S01.E15: Masquerade

[AnimeMania]

Trapped in the Neutral Zone, the crew encounters a rogue geneticist who sheds light on Dal’s past.

Original Airdate: Thursday, November 24, 2022  on Paramount+ 
Jameela Jamil as Ensign Asencia 
Daveed Diggs as Commander Tyses 
Billy Campbell as Thadiun Okona

[ottoDbusdriver]

How did a Soong augment end up in the Delta quadrant ?

Dal is still insufferable even while mutated.

Ensign Asencia is also from the future.  Sure, why not ?  When did she arrive from the future ?
How many other people were sent back from the future to destroy Starfleet ?  If there are even more, when did they arrive ? 
They have a time machine -- why don't they try where the Borg failed and go back in time to kill Zefram Cochrane ?
 

[johntfs]

59 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

How did a Soong augment end up in the Delta quadrant ?

Dal is still insufferable even while mutated.

Ensign Asencia is also from the future.  Sure, why not ?  When did she arrive from the future ?
How many other people were sent back from the future to destroy Starfleet ?  If there are even more, when did they arrive ? 
They have a time machine -- why don't they try where the Borg failed and go back in time to kill Zefram Cochrane ?
 

Presumably we'll find out some of that in future episode.  For the last question, so the show can happen.

[starri]

I'm just damned impressed that they got Ronny Cox back for about five lines as Jellico.

[Starchild]

11 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Ensign Asencia is also from the future. 

Wait, I thought she turned out to be a grown up <insert name of the bad guy's daughter here because I never remember it>

3 hours ago, starri said:

I'm just damned impressed that they got Ronny Cox back for about five lines as Jellico.

Love him.

[MissLucas]

That was really good (apart from the Soong bit - I'd like to have one ST show without any Soong-mention). I'm happy Rok is finally the science officer without doing double duty as security officer. Murf sure was an effective little fighting machine. Of course Dal went for the implant, but I liked how his motivation was not just based on juvenile curiosity but also insecurity (caused by Okona's flirting with all female crew members and by finding out about his lab-provenance/parentless state). I wonder if some remnants of his enhanced skills remain active.

Speaking of Okona: he was one of my favorite TNG characters and I'm glad we've met him again. I appreciated the joke about Janeway's hair-do.

As for the cliffhanger: I wondered what was up with Ensign Asencia throughout the whole episode. Nice reveal, looks like she used an implant similar to the one Dal had, so that technology hangs around. I don't think she's a future version of Gwen but maybe that's just because I don't want to make the mental effort of dissecting the various time-travel shenanigans that would entail.

[johntfs]

On 11/26/2022 at 4:17 PM, MissLucas said:

That was really good (apart from the Soong bit - I'd like to have one ST show without any Soong-mention). I'm happy Rok is finally the science officer without doing double duty as security officer. Murf sure was an effective little fighting machine. Of course Dal went for the implant, but I liked how his motivation was not just based on juvenile curiosity but also insecurity (caused by Okona's flirting with all female crew members and by finding out about his lab-provenance/parentless state). I wonder if some remnants of his enhanced skills remain active.

Speaking of Okona: he was one of my favorite TNG characters and I'm glad we've met him again. I appreciated the joke about Janeway's hair-do.

As for the cliffhanger: I wondered what was up with Ensign Asencia throughout the whole episode. Nice reveal, looks like she used an implant similar to the one Dal had, so that technology hangs around. I don't think she's a future version of Gwen but maybe that's just because I don't want to make the mental effort of dissecting the various time-travel shenanigans that would entail.

The Diviner created/grew Gwen after he came from the future.  Ascencia specifically stated that she had been sent back.  She's not "Future Gwen."

[Wouter]

On 11/29/2022 at 2:11 AM, johntfs said:

The Diviner created/grew Gwen after he came from the future.  Ascencia specifically stated that she had been sent back.  She's not "Future Gwen."

Asencia doesn't look like Gwyn either. The ridges on her face are very different, much more subtle with Gwyn (who looks much like her father in this regard). The hair is also very different, and not just the way it is arranged.

With hindsight, Gwyn was very right to run away from Ascenia in the episode prior.