S02.E02: Ad Astra Per Aspera

[starri]

Quote

 Commander Una Chin-Riley faces court martial, imprisonment, and dishonorable discharge from Starfleet.

 

[AnimeMania]

Episode Title: Starfleet's Motto: Latin: "To the stars through hardship"

Yetide Badaki as Neera

Melanie Scrofano as Batel

[starri]

I love a good Star Trek courtroom drama. 

[dwmarch]

I have to wonder about the set design. Why have a courtroom where the judges are separated from the lawyers by what appears to be a giant hole in the floor? Has Starfleet's JAG office had too many people rush the well? Are we seeing the consequences of the Bailiff Revolt of 2205? (I think they may have re-used the Starfleet Command set from Discovery which had a similar giant hole in the middle of a meeting space)

If anyone was wondering why Spock referenced Gilbert and Sullivan, this was shown in one of the Short Treks. Spock and Una get stuck in a turbolift and end up singing karaoke while waiting to be rescued.

 

[Stardancer Supreme]

I LOOOOOOOOOOVVVED this episode.

And it answered the question I had all along; who snitched on Una? Turns out she snitched on herself! So she couldn't straight up ask for asylum? Poor La'an thought she was the cause of her mentor's arrest!

Neera is awesome. I'm glad Una was able to repair their friendship; I just wonder how was Una's parents were able to "blend in" at the non-Illyrian city? Did Illyrians also have racism in their culture?

Spock is also awesome with the quips and the run-ins with people who worked with his parents. It seems like there is always someone who is six degrees from Spock!

[paigow]

Picard had to teach Worf about Gilbert & Sullivan... So perhaps it was no longer a mandatory class at the Academy

[thuganomics85]

Definitely thought this was a step up from the premiere.  The cast/crew was all together again and their relationships were highlighted.  Pike doing what he does best: charming folks and managing to find ways to open doors thought closed (plus, showing off his cooking skills again!)  And even though safe money was on things working out, there was an actual investment here about Una's fate and saving her career/avoiding prison.  Plus, I'm always a sucker for a good Trek courtroom drama (TNG's "The Measure of a Man" will always be one of my favorites.)

Yetide Badaki did great work as Neera, and I liked getting more glimpses of the Illyrians, their history, and their understandably complicated history with the Federation/Starfleet.  It makes total sense why they can never fully trust them after what they did and the hate that continues on thanks to the Eugenic Wars.  But you can also see why some like Una would gravitate to Starfleet and believe they can be good.  I do think the sayings are true that overall the Federation wants to do right by all, but they just have so many blindspots and other issues that need to be ironed out.  And, honestly, it might never fully get there, but at least there are great people like the Enterprise crew who will always try.  And while I understand why she played it down a bit at the end, I do think this win is going to benefit both the Illyrians and Neera's cause in a lot of ways.

Poor La'an really did think she was the one that accidentally exposed Una to the Federation and was willing to commit her own illegal acts to prove it.  Woman is loyal to a fault!  Christina Chong is still the best.

Seriously, Spock, people are just trying to enjoy their meals!  Why do you have to make an outburst like that?!  I guess for Vulcans, raising their voices would be a kin to a bar room brawl in their eyes!

Look like Pike and Captain Betel were on a little better terms by the end of things, so maybe she'll be invited back to Pike's "4 Star Meals and Quality Sexy Times" hangouts in a few months!

Hopefully the rest of the season is going to go back to more ensemble pieces/missions of the week.

[marinw]

I continue to enjoy the updated TOS uniform designs. The Dress Uniforms look sharp.

Good episode, but the Inspiring Speeches were a bit much. It was realistic that Una got off on a technicality. Changing the law will come later. Or maybe not, Bashir would be outed for being modified a century later.

I was reminded of TNG's The Measure of A Man 

The No Mods in Starfleet rule is going to rule out a lot of applicants. Many species may modify their DNA or whatever for a vast variety of reasons, such as repairing birth defects. It could also be argued that mods are part of normal evolution.

[KeithJ]

Is that really how it works?  Turn down our plea offer and we will tack on more charges that weren’t even discussed before?

