“Four-and-a-Half Vulcans”

Another painful episode. I bailed out. I hope that others like it more than me.

Somebody at this show must come from Pittsburgh. The name of the planet is a take on Primanti‘s, with the mention of french fries mashed on their sandwiches between the slices of mediocre bread. Despite Primanti’s fame, the fries are a unique combination of burnt and limp.
But whatever. The episode was one where I was figuratively glancing at my watch every few minutes. But I’m a completist, so I made it all the way through.
I had such high hopes for this show in the first season.
Those have been dashed.

The writers have a real problem with pacing and structure this season. I was actually digging this for the first twenty minutes or so, until it started dragging on with the same Vulcans-are-rude comedy beat over and over. They could easily have cut 10 - 15 minutes from all the funny stuff and spent that time

1.) developing Doug's role
2.) fleshing out La'an's part as her reaction to the change was the most interesting of the four
3.) actually showing us the characters becoming human again. I mean, what the heck was that?

I assume they're following the standard five-act TV structure when they write these; it's like this episode had a double-length third act and skipped right over act four.

Gone are the days of lofty goals and high minded ideals. Welcome to star trek: romance comedy world.
- Did La'an have cetation ops in her head?
- Pella's inexplicable high five...????
- Wait so La'an let Pella take her room off the security grid? Either that or she doesn't know. Neither fits her character.
- Kirk has like zero screen time with his brother in this show.
- The reaching they had to do to contrive a specific scenario that would allow exactly the events of this episode to unfold beggars belief , even for star trek.
- How the frack would a person's perspective influence the transfer of dna? Why would that influence mimic years of mental discipline?
- Pike's line delivery and body language was less "vulcan" and more "Borg that yells".
- oh look, another 'Ortegas plot' that focuses on Beto. Someone please airlock him, for the love of Mahaneet
- What happened to the bartender that got introduced in episode two of this season? That poor actress.
- The spotlight during La'an and Spock's dance was cute but it totally pulled me out of the scene.
- There was a missed opportunity here for a fun problem solving episode, but I suspect a version of it wound up in the garbage because these writers realized that they can't do those kinds of stories very well. But Hey, sex in the city in space. Without sex. Or cities.
- Patton Oswalt was good, I guess.
- There were a few good scenes toward the end but getting there was actually torture.

I feel comfortable calling this the worst episode of the series. And it's not even remotely close.

Copying it here, but someone else said that Pike's delivery was like a conehead.

One word review: Coneheads

Worst episode means you'd be comparing this to such gems as "Spock's Brain", "Code of Honor", "Fascination", "Profit and Lace" and "Threshold". I don't think this comes even near these. Sure, it was cringe--especially the fact that it actually takes a lot of preparation for an actor to play a believable Vulcan, but I had some genuine moments where I guffawed, or was drawn in to the story. I cackled when I played the episode back and heard Vulcan Pike say the opening credit lines.

I'm pretty convinced now that Star Trek: SNW falls squarely into the role of "meta-Trek sitcom", at least when it isn't trying to portray a serious Trek adventure.

The only catch is that nothing is really funny, and the laughs are too few and far between. Most of the supposed jokes aren't even close to amusing. Take the red "Initiate" button in engineering, which Scotty rigged to give a disabling shock to La'an. Were we supposed to be surprised or laugh at this? The presentation of this time-honored trick was about as wooden as a clothespin.

We get Batel back this episode, who gets to play the disgruntled spouse of a captain-turned-Vulcan, who gives a certain Vulcan admiral a piece of her mind and still manages to earn a promotion.

We even got Una, who naturally has a thing for some unlikely Vulcan who acts nothing like one and whose relatives get plain-bread Earth names like "Pete".

Much like Lower Decks, it's the Trek you don't have to think much about. Just let it "entertain" you. I wish it would have been that easy to even be entertained by all this contrived nonsense. There were three more episodes left in the season, and we got this?

It's hard to even say whether any of this is "wrong", as these adventures in gobbledygook have now become the new normal for the series. I don't even know if I feel cheated. I can't even say whether they have desecrated the Star Trek name and all it stands for. It's all become so... meaningless.

I didn’t realise ‘the Vulcans episode’ was the next episode, and I was prepared to dislike it, but actually found myself liking – or rather not hating – most of it.

The whimsical flute music lets us know from the get-go this is going to be a very lightweight ‘fun’ episode, setting a simplistic tone that the episode doesn’t deviate from at any point.

The idea of the Vulcans having had a messy first contact with a pre-warp civilisation before the Prime Directive is very interesting. I’m also inclined to accept the superficial gimmick of this episode (‘our crew become Vulcans and hi-jinks ensue, ha ha’) within this context, since it is reasonably – perhaps ‘conveniently’ is a better description – explained here. We’ve seen far worse before.

The ‘American Werewolf in London’ transformation scene is obviously meant to hilarious but isn’t. The corridor scene is forced cool (shades of JJ’s use of Beastie Boys) for the trailer. I’ll admit I did get a laugh out of Vulcan Pike’s voiceover during the title sequence, though.

Most of the Vulcan scenes are intended to be as silly as possible and don’t lend themselves to any kind of serious analysis. Some are surprisingly meta – Pike becoming even more focused on his kitchen than usual being the prime example – and the thread of obnoxious, socially crippling Vulcan supremacy running through them all that we recall from earlier Trek is rather entertaining, even more so when it comes from humans who are just ‘under the influence’ (so to speak). It’s also clear that the cast – like in the other gimmick episodes – are having a lot of fun in portraying themselves as Vulcans (Jess Bush and Anson Mount noticeably so), which in and of itself is quote enjoyable to watch. La’an as a compulsively xenophobic warmongering Romulan is inventive and very funny, played to perfection by Chong (of course, Romulans and Vulcans do not have identical DNA, so this is implausible, but let us ignore it).

Romijn and Patton Oswalt in any kind of romantic situation together is utterly repulsive – is the idea of Una drooling over Doug some kind of sickening self-insert fantasy? But fair enough, challenge our expectations. The idea of a Vulcan who is fascinated by humans was good, though – but why would Doug not know that humans sleep for eight hours?

The La’an/Spock fight/dance scene was impressively choreographed. Trek as interpretative dance is not something that engages me particularly, but I suppose it made a kind of sense within La’an’s katra dream or whatever it was.

Batel’s promotion is simply absurd. Vulcan bosses apparently cannot distinguish between an angry meltdown and a confident workplace vision.

Pleased to see a resurrection of La’an and Una’s friendship. They’re two of the show’s best characters, more than ably portrayed, and SNW has missed the ball by not showing more of the connection they have. I’m not at all interested in Spock’s endless love life, much less that him and La’an are now (of course) having ‘problems’, but I did think Chong, Peck and Romijn managed a decent comic scene here. La’an parrying Una was rather entertaining.

The negative: Pelia is back and immediately as disruptive and irritating as one would fear. I find it hard to believe the writers genuinely believe the cringey wackiness they put her (and us) through is top quality Trek. LSD references now.

Overall: as a comedy episode, this was fine. As NuTrek, it was good. As Trek, it was middling. It was at times rather cringey viewing, but that was obviously the intention: 'Four-and-a-Half Vulcans' is above all just harmless fluff where the cast get to play fancy dress (yet) again, and we get an SNW instalment that is 'about Star Trek' (once) again.

Trek has always been hit or miss with comedy - remember Quark dressing up as a woman? So I'm sure Trek fans who have been fuming for years about how 21st century Trek isn't real Trek will have a very calm, measured reaction to this one.

