The Trouble with Edward (2019) is just plain fun. Some serious people may try to over analyze it for ST canon, but just sit back and enjoy this tragic smorgasbord of workplace dysfunction in "utopia". Though a comedy, it's crammed with so many delightful levels of subtle "what the..." and that an introverted savant's actions could snowball to affect everyone's ethics, work, careers, ships, planets, and the whole Federation. This episode took some thinking to orchestrate this clockwork train wreck and is deeper and more humbling than I expected as an engineer. Thoroughly enjoyable just how many other Star Trek episodes this connects together. Things to notice: Edward is morally and ethically obtuse, yet a genius. Add to this a drive to prove he's smart and trouble insues. He did (unintentionally) create a cheap biological way to destroy ships, evacuate planets, disrupt empires, and it's a tasty food. It touched on how to manage people and groups and how easily a promising young Turk's career was sunk. The only minor thing that I see that needed explained is where the Tribbles found enough food/water to breed that much.
Now on a sinister note: If the ending was tweaked to be less silly, this episode could have gone very dark. Imagine Edward did not die at the end but was really working for Star Fleet Intelligence (SFI) or even Section 31 (S31). This would make sense because Edward is the perfect savant for working on black projects that would make others in Star Fleet (SF) wince. Notice how Edward obtusely comes up with famine solutions (eating Tribbles, manipulating human DNA, lobotomizing lifeforms) that ethically causes his co-workers to smile uncomfortably or tense up. This is similar to "ST: Into Darkness" where Kahn was recruited to cross ethical boundaries Star Fleet wouldn't come near. In "ST: DS9" Dr. Bashir or the augmented savants were used either by SFI or S31. This would answer Captain Lucero's incredulous question why Edward was able to stay in SF so long being "an idiot" (Edward might be an asset for SFI or S31). If this was so, after every "screw up", Edward would just be moved to some other isolated insignificant science posting to continue his "protein work" (i.e. Weaponizing tribbles against Klingons). This idea could be milked to explain several ST:TOS and other episodes where SF comes across strange lifeforms, diseases, and devices that are the deliberate or unintentional byproducts of someone like Edward working for SFI or S31 (The Naked Time, The Deadly Years, This Side of Paradise, Operation - Annihilate!). "Operation - Annihilate!" could be just another TOS examples of Edwards creating another new "food" source. Edward is use to being dismissed and thus is covert in his actions. Captain Lucero was reported by Edward for interfering with his work and later became the patsy for Edward's (SFI, S31) project. Sadly, SF, SFI, or S31 will likely conclude she being in charge is what caused all the problems and not Edward. As I said, this episode could really be milked into several episodes to show all the Federation dirt swept under the carpet by SF, SFI, and S31. But hey, it's just a comedy. I hope they have future adventures of Edward Larkin.
Now on a sinister note: If the ending was tweaked to be less silly, this episode could have gone very dark. Imagine Edward did not die at the end but was really working for Star Fleet Intelligence (SFI) or even Section 31 (S31). This would make sense because Edward is the perfect savant for working on black projects that would make others in Star Fleet (SF) wince. Notice how Edward obtusely comes up with famine solutions (eating Tribbles, manipulating human DNA, lobotomizing lifeforms) that ethically causes his co-workers to smile uncomfortably or tense up. This is similar to "ST: Into Darkness" where Kahn was recruited to cross ethical boundaries Star Fleet wouldn't come near. In "ST: DS9" Dr. Bashir or the augmented savants were used either by SFI or S31. This would answer Captain Lucero's incredulous question why Edward was able to stay in SF so long being "an idiot" (Edward might be an asset for SFI or S31). If this was so, after every "screw up", Edward would just be moved to some other isolated insignificant science posting to continue his "protein work" (i.e. Weaponizing tribbles against Klingons). This idea could be milked to explain several ST:TOS and other episodes where SF comes across strange lifeforms, diseases, and devices that are the deliberate or unintentional byproducts of someone like Edward working for SFI or S31 (The Naked Time, The Deadly Years, This Side of Paradise, Operation - Annihilate!). "Operation - Annihilate!" could be just another TOS examples of Edwards creating another new "food" source. Edward is use to being dismissed and thus is covert in his actions. Captain Lucero was reported by Edward for interfering with his work and later became the patsy for Edward's (SFI, S31) project. Sadly, SF, SFI, or S31 will likely conclude she being in charge is what caused all the problems and not Edward. As I said, this episode could really be milked into several episodes to show all the Federation dirt swept under the carpet by SF, SFI, and S31. But hey, it's just a comedy. I hope they have future adventures of Edward Larkin.