[rtms77]

I dont understand why this is such an issue, especially with the Illiyians. Enterprise showed that the Denulbians used genetic manipulation to good use. So have many others. Why is it that what happened on earth the rule of law in the Federation  and how did other aliens get in when they clearly used such things to much better outcomes? Why is this an issue with Vulcans etc? Only humans and earth born should be bothered with this. This whole thing is not a Federation issue. Khan did not terrorize the galaxy. It also begs the question how the heck did La’an get into Starfleet? Isn’t she a result of genetic manipulation or at least born to Khan line? 

Glad Una is back, along with the rest of the crew. I did notice Pellia was missing. Given how long she’s lived ,presumably on earth her perspective would have been nice to hear.

Glad Urhura talked La’an down from breaking rules. I love that Noyta considers La’aan a mentor.

So now it’s confirmed April was the previous captain of the Enterprise. Nice to know.

More speeches than actual law but a good episode overall. Now let’s get exploring! 
 

Just an aside, but does every officer or senior crew have such HUGE quarters? Una, Spock and the Captain I swear take up one whole side of the ship deck it seems. I take it they severely downsized when Kirk took over? 

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by rtms77

[historylover820]

So much better than the premiere.

I kept thinking that Gene Roddenberry is probably rolling in his grave, because he famously made a rule in season 1 of TNG where there would be no personal conflicts, no arguments among the crew (forgetting, of course, how he wrote the arguments between Spock and McCoy), and the Federation is a utopia. A paradise.

I like that it's not.

While I don't like just dour and gloom and doom, I like a nuanced version of the Federation -- it has problems, prejudices, and it's run by flawed humans and flawed aliens. 2254 is only 200 years away from us. That's not all that long.

Neera may be trying to change the law, but we know that law won't be changed, even in DS9's time. Doesn't mean that anyone should stop fighting and trying to change it.

And, yeah, there was some real tension, because Una is not in or referenced in TOS as a whole (she's in the unaired pilot and thus in The Menagerie, but that's it). She really could have been drummed out of Starfleet, given a prison sentence, died. Because nothing is known about her in TOS. So, yeah, there was real tension.

Hee. Those Vulcans arguing like that. C'mon, Spock, you're making a scene.

And hee to Spock outing Una as having an affinity to Gilbert and Sullivan. I really liked that Short Trek.

I like that SNW will resolve most storylines pretty quickly. Yeah, we have the season long arc that was introduced last episode, but most storylines get resolved very quickly, and I like that.

Also, yeah, I'm a sucker for courtroom dramas. Bring on more of these episodes!

And again, so much better than the premiere!

[Chit Chat]

Aside from a couple of funny moments with Spock, all I can say is, damn, that was boring!  I'm a little sleep deprived this week and it was all I could do to keep my eyes open for this episode.  

[QuantumMechanic]

29 minutes ago, rtms77 said:

So now it’s confirmed April was the previous captain of the Enterprise. Nice to know.

Hasn’t that been known since TAS?

Edited June 23, 2023 by QuantumMechanic

[paigow]

12 minutes ago, QuantumMechanic said:

Hasn’t that been known since TAS?

Legend has it that NBC rejected The Cage as a pilot but offered Roddenberry a second chance only if it was less cerebral. April was eventually renamed Kirk for pilot #2. . so April appearing in the Animated Series was expected..

[historylover820]

22 minutes ago, QuantumMechanic said:

Hasn’t that been known since TAS?

Well, TAS actually isn't considered canon...

There are things that do come out of TAS that is now canon. "Tiberius" being Kirk's middle name came out of TAS. I think Yesteryear is officially canon, but that's the only episode that is. An early holodeck episode comes from TAS. And now, Robert April is the captain of the Enterprise before Pike.

But Roddenberry declared it as not being canon like two years after TAS was cancelled, and I don't think a lot of fans go "Well it should be..."

But, then again, there weren't a lot of fans screaming that Star Trek V should be canon, and, thanks to SNW, it is. Of course, DISCO had me first go, "Well, this isn't the first time that we've known that Spock has a crazy sibling he'd like to forget. And, great, that gets me going 'Final Frontier is canon!'"

For the record, I find Start Trek V a blast to watch. I laugh and laugh and laugh. 

[cdnalor]

Despite this episode being basically a courtroom drama, this felt as close to classic Trek ( and I include both TOS and TNG) as I 've seen in many years.   Also, glad to see Pike cut down his hair mountain a bit.

I forget, does La'an Noonian-Singh carry any of the superior genes from Khan or is she just a relative?

[Starchild]

2 minutes ago, cdnalor said:

Despite this episode being basically a courtroom drama, this felt as close to classic Trek ( and I include both TOS and TNG) as I 've seen in many years.   