I think I remember Ortegas mentioning Travis Mayweather as one of her heroes. Ironic since she has become as irrelevant as he was to the point of her irritating brother getting more to do than her.

Every single week someone is calling the latest episode of this show the worst episode ever. I wonder if other shows have to deal with this kind of persistent mindset that skews perception on review sites, making the show seem far worse than it actually is. Hell, the first user review on IMDb for “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” was a 3/10.

I just don’t understand it. If you’re not looking forward to this show every week, why are you watching?

Well.... that was.... even worst than the documentary one.
Actually it was even worse than the musical one.
Hell, this was even worse than the one with Spock's missing brain.
I could only compare it with the TNG clips one with Riker...nah it is still worse.

It could work, big maybe, if someone in the writing room had any sense of writing comedy. Same goes for whoever directed it, the 4 "Vulcans" looked all like in a very advanced stage of extreme constipation.

Plus, enough with "Kirk" appearances. Meh...

This is such a painfully wasted opportunity of a good ST show, but I guess the worst has yet to come (Starfleet Academy).

@Pike’s Hair

Why are we watching? Because Star Trek.

Why do you like it? Cause I get the feeling, a lot of liking is also "because Star Trek" and not because it is actually decent TV.

So what did you enjoy in this episode? The writing? the comedy? the performances?

I've been reading Jammer's Reviews since the early 2000s but this is the first time I've been compelled to leave a comment.

I think we're clear that this was an exceptionally poor episode, but I want to draw all of our attention to (what I consider to be) its worst aspect: the music.

It was a near constant presence throughout the episode distracting from whatever might have been interesting in the plot or on the screen. It signified every emotional beat, leaving no room for the viewer to interpret what was happening. And most annoyingly, it was whimsical to the point of Disney animation parody.

I thoroughly enjoyed SNW until recently, but the drop off in quality this season has been extraordinary. I never experienced anything like this before. I keep watching, because I've been convincing myself the show runners can't possibly persist with the humorous ideas that fail, they'll give us some solid storytelling next. Won't they?

After four and half Vulcans my faith is almost gone. Apparently there's a puppet show episode in season 4.

@Pike's Hair just comes here every episode to hate-read the comments. Why doesn't he just stop reading them? (Isn't that how it works?)

@Private Walker
Agreed. The music was peculiarly intrusive in this episode. I haven't experienced anything like it before either. It was very odd.

@Private Walker

I don't know the term, but this is the kind of music that accompanies silly / comedy TV. To be honest I never understood why this is needed, since it is apparent to the viewers when what's going on in a show its comedic or not. I usually do not watch shows that use this approach.
SNW writers like to tell instead of showing, cause apparently they think we are idiots, so it makes sense they needed to add this element to their comedic masterpiece, just in case we did not get it (that it is comedic and masterpiece)

Honestly, all I can think, upon finishing this episode, is "hijinks ensue." That is to say, once the initial setup before the credits happen (with Pike, La'an, Uhura, and Chapel turned into Vulcans) the episode throws any concept of plot structure out, and just becomes a bunch of random comedic subplots which do not make a thematic whole. The Uhura and Chapel plots, in particular, were pretty undercooked, taking needed time away from the potentially more interesting stuff with La'an and Pike. Plus there was the whole subplot with Spock and Una meeting up with the weirdo Vulcan played by Patton Oswalt.

I'm not sure I can say the episode is a failure, because it was just trying to be light disposable comedy. I was really hoping for a bit more here, however. I think it would have been possible to balance the romantic drama and "jokes" with a deeper exploration of Vulcan identity which didn't Flanderize them to such an absurd degree.

Addressing the writers directly, here. I stopped watching 9 minutes and 46 seconds in. This episode is @$#%ing stupid.

So, my issues are

1) The Kohlinar. You dweebs did not even bother to read that VULCANS HAVE TO GO THROUGH YEARS OF TRAINING TO MASTER THEIR EMOTIONS AND ACHIEVE A STATE OF TOTAL LOGIC. For goodness' sakes. Pike, La'an, Chapel and Uhura should NOT be able to control their emotions that quickly.

2) (even worse) RACISM IS NOT GENETIC. IT IS LEARNED. Why are they all being racist against Spock 10 seconds after being genetically altered? That's stupid. The writer of this episode is stupid.

1/2 Star. I'm not watching the rest of this tripe.

ok that wasn't great. I think a big part of the problem is also the same problem with the rest of this season: the meme-ification of Star Trek. The depiction of Vulcans in this episode wasn't what we'd seen in TOS or even Enterprise. It was the ridiculous stereotype we sometimes see in oversimplified memes of Vulcans being ultra-logical, almost computer-like. It's all so over-the-top.

I think for this concept to work, viewers really needed to believe that Chapel, Pike, etc, had the same core character traits but with alien biology. We don't see the tensions between the crew's human selves and their Vulcan personas - they're entirely different people as Vulcans.

@ MidshipmanNorris they were being racist because they thought that since SPock was only half vulcan that logically he was only half capable of being a vulcan. It was such a sickening use of Logic that the preview immediately put me off ever watching this episode (and from what I've heard what goes on this episode I'm not missing anything).

Seriously, I am so sick of vulcans being portrayed as dicks now. This all started with enterprise where the writers admitted they made the vulcans different from the ones we know, and despite that show's attempt to rectify that and make them more like the vulcans from the 24th century, the damage was done and people just latched onto the idea of portraying them as dicks, and SNW is the worst offender (even bringing back that borderline xenophobic "vulcans think humans smell bad" from enterprise). while not all vulcans are portrayed negatively, it is still sad when a vulcan character appears and they'll meet your expectations of acting like a douche.

I'm not saying that 24th century vulcans of the berman era were generally the friendliest of races, but as a species and culture they were thought of positively .

@dom I think it would have worked had they just portrayed themselves just themselves acting logically with emotions repressed rather than just because "vulcans are jerks so they have to act like jerks."

The post credit scene with Doug was better than the rest of the episode.

Honest question: do you think the writers of these shows have ever watched Star Trek? From what I've seen, I honestly believe that they are just lightly skimming Wikipedia or Memory Alpha articles.

Sure, they bring up things from the old shows, but the details are almost always (very) wrong. And you can't chalk up all of this stuff as reinterpretation - they just don't have a clue about the Trek universe.

Well, that was terrible. Definitely the worst episode fontue season. The hijinks can be fun but focusing on everyone’s romance is exhausting. I hope they can leave this behind before season 4.

I usually give them benefit of the doubt but this was truly an awful episode.

Maybe some character building with Laan and Spock and Scotty. Nyota made a decent Vulcan. Ortegas gets horrible writing. I wonder if she finds it as cringey as we do. Why would they put Una with a hobbit looking Vulcan.

Poor choices.

Pike was cringey the entire time. There’s no chemistry between he and batel. As a Vulcan he was more
Of a cone head.

One star, and that’s being generous.

Vulcans were written as dicks long before Enterprise, Anonymous. DS9 had the Vulcan baseball team, TAS had the bullies in Yesteryear. Heck, other than Spock most if the Vulcans in TOS were jerks.


If anything, ENT ultimately showed them in a better light than any other series.

I do get what you're saying though.

I barely watched the episode where Spock turned human.. meaning I saw it once and I don't remember anything specific about it.

