• Dak’Rah speaks of a chancellor who asked him about a Klingon speaking on behalf of the Federation, and he uses masculine pronouns while doing so. The title of chancellor has been used to describe a variety of positions, but I suspect that I am not the only one who initially assumed Dak’Rah was speaking of the chancellor of the Klingon Empire, their head of state. Last we saw, L’Rell was still chancellor, after having taken over in “Will You Take My Hand?”
• ”tlhIngan maH taHjaj.” Ortegas recites the rallying cry of T’Kuvma’s followers from “The Vulcan Hello”, ”Remain Klingon.”
• Uhura learned about Aenar philosophy from Hemmer in “Memento Mori”, and we learned that they’re pacifists in “The Aenar”.
• Doctor M’Benga and La’an have been practicing Mok’bara, a Klingon martial art Worf taught aboard the USS Enterprise D as seen in “Clues”. As per “The Vulcan Hello”, prior to the Federation-Klingon War, there was effectively no contact between the Federation and the Empire for 100 years, which does raise the question of how two Starfleet officers would have been able to learn Mok’bara.
• The red martial arts uniforms Doctor M’Benga and Dak’Rah wear for their Mok’Bara sparing session resemble the ones we see worn in “Charlie X” when Kirk is showing Charlie Evans some throws in the work facilities. Except those uniforms had tight leggings, an a Starfleet delta on the chest.
• In the flashback to J’Gal, we see the Klingons there all wore their hair long. Every Klingon we saw in season one, from heads of Great Houses to guys urinating in back alleys, was bald, and in “Point of Light” we learned that it was specifically because they were at war, first with other Klingons, and then with then with the Federation. We also so that each House had individual customs for dress and body modification, so unreasonable to assume that whichever House Dak’Rah and the other Klingons who held J’Gal were loyal to did not engage in such tonsure.
• The Klingon warlords we see Doctor M’Benga kill in the flashback are wearing the same armour as D’Chok in “The Broken Circle”.
• The D’k thag dagger was introduced in “Star Trek: The Search for Spock”.
• According to Doctor M’Benga’s service record, he was born in 2223, meaning he would be 36 years old.
• The subtitles for the episode call the Klingon homeworld ”Kronos,” but fortunately the map Number One gives to Pike has it labelled ”Qo’noS,” as it should be.
• ”How can we represent a Federation that believes in peace if we say some people aren’t allowed to make up for their past.” For example, Pike will probably be very grateful that during the events of “The Menagerie, Part I” the Talosians choose not to display the moment where he claimed, “It’s just that I can’t get used to having a woman on the bridge.” Look how far he’s come in only five years!
• Doctor M’Benga tells Dak’Rah, ”You turned me into a monster.” In “The Wounded”, Chief O’Brien tells a Cardassian officer, “It’s not you I hate, Cardassian. I hate what I became because of you.”
• Dak’Rah accidentally stabs himself during the struggle with Doctor M’Benga. In “The House of Quark”, a Klingon named Kozak accidentally stabbed himself while fighting Quark, an in “The Vulcan Hello”, the Klingon Torchbearer stabbed himself after ambushing Michael Burnham.