WHY WE LIKE IT: Jett Reno still makes us laugh.
WHY WE DON'T: Not as much of an ensemble show as I want it to be.
REVIEW: With introductions mostly made, it's time to see what an actual episode might be like. On the plus side, it combines the idea that just as Starfleet Academy, the place, is where we're building the Federation's future, Starfleet Academy, the show, is also showing that future in action. And so we bring Betazed back into the fold after they isolated themselves behind a "psionic wall" after the Burn. A conference held at the Academy - on the premise that the isolationist president is bringing a youth delegation led by his own children - will decide whether they want to rejoin the Federation, and the solution is actually pretty interesting and, pointedly, Ake's idea. Good, because I felt Vance was too central to this - as it turns out - B-plot up until then.
On the minus side, I'm too old now for the teen angst soap opera that makes up the A-plot. Caleb meets the Betazoid princess (have they just abandoned the black irises of the Betazoid people?) and fancies her - is that a sad look from Genesis? - leading to a lot of secretive, romantic expeditions through the bowels and grounds of the Academy. That's fine, and I should have realized she was going to join the cast when they made a big deal of her neural inhibitor (what is she, Dark Phoenix?), but never made her over-acute powers an issue in the episode itself. But their manufactured argument was lame-brained CW-level stuff - how could he have been manipulating you to get to the last location of his mom when he didn't know you had star maps, girl? And their inside jokes about "Gideon Turner" isn't an actual Trek reference, so it's just dumb to keep returning to it the way they do. File under the heading of "dialogue disasters". Don't ask how the "psionic wall" works - you'd think it was just around the planet, but Caleb's mom was last seen on a world "behind it".
And, well, a big problem this focus creates for me is that what should be an ensemble show really isn't. If you're not Caleb, Tarima (the new girl) or Ake, you don't get much to do. Teacher-side, Jett Reno returns as a physics professor in a very funny scene where she has to take Caleb down a peg. Her lesson is also what eventually triggers the Betazed solution, a few dominoes down. We see some random profs as the school day grinds on, including the Doctor's mucus lesson. He later gets to sing opera for the delegates, the story somewhat matching the diplomatic events below. The other addition to the recurring cast is the War College, headed by a sour-faced dude who looks like Canadian douche-Con Pierre Poilièvre. The College is what trained Starfleet personnel post-Burn, as defense became the focus rather than exploration. It's still going on and there's potential in having them clash with cadets. Their head particularly looks down on Ake's messy lack of decorum, but I love it. In addition to reading paper books, she listens to vinyl LPs, walks around barefoot, and drinks from found coffee cups. After centuries, she's past caring about "propriety".
As for the kids, they potentially get even less to do. The biggest subplot for them is the room assignment, which, of course, puts Caleb and jerky boy Darem Reymi together, later to be joined by Tarima's brother Ocam (who, ironically, might bring the rivals closer together). I noted that I liked the brother-sister relationship and wanted to see more of it, and then BAM, the Betazoid kids both join the show... with Tarima in the War College! But it's Ocam who steals the show as a hyperactive bro in that last scene. But the introduction of the additional characters HAS meant everyone else got shorted.
And since I did say, last week, that we should keep an eye on the potential over-abundance of Easter Eggs, I feel compelled to point out how this episode goes overboard. The Boothby Memorial Park and, to a point, the James T. Kirk Wing, are revealed so as to make a theater audience applaud (like some cringy Marvel movie moments) - obnoxiously obvious. Less objectionable because it's referencing shows I like, but still not adding anything to the series except for a squee point, are the appearances of a Brekkian (using the Prodigy model as is, very cartoony) and a Lower Decks-style Exocomp (credited as Almond Basket and played by the same voice actor as Peanut Hamper). We're still doing intros, so I'm hoping the fan service will die down as we move forward. It's just a distraction.
LESSON: Never hook up in the first six months.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: I'm impatient for introductions to end and the series to really get into gear, but can't fault the additions.
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