Well sure, TOS had some great courtroom stuff. Kirk was court-martialed at least twice in the series, Spock once, and Scotty was on trial for murder!

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, KeithJ said:

Is that really how it works?  Turn down our plea offer and we will tack on more charges that weren’t even discussed before?

It's at least plausible. Part of how real-life court can work is that the prosecutors can originally charge you with whatever  they think they can obtain a conviction for, and they offer a plea deal:: plead to these lesser charges and the accompanying lighter sentence range or take your chances with the harsher charges and the possibility of a conviction on them and more time.

The idea that you might face a harsher outcome if you don't accept the plea deal is known in some circles as the "trial tax."

Normally it would make sense for a prosecutor to go for the maximum charges they think that they can obtain a conviction for. If you're optimistic, it's because that is what the defendant deserves. If you are cynical, it is because charging high leaves more room for potentially obtain a plea bargain. In other words, if you can charge someone for either 2nd degree murder or aggravated battery, it would normally make more sense to charge with all possible crimes the evidence would support.

In this particular case, there were statements that Starfleet wanted this to go away quietly, and so that's why they started with the relatively sweet deal hoping Una would take it and go. I would tend to think real life prosecutors wouldn't be incentivized to go from light potential charges to harsher, but it could happen.

[Sandman]

I didn’t find it boring — I was actually tearing up a bit. The emotional speeches really worked on me, I guess. I thought there was genuine risk here. Christina Chong, Mount and Romijn all did really great work in this episode.

I don’t know how much chance there is that we’ll see Yetide Badaki again, but I hope we do. 

But I confess I’m a little fuzzy on the timeline: have the events of “The Cage” already happened?

[Sharpie66]

I really love this episode! I was tearing up when Una started talking about how she was inspired at seeing the Starfleet crew of all types and species working together when she was a child.
 

Then, I got a quick thrill of recognition when the judge said that they were going to concentrate on Una’s case individually, and not address the civil rights case at its heart. You see, my great-great-grandmother had a panel of judges tell her the exact same thing 101 years ago next month, when she and her attorney were trying to get the appellate court judges in Oklahoma to rule on whether Spiritualism was a religion. She had been arrested for illegal fortune telling, and in their opinion, the judges said that they wouldn’t touch the bigger topic with a ten foot pole, but would address her case only (they ruled against her).

[QuantumMechanic]

Decent enough episode and it's not like courtroom dramas are foreign to Trek. However, I would have liked it better if it were only 1/26th of the season rather than 1/10th of the season. As it is, the season is now 20% gone and we haven't had any proper SNW adventuring. But now with the band back together maybe we can get back into the groove.

[QuantumMechanic]

56 minutes ago, Sandman said:

But I confess I’m a little fuzzy on the timeline: have the events of “The Cage” already happened?

I'm pretty sure it has.

[paigow]

1 hour ago, Starchild said:

Well sure, TOS had some great courtroom stuff. Kirk was court-martialed at least twice in the series, Spock once, and Scotty was on trial for murder!

Kirk & Bones were tried for murder in a Klingon court... they lost [Star Trek VI] 

[QuantumMechanic]

1 hour ago, historylover820 said:

Well, TAS actually isn't considered canon...

There are things that do come out of TAS that is now canon. "Tiberius" being Kirk's middle name came out of TAS. I think Yesteryear is officially canon, but that's the only episode that is. An early holodeck episode comes from TAS. And now, Robert April is the captain of the Enterprise before Pike.

But Roddenberry declared it as not being canon like two years after TAS was cancelled, and I don't think a lot of fans go "Well it should be..."

Well, given that Lower Decks is canon (I haven't heard that it isn't, and then we'll be getting the crossover with SNW which certainly is canon) and that LD has loads of TAS references...

[Guest]

Now that was what I have come to expect for this show. I guess the point of last week was to bring La’an back. I think I would have preferred a throwaway line explaining it away. There was nothing connecting anything that happened the week before to this. 

I felt like the conclusion of the case worked better than many of the past Star Trek court cases. It was set up very nicely but without telegraphing how she was going to win. I didn’t see the asylum angle coming until the characters in the show did so it felt clever rather than unrealistic. 

1 hour ago, Sandman said:

But I confess I’m a little fuzzy on the timeline: have the events of “The Cage” already happened?

