Entertainment
Starfleet Academy Channels Two Wildly Different Movie Genres To Create A Standout Episode
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Starfleet Academy’s sixth episode (“Come, Let’s Away”) was a standout tale that ditched the series’ infamous tryhard humor to deliver a tight action/adventure thriller. As someone who had been hard on the show before, I was morbidly curious if that grimdark outing represented the new normal. Would this Star Trek spinoff finally start taking itself seriously in every episode, or would the series be returning to sloppy comedy form?
The seventh episode (“Ko’zeine”) managed to surprise me, and not always in a good way: this story brought goofy comedy back to the forefront, but the humor is less forced and all the more fun for it. Plus, the episode channels the vibe of both indie coming-of-age films (like Garden State) and wedding rom-coms (like My Best Friend’s Wedding) into an uneven episode that packs plenty of character development. As a result, “Ko’ziene” is a deep improvement over earlier Starfleet Academy episodes, but it fails to pack the high-octane thrills and equally high stakes of “Come, Let’s Away.”
Spring Break Is Finally Here
The general premise of “Ko’ziene” is that the various cadets are headed home for Spring Break, but things quickly go awry for three of our heroes. Caleb has no family to return to, so he decides to stay aboard the Athena, trying to take his mind off the injuries sustained by his telepathic girlfriend when she successfully saved him from the Furies. She is recovering on Betazed, and Caleb is having trouble composing the right message to express his feelings; however, he gets a welcome distraction from Genesis, whose decision to steal back aboard the Athena hides a shocking ulterior motive.
Meanwhile, the B plot is that Jay-Den sees Darem getting abducted, and he follows the kidnappers to discover a rather insane surprise. You see, Darem has been nabbed by his own people as part of an ancient ritual, and he is about to marry the woman he was betrothed to many years ago. Jay-Den now has to serve as his best man, but that means he has to avoid a romantic getaway in Ibiza with Kyle, his himbo War College boyfriend.
Taking Aim At The Series’ Awful Humor
Before you say it, I want to let you know I get it. If you’ve hated most of Starfleet Academy up until this point, then “Ko’zeine” sounds like a double serving of the show’s two most annoying aspects: awkward romance and teen angst. However, this outing is better than earlier episodes this season for the simple fact that the writers are finally showing a bit of restraint with the show’s attempts at comedy.
Sure, there are still some overly goody bits here, like Caleb’s ears swelling up in a bit straight out of Star Trek (2009). Oh, and he and Genesis chase down a “warp snail” in a low-speed chase sequence so silly that it belongs in Lower Decks. As for the wedding plot, we get a few equally cartoony, overly trope-y bits, like Darem’s elaborate wedding suit tearing and him having a Bridezilla-esque freakout.
Mostly, though, this Starfleet Academy episode puts the forced humor into a dampening field, allowing the more serious elements of the story to have more impact. We get to see Caleb processing his feelings for Tarima in a surprisingly earnest way; he cares for her but doesn’t know how to express his feelings, which is relatively realistic for a teenage boy dealing with his own traumatic baggage. Jay-Den has to confront the depth of his romantic feelings and a potential love triangle, all while learning that his swaggering bully/classmate crush is a secret simp back home.
Star Trek Goes Indie
What holds everything together, though, is that returning Trek director Andi Armaganian shoots the A plot and the B plot through the lens of two very different genre films. Jay-Den and Darem get a wedding-based rom-com story, one that mines humor out of cultural misunderstandings and the two characters’ grudging mutual affection. Caleb and Genesis, however, get a twee coming-of-age adventure that shamelessly channels beloved indie hits like Garden State and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.
Needless to say, your enjoyment of these plots will hinge largely on your enjoyment of the genre stuff. Personally, I like my wedding comedies to be driven more by winking charisma (like in The Wedding Singer) or raunchy punchlines (like in Wedding Crashers), so I was left just a tad cold by the Jay-Den/Darem B plot. The actors get some fun lines and have a decent chemistry with one another, but their plot line veers a bit too much into the space lanes of a good, old-fashioned soap opera for my taste.
A Weirdly Moving, Weirdly Thoughtful Episode
By contrast, I found the A plot with Caleb and Genesis weirdly moving in large part because the script knows when to pull back and just let these characters vibe out. As if in answer to all those fan complaints about the show’s overly vulgar modern slang, this episode mostly has these characters speaking to one another like actual adults. This contrasts nicely with the shenanigans they get up to (Genesis is hellbent on breaking into the Athena’s bridge), and it sets up the essential dichotomy of Starfleet Academy: that these cadets have the potential to be Picard-style movers and shakers, but like Jean-Luc at this tender age, they still have a lot of growing up to do.
In terms of visuals, this episode has some of the most creative camera angles we have seen so far; instead of action shots designed to make you dizzy, “Ko’zeine” provides dynamic shots of Caleb and Genesis bonding, all while a mellow alt soundtrack punctuates their light interaction with hints of profundity. Granted, I’m a Millennial who absolutely loved Garden State, and that might make you want to take your phaser off stun before shooting me. But I thought this episode perfectly channeled that film’s sense of epic ennui; the idea that everything is meaningless and meaningful all at once for characters who have their whole lives ahead of them and a lifetime of baggage behind them.
