Strange New Worlds 2x04- 'Among the Lotus Eaters' ~~ { ** Spoilers Within ** }

ilovesmybrick

Strange New Worlds 2x04- 'Among the Lotus Eaters' ~~ { ** Spoilers Within ** } Warning: This thread will contain spoilers

AMKC

Ye at last a full crew episode. Actually in some ways you coukd say it was an Ortegas centric episode. OK it was not perfect. It was quite slow to start off and I think the acting in it was not great. I think William Shatner as Kirk done forgetting who he was better but from about 38 minutes on it gets so much better and it's a good ending.

Issues I have is when Ortagas left her post who was flying the ship? There was just Spock left on the Bridge and he did not or could not remember how to fly it. Its a miracle more damage was not done.

Spear

It was okay, nothing I could really point at as bad, but no real standout moments either. Just very standard adventure fare. It might be aping TOS too closely at times.

eadrom

Pretty good although I agree with Spear, all fairly standard stuff here really. They could have maybe done a bit more with the premise, and the tone was a little too rigid and serious. Finding the stranded crew member didn't amount to much in the end and felt a little out of place. Like the show, and Pike, should care more about something like that.

Enjoyable as always though.

fritzelly

Really enjoyed that, maybe it seemed better than it should have after 3 fairly slow paced episodes

ilovesmybrick

Have to say, really enjoyed that episode. Reminded me of some of the fun ones earlier in DS9 or TNG, the DS9 one where they found the planet of their descendants, or TNG when they forget their identities and there's the fake first officer. I think Voyager had a handful.

A fairly decent one off episode with a few characters in a situation where they're not fully aware of whats happening. Good bog standard mid-season random episode stuff. But a bit dark.

Nice.

ilovesmybrick

And really liked the callback to those wall light guidelines in Season1 TNG-Not sure if they ever really apppeared outside one or two episodes, but always thought it was a really fun, simple way of finding your way around.

corkie

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Among_the_Lotus_Eaters_%28episode%29

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/star-trek-first-strange-new-world-rigel-7-the-cage

Enjoyable episode.

Is it becoming a pattern (or troupe) this season that episodes midway through seem like they could continue for longer, for them only to resolve everything in the final 5/10 minutes.

TheValeyard

I liked the episode. it was one hour of Trek. A mystery or problem to solve, and it gets done. Just old school Trek.

Is it a standout episode, no, but they do not all have to be.

Slydice

Ah, that was a good episode. Proper old school Star Trek. Into the unknown through memory loss. Cool shout-out to The Cage too!

Two things which were only given a small amount of time but came across well done were:

• The captains love story
• The old Kalar man played by Reed Birney.

I swear I had to go lookup Birney's imdb to check if he'd ever played an admiral on Star Trek before but he hasn't. I think I was confusing him with Ronny Cox (Jellico)

The one point in the episode where it dawned on me that they could've done things differently is bring the audience in on the unknown feeling by starting the story after the memory loss has taken hold.

fritzelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815951#Comment_120815951

Starting with the memory loss has been done a few times on ST, don't need another

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815559#Comment_120815559

Until two people's lights clashed...

squonk

That was an hour of good old fashioned proper trek. It really reminded me of watching TNG back in the day. Not every episode has to be a 10 and that wasn’t for sure but it was just good solid stuff so what more can I say.

And and... more character development. See, Trek works best when everyone gets to solve issues

fritzelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816131#Comment_120816131

Are you trying to say Burnham isn't the be all and end all

Absolutely not, all hail Burnham.

CastorTroy

Was I the only one wondering how Ortegas got the turbolift to move without holding onto the handle?

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816251#Comment_120816251

Ya that really annoyed me in the way only unimportant details can.

It was an okay episode. Similar to the weaker ones last season it was a decent watch but won't live long in the memory 😁. I think people are using "old school Trek" to gloss over a lot.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816849#Comment_120816849

Another annoying detail was after Spock gave Ortegas her pad and then they start to forget who they are Spock picks up his pad but did not even suggest that Ortegas do the same maybe he had forgot but in fact her pad seems to have disappeared. Maybe it's there and we could just not see it.

Stark

It was okay. Bit disappointed as I was expecting more. Especially as this was supposed to be the main "Ortegas episode" for the season and she had **** all to do other than pretend to fly the ship like she's on a go karting off-site again. She's better fleshed out that most of Discovery's characters, we can easily remember her name and function. But in a show that has the best focus on character development in a Trek show since DS9 imo, she stands out as the one who's had the least attention.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120817880#Comment_120817880

Her character just seems to be "generic hotshot pilot". They need to do a Geordie on her and find another angle because right now she is easily the weakest character.

TheValeyard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120817914#Comment_120817914

Yeah, she is just not that interesting compared to the rest of them at the moment.

I also want more of the Chief Engineer

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120818688#Comment_120818688

I can't stand the engineer.

Is it just to be cheap that we never get engineers as main characters anymore. Saves on sets or something.

PhiloCypher

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120819485#Comment_120819485

I think they want to get away from the anomaly of the week type of storytelling that would see Geordi technobable his way to a solution week in week out.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120819809#Comment_120819809

Is a kryptonite meteor that wipes memory not an anomaly of the week ?

Now they just fly their way out while wisecracking

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120819485#Comment_120819485

Ye me either but she is new so I will give her a chance. I think a new young engineer would have been better for the Enterprise one who maybe finds the workload to stressful and eventually goes to another shop when Scotty takes over.

I like the new engineer but damn if the original wasn't interesting and engaging

Slydice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816251#Comment_120816251

I was looking at it. I was getting excited. I was like.. "ooh, they're gonna do the thing" but then they didn't do the thing and I was like.. oh.

Thinking about it now, like why wouldn't anyone grab the handholds.. especially in a disorientated state like that. Bit of a missed opportunity.

Evade

A fine episode, could be better could be worse. How big was the original away team? There was a lot of equipment left.

On Ortegas, she kind of needs a hobby, something else for her character besides pilot.

I'd eventually like an episode that switches up the standard memory loss idea where everyone knows who they are but have completely forgotten how to do their jobs.

Johnny Storm

Ortega's: "abso-friggin'-lutely" FTW

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120824800#Comment_120824800

Or everyone gets another's skills but not the composure which comes with experience