Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 2x09 "Subspace Rhapsody"

LoglineAn 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

RHTeebs ,
@RHTeebs@startrek.website avatar

That Klingon Boy Band was hilarious. The pause was just perfect.

shanna ,

I feel like I’m the only person who was SUPER excited when the musical episode was announced, and… rather underwhelmed by the actual episode. (Except for the a capella theme song. I adored that!) Maybe my expectations were too high, but… I just didn’t think most of the songs were that good. I need to rewatch it a couple times, maybe it’ll grow on me.

TeaHands ,
@TeaHands@lemmy.world avatar

Nah I’m with you, just made a similar comment! It did have its moments but I expected the songs to be stronger for sure.

1stTime4MeInMCU ,

I felt similarly. Like, sure, its a little silly but hey go for it. But if you go for it you gotta nail it and while the performances were all decent the songs themselves were mostly just ok.

c4lm ,

That was hard work… Can’t fault the singing, but after 10 minutes it all felt very tedious.

I don’t care about the love affairs of the Enterprise. I was finding all the emo, pining, lovesick, will they, won’t they crap tedious well before this.

Drummer lites Kirk crush feels especially forced. How many times are they going to force him into an episode?! he serves on a different ship ffs

Incidentally I loved ‘Once more with feeling’ (inspite of Gellars singing)

CeruleanRuin ,
@CeruleanRuin@lemmy.world avatar

I actually really like Kirk being intricately tied to the Enterprise in intimate ways in the years before getting command of it. Trek has never really dealt with how a ship passes hands to a new captain, and I enjoy that Kirk is being given the chance to form relationships with the ship and members of the crew well before anyone even considers that he might one day be its captain. Never mind that Pike is uniquely well aware that his own time is limited and he wants to make sure that his ship is in good hands, so vetting Kirk in this way by encouraging this kid of collaboration is also a reflection of his own strengths.

And just in a broader sense it’s always neat to see Federation ships collaborating. I’d like to see more of it, honestly. Sure, starship crews are often isolated from one another, but they’re also designed and trained to work together on missions whenever possible, and I like the excuse to explore that dynamic with Kirk.

c4lm ,

Does Pike know Kirk will take command of Enterprise?

samus12345 ,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

No, he’s only seen Kirk in command of the Farragut in an alternate timeline where Pike avoided the accident. It seems a bit cruel that he knows about the accident, but not that his mind ends up in a simulation unfettered from his physical body. Kinda wish Boimler had told him (assuming it’s in the official record). Not like it would change the timeline since he’s resigned to his fate.

Abuses_Commas ,

I don’t think so, when he had his Balance of Power episode I don’t think he was told that Kirk was supposed to be in charge, just that he shouldn’t have been

CCatMan ,

Dummer… Lol

kmccoy ,

This was incredible. Loved seeing Celia Rose Gooding so clearly in their element. And Bruce Horak returns in one of the strangest Klingon moments yet!

CeruleanRuin ,
@CeruleanRuin@lemmy.world avatar

I love a good comedy relief Klingon moment. They nailed that. It was just goofy and unexpected enough to get a good laugh and they knew just when to cut it off before it overstayed its welcome.

triktrek ,

Wait, what? I didn’t realize the Klingon captain was Bruce Horak!

seananigans , (edited )

I enjoyed the episode well enough as a gimmick. It was clear the cast really enjoyed themselves and I’m glad we get episodes like this.

I am a fan of musicals and musical theatre. While it’s nice to see them have a go, it certainly is one of the musicals of all time. Nothing impressed me. It wasn’t particularly inspiring or interesting. Forcing that dreadful auto tune on several of the characters felt even worse. It would have felt charming for them to not necessarily nail every note. In the end, I now see in retrospect why the marketing for this episode contained none of the musical numbers; the executives might have thought it would put people off.

I never mind when a good Star Trek show does an average episode because I’m always happy to see more of the characters I love.

