WHY WE LIKE IT: Those Easter Egg-filled chyrons.
WHY WE DON'T: Would it kill them to include Discovery in those fleet FX shots?
REVIEW: Despite the world-ending threat proposed by Nus Braka, good on the show for still treating the mission as a teaching experience. While Ake and Mamma Mir are taken by Nus to the Athena for a show trial, the kids left on the ship's damaged saucer section are given all sorts of assignments by Reno, answering their questions with further questions so they can get an understanding on their tasks. And understanding is more important than just being told what to do. Tig Notaro's dryness is perhaps ill-suited to the traditional pep talk, but it's kind of fun to have a commander who doesn't really give a crap about your emotions, so SNAP OUT OF IT. Particularly useful attitude when the CW writing takes over, here especially in the cases of Caleb's infuriating self-pity, and New SAM lashing out at friends for things she only imagines they think or have done (easily disarmed by Genesis simply just communicating - LEARN FROM THIS, kids!). But yes, it's therefore pretty easy to see their end of the story as a bunch of tasks that must be resolved so the Omega mine signal can be used to disarm all the mines, but it's a lot of individual steps, and the kids all get things to do, which is important for the final exam/season finale.
And there's some pretty clever stuff in there, including the Doctor projecting himself as a hologram of a destroyed Athena saucer to fool the pirates, Tarima Jean Graying the coordinates of the Athena atrium, and Caleb ultimately asking for asylum from the Venari Ral so he can speak at the trial. Not as strong, perhaps, is the EMH being stuck in an aphasic loop, trying to communicate information he got from his stay in the computer (I'm guessing) by fooling his subroutines into using certain words that sound like other words (I'm guessing). That's rather clunky, and I often feel like Starfleet Academy's greatest weakness is the dialogue omitting certain explanations. It's not ambiguous, it's muddled (we'll come back to this). But generally, it's fun to see our cadets acting as a crew, and imagining that, years from now, they would find a way to work together, the same way the various Enterprise complements have. Captain Lythe (who will learn to pee before her shift starts), Commander Mir, Dr. Kraag, Science Officer SAM, Security Officer Sadal, and Helmsman Reymi.
Meanwhile, on a vandalized Athena atrium, Nus has the drone cameras flying about for his big Trial of the Federation, trying to convince non-aligned worlds to fall in with him and allow the mines to be detonated, destroying many Federation worlds (or else hold the planets on the other side of the border hostage, and keeping the Feds forever contained). Ake is his Federation proxy, Anisha Mir is his chosen judge and jury. Paul Giamatti is, as usual, having a lot of fun playing Nus, but we also get some great speeches from Ake, and the ultimate reveal that Nus's origin story was a lie, or really, a misunderstanding (he honestly believed in his righteous reasons). Ake waits a little too long to expose this - did she realize only AFTER the verdict had been rendered? - but it's a great gotcha moment. As for Mamma Mir, I can't get a handle on her. At times - and this was true of the previous episode as well - she seems to be on our side, at others' on Nus's, and you're always waiting for a sign that she's playing Nus's game to buy time. But no, she gives a verdict of guilty, but once Caleb makes HIS speech, she's on board with the Starfleet agenda, and everything is forgiven by the end judging by the looks Caleb's two "moms" give each other. Another case of a story point being muddled. All we needed was a line of dialogue going either way.
That said, the episode exuded tension and I was absolutely taken in, and I admit to an emotional release after Caleb's speech. Those twin punches had me punch the air (in lieu of Nus's jaw). And I'm glad we weren't left on a cliffhanger. I wouldn't have really fit the "academic year" format of the season, and in the streaming age, I find seasons slow to arrive (even if annual on the dot, there's still a longer hiatus with only 10 episodes per). And for us nerds, if there weren't enough Easter Eggs in the news drone chyrons, the final curtain call shows childhood pics of the cast with certain yearbook info on their characters (I wish they'd given the adults a different "class of" year, however, like Ake some 500 years before, etc.).
LESSON: One shouldn't live in the past.
REWATCHABILITY - High: All things considered, I think the season finale stuck the landing.
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