Watching episode 3.

Una’s hairstyle is… a choice.

I love the callback to M’Benga being a badass. Like this doctor is also an assassin. It’s very Eliot Spencer.

Fancy flying from Ortegas and their war experience was awesome. I love the win for them but I do worry that the confidence is a mask given the hints of PTSD we got last week :/

I know this is basically a personal mission but Pike is a Captain. I feel like they should have sent some ensigns or something that wouldn’t be recognised as starfleet (and also not a starfleet shuttle) as that would be way more covert.

Ok there be zombies.

The overgrown facility reminded me of Horizon because that’s really the only post-apoc I have a lot of experience with. But then zombies so not that 😬

lol I love Pelia sending Scotty because she hates meetings.

I hope Ortegas gets to tell them I told you so later because fast would have been better. No telling what Pike and M’Benga are going to have to endure. Spock and Una both sat the war out I think. Ortegas has the battle experience.

I liked La’an noticing and expressing concern. I feel like season 1 La’an wouldn’t have done. She’s a lot more tuned into feelings now. Though… ehhh it’s a tough call to make and I could well be influenced by the fact that I know about the zombies. Still I feel Ortegas was right and it was very mild, so it’s like La’an is only noticing for ‘plot’ reasons.

Pike’s deadpan is great. “They know we’re here” and “sounds like the Z word” 😂

Mmm ok I have feelings about Pike’s “you were going to change her and not tell me” upset. Like on one hand yeah he’s entitled to have feelings and reactions because that’s human. On the other hand people change. Like in real world terms if someone has cancer and they have to remove a limb to save their life – that’s a big change. The person will then be disabled and it could change a lot about their life. But it’s still them. Part of “in sickness and in health”. Or as Leverage said “we change together”. I get absorbing ‘villain’ DNA is a bit different but idk the way he said “you’re going to change her’ just really didn’t sit right with me :/

Zombie swarm and Pike’s cut-off from his pack – shouldn’t have thrown it in a fit of emotion! I laughed at them hiding in the cupboard like children 😂

Wow again with the amazing CGI. That Klingon ship looked crazy cool! Again I kinda wish it didn’t. Give me crappy CGI and twice as many episodes I beg you. 10 episodes for these cool shots is not a bargain I wanna make.

Oh revenge quest interesting.

Ortegas ritual 🧐 not sure I noticed that before. Maybe something they did in the war and have picked back up again?

I sure hope nobody looks out of the Klingon window 😛 oh maybe someone did lol

Ok not exactly revenge but same difference if it’s still killing M’Benga 🙄

And again I am like ??? Because Ortegas really didn’t say anything wrong, or anything that feels out of step with stuff we have seen folks say before. Both Spock and Una have disagreed with Pike. I’m pretty sure La’an has too. Is Ortegas not senior enough or something? Again they are one of the few on the bridge who is a war veteran against the Klingons. Their experience should be given the respect it deserves. Una being snippy about it doesn’t reflect well on her IMO.

I don’t really think they should fight around the equipment that’s the only thing keeping the force field and thus the zombies back. Yup and they damaged it.

Aaaaand they wound up having to warp in anyway 🤦‍♂️

Ugh Una’s giving Ortegas the stink eye. That’s so petty really.

I love Pike siding with his people, and telling M’Benga he’s not a monster 🥺 just like Eliot he won’t believe him but this is the acceptance we want to see!

Ugh noooooo. This is gonna make me mad. Yup /sigh. “Chain of command training”. Oh boy “they were going to escape on a shuttle” – tell me how did any of you know that? Fact. Klingons were on scene. Fact. You hadn’t had any communication for hours past check-in. Would Una have issued the same correction of “endangering everyone on the ship unnecessarily” if Pike and M’Benga had been killed in the in between times? Only a series of coincidences kept them alive as long as they were. What if they didn’t make it to the shuttle? What if the command codes were locked and they couldn’t fly it? What if it blew up the second they boarded as they didn’t have Klingon DNA? Ortegas had to push it a bit because nobody was listening. Pike goes against Admirals orders all the time to save lives, why is it ok when he does it? Blind obedience to a superior officer is not safe. Do they want mindless automatons in starfleet?

I wish that scene had been some mutual acknowledging of wrong doing and that Una had also messed up. That she had put Ortegas in a shitty spot and should have listened to their experience. Both promising to do better in future.

I do love Batel being all “it’s not about you” because fair. We don’t get to see that much. Power to her.

Ok so episode 4 is holodeck???? I know it says prototype but that still feels crazy early :/

Still I can kinda see what they are doing. One heavy dark episode followed by a lighter slightly more comedic one.

Ok apparently I’m not done being upset about how Una treated Ortegas.

On one hand yes let’s put some respect on Ortegas abilities with the “you are too good to make this little mistake that I would totally accept from any other helmsman”.

On the other hand WTF?! Like Ortegas is mad skilled yeah but they are also human. They are an incredible pilot but they aren’t perfect. It gives me icky shades of when I was at school I guess. If I acted at all like a normal kid rather than silent, always obedient teachers pet, then I would get it with both barrels. Like it just seems a bit unfair.

Like what happens if – no when because Ortegas is human – a genuine mistake happens. Would Una even accept that it was a screw up? Like talk about pressure.

I have more thoughts this time about the plot.

I am wondering if the hostile DNA from the gorn has some kind of genetic memory, and is also… oh I can’t think of the word, but really aggressive. So a takeover and this hybrid thing is actually going to result in almost total gorn apart from some human sentience. More like an echo at the back of the gorns mind but there nevertheless which is what changes the gorn enough to become what Kirk fights in TOS. Batel dies as a person and becomes the moderate gorn.

I am also wondering why they don’t use the transporter. We know it can result in clones (Riker as one example). So why don’t they use the last transporter log of Batel pre-gorn infection and essentially ‘print’ her a new body? Yeah they might struggle to copy over the memories so she’d essentially reset back to who she was at the time of the log, but if it’s that or death a few months of memories doesn’t seem so important.

I’m guessing this must be against the rules or it would be a way to be sort of immortal. Like a redshirt dies on an away mission – oh no they didn’t /cough, they never went. Not to mention it plays into the horror of are people getting vaporised and their clone living everytime they use a transporter. So perhaps it’s outlawed for that reason. Enterprise could just not admit to that being how they saved Batel.

Terrifying thought just crossed my mind. I read an interview the other day about how season 5 will “take the show right up until TOS as a full prequel” and if they are trying to write Ortegas out to bring in Sulu I’m going to riot. Sulu and Chekov and Bones etc. can come in for one scene at the end of the show – the very last scene if they like but NOT before. They had their show. This is Ortegas and Mitchell and M’Benga’s time.