Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 2x01 "The Broken Circle"
Logline
A distress call from Lt. Noonien-Singh compels Spock to disobey orders and take the USS Enterprise and its crew into disputed space, risking renewed hostilities with the Klingons in a bid to aid their shipmate.
Written by Henry Alonso Myers & Akiva Goldsman
Directed by Chris Fisher
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I wonder if it is less that it gives you the strength, but more that it helps with pain blocking and reaction, but with the downside that you got to take it RIGHT before the fight, and that the aches and pains will still be there when it wears off. I don't recall them mentioning that it had no side effects, so I would imagine that the side effects weren't quite plot-relevant enough to devote time to, and were handled "off camera", so to speak.
They put it in there like it was no big deal though. It kind of sends the wrong message and makes you ask the question, "Why don't they just use it all the time?"
There was heavy implication that M'Benga at least was deep in the shit during the war, and Chapel was also seemingly a veteran. Maybe hand to hand training was standard for facing off against Klingons.
I seem to recall from S1 that Chapel was more sneaky and preferred using hyposprays to incapacitate someone rather than brute force. I don't think we got any indication before this that she's had any combat experience at all.
They may be doing some slight retcon to justify future developments they seem to be setting up with the Gorn. Giving a couple of the characters some previous combat experience isn't a bad idea if they're planning on doing a bit of war this season.