Logline
An accident with an experimental quantum probability field causes everyone on the USS Enterprise to break uncontrollably into song, but the real danger is that the field is expanding and beginning to impact other ships—allies and enemies alike.
Written by Dana Horgan & Bill Wolkoff
Directed by Dermott Downs
When they announced this episode I hated the sound of it… Not Trek at all I said but I have to say after watching it was like ok that was fun lol
Star Trek had a long history of taking cues from capital-T Theater, so a musical was kind of a logical extension of that.
Thoughts/Observation as I watch:
-
Where will this stand in the long history of Star Trek gimmick episodes? After all, this is the franchise that gave us “Trials and Tribble-ations”, “Take Me Out To The Holosuite”, “In a Mirror, Darkly”, the OG “Lower Decks”, and most recently… “Those Old Scientists”. Holy shit, that was just two episodes ago and in between we got the darkest Star Trek thing in years!
-
Uhura having to be the operator sounds like the most stressful thing to do that doesn’t involve imminent danger.
-
“Even if it’s not fully necessary.” That basically sums up every contrivance to get Kirk on board.
-
KORBY ALERT
-
Ah, spatial distortions, the cause and solution to everything.
-
The facial acting as they enter musical-land is priceless.
-
Acapella theme song!
-
“So… that happened.”
-
“Quantum uncertainty field”. That’s some Hitchiker Guide type stuff.
-
Ah, they brought back the Gilbert and Sullivan stuff.
-
I like how they are hanging a lampshade on just how BIZARRE it is that people sing out their biggest secrets and deepest feelings in musicals.
-
Good save, La’An.
-
“Surprisingly beautiful baritone”
-
It could have been worse for the crew. Imagine if Uhura had broadcast opera into it, then they’d ALWAYS be singing.
-
Shaxs would suggest blowing it up by ejecting the warp core.
-
Gratuitous zero-gee is gratuitous.
-
Oh god, singing Klingons.
-
Yeah, the Klingons would also like the “let’s just blow it up” plan.
-
Wait were those extras twins?
-
Apparently the improbability field also affects the lighting of the bar.
-
Isn’t K’tinga the later type of Klingon ship? Ah, screw it, musical rules.
-
“I don’t love rules but I think you’re about to break a big one.”
-
This totally is going into Temporal Investigations Kirk file.
-
CAROL MARCUS REFERENCE
-
Oh shit, David Marcus reference!
-
“I’m the Ex” standing as if X in a math question is a good bit of workplay.
-
Kind of surprised it took this long to give Celia Rose Gooding a full-on solo.
-
Grammy-Award winning singer!
-
A grand finale. How meta!
-
Boy Band Klingons was not on my bingo card.
-
Lol, playing the TOS theme as a curtain-closer
-
“You sang about lying to me.”
-
“Sorry, Earworm.”
-
All-and-all, it was a good enough gimmick episode. But it was no “Take Me Out To The Holosuite.” (“DEATH TO THE OPPOSITION!”)
-
I was wondering why the Klingons were all pissed off about singing. They love their opera.
…and then I saw the performance and was like ah yeah I bet that would be completely humiliating for them. 😂
I loved this episode!
thoughts after rewatch. This episode is solid. The second gimmick episode this season BUT like the last they keep the story lines going. I mean important stuff is dropped in this one. Some earned heartbreaker stuff (Discovery crew did cry a lot but I never felt it was earned. Not the case here. Some of the heartbreak feels real. Chapel trying to wash away her love for Spock is more complex then her just dumping him.)
Looks like they even made a soundtrack for this, and it is on all major streaming services. Some new tunes for my musical playlist. Seriously loved this episode.
In between the first watch earlier this week and a rewatch tonight, I’ve listening to and humming the songs over and over again. I don’t know why people say the songs aren’t catchy. “Status Report” is sooo catchy, and it even has a little reprise with the “Apologies” at the beginning of the “Private Conversation” which is also very catchy actually.
“How Would That Feel” is beautifully rendered. I’ve started to listen to other Christina Chong’s songs now, and they are pretty good (listen to her “Twin Flames”).
Also, in the last seconds of the episode we had Uhura humming a theme. The closed caption says “Uhura humming ‘Keep us connected’”, which I believe is incorrect. She is humming the opening of Chapel’s “I am Ready” and Spock’s “I am the X”, not Uhura’s “Keep us Connected”.
Touching on the actual character moments for a bit here: the events of this episode do not reflect well on Chapel.
She’d been hitting on Spock literally since the beginning of the show, and openly pining after him for most of that time. Four episodes ago, she winds up breaking down in tears explaining to an alien telephone receptionist how much she cares about him. Two episodes ago she is extremely distraught when Boimler accidentally lets slip that Spock is famous in the future, and her relationship with him almost certainly will not last. And now, she gets into a three month fellowship that she didn’t think she had much of a chance at, doesn’t say a word to Spock until she has no other choice, and then busts out a (involuntary, but reflective of genuine emotion) musical number about how “free” she feels. What the hell.
We already know Chapel has some problems with commitment, but this is a whole 'nother level. Throwing away a relationship she spent most of this show obsessively wishing for, without any apparent consideration for Spock’s feelings or non-breakup solutions to spending a couple months apart, is just wild. I’m sure the finale will touch on this with a little more nuance than a musical number was likely to give, but whatever else is said this is not a good look.
SNW continues to break new ground really well. This was a really refreshing episode and very well done. I for one loooved this episode.
Alright, I get that musicals are not everyone’s cup of tea, but as a person who watched multiple dozens of Broadway musicals, I must say that the songs were really on par with actual musicals. The cast can really sing well – I expected many great things from Cecile Rose Gooding and wow she did not disappoint. I was very pleasantly impressed by Christina Chong, Rebecca Romijin, Ethan Peck’s performances as well.
