Strange New Worlds season 2 - SPOILERS

[Morrus]

If it was provably the Klingon's knife, then the chances of M'Benga having got hold of it for purposes of premeditated murder are much reduced - as are the chances of him having attacked an armed Klingon.

That's the defense's argument, sure. I am very much aware of that.

There was an investigation. The one witness to the event provided testimony, and the security chief said the limited sensor data appeared to corroborate it. What other evidence is there to examine?

I'd like to know what the sensor data said. We saw what the witness saw (nothing useful). I'd like to know how the investigation proceeds. I'd like to see the prosecution's argument, because I think it would be very compelling.

I'm not in the show. I'm a viewer. I want that information, because without it the whole thing looks weak, like he got away with murder.

 

[DammitVictor]

There would not have been a formal court martial in any event. Their "peace ambassador" being stabbed to death with his own weapon in a Starfleet sickbay would look like a love tap compared to the black eye M'Benga's court martial would give them. Paperclipping the Butcher of J'Gal is only the most superficial layer of the shame onion, and the Chief Medical Officer of Starfleet's flagship vessel would only be the beginning of the careers peeled if someone started pulling.

 

[Morrus]

There would not have been a formal court martial in any event. Their "peace ambassador" being stabbed to death with his own weapon in a Starfleet sickbay would look like a love tap compared to the black eye M'Benga's court martial would give them. Paperclipping the Butcher of J'Gal is only the most superficial layer of the shame onion, and the Chief Medical Officer of Starfleet's flagship vessel would only be the beginning of the careers peeled if someone started pulling.

You think the message of Star Trek is that Starfleet is a corrupt organization?

I think you might be misinterpreting the show! It's about a utopian future.

(Well, it was until Disco).

 

[billd91]

It was M'Benga's knife. The Klingon got stabbed with it. M'Benga's only defense was "he started it, nah nah!" like that has ever been a defense for grabbing a knife and murdering somebody? And everybody says "Oh, you say he say he started it? Well OK then, carry on! Nope, don't worry, not even a short reprieve of duties."

What did I miss?

Don't forget a witness who backed M'Benga up. Christine selected her words pretty carefully.

 

[DammitVictor]

You think the message of Star Trek is that Starfleet is a corrupt organization?

I think you might be misinterpreting the show! It's about a utopian future.

(Well, it was until Disco).

Oh yeah? Name an admiral from the entire run of TNG that wasn't at least as corrupt as this. The utopia of Star Trek is that a man like M'Benga is not the hero for his actions and that a man like Pike has to put Doing the Right Thing above his career or his personal loyalties.

Star Trek isn't a utopia because I'm right. It's a utopia because it dares us to ask what we could be if I were wrong.

 

[billd91]

You think the message of Star Trek is that Starfleet is a corrupt organization?

I think you might be misinterpreting the show! It's about a utopian future.

(Well, it was until Disco).

Utopian, but not perfect. It's never been perfect - we've seen that in episodes spanning all of the various Treks. Sometimes the failure is personal, sometimes bureaucratic and institutional. The utopian future isn't just a fait accompli, it's something that frequently needs upholding, maintenance, or even understanding of people whose experiences may not be a perfect fit.

 

[DammitVictor]

Don't forget a witness who backed M'Benga up. Christine selected her words pretty carefully.

"We file the reports."

Pike knows Chapel and M'Benga are lying, but he can't prove it-- and isn't sure he wants to prove it, for the reasons I've proposed.

How we can tell that Star Trek is a utopia is that it matters that they lied about it, and that it matters that Pike can't prove it.

 

[Arilyn]

That's the defense's argument, sure. I am very much aware of that.

I'd like to know what the sensor data said. We saw what the witness saw (nothing useful). I'd like to know how the investigation proceeds. I'd like to see the prosecution's argument, because I think it would be very compelling.

I'm not in the show. I'm a viewer. I want that information, because without it the whole thing looks weak, like he got away with murder.

I don't think we are ever going to know for sure. I think that's the point of the episode. War wounds are deep and long lasting. The ambassador committed atrocities and now claiming he's changed, but has not fully come clean about being the butcher. Pike is right in his assessment but we understand M'Benga. How far, considering his past, did M'Benga go? Do we need to know or is the uncomfortable questions enough?

 

[MarkB]

I'd like to know what the sensor data said. We saw what the witness saw (nothing useful).

The framing and cutting of the scene isn't very clear, but what we saw (a struggle behind frosted glass) isn't what Christine saw. She arrived before the killing blow, and she was on the same side of the glass as M'Benga and the ambassador. She knows who was holding the knife.

I'd like to know how the investigation proceeds. I'd like to see the prosecution's argument, because I think it would be very compelling.

You get a prosecution at a trial, not an investigation. If there's insufficient evidence to mount a trial, there won't be a prosecution case.

But what is the case for the prosecution? They have no evidence to confirm M'Benga as the aggressor, an eyewitness who says he wasn't, and a knife that is forensically linked to killings that the ambassador took credit for, making it very hard to prove that it wasn't his weapon.

I'm not in the show. I'm a viewer. I want that information, because without it the whole thing looks weak, like he got away with murder.

I think the ambiguity is deliberate, to leave the viewer questioning what actually happened. And I suspect we won't be wondering for long.

 

[Zaukrie]

I loved that episode. My closest high school and college friend had awful PTSD..... This episode really, really, handled it well.

The docto's statement that he didn't start the fight had zero to do with that day, it was in reference to the war.

Dark episode, but one that actually showed is the cost of war