AFAIK, Rogers still has the brand. It just won't be on CBC.

I don't really have a read on Spock, but Pike certainly seemed to sense she was holding something back. I don't know if he actually knows what, though.

One thing I forgot to mention - since the preview photos and logline were released on Monday, I'd been wondering if we might see some ridgeless Klingons, but no luck. Maybe it's for the best, but maybe it's a missed opportunity?

Well, I thought that was quite enjoyable.

The black-and-white gimmick was well-used, and I felt it in service of the story, and not just a gimmick.

The story itself was an enjoyable noir caper, and it was fun to see Una getting her hands dirty, Uhura learning about spycraft, and M'Benga being entirely too comfortable with the whole thing. The guest cast was pretty great, too - I last saw Andy McQueen as Jesus Christ himself in "Mrs. Davis", a show that no one seems to have watched, and it was cool to see him in a very different role here.

Demore Barnes was very compelling as Kor...but the gravitas he brought to it was so reminiscent of Michael Ansara to me, I almost wonder if he should have played Kang instead.

Alexander/Neelix/Jack Crusher teamup when

Who was asking for more Alexander stories?

If there's one thing I'm pretty confident Terry Matalas wants to do, it's bang his old action figures together.

Well, given their other mission statement of Getting the Band Together, I don't think we're going to be seeing less Kirk moving forward...

I know people are sort of tossing the season premiere into the "gimmick" bucket due to the nature of the time travel story, but it seemed like a pretty standard episode of Trek to me.

Genre trappings aside, I'm actually pretty intrigued by the logline for this one:

Una is mistaken for a resistance leader and drawn into a struggle against Klingon occupation.

Martialer Law

Why is lumic in a wheelchair throne, he’s got a metal body?

I'm not proud, but I laughed. I suppose it's supposed to be a throne, but the optics are awful.

I read up on the wiki later and realised they were meant to be in a gay relationship.

I totally forgot about that. I think Andrew Hayden-Smith sells it pretty well, and Noel Clarke absolutely doesn't.

At one point lumic “declares independence” - this dialogue makes no sense

I think he's referring to London, which I guess makes a kind of sense given the appearance of the PM in the previous episode, but yeah that line is a whole lot of nothing.

The first thing that strikes me is that the story here is held together by a lot of wild contrivances. Mickey and Jake get to the roof of Battersea undetected...somehow! Despite normally clanking around, the Cybermen can still sneak up on you when convenient! Mickey's hacking skills (granted these have been halfway established in the past) are strong enough that he can find the override code for the emotional inhibitors in a matter of seconds! Also, he knows how to fly a Zeppelin because PlayStation!

With that all the way, I think the emotional core of the episode is strong. The body horror is executed perfectly, with the "why am I cold" scene being absolutely outstanding (and something that I'd forgotten about, shame on me).

I really appreciated Pete's "rejection" of Rose, even after he learns the truth. It's unsatisfying in a very real sort of way.

I'm less fond of Mickey's departure - it's fine, I just don't care much for Mickey. I do think it would have been more resonant if Eccleston was still the Doctor, since he showed more disdain for Mickey last season.

It was nice that the episode spent some time with Jake, and especially Mrs. Moore. It's a little surprising that we never met their counterparts in the mainline universe.

Lastly...the Cybermen could be a good metaphor for toxic masculinity. Maybe it's time to revisit them.

We all know what happened when Jim Kirk went to the movies.