Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 3 Viewing (Spoilers)

[pukunui]

My comment wasn't 'oh good she's cured' it was 'oh, the plot point has been completely forgotten'.

And I'm saying that I don't agree that it has. Just because it doesn't come up every episode doesn't mean it's been dropped. La'an's Gorn-related trauma didn't come up every episode in the two prior seasons.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

My comment wasn't 'oh good she's cured' it was 'oh, the plot point has been completely forgotten'.

Sure, but that's a premature comment. If we hit the end of the series without her PTSD deal coming up again, then absolutely, it was probably forgotten/dismissed (i.e. I guess whatever Number One recommend just worked!), because it's not something that just goes away (especially not in a stressful environment like this), but until then, one or two episodes not bringing up an issue for a character who isn't even particularly focused on doesn't seem like they've "forgotten" it to me. I mean jeez, they brought back M'Benga's murder and daughter issues both this season, when you could have claimed they were "forgotten" before that.

 

[Umbran]

And didn't even need to serve out her full suspension. Why do they have so much trouble following through on any development of this character?

I don't think we know the Stardate for the episode. There can be a significant gap between episodes, with the suspension passing in the background.

We aren't going to see development of the character if the character is suspended, sitting on her hands in her quarters.

 

[Umbran]

And I'm saying that I don't agree that it has. Just because it doesn't come up every episode doesn't mean it's been dropped.

People with PTSD don't necessarily have an issue every day, or every time they are stressed. It isn't that predictable for most who suffer.

The real error here is that the Federation doesn't recognize the problems of PTSD in their officers, even when we already know about it now.

 

[Donald]

one or two episodes not bringing up an issue for a character who isn't even particularly focused on doesn't seem like they've "forgotten" it to me.

Introduced four episodes ago and mentioned once in passing in three episodes in a ten episode season. They introduce something that could put the focus on Ortegas and it's not even given a passing mention during all the stressful events going on. M'Benga's murdering and daughter issues were closed at the end of the respective episodes, not presented as on-going plot lines.

 

[tomBitonti]

I don’t think Kirk was feeling remorse, exactly. Or not just remorse. More like identification. They started out as explorers, the best and the brightest. Kirk was contemplating how many hard command decisions like the one he just made turned them into the scavengers.

That’s the thing. This doesn’t seem, to me, to be a hard decision. The actions were necessary to save the lives of millions of people. Maybe not humans, but I don’t see how that matters. On a quasi-military vessel, the decision seems simple, and not very hard. One should have sympathy for the loss of life, and perhaps some question of whether a less lethal option were possible should have been asked, but the decision seems doesn’t seem hard.
There is a thing here, which is that decisions made for large groups have consequences. Most results are imperfect. People often will die in all cases. One makes the best decision they can, and strives to do better the next time.
The biggest fault is perhaps the lack of trying to communicate(or rather, to try harder), or to consider how many beings were on the ship. Not that, given the numbers and indifference shown, the decision would have changed.
TomB

 

[Rabulias]

I also wonder about Kirk and the crew feeling remorse after finding the truth about the scavengers. I mean, what if they opened the helmet and it was a Gorn? Or a Klingon? Or some strange-looking alien lifeform never encountered before? The loss of 7,000 lifeforms is still a reason for remorse. They could not scan the intact ship, but I would think they could estimate that such a massive craft might hold a commensurately larger crew. It is not clear to me if they knew the final salvo would destroy the scavengers' ship, but the crew had to know it was a possibility, so they should be prepared for a high body count. And by all means, considering the 100 million innocent beings on Sullivan's Planet, the situation gave the crew little choice.

As for the remorse about the "best and brightest," the message falls a bit flat to me. The humans who launched off into space many generations ago could well have been our best and brightest, but doing the right thing, being a moral, conscientious person, is not something that is genetic. While it is tragic that the original hopes, dreams, and ideals of that first group ended up forgotten and abandoned by their descendants, it is not much of a surprise. The crew could reflect on the tragic irony, or the sobering and humbling concept that their own descendants are not guaranteed to uphold and maintain the ethics of the Federation, but they should not be more remorseful based on the scavengers' ancestors. Maybe it's just me.

 

[pukunui]

Introduced four episodes ago and mentioned once in passing in three episodes in a ten episode season. They introduce something that could put the focus on Ortegas and it's not even given a passing mention during all the stressful events going on. M'Benga's murdering and daughter issues were closed at the end of the respective episodes, not presented as on-going plot lines.

She got the trauma in ep 1. We saw her experiencing some PTSD in ep 2. She endangered her crewmates by deliberately disobeying an order (for which she received a suspension) in ep 3. Number One recommended she be un-suspended early in ep 4.

That’s four in a row out of six episodes.

Ortegas is a secondary character, not really one of the mains, so I’m not too bothered that they haven’t explored her PTSD in more depth than that. Plus, we’ve still got four more episodes to go! It could very well come up again.

 

[Stalker0]

That’s the thing. This doesn’t seem, to me, to be a hard decision. The actions were necessary to save the lives of millions of people. Maybe not humans, but I don’t see how that matters. On a quasi-military vessel, the decision seems simple, and not very hard. One should have sympathy for the loss of life, and perhaps some question of whether a less lethal option were possible should have been asked, but the decision seems doesn’t seem hard.
There is a thing here, which is that decisions made for large groups have consequences. Most results are imperfect. People often will die in all cases. One makes the best decision they can, and strives to do better the next time.
The biggest fault is perhaps the lack of trying to communicate(or rather, to try harder), or to consider how many beings were on the ship. Not that, given the numbers and indifference shown, the decision would have changed.
TomB

Well that was literally the point as Pike was telling Kirk. When your in the commander seat and you look at the captain, you often think I could do better. But the real difference is, the buck stops with the Captain, they have to live with the decision.

Sure killing 7000 to save millions was 100% the right call. But at the end of the day, you still killed 7000 people. For a person with morals that is never easy to do, even if its absolutely the right thing. Especially since this is Kirk's first big moment in the chair.

 

[James Gasik]

Well that was literally the point as Pike was telling Kirk. When your in the commander seat and you look at the captain, you often think I could do better. But the real difference is, the buck stops with the Captain, they have to live with the decision.

Sure killing 7000 to save millions was 100% the right call. But at the end of the day, you still killed 7000 people. For a person with morals that is never easy to do, even if its absolutely the right thing. Especially since this is Kirk's first big moment in the chair.

Yeah it's basically the trolley problem. You often get fictional characters get on their high horses in these situations- someone will say "is it better to kill 20 people to save 200?" and they'll be like "killing anyone is still murder!!!".

Mind you, it's still hypocritical in this case. Everyone was fine killing a ship full of faceless aliens. But "My God, they were human!".

Yeah, and Romulans used to be Vulcans, I don't see anyone giving them any slack.

However, I guess it's fair that we are dealing with the guy who took half his life to come to terms with no win scenarios.