It has. The plot introducing Spock and Pike on Discovery and them revisiting Talos IV and recapping what happened in The Cage. 

[Sandman]

13 minutes ago, Dani said:

The plot introducing Spock and Pike on Discovery and them revisiting Talos IV and recapping what happened in The Cage. 

My memory of Discovery is patchy. I’d forgotten this. It makes sense that the prologue to this series would refer to what we knew Pike best for.

Edited June 23, 2023 by Sandman

[TV Anonymous]

I got bothered looking at Captains Pike and Batel rank insignia on the sleeves of their Service Uniform as those are the rank of Lieutenant-Commander in today's navies, two grades below Captain. And then Commander Chin-Riley returned from her tribunal in Service Uniform and she wore the rank of Lieutenant on her sleeves. *groan*

[TVbitch]

This episode restores my hope for the season. Maybe I'll just pretend last week didn't happen. Cuz otherwise, Spock sure got his Vulcan composure back fast, and Uhura is now righteously drawing the line at peeking into personal logs, when last week she readily agreed to help steal the Enterprise. Do we really not get to see any discussion between Pike and Spock about that? 

I'm glad they didn't make Pike's girlfriend (open relationship, of course) a villain, which would have been the cliche thing to do. The awkward hug between Una and Pike at the end suggests they have not been physically involved before, but the special features from last season make it clear they might have been. 

The Short Trek with Spock and Una stuck in the lift on his first day aboard was totally delightful. I need to watch that again. 

[Starchild]

7 hours ago, Dani said:

I didn’t see the asylum angle coming

I thought it was odd that granting asylum under the quoted law seemed to mean she also gets to stay in Starfleet. I don't think that law means that a Starfleet captain granting asylum means the person is getting into Starfleet, only that they're getting into the Federation. Which Una already was. I would have thought that the best she could hope for under the circumstances was an honourable discharge. So unless this case also led to a change in Starfleet regulations regarding augments serving, her staying in Starfleet was a very liberal interpretation of the law by all involved.

Maybe it did change the regulation to consider individual circumstances, since Bashir and Dal were also able to stay despite their augmented states. 

Not counting Discovery, which series is set the latest? Picard, right? Augments are still generally banned, aren't they?

[marinw]

"In the past, some augments did bad things! So all augments are bad!".

Yes, that makes sense.😑 I liked this because Augment (Illyrians or otherwise) are code for *insert group of your choice*. That is classic Trek, and I am here for it, although the analogy was more than a little heavy-handed.

In watching Trek Era courtroom dramas, we must assume that law will evolve and change. The Trek courts may initially look similar to 21st Century Law, but in practice it will be different. I LOL'd when The Uniform Code of Justice is a giant book, even though it must exist online as well. Una's lawyer was badass, but I was almost expecting Kirk's cranky book-loving lawyer from "Court Martial".

It is a little disappointing  that prisons are still a thing, even though I assume they are far more humane than 21st Century prisons. In Discovery, the methods of punishing crime are bizarre but I like that TPTB are looking for alternative ways to punish and (maybe) rehabilitate people.

Edited June 23, 2023 by marinw

[starri]

39 minutes ago, Starchild said:

Not counting Discovery, which series is set the latest? Picard, right? Augments are still generally banned, aren't they?

The latest we have info in is the first season of Prodigy, which is set about 15 years before Picard.  And yes, Augments are still banned of of that period.

[baldryanr]

10 hours ago, historylover820 said:

And, yeah, there was some real tension, because Una is not in or referenced in TOS as a whole (she's in the unaired pilot and thus in The Menagerie, but that's it). She really could have been drummed out of Starfleet, given a prison sentence, died. Because nothing is known about her in TOS. So, yeah, there was real tension.

What tension?  Unless Rebecca Romijn had announced some big new role (or behaved badly) they weren't going to dump her at the beginning of the season.  It may not seem like it given how often she's sidelined, but she's nominally the third member of the Big 3 along with Pike and Spock. 

Later on, though, yes.  We know the Enterprise is supposed to pass directly from Pike to Kirk, and while I can't remember if it's been directly stated, it's always been implied that Spock was Kirk's only first officer.  So Una's dying, getting her own command, or otherwise becoming unavailable when the time comes.

[historylover820]

9 hours ago, QuantumMechanic said:

Well, given that Lower Decks is canon (I haven't heard that it isn't, and then we'll be getting the crossover with SNW which certainly is canon) and that LD has loads of TAS references...

