This one was a bit disappointing to be honest. The darker/space-war episodes are rarely my favourite anyway but this one really suffered from impenetrable plot armour on most of the main cast. Gosh, will Spock and Chapel survive this time?! Of course they will; because it’s Mr. Spock and Nurse Chapel :-/.
And the federation apparently willing to just let it slide that an entire starship and crew were destroyed.
Chapel meeting Spock was a stretch. Proceeding to launch the rest of the ship into the planet after that was unconscionable.
Are the Gorn supposed to be dumb reptiles confused by flashing lights or technologically advanced space fairing antagonists? It’s too much of a stretch to leave unexplained at this point. Maybe part two will clear that up… in a couple of years :-/
And just the general bloodlust among the crew when prepping to go fight. These established affable and charming young scientists and nerds but suddenly it’s season final time and it’s all “the only good bug is a dead bug 😡”.
Some incredible best-of-show set pieces and special effects but a pretty dour end to a fun season of Trek. I’m not against more serious episodes at all, just this one has too many loose ends and inconsistencies.
No, that’s how they get back to the canon. Sad. I’m as confused as you about the Gorn, though. I’m also wondering about the affable/bloodthirsty crew and trying to make sense of the title, “Hegemony.” Here’s one way might make sense: The demarcation line was a power play, kind of like NATO moving to Russia’s back yard or Russia reclaiming Crimea. Pike crosses it, another power play. Are we looking at a battle for unipolar power? Depicting the crew as both affable and bloodthirsty might be a way of holding up a mirror to ourselves. The Gorn are from hell. Demonizing people makes it easier to kill them. Interestingly, toward the end of the episode, Pike has a sentence about understanding the Gorn. Don’t groan. All Star-Trek series have included social commentary. (Remember Pelia’s comment, a couple of episodes ago, about holding onto valuable art in case this no-money experiment in socialism were to fail?)