serious culmination of the episode, we do have a lot a fun with playing with soap opera tropes: pensive pauses, dramatic music stings, tight zoom in shots, preposterous plot twists and more.
Her second most famous role was as the star of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl.
ELECTRA WOW!!
Bellows is a post credits scene featuring the character of "Days Of Our Enterprise".
That's is that for today.
Live long and prosper, y'all and keep on trekkin'! And enjoy your "Shakey Box"!
No comments:
Post a Comment