ValueSubtracted

Agreed on all points.

Jellico's line about not being able to supply new combadges across the fleet was a pretty funny way to acknowledge the badge inconsistency with the "Picard" flashbacks - I'm going to try not to think about that too hard.

I'm disappointed that we'll never get a chance to see Elnor in one of the sailor suits the cadets wore on this show.

One thing that's going to bug me for a while is how Solum can progress peacefully without contradicting season one - Ilthuran isn't exactly on track to become the Diviner at this point.

With a title like that, I was half-expecting a clip show...

I was also thinking that Hologram Janeway might borrow the mobile emitter and pull a switcheroo with the Admiral, but it turns out the Doctor can just do it himself.

Pretty good for a table-setting episode. The most significant development was taking Wesley's omniscience off the board, which probably had to happen for the rest of the season to have any stakes.

Ever since "Picard" season one, I've been itching to see Starfleet during the time of the Romulan evacuation, when the vast majority of their resources have been redeployed to support that mission. I never expected it to be this show that did it. It's interesting to hear that there are A500 synth units supporting the Federation member worlds - it's probably a good thing that only the units on Mars were hacked, as far as we know.

Thematically, things are really starting to come together, with Dal and the crew learning to contribute to the mission rather than take control of it.

I think I'm pretty happy with this resolution to Zero's arc - their new body seems fitting.

Those were the Enderprizians from "All the World's a Stage", right?

They certainly appeared to be - how that's possible is an exercise left to the viewer, which is part of the fun of alternate universe stories.

That said, this is the first episode of the season that fell a little flat for me. I know part of the show's mission is to give a bit of a "grand tour" of Star Trek, but this is the first one that seemed a little contrived to me.

Part of it is probably that I prefer the Mirror Universe to be more scary than silly, and the episode understandably leaned into the silly.

So...did Rok-Tahk just come up with a "cure" for tribble breeding? That would seem to be a significant development...

That was certainly unexpected - I love the concept of having to sail the Protostar across the atmosphere.

Beltran's work as Chakotay this season has actually been really good - this might be the first time I've ever been invested in the character.

Wow, Wheaton was really great in this. His manic, impulsive Wesley Crusher is a lot more interesting than the more serene version we've gotten since...always, really.

They're really leaning in to the Doctor Who of it all, not just with Wesley, but also with the Loom, which seem ripped straight out of Father's Day.

It's nice of the Starfleet of this era to not only put security officers back into red shirts, but making them brighter than those of the command officers to make them easier targets.

“The Breen ship, I believe, is the largest asset we’ve ever built. It was about 10 kilometres of an actual digital environment that were built so we can travel through and also shoot practically in certain areas,” he recalls. “It was a really massive ship both from the exterior but also from the interior. And it’s something that if you look at the details when you’re watching it on screen, there’s just so much depth, Digi doubles and ships – the detail is almost endless.”

Not sure what to say here besides, "wow."

See, I knew I should've paid more attention to what they were saying around "Zee."

It really was good to get a Zero-centric episode.

The Nobodies being reckless thrill-seekers was a nice story element - I always wished Saru had gone through something similar following his vahar'ai.

I think the episode did about as well as could be expected when it comes to conveying the concept of gaining senses for the first time, and then willingly giving them up. Heady stuff for a kids' show.

By the way, did Gwyn refer to Zero as a he in the log?

I had the chance to keep an ear out for this as I watched, and I think the line is, "I think Zee's safe with us until we do." They've used the nickname a handful of times through the season so far, but it's susceptible to unclear pronounciation.