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I gave this one a rewatch, and not only is it much better when you're not half-asleep like I was the first time 'round, I think it also works better when you know the Spock twist in advance.

Setting aside the silliness of the simulation, the actual story worked better for me once I realized that the re-creation room was manipulating La'An the entire time, planting the false Spock from the very beginning, and using the various characters to needle her about her feelings - both that she has them at all, and how she's afraid people might take her less seriously in her job as a consequence of them.

Not-Uhura's speech is about the "Amelia Moon" stories La'An grew up with just as much as it's about Star Trek itself.

And Christina Chong turned in a really great performance throughout, too - this one should definitely go in her audition reel.

Amazing - I've sometimes thought about making a sticker or something for conventions, but this is better.

That was a pretty fun bit of silliness - low-calorie, but it looked like the cast had a good time.

The La'an/Spock storyline is unexpected, but damned if Ethan Peck and Christina Chong don't have chemistry.

Obviously continue to watch something you dislike, despite there being many other things you can do with your life.

What part of any of this was boys will be boys?

What part of any of this was hockey related?

Are those serious questions?

But [the case] also revealed the existence of a secret Hockey Canada fund, which the organization eventually admitted it had specifically created to pay settlements in sexual assault cases against players – apparently lifting the lid off a long-simmering culture of abuse and cover-ups extending far beyond the case at hand.

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree. I'm not against puppets, but a TAS-style adventure would have been fun.

I don't want to dispute this too much, because it's obviously true, but Disney is also making the occasional thing like "Andor", which is neither safe nor unchallenging.

But the exception proves the rule, and so on.

The guy doesn't have the permit yet, so it seems likely that it won't be granted, as long as the application process gives them space to deny permission.

At least in these parts, it seems like no one's talking about Hamilton - they're shaping up to be a bit if a dark horse.

The Als are the only team in the East that seem to get any credit.

If panic buttons aren't yet being pressed in Bomberville, a lot of people are at least inching closer to them.

until now Gold has done a pretty good job.

True - I've already mentioned that I don't like some of the other choices he made in this season, but he has also turned in some really good stuff by this point.

We also get his line, “An ordinary man, that’s the most important thing in creation.”

Thanks for mentioning this - it's very much a core sentiment of the series, and is even repeated later in this episode when the Doctor gets the married couples' backstory.

If they're really going to join the fleet from time to time, maybe we'll finally see this era's Enterprise.