Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 2x08 "Under the Cloak of War"

startrekexplained , 10 months ago

I hated this episode when I first saw it, must have been in a bad mood because I rewatched it tonight and its brilliant. It has DS9 levels of writing, the acting is excellent, especially from M’Benga, and it leaves a lot to debate about, even the slightly wtf ending does. Easily SNW’s best and I’d debate it may be the best war Trek episode since episodes like Siege of AR588 and The Forgotten. Hell, it’s better than those. Also Jambalaya ;)

EnsignAesop , 10 months ago

I figure this is as fine a place to ask as anywhere else… what is the extra badge that Pelia wears? I don’t recognize it and I haven’t spotted any close ups on it to get a good look

NikkoJT , 10 months ago

I don’t think it’s been identified. However, she is a long-serving Starfleet officer, and was both a Chief Fleet Inspector and a (probably senior) instructor at Starfleet Academy before joining the Enterprise, so you could make a reasonable guess that it’s a badge of seniority/advanced qualification.

tdriley , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

@ValueSubtracted
Did anyone else wonder (spoiler warning):

When Rah arrives on Enterprise, all the war vets hate him, but did M'Benga's damaged mind actually awaken his military instincts as a defence mechanism, compelling him to "finish" the unfinished mission to kill Rah?

When M'Benga & Rah first spar, M'Benga says he thought about not showing up but changed his mind because "Klingon judo is good exercise". Does he then use the session in a safe environment to A) trick Rah into...

tdriley , 10 months ago

@ValueSubtracted ...thinking he is the superior fighter, and B) test if he can get a quick, sharp attack past his guard? Was he prepping in case he wanted/needed to kill him?

We don't see the end fight, but we believe from M'Benga looking Pike in the eyes, twice saying "I didn't start the fight" that he didn't.

However, in M'Benga's PTSD-ridden mind, where he never "finished" the mission to kill Rah, maybe he really doesn't think he started it, because Rah "started it" on J'Gal?

tdriley , 10 months ago

@ValueSubtracted This could be the case whether or not Rah started the fight at the end, but after rewatching, it feels like M'Benga's actions were all preparing for that outcome (or preparing to protect himself?) Rah of course also has a motive to kill M'Benga - he's the only person who knows what actually happened with the Klingon commanders on J'Gal.

rother_stuebs , 10 months ago

@ValueSubtracted
I rewatched VOY "Jetrel" some days ago by coincidence and see some parallels (and - of course - differences) on the meta level.

M'Benga and Neelix both in trouble with their conscience (for opposite reasons) - Rah/Jetrel both ignoring the borders of M'Benga/Neelix, behaving selfless but having selfish reasons.
Wellmeaning Starfleet personnel that was not involved in the war pushing M'Benga/Neelix.

tdriley , 10 months ago

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transwarp , 10 months ago

TOS had a proposed spin off for him, which would have ended up about his brother (played by the same actor) as first officer of a medical ship.

It would be astoundingly different after SNW.

Poggervania , 10 months ago

Man, this had some serious Apocalypse Now kind of vibes. M'benga's heart was touched by the darkness of war, and he couldn't let go of it long after the war was over.

Ending was kind of lame, but I think it's also sort-of in line with Pike as a captain - he's a great diplomat and will always side with his officers, almost to a fault. The ending was one of the times where Pike was himself to a fault. Hopefully Star Fleet either somehow calls it out or throws M'benga under the bus for something.

shirro , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

It is great to see characters who were undeveloped in TOS get fleshed out. The characters feel real and motivated by their history. It beats interpersonal drama designed purely to create conflict within the crew.

I know Orville was widely disliked by critics for uneven tone because they wanted to shove it in a pigeon hole but variety is where episodal tv really shines. I don’t think Orville did this as effortlessly as SNW is currently doing but it had its moments. Given the substantial departure from Discovery and Picard I wonder if Lower Decks or SNW could have existed in Kurtzman’s Star Trek without MacFarlane showing there was still demand.

