#SNW Among the Lotus Eaters

[walkingstackofbooks]

SNW 2x04 Among the Lotus Eaters thought-stream

[7 July '23]

You know it's gonna be good when the entire crew are featured in the recap! :D

I love to pieces that Pike is Always Cooking!

"Unless it's a red alert, I'm incommunicado for the next half hour." Allowing so little time, that's being pretty savvy

"Maybe we should pull it back a little." "Your timing is perfect." Yeah, Pike, so you think she really wants to be broken up with /just after she doesn't get a promotion?? Ouch

Erica nodding at "This is an undercover recon mission" - I can just imagine her saying groovy idk why XD

"Oh. You did that thing you do." Yep, Una sees through him straight away

I looove how excited Erica is

Oh nooo! You can't bench her! That's so unfair! She's got the hat and everything!

"I'm fine. Doctors love being tasked for a mission because of their combat skills." Oh, M'Benga.

Oooh that ringing is horrible

La'an, noo, it's not just a headache, you know better than to hide something that's wrong! There's only three of you!S

urely having a way to beam back to the shuttle would be worth the risk?

"We know you come from Starfleet." WELP this isn't going to be easy to get out of then!

"It's High Lord Zacarias.... I'm a long way from yeoman." Gosh I already love this guy as a villain but boy why do I feel this is going to be a tough episode?

"Haven't you noticed how hard it is to think?" Aghhhhh

"Reason doesn't exist here. You'll learn that." Wow.

Yes, we're back on the bridge - will Erica get to save the day after all?! (Moretegas, moretegas, moretegas)

"As long as it stays isolated to Uhura, we should be able to manage it." "Bridge to sickbay" Yeah, no, it's not gonna be that easy, Christine. Aaaand I'm terrified for what happens when the radiation gets to you.

Some random person is really risking themselves to say "Wait" to the guard? That's lovely.

This is a terrifying setup. Perfect for a tyrant to take control.

"You are guided by your emotions. They are your truth. I find them convincing." :3

"What is this place?" Oh no! Oh no! You can't forget the Enterprise!

"I believe the answer is here, but I cannot read this." fuuuuu-

Ohh is Erica gonna find her log from the start??

M'Benga is wild good even without serum, what!

"I'm Erica Ortegas. I fly the ship." Powerful

You'd have thought someone would have thought to get the computer to keep sending out reminders earlier?

Oh no! Pike could kill Zac and he wouldn't even know until after who he killed!

...Or suddenly his memory will come back and he'll freeze as he realises what he's doing?

That's all stuff Erica's done hundreds of times?? Who even is she? Majestic. We stan

"It figures you'd start a revolution." *manic laughter*

Oh jeez, Pike is gonna be so upset with himself after this

Why would Zac taunt Pike so much if he doesn't want to die?

"I don't blame Spock. He's still got a lot to learn." HAH

"Your logic... Feels sound to me." that switch in logic v feeling <3 <3

"There are only a handful of people in the galaxy who get what it is to be a Starfleet Captain." I get that, but that's not really a basis for a whole relationship...

Pike in this really has felt emotionally like the Pike in the pilot episode, when he talks to Boyce, idk? (Mind, I haven't watched that in a good while so might be off)

[stemmefemme]

[ovenproofowl]

LA'AN NOONIEN-SINGH in Strange New Worlds

2x04 - Among the Lotus Eaters

"Maybe some memories are worth the pain of others."

[startrekuniverse]

[spockvarietyhour]

Enterprise and Cayuga charting a binary system, "Among the Lotus Eaters"

[emonydeborah]

some ramblings on among the lotus eaters

what is happening in this household. I am not one to criticize professional screenwriters but genuinely who did this. first and biggest pet peeve: Una is immune to radiation. We know this. And YET she is affected by the asteroid’s spooky vibes. I would have even taken Christine saying something along the lines of “if Una is affected, it’s only a matter of time before it gets us too,” or SOMETHING. The first officer has superpowers and we never see them. I would like to see her carry more people around. (I have written a fanfic to fix this bc I was annoyed)

I will confess that I am biased against any episode that is not Una centric. I miss her. Where is she. I appreciated her calling Chris out on evidently habitual nonsense but I would like to see more.

also though where is Pelia?? Napping in a Jeffries tube? I am curious how thousands of years of memories are affected by the radiation. These are the real questions.

