Starfleet Academy: Rubincon

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy concluded its first season with an episode meant to make you ask, "is there a typo in the episode's title?" Let's talk about "Rubincon."

Nus Braka captures Captain Ake, then proceeds to put her and the Federation on trial -- with Anisha Mir serving as judge. Meanwhile, Jett Reno and the cadets race to disable the weapons Nus Braka has used to mine the Federation border.

I noted about the previous episode that the short 10-episode season of Starfleet Academy didn't seem like enough time to show us how the characters had grown as close as the story required. That "not enough time" issue hangs over this finale too, as more time was also needed to show Caleb Mir's growing relationship to Starfleet. This entire episode builds to a poignant Caleb monologue, where he must convince his mother not only that Starfleet isn't the force for evil she's known it to be, but that it was key in making him the man he's become. Because Sandro Rosta delivers the speech well (and Tatiana Maslany is the one reacting to it), the moment does work. Yet, to borrow the legal parlance of this episode, I feel like it assumes facts not in evidence from the season as a whole.

And on the subject of that trial -- I find myself very divided about it. There's a long tradition of great Star Trek legal episodes, in which characters deliver lofty speeches and score moral points. I get why Starfleet Academy wants to take a run at that. But then... this isn't actually anything like a real trial. Nus Braka wouldn't conduct one, of course; he'd do exactly what he does here and stage an opportunity to grandstand. But it's so "not a trial" that Captain Ake doesn't even bother to put up any kind of defense. She has arguments, but doesn't even raise them until the "verdict" has been delivered and Caleb has arrived on scene. So to the extent this episode "promises" a trial at all, I feel like it doesn't deliver -- and that left me feeling a little unsatisfied.

But I felt the rest of the episode offered enough pleasures to make up for that. Give me "Captain Jett Reno" all day, every day. I never imagined we'd get to see Tig Notaro in the captain's chair -- never mind so much, and all while never taking off the teacher's hat. I thought all of Reno's material in this episode was well written, and perfectly delivered by Notaro. There's just a solid link there, with the writers knowing how to write for her, and performer in turn making the words fit perfectly.

I thought the "degree of difficulty" for Anisha Mir was higher this episode, more worthy of what Tatiana Maslany can do. Specifically, most of her key scenes in this episode were reactive. She had to listen to Nus Braka and Nahla Ake trade barbs, listen to her son's impassioned plea... all of her most important moments of the episode had no dialogue. But I still felt a whirl of emotion emanating from her character. And I appreciated that she was not so easily won over; there were no magic words Ake could say that would do it. 

I gotta say, I don't understand why or how the Doctor, of all people, would suddenly understand the way to stabilize a dangerous particle that has stumped scientists for centuries. But work past the conceit, and I liked how it set up Sam to save the day. I also liked how it set up Genesis to be the one to help Sam reconcile her feelings about the two different lives she's led. (Though again, I would have wished for more episodes to showcase more of her differences since returning from her home planet.)

I could have wished for more of the characters to figure more centrally in the plot. (Jay-Den, Darem, and Lura Thok didn't get much to do.) But at least we know they'll have another chance next season; this wasn't the final Starfleet Academy episode, period. I'd say "Rubincon" landed around a B... but overall, I found season one of this show to be engaging. I'll be ready for more whenever season two arrives.