#StarTrek SNW “Broken Circle” worked for me, though it is a bit absurd in places, plot-wise. It worked well as a picture of a young Spock – loyal, logical, but not yet sophisticated. He is very straight forward in his decision making. Not yet the experienced, veteran Spock who considers alternatives and thinks dozens of moves ahead instead of a few.

In this episode, Commander Pelia provides the experience that young Spock lacks – but you can also see how young Spock is absorbing these lessons. How to “do it correctly”. Along with the introduction of the Vulcan lyre for Spock and his inner conflicts and doubts, this episode is a great character sketch of the early Spock.

Command Pelia looks to be a fine addition to the line of interesting Star Fleet engineers (and I include Captain Shaw in that list.) As a (former) Star Fleet instructor, I suspect she may provide some additional seasoning for the novice crew members.

Also, it appears that Star Fleet medical personnel can be rather bad-ass when needed.

So a strong character episode. The plot is there in service of that.