Ups & Downs From Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1.10 - A Quality of Mercy

Another season ends with an arrest... here's Sean with an extra long edition of Ups & Downs.

#StarTrek #StarTrekSNW #BalanceOfTerror

[ProdCritic]

Strange New Worlds has kind of pulled off the impossible. Respected the past while giving us new Trek stories in an original way. P.S my god Anson Mount hit it out of the park

[baltmatrix]

I'm shocked that there's no mention of the cinematography homage to TOS. The dramatic face lighting! The extreme closeups! The overall darker coloring! It's was such a wonderful throwback!

[GSONCBEARDAVID]

I'm old. I'm so old I can say I watched TOS on first run. I was just a kid but nonetheless. Back then and even up until 10 weeks ago I always had a difficult time accepting the fact that Spock would betray Kirk specifically and the enterprise in general by taking the Ship and kidnapping Pike. I also even figured up until 10 weeks ago they'd find a way to keep Pike out of the chair. I can say I've made peace with Spock's loyalty to Pike and the fatalism of his fate. This series was everything anyone could have ever hoped for. Perfect? Nope. But pretty damn close. It's gonna be a long wait for Season 2.

[QuintusAntonious]

One of my favorite things was the Hell on Wheels easter egg in the cold open. When asked if he misses his beard, Pike says, "It felt like it belonged to a different captain of another time." Anison Mount plays Cullen Bohannon in Hell on Wheels, a former Confederate Army Captain, who of course sports a large beard.

[jaredbeever]

The engaged couple are standing in opposite positions to 'Balance of Terror', foreshadowing the swapping of who dies and who lives.

[shaneblackburn]

This finale and season was incredible. This show is a Trek fans dream come true. Each episode has ranged from being enjoyable to masterfully done. I'd give Strange New Worlds season 1 10/10. And I think its safe to say, Star Trek is BACK FOR REAL.

[CaptainJack]

I've been a Star Trek fan since the 1960's when it was first airing; I saw "Balance of Terror" when it first aired (I remember it was around Christmas). After this season, I must say that of all the different series and movies, "Strange New Worlds" is now my favorite. This show is the best combination of characters as I remember them and the characters as I want them to be. Great acting, writing, use of music, everything.

[MarkTolmanMA]

I always questioned Spock's choice to destroy his own career for Pike. It seemed too irrational. NOW I understand it - he is paying him back for THIS. This episode set that odd behavior up nicely. It all makes sense now.

[smstnitc]

Strange New Worlds is the best Trek in a long time. I loved this season as a whole; this was a great finale to the first season; and I look forward to the next season.

[AmanCreatesArt]

You KNOW I sat down and re-watched "Balance of Terror" yesterday before watching this episode! 😍 And it (thankfully) increased my enjoyment of the SNW finale! So many shots recreated perfectly, the lighting, lines/scenes from the original.

Stray observations:

-They recreated the scene revealing the Romulans' appearance right down to Spock's eyebrow raise perfectly, with a slight update to explain better how/why we're seeing the Romulan bridge.

- The wedding! Though this time it was "Martine" that died at the end.

- The off-screen Scottish engineer! Ortegas taking the role of Stiles.

- Wish they'd referred to the Romulan sub-commander, Decius, by name since he's clearly the same character as the original. Missed the presence of the Romulan centurion, but it made sense as he was unnecessary with sub-commander Decius having a bigger role on the Bird of Prey.

- Eye-lighting still works!

- The only thing I wasn't prepared for was getting Maroon-ed. And I wish I wasn't distracted by the shiny sleeves as much as I was! 😅

- The Praetor is mentioned a LOT in "Balance of Terror." So it would be interesting to watch it with the idea in mind now that the Romulan armada is actually right there on the other side of the Neutral Zone and basically didn't attack because Kirk's actions prevented the Bird of Prey from returning to them.

- I would again re-watch both this and "Balance of Terror" back-to-back, which is saying a lot for SNW!

[joec]

YES, YES, YES!! This show is awesome. All the actors have their Legacy characters down perfectly. It's surreal how the shadow of Jeffrey Hunter is seen in Anson Mount's portrayal of Pike. Also, the contrasting differences between the more seasoned, careful Captain, and the young, brash James Kirk. One of the last scenes between Pike and Spock, "You mean a great deal to me Spock." "And you as well to me, Captain." This had me in tears knowing that in a few years Spock would risk EVERYTHING to get his former Captain to Talos IV, so he could have some quality of life. Star Trek truly

[kristagdesign]

I just realized that the reversal of Spock being the one who would end up in the beep chair packs the emotional punch that Star Trek Into Darkness failed to pull off with the Kirk/Spock reversal. So well done in the writing, directing and acting and without the almost two hours of setup. Very impressive.

[ImranChaudhry]

At the wedding that Captain Pike is conducting, he says "Since the days of the first wooden sailing ships..." - this is the same words used by Captain Picard conducting O'Brian and Keiko wedding in TNG "Data's Day" - it's one of my favourite episodes so I know the dialogue :)

[ltdowney]

Surprised there's no mention of the almost-throwaway line that there's no peace with the Romulans in any timeline if Spock doesn't survive. Someone else said here in the comments that there's three timelines in the episode, and I suppose there are three directly, but there's a fourth by reference. Spock sets in motion peace with the Romulans through the events of Unification, and everything that follows in the 24th century. 🙂

Oh, also, the Romulan commander mentions that he's old enough to remember a time of peace, implying he's 100+ years old, so Romulan/Vulcan lifespan.

[simoneanne]

I'd like to give an 🔼 to Uhura saying "Captain, the Romulans are calling." I laughed so hard! I loved the humor in this series. I love how the crew and captain were so easy with each other on the bridge. I wish my work environments had been so comfortable.

[crunchydango]

My god, this was a PHENOMENAL episode!

My addition to Cetatian Observations is the seemingly apparent callback to TNG All Good Things where Picard suddenly finds himself in another time and place with the crew standing before him waiting for a speech that he is stumbling through. Rather fitting that such a parallel is in the final episode of this season and the final episode of TNG.

[tomtommasovaleriano]

those last few seconds, where Una beams out and Pike's view shifts to the camera. 4th wall breaking? totally gave me some chills

[superpaperdude]

one cet obs you missed...one of my favorite moments...new Uhura wearing the Nichelle Nichols Uhura's big green ear hoops. really great connection to the original there.

[TokoGT]

The classic TOS pad on Pike's desk was a great easter egg, as well as the updated uniforms with gold rank bars instead of matching the uniform colors. And I think for a split second when Kirk scolded Pike for hesitating firing for a second, he scrunched up like he was reminded he got command of the Farragut because he hesitated firing before and the captain was killed by the cloud creature. Absolutely fantastic season ending to an absolutely smash hit series. SNW might replace TNG as my second favorite Trek series behind TOS at this rate. What an amazing time for Trek fans. A new Star Trek every week for MONTHS. Now to wait patiently for Lower Decks S3 to arrive!

[apple_jar]

Epic conclusion to a superb series. Especially love how it explains Spock's actions and all he did to save Pike