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4thofelevenIn which James Cameron probably should get a story credit.
So, this is Aliens. Not even a homage to Aliens, like Voyager's “Macrocosm”, it's just a straight up, beat for beat copy of Aliens that doesn't even try to justify its decisions as anything other than references. Why does Pike bring a team of inexperienced crew who are in over their heads? Because that's what Gorman does in Aliens. How did a little girl survive on the ship alone when the entire crew apparently had to sacrifice themselves to stop the monsters? Because Newt could do that in Aliens. Why does Sam Kirk have a breakdown after the first deaths? Because Hudson does in Aliens.
And, of course, why do Starfleet officers react to the baby Gorn as monsters to be exterminated? Because that's how the marines in Aliens act.
Honestly, after this week – I think I'm out. I'll watch the season finale – I've made it this far – but it's going to have to do something completely spectacular to wash away the bad taste this episode left behind. It's actually made me more positive towards “Momento Mori”, where at least the Gorn got to be an intelligent, canny opponent for the Enterprise. Now they don't even get that, they're purely parasitic horror movie monsters with a life cycle that only exists for maximum carnage.
The moment of catharsis in “Arena” was Kirk yelling at the Metron 'No, I won't kill him!' The moment of catharsis here is La'an smashing in the head of a day-old Gorn. Nobody ever refers to them as 'infants' or 'babies', nobody ever raises the point that 'Hey, the actual Gorn must have some way to contain or control their young when they're in this feral aggressive stage, what can we do?'. No, we're Starfleet, we go to strange new worlds and we kill whatever we find. Nits make lice.
(And this is the episode that's meant to be about why Uhura chose to stick with Starfleet? A story where no attempt at communications is ever made with potential hostiles, and no empathy is ever shown?)
I mean, look – Aliens is one of my favorite movies! But it has something to say – it has a lot of themes, it's not just a bug hunt. Much like their take on “Those Who Walk Away from Omelas”, SNW has stripped all that away and left only the bare bones; this episode has nothing relevant to say about motherhood, feminine power, guerilla warfare, trauma, the military industrial complex, or anything else that Aliens touches on. All this episode has to say is 'Scary monsters bad! Kill aliens!' It's Star Trek by way of Starship Troopers, without the irony.
And you know, the treatment of the Gorn isn't even the biggest black mark on this episode! No, that goes to the treatment of Hemmer, who, after being absent for half the season and getting almost no focus in the episodes where he does appear, gets unceremoniously killed in what feels like an attempt to outdo Tasha Yar's demise for utter narrative pointlessness. He doesn't even get to feature much in this, his swan song; the reveal that he's infected comes so late in the episode that there's no possibility of raising any sort of drama or pathos from it.
And look, I'm not really qualified to discuss ableism – but there's certainly issues with how SNW has been handling the story of Pike's final fate. Having a blind character played by a blind actor at least balanced that out a bit – but now they've sacrificed that bit of representation, reducing a potentially fascinating character into nothing more than a sacrificial mentor for an able-bodied character.
No, I think I'm done. SNW never really had me, and this was just the final nail in the coffin.
So, this is Aliens. Not even a homage to Aliens, like Voyager's “Macrocosm”, it's just a straight up, beat for beat copy of Aliens that doesn't even try to justify its decisions as anything other than references. Why does Pike bring a team of inexperienced crew who are in over their heads? Because that's what Gorman does in Aliens. How did a little girl survive on the ship alone when the entire crew apparently had to sacrifice themselves to stop the monsters? Because Newt could do that in Aliens. Why does Sam Kirk have a breakdown after the first deaths? Because Hudson does in Aliens.
And, of course, why do Starfleet officers react to the baby Gorn as monsters to be exterminated? Because that's how the marines in Aliens act.
Honestly, after this week – I think I'm out. I'll watch the season finale – I've made it this far – but it's going to have to do something completely spectacular to wash away the bad taste this episode left behind. It's actually made me more positive towards “Momento Mori”, where at least the Gorn got to be an intelligent, canny opponent for the Enterprise. Now they don't even get that, they're purely parasitic horror movie monsters with a life cycle that only exists for maximum carnage.
The moment of catharsis in “Arena” was Kirk yelling at the Metron 'No, I won't kill him!' The moment of catharsis here is La'an smashing in the head of a day-old Gorn. Nobody ever refers to them as 'infants' or 'babies', nobody ever raises the point that 'Hey, the actual Gorn must have some way to contain or control their young when they're in this feral aggressive stage, what can we do?'. No, we're Starfleet, we go to strange new worlds and we kill whatever we find. Nits make lice.
(And this is the episode that's meant to be about why Uhura chose to stick with Starfleet? A story where no attempt at communications is ever made with potential hostiles, and no empathy is ever shown?)
I mean, look – Aliens is one of my favorite movies! But it has something to say – it has a lot of themes, it's not just a bug hunt. Much like their take on “Those Who Walk Away from Omelas”, SNW has stripped all that away and left only the bare bones; this episode has nothing relevant to say about motherhood, feminine power, guerilla warfare, trauma, the military industrial complex, or anything else that Aliens touches on. All this episode has to say is 'Scary monsters bad! Kill aliens!' It's Star Trek by way of Starship Troopers, without the irony.
And you know, the treatment of the Gorn isn't even the biggest black mark on this episode! No, that goes to the treatment of Hemmer, who, after being absent for half the season and getting almost no focus in the episodes where he does appear, gets unceremoniously killed in what feels like an attempt to outdo Tasha Yar's demise for utter narrative pointlessness. He doesn't even get to feature much in this, his swan song; the reveal that he's infected comes so late in the episode that there's no possibility of raising any sort of drama or pathos from it.
And look, I'm not really qualified to discuss ableism – but there's certainly issues with how SNW has been handling the story of Pike's final fate. Having a blind character played by a blind actor at least balanced that out a bit – but now they've sacrificed that bit of representation, reducing a potentially fascinating character into nothing more than a sacrificial mentor for an able-bodied character.
No, I think I'm done. SNW never really had me, and this was just the final nail in the coffin.
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on 2022-07-04 11:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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