A pretty good episode that got a lot more interesting in the final act.

For the most part, it came off as a story that we’ve seen before, albeit a well-told one. But the reveal that Kirk drugged Reeger in order to make him unfit for commend is a genuinely compelling idea, as is the idea that M’Benga just torpedoed his career to cover it up.

The B-plot was decent, too - it was good to see Uhura do some ass-kicking.

They sure do like to talk about the Klingon War as if it’s ancient history when it only ended about five years ago, though.

Indeed, it’s the name of the entire video series. I think he’s done three of them now?

It sounds like they’re designing it to be easy to expand over time if and when demand increases - not sure it means anything more than that.

Until next year.

We are, but I don’t think any country on Earth believes that drones are the solution to every problem. Ukraine has revolutionized drone warfare, but even they are actively working to get new planes.

I don’t believe there is a kill switch, but the basic truth is that they don’t need one - the Americans control the maintenance pipeline, which is just as effective.

As much as I love the Arrow, I think there’s a case for the cancellation - the tide was starting to turn against dedicated interceptors, as the article notes.

But there’s no excuse at all for the absolute gutting of the domestic industry that followed.

Quarries.

I’m NOT a defense analyst, professional or amateur.

Me neither, not by a long shot. From the various analyses I’ve consumed over the last few months, the suggestion is that the F35 is superior if you’re attacking another country, but the Gripens just might have the edge defensively.

Our airstrips, maintenance facilities, fuel depots, all of it would be targeted and destroyed first.

This arguably gives the Gripen an edge, since its most famous feature is that it can be deployed relatively easily from highways and other non-standard surfaces.

But yeah, if you set aside the issue of American relations, there are some pretty big questions of doctrine to sort out.

I saw an article a few days ago that said that sales of physical media (specifically CDs, IIRC) are up significantly, but there doesn’t seem to be a corresponding decrease in streaming popularity.

That piece suggested that the “collectible” factor may be greater than any streaming backlash.

BRB renaming the instance

“I like ‘Love & Monsters’” might be the most unpopular unpopular opinion of all time, but…dammit, I like “Love & Monsters.” You know, mostly.

It might actually be the most RTD episode of all time, for better or worse.

It’s silly. I think the comedy works quite well, through a combination of the writing and the casting. I feel like RTD has a real knack for making the supporting characters of a story seem like real people, rather than plot devices. Every single member of LInDA seems like a living, breathing person to me, and I care about this band of weirdos almost immediately. Even Victor Kennedy has a slimy charisma to him. Marc Warren plays Elton perfectly as a dopey doofus stumbling through life. The madcap farce of it all works incredibly well for me.

It’s tragic. The episode is packed with ideas about found family, and about not realizing what you have until you’ve lost it. The evolution of LInDA from a group of people with a single goal to a tight gang of friends, which is then disrupted by a newcomer with bad intentions, is great to watch play out. Elton stumbling through it all, realizing too late that he’s become a villain in his manipulation of Jackie Tyler is great, too. The members of LInDA are eliminated one by one in a classicly bloodthirsty RTD fashion. It toys with the idea of people who touch the Doctor getting burned in general, and lays the groundwork for Rose’s impending doom in particular. In the process, it gives Rose perhaps her finest moment to date, turning from furious to sympathetic as she begins to understand some of what Elton has experienced.

And then it’s almost entirely undermined by the terrible decision to have Ursula…survive, I guess? And then tack on a pretty gross joke at the end.

Cut out the last three or four minutes, and I think we’d have a classic on our hands. In the end, it can be nothing more than a guilty pleasure.

Bit of a mixed bag.

reduce duplicative work

Never a bad thing.

and operative costs

Red flag when you’re not also talking about the efficiency and quality of the work being done.

strengthen digital sovereignty and security

I don’t think anyone’s going to argue with that.

That’s the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.

Well, it’s not just the portrait.

Two of many good questions.

I assume this is primarily for the GTA commuter rail where that’s less(?) of an issue.

But in any case, the VIA rolling stock is pretty old, AFAIK.

If anyone’s counting, this is the third episode this season involving hallucinations (SNW: “The Griffin incident” and SNW: “Level Five Transporter Accident” being the other two).

We can add Spock’s hallucinations of Ortegas and Scotty as plants in “Human Best Friend” to that list.

I actually had no idea who Deidre Hall was

For those who have never seen it, she’s been on “Days of Our Lives” for 50(!) years.

The key line is “Space adventures leave little time for humans to deal with their inner struggles”. This line is important because it is wrong.

It’s a little odd - I agree that it’s the key line of the episode, but I don’t think it’s necessarily meant to be universally true (though it does reflect Pike’s beliefs, or at least his avoidance of dealing with his own stuff [Edit: This is almost universally true of our captains over the years]), and I don’t think it’s really the point of the episode.

What I took away from it is a meditation on reality and perception - in a way, maybe the key line was actually what Pike said about the details fading, but the memories remaining. I think anyone who has experienced enough loss in their lives would find that pretty impactful.

I was enjoing the soap opera silliness up until that point, but I ended up really respecting the statements they were making through Pike’s journey. It takes on an added dimension when you consider where he ends up, living out the rest of his days in a Talosian illusion. I wonder if Juliet will be there…

What the heck, I might as well make this my top-level comment and include some other scattered thoughts:

• Soap operas deserve more respect than they generally get - those people work.

• On that note, it was great to see Marlena herself, Deidre Hall, as the counselor. It’s hard to imagine a better choice.

• I’m glad Spock slept through this one - he’s hallucinated more than enough this season. And Ethan Peck crushed it as Evil Twin Sybok.

• One thing I do think has been missing this season is connective tissue for the character arcs. I suppose it’s been there for La’An, but she’s mostly been treading water. It was nice to see her dealing with the fallout of a breakout she initiated, but it still seems fragmented. The same can be said for pretty much everybody else.