Strange New Worlds S2-E8- ''Under the Cloak of War '' ~~ { ** Spoilers Within ** }

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907724#Comment_120907724

The Klingon did not own the knife.

M'Benga owned it and brought it with him to sickbay for some weird reason.

pah

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120905296#Comment_120905296

I think you're missing the point. The official line will be that the ambassador attacked M'Benga with the knife and that he previously slaughtered his own men with the same knife, so how did he get that knife on board the ship?

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908500#Comment_120908500

Ah right. Tbh I find the whole knife thing a bit stupid.

Why does M'Benga have it in a box in sickbay. As you say how do they work the official story of the Klingon having it on board. There have been a few slightly too convenient bits of writing in the show this season.

squonk

Hadn’t thought of that but does he have a firm of diplomatic immunity KN that his luggage is passed through I examined. It was said that the Starfleet diplomatic core have embraced the guy so it sounds like he’s got all access anyway and it’s also possible that Starfleet brass implied that he be tahsin onboard without any scrutiny. I could definitely see a plausible case for not checking his luggage coming on board. Similarly he may have had the knife on his person but maybe that would show on transporter logs. Anyway I get the feeling M’Benga is on Pike’s watchlist now.

breezy1985

M'Benga and Chapel have amazing chemistry too. Not saying I would want them to go down a romantic route but it's certainly way more interesting than her "chemistry" with Spock that's forced in because of a few fleeting moments in TOS to please some fanfic lovers.

Evade

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907770#Comment_120907770

It was a box of war memorabilia, having that in your office isn't too strange especially with the added context of some of these characters originating in the 60s where a lot of the population, about 23 out of 180 million, of the US were veterans.

I thought it was a pretty good episode overall and a better point of view of the war than Discovery gave us. It's been a very stand alone season but that's not a bad thing.

DoctorEdgeWild

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908814#Comment_120908814

Their solid relationship has been a big part of why their characters feel fully fleshed out, real, with back stories that we don't need all at once, or explained to us right away. Far more rewarding for the viewer to get bits and pieces along the way.

Doodah7

The knife thing is incredibly straightforward.

M’Benga took his special medicine and started slaughtering Klingons. He got as far as the General’s bunker where his three loyal subordinates tried to protect him. M’Benga killed them with his knife but the General escaped.

General becomes a ‘peace Ambassador’ by claiming he killed his troops to disguise the fact he was a coward who ran.

M’Benga kept the knife, never cleaned it and it had the DNA of the subordinates still on it.

It is all shown in the episode if people just pay attention.

pah

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120910059#Comment_120910059

I don't see any posts where people didn't understand that.🤔

Evade

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908500#Comment_120908500

Do transporters consider knives weapons? It's usually phaser/disruptors/etc that get flagged and wasn't that more a TNG era thing anyway?

nachouser

I'm sorry I ever mentioned the knife. A great ep though. I look forward to the singing one. Hopefully, no knives involved.

flazio

Felt a bit unfinished to me. Ortegas storms out of dinner, and that's it for her. You can see now why Federation Star Ships introduced councilors like Troi and Miglemoo in the future for events like this.

This was bleak, no fun, nothing much to smile about, not really Star Trek. OK for an episode, but I wouldn't watch an entire series of Federation at war.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120910904#Comment_120910904

Me either. We have been there done that with DS9. Do not need another one.

eadrom

I think I actually have more leeway for an episode like his in SNW than I would in TNG or the post-TNG shows. I’ve always said that while I appreciate plenty about DS9, I never really appreciated the dark brooding war story of the later seasons. Star Trek was supposed to be the brightest future, not the same old problems.

But… SNW isn’t post-TNG. This is the history of how they got there, and it’s established well enough that things were a little rougher around the edges in the TOS era.

And also, very importantly, it’s not a multiple episode or season arc, it’s just one episode sandwiched between a goofball comedy and a musical. I think that’s great. Really enjoyed it.

Slydice

That was great! Into the list of top Star Trek episodes.

Thought at first that I might find it a bit stuck to Star Trek VI but I felt in the end that it really worked onto itself.

Babs Olusanmokun really has made the big M'Benga episodes so strong each season. Jess Bush as Chapel too. That moment with the transporter buffer. The whole thing. The call back to M'Bengas daughter without saying a word. Just brilliant!

