The above quoted post was my review of the episode right after it aired.I am going to start by stating that I don't like musicals. It's a genre that just doesn't appeal to me.
My wife made an interesting observation about me while we were watching this... it's the first time I ever checked after an ad break for any episode and said "This is the final act" as if I was relieved. I didn't realize I said it that way, but she was right. She also nailed the reason why I don't like musicals... they drag on. More accurately, they drag on in a repetitive way. Meaning a character will burst into song about their heartache/emotion/whatever and the point was fully made in 2 minutes... but they will still keep going with it for 2 or 3 minutes more. Songs have repitition, and that's fine. But on a tv series, it just wastes time. I like my episodes as lengthy as possible so we can get those day in the life scenes, character beats, etc. But NOT when it's this repetitive.
Having said that, I did like that the episode focused on the emotions the crew were going through in their situations... Spock, Chapel, Uhura, Pike.
Nice to have Carol named here... AND pregnant. Even better that it's pretty much exactly right in terms of timeline.
Kirk telling Spock he almost understood what he said... that was a nice scene.
I have to say, Chapel does not come off well here. She tells everyone else about her acceptance into the Korby fellowship... except Spock? That's kind of disrespectful, because she always had at least a fundamental respect for him and cared for him, and this just doesn't follow her previous motivations. No wonder he ends up going to full Vulcan mode by the time of TOS. The man has done everything he could to be understanding and helpful in the relationship... given space when needed, changing the subject Dak'Rah was going on because it was upsetting Chapel, etc. And you know he would be the first one to say 'go for the fellowship' and not guilt her to stay, because he's a good guy. I don't buy the excuse of the Boimler scene in the turbolift is her way of getting out of his way for his destiny... she was already on the fence of even being in a relationship in the very next episode after "Charades". Spock's line to Stonn in "AMOK TIME" about wanting and having a thing really carries extra weight because of Chapel... she's basically the living embodiment of that sentence.
And Una turning off the gravity and her and La'an floating in the conference room... why? Just... why?
When the Klingons were about to come onscreen, I was thinking to myself, "Finally, something I can get behind... Klingon opera." What happened just... I can't unsee that. I STILL don't know whether to be amused or disgusted. A Klingon boy band? I never liked boy bands, and combining them with Klingons... this is just dishonorable.
Two things just really kept taking me out of the episode. First, the fact that the crew actually hear music coming from... apparently nowhere? Second, the dancing. Even the anomaly doesn't explain the crew doing dance numbers. (The only one that even makes a lick of sense is the waltzing with Una and Kirk... in the context of how ridiculous the situation is, as two people in a conversation, I can see them just shrugging their shoulders and just ramping the ridiculousness to 11. I can't say that about the bar scene, the corridors, or the bridge.)
And speaking of ridiculous dance numbers... the Enterprise and the 2 Klingon ships apparently dancing. STARSHIPS DANCING IN SPACE?! WTF was I watching.
I admire SNW for being experimental, and that it's confident enough to do this. But this just wasn't for me. I rated this a 5 because I wanted to be fair due to my own inability to get past the fact it was a musical... it's my lowest score of SNW to date, even lower than "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow". Like with that episode, if the character focus wasn't there, this would have rated a far lower number. If I am to be honest, I will never rewatch this one again, which is something I have never said about ANY episode in the entire franchise.
The character work was fine. It's the method that doesn't work for me. (Being a musical.)
About the only thing I would change in my review is this: I am certain of how I feel about the Klingon boy band. It was just dreadful. Not amusing.
I hate musicals, but I gave the episode a 5. Why? Because I wanted to be fair. Had I rated it solely on my distate for that genre, "Subspace Rhapsody" would be a 1... a 0 if that were a possible score to put down.
It's also kind of wrong to assume people hate it and made assumptions about it and prejudged before it aired. (Unless they ACTUALLY already said something along those lines before it aired.)
Everyone has their own threshold on what they consider too far to suspend disbelief. For some, the anomaly here IS that threshold. I can't disagree with that because that's their view. And it's fine. Just as you think the anomaly is no crazier than some of the others in the franchise. And that's fine, too.