But even if you shoved the explanation given there down my throat, in a universe of teleportation and warp drive, I don't see how an injection changes someone's anatomy, physiology, mindset, and blood color within seconds, not how getting to their "katra" (depsite being human would change them back. )

"How would Vulcan DNA affect a human, and in particular La'an?" Instead we get "Wouldn't it be funny to see humans as Vulcans with the hair and everything?" Yuk yuk.

There are only 2 episodes to go, and one has puppets.

"Enterprise", as boring as it was overall, had a few really good episodes. "SNW" has a few great ones too, but still has a chance to go out on top. I hope the writers are listening.

@GNDN to be fair, the puppet episode is next season


I can't believe I'm sort of defending the puppet episode

@GNDN
'I hope the writers are listening.'

It's reasonable to assume that a) they're definitely not; and b) even if they were, any objections to their product would simply be reflexively dismissed as the butthurt bleatings of 'toxic haters' etc.

All I could think of when seeing Pike was that Buffybot would say, "His hair goes straight up and he's bloody stupid."

The episode was logically complete nonsense in many many many ways.

And yet... I kind of enjoyed it. I did laugh a few times.

A missed opportunity though. It could have had more depth and been thought through a bit more carefully. Instead it was just a reasonably entertaining piece of fluff.

ok that's enough ! star trek is not a comedy show. once in a while that's allright but two episodes in the same 10 episodes season? they don't or can;t find other ideas?

I didnt like this episode. I realize they cant be real Vulcans, despite them being Vulcan. They are humans still with their "katras" and "Vulcan DNA".
But their acting were very over the top.
So was La'an more Romulan, than Vulcan?
Vulcans can be blunt, but these Vulcans are more robotic than Vulcan.
Being logical is not the same as being blunt.
Also, cetacean ops?? (yep, I agree, Scott)
Yeah, this episode TRIED to be funny and it didnt work. It can be funny but it is not.
They didnt even show us the 4 people turning back into human. Where is the explanation? At least show some technobabble/Vulcan katra special effects.

@MercerCreate - Next season? Ugh.

@Bok R'Mor - Yea, who am I kidding.

BTW did everybody catch the post-credits sequence?

@Cymbalhead:
Unfortunately, yes. I can't stand Patton Oswalt and didn't want to see any more of him.

@Eric Jensen I was reminded that they came up with the serum earlier.. they refused to take it.. so getting to their katras convinced them to take it. Still seemed like magic. And the editing made it seem way too fast, just like the mission at the start

Attention Bajoran Workers: There's a fantastic post-credits scene. Just in case you've missed it.

MercerCreate
Ah, I guess I wasnt paying attention to this episode. Yes, you are correct. Yeah, I think the editing seemed a bit fast. Yes, they decided to stay Vulcan. The serum was already made, but the 4 of them wanted to stay that way.

This episode was more tolerable once I watched it than the initial reactions in here led me to believe, but it was still...a very odd duck. Elements that didn't seem to mesh well, a couple moments I didn't quite buy, and some frankly stereotypical use of the Vulcan psyche that, while not unprecedented in Star Trek, still irks me. There's just no way a species like that would be able to procreate.

I think the episode has an interesting abelism metaphor despite the fact that rarely has been touched on since Geordi in TNG. It also was clearly a gimmick episode that existed purely to justify the cast acting like Vulcan stereotypes for an hour (and notes that the actual Vulcans are NOT caricatures--which I appreciated). It's also something I feel requires the audience to remember metaphor versus literalness in science fiction. Tolkien said this is a problem as while you can use WW2 to talk about the Lord of the Rings, you should never forget that it's not about WW2, it's about the War of the Ring. Which is to say, "Vulcans in-universe are not identical to humans."

Vulcans have copper based blood, super intellect, psychic powers, and super strength. They're not just humans because they're literally aliens. Not just metaphors for humans (which they can be). It actually is why they're good for discussing abelist issues. Khan thinks he's superior to Kirk but Spock is superior to Kirk in some categories and is still content to follow orders as a subordinate because the quality of someone's value are not measured purely by arbitrary rulers. I feel like that is brought up by this episode well. Vulcans are smarter and stronger than humans--and that doesn't make them BETTER.

@Eric Jensen
I missed it too so I would blame the episode and the editing. It just seemed a bit too fast.. a bit off

Two and a half stars for me. I was really grooving on this one at first, but it felt like a five minute joke stretched into an hour of repetitive gags. Kinda like the worst sort of Saturday Night Live sketch turned into a movie.

@episodenull totally agreed on the pacing issues. When I find myself distracted as often as I do during SNW episodes, including this one, it’s not a good sign. And I have a pretty robust attention span. I suspect the problem comes with translating Star Trek to streaming — a lot of the newer Trek series have uneven run times, whereas the network TV shows had commercials to reign the writers in.

I found Doug the Vulcan’s relationship with Number One very amusing. Pity that it involved Spock lying for her without any scruples. Would it have killed the writers to give Ethan Peck a line or two of dialogue resisting the notion of deceiving a fellow Vulcan? I respect the right of shows to reboot stuff; it just sucks when they appropriate such recognizable characters in inconsistent ways. Either give us a sense of continuity or leave our Spock alone, I say. Otherwise it can be distracting for anyone who knows and loves the franchise.

Really not sure how the captain and company got back from being Vulcan to being human; it was such a plodding and routine peril that I lost interest. And the humor of watching them play Vulcan was fun but wore out after a few minutes. As for all the soap opera stuff with Spock and ladies, the less sake, the better.

Finally, why is Captain James T. Carrey popping up for a couple of scenes here? He had no purpose to be in this episode. And it just reminded us, unpleasantly, of the worst actor to ever play Kirk.

I like Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, and some of the other actors. They have nice comic timing. And they deserve a better show, better writing, and better pacing than the time waster that is SNW.

What are the writers thinking?. They have this fabulous crew, all these wonderful special effects, and they are writing these stupidest episodes. What a waste of resource where did they go wrong?

@theBgt

Hate watching a show is objectively stupid. There’s no defense to it you can possibly come up with. Once I realized Discovery wasn’t I didn’t continue to watch the rest of it.

@Bok R’Mor

You’re using an apples and oranges statement that also doubles as a straw man. You know I’m not coming here to read hate comments, and even if I was seeing a few comments on here that isn’t equivalent to dedicating an hour of your time to a show you don’t even like lol.

This was a comedy, played very broadly, satirising previous Trek tropes. Of course 'nu-Trek' is metatextual. The world we live in today is metatextual. Much better than any of those horrible alternate universe episodes. And at last we have an ageing hippie on Star Trek, even if she is five hundred years old! The fight/dance scene was like Tarantino without the gore. Strange New Worlds is the most comic of all Trek series. The characters, however, are all so strong that they can carry off even the silliest of ideas. Keeping alive a series that originates in the world of 60s tv so many years later, is quite a trick. This episode was pretty funny, I thought,if you're not bothered by how ludicrous it was.

I'm a professional philosopher. I have spent the last 20 years teaching philosophy to university students. I've always thought of the Vulcan society as being what European society would have been, if, instead of Christianity, the dominant cultural force had been Stoic philosophy. Vulcan's are essentially Space Stoics. Stoicism was a philosophical school founded on the idea of virtuous self-control, and openness to the vicissitudes of fortune. Their goal was to make their minds noble, and their lives simple and uncluttered, and to cultivate a detached perspective, conserving "ataraxia" or "tranquility" (a state of physical and mental ease and relaxation) in any and all situations in life, even through terrible suffering and hardship. To do this, they studied math, logic, philosophy, and the natural sciences of the day. They did the latter to dispel ignorance and fear of the unknown and to impose structure on the mind and reveal it's beauty and nobility.