I think the director made sure to highlight those actors that can sing well and put those that can’t sing into secondary positions. Clearly Grammy-Award winning/Tony Award-nominated Gooding was at the center of the story, and they cut off Anson Mount’s song, because well, he isn’t the greatest singer. They even fully acknowledged that Babs Olusanmokun can’t sing in universe as well. :) The ensemble pieces in the teaser and the finale were superb though and was a lot more entertaining than the solo pieces (which I get is probably much easier to rehearse/record and produce).
I loved that the episode intertwined music as a piece of the story, pushed the character arc forward between Spock/Chapel and La’an/Kirk. I am not so much of a sucker for La’an/Kirk but the alternative universe scenes were really a nice touch. The only cringey part was the Klingon K-pop/rap, but I suppose it was intentionally cringey/funny.
Whether you like this musical episode or not, you gotta admit that SNW really boldly goes where no one has gone before.
Can we talk about how great it is that they keep tinkering with the opening credits for the special episodes? Because I love it every time they do. Fukkin acapella man.
Oh yeah, great idea. Kinda like the Simpsons gag or so:
- If they ever have a mirror episode, the opening credits should be horizontally mirrored
- If they ever have a time travel episode, the opening credits should go backwards
- Another cross-over episode? DS9 or some other ship better appear in there! etc.
I love Star Trek, and I love musicals. These are two of my favorite things, and I never thought they should mix. When this was announced, I was very skeptical. I have to say, that they pulled it off, and it was AMAZING! The plot was a bit meh and definitely made to shoehorn in the musical, but the singing really did it for me. “How Would That Feel” (La’an’s solo) and “Keep Us Connected” (Uhura’s solo) were my favorite songs, and I have listened to them so much today. “How Would That Feel” definitely cemented La’an’s place as my favorite character.
I agree. As a fellow musical lover (I’m posting from the intermission of a touring Broadway show) the writers clearly understand what the music in musicals is meant to represent. La’an’s and Uhura’s solo numbers definitely gave some emotional insight into both characters that I feel benefited the show beyond just being decent musical numbers.
The autotune was painful in a few moments for certain actors but hey, they’re not professional singers, and I would have loved a bigger dance number, but I know that’s pushing it.
honestly who knew La’an and Uhura would be the main characters this season? And I’m crushing on Chapel and Uhura and La’an right now. This episode only made it worse. Yeah there are three damned handsome guys on the show. But those ladies… might be my favorite of all star trek. La’an’s doomed relationship was heartbreaking btw. I knew this was happening with Spock so it didn’t hit so hard (I thought they’d last longer). Meanwhile Pike’s love (who is also insanely cute with that smile) may be heading for danger now. We need to do a poll to see if the woman on SNW are more loved then the men. And good songs.
I just want a full on Erica Ortegas back story episode already. But this was a very enjoyable episode. Im not that picky with music in general, and yet also enjoy musicals generally, so I was happy.
It occurs to me that her partner died around the filming of.this season, and she may not.have had it in her to be a lead for an episode.
I didn’t know that.That’s a fair assessment, and makes sense. I hope she takes good care of herself and takes the time she needs to mourn.
She has written a heart-wrenched, tragic letter about this experience and grief. It was very moving/difficult to read and gained me a lot of respect for her:
And I just read every inspiring, touching word. Thank you. Deeply, thank you for sharing this.
But but lotus eaters was that “she is Erica Ortegas…she drives the ship”…/s
Yeah, strangely enough, while this kind of character development doesn’t make the show worse, it does make it more obvious (at least to me) that her character hasn’t been given the screen time the others have that dives into her backstory.
Plus that episode is a tease because she starts off excited to do something other than fly the ship with an inner monologue and everything.
Had she gone down to the planet and somehow realized by the end of the episode that she loves flying the ship, or the other characters learning that she’s so much more than just a pilot, that woupd have been satisfactory to me (at least for a season).
It could be bunnies
Bunnies aren’t just cute like everybody supposes!
They’ve got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses!
And what’s with all the carrots?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway?
Bunnies!
Bunnies!
It must be bunnies!
Did I hear a bit of the music from Once More With Feeling in engineering near the start?
Or maybe midgets.
Yeah, I heard that too during the moment where Pelia suggests sending music through the rift. I think it’s part of that song where Dawn dances at the Bronze.
Yeah, Dawn’s Ballet or something very like it. Cool reference.
Loved it. I was most surprised that the whole cast all had such beautiful singing voices.
La’an’s song touched me the most because I’m someone who also doesn’t really dare to do the things I’d like to do.
A bit sad that we didn’t get a Klingon opera but the alternative was … well, interesting too. 😄 Also, I kinda hope that Spock solving diplomatic crises with the Klingons by drinking excessive amounts of blood wine will become a running gag.
Addendum: after watching it again I realized that (for the first time?) several male background extras were wearing the dress-type uniform variant that only the women used to wear.
Are we getting the unisex skant back? Hell yeah! I love this show.
Boimler wears a skant a bunch of times in Lower Decks.
deleted by creator
I am just the opposite. I love musicals and I love Star Trek, but this one was my least favorite of the season. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate them trying something innovative for the Trek series. I enjoyed seeing the actors working outside the box. But overall it didn’t give me the joy that the other episodes have.
According to the Ready Room, Bruce Horak played the Klingon captain!
The one with the eye patch? Is he only allowed to play virtually impaired characters?
He may prefer to-- he is himself legally blind, and completely blind in one eye.
I’m glad he’s able to if that’s what he wants! I just hope he’s not being pigeonholed into roles since he’s a great actor.