Some of the lyrics were really clever and fun:

Spock: "I solved for the Y in my computation ... but the variable so devastating: I'm the ex / X".

At the same time: "When we gain control again, I confess"

• La'an / Pelia: "I'll miss the singing"
• Spock: "I won't miss singing"

SNW continues to break new ground really well. This was a really refreshing episode and very well done. I for one loooved this episode.

Alright, I get that musicals are not everyone's cup of tea, but as a person who watched multiple dozens of Broadway musicals, I must say that the songs were really on par with actual musicals. The cast can really sing well -- I expected many great things from Cecile Rose Gooding and wow she did not disappoint. I was very pleasantly impressed by Christina Chong, Rebecca Romijin, Ethan Peck's performances as well.

I think the director made sure to highlight those actors that can sing well and put those that can't sing into secondary positions. Clearly Grammy-Award winning/Tony Award-nominated Gooding was at the center of the story, and they cut off Anson Mount's song, because well, he isn't the greatest singer. They even fully acknowledged that Babs Olusanmokun can't sing in universe as well. :) The ensemble pieces in the teaser and the finale were superb though and was a lot more entertaining than the solo pieces (which I get is probably much easier to rehearse/record and produce).

I loved that the episode intertwined music as a piece of the story, pushed the character arc forward between Spock/Chapel and La'an/Kirk. I am not so much of a sucker for La'an/Kirk but the alternative universe scenes were really a nice touch. The only cringey part was the Klingon K-pop/rap, but I suppose it was intentionally cringey/funny.

Whether you like this musical episode or not, you gotta admit that SNW really boldly goes where no one has gone before.

Ouch, that must hurt for Kate Mulgrew and the team.

Why would Paramount remove the existing episodes from streaming service though? They have everything else Trek.

Regarding Nurse Chapel almost dying - this is one of the TV/movie tropes that I think is such a cheap and terrible device and I am tired of it. Discovery was full of these scenes where they make you believe a main character really almost died, only to survive after all, and having their crew mates weep for them (I am looking at you Burnham). There are much better ways to create good drama.

When Pike was serving that tray of food only to make a 90 degree turn, lol

I believe they only showed up after the later seasons when they refreshed the intro

Toronto passing as New York for characters was so meta and hilarious.

Also relevant: When Kate Mulgrew surprised everyone at an AOC campaign speech before she got elected.

She has written a heart-wrenched, tragic letter about this experience and grief. It was very moving/difficult to read and gained me a lot of respect for her:

https://www.talkhouse.com/...

Y'all ready to buy that Star Trek beanie at the next Trek convention? Makes for easy cosplay, especially if you have human ears.

Nice catch. Also, T'Lyn was introduced in "wej Duj" and was named of writer Kathryn Lyn. Seems like Lyn has a knack for Vulcans. According to Memory Alpha, she's a big Star Trek fan and cosplayed at conventions.

Hehe, yeah, same here. My favorite one was the "What the F---" from Spock from the teaser.

When I drive and the missus is in the passenger seat and I have to break harder than usual because an idiot in front of me, I sometimes yell "Brace for impact!"

Hm... I suppose I might get downvoted, but I thought that the episode was just okay. Don't get me wrong, I love Star Trek episodes that aren't action-oriented and have actual good drama, but we have done courtroom dramas already multiple times. TNG had it with Measure of a Man, which was superb at the time. Battlestar Galactica had that one space court drama that was well executed too. While this episode was maybe emotional and had the allegory on modern society, I thought the episodes borrowed too heavily from so many courtroom drama clichés (objections/"you may proceed, but treat carefully", making someone who would otherwise be on your side be the prosecution, having the defendant lawyer make their own client look bad at the beginning, making prosecution read off a law in front of the court).

One time the company I worked at, they were expanding life insurance benefits for all employees, and I sent out a meme with Worf and the words "TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE" on an internal fun forum. It was highly upvoted, lol.

I have a Volante Next Gen-style Trek jacket. It's awesome, high quality. It's subtle enough that non-Trekkies don't notice other than it being nice-looking, but Trekkies will recognize its homage to TNG. I've been stopped on the street multiple times already by random Trekkies asking me where I got it, lol.

It's really expensive though (315 USD)

I honestly think that Lower Decks has the potential to be the longest running Star Trek show.

I assume they are cheaper to produce than the live action shows so less risk for the executives but still decent return on investment.

Aka the Picard maneuver

I feel like poor La'an is in a worse place now. She just doesn't get a break. :(

It most certainly will be a comedy, and I am up for it. It's ironic how the episodes with emotionless Vulcans are so god-damn funny. The last episode with the body swap was a masterclass in writing. Passive aggressiveness has never been this fun.