@2ls1t What bends me out of shape is not that they use pronouns but that it seems to be all that is important.
Besides the fact, that they released to the press that it was the first gender-neutral character which it definitely was not (There was a whole race of those in TNG which "re-educated" binary gendered people - Yes, that episode was meant to adress treatment of homosexuals, but they were gender-neutral non the less).
They sacrifice everything for it - be it canon or even their own freaking storylines.
I can remember one Episode where they did it as bluntly as DIS is doing it the whole time, the space-crack Episode in ENT where T'Pol uses part of her ability to inhibit emotions. (That one made no sense either...)
@player8472 "it seems to be all that is important" How so? Genuinely, how so? This episode is the first to explicitly touch on pronoun usage and thereby acknowledging the non-binary nature of the character, and it was done in one single scene out of a whole episode. This is the fifth or sixth episode Adira has appeared in. Discovery introduced them through their expertise and intellect, then their relationship with Gray, it's only now that their gender has been discussed.
Whether or not the press release was correct about their inclusion being the first ever non-binary Trek character, they remain one of the first in general and surely the first to be a (what now appears to be) regular / recurring cast member who is also played by a non-binary actor.
Besides all that, LGBTQ+ people exist all the time, as opposed to within the confines of a single, tokenistic episode that "addresses" the queer issue.
So far, I think it's been well handled; it wasn't made a big deal of within the show universe, thereby normalising them for viewers as a regular person...which they are.
@2ls1t I wasn't talking about the Episode itself, but about the press releases beforehand.
Besides, this is the 8th Episode. Star Trek was always about the ideal world that will be. So why if everything is perfect and no one is a homophobe or transphobe anymore did she feel the need to conceal it for presumably months?
Well, I don't care anymore anyhow (I only saw this bc I got an eMail about being mentioned in a comment), and it is not this which killed the fun out of me, but that they first kicked off Nhan who seemed interesting and would have been a fine 1st officer with a matching rank and then promoted an ENSIGN to 1st officer.
That took the last bit of immersion I had.
I am actually thankful, bc watching felt like a chore this season. It feels like when I was kicked out of the cult I grew up in, when I realized that I wouldn't have to follow their rules ever again. (Admittedly this is smaller, but actually simmilar)
@2ls1t What most people are "bent out of shape" about is not the fact, that they are refered to as they/them.
It is, that the scene serves no real purpouse. Just imagine the scene without the they/them and you'll see how stupid it is.
They spend nearly a minute for what should be a 10 second mention of her good work.
And that in an episode filled with a million side plots, some of which could have used those extra seconds.
In general the problem with those scenes is when they tell them their pronouns. If they always felt that way, why didn't they say so before? It has been months since they joined the crew. So why wait this long?
I can't imagine it not coming up the whole time.
Especially since she joined the crew, so there were certainly personel-files to be filled out - the federation of the future seems to be very bureaucratic otherwise.
The way they did it here it feels like they put the scene in to show how inclusive the show is (which probably is the truth, although not provable since I can't look into the makers head)
Review by ElliotVIP 6BlockedParent2020-12-04T08:38:03Z
It's interesting how, out of an entire 45 minute episode, one single scene that explicitly addresses they/them pronouns has got a certain type of viewer bent out of shape. Apparently this equates to the episode being riddled with nonsense, all the more ridiculous since the idea of inclusion and acceptance is so against the Trek ethos...oh wait.
Anyway, sadly this was another weak episode. Normally I'm Georgio's biggest fan but I have to agree with Andrew Bloom's review that her combative quips in the early part of the episode were generally quite forced and poorly delivered. In fact, the script for this episode was noticeably clunky in terms of the incidental dialogue between the cast. Also, while I appreciate the show finally fleshing out Detmer's character after three seasons, I feel like they've possibly miscast her. The actress isn't bad, per se, but her performance comes across as a fairly meek individual rather than someone who ought to be helming a starship. In fact the general calibre of the performances this episode was a bit wonky. The actress playing Osyrra was quite wooden in my opinion, as was the actor playing her nephew.
After a strong start to the season, these past few episodes have rather dragged. I'm hoping the closing third of the season is a return to form as some of the plot points start getting resolved.