Loved how the writers used the Andorian.

squonk

I get why some people don’t like this episode because Star Trek is supposed to be a positive view of the future. I think they was true whole Gene was at the helm and even TNG gut a bit darker after his passing.

I love the positive vibes of the future YNG represents but if you scratch a bit the cracks show. It’s simply unrealistic. I’ve seen plenty of TBG episodes where a crew member (red shirt) gets killed on a mission and tge message is to focus on the mission sbd there’ll be time to grieve later. Good advice but life doesn’t work that way. People react in their own way to stressors and even they sometimes are surprised by their reaction.

I thought this episode was one of the most honest episodes of Trek I’ve seen. It’s why I’d lump it in with DS9 where reality came home to roost at times. You can’t expect crew members to go through a hell like they war and just report for duty escorting the old enemy like nothing has happened. I think this was a flaw in TNG that they did move to correct later on. Definitely it’s why TNG era ships likely have counsellors.

FutureGuy

I think the Biobed has picked up on something. This could lead to a position where they find M'Benga did kill him, Pike doesn't turn him in and demotes him instead.

I cannot believe they took a generic character from TOS and gave him one of the best backstories in Trek.

ItHurtsWhenIP

I've been mulling this one around in my brain for the last couple of days.

My initial reaction was that I liked it ... Horror of war stories can be quite compelling and this had that in spades, with a wee whiff of M*A*S*H (minus the humour) ... the relentless and seemingly never ending "Incoming Transport!" really amped up the tension. I was sort of waiting for some young guy to be wandering around saying "Shuttlecraft!" like Radar used to say "Choppers!" in M*A*S*H. 😁

Anyway, as the war was set before "Roddenberry's Trek" then I think we can have these much darker, humans aren't perfect situations, so that the people can develop into the more "enlightened" ones in TOS and TNG. It's definitely more in keeping with the tone of the later DS9 seasons.

So yeah ... an excellent episode I think.

I think if I were to be binging this season later, I might re-order the episodes and do the crossover and musical together, before watching this and the final episode, as the whiplash in tone of the episodes might break something. 🤪

TheValeyard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120913413#Comment_120913413

I think the biobed broken again was trying to symbolise some things cannot just be fixed (war veterans and ptsd)

santana75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120902911#Comment_120902911

Yeah im starting to think the same. Last season there were a few good episodes but this one has been poor overall. Im not quite sure what it is but its just not clicking. Maybe in time it will find its grove.

expectationlost

no cctv on federation ships?

and medical experts can't save him?

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120917425#Comment_120917425

Patient confidentiality still exists in the 23rd century I would imagine.

Evade

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120917425#Comment_120917425

Or both medics on the ship wouldn't save him.

GreeBo

they could have popped his pattern into the buffer until they figured it out :)

eadrom

He was stabbed once in the chest. Don't Klingons have two hearts?

Minor complaint – the portrayal of Rah was a little too "human" altogether actually. There was really nothing but the head makeup to suggest he was Klingon at all. I'm guessing they're trying to go with a "many different types of Klingons" idea that they've sort of haphazardly mentioned or alluded to before (M'Benga does says to Rah something like "you? Against a Klingon warrior?!" so maybe the 'political class' of Klingons are weaker, slower... and only have one heart?), but this guy was a little too soft around the edges I thought.

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120921414#Comment_120921414

No, that's Time Lord. from a completely different universe altogether. Pretty sure we've had plenty of Klingon battles that have ended with a Bathleth in the chest.

Stark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120921856#Comment_120921856

In the TNG episode "Ethics", it was revealed that Klingons have backup copies of nearly every major organ. (After Worf has his primary set destroyed by the quack doctor). Discovery took it one step further with a little scene which implied "two of everything" included dicks.

Tried to google if the backup organs included hearts but it seems they have 1 8-chambered heart (with 4 chambers being for backup) as opposed to 2 4-chambered hears. Not sure what episode that comes from though.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120921414#Comment_120921414

According to Discovery they have 2 organs but they were not talking about hearts.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120913471#Comment_120913471

At least it didn't get really dark like M*A*S*H and have M'Benga kill a chicken 😉

Evade

Klingons have one heart but it has eight chambers, presumably a spare for each human chamber.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120921894#Comment_120921894

I suppose that would be handy for when he is having sex with the klingon Women with two Vulvas and 2 Vaginas. So does that mean a klingon Women has two wombs then and 4 overys? lol.

They missed something there. A klingon Women should have had four breasts then.