WHY WE LIKE IT: M'Benga's assassination of Dak'Rah was not forgotten.
WHY WE DON'T: Didn't we just get a horror episode with Hegemony Parts I and II?
REVIEW: I had to be told the title was a reference to Train to Busan. That's what happens when you change too many elements - the wordplay just stops registering. The planet should have had a name closer to Busan, no? Kenfori is a play on Dawn of the Dead actor Ken Foree, so they're loading too many puns in there. That's my prologue for an episode that I DO think smacks too much of horror too close to an already horror-filled episode. Star Trek does zombies is fine, but it's not very Trek-like, and even M'Benga bristles at Pike using the term about Starfleet (and Klingon) personnel victims of an experiment gone wrong. Generally, Pike is a little flippant in this episode, and M'Benga is stronger for taking things more seriously. (Not that Pike isn't taking Batel's medical emergency seriously, of course, and one has to wonder if the hybridization flower will turn her into a V alien, with more horror episodes to follow.)
It's a little odd, honestly, that they gave Batel a magical bill of health in the previous episode, only to have these fatal side-effects crop up in this one. But yes, this is better (give or take how it resolves itself). Will their relationship end because they keep having fights over who's the bigger hero (she's protecting him from her medical information, he's protecting her by insisting he go on the botanical mission)? Or will it be because her Gorn genes will change her feeling (or his)? After all, there is a "psychic" element to this hybrid, as revealed by Spock's mindmeld. I'm not even sure I understand how they'll hide the fact that they have now done two illegal things to cure Batel, so that may create problems for them too. THREE illegal things, if we consider this as genetic engineering (can she still serve in Starfleet?).
But while the zombie stuff is a bit whatever, the fact that the Chimera Blossom is now in a "neutral zone" between Federation and Klingon space means this is a pretty good Klingon episode. M'Benga understands them better than most, and is finally confronted with his assassination of a Klingon dignitary/war criminal in "Under the Cloak of War". The episode foregrounds the two officers' friendly relationship and history together well enough that we can accept Pike's forgiveness of those actions (hey, what happens on a redacted mission stays redacted). Seems kind of crazy that these Klingons would have lain in wait for M'Benga to fulfill their blood feud IN CASE, he would cross into disputed space, but it's Klingons. I guess, they might have forayed into Federation space after a while. It IS interesting that as a matter of honor, Bytha hates her father Dak'Rah for being a traitor, and that M'Benga essentially stole her honor by killing him before she could. He gives her a different out than the ritual transfer of honor, but not before we get a cool fight. Oh, and I love the Klingon ornithopter!
Back on the ship, Ortegas is going rogue - part of the theme, if you like - as a symptom of her PTSD (oh, she's not going to take a Gorny Batel well). A pilot with a death wish would be one thing, but when they're responsible for 200+ passengers is another. But is it a death wish? Perhaps more of an impatience with tactics that might cost lives. She can't bear to think Pike and M'Benga might be under threat of death, but is so arrogant about her abilities, that she doesn't see how her own actions could get even more people killed. It's an interesting arc - too often, Trek heroes get away with murder (literally in M'Benga's case) with the slimmest of disciplinary actions - and I like how Ortegas forced Una's hand and Una's subsequent reaction. In a television landscape where subplots are ongoing, we can better track Ortegas' career than we would have in, say, TNG.
Minor complaint: I hate Number One's hat hair in this episode. Other minor complaint: The effects don't really seem to justify a 6-hour ETA to the planet. Bigger complaint: Carol Kane's limited engagement means she doesn't show up to staff meetings and sends Scotty (now a regular, but surely, a very junior officer) in her place. We're really making excuses here. I like Scotty, but he seems like the only engineer on the whole ship here, and I still wish Pelia was in more episodes.
LESSON: Be careful what you wish for. That's the third strike re: wishes.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium-High (but not all of it): We're advancing some subplots here and M'Benga's is particularly strong, but the basic horror premise leaves me cold. I kind of want to skip over the zombie attacks.
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