At any rate, as a philosopher, having devoted my own life to the study and teaching of rationality as a **better way to live**, I have always thought of the Vulcans as kindred spirits. In fact, in my head cannon, the Vulcans upon making first contact, would have been fascinated with ALL the great human philosophical traditions (European, Indian, and Chinese), and philosophical discourse on Earth and Vulcan would have entered a new and very lively era of debate and growth.

So it troubles me deeply when this episode strongly implies that Vulcan logic is not the upshot of a millenia old philosophical movement, but rather just a phenotypic expression of their genetics. WTF!!! Surak has always been presented as a philosopher, and the turn to Surak's philosophy has always been depicted as the greatest achievement of Vulcan society. Now we are told that in fact the turn to logic was just automatic and genetic. No philosophical study, no millenia of struggle with Vulcan nature, no virtuous culture, involved.

What a let down.

Something was said early in the episode about how the serum also conferred Spock's mental training, if I'm not mistaken, and I took that to mean that the "Vulcan" Pike, Uhura, La'an, and Chapel took on his exaggerated caricatures of proper Vulcan behavior -- that is, they're not acting like actual Vulcans, but rather Vulcans as the self-loathing half-human Spock imagines them to be.

I had a bad feeling about this episode given the title. SNW S3 is shaping up to be one of the worst in nu-Trek (meaning it's awful) — it’s like what stupid trick can the writers/producers pull out of their asses every week.

The one thing I would say I continue to like is how strong certain cast members are — the ones who became Vulcans all played Vulcans very well. But that’s about all there was to this episode. Couldn’t wait until it was over. It was so predictable that once the 4 were turned into Vulcans, there would be issues in reverting them back.

Not only is the whole premise idiotic but even stuff like resolving the issue on Tezaar is done magically fast, Batel being offered a promotion for acting totally out of character at the dinner with her old boss and Vulcan Pike is ridiculous, Spock re-transforming Uhura, Pike, Chapel back without any explanation further cheapens things. How the time it took for certain things to get done was dealt with inappropriately. I guess the point of the episode is to be totally illogical. So many things were just poorly done here.

So what are the takeaways from this episode — and was it worth the slog to get through the episode? So Chapel appreciates Vulcan bluntness, Spock gets an understanding of what it’s like to be the least logical…anything else? At least if you do a gimmick episode, make a point.

Couldn’t give a shit about Beto/Uhura and Ortegas. Pelia was annoying as always. As for Una/Doug and the bit with Spock and Doug at the end — this was not funny. It was just stupid. But I continue to love La’an — she looked awesome as a Vulcan. I did like the writing of her as a Vulcan becoming more like a Romulan. But of course, Spock has to dance with her to cure her. I’m sure we’re going to see them dancing in more episodes… Kirk and Scotty start to build a relationship — so here again SNW is just acting to lay the foundation for TOS.

One-and-a-Half Stars for “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans” — just a gimmick to have non-Vulcans become Vulcans and generate a few laughs. Nothing more. Actually very unambitious from SNW. This one dragged on for me. This show needs a run of serious episode where they deal with their own Trek issues, not worrying about setting up TOS, not using gimmicks.

“It is true. Vulcans can be jerks.”

Unfortunately, Strange New Worlds' latest outing leans into that truism with all the subtlety of a pratfall. I had just finished watching TOS' "That Which Survives" before this episode, and the comparison only sharpened my frustration. Then, as now, Flanderizing Vulcans for cheap laughs is a bad idea, and "Four and a Half Vulcans" only doubles down on it.

Five minutes in, I almost wished the episode ended with "Mission Accomplished" with the credits rolling. That might have spared us the mess that followed.

At its best, the episode works as broad comedy in the same vein as Coneheads: silly, deadpan, a parade of weird Vulcan caricatures. But that's also the problem: as Star Trek, it largely fails. It sets its bar comically low, and then congratulates itself for clearing it.

Worse still is the bizarre essentialism at play. Vulcan logic is treated like a genetic infection, something you "catch" and then caricature. In La'an's case, her transformation isn't just logical; it's framed as exposing some "dark core" tied to her augment heritage. That's not just lazy writing; it's actively damaging to Trek lore, flattening complex ideas about culture, choice, and discipline into half-baked biology. If this episode is taken seriously as part of canon, it leaves the franchise worse off for it.

There is, however, one bright spot: Patton Oswalt. When I first heard he'd be guest-starring, I braced for a mugging, over-the-top performance. Instead, he delivers something surprisingly understated... respectful, even. Ironically, the guy best known for hammy comedy takes the material more seriously than almost anyone else on screen. It reminded me of that moment when George Costanza turned out to be the smartest guy in an alien think tank: unexpected, but kind of perfect.

As for Pelia? She continues to be the worst thing about this ensemble. Grating, inconsistent, and painfully unfunny, she drags down every scene she's in.

In the end, Four and a Half Vulcans might satisfy viewers looking for a goofy, low-stakes comedy. But for anyone who cares about Star Trek as a vehicle for thoughtful storytelling, or even just consistency in its world-building, it's a clumsy misfire; one that will age about as well as a Coneheads sketch.

@PhiloMO the episode implied the exact opposite. In fact it didn't even imply, it said it out load directly to your face. Maybe watch the episode before you get angry at it?

Anson Mount was awful here. Conehead, agreed.
Pelia/Carol Kane. Enough. Please. We BEG you.
Purmantee/Primanti’s. What writer is from Pittsburgh?
‘Doug’? Maybe because Oswald/Spence was Doug’s pal in ‘King of Queens’?
What a terribly disappointing season.

@PhiloMO Your post is interesting because Christianity and Stoicism are so closely related. Just a few examples, Romans chapter 6, Ephesians chapter 4 and 5, Galatians 5:19-24, and most of 2 Timothy are similar to Stoic moral philosophy, and John 1:1 is almost a one-sentence restatement of Stoic cosmology ("Word" actually being a translation of "logos.") But Christianity did not retain Stoicism's commitment to mathematical logic.

I think the real enemy of Stoic logic was not Christianity, but Aristotle. It wasn't really until Bertrand Russell's (and others) work on the foundations of mathematics that modern logicians realized that the Stoics were right the first time.

Because this is a Star Trek site and not a philosophy site, I should point out that logic *can't* simply be a genetic attribute of Vulcans, because *Romulans exist*. Romulans are Vulcans without the philosophy of Surak. I would say that no sentient species can have their philosophy genetically determined. But there are still interesting connections between Vulcan philosophy and Vulcan biology. Romulans can't do the mind meld or the nerve pinch. And Vulcans couldn't do the mind meld safely until the Syrannites made them recommit to the true Surakian philosophy. So at least some Vulcan abilities are unlocked by their philosophy, but no philosophy can be genetic in origin.

Next time on "Strange New Lower Orville Decks" ...

Trek always has silly comedy episodes
…
Some work some fall flat .

This one was fine for what it was. Plenty of cute moments . Laan wanting to get every major power into war with one another was mustache twirling Gilliam twirling hilarious . I also think this was the best Kirk that Paul Wesley had played . Patton was really good and the post credit was fun .

In saying that , these throwaways work in long 26 episode seasons . When you only have 10, it’s frustrating SNW is making so much filler . They are not putting enough into deep enriching story telling . But I guess this is the tik tok era !

