In the episode, Captain Pike’s “Number One,” Cmdr. Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) is on trial for hiding the fact that she is a genetically-modified Ilyrian from Starfleet (an organization that, in the wake of the Eugenics Wars on Earth, banned such beings from service). In the end (spoiler alert), she is cleared under a Federation law that persecuted beings can be granted asylum by Starfleet, which is in essence what happened with Una.
The anti-DISCOVERY elements of the episode play out in two ways (three, if you count the ongoing episodic nature of the show): First, desperate to find out how Starfleet discovered Una’s true species, security chief La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) asks Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Gooding) to release the ship’s personal logs to her, which is against Starfleet regulations. Uhura refuses the order. On DISCOVERY, seemingly every crew member flouts Starfleet regs so often that it’s basically anarchy on that ship (this is not to say that the crew of the Enterprise doesn’t break the rules from time to time… both Spock and Pike have done so already… but they have a bit more authority to do so than the young cadet).
Secondly, while this is a very emotional episode, there are almost no tears shed. The restraint shown by both the characters and the show is (again) in stark contrast to DISCOVERY, which I had to stop watching in part because EVERYONE CRIES IN EVERY SINGLE EPISODE.
Maybe I’m reading too much into it. But again, despite a super solid first season of SNW, I’ve been so burned by modern TREK again and again that I find myself bracing for the worst. So far, this show has not let me down, and its commitment to honoring Gene Roddenberry’s vision without being a slavish retread makes it appointment television for me, something I haven’t had in many years.
Originally posted on social media, June 25, 2023
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