This is another episode where the pair of Doctor and Rose feel to have jumped around a bit. After last episode’s downer ending they’re all upbeat again. This has happened a few times this series.

Yeah, I know I’ve been banging on about this all season, but it really seems the like episodic sequence is all out of whack.

This is a pretty average episode, and I don’t have a good sense for what people think of it in general, but I’ve always been fond of it for one reason: the domestic approach.

Eddie Connolly is an absolute cartoon character, but he’s a type of stock character that I like a lot. A petty tyrant in his own home, clearly a product of older times that are coming to an end, likely having experienced a fair amount of wartime trauma, who ultimately gets his comeuppance. Jamie Foreman’s performance is a little over-the-top, but in a way, that makes it work even better for me. He’s got so much impotent bluster, it really paints a picture. To a lesser extent, this expands out to the overall setting - this is a society in transition, and there’s a palpable tug-of-war between the old and the new that I find compelling.

The core plot with the Wire? Adequate. It does what it needs to do, and not much more. Maureen Lipman plays the character well, and the notion that the Wire was “executed” by their own people is interesting, but there’s not a lot to chew on.

Mark Gatiss seems to have a really good grasp of who the Tenth Doctor and Rose are - their dialogue, both together and separately, has a lot of energy. A fun random bit that I’m not sure I noticed before: when the Doctor is cornered by the police and does the bit about wrapping your hand around your elbow, the goon in the background tries it while Detective Inspector Bishop is trying to act intimidating.

Using an historic television signal to transmit to the masses is a good idea. Maybe the Doctor should keep that one in mind.

Often themselves. The focus of the article is overwhelmingly on children who were injured in without the involvement of another vehicle.

why the D7 never detected the shuttle

I think this one can be explained by the radiation - Scotty and Ortegas had to jury-rig something to track the D7, and they had the advantage of knowing it was there.

As for the stuff with Uhura and Kor…upon reflection, I think this might come up in the season finale, which seems to feature

AFAIK, Rogers still has the brand. It just won’t be on CBC.

I don’t really have a read on Spock, but Pike certainly seemed to sense she was holding something back. I don’t know if he actually knows what, though.

One thing I forgot to mention - since the preview photos and logline were released on Monday, I’d been wondering if we might see some ridgeless Klingons, but no luck. Maybe it’s for the best, but maybe it’s a missed opportunity?

Well, I thought that was quite enjoyable.

The black-and-white gimmick was well-used, and I felt it in service of the story, and not just a gimmick.

The story itself was an enjoyable noir caper, and it was fun to see Una getting her hands dirty, Uhura learning about spycraft, and M’Benga being entirely too comfortable with the whole thing. The guest cast was pretty great, too - I last saw Andy McQueen as Jesus Christ himself in “Mrs. Davis”, a show that no one seems to have watched, and it was cool to see him in a very different role here.

Demore Barnes was very compelling as Kor…but the gravitas he brought to it was so reminiscent of Michael Ansara to me, I almost wonder if he should have played Kang instead.

Alexander/Neelix/Jack Crusher teamup when

Who was asking for more Alexander stories?

If there’s one thing I’m pretty confident Terry Matalas wants to do, it’s bang his old action figures together.

Well, given their other mission statement of Getting the Band Together, I don’t think we’re going to be seeing less Kirk moving forward…

I know people are sort of tossing the season premiere into the “gimmick” bucket due to the nature of the time travel story, but it seemed like a pretty standard episode of Trek to me.

Genre trappings aside, I’m actually pretty intrigued by the logline for this one:

Una is mistaken for a resistance leader and drawn into a struggle against Klingon occupation.

I remember starting Fringe when it debuted, but it didn’t grab my attention and I dropped it pretty quickly. I know its reputation is quite good - I should give it another go sometime.

Martialer Law

Why is lumic in a wheelchair throne, he’s got a metal body?

I’m not proud, but I laughed. I suppose it’s supposed to be a throne, but the optics are awful.

I read up on the wiki later and realised they were meant to be in a gay relationship.

