- Directed by Andi Armaganian
- Written by Alex Taub and Eric Anthony Glover
- February 19, 2026
- Allegedly based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry. The blame for the idea of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy rests upon Gaia Violo as aided by Alex Kurtzman
- Paramount+
Episode Cast
- Chancellor Nahla Ake-Holly Hunter
- Caleb Mir-Sandro Rosta
- Jay-Den Kraag-Karim Diané
- SAM (Series Acclimation Mil)-Kerrice Brooks
- Darem Reymi-George Hawkins
- Genesis Lythe-Bella Shepard
- Digital Dean of Students-Stephen Colbert voice
- Kyle Djokovic-Dale Whibley
- Jett Reno-Tig Notaro
- Kaira-Jaelynn Thora Brooks
- USS Athena computer-Brit Marling voice
- Quill-Alexa Yaphe
It is All Worlds Day at Starfleet Academy so time for the student body to go on a break!
The story(s) of Ko’Zeine begins around what amounts to their equivalent of Spring Break accompanied by the announcement of a galactic meteor shower. Huh? Is the whole galaxy getting a show in a single instance? Did somebody think they needed to add to the canon of ‘ion storm’ space weather with something a little sillier?
After the events of Come, Let’s Away the cadets are still recovering with this break allowing them to go away and rest. SAM (Kerrice Brooks) is continuing to glitching from the previous episode so rather than return to her people who would be experts (presumably), she is taking whatever transportation to a starbase to get a program patch because that is the better idea.
Once again in this episode they mix language of SAM being a lifeform of some type with that of being something closer to that of Data or The Doctor (Robert Picardo) who is MIA here. Needing a program patch indicates manufacturing as did the adjusting of her program by Caleb (Sandro Rosta) in Series Acclimation Mil. Still no explanation on what generates her though as a program they should be able to transmit/transfer her to wherever, but she is traveling like everyone else. Considering The Doctor is several centuries old and has in the past manipulated his own program he might be worth having come along for consultation. Not even a passing mention though.
Admiral’s daughter Genesis (Bella Shepard) because she did so well in Come, Let’s Away is being recommended by the Georgia accented half-Lanthanite Chancellor Ake (Holly Hunter) for the command fast-track program. Her scores and such are stated as excellent, but what did she do previously that was so special?
Does genesis take the win and relax on a boring mission with dad? Nope. She sneaks back to the Academy and changes her transport logs to hide the action before bumping into Caleb and beginning a series of dares that result in the pair on the bridge of the Athena. Anybody starting to get bothered that a school building doubles as an active starship? Or that security is lax as needed for the plot?
Caleb for his part has been writing and deleting letters to Tarima for the past month because that is what good boyfriends do. We learn he is so conflicted because he really cares about Tarima and wanted to let her in on the private part of himself we saw in their telepathic link but was scared. How stunted is he? This is one more indication he should not have been allowed in no matter how bad Ake feels over imprisoning him and his mom for the crime of trying to eat in a post-scarcity galaxy.
How can I forget the Jay-Den (Karim Diané)/Darem (George Hawkins) duo with all its forced sexual tension between the pair? Still cannot get over Jay-Den’s boyfriend Kyle (Dale Whibley) moving on so quickly in Come, Let’s Away. Something about the lack of mourning even at a month later feels like a level of psychopathy that should be noted.
Jay-Den watches as Darem appears to get kidnapped and taken through what is later described as ‘like a stable wormhole’ bringing into question a necessity for starships or even why The Burn broke the Federation. Such a piece of abruptly very significant technology should have made the wealthy Khionians ever more money as well as very powerful brokers of interstellar transportation.
This spaceship college has sensors that find Caleb wherever he is whatever he is doing, but cannot detect a portal being opened within its corridors? I don’t necessarily need Ake to send a mission after Darem, but some acknowledgement by Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) who seems to be monitoring security on campus while everybody is gone was called for. Sensors used to pick up all sortsa stuff in Trek but now miss that?!
Turns out their story is a wacky alien ritual episode and what Jay-Den saw was not him being kidnapped (though I swear it looked like he got a hypo to the neck) but going willingly for a traditional prearranged marriage that was originally scheduled for after he had a few years of Starfleeting under his belt because somebody changed their mind. Women. Am I right?
Darem, because of his social position, has some serious obligations to his people based on birth but Jay-Den is pushing him to pursue what he wants. The former is not unusual in Star Trek, but the execution of the latter is. As a main character Darem was definitely not going anywhere. Neither was Troi or Spock in similarly themed episodes but gone is the mystery of how this will be satisfactorily settled to not create problems. Walking away from it all is done so often in Trek and other shows now. No concern over greater obligations or duty.
You would think a trip to Khionian wedding moon (even if it’s a desert) would get some shots of Khionians in their natural form ONCE but you would be mistaken. We never see a single one of his people in the fish form. No in story explanation is given. In TOS they encountered a lot of humans because it was cheaper to film humans than to spend money on the prosthetics of the time. Contrary to popular belief, given the 60s it was an expensive show and they had to cut costs and that was done in prosthetics.
Given the budget per episode of this series (a reported $20 million) you would think they could do a prosthetics heavy episode. Or an FX heavy episode since the ONLY time we saw Darem’s alternate form was all VFX that made him look kinda like Mystique. It makes absolutely no sense that they didn’t do something.
After a wacky misadventure with a warp slug that never gets concluded, Genesis and Caleb break into the bridge of the Athena which is revealed to have been her goal all along. Why? Turns out Genesis wants to get onto the bridge not to spend time alone there but because she wants to screw with a letter of recommendation that mentions she fears she doesn’t belong where she’s at fearing it will hurt her chances on getting into the fast-track because getting caught wouldn’t? This was an opportunity to address imposter syndrome and get some real character development but it was about the actions and not a specific character.
I understand not court-martialing, Genesis and drumming her out of Starfleet Academy. Based on what stated about her academic scores and her general history, though serious, breaking onto the bridge was her first violation of any rules. Caleb does have a long criminal history and this slap on the wrist, while it may occur at the discretion of Ake, seems questionable. Then again, he spent much of his time breaking into computer systems or in the areas he’s not supposed to be and everybody just laughs it off.
The solution to Darem’s problems? His girlfriend of the episode whose name is unimportant convinces him to abdicate so he can return to Starfleet Academy because it’s the first time she ever saw him happy and must go to be himself. No real struggle. She just cuts the leash.
Ko’Zeine has the vibe of a filler episode. Such installments generally do not move forward the central plot or do much if any character development. They exist to meet episode quotas and can usually be skippable. This feels like that. Everything that happens here can stay here. Given how they have been talking up Genesis I do not think her prospects of getting command will be hurt and the eventual Darem/Jay-Den pairing was only slowed up.
Much of the dialogue as expected is YA crafted and not Star Trek. Some of the motivations seem questionable if not downright stupid such as wanting to remove a transcript when it clearly didn’t hinder you from getting into Starfleet Academy. With several letters of recommendation one that said she feared she didn’t belong where she was does not seem that detrimental.
Between the YA dialogue, and a sense of being inconsequential filler, Ko’Zeine was not necessarily underwhelming but did nothing to elevate my opinion of the show.
Warren Watched A Movie 