I was kind of torn on that one, which sort of struck me as the one trying hardest to look and feel like a TOS episode, but it still leaves us with three out of the first four with an identifiable “gimmick,” and the muppet epsiode to come. In fact, it seems like they’ve intentionally leaned into it:

“There’s a cadence between kind of classic ‘TOS’ sci-fi thriller and then the thing that actually makes us ‘Strange New Worlds’…which is our worlds are genres,” Goldsman said. “Those are our strange new worlds. It’s the lens that allows us to tell stories in a way that typically, or at least consistently, hasn’t been done in ‘Star Trek’ before.”

I’m not even entirely sure I hate it, but it’s not adding a fun factor on its own anymore, so if an episode is weak, like the last one, there is nothing particularly refreshing about the fact that they cast Dave Foley and tried to make it funny.

Also, there’s too much Kirk.