I can’t lie, this one didn’t do much for me. It’s like this: West’s little brother has signed up for the war, and when he gets stationed to the Saratoga it stresses West out. Little brother is in a unit commanded by a foolish guy who wants to rush into battle to prove himself. So West spends the episode worried and little brother’s unit gets ambushed and, yeah, little brother ends up dead because war is bad. Pretty basic stuff. I’m not gonna say it was actively bad, but I was bored, so it sure wasn’t good. I hope, if nothing else, it actively colours West’s motivations going forth.

I don’t know how much time is meant to have passed since the war began, but when the “new meat” recruits arrive on the ship, the Wild Cards talk about how young they look, even though we’re in the first season. They’re acknowledging how the combat has mentally aged them, even thought they all look like young models.