I hope they use the release of inhibitions in the musical episode to delve into the inner thoughts and feelings of some of the characters as they did in Buffy’s Once More With Feeling. The characters revealed a hell of a lot in that episode. It would be a waste to back off after this episode and not use what on the surface looks like a lightweight episode to dig deeper.

Hogger85b , 10 months ago

yeah, they used the Lower decks crossover to great affect to hint spock future and crush Chapel's dreams

reddig33 , 10 months ago

One of SNW’s strongest episodes. My only critique would be that there’s no way Starfleet would let it slide that a crew member killed a very important ambassador — no matter what the story. There’d better be a future episode where Starfleet leadership tries to throw Mbenga under the bus or something.

Also, please spend a little more money on the Klingon headpiece so it doesn’t look like it came from Party City.

StillPaisleyCat , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

That Klingon headpiece and wig combination was evoking bad clown makeup.

The shininess of the prosthesis and lack of significant colour grading of the ridges made it appear all the more fake. I am not getting why so many fans think this is an improvement.

Hogger85b , 10 months ago

isnt it meant to be a halfway house between TOS to TNG

VindictiveJudge , 10 months ago

Seems more like a midpoint between TNG and DSC designs to me. He has that nondescript head ridge from DSC’s Klingons, for instance.

xenoc , 10 months ago

He may well be one of the “humanized” Klingons from the Augment virus, who is using prostheses to look like uninfected Klingons. Or who had less-than-successful plastic surgery for the same reason. But didn’t yet modify the human style teeth.

At this point in the timeline there’s probably a mix of original ridged Klingons, TOS-type humanized Klingons, surgically and prostheses-restored Klingons, and overreacted-gene-therapy blue/grey double-nostrilled Discovery-style Klingons running around. Probably on separate ships so they don’t have to look at or be looked at by other style Klingons who consider each other dishonored.

StillPaisleyCat , 10 months ago

A mix of Klingon types is a very compelling situation and I’d really welcome seeing it in a live action show.

I understand why the EPs wanted, practically to pull back from the full face printed prostheses that have been the norm on Discovery for all aliens. They very much impede expression. It takes a lot for the actors to project their performance through.

However the Klingons in SNW aren’t quite working. Somehow, depending on lighting, they have a very plastic quality that does not give a natural skin effect in UHD.

The ones we saw in the season premiere varied in this to some degree, but under the brightness of the lighting on Enterprise it was extremely evident in some scenes. The kind of airbrushing that was done for Worf on the latex prostheses back in the 90s likely wouldn’t work in UHD, but what they’ve got just isn’t working on our OLED.

On the other hand, I found the Andorian special forces officer to be the best Andorian of the current era.

ieightpi , 10 months ago

Up until the final scene, I was loving the episode. I’m still not sure I feel about that ending. But you are probably on to seomthign that there will be a follow up episode next season.

chronicledmonocle , 10 months ago

Dang, man…what a whiplash from last week’s episode. From slapstick funny to Siege of AR-558 in 10 seconds flat. LOL.

Excellent episode, though. I’ve got to say that M’Benga being basically a butcher was not something I expected.

poundsignbuttstuff , 10 months ago

I heard some people complaining about this on a podcast but my view is that they’re doing a good job alternating between the heavier episodes and the more lighthearted episodes. If we had 5 light hearted followed by 5 heavy episodes, it would be more jarring than alternating as they have been.

This is the episodic show for which the fans have been begging for years. Now that we have it and get the fun episodes mixed with the harder hitting episodes, some people have complaints.

We also have to consider that they are getting 10 episodes instead of 26 or 22. You’re not getting 8 good episodes, 8 meh episodes, and 6 bad episodes anymore (thos is a reference to how screenwriters viewed episodes at the time). Now we have 10 episodes that need to be on point with maybe a couple meh episodes.

