Review of 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' 1.5

Well, I said in my review of last week's episode 1.4 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds that what I was most really liking was the way young Lt. Spock was being portrayed in this excellent new series. And sure enough, I was rewarded today with episode 1.5 which was all about Spock.

[Spoilers follow ... ]

Here is what I most liked in this fine episode (probably in descending order):

1. Spock and Nurse Chapel. I like the way she looks at him and thinks about him. That final scene in which she doesn't (yet) want to tell anyone about this is an indication of how important this is and is going to be for her (and therefore us).

2. The mind swapping between Spock and T'Pring was nice, and done in classic Star Trekian fashion. It worked up until the two tried to reverse it, and then it took a medical intervention to do that. McCoy would've been pleased.

3. Pike's realization of what it would take to get those characters into the Federation was good to see, and also classic Star Trek, which more than anything was an unending chess match between we humans and the interstellar intelligences we encountered.

4. I liked that little piece of the hull that dated back to the original Enterprise, and had some notable signatures on it. Literally a cool touching base with history.

And, ok, here's what I didn't much like:

That whole Noonian-Sing and Chin-Riley thread. I'll be watching the first episode of the new season of The Orville later today, in which comedy is more deftly embedded and executed. In Strange New Worlds 1.5, it felt more like comedy for comedy's sake, which meant it wasn't all that funny, and was mostly an unneeded distraction from the main agenda. But I did like those signatures on the hull.

And I'll see you back here next week with review of the next episode.