Another real question: why is the doctor here for his combat skills? They make it a one-liner for Joseph to be all deep and tortured but genuinely. What is the reason. Yes he’s a war veteran, but aren’t there other veterans on the ship? (yes) Is there not a whole security department of people trained in combat? (yes). I know the writers wanted to split everyone into fun little groups but why was this the move. Send your super strong first officer to lead the mission and your super strong science officer to assess the cultural contamination.

(tangent: Una Spock and La’an on the planet would have resonated SO much more for me butwhatevertheydidntdothatitsfine)

last but not least, the whole “you brought me home” thing with Batel IRKED me. You’ve been dating for six minutes. This is not believable. It simply does not make sense to me! If Chris is going to have a deep emotional connection with anyone that endures all memory loss, it would be Una or Spock. IF ONLY he had a history of a connection like that… like shaving a depression beard and going to rescue someone in the middle of his midlife crisis… or braving a hostile atmosphere and possible suffocation…OR sacrificing his future so someone else doesn’t suffer the same fate…

but no Batel brought him home she is the most important relationship in his life. obviously.

[curator-on-ao3]

I never came back from Among the Lotus Eaters

I see now, in hindsight of SNW season two, that Among the Lotus Eaters was a breaking point for me.

First, that episode needed to transition Batel and Pike from … whatever they were … to a deeper relationship. And what did the episode do?

It hung their issues on not enough time for each other. (How many dinner parties has this man thrown?)

It made Pike a commitment-phobe. (Really? Pike? Y’all sure you meant second season Pike not second season Picard?)

It undercut Pike as a captain as well as his pain dating back to The Cage. (Say, fellas, is it okay to leave your yeoman behind if someone at some point said he looked kinda dead?)

Here’s the thing. I would have bought the episode starting with Batel and Pike having an adult discussion about how they could have hated each other after Una’s arrest and trial but they don’t. They’re still drawn to each other. Then I would have bought Pike’s relationship hesitancy being due to his concerns about his fate — and Una later calling him out on his potential fears for longer-term intimacy when he believes his days are numbered. (And if the show backtracks to make this Pike’s motivation, I’m gonna call bullshit because it should have been there from the start. I’ve seen a thousand stories about commitment-phobes. But a story about a person frightened to hurt someone they might be falling for because of a known timeline to the end? That’s actually interesting.)

Then, I would have bought Pike on the planet holding the necklace and feeling that he had unfinished business — the adult discussion with Batel (as opposed to love that, due to his own fears, hadn’t yet been grounded in the reality of the episode).

Second, the episode has the hero moment of Erica figuring out that she flies the ship. Okay, putting aside that other people can and do fly the ship (ahem, Una), this was an incredible opportunity for Erica to have a totem to remind her of why she cares about flying, not just that she does it. Give us a goddamn model airplane or a book about birds or an action figure of Erika Hernandez — something. Anything. Let us get to know Erica better. This missed opportunity stings.

Third, the trauma repetition was painful. The guy on the planet lost his whole family? Dude, he’s the three-way pointing Spider-Man meme with two members of the away team — M’Benga and La’an. What are the odds of all three of them having the same trauma (and not discussing it)? I don’t know, but it was lazy as shit. (Note: Uhura has the same trauma. Una might, per her service record. Enough already.) Make that guy the former king and he’s somehow responsible for the memory loss rock landing and plaguing the planet. Make him a doctor who saved Zac’s life and therefore plunged the planet into tyrannical rule. Again — something. Anything. Just make it unique instead of repetitive. (And if he had saved Zac’s life by some extreme means, that could even possibly excuse Pike for breaking the essential promise of Starfleet by leaving a crewmember behind.)

