There were a few small things at the start of this episode that I didn't like - Pike seemed to make the rash decision of leaving Federation Space and going off to "the quadrant’s version of the wild, wild west," after the supposedly captured colonists, simply because he found out that he was being called "The Boy Scout," and that it was in his personnel file. It didn't appear to be a very good reason to suddenly become more edgy and less risk averse to me. However, he was acting on good information from visiting aid worker, Dr. Aspen, who I assume had been thoroughly vetted by the Federation first, to have sent the Enterprise out to assist her. So really, anything that happened later is totally on them.
Secondly - Number One said it was an "Away Mission". Now, no one in the whole of TOS ever called it an "Away Mission", it was always a "Landing Party" until TNG. Maybe it isn't a biggie, but the ship on which I role-play a TOS-Movie era Captain has decided that landing parties are better described as away missions, especially if they're ship-to-ship transports, as was shown here, because they aren't actually "landing" anywhere, so I'm laying my claim to that, and having Number One retcon that away becomes personal. We've also thought about the idea of having a Ship's Counsellor aboard, so all this talk of counsellors and therapists before James Kirk is even a Captain is also wrong. However, those are just my own personal beef.
As the story unfolded, I did think that some of the plot regarding the pirate's takeover, and then overcoming the pirates was unbelievable and quite unrealistic. Could such an ill-disciplined group really take over the Federation flagship with such ease? However, it was a good romp, and then I thought that it could easily be something that had happened in one the TOS-Movies, and I wouldn't want to criticise those. I later realised that this was exactly the kind of vibe that they were going for when the identity of the attempted Vulcan prison swap prisoner was revealed at the very end!
By the end, I was much happier with this episode, and the series as a whole, because I realise that we are seeing here a younger, less fully formed version of the Spock we have known. His later relationship with T'Pring, as well as that with Nurse Chapel actually make more sense now. Spock's necessity to shoot down the asteroid that’s the source of the laser trap, but without complete information, foreshadows decisions he must make again in TOS. Here can’t get his logical mind around the fact he must make a life and death decision based on a hunch. In The Voyage Home, Kirk will tell Spock that "He means that he feels safer about your guesses than most other people's facts." However, regarding his Vulcan-Human identity, that's something he is always going to continue to struggle with and never resolve.
As this season is coming rapidly to a close, it is clear that they are setting up two villains who we are going to see again. Captain Angel will make a great addition to Trek lore, while her Vulcan husband, well let's say, heading back to The Final Frontier for inspiration really is going where no one has gone before.