@ Chris Gregory

Really? More comical than Lower Decks?

@ black oatmeal

I did say that I was talking more about the 24th century berman era and that it was the species in general that was held in high regard as opposed to individuals. And yes, I'm aware of vulcan bullies mentioned in TOS and of that one vulcan captain who I swear the showrunners of enterprise used as a template for their take on vulcans, but even he was commented on behaving in an unvulcan like manner one time.

I don't understand how you can say that the vulcans in enterprise were portrayed more positively compared to previous series. I still remember how people myself included thought they were more reminiscient of romulans, and I even had this theory that the vulcan high command were secretly romulans. Turns out, I wasn't too far off.

@Sarjenka's Brother
Stop with that. SNW, and episodes like this, or only as silly as what people perceive Orville to be. But Orville is daamn more respectful to Trek and more intelligent than this show on it's worst day, and by this point in its run in season 3 it had genuine masterpieces

"I don't understand how you can say that the vulcans in enterprise were portrayed more positively compared to previous series"

I honestly think they were. Go through each of the important Vulcan characters introduced throughout the earlier series. Sarek was a terrible father. T'Pring was willing to see someone killed just to get out of a marriage. T'Pau was cool with a barbaric fight to the death because it's a tradition. The kids in "Yesteryear" were racist bullies. Is there any Vulcan character other than Spock in the first two series that is likable?

In the movies, you get Saavik, but you also get the traitorous Valeris and Spock's brother with the messiah complex.

DS9 had the jerk baseball playing captain.

Voyager had Tuvok, of course.


But what about Enterprise? Well, a lot of the Vulcans were jerks alright, but T'Pol was pretty likeable after season 1. Season one also featured Fionnula Flanagan playing a rather charming Vulcan ambassador in Fallen Hero. There was a Vulcan date rapist in Fusion, but there were also two other Vulcans in that episode that were cool. By season 4 the differences in Vulcan culture between TOS and ENT are explained and Soval becomes a likeable recurring character. So there you go. Yeah, Enterprise had Vulcans who were jerks and even one who was a rapist, but they had more "nice" Vulcans than any other series.

This tried to be enjoyable, but didn't quite get there.

I'll differ from Jammer a little. I thought the best part of the episode was the Spock/La'an tango-fight thing at the end.

Chappell's ears weren't Vulcan... they were elf. (but she sported them well)

Mount's acting was not good at all in this one.

This season has way too many episodes straying from the mark for my taste.

1.5 stars from me.

@Black Oatmeal
your entire post is hyperbole taken so far that you actually believe your own manure. seriously. Sarek, a terrible father? He's Vulcan and was less strict and adamant about customs than my own father who wanted me to go to damn church, sit, kneel stand and shake hands with strangers and have crackers and drink wine for soem stupid fairy tale. And here's the catch: Sarek was an actual character! He developed over time.. what we saw in the movies was a changed character than what we saw in the TV show, giving BOTH federation presidents he served under sound advice, and having with Spock one of the most amazing conversations ("do you have a message for your mother?" in the history of this f^&king franchise.

As for Valeris, Meyer could have used the shading a little better, but she was no better and no worse than the humans she in cahoots with, people who had every reason to believe that "the devil we know we know is more tolerable than the devil we don't know," people that were more comfortable having the Klingons has enemies than trusting them (and possibly losing) as friends.

AT LEAST THEY WROTE WITH SHADES AND COMPLEXIETIES back then, and knew how a culture could affect who they were as people.

Take your moronic hyperbole of this page

I actually genuinely enjoyed this. Maybe it's because I'm from the Pittsburgh area originally. Low stakes? Certainly. Bottle episode? Absolutely. Fun? Sure.

Also, is this episode insinuating that what would become the Romulan people, those who marched beneath the Raptor's wings, were Vulcan augments? That's an intriguing thought.

I actually think there's some depth here about the value of emotional intelligence and how looking at the world through a totally logical lens doesn't work. I laughed a lot, but I do agree that there's some balance problem this season with the goofier episodes. I think the timing of the season and knowing muppets are coming is adding to the feeling. Honestly, there's a lot of pressure on this season because it's the only Trek we've had in a while and the only Trek series to be produced after the Hollywood strikes, but in context of the whole series I think the goofy episodes are what's remembered. I'm hoping Academy can split the difference between the sincerity and fun of SNW and the emotional earnestness/high stakes seriousness of DISCO.

I hated this one. I watched it back-to-back with this week's episode of Peacemaker, and it was a great study in how comedy needs to have a *point* and be rooted in the characters. This didn't really have any basis in our characters at all, because the "Vulcans" are completely different people. In another universe, this is a Spock-centric episode that gets to the heart of how being half-human sets him apart from purebred Vulcans. Or maybe it's a Pike episode that unearths the importance of emotion and empathy to command. Or maybe it's a La'an episode that teaches her the down side of repressing your emotion. Or maybe it's a Chapel episode that inches her towards the buttoned-down TOS professional, with the dose of cold Vulcan logic taking the edge off her restless party-girl nature...

Instead, it's just a series of gags in a vacuum. Some of them are kinda funny. Most are not. For a show that did such a good job of character development in its first two seasons (indeed, the Star Trek show that was doing the *best* job of character development in the history of the franchise) season 3 has been a bizarre fumble thus far and has taken a lot of the shine off for me.

I really enjoyed this episode. Was the episode incredulous and lacking any logic with respect to the process? Totally.

But the high concept premise of 4 of the regular cast members acting like "Vulcans" and essentially not having any filters, is an interesting story telling device. I truly believe that everything the characters have said are their own ideas - they have just come out because of the their "transformation". To me, it's a bit like a musical episode where people sing about their inner feelings... hmmm...

Unlike others, I found the pacing to be... efficient, almost too whiplashy, as there are way too many ideas crammed in - Pike's true analysis of Batel's readiness; Una's relationship with Doug; the burgeoning friendship between Scotty and Kirk; Uhura's relationship with Beto; Erica's relationship between the two of them; Pelia's weirdness...

I totally get it - most of you remember Trek for the iconic and serious episodes: Inner Light, Best of Both Words, In the Pale Moonlight, The Visitor (I got nothing for VOY and ENT but I'm sure there are some classics. As I'm only starting to go through TOS right now). This episode is not even in the same quadrant as those episodes. But I would argue that this was probably one of the more consistent (and I'm sure many of you are going to say consistently bad) episodes of SNW; with a confident vision of it's own place in the Trek Universe, without the baggage of the other series. I mean, the only baggage or tie into the greater Trek Universe, is to show how similar Scotty and Kirk are in their problem solving approach. Otherwise, this episode doesn't reference any previous TOS episodes; the "problem" isn't a transporter accident (which is usually the reason behind these types of episodes. Speaking of which, I wonder why they didn't transporter themselves into a cure...) , or isn't their re-imagining of a classic Trek episode.

Now, this episode will be seen in better light, if they build on this to develop Spock further; as it also tangentially allows the crew (and us) understand what can be going through Spock's mind. I doubt that this will happen, but who knows?

I get it - we need more "serious" episodes, and with a shorter season, and I guess a puppet episode coming up, there's not much time left. But unlike many of you, I'm still enjoying this version of Trek more than other iterations of NuTrek (DISCO and PICARD, I'm looking at you...)

Like this site? Support it by buying Jammer a bourbon :)

@Cynic
Love the site. People here are so gracious and kind

@Cynic, the coffee transaction site is customizable. I could change it to bourbon.

