Review of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1.8

I have mixed feelings about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1.8, which I saw late last night on Paramount Plus TV. That's because I thought most of it was ridiculous, easily the worst episode of the season, until close to the ending, which I thought was heartwarming and uplifting.

[Spoilers follow ... ]

The ship and its crew turned into a fairytale was the biggest piece of at first inexplicable idiocy I've ever seen in any Star Trek episode in any series. The problem was more than the clumsy efforts at humor that SNW has been prone to. The problem was more than thirty minutes of sheer nonsense bordering on gibberish.

I wouldn't say the ending redeemed this, because that first part was really not needed. But giving Rukiah a life out of the transporter was a wonderful thing, and the manner in which that happened -- she could live that life in the vistas of her mind, and not be brought down by the illness her body was suffering -- was a nice callback to "The Menagerie," in which that same solution worked for the original Captain Pike.

The best scene in the episode was Dr. M'Benga's conversation with his adult daughter. That scene was not only gratifying but had its own callback to TNG's "The Inner Light".

I still would have rather seen M'Benga come upon a physical cure for what was threatening his daughter's life, but I'd say 1.8 of Strange New Worlds is an episode worth seeing, if you don't pay too much attention to the first two thirds.