we're only ashes.

I'm still really enjoying it! I think episode three was a little woobly for me (I don't enjoy school bully plots, even if they come to a good resolution), but the others have been great, and I love how the episodic nature is letting us get to know all of the characters better, not just focusing on Caleb and Ake (though Caleb and Ake are great!). And there's 1.5 queer couples!

I like how much of it is about building a better future. The characters come from different cultures, and come with a certain amount of damage because the stable government hasn't been there for them, and that's an organic part of the plot too. So, the kids are trying to grow up and figure out who they are, and they've also found themselves at a pivot point of history, when the Federation tries to decide what it wants to be. It's a lot of the same themes as DS9 dealt with in the later seasons (though in that case, fending off what the Federation ought not to be, which I guess Picard was trying to do too, but in a very cludgy way). I like the credits being about growth and building (though could take or leave the theme), and the show also being that.

And yes I have been watching Jessie Gender again, but one of the things I agree with her about is how it's not leaning very hard on nostalgia, or trying to recreate a Star Trek the show runners grew up with, which honestly a lot of post-Voyager shows have leaned on. (Though Discovery didn't especially land for me, and I never gave it enough of a chance, I think it at least was trying to do something different, so it makes sense that it created the setting for SFA.) Like the shows I loved most, and which re-invented what the show could be in the '90s, they're not on a ship called Enterprise, and they're not on an exploratory mission backed by the strength of the Federation (and don't forget that people loathed every single one of the '90s shows on grounds of: "They changed it, and I don't like it!") The main challenges in SFA are different because the main characters are students, but the way of poking at moral themes remains. The show is about them building a better world, personally and politically, with respect for and in conversation with the world building that came before, but not beholden to it as a prefect object, and I'm really loving that.

(The mix of earnestness and silliness reminds me of this hilarious short by SoOkayHeresTheThing: What It's Like to Watch Star Trek. Summarised in One Minute.)

I especially really liked these specific spoilery things: ( Spoilers for episodes 1x02 and 1x04. )

Two beats that I absolutely hated, for balance: ( Spoilers for episodes 1x01 and 1x02 )