Happy post-Thanksgiving to those Trek fans out there! It is time to take a look at the episode of Prodigy that was released on Thanksgiving day, “Masquerade.” The theme took a bit of a thankful moral lesson where Del finds out he is an augmented humanoid created from the lineage of Soong. There are dormant alien species elements to him, which a geneticist unleashes, though the rest of the crew tries to convince him not to do. This is all while the ship is docked to get repairs after their run-in with Admiral Janeway. Romulans eventually catch wind of the Federation ship and pursue the crew and in battle, Murph becomes the new security officer. Here we go with our thoughts on the episode…
Music
Mr. Daps: “This week’s music did the trick. I don’t think it was as iconic as some weeks but it also didn’t do anything wrong. I will say this, it isn’t reaching the level of awesome that some of the other new Star Trek series currently offer during their new episodes.”
Murray: “The music didn’t grip me this episode, but had some nice themes to it. I’m enjoying how it accents every episode and scene, but wish there could be more with it all to give Prodigy its own identity.”
Design
Mr. Daps: “This week was a good week for design. Prodigy continues to give new looks at familiar things, in this case, the Romulans. I also like how the Tal Shiar are showing up in more places beyond just Picard. They really are creating a more interconnected galaxy and I like how that is being done from a design perspective as well.”
Murray: “There were some very interesting features in this episode. Del took on many traits of some species we know, and it was fun to guess which aliens he was taking on. The Romulan suits were rather different than anything we’ve seen before. That was a refreshing setup for the group. I think the sleek design was a great one for both the series and Trek as we know it.”
Story
Mr. Daps: “This week’s story felt like a transitory story. It was one step towards getting to something more important. It wasn’t the most original but it wasn’t bad either. It did add some backstory to Del and also helped interconnect different stories both in the series and also for the bigger world of Star Trek in general. I think it continued the trend of building this season toward its inevitable climax at the end. Overall, the story was decent if not the most original.”
Murray: “I can’t say this was a rather original story. I don’t know if I have seen anything exactly similar in Trek, but it felt a little recycled. What I mean is the plot with Dal about wanting to be different and taking on some dangerous traits to be so. Despite that main plot, I think it worked and flowed very well. His shock of finding out who he is hit very well and contributed to the challenge of having a dangerous procedure. The Romulan encounter worked very well too, and helped to raise the stakes for the crew. In all, I keep being surprised by these stories at how well they flow in each episode.”
Hit or Miss?
Mr. Daps: “This week is a hit, but perhaps the series’ most successful hit. I think there are some really interesting things happening with the different characters in the show. I’m particularly interested to see if there is a future with Vice-Admiral Janeway and Captain Dal Re’l. It seems like this would be very interesting. With the current challenges however with the Protostar and Starfleet, that might be a way off… or something that comes out of next season. All-in-all, this was a good episode and I’m very much looking forward to seeing where the rest of this season goes!”
Murray: “I’m going to give this episode a hit rating. It was a good lesson to have, and executed very well. I really liked the action and suspense of the Romulan chase. Then there is Janeway’s ongoing emotional struggle with the Protostar which is developing into an interesting arc. Overall, I really liked what this contributed to not just the show but Star Trek altogether.”
