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Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 2x08 "Under the Cloak of War"
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this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
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Well, the previously inexplicable "inject a bunch of drugs to fight Klingons" scene in the season opener has suddenly paid off.
I have little to say now except that this episode was a seriously heavy hitter. Just... wow. And ouch.
Even with this "backstory" of this green juice, it really isn't much of a backstory. It's just explained as some chemical that makes you stronger -- it still feels like a cheap plot device, and that action sequence in the season opener was still unexpectedly long.
Do we need the backstory? It's space PCP for war. Jokes aside, look at how many times in war, we (and I mean a collective we because numerous countries have done this over the last century+) have given soldiers, pilots, etc amphetamines and more in order to improve their ability to fight, stay awake, and win the war.
M'Benga made a future drug that does all this which he prefers people don't use but keeps it just in case he has to save people or survive battles.
That's all the explanation I need. Old Trek didn't give us even that much most of the time - just treknobabble.
@poundsignbuttstuff @startrek I thought he says explicitly that it contains adrenaline and pain inhibitors. I’m not sure such a real-world cocktail would have the portrayed effects, but it’s clear they’re trying to ground the concoction realistically.
Think of it as trek adrenaline/speed/meth. In war, governments often try to find drugs they can give soldiers to enhance performance.
I spent over a decade addicted to meth, and in my experience, that green slime ain't meth.
@williams_482 @triktrek Many fans react badly to the P-12 serum as a lazy plot device, but consider: In key battles, it’d make tactical sense for Klingons to draw Fed soldiers into hand to hand combat, because they’re typically experienced blade warriors. It would then be attractive to the Fed to develop something like P-12 as a counter-tactic. Then consider there is a potential sub-plot exploring the ethics of humans revisiting their Eugenics Wars-era mistakes.
@williams_482 @triktrek (It is mentioned elsewhere that human soldiers in the Eugenics Wars were given drugs to make them better fighters, and human history remembers this as a huge mistake/atrocity).