@Jammer
I think I need it after this episode. I mean, the syrum,, within seconds, changed their blood to a copper base, grew their ears, moved their livers, changed their hair style and gave them Vulcan mindsets within a few seconds.

And they said the Orville was "silly"

Turns out, the Orville was producing masterpieces like "Tale of Two Topas"

@Black Oatmeal, stop attacking users on this board.

Sigh. This could have been a good episode. There were some bright spots amidst all the mess.

First, the mess. Having the officers crawling on the floor as they changed to Vulcans was just embarrassing. The acting was unusually bad (especially Anson Mount as a robotic jerk), and it had to be the directing, because these actors are usually good to excellent. Pelia got on my nerves, and what was Jim Kirk doing there? But the big issue for me was the scene where Pike and La'an talked about what they "weren't permitted to discuss" except that it involved Romulans and time travel. I thought that was a very interesting direction to go, but it was completely dropped. I also couldn't believe that the instantaneous completion of the away mission wasn't questioned by a single person. It just wasn't reasonable.

Now, the bright spots. Scotty's comment that La'an was "still technically here . . . for the most part" was one of the few places I laughed, and I loved the booby trap (no, I didn't see it coming). It was clever to have each of the converted Vulcans confronted by a different crew member. And I thought the choreography of the fight-turning-to-dance was brilliant. On watching it a second time, I realized that it was a visual representation of the emotional battle La'an was going through. This one scene almost saved the episode for me. The post-credits scene was amusing, but not enough to actually be called funny.

Also, in her last scene where she's waiting for Doug, Una looks absolutely gorgeous.

This is the third humorous episode this season. I hope they've got it out of their systems. We've only had one actual strange new world this season (I'm not counting the zombie world because we saw practically nothing of that).

I doubt too many here have ever been heavy consumers of fanfiction (whether it be Star Trek-based fanfic or any other fictional universe). But there's a specific type of fic called a "crack fic." And that's what this episode was. It was an atom smasher of absurdity, just for absurdity's sake.

I agree with Jammer's two star review. Bits here and there did make me laugh, and I can't say I hated seeing more of Chong's legs or Romjin tottering in six inch heels.

But all in all it's a little *too* throwaway absurd for me. We don't have a ton of episodes per season, and I'm not sure that this one was a useful way to use one.

This show is getting really stupid. I used to really like SNW and thought it was the strongest of the nu-Treks, but its becoming difficult to watch. It doesn't respect the characters, the legacy or what the essence of Trek is. Trek always had a nobility about itself and had a believability about what you were watching, despite the fantastical nature of the show. This just farts in the face of it. Magical and hokey science. Character traits swinging wildly all over the spectrum. This is utter crap.

Sorry if this has been said, but aren't Vulcans inherently emotional and have to learn logic in order to suppress their extremes?

Mostly harmless.

It's like they took a Lower Decks script and made it into a live action bottle show. At this point they don't care about basic (ironically) logic)

UGH... Just when I thought the showrunners were finally getting back to living up to the name of the show, they jump right back to doing self-gratifying non-Star Trek claptrap designed to please them at the expense of their loyal audience. You have TEN episodes, that's it!!! Why all the absurd comedy episodes instead of getting out in the universe and... wait for it... exploring strange new worlds??? As for the "science" around this episode, pure insanity. Just because their DNA was re-written to be Vulcan does NOT mean they would instantly act like Vulcans. Vulcan children don't start off in the universe spouting logic out of the womb. A life devoted to logic and the suppression of emotion doesn't just happen; it takes years of nurturing and education, culminating in the Kolinahr... I was looking forward to two more seasons of SNW, but at this point I am beginning to wonder if it's worth my time.

@TJ

"Vulcan children don't start off in the universe spouting logic out of the womb. A life devoted to logic and the suppression of emotion doesn't just happen; it takes years of nurturing and education, culminating in the Kolinahr."

The writers try to preempt this critique with Una’s line:

UNA: "Because they derived the serum from Spock's perceived experiences, it has left our crew in a kind of logical state that normally takes Vulcans years to develop socially."

But it feels more like a hand-wave than an explanation. Instead of reducing logic to genetics, the episode now reduces lived experience to chemistry. It's just another disappointingly reductionist shortcut.

I think I saw Strange New Worlds die when the Vulcan-you-not's were catwalking to the teleporter room. Interesting choice of music for a funeral.

I'm now sure Pike ending up in a space wheelchair will be the result of him ramming his nards on a small tree while skiing.

TOY

Meh. Just Meh. Boring and unfunny. Vulcans while arrogant are generally smart and they just acted dumb. Also, a throwaway line about them being logical doesn't make it make sense. Also, please throw Pelia out the nearest airlock and make Scotty chief engineer.

@Andy G.
I would agree.. Pelia is annoying, but the new Scotty is awful as well. He carries himself with such timidity it looks like a breeze would knock him down or a little girl could kick his butt. He kind of looks like him with the red shirt but he's not Scotty. TOS Scotty was the most commanding person to ever sit in teh Captain's chair until Sisko came along. He made the Romulans think twice, shugged off the most vile gangster, and didn't take crap from anyone

"It is not an easy way to live" (a reference to the Vulcan lifestyle of perpetual detachment) was a glimpse of the kind of mature writing I'm accustomed to from "real" Star Trek. Alas, I just can't help the feeling that there's far too little of this, and that even NuTrek's more sincere efforts are veering towards inconsequentiality.

And yeah, @MercerCreate, thanks for pointing out that the new Scotty is a twig, instead of the swarthy stalwart that James Doohan, though admittedly Canadian himself, could convincingly pull off.

I enjoyed the exaggerated Shatner armswing that Paul Wesley displayed when stepping off the transporter pad, but I also laughed loudly at the meme currently circulating of Pike and Kirk with the caption "Why are you always on my ship?" It's sort of odd.

I also don't rate NuScotty and have never understood the fulsome praise and instant acceptance he's got – I've said before that Quinn reminds me much more of Pegg's JJ take than he does Doohan.

Given that virtually all of the SNW cast are re-imaginings of older characters, some work better than others – Pike, Una and 'Chapel' are as different from what we see in TOS as any of the others, but they've always seemed to just come across better. Peck's Spock is fine too – I don't have a strong view one way or another about him.

NuKirk and NuScotty don't work as their intended characters as far as I'm concerned. With that said, I much prefer Wesley to Quinn, even though I don't see either as Kirk or Scotty. (The Pelia/NuScotty dynamic is woeful, although admittedly that's primarily due to Pelia rather than NuScotty.)

The constant compulsion to bloat cast numbers, leaving too little screen time for any kind of decent character development in a ten episode season, is a curious decision by the writers and producers. Did we really need NuKirk, NuScotty, Pelia, Beto, Korby (there are probably even more than I can't even remember) when we only have ~450 minutes per season?

“…an elixir might provide an enhancement.”

In the summer of 2024 I was in a hospital bed for weeks, hooked to maybe five IVs pumping all sorts or medicines and antibiotics. My pain levels fluctuated throughout the day, and television proved to be a good distraction. Both Ad Astra Per Aspera and Tomorrow, etc were released at this time and Ad Astra seemed to drag on and on while Tomorrow got about 4 viewings for me. I really liked it ( at the time).

Now that my body isn’t flooded with primitive pharmaceuticals Tomorrow isn’t as good as I remember.

