But as a result of the Tezaarans have extraordinarily superior scanning expertise, the Starfleet crew can’t simply disguise themselves as Vulcans. They should be Vulcans, which is the place Chapel’s newly modified model of the serum that saved the day again when Spock was turned human last season is available in. Pike, Uhura, La’an, Chapel, and Pelia all dose themselves with it, however the latter’s Lanthanite metabolism retains her from reworking. (Which is actually a disgrace, as the thought of a Vulcan model of the loud, hedonistic Pelia is intriguing.)
Strangely, nonetheless, in spite of everything this build-up, we don’t truly see something of the rescue mission they’re ostensibly meant to be on, exterior of an admittedly badass slo-mo energy stroll down a ship’s hall. The menace of nuclear catastrophe is solved within the house of a few minutes, and the velocity of its answer is performed for laughs. The gang returns to the ship virtually instantly, the place (to the seemingly shock of nobody who’s ever seen this present earlier than) the antidote doesn’t work, and so they’re all caught as Vulcans for the foreseeable.
Initially, it feels as if “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans” goes to be a Spock episode. There’s the title, for one factor, and the truth that the very first thing that the newly modified Enterprise staff members glom onto is how Spock is barely half Vulcan. (The implication being, after all, that he’s lesser than they’re due to it. They’re fairly impolite about it, actually.) But the problem doesn’t actually come up once more for no matter cause, and the majority of the hour focuses on the remainder of the gang making an attempt to navigate numerous points of their private lives from a extra logical, Vulcan perspective. That goes about in addition to anybody would possibly count on.
Pike’s hair has one way or the other grown at the very least three sizes in the middle of his transformation, and, due to his newfound Vulcan obsessions with meals and tidiness, Anson Mount will get the uncommon probability to point out off the truth that, beneath his normal golden retriever demeanor, he actually is a wonderful comedic actor. (Someone solid this man in a rom-com, please!) It appears, nonetheless, that for the second (third?) week in a row, we simply received’t be addressing the truth that his girlfriend appears to often be partially possessed by a Gorn every time the storyline wants it. (She has….tremendous power now? Maybe? Sometimes?)
Batel’s not the one character whose trauma comes and goes when the story requires it. Ortegas, regardless of her early-season struggles with PTSD, now appears remarkably high-quality, although understandably upset when she realizes that Uhura’s primarily used a Vulcan thoughts meld to brainwash Beto into being a extra palatable (and malleable) boyfriend. Given that this episode leans into the concept that these individuals are nonetheless people at their core regardless of being remodeled into Vulcans, it says one thing….let’s simply name it uncomfortable that that is the very first thing Uhura decides to do along with her new, extra environment friendly consciousness. For her half, Chapel doubles down on changing into a workaholic, severing all the private relationships in her life, whereas La’an turns into more and more violent, obsessive about weapons and the prospect of struggle. Spock says this has one thing to do with the truth that she’s half human and half Augment, which is one other attention-grabbing concept that doesn’t get explored in any actual depth. (Here’s hoping that bit the place Pike and La’an each seem to acknowledge they bear in mind their encounters with Romulans goes someplace earlier than the tip of the season.
The finest moments in “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans” typically don’t have a lot to do with the entire Vulcan drawback. Every time Pelia is onscreen is pleasant, and the seeds of what’s going to develop into James Kirk and Montgomery Scott’s future friendship are planted throughout a aspect quest wherein they’ve to stop La’an from beginning a struggle for enjoyable. It may be higher if all of us simply neglect the terrible subplot that includes Patton Oswalt as Una’s ex ever existed. Truly, we should study extra about Number One’s life exterior of her function on the Enterprise, however this subplot about her being unable to recover from her intense sexual attraction to somebody as uninteresting as Doug feels virtually insulting, to not point out wildly out of character for the girl we’ve gotten to know up till this level. (Also, it’s simply awkward as hell. No matter how humorous Ethan Peck is whereas Spock’s pretending to be married to her.)
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