The episode follows a pair of twin storylines. The primary sees Darem hauled again to the Khonian Realm to have fun his sealing, the achievement of an engagement we’ve by no means heard about earlier than to a lady we’ve by no means met. Jay-Den will get carried alongside for the experience after incorrectly assuming his classmate was being kidnapped. What follows is an introduction to each Khonian tradition and a aspect of Darem we’ve by no means seen earlier than — he’s… surprisingly good and accommodating? — as Jay-Den is immediately pressured to serve within the function of his “Ko’Zeine,” a.okay.a. Finest Man.
That is all fraught in a usually young-adult-fiction type of means, as Darem and Jay-Den’s scenes proceed to crackle with the type of chemistry that’s sure to be problematic when certainly one of them has an alleged fiancé ready to marry them and the opposite’s bought a boyfriend again house. However as soon as once more, Karim Diané and George Hawkins are nice collectively, as Jay-Den serves as Darem’s sounding board and cheerleader, stepping as much as give a top-tier finest man speech about the way in which that his classmate — and buddy — not solely helped him discover his personal voice, however has develop into a confident chief amongst their Academy crew.
Elsewhere, the episode additionally follows Caleb and Genesis, who’ve each, for very totally different causes, opted to remain behind within the locked-down Academy fairly than journey elsewhere. Caleb turned up his nostril on the host household Ake discovered for him to stick with and Genesis is so clearly mendacity when she says her father had a last-minute obligation come up that it’s nearly commendable how lengthy the episode commits to the bit that she’s simply down for a weekend of random aggressive rulebreaking hinjinks together with her favourite no penalties classmate who additionally occurs to be the varsity’s finest hacker. What a coincidence!
Seven episodes in, Genesis remains to be the member of our core crew that we all know least about, and “Ko’Zein” offers us one thing that feels nearly like a purpose for it: She doesn’t technically belong on the Academy. She altered her suggestions to land a spot on this cadet class, and actually isn’t certain that she’s able to being the individual that her father so clearly desires her to develop into. Ake desires to submit Genesis for the Academy’s pre-command monitor, a type of pre-med fashion crash course in captain’s coaching for many who’ve displayed explicit expertise.
As a part of this, the committee will re-review all of her preliminary software supplies and converse together with her references, which all appears innocuous sufficient… no less than till Genesis freaks out about it, and concocts an elaborate plan involving Caleb, Ake’s captain’s chair, and a cloned key to attempt to cowl up the truth that she altered the originals. Her crime is, within the grand scheme of issues, hardly the worst factor on the earth, notably given how eminently succesful she’s already confirmed herself to be as a pupil and a frontrunner. However sustaining her can-do, prepared for something, always striving picture comes at a really actual private price, and that is the primary we’re actually seeing of how her worry of failure has formed her.
Very similar to in “Vitus Reflux,” Genesis and Darem’s tales are used as mirrors for one another, as every wrestles with the pressures of expectation, worry, and self-doubt in several methods. Are both of them on paths of their very own selecting? Are they making themselves smaller or lesser to suit into preconceptions of who they’re meant to be? What do they every really need out of their lives, and the way does their Starfleet Academy expertise assist them determine what that’s? These are, after all, exactly the sorts of questions that faculty is supposed to power you to face, and it’s good to see that’s nonetheless true even lots of of years sooner or later. The episode ends with Darem annulling his new marriage and abdicating his throne, whereas Genesis is faraway from the captain’s monitor. It’s a failure on a technical stage, for each of them, or no less than a person like Genesis’s father would most likely say so. But it surely’s additionally a contemporary begin, and there’s one thing awfully promising in that.
