It’s a gavel-banger, folks!! Strange New Worlds is aiming for their own Measure of a Man, and the show is really going for it. They set it up in the last season and have more believable court proceedings and everything. Unfortunately a lot of the dynamics necessary for a courtroom drama to succeed are muddled here – exactly what Una and Neera are trying to achieve with the case (Do they have a broader goal of chipping away at the interpretation of an unjust law, or are they just trying to get a not guilty verdict?) is very inconsistent throughout the episode, so the plot isn’t able to build and release tension in a satisfying way.
Additionally, the episode is focused on the issue of genetic modification as a civil rights metaphor, which comes at the expense of coherent world building. For instance, at one point Neera assures La’an that she isn’t dangerous because she might have inherited modified traits from her ancestors. This ignores the obvious fact that some kinds of genetic modifications could be dangerous, while others would be totally benign. Part of the problem with the Federation’s law is that it doesn’t distinguish between a vastly different array of possible genetic modifications, but the equality of all types of augments is weirdly assumed by parties on both sides of the argument because the writers are striving for a message that is as directly related to current issues as possible. There are all sorts of interesting ideas that could’ve been explored if more attention was given to Illyrian culture and the issue of genetic modification, and it still would’ve retained relevance to the issue of civil rights, but the show used too many short cuts so we didn’t really get either done right.
The episode does pull off one very important court room drama trick in the end, when Neera reveals that previous testimony was laying ground work for her to introduce a creative use of an unexpected Federation law. It’s both clever and impressive. This sort of thing can feel convenient in a science fiction setting where the in-universe laws can be made up to suit the story, but they manage to make it feel believable enough and surprising enough. It’s almost the kind of story thing that could push this one into 3 territory for us.
Una’s set for her trial. She ditches her assigned lawyer, which is probably good ’cause he seems confused and scared. If this case was tried TNG style her lawyer would be Spock and the prosecutor would be La’an and the judge would be Pike and the bailiff would be Pelia u get it.The new lawyer is Illyrian. Una is able to hide her genetic modifications and her species, but other Illyrians “can’t or won’t” – it’s kinda vague as to what this means exactly, since they all look human and Una, one of the ones that can hide it, has a tendency to glow.The prosecution argues that genetic engineering “endangers the very essence of natural evolution” and is against the law for that reason. Neera’s counter argument is that laws have been unjust in the past, and that this law is discrimination like those ones were, but she doesn’t address why it doesn’t pose a threat in the way the prosecution described. La’an is tasked with investigating if Una was found-out by illegally seized information. So they could get the case thrown out on a technicality – suggesting overturning the unjust law isn’t the goal, but just getting Una out of prison time. YES this is all an important part of La’an’s character arc, but I prefer to believe that they just like to tucker her out with busy work so she sleeps through the night. Neera gets April to admit that he wouldn’t have sponsored Una’s entry into the academy if he had known she was Illyrian because he thinks that genetic engineering leads to death and genocide. Still no real argument from Neera on if that’s true or not.Una is upset that Neera is “indicting the Federation” – Neera: “Has it occurred to you that your case might bring us one step closer in dismantling the law?” which Una finds alarming. This doesn’t really line up with Una turning herself in and wanting to stand trial. Again, the goals of the characters needed to be made clear to the audience. Una takes the stand!! So Una is from an Illyrian colony that was a member of the federation, which was allowed so long as genetic modification wasn’t practiced. So are Illyrians ok to the federation if they aren’t augments?? But then she says a kid got beat up because he was accused of being an Illyrian? Isn’t that the whole thing with the colony?? Feels like the world building was not super thought through on this one. this jerkTurns out Una telling us her backstory was all setup. She was seeking asylum in the Federation from the Federation, and that’s not against the rules!! The court is impressed by Neera’s attention to dramatic structure and so Una is found innocent.The lawyer is like “I hate all of you but at least you serve under an Illyrian” – they love it.
