Strange New Worlds season 1 episode 7
Enterprise is on its way to help some colonists on the edge of Federation space. They discover debris from two of the colony ships, and believe they may have been attacked by pirates that have been reported in the area. They detect an unknown warp signature leading out of Federation space. Spock reports it'd take two days for a message to reach Starfleet given their distance from subspace relays, and they have to have permission from Starfleet to leave Federation space (uh... since when? What is the Enterprise exploring?). Pike ignores the regulation and orders they follow the warp signature. Finding the third colonist ship in an asteroid field, it turns out to be a trap. The Enterprise is captured, and it turns out the doctor that came to them for help is actually their captain.
Contacting Spock's fiancée (what happened to it taking 2 days for a transmission to go that far?), T’Pring, the pirate captain wants a specific Vulcan prisoner released (who is at a facility to help turn Vulcans who've embraced emotions back to the path of logic) in exchange for Spock. She arrives (seemingly in a matter of minutes) but when Spock tells her he's been having an affair with Nurse Chapel, the T'Pring calls off the trade. Pike meanwhile has caused a mutiny on the pirate ship and taken control of it, allowing them to retake the Enterprise. However, the pirate captain is able to escape. Spock apologizes to T'Pring for the ruse, but she says he has no need, as she realized it was a lie immediately. Later, Spock thanks Nurse Chapel, and she asks who the prisoner Captain Angel wanted released was... Spock explains he believes it to be his half brother, Sybok.
Other than some confusing lines about it taking 2 days for communications to get back to the Federation, and then that not being an issue later in the episode, and that apparently the Federation doesn't like starships leaving Federation space, begging to question what they explore if not unknown space... This wasn't a bad episode. I don't understand the reason the prisoner goes by an alias though, other than trying to hide his identity to surprise the audience at the end, which I feel is a lazy writing technique. But still, I'm curious to see what they'll do to develop this, since the end of this episode is clearly setting up for them to revisit it later.
I'm starting to wonder when we'll get episodes that focus on Erica Ortegas, Hemmer, and George "Sam" Kirk. I don't think we've even seen Sam Kirk since he nearly died in the second episode. Hemmer wasn't in the last three episodes. And Ortegas, other than quipping at Pike's orders, really hasn't done anything.