| Episode: | 7 | | | Writer: | Alex Taub & Eric Anthony Glover | | | Director: | Andi Armaganian | | | Air Date: | 19-Feb-2026 |
This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Ko'Zeine. Isn't that a type of drug?
Both the writers have written for Starfleet Academy already, as Alex Taub co-wrote prank war story Vitus Reflux and Eric Anthony Glover co-wrote Klingon debate contest story Vox in Excelso. At the very least they'll have a good grasp of who the characters are.
I'm a bit surprised that this wasn't directed by main Discovery (and Section 31) director Olatunde Osunsanmi, as I know he's working on this series, but it doesn't seem like there are enough episodes left. Each director has been given a pair of episodes so far, so that means there are five directors. I've heard that Jonathan Frakes is the fifth and it turns out that Andi Armaganian is the fourth, so I guess Osunsanmi won't be directing this season after all?
Andi Armaganian is also a Trek veteran, having directed Rubicon and Jinaal for Discovery and Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach and Through the Lens of Time for Strange New Worlds. Damn, there's no chance of mixing up which series those episode titles belong to. I don't recall her episodes standing out due to the visuals or performances, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Alright, I'm going to try to give this episode a bit of a review and there will be SPOILERS below.
RECAP
Everyone's going home for the All Worlds celebration, except for Caleb who gets permission to stay on the Athena and sunbathe in the atrium. But Genesis has also broken in and she convinces him to play a game of 'stick your hand in the mysterious sample container' which ends with them chasing a creature around sickbay. Just like that episode of Enterprise!
Genesis talks Caleb into hacking the door to the bridge and she tries to make a key there, but is caught. She admits to Ake that she was trying to edit her records before anyone discovered that she'd already changed them. Ake takes her off the command track training program and the two cadets get menial work as punishment, which we actually get to see this time! Oh, Genesis also talks Caleb into finally sending a message to Tarima, who has spent the last month recovering on Betazed.
Meanwhile Jay-Den jumps through a portal to save Darem from being abducted and ends up as his ko'zeine (best man) at his wedding to the queen of Khionia. But when he gives a speech describing Darem as a cocky jerk who sacrifices his own happiness for the sake of others, his new wife decides to make him abdicate the throne and divorces him for his own good. Darem goes back to the Academy and is mean to Kyle.
REVIEW
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the low stakes and I don't mind an episode that's more about characters than plot. But I just don't care about anything that the characters care about in this story. I didn't care if Darem stayed as king or not, I didn't care about Jay-Den not being able to be with Kyle in Ibiza, I wasn't worried about Caleb and Genesis getting caught while trying to catch the warp slug. I probably wouldn't have even noticed if Caleb failed to send a message to Tarima and she just never appeared again. Actually that's not true, as I would've noticed that Caleb was getting more interesting scenes with the other characters.
The best part of the episode for me were the scenes with Caleb hanging out with Genesis, and Caleb and Ake have had an interesting relationship from the start. I liked how he finds her struggling with her suitcase and he just comes in to zip it closed while she sits on it. I can see why he's so adamant he doesn't want to stay with another family during the spring break, as he's already got two mothers.
I'm also confused about how bad Starfleet security is, one episode after Nus Braka held a bunch of cadets hostage and raided a starbase. Caleb and Genesis are able to get onto the bridge and fire up the engines with minimal effort and the Khionians are able to abduct a cadet right outside his room.
Jay-Den's lucky really that it was just a traditional Khionian wormhole kidnapping to get Darem to his own wedding. That's only thing that's really alien about the ceremony though, except for the underwhelming AR wall backdrop.
It's clearly a bit of a money-saving episode, after they blew their budget last time with all those plastic bags they covered the SNW Enterprise bridge with.
I'm not really mad that Jay-Den didn't fight anyone, Amok Time style, because being a pacifist is his thing. It would've been weird if he did. Though struggling at public speaking is also his thing, and the dude just delivered a best man speech to the highest officials of the Khionian Realm like a pro. I don't know if he was deliberately trying to send a message in his speech to get Darem to come back to the Academy with him, but once again Jay-Den won with words and made a massive impact on an entire civilisation.
Though she kind of gave poor Darem a guilt trip for trying so hard to please everyone! The dude did nothing wrong at any point and still ends disappointing everyone. Story of his life really.
I'm trying to think if there's anything else I can say about this plot.
Oh, the writers remembered that Klingons don't like the cold! I'll give the episode a bonus point for that. But I'm subtracting a point because we actually saw Darem's infamous parents here and I didn't find this out until the end credits. They're over there in the background somewhere.
I don't get how 'sticking your hands in mysterious specimen canisters to see if they're toxic' ever became a game though. Seriously, why are they doing this? Is it just to set up a A Night in Sickbay homage as they chase the escaped creature around sickbay? I was just confused the whole time.
At least we also got the scene of Jett calmly fixing her toe while Lura rants at her over the speaker. Man, what is it with this series and feet?
I don't know if Genesis got enough punishment for lying, entering the bridge and starting up the warp core. You do not break through Starfleet security locks and enter restricted areas if it's not a prank war! But the characters can't learn from their mistakes if they never make any, and this feels like the chain of mistakes an extremely driven over-achiever who once shot a replicator to give her team an edge during laser tag would make.
I didn't find her issues all that interesting to be honest, but the more we understand about a character's motivations and flaws, the more interesting they can be in later episodes. Now we know that she's secretly very insecure and that Darem is secretly selfless.
Wait, I just realised that both of Caleb's roommates are basically princes.
RATING
Ko'Zeine is kind of like the Next Gen episode Family or the Enterprise episode Home, which calmed things down after the drama of the previous stories. Though they both came after 75 episodes of wanting to know more about the characters, and we actually got to meet some family when they went home!
But the bigger problem with the episode for me... is that it just wasn't for me. It's not what I'm into.
It didn't torment me with obnoxious comedy, it wasn't so tedious or cringy that I wanted to escape the room, it was just fine. Harmless. So this score isn't me hating on it, I just use the full rating scale and this is on the wrong side of 'meh'.
4/10
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If you've got anything to say about Ko'Zeine, you're welcome to leave a comment below.
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