*2023, not 2024

[[ @GNDN to be fair, the puppet episode is next season ]]

"Vulcans are well known as the intellectual puppets of the Federation!" —Ambassador Kamarag, Star Trek IV

Come on writiers. Don't be so lazy. I agree with the first review- this season is trying to just be nonsensical and funny- there is no meaning to any of the episodes. Once in a while is ok but to make it an entire season is too much. I'd like to have actual stories with real plots and action. What happened to "strange new worlds?" I would like to see more exploration, more action, more character development. I don't need nonsense every episode.

How did the 4 vulcans achieve controlled emotions without any training? In reality, they should have been highly emotional and not able to control themselves- kind of like La'an was showing. Why did Pike sound like a Borg? Why was La'an acting more like a Romulan- develop that story? I liked Doug- let him stick around a bit and see what trouble he gets into. I am still waiting for a more complete story on Captain Batel- initial coping with her hybrid status, abilities to perhaps communicate with the Gorn, how she coped with her other side- not just she is cured. I am still waiting 8 episodes later...
I am almost at a point of not watching this series anymore...

I might be confused on this, but is’nt the logic thing a diciplin? Not genetic? Shouldn’t they get violently aggressivly emotional?

@Bryan Good point! I missed that line from Una, probably because I was playing Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan in my head.

And here you all are, still watching nuTrek, still complaining about its lack of quality writing and characterization, still unable to muster the effort to detach yourselves from it all. It's absolutely baffling that people would engage in this behavior, over and over again. And the worst part is some of you have the audacity to act surprised when Kurtzman and co. continue to roll out shit.

I think this absurd state of affairs has less to do with nuTrek and more to do with your miserable lives.

@Lothar
Let's be fair, shall we. Some fans care enough about Trek to not want it to go down the shitter, to nmot let it go in the directions most other franchises go. Some watch because this show isn't lightly serialized and follows the general format of TOS and does have strong actors like Mount and Peck.. and maybe its important to see whether or not the people shepherding Trek in the future or doing honor to the legacy. Or maybe it's just morbid curiosity. I watch with friends on Discord as I won't give P+ any money.

But don't be a gatekeeper

@Lothar
How dare anyone have an opinion about Star Trek on a message board dedicated to Star Trek. Utterly baffling that they would do so.

(To be fair, I did watch stop watching DIS around S3 for the reasons you prescribe.)

It had it's good moments, it was better/funnier than charades. But some parts felt very strange.

It is not the scify that I like but it was entertaining. All irritated comments here are disturbing. Also the negative comments regading Ortega, Is it so strange having a regular charater that just fills up. Una has a very similar role.

At the end I am glad that this show is not DISCO or Picard2, but a trek with standalone episodes.

4/4 Stars just because upon Pike's transformation the s/o called him "Vulcan Morrisey".

A fine episode on its own, but I do hope we can get back to some more serious episodes before the season ends.

I didn't hate it, but seriously, wtf was Anson Mount doing in this episode? I've always liked him, but he was completely incapable of making this work.

Enough has been said about this episode above, I'll just add this, both positive:
The post-credit scene had me rolling on the floor, and I am loving Ethan Peck more and more as a younger Spock.

I'd give this one a half star for the one laugh I guffawed. Others above have covered the weaknesses admirably.

I only have one question--how does an injected serum style your hair?

Despite knowing that three of the Vulcans were not going to be Vulcans in the future, this was definitely an improvement over the last snooze fest episode. Predictable but humorous.

@Private Walker Unless there's a 70s gem playing, I literally am oblivious to the music in movies and tv shows. Sounds like that's a blessing 🤣🤣🤣

Even though the bulk of Star Trek was made in the 90s, this was without a doubt the most 90s sitcom plot Star Trek has ever produced. I don't think even Small Wonders would have made an episode this corny.

And I totally agree with @Private Walker. The music was without a doubt the most cringe inducing aspect of the entire episode, and that's saying something. Pure torture.

I'm not exactly sure what the point of Star Trek is anymore if this is how it manifests in today's culture. Are there no more complex political or moral issues? Aren't there arguably MORE? Are the writers implying that is not important anymore? That modern culture is just a regurgitation of the past, stripped of any thoughtfulness?

All that being said, I still might prefer episodes like these to the average melodrama on warp speed from Discovery, but that's a choice that only belongs in hell.

I would have been able to endure this atrocity, had it not been for the dismal score. It sounded like it was made for Mrs Doubtfire or something. Bailed out after 22 minutes, and that’s not really typical of me.

Spock the "least Vulcan"? That's putting an awful lot on nature and very little on nurture. I'm usually the one objecting when people go too far the other way, but in this case it sure seems to me that there's a lot about Vulcan culture that is assumed to somehow just be absorbed due to a quick hypospray.

They set up quite the scenario on that alien world and then completely skipped over it. No budget for another away mission? Or was that just the humorous take they were seeking all along? I did kind of chuckle at how immediately they resolved the nuclear power crisis, but it did seem a shame not to give us any glimpse of this unique world.

I enjoyed most of them as Vulcans, but I wasn't thrilled with the way Anson Mount played a Vulcan Pike. I did chuckle at his cleaning the area his girlfriend had already cleaned, but that's on the writing rather than the acting. Both worked better in concert right at the end, when Pike hopefully wondered "am I slightly forgiven now?" 😆

And again, as with the wedding episode, people seem strangely unconcerned that their friends and colleagues have seemingly been irrevocably altered. I guess it's sort of like the characters know "it will all be over by the end of the episode, don't worry about it."

And it does seem like they ought to at least have to take a break from their duties, especially high-level command duties, to be evaluated. James Kirk serves under a Vulcan captain: hopefully she doesn't engage in bizarre 42 minute crew shifts and things like that?

I was excited to see Patton Oswalt, but I found Una's behavior around him to be silly, highly unprofessional, and just generally annoying.

Boy, they really yadda-yadda'd the chakra thing and their return to humanity.

So deep down, at her core, La'an is basically malevolent, a villain?

I did find the fighting into dancing pretty nifty.

The post-credits scene was fun. Are we to take the big smile at the end as Spock fully embracing his human side for a moment? Or just a momentary Ethan Peck outtake?

Overall I liked this better than Jammer did. Despite its faults, I'm going three stars on Jammer's scale.

@SlackerInc:
'Are we to take the big smile at the end as Spock fully embracing his human side for a moment? Or just a momentary Ethan Peck outtake?'

It did seem very much like an out-take they left in for whatever meta reason, as it didn't make much sense in the actual context. As you point out, we can make excuses and find justifications à la it being Spock reminding himself of what distinguishes him from Patton Oswalt – but my impression is that it's just a blooper identifying as another in-universe 'fun' moment ('fun' doing a lot of heavy lifting in this episode, I hasten to add).

No doubt the writers and producers will try and pass it off as yet another 'love letter to the fans' or 'love letter to Trek' or whatever else convinces them that they're doing something utterly amazing.

I have mixed feelings about this episode. It was entertaining in some moments, cringe in others. The science on this episode was as bad as the worst Braga's DNA episodes like Threshold. It also has lot of missed opportunities. I think Doug could have been an interesting character but ultimately ended up being just a plot device to get some more jokes done.

Yeah that wasn't a good one. Not offensive just a waste of time and money.

I agree with most of the criticisms, not really enjoying Pelia sadly.

Anson Mount-as-Vulcan came off more like Dan Ayckroyd as Beldar Conehead.

