'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' was afraid to say anything in season of gimmicks
I kept waiting for the episode where the genre pastiche actually bit down on something, and it never quite did. Trek has always borrowed from other forms, but the best installments used the borrowed frame to land a real argument. "The Trouble with Tribbles" was a comedy that still had sharp things to say about bureaucracy and paranoia. This season felt more like a cover band playing the hits of cinema, technically impressive but allergic to its own conclusions.
The gimmickry is the tell. When a show is terrified of being boring, it reaches for spectacle, and spectacle is the safest possible substitute for conviction. I'd want to know what the writers actually believe about, say, the Federation's moral compromises or the cost of exploration, because none of that came through. There's a version of this season that treats genre as a lens instead of a costume. That version would be worth rewatching. This one I'll remember as fun and forgettable, which for a show with this much history is the saddest outcome.