Yeah, but Gene Roddenberry isn't alive to object to Lower Decks being canon or not being canon.

He made that statement when he was trying to get Phase 2 and then the Motion Picture and then TNG off the ground. Now, whether or not you want to accept TAS as canon, that's up to you. Me? I personally don't want to get into a debate about why Tribbles are uniformly pink, that The Infinite Vulcan is canon or not, why the Enterprise has seat restraints, but only in TAS (which it should ALWAYS have seat restraints!). I mean, the debate about the Klingon's appearance is bad enough.

[Starchild]

39 minutes ago, historylover820 said:

why the Enterprise has seat restraints, but only in TAS (which it should ALWAYS have seat restraints!).

TMP had them too. Although for some reason they were gone again after that.

[jah1986]

I really enjoyed this episode. But, as has been mentioned, I don't understand Starfleet's rule against augments. Illyrians aren't human, are they? It can't be that Starfleet doesn't want to admit beings that are physically stronger than humans because that would keep out Vulcans, Klingons etc. You're part of a united federation of planets, how can you discriminate on how another planet lives? It's just such a frustrating law.

I loved Yetide Badaki and hope they find a way to bring her back. Loved seeing the crew back together and Pike's awkward hug at the end.

[aemom]

On 6/22/2023 at 10:54 AM, dwmarch said:

I have to wonder about the set design. Why have a courtroom where the judges are separated from the lawyers by what appears to be a giant hole in the floor? Has Starfleet's JAG office had too many people rush the well? Are we seeing the consequences of the Bailiff Revolt of 2205? (I think they may have re-used the Starfleet Command set from Discovery which had a similar giant hole in the middle of a meeting space)

I'm pretty sure that they were still under Covid restrictions while filming these episodes, so that was certainly a great way to keep distance between the actors.

 

On 6/23/2023 at 10:28 AM, jah1986 said:

I really enjoyed this episode. But, as has been mentioned, I don't understand Starfleet's rule against augments. Illyrians aren't human, are they? It can't be that Starfleet doesn't want to admit beings that are physically stronger than humans because that would keep out Vulcans, Klingons etc. You're part of a united federation of planets, how can you discriminate on how another planet lives? It's just such a frustrating law.

It's not about not wanting stronger beings, it's about genetic modification.  People being able to genetically modify themselves opens a whole Pandora's box with all the slippery slopes that comes with it. The Federation wants no part of that.

 

I really enjoyed this episode a lot. Acting was excellent and I liked how they resolved Una's situation 

Edited June 25, 2023 by aemom
Reordered stuff

[Chit Chat]

11 hours ago, Sandman said:

I didn’t find it boring — I was actually tearing up a bit. The emotional speeches really worked on me, I guess. 

The droning on endlessly is what bored me.  Just. Get. To. The. Point!!  We all knew that they'd find some loophole in order to free Una, so I was ready for them to wrap it up about 30 minutes into the show.  YMMV.  

[paigow]

1 hour ago, historylover820 said:

why the Enterprise has seat restraints, but only in TAS (which it should ALWAYS have seat restraints!).

The stunt team likely went on strike until railing flip and chair fall quotas were implemented...

[QuantumMechanic]

Internet, nitpicking, etc., but the asylum resolution makes no sense whatsoever.

Una is seeking asylum from the government that's persecuting her...in the government that's persecuting her.  That's like, say, a gay person being persecuted by Uganda seeking asylum in Uganda.  Whaaaaaaa?

Not to mention that asylum isn't some grant of "ok, our laws don't apply to you now."

Edited June 23, 2023 by QuantumMechanic

[paigow]

5 minutes ago, QuantumMechanic said:

Internet, nitpicking, etc., but the asylum resolution makes no sense whatsoever.

Una is seeking asylum from the government that's persecuting her...in the government that's persecuting her.  That's like, say, a gay person being persecuted by Uganda seeking asylum in Uganda.  Whaaaaaaa?

asking Akiva Goldsman to correct canon / logical errors in an Akiva Goldsman script

[Good Queen Jane]

You could say that Una was seeking asylum from Starfleet to protect her from the Federation. It's kind of like the US military accepting undocumented immigrants into military service. As long as they are part of the military, they can't be deported. That would also explain why Una was returned to her position on the Enterprise. As long as she is part of Starfleet, she is protected from prosecution. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, QuantumMechanic said:

Internet, nitpicking, etc., but the asylum resolution makes no sense whatsoever.