I'm surprised that in a group of Trekkie nerds like us, no one has pointed out that 14 shifts of 42 minutes each would not get us even to ten hours. Doesn't Starfleet use a 24 hour day, or is the canon on that not established? It's got to be longer than ten, just to give people time to sleep, right?

@Bok R'Mor: "No doubt the writers and producers will try and pass it off as yet another 'love letter to the fans' or 'love letter to Trek' or whatever else convinces them that they're doing something utterly amazing."

Haha, yeah. I am undecided as to how I felt about it.

“We’ve got ourselves a Tuvix situation”

Fun but uneven. Interesting that Dough is a bit like Xan was conceived for Phase II: a Vulcan trying to emulate human behavior. Xan became Data in TNG but the original idea seems to be transplanted here.

I get the sense that if the episode had been downed down 10% in the silliness, it would have been a classic episode.

Perhaps what all this needed was, ironically, some salt to offset the sweetness.

4 1/2 stars - I don't care what you all say, this is the first episode this season I loved!

Yes, the previous two episodes were very good (and the first 5 this season were pretty boring), but 4 1/2 was the first episode this season that I genuinely enjoyed the enitre hour. And at this late stage of Star Trek, really how much more can we ask for??

I agree with Mal. I liked this episode.
My only complaint is the way Anson Mount played his role. Talking with a robot voice. Never heard Vulcans before with that weird voice tone and quality.
Really liked the Romulan overlay with La’an. Great way to incorporate the Romulan-Vulcan genetic connection from TOS “Enterprise Incident”. And really liked the mash up of martial arts and dance that brought La’an back.

I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’ll say it straight: it was the funniest shit I’ve seen on Trek in a real long time. The farce between Spock, Una, and Doug was high-level comedy of manners.

I came in to the show annoyed, but it totally grabbed me maybe 15 minutes in.

Jebus, if my cat hadn’t stepped on the remote, I would have missed the post credits scene

Would’ve

Uggggh. As much as I like La'an, why are Kirk and Scotty a pair of cowardly pussy-whiped dogs in this episode? P A T H E T I C . I get that her combined Vulcan/Augment phisiology in this ep makes her insanely strong (and her security CQC and martial-art background is cherry on top), but hello? Phasers on stun anyone?! That IS a thing in Star Trek, right? At least Kirk made a half-assed effort (but yea, stupid, he shuld've used a phaser). Scotty is just a scared little bitch. A far cry from Doohan's portrayal. Hard to belive this mouse-boy wuld become the legendary Miracle Worker. Hes a bad joke in this show.

In fact why not phaser-stun the whole group, zap,zap,zap,zap, done, when they get 'logical' about staying Vulcan? Stun there asses, put them under sedation, figure out how to reverse it, reverse it, done. It wouldn't even be controverzial, since they all agreed in advance, that they would return back to human at the mission's concluzion. In fact, I bet all of them would thank whoever phasered them, afterwards.

Oh, I know why. Becauze the ep wuld last all of 10 minutes, in that case.

I'm gonna give the ep a star. 1/4. Becauze, contrary to most comments here, I actually LIKE the portrayal of human-turned-Vulcans here. Arrogant? Check - our own human arrogance, amped-up to 10 by Vulcans' own ego. Yea. Makes sense. Superiority-complex? Check. We already have plenty of that as a species. Adding Vulcan hyper-emotionalism and objective physical and mental advantages into it? Control-freaks hiding behind thinly-veiled 'logic'? Ohhh yea. Baaaad news. Romulans 2.0: Beyond Logic And Into Dictatorship.

Only thing I am surprised about, is that more of them didn't go La'an's route, in turning quazi-Romulan. Vulcans without emotional control (which newly turned humans wuldnt have), ARE basicly Romulans.

Yeaaa... the MOMENT they refused to revert, it shuld have been phasers-on-stun time. The instant they did that. The more I think about it, the more obvius security threat they posed. Not just La'an, all of them. Number One should've put the foot down, IMMEDIATELY.

Mostly agree, but I did enjoy that Uhura brainwashed a boyfriend, and Doug's Vulcan glee over the lie.

Jammer: "But I also laughed at times."

I'm more than OK with Star Trek embracing comedy.
But I wish I could say "I laughed at times" during this episode.
I stared in disbelief and shook my head multiple times during this episode. I didn't laugh once. So, to me, this isn't comedy, more like travesty or farce.

Hold on, I've just received a review of this episode from Deanna Troi at Farpoint Station:

"...pain...such pain!...unhappiness...terrible despair..."

I dunno, I kinda felt the dance scene was a nice payoff.

I re-watched this episode because I was reading some comments and I wanted to know if it was as terrible as I remember it. Upon re-watching, it was much worse.

I remembered the biological essentialism aspect and the wholly unsuccessful attempt to waive it away with what sure sounds like a post-production addition of Una's one BS line about deriving the serum from Spock's experience. The idea that your speech patterns, emotional expressions, values, hairstyle choices, desires, and morals are a function of biology rather than culture and experience is a seriously f'ed up idea that is both ridiculous and simultaneous extremely bigoted and harmful. Added to that the narrative that La'an is inherently evil because of her ancestry (or maybe because she got transformed into a Romulan?) and you've got a no good, terrible, very bad, borderline Nazi-ish idea.

I had also remembered that the "Vulcans are jerks" one-note joke was boring and way overplayed in addition to offensive. Despite the fact that numerous Vulcans appear to successfully serve in Starfleet or as part of other inter-species teams, these crew members are incapable of working with humans. They are so far gone as to be caricatures instead of characters. Racial stereotypes aren't the jokes I want in Star Trek, or indeed any media.

What I had not really remembered were two additional highly problematic narratives, and how easy it would have been to make an actually good episode out of this (admittedly stupid) premise.

First, I hadn't really remembered how bad the Una/Doug thing was. What a hatchet job to the character of Number One who is controlled, competent, confident, and intellectual. Someone who values her professionalism and struggles to connect to her fun side. Also, why is it a joke for someone who looks like Rebecca Romijn to be attracted to a person who is short and fat? Is it because we all supposedly know that magnetism and passion are entirely based solely on conventional attractiveness? Remember how Picard is bald not because they haven't figured out hair implants but because *no one cares*? What a disappointment that in a couple of centuries we're apparently still at the "ha ha, he's fat" level of jokes.

The second thing that really struck me on re-watch was how dismissive the writing is of these characters and their lives as humans. Why do the Vulcanized crew members continue to wear Vulcan robes? The actual Vulcans we see wear Starfleet uniforms. Do they suddenly no longer value their service in Starfleet? Chapel immediately throws aside her relationships, what does that say about her feelings for Korby and Spock? I understand that per the BS plot of this episode she is able to control her emotions, but does she not love and value these people? These characters still have all of their memories and all of their life experiences, but they seemingly don't matter one whit.

And the really infuriating thing is that if the writers were determined to run with this Fun With DNA (TM) premise, there are little hints of how it could be done well. What if the characters who were temporarily Vulcan had a profound experience of experiencing the universe in a different way? Their sense are different. They literally feel things differently. Characters re-evaluating their past experiences and choices from a Vulcan perspective could lead to new understandings or a desire for change. What if they came to better understand Spock? There's a moment where Chapel says that she understands what Spock's life has been like. Why not explore that? At the end, Spock explains Vulcan feelings and says that logic is not an easy way to live. It would have been so much stronger if it were the other characters who came to that realization through their experiences.

Instead the writers went for dumb, offensive, and repetitive humor that a space Nazi would love.