I loved the episode. Someone needs to make a Spock kicking the air GIF. I love that Spock has two hotties fighting for his attention. This was close to a hangout Trek. AND they were on a mission too! This episode felt so much like TNG. Again, Pike's hair is amazing. THE BEST PART: When Pike tried to escape the reunion of Spock and his future mother in law the damned door wouldn't open. Pike avoiding family conflict was the best running joke on the show. And LOVED that Pike wasn't the hero. Show is so good.

Nurse Chapel fiddling with a butt plug while playing with Spock. I will show myself out.

A few thoughts on the rewatch:

Chapel having to explain her feelings for Spock to the alien was kind of a teenage show thing. BUT the more I think about it the more I realize that TOS had aliens with simple, sometimes pure, goals. So I think these aliens fit right in with ST.

The "ancient alien" line may not age well. They are usually very careful not to put references to our time due to it not dating well (Musk, Stacey Abrams). I've heard it mentioned on Shuttle Pod show that the actors could not change a word of dialoge to protect the show from sounding of our time. Of course the joke of using that phrase will fade so maybe it's OK.

What was that bit about Pike's girlfriend looking for Dilithium? Was it a joke that went over my head? Could someone explain?

honestly who knew La’an and Uhura would be the main characters this season? And I'm crushing on Chapel and Uhura and La'an right now. This episode only made it worse. Yeah there are three damned handsome guys on the show. But those ladies... might be my favorite of all star trek. La'an's doomed relationship was heartbreaking btw. I knew this was happening with Spock so it didn't hit so hard (I thought they'd last longer). Meanwhile Pike's love (who is also insanely cute with that smile) may be heading for danger now. We need to do a poll to see if the woman on SNW are more loved then the men. And good songs.

I like that Pike avoids conflict whenever he can. And him not immediately knowing what to do at the end is so him. I'm confident that none of the cast will be killed off. Just unnamed red shirts.

I'm starting to get DS9 vibes among the crew. I'm liking that things are complicated. This season doesn't feature Pike much, does it? DS9 of course handled politics and religion well and I suspect SNW is steering clear. I knew that (blank) would return but I didn't expect him to be a decomposing corpse.

thoughts after rewatch. This episode is solid. The second gimmick episode this season BUT like the last they keep the story lines going. I mean important stuff is dropped in this one. Some earned heartbreaker stuff (Discovery crew did cry a lot but I never felt it was earned. Not the case here. Some of the heartbreak feels real. Chapel trying to wash away her love for Spock is more complex then her just dumping him.)

Could someone explain the food replicator? I thought they weren't invented yet? Or were they showing an early beta version that can't get anything right?

PTSD. Like many of us I struggle with it. I was taken how so many on the Enterprise have not gotten any sort of treatment. It also showed Pike as a bit weak of a leader. He should have known to keep certain people away from the Klingon. I did like that he didn't reprimand Ortega because he understood her feelings. BUT what was he doing inviting her to dinner that night without at least a long talk with her. Pike is wonderful and I'm struggling to understand his sometimes avoiding conflict... even a conflict he could have prevented.

The hand to hand combat was quite good.

Thank you P+ for adding an extra episode this week. I totally expected not to have this one this week.

Yeah. Pike kept trying to avoid the family conflict the whole episode. Seeing the door shut on him and him trying to wave it open was comic gold. He was probably thinking, "what the hell? This is my ship!" then he just stood there looking awkward. Gold.

Fine Fine episode Why are my eyes so big?? The Stafleet logo on the soles of his shoes. Mariner doing her double thumbs up. Her rolled up sleeves being slightly lighter red.
Enterprise love! Why do they talk so loud? Lol. The OPENING CREDITS! With that sucking alien. Glad they didn't have them retreat from danger.

It's because they didn't give TNG time off...

Literally the only guy that wasn't. Lol.

I went back and watch Amock Time and the Spock Amok last night. I was intrigued that his current relationship with his wife seemed consistent (SNWs didn't break any of the Spock canon really). What did impress me was nurse Chapel. When watched AK after the recent SNW episodes it appears that Spock had forgotten his love for Chapel but she still loves him. It actually was very moving when you realize Chapel's secret. When she breaks down when he doesn't even remember her first name. Anyway something to watch for.

I want to know what ST fan actually skips the openings. Especially SNW, LD, DS9... yes the French Horns rock.

If Halo comes back and Prodigy doesn't I may just give up

IMO people gave Pulaski shit for her, let's be honest, mild criticism of Data. The fans went nuts. If it was a male character it would have been considered just guy talk. The fans-- us --overreacted to her comments on Data. It was no different then Bones and Spock jarring... except Data is childlike. Except he's not. He's an officer.

I went down a rabbit hole and watched the Orion TOS episodes, the TAS episode (blue instead of green Orions!), and the Enterprise episode where watching it as just showgirls controlling everybody. Lol. They also made a joke about the one guy with the shaved head and metal coming out in Enterprise. Rabbit hole dives are the best way to enjoy Lower Decks.

I don't mind that they tried. And tried to link them with TOS and later Klingons. I just thought the makeup was too heavy. You never really got any memorable Klingon character faces. And I'm just taking about their faces. I enjoyed their costumes and ships.

Maybe a bit off topic, but where the f do you find promos for upcoming P+ episodes? I really miss that streaming doesn't air them before the closing credits.

DS9 had what seemed to be a whole season singing swing songs in the holodeck....