Una is seeking asylum from the government that's persecuting her...in the government that's persecuting her.  That's like, say, a gay person being persecuted by Uganda seeking asylum in Uganda.  Whaaaaaaa?

Not to mention that asylum isn't some grant of "ok, our laws don't apply to you now."

One thing about the real world practice of law that quite possibly translates to the Trek version of the law: 

There is a tension between how much courts are bound by precedent and how much courts can interpret laws through various lenses: the intent of the legislators, the spirit of the law, the historic context of the law, or, any number of personal and political biases.

If you looked at the situation through the lens of Stuck-Up Vulcan Prosecutor, it's an open-and-shut case. A regulation says you can't be genetically modified and serve in Starfleet, and another regulation says you can't lie on your Starfleet application. 

If you look at things through the lens of Big Picture Justice, Una is a great Starfleet officer who did not ask to be genetically modified and has at least some valid reasons for wanting to serve and lying about her modified status. In such a case, it appears that the Starfleet judges chose to go with Neera's creative interpretation of the law and permit Una to serve (while refusing to expand matters so that, say, anyone who has been genetically modified without their consent can serve, or creating conditions where people who are genetically modified in certain ways can serve, etc.)

[historylover820]

2 hours ago, paigow said:

The stunt team likely went on strike until railing flip and chair fall quotas were implemented...

No doubt

[marinw]

If Genetic Mods are forbidden, where does that leave cloning? Is it illegal or just discouraged? The various Soongs may be clones because they all look like Brent Spiner.

[Tachi Rocinante]

Much better than Episode 1.

[Affogato]

I thought Neera was great, and I also liked La'an in this episode. I am not sure I have a strong grip on why genetic modification is so vilified in this society. I am even more confused since this seems to be an actual society or religion with rituals and holidays.  I get that they look perfectly human and so on, but still, they would be fine if they were blue or had huge ears. The whole Federation participates in this madness? Not just crazy fringe groups? I do understand the fear and prejudice is going to happen, but no one notices and tries to correct this?

Note that if they were telepaths it would be more believable, because people don't want even their petty secrets (I pee when I sneeze) known and told to others.

It is just that the federation has many worlds and a lot of resources. They would be good crew for exploratory ships, good people to colonize hostile planets. And so on.

I hope this is touched on as the show goes on. A prejudiced admiral, a planet that won't let them beam down for supplies, that sort of thing.

[paigow]

1 hour ago, marinw said:

If Genetic Mods are forbidden, where does that leave cloning? Is it illegal or just discouraged? The various Soongs may be clones because they all look like Brent Spiner.

The lines between Starfleet Rules and Federation Law are blurry... Una could have lived an uneventful life as a Federation Citizen by not joining Starfleet. Thus, clones would likely be banned from joining Starfleet, but free to live in the Federation.

[marinw]

So what if a species reproduces by cloning? Would they be banned from Starfleet too? That’s the problem with arbitrarily rules.

Adapting to be comfortable in an atmosphere that normal humans can’t breathe seems sensible rather that morally suspect.

Edited June 23, 2023 by marinw

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, marinw said:

If Genetic Mods are forbidden, where does that leave cloning? Is it illegal or just discouraged? The various Soongs may be clones because they all look like Brent Spiner.

I don't know if there's been a consistent approach in Trek to cloning.

In a TNG episode, Riker and Pulaski discovered one episode that the people from the Planet of the Week had extracted DNA from them and used it to create clones without their consent. Riker and Pulaski without much hesitation destroyed all of them.

In a DS9 episode, Odo got framed for murder by someone who created a clone of himself and killed it. The person who did so ended up getting caught and faced actual murder charges because killing a clone was in that context considered murder.

Vis-a-vis genetic modification, I suppose there's an argument that creating a literal clone with no enhancements whatsoever might be considered alright.

[statsgirl]

The Vulcan prosecutor said that it was a question of the law, not emotion. But the law against genetic alteration was based on emotion, the fear of those modified.  A better episode than last week but other Treks have had better courtroom scenes.

The resolution about asylum was done well but I wanted someone to bring in a discussion of whether it was acceptable for the Federation to let species join only if they end their cultural practices, some necessary to survive on toxic planets, and pretend to be as humans.