After last weeks episode, which in my opinion could be one of, if not the best Star Trek has done in 30 years, I feel like they can take the small L here.

batmaniam ,

I actually loved the bad autotune for the same reason you mentioned thatd you’d like the bad singing lol. It was kind of fun going “whelp, that actor is an actor not a singer”. I guess auto-tune has been around enough it’s in that “charm” category for me: “eh, they got the spirit”.

williams_482 ,
@williams_482@startrek.website avatar

I was not optimistic; musicals are definitely not my favorite genre. I was pleasantly surprised.

This is such an incredibly well done show.

AzPsycho ,

Another great episode. The a capella theme song was great too.

Odo , (edited )

The Klingon breakdown in the final song about had me laughing so hard I was almost in tears. I appreciate using the songs to move various character storylines forward. It feels like everyone ended the episode in a much better place, outside of Spock. …and maybe M’Benga…he didn’t seem thrilled with the singing, though he certainly had some fancy footwork during the final song.

triktrek ,

I feel like poor La’an is in a worse place now. She just doesn’t get a break. :(

CeruleanRuin ,
@CeruleanRuin@lemmy.world avatar

On the other hand, she made a breakthrough in actually opening up to Kirk, and he didn’t reject her for it. If anything, him being unavailable for other reasons may be a relief to La’an, releasing her to focus on other things now that she knows that door is closed to her (at least for now).

triktrek ,

Yeah, I guess.

But also, jealousy can be a difficult emotion to deal with, and La’an already had to deal with a lot this and past season. But then again, she’s a tough one.

felixxx999 ,

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.)

frankPodmore , (edited )
@frankPodmore@slrpnk.net avatar

No, sorry. Very bad. Only Rose-Gooding and Chong could sing, the autotune was obvious and jarring for all the others. The songs weren’t memorable (I confess I really dislike the modern US showtune style, but it can at least be catchy — this wasn’t), the choreography and even the editing was shoddy. The first episode of Trek, other than Enterprise, that I’ve wanted to switch off.

Mezentine ,

What an absolute gosh darned delight that was. I love musicals but I tend to be pretty cynical about musical episode of TV shows, but I think that’s probably the best one I’ve ever seen? It helps that a. its still a coherent episode with a plot about the musical itself, b. its effectively paying off three or four different emotional character arcs we’ve already spent a lot of time with and c. the music is actually really well written both lyrically and compositionally

hivemind ,

SNW playing with the format we all know and love continues to pay off.

Trek has a very, very long history of the space anomaly of the week causing hijinks to ensue. And these hijinks were epic. Especially considering the sheer amount of raw broadway-class talent SNW has.

And the foreshadowing with the drinking-song-belting, sea-shanty-and-opera-loving Klingons getting pissed off about the “we have to sing everything” bit was hilarious (and Pike’s “WTF” face was the icing!)

I know it’s a one-shot, but bloody brilliant.

catshit_dogfart ,

I think that’s the best thing going for SNW.

Not every episode has to be about something. In fact most of them aren’t, they’re all one-offs. They go to a thing, some problems happen, they solve those problems. It can be thrilling, scary, intriguing, or silly.

None of these grand arc stories where every moment of every episode is so important that if you blink you’ll be lost for the rest of the show. None of these “very special message” episodes either. Just random space adventures most of the time. It worked in the 60s and it’s working today.

LibraryLass ,

None of these “very special message” episodes either

I mean, barring the single best episode of the show.

lawrence ,

I’m a fan of musicals and Star Trek. This episode was definitely one of the most unique I’ve ever watched. It was original, inspirational and fun. And as an added bonus, we received a collection of beautiful songs.

lonlazarus ,

So, the time has finally come. I want to mention that I’m not a huge fan of musicals, this translates to that tend to only watch them if external circumstances push me to watch one and I only enjoy if they’re really well done. Well, circumstances have pushed me, and… it was meh.

I thought the songs weren’t particularly memorable, the productions were a bit underwhelming and the dancing nearly non-existent.

1stTime4MeInMCU ,

La’an definitely becoming one of my favorite characters, which is surprising because she was middle of the pack in S1.

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