Logline
Commander Una Chin-Riley faces court-martial along with possible imprisonment and dishonorable dismissal from Starfleet, and her defense is in the hands of a lawyer who’s also a childhood friend with whom she had a terrible falling out.
Written by Dana Horgan
Directed by Valerie Weiss
I don’t think it tries to justify that the Illyrians are better at it, or even that the practise should be justified in any way.
It’s more about the treatment of others in a reasonable, decent way which seems to have been clearly lacking from Una’s account. So regardless of what practices her people might have been continuing against Federation law, that did not and does not justify the behaviour of others.
So I agree, it doesn’t try to justify the dangers of genetic modification though I do not believe that’s the aim regardless. It’s about treating others decently. From a continuity standpoint I don’t think it’d make sense to do so anyway, but my concerns still lie here: how did the Federation manage to cover up the treatment of the Illyrians up through the TNG/DS9/VOY era?