A prank war erupts between Starfleet Academy and the War College. As the Academy cadets struggle to respond, Lura Thok urges Chancellor Ake to shut down the shenanigans. But when it becomes clear other side is getting help from their faculty, she decides to embrace the situation as a teachable moment. Meanwhile, it's tryout time for the school's Calica team, and the competition for team captain gets heated between Darem and Genesis.
Star Trek is not above a fun, goofy lark of an episode. I could point to at least one from almost every series -- and Deep Space Nine in particular did one that feels somewhat similar to this one. But the big difference here is that Starfleet Academy is really making use of the fact that this is taking place at... well... it's right there in the name.
The whole tone of this episode -- yet another big shift from what we got in the first two episodes -- feels akin a college or high school "raunch comedy." Everything stays squarely away from an R rating, but we're otherwise getting the sort of frat house tomfoolery you expect from a Porky's, Animal House, what have you. (Lura Thok uses the exact word for what we're seeing: shenanigans.) This is a genre that no other Star Trek series before this could plausibly approach, because we've almost always been centered on trained, adult professionals. These are untrained, screwball college students -- and it's totally reasonable to expect them to act as such. So while I can imagine online complainers griping that this doesn't feel like Star Trek to them (and well... Google quickly, and I don't have to imagine) I think instead that this is effectively using the backdrop of Star Trek in a unique way.
I can do my best to hold all that firmly on one hand... and with the other, still not be totally in for what I'm watching: the oneupsmanship between Genesis and Darem, goofy mascot costumes, and a climax reminiscent of the popcorn stunt from Real Genius. This sort of cartoonish behavior was easier to go along with when it was happening on an actual cartoon -- Lower Decks or Prodigy. So yeah, I'm a little bit of a hypocrite claiming to be open to something different, but not fully embracing something different.
But there are aspects of the episode I'm more enthusiastic about. Having already clocked Bella Shepard as one of the stronger members of the young cast, I'm pleased to see Genesis take a larger role in this episode. And as different characters paired off for scenes throughout the episode, it was made clear that the characters on this show are quite well-envisioned; when they interact in different ways, there will be a lot of fruitful pairings for storytelling.
And yes, this is Star Trek, and people are learning lessons. Darem had a nice arc for this episode, learning to dial back his "Alpha" personality and making room for other leadership. (We in the audience also learned some of the background for why he is the way he is.) And while you maybe have to squint and tilt your head a bit as you look at it, Chancellor Ake jiu-jitsued a justification of all this pranking as a foundational moral about being in Starfleet.
One final note: I loved learning that Jett Reno and Lura Thok are a couple. More than that, a couple that is able to work together and make it work. Delightful.
I'd give "Vitus Reflux" a B-. But I do want to be clear that even though my marks for each episode have gradually ticked down, I don't feel myself waning on the show already. To me, it still seems very much like they're playing around, figuring out what works and what doesn't. I'm hopeful that we'll start seeing more of the former.
No comments:
Post a Comment