Does art imitate life or does art imitate art while imitating life? This episode dives into the emotional depths of what Trek can be.
Don’t call it therapy, call it “Theater”
Finally, we get the long-awaited return of Lt. Tilly. She is called back from training the 3rd years on special assignment to help the recruits deal with the emotional feedback they weren’t ready to handle. Not to mention Tarima’s return not to the War College but the Academy instead.
In the excitement and confusion, the cadets must choose a play; SAM chooses “Our Town,” which is perfect, as the show’s themes provide the lens through which to view their own problems as a coping mechanism.
Glitching Out
Unfortunately, SAM has been dealing with the fact that her trip to the holospa on All Worlds Day didn’t work out. The only way to fix it is to return home with The Doctor and The Captain to receive special treatment from her people.
The entire time, she is trying to connect with The Doctor to have a relationship, we finally realize he has been so distant with her because of his own past with his own Holo-Family, and distanced himself from forming such bonds
On Kask, the creators could not fix SAM, but when The Doctor figured out that the reason SAM was glitching was that she was only 200 days old and had never had a childhood to reference the social and emotional skills needed to persevere, particularly after the incident on the Miazaki.
The Life of the Stars gets a 7.5 out of 10
From the Warp Core
Seeing this episode was written by the same team that did the Sisko episode makes total sense, given the episode’s tone.
Was this the right episode for Tilly to come back? Yes! Was it a little too late? YES! Should this episode have been done right after Episode 6, I think so! A few scenes from Ko’zine could have been cut and added to the beginning of this one.
Again, there are some poignant stylistic choices in this episode, and some that made no sense, like the fact that, once again, just our merry band of misfit cadets are the only ones who need therapy? There we obviously see 2 other cadets in the scene in the artium.
Also, why would the Captain/Chancellor go on an away mission to help a single student? Especially to a planet that isnt a part of the federation itself? And for 2 weeks?!
I’m not saying this entire episode was bad again, just the obvious plot holes. But the overall progression of the characters in this instance, considering how much I have trashed on the trauma-feelings-focused writing, made sense. Now, can we get to some sort of Trek-style problem of the week?
How will The Doctors relatiship with SAM change the dynamic at the Academy? With only two episodes left and knowing that season 2 just wrapped, how are we going to end this “freshman year”?
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