There’s more. There’s so much more. There should have been a line, at least, about Una being affected by the radiation when her body could clear radiation before. There should have been recognition that Pike was going down to the planet underprepared — again — by cutting the number of people on the away team. There should have been console warnings flashing that, I don’t know, the warp core was in danger since no one in engineering knew who they were or how to do their jobs.

This episode began the season’s beats of Pike being a crummy captain and a crummy boyfriend. It continued the trend of underutilizing Erica, even when she’s there. It forgot the show’s own internal realities. And I am big mad about that because this clutch point of an episode could have been different. It could have been better.

[rosalie-starfall]

"I am Erica Ortegas I fly the ship!"

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Among the Lotus Eaters

[jenlrossman]

The lighting on the planet in this episode of Strange New Worlds is like a Bob Ross painting where he's like "OK we are starting to paint the snow, so let's use some pink" and you're like "what the fuck Bob Ross, Snow is not Pink," but you let him cook and it works

[my-fandom-mania]

In SNW 2x04, why couldn’t Spock read the PADD? I figured it was his Dyslexia?

Unless I missed something else about reading/reading comprehension as an effect of the radiation?

[pikefied]

Among the Lotus Eaters...

Domestic Pike

Confused Pike

Heartbroken Pike

Slave Pike

Amused Captain Pike

Belligerent Pike

Puppy-love Pike

[leehallfae]

the way that ortegas felt as though she was being viewed by her superiors as replaceable, but her persistence & skill showed that she is not. the way that m’benga, at his core, is a healer, someone whose first instinct is to ease the pain of others, & captain pike, at his core, is someone who will do anything to protect his crew—his family—even if that means taking another’s life. the way that spock initially pushed back against the idea of acting based on emotional intuition, but when that’s all he had to go on, he instinctually put his trust in ortegas. the way that grief transcends memory. the way that love transcends memory.

the way that sometimes, being guided by your rawest, innermost emotions IS the most logical thing to do. it shows you who you are. & love guides you home.

[boardchairman-blog]

**Shots of the Episode**

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)

Season 2, Episode 4: “Among the Lotus Eaters” (2023) Director: Eduardo Sachez Cinematographer: Benji Bakshi

[eleftherian]

ortegas, midway through losing her shit: “IM A PILOT???”

[im-all-out-of-ideas]

Star Trek: Strange New World s2 ep4

yeah this is continuing the hot streak so far. it was a great time, and a much needed breather from the cerebral and high-concept stuff from last week.

revisiting Rigel VII wasn't something I ever expected snw to do but here I am feeling very grateful that they did. it wasn't a novel concept to have a landing party lose their memory on a mission and have to sort through it, but there's something about this episode's take that just feels fresh. and the idea of Pike's mistake coming back and just biting him in the ass with this Zac guy feels very nuTrek, but in the best way.

one thing I can say for sure is that the actors and their performances carry this episode as high as it is. without this cast of incredibly talented people giving their all for the silly space show, I don't think this one would be nearly as enjoyable. Mount, Chong, and Olusanmokun are all great to watch with amnesia. Peck, Gooding, and Romijn are all great, and the standout for sure is Melissa Navia and her chance to really work Ortegas in a new way. she was spectacular, hilarious, and i'm desperate to see her get her landing party.

if this was the Ortegas episode, it was disappointing, but i don't think it was. the clip of the shuttle above the forest in the trailers seems much more likely to be it and if we're due for even more Ortegas, i'm definitely taking everything i can get.

and Pike's little thing with Batel just doesn't ring as fulfilling as the other romantic pairings. i think that's intentional, and there may be a point in this being a failed relationship despite trying to make it work. either way, Pike can absolutely stand on his own without a romance and i'd prefer if he remained the father in the station wagon.

overall, very low-risk fun with lots of humor and a bonus Pike losing his shit scene. thumbs up.

[jonberry555]

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 REVIEW

My Review of the finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2.

"STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS is based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series features fan favorites Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series follows Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy."