Yo what the fuck was this? A character dies in a big dramatic way at the end of an episode, but they actually had scenes in other episodes before this? And we understood who they were as a character and how other characters felt about them in a way that actually made the death more dramatic? What the hell is this nonsense?! This is not what I've come to expect from modern Star Trek at all!!
I was immediately suspicious when there were likable characters at all. I was totally prepared for La'an, but then they snuck in Hemmer. Even the teenage boy working the helm isn't entirely unbearable.
And Pike, I literally can't even. A straight white male, as Captain?
Kidding aside, the one headscratcher is...
The fuck is going on with Number One's eyebrows? They go from Vulcan to human and back again, all the time. Are they prehensile or something?
I suspect they got the idea of giving her Vulcan(ish) eyebrows from an old publicity still of Majel Barret; this one:
But she's green there, so I assume that's from a screen test or something, and they must have figured, well... that'd be a good look for Rebecca Romijn. But, y'know... only exactly 50% of the time she's on screen.