That episode was fantastic. This whole season has been amazing actually. SNW has been an huge breath of fresh air after decades of awful Trek’s (Abrams movies, Discovery, Picard).
They haven’t been afraid to explore heavy topics. The episodes have returned to mostly episodic, with some long term character growth thrown in. That has always been the formula Star Trek needs. An occasional big story arc can be good, but you can’t make that the entire show.
It honestly feels like the show has the potential to be up there with TNG or DS9. And unlike those two, it’s good episodes aren’t surrounded by bad or mediocre filler. I know some people are upset about the shorter seasons compared to other Trek shows, but if they manage to keep the quality consistently high, I don’t have any issue with it.
Something I had kinda forgotten about from episodic television is the excitement of not knowing what you’re going to get each episode. I avoid the previews because I don’t trust previews in general anymore but also I don’t want this experience to be broken. Even within the episode, it’s often not clear where it’s going. With serialisation, by comparison, there can be a degree of predictability.
This episode was great but as a war veteran I’ll probably skip it on rewatches. Some of the storylines hit a little to hard for me.
I could only keep drawing parallels in Babs’ performance to Jamis in Dune. It’s like he brought the tension in that fight scene with Paul Atreides to the entirety of this episode. He is an amazing actor, and I love how he brings this mystery to M’benga, and how writers continue to peel his layers away as the series progresses.
I would like to see an Otegas focused episode though. While there was some focus with her in this episode, it was definitely overshadowed by M’benga and Chapel.
His acting skills run circles around the rest of the cast. Babs reminds me of Patrick Stewart’s elevated performances in TNG.
All of M’benga’s episodes are sitting at the top of best SNW episodes.
