Star Trek Review: Starfleet Academy Finds Emotional Depth in Episodes 7 and 8, Even as It Stumbles

A critical review of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episodes seven and eight that examines weak storytelling, mishandled trauma arcs, underused characters and missed thematic opportunities despite strong performances, stumbles and franchise potential.

The seventh episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, called “Ko’Zeine,” was a largely forgettable installment where nothing really happened. Cadet Darem is taken to a desert moon (noting that his people are amphibious and from a water world) to get an arranged marriage. Jay-Den unwillingly goes along and essentially becomes his best man. Getting married means Darem would have to leave Starfleet Academy, so, of course, he doesn’t go through with it. Well, he does, but it gets annulled five minutes afterward. It’s played like there’s a potential attraction between Jay-Den and Darem, but in the end I wonder if it’s just a “friends” thing—I honestly can’t even tell anymore.

The B‑story is about Caleb and Genesis at the empty Academy during Spring Break. Caleb is afraid to contact Tarima after the events of last episode on the Miyazaki and the Furies. Caleb and Genesis are just friends—I think. Frankly, I would have preferred the episode focus on Ake’s major failure against Nus Braka. That’s not even mentioned as she’s going on vacation. Instead of giving Jay-Den meaningful things to do, it’s becoming clear the writers are just using him as the “gay Klingon,” putting him in skants, dresses, etc. It’s becoming annoying for a character—and actor—with such great potential.

The eighth episode, “The Life of the Stars,” tries to address the trauma experienced by the cadets from the Miyazaki incident two episodes earlier, and it’s up to Discovery’s Lt. Tilly (Mary Wiseman) to save the day—by teaching them a theatre course. Meanwhile, the damage caused to SAM during the same incident resurfaces, and it’s up to Captain Ake and The Doctor to take her back to her home world, Kasq, to be repaired.

• I missed the part where Lt. Sylvia Tilly became the cadet whisperer. Sure, she was a cadet when Discovery started way back in the pre‑TOS days. And yes, she’s an Academy teacher out in the field with third‑year cadets. But she’s treated like the only person who can save the squabbling cadets after the Miyazaki incident, and that doesn’t feel earned—at least not on screen.
  

• Both the Tarima and SAM storylines provided solid opportunities for each actress to play fairly weighty material, and both pulled it off masterfully. SAM facing the fact that she may actually die—after all, her creators deemed her a failed experiment—showed a different side of the character. The resolution, giving her a childhood with The Doctor as her father figure, should open up storytelling opportunities down the road.
  

• The Tarima story, however, was not clear. I understood that she didn’t want to be transferred to Starfleet Academy and away from the War College. What I don’t understand is why she can’t be a War College officer. If the concern is her implant and her lack of control, couldn’t she do something other than combat? Couldn’t Starfleet officers encounter similar combat situations? We know the answer to that is yes. Her concern about people calling her a monster is understandable, given that she screamed and killed the Furies two episodes ago, but no one actually treated her that way. Even Caleb’s hesitance to contact her after the incident seemed more about his fear of how he would be received by her than the other way around.
  

• Is Ocam a Betazoid? He’s never played that way. Yes, Tarima probably has very few empathic abilities thanks to the new enhanced inhibitor, but Ocam should be a full Betazoid. He should be able to read minds, emotions, etc., but he never seems to.
  

• The Doctor also has to face his own “trauma,” but I didn’t understand it. I thought previous episodes hinted that the 800‑year‑old hologram was bitter because he’d essentially lost everyone he ever knew—including the Voyager crew. Instead, we’re led to believe it all stems from the time he created a holographic family and his holographic daughter died in that one episode of Voyager ("Real Life"). Huh? Yes, it was a big deal in that episode, but he never addressed it again in five years of the series. And now, 800 years later, we’re expected to believe that’s why he won’t be anyone’s mentor—despite being a teacher at the Academy. The whole concept feels stupidly conceived. Had they tied it to everyone he’d outlived, or even his father‑like role with Kes, it would’ve made far more sense. Connecting it to Janeway, Seven, Paris, etc. would’ve been a nice nod—which this series doesn’t shy away from—but instead it just plays like a missed opportunity.
  

• Doesn’t Starfleet have counselors anymore? Wouldn’t they be far better equipped to help the cadets than Lt. Tilly?
  

I haven’t seen the play Our Town, which this episode is centered around, so some of the allegory fell flat for me. It wasn’t a bad episode, but parts of it felt drawn out or left me scratching my head—not an uncommon feeling after watching Starfleet Academy. So much promise, but middling execution.

Photos from Paramount+