WHY WE LIKE IT: What might have been.
WHY WE DON'T: The anti-climax.
REVIEW: I was expecting the Vezda to return despite the fritzing computer console (seemed just part of the last scare/sinister ending trope), but here they are, tying back to Through the Lens of Time, ending the season on a horror episode. But with the Vezda defeated, I am dearly hoping that's the end of SNW's flirtation (flirtation? at this point, it's a marriage) with horror. My accusations that the producers have been watching too much Doctor Who are in no way dispelled by the timey-wimey resolution, evil monsters from before time, "genetic memories" (something Who picked up from Quatermass), or what I'm calling the Nexus sequence evoking Doctor Who's "The Family of Blood" (even if Trek has "The Inner Light"). Pelia mentioning travelling with a Doctor might be confirmation or indictment. Throw in "ley lines" that aren't only "a thing", but also extend across planets (so not "the thing" the term actually applies to), and you'll feel nostalgic Discovery's mushroom network. I don't know why Trek can't just be Trek, especially on a show that's supposed to give you the old TOS feels.
The other thing they can't get away from is Jim Kirk, who ONCE AGAIN appears to help the crew and strengthen his friendships with future castmates. It leads to one of the better sequences in the episode, as he and Spock synchronize their two ships' movements with the help of a mindmeld (arch your eyebrow if you think this contradicts "Dagger of the Mind"). The trick certainly speaks to Spock's unusual "psionic" powers (they laid that in two episodes ago, and I wish they'd acknowledge it again). It's very weird that he acts as go-between between the Farragut's captain (relegated to non-speaking part) and the Enterprise. But there's a lot of writerly hand-waving in the episode (like the crew knocking out guards in public and no one reacting).
At the center of the episode is Batel's final fate. In short, it's nonsense. She was being turned into a human-Gorn hybrid - that offered possibilities - and they made a big show of her returning to the JAG office (so 4½ Vulcans' relevance shrinks even more if they're not pursuing it), so it seems like a sharp turn to suddenly say that her varied DNA somehow turns her into a god-like "Beholder", the weird guardian statue they found in the Vezda prison, which - because causality is reversed there - is really her and therefore where she must go... for eternity. Does anyone who love Marie's character like this for her? Does anyone think this was always the plan? The science is dubious (there's an EXTENDED scene where they try to convince us it makes sense), Batel accepts this too easily, and worse, the final battle is a complete anti-climax where she just waves a hand and destroys the Vezda. It reminded me of DS9's The Reckoning, where the Prophets and Pah-Wraiths use Kira and Jake as vessels to fight a divine battle. Except those "supernatural entities" had a lot of lore attached to them, and we felt the stakes more keenly.
What helps sell this turn of events is the powerful sequence where Marie seems to take Pike into the Nexus where they live a full life together. Seems Chris is fated to live illusory lives and I had to wonder if Vina disguised herself as Batel in their new life together post-Menagerie. The time skips, the fatal knocks at the door, the tragedy of how things might have been even after the accident had Marie been there, a reality offered as a "gift" and a way to prepare Pike for his loss... It was quite beautiful. And it gives off series finale vibes. No surprise: As it turns out, they filmed this so that it could work AS a series finale if they weren't picked up for more seasons. So there's an alternate future for Pike, a generic episode title, too many things wrapped up in the same event, Kirk-Spock scenes that push the "next step" in Trek history, a bittersweet goodbye between Chapel and Korby, Pike's speech ABOUT goodbyes, and a "the adventure continues" button instead of a cliffhanger. In a way, I would almost wish they'd found a way to end it on the Nexus sequence, perhaps flashing forward to Vina recreating this reality (nor not), and then giving us a couple seasons of Kirk as Captain of Strange New Worlds. Not that I want to lose Pike or any other SNW character, but because that's where the narrative was taking me. And really, if they thought this might be their last season, it's a very weird way to go, pushing novelty episodes instead of, I dunno, character or continuity building. It all makes me think that my favorite franchises (to bring it back to Who for a second, as it - and Discovery, for that matter - also ended in a mangled patchwork of panicked solutions) have untrustworthy stewards.
LESSON: Prepare for the end, be ready to keep going.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Some precious moments, but I have a lot of trouble caring about Gamble (a nice supporting character turned into a boring villain) and the Vezda, and accepting the nonsense justifications for Batel's story arc.
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