I hate to be pessimistic but I'm dreading the hell out of this episode.

Yes, you clearly are then. If this episode is a dud I'll have slid overall into Discovery levels (sorry DIS fans) of "I watch to be in my favorite universe for a hour and to keep up on the lore, but I have no expectation of being wowed by what I see" mode for the rest of the run, quite likely.

If it manages that level I would consider it a minor miracle.

Exactly! And this season to date has me tilted heavily toward "faceplant".

Right now it's hard to imagine they're going to bring Kurtzman and Secret Hideout back for anything Trek-related. It's pretty clear Kurtzman's era as Trek overseer is done.

Better episode this week, mostly because they gave Una something to sink her teeth into. Ironically, I thought the past episodes went too far into their genre, but this one didn't lean in hard enough. The black and white just got distracting, especially every time the plot moved back to the Enterprise and the story there noticeably was weaker.

I had that thought too at times during the episode. Doing the whole thing in black or white pulled me out of any noir mood every time we were back on the Enterprise.

Random reactions:

• Disappointed but not surprised.
• Even though the article leaves this an open question, I will be surprised if Kurtzman returns after this.
• At least they didn't memory hole S2 as a tax write off.
• I wonder if they will attempt (and be allowed to attempt) to rework the S2 'cliffhanger-ish/lite' ending into something else, or if it's just impractical to rework a "part 1 of 2" episode into a 1 episode contained story.

Presumably it's a combination of "thank you for what you contributed to Star Trek" and maybe a way to acknowledge him letting them license the final scene narration off of an album he did some 20 years ago.

Loved the episode, no notes.

Here's the first (big FWIW/grain of salt/etc) thing on the decision that's I've seen (besides the TrekMovie article note that 'it's no secret that the show didn't Nielsen chart'). From author Mike Chen on Bluesky.

From the few insiders I know, viewership was actually above expectations and this was more of a "future of the franchise" corporate decision. I'm expecting Trek to be in flux as there are SO MANY variables. Everything from tech stocks to Iran to midterms is impacting Paramount.

Leaving the link to his post here for reference but he has his posts hidden unless you're logged into Bluesky.

Oh shit, that was fun. I hate having to wait now. Also, the end credits are sublime and must be paused and read in their entirely. This is non-negotiable.

Quieter episode but I enjoyed it. I wasn't expecting a Genesis story this season from what's been said, but I was glad to get one.

If you haven't been, at least try this episode (or everything up to this episode if you want to go all-in). If this episode doesn't move you in some way, then I don't know. Maybe it's not actually a show for you.

I'm just replaying the last 30 seconds over and over again and punching my feels into oblivion.

I hadn't heard that, other than they got his blessing basically (and the licensing) and he was given a copy of the script to read. Cirroc Lofton seems to be the one that was as close to hands-on involved as you can get when you're not a writer of the script.

I find the idea that anyone is still talking about "Year One" with a straight face pretty frakking hilarious.

Well I just watched it, but I don't know what to do with it. It just kinda...happened. Other than a few moments here and there, I didn't really get much out of it. Eh.

And I really don't need Pelia dropping more Doctor Who references. One time was amusing and enough.

I wonder if the production staff just couldn't make up their mind to begin with honestly, because if you look close at Lura Thok's personnel file from E01 it says she's born in 3145 and is 50 years old, so you're back to 3195 again.

Personally I don't really trust relying on stardates for years in this future era since DIS wasn't really consistent about it, so I'm hoping someone will actually cite a year out loud at some point and get rid of the wondering.

If so, I’m wondering if someone leaked the specific detail of the termination of Starfleet Academy with the hope of a fan campaign to save it…

Having a "goodbye letter" from Kurtzman etc released with the announcement doesn't really scream "stealth leak" to me. IMHO.