In my opinion, the best way to do that is to alternate as they have. Not everyone wants a serious episode every week (like all those complaining that Star Trek has become too dark) and not everyone likes the silly episodes (as referenced by those who didn’t like the crossover). By alternating, you get that old school Trek, episodic story telling that make Trek so great to begin with.

I know you weren’t saying all those things I’m alluding to but I was talking to my radio in the car as they were saying these things today and your comment brought those thoughts back out.

I mean, I keep thinking back to all the silly episodes of TNG, DS9, and VOY. Personally they are some of my favorites and don’t detract from the more serious episodes at all.

const_void , 10 months ago

Holy moly. This ep could be a turning point for more than a few characters.

I liked that CMO Benga could not move past his hate, while the Klingon did.

The Klingon had let go of his history and chose life: the doctor, chartered with saving lives, clung to his past and chose to take a life. And on a starfleet vessel, and a diplomat at that! Very interesting.

War does change people, however those changed people can change (for the better) again.

We did not get that line of hope here. Here, we got that death breeds pain which fosters more death.

What we witnessed were two warriors colliding on their redemption arc, with one (Klingon) further along than the other (benga). A dark passenger rides with the CMO…and that’s not great (for him, great for us in the audience).

The episode could be a turning point for CMO Benga and Capt Pike. Ultimately, he is responsible for the death of a Klingon ambassador on his ship.

MMM MMM, SAVORY STUFF!!! MORE!

xuu , 10 months ago

I’m not sure that the Klingon had really let his history go.

He commanded indiscriminate killing of non combatants in fear has he lost ground. He ran from the battle and took the title of Butcher of J’Gal to hide from his actions, and his front of wisdom was just another way he could hide to preserve his life.

Fear of being exposed as a fraud caused him to lash out against Benga. He died without honor as the coward he is and was.

const_void , 10 months ago

Did we see anything that suggested he hadn’t let go?

triktrek , 10 months ago

I see that they replaced transporter chief Kyle with an Asian actress, given that André Dae Kim is now unavailable to Star Trek. I wonder if they will develop her character.

Olap , 10 months ago

Left me pining for the Romulan war in Enterprise s5. Also pissed we didn’t get to see the refit of enterprise last episode (I did them both tonight)

But wow. SNW is sooo good. Another classic this season

valen , 10 months ago

This episode exists because of the stupid Starfleet rule of having traumatized veterans of the war have to interact positively with the supposedly bad-to-good turned war crime enemy. That’s a classic example of people acting stupid for “plot” (e.g. we couldn’t have this episode without the stupid bit).

felixxx999 , 10 months ago

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.

williams_482 , 10 months ago

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?

That was a “food synthesizer”, a precursor to the TNG era replicator which is more limited in capabilities.

echodot , 10 months ago

They had something like this in Enterprise. It could only do liquids and it couldn’t replicate the cup, so they had to get the cup out of a little cupboard next to the replicator. Basically a modern day drinks vending machine capable of producing any drink.

teclo , 10 months ago

I think it even used the same 60’s style sound effect when it worked too.

const_void , 10 months ago

Honestly Una should have clued Pike in, not to mention starfleet being all “eat a bag of dicks” knowing full well who was on the enterprise…so who in command has it out for Pike?

reddig33 , 10 months ago

I keep hoping for an episode later in the series that explains why enterprise gets a remodel with:

• food dispenser rations / shitty colored marshmallow food to save energy
• smaller crew quarters
• a less fancy bar/cafeteria

Maybe there’s a war or something that changes everything?

eva_sieve , 10 months ago

I liked that this episode and Quality of Mercy fleshed out (prime) Pike’s weakness-- he’s very much a diplomat, not a warrior. He avoids conflict to a fault, and this distinguishes him from other “diplomat” captains like Picard, who’s more willing to show his teeth when necessary.

It really contextualizes why Starfleet Command told Pike to stay on his Five Year Mission during Discovery s1–ya just know he would have gotten the Enterprise banged up while trying to make nice withsome T’kuvma fanatics.

BROMETHIUS , 10 months ago

I love when people post relevant clips. Thanks