Feelings Frequencies Open, Captain
There are no chilling monologues like we got in “Come, Let’s Away,” and unlike that earlier adventure, nobody’s in danger of suddenly declaring “Zo’Keine” one of their favorite Star Trek episodes. But this is a surprisingly earnest, surprisingly honest slice-of-life tale that adds surprising depth to some of the show’s most one-dimensional characters. It’s a thoroughly entertaining (good, not great) tale, one that signifies that Starfleet Academy has overcome most of its growing pains and is ready to finally provide episodes that capture the ephemeral highs and haunting lows of life as a young person.
A fun, unpredictable story that dynamically transforms several of the show’s best characters without disrupting franchise lore? As a Star Trek fan, you could do a lot worse!
Entertainment
Moon phase today: What the Moon will look like on March 1
It’s a new month, and while the Moon may appear totally full, we’re still a couple of days away from this yet. But in the meantime, there’s still lots to spot on its surface.
What is today’s Moon phase?
As of Sunday, March 1, the Moon phase is Waxing Gibbous. According to NASA’s Daily Moon Guide, 94% of the Moon will be lit up tonight.
With just your naked eye, tonight you’ll be able to see the Mares Imbrium and Crisium, as well as the Tycho Crater. If you have binoculars hanging about, dust them off and pull them out to catch a glimpse of the Mares Nectaris and Frigoris, and the Endymion Crater. And proud telescope owners will see all this and more, including the Apollo 15 and 17 landing spots, and the Schiller Crater.
When is the next Full Moon?
The next Full Moon will be on March 3. The last Full Moon was on Feb. 1.
What are Moon phases?
According to NASA, the Moon takes about 29.5 days to orbit the Earth. Over the course of this period, it moves through eight recognisable phases, what we call the lunar cycle. While the same side of the Moon always faces us, the amount of its surface lit by the Sun changes as it continues along its path. The shifts in sunlight create the different appearances we see from Earth, ranging from a fully illuminated Moon to a thin sliver or near darkness. The eight phases are:
New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).
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Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).
First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.
Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.
Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.
Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)
Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.
Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.
Entertainment
Men are paying to have negative posts removed from Tea app
As reported by 404 Media, online service Tea App Green Flags will scrub negative posts from anonymous gossip app Tea and similar online forums where women post about negative experiences they’ve had with men they’ve dated.
According to 404 Media’s interview with Tea App Green Flags’ founder, simply identified as Jay, the company launched two years ago to tackle posts on the many Are We Dating the Same Guy Facebook groups. His focus has turned to Tea in the past year.
“We just want to take down posts about people who are being defamed,” Jay told 404 Media. “And when I say defamed, it means like, ‘this guy has a small penis,’ or ‘this guy smells.’ That doesn’t fit the mission statement of what the Tea app was for, which is to warn women against people who are harmful, who are abusive, who are cheaters.”
Tea App Green Flags’ site claims to have removed over 2,500 posts from the Tea App for over 759 clients. Most of the service’s clients are men, although Jay noted that occasionally the wives and girlfriends of men posted on the app will reach out.
Prospective Tea App Green Flags clients must provide their name, age, location, and photo to the service, as well links to specific posts targeting them. According to Tea App Green Flags’ FAQs, they can only remove posts with direct references to a client. On average, the site says, a Tea App “takedown campaign” will take 21 – 30 days. The lengths of other takedowns depend on the platform.
Price-wise, it costs $1.99 to report one Tea account and up to $79.99 to report 25 of them. The company also offers “24/7 Reputation Monitoring,” which costs $19.99 per month and alerts clients when they appear on Tea or Facebook.
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Jay would not share the details of the takedown process with 404 Media. Tea does have a free form for takedown requests on its website, and says that it will “only reply to takedown requests submitted via the takedown portal.”
Jay emphasized to 404 Media that Tea App Green Flags does not extend its services to people who have been accused of sexual assault multiple times on Tea, or who have been accused by one person using their real name and photo in a Facebook group.
“Sometimes we find along the process that there are pedophiles or people who actually did what they did, and they’re very bad,” Jay told 404 Media. “So we say, ‘we’re not doing this.’ We can’t take a rap for that. We’re ethical. We just want to take down people who are being defamed.”
Tea markets itself as presenting “dating safety tools that protect women.” In July 2025, it was the target of a large-scale cyberattack that exposed thousands of user images including drivers’ licenses, leaving users vulnerable to doxxing and harassment. These images were provided as verification for accounts, although the app itself is otherwise anonymous.
Jay claimed to 404 Media that Tea’s anonymity “causes a cesspool of defamation,” and that he would prefer if women shared their faces, even if they are speaking out against dangerous men who have done them harm.
While Tea is meant to be a women-only app, Tea App Green Flags is proof of men’s infiltration of these online dating spaces. (Tea itself was founded by a man: Sean Cook.)
“I have a Tea app account. I’m a dude,” Jay told 404 Media. “All my reps have Tea app accounts. They’re men.”
Mashable has reached out to Tea for further comment.
Entertainment
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for February 28, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is for people who love golf.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: Golf Equipment
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Green: Materials in a Baseball
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Blue: SEC School Locations
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Purple: First Names of Chicago Bears
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #523 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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Golf Equipment – CLUB, GLOVE, RANGEFINDER, TEE
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Materials in a Baseball – CORK, LEATHER, RUBBER, YARN
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SEC School Locations – ATHENS, AUBURN, LEXINGTON, OXFORD
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First Names of Chicago Bears – CAIRO, CALEB, LUTHER, ROME
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to today’s Connections.
Chicago Fire score twice in stoppage time, blank CF Montreal
Layne Riggs holds on to claim first NASCAR Trucks street race