I totally forgot about that. I think Andrew Hayden-Smith sells it pretty well, and Noel Clarke absolutely doesn’t.

At one point lumic “declares independence” - this dialogue makes no sense

I think he’s referring to London, which I guess makes a kind of sense given the appearance of the PM in the previous episode, but yeah that line is a whole lot of nothing.

The first thing that strikes me is that the story here is held together by a lot of wild contrivances. Mickey and Jake get to the roof of Battersea undetected…somehow! Despite normally clanking around, the Cybermen can still sneak up on you when convenient! Mickey’s hacking skills (granted these have been halfway established in the past) are strong enough that he can find the override code for the emotional inhibitors in a matter of seconds! Also, he knows how to fly a Zeppelin because PlayStation!

With that all the way, I think the emotional core of the episode is strong. The body horror is executed perfectly, with the “why am I cold” scene being absolutely outstanding (and something that I’d forgotten about, shame on me).

I really appreciated Pete’s “rejection” of Rose, even after he learns the truth. It’s unsatisfying in a very real sort of way.

I’m less fond of Mickey’s departure - it’s fine, I just don’t care much for Mickey. I do think it would have been more resonant if Eccleston was still the Doctor, since he showed more disdain for Mickey last season.

It was nice that the episode spent some time with Jake, and especially Mrs. Moore. It’s a little surprising that we never met their counterparts in the mainline universe.

Lastly…the Cybermen could be a good metaphor for toxic masculinity. Maybe it’s time to revisit them.

We all know what happened when Jim Kirk went to the movies.

Paramount fumbled it pretty badly from the beginning, with it being a Nickelodeon (the channel) show, until it wasn’t.

And Netflix evidently didn’t care to commission more once they acquired the rights.

The chances are indeed slim, but considering the state of Paramount right now…sure, shoot your shot.

Well yeah, my understanding of the Maquis’ formation of an armed resistance must definitely shouldn’t be taken as an endorsement of everything they did.

What was the question again?

All we wanted to know was whether a hot dog is a sandwich…

if they have specific details they hammered out with these descendants of native americans, I don’t thing was specified in the episode.

There was an agreement made with Gul Evek - as you said, for them to be under Cardassian jurisdiction, if not full citizens:

PICARD: Anthwara, I want to make absolutely sure that you understand the implications of this agreement. By giving up your status as Federation citizens, any future request you or your people make to Starfleet will go unanswered. You will be on your own and under Cardassian jurisdiction.

ANTHWARA: I understand, Captain. And we are prepared to take that risk. Will the Cardassian government honour your agreement here?

GUL EVEK: I believe I can convince them that this is an equitable solution. I cannot speak for every Cardassian you may encounter, but if you leave us alone I suspect that we will do the same. Will this be acceptable to the Starfleet Command?

PICARD: It will not be easy, but with Admiral Necheyev’s support, I think they will go along with it in the end.

However, that’s not the way things went down:

HUDSON: I knew him. Bill Samuels was a farmer. He cultivated his land for twenty years. He raised two kids on that land. He made something out of that land and the Federation told him he had to give it all up to the Cardassians. Well, he just was not willing to do that.

SISKO: And it was people like him who made both sides realise that some accommodation had to be made for the colonies so they could stay.

HUDSON: The Cardassians have no intention of allowing these people to stay. They will either force them out or they will kill them. It’s already started. Not a day goes when there’s not some random act of violence against our people. Every Federation colonist knows you do not go out alone at night. Can you imagine living in that kind of fear?

SISKO: If you’re saying the Cardassian authorities are not enforcing the laws, we can-

HUDSON: Enforcing the laws? The Cardassian authorities were part of a mob that stoned two colonists on the streets of Ropal City three days ago.

SISKO: That’s something the Federation can take up with the Cardassians at the highest level.

HUDSON: Well, that will help a lot. The word is the Cardassian High Command is arming their colonists to the teeth.

Those are the events that led to the Maquis as a resistance movement - before that, there were no Maquis, just colonists who stayed behind.