Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Episode 3 Recap: Why Did Tarima Choose To Join War College?

I do feel that one of the major differences between “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” lore is how the former puts emphasis on leadership and the collective, while the latter tends to focus on individual brilliance. The legacy of Starfleet captains like Pike, Kirk, and Picard is built on the foundation created by their crew, and the importance of this relationship between the leader and their team is realized well in the latest episode of “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.” Previously, Caleb Mir’s past and his connection with Starfleet Chancellor Nalah came into focus, and as the young fugitive joined the titular institute, viewers got introduced to the rest of the new recruits of the prestigious academy, who showed their respective skills while saving the Starfleet vessel USS Athena from the clutches of marauder group Venari Ral chief Nus Braka. Tarima Sedal, daughter of the Betazed president, befriended Caleb and joined Starfleet Academy’s sister institution, War College.

Spoilers Ahead

The third episode of “Starfleet Academy”, titled “Vitus Reflux,” begins in the dorm rooms of new recruits of the Academy, as we find Khionian teenager Darem Reymi waking up early to train himself hard. Darem records his daily log and sends it to his parents to show them how much he is trying to remain one step ahead of everyone, only to find Genesis has beaten him to it and has been training since earlier. 

In a joint training session with War College, Caleb beats their best candidate, Djokovic—something the proud, arrogant students of the organization can’t take sportingly. The thing is, War College members and their leader, Commander Kelrec, embody their institution’s mantra of discipline and obedience in order to prioritize defense endeavors as opposed to Starfleet Academy’s pursuit of growth and exploration. Kelrec and his students see Starfleet as an experiment and nothing more and feel a certain superiority over them. As cadets from War College and Starfleet Academy engage in a verbal spat, Cadet Master/First Officer Lura Thok is quick to diffuse the situation. However, War College cadets prove themselves to be quite the troublemakers, as they manage to transport Academy students from their restroom to different points across USS Athena. 

The prank riles up Starfleet Academy cadets, and Commander Thok advises Chancellor Nahla to simply apologize to War College Commander Kelrec and stop the argument from escalating further. Nahla is someone who doesn’t like to interfere in teenage affairs,so he lets them handle the situation by themselves. Klingon cadet Jay-Den reveals that Sam has learned that the prank was not even original, as centuries ago an Academy student pulled a similar prank on War College students. Nahla visits Starfleet cadets to advise them to rear a unique, rare, rapidly grown fungus known as Vitus Reflex, aka Empathy Plant, and imparts wisdom from Sun Tzu’s “Art of War,” asking the youngsters to learn patience and empathy. 

Academy cadets prepare for Calica tryouts—and to explain it simply, Calica appears to be a high-stakes team laser tag game with a goofy mascot acting as defender of the target of each of the two opposing teams. Commander Thok is joined by her lover, Captain Reno, to supervise academy cadets as they take part in Calica tryouts. Genesis manages to convince a disgruntled Caleb to give Calico a chance, as she wants to become team captain, which she can’t do without strong, skilled members. The grueling routine of Calico practice has Starfleet cadets almost on their knees; Darem, Caleb, and Genesis somehow manage to hold onto their own and make a mark. Darem aspires to become a captain as well, and he can go to any length to achieve what he wants. When it comes to the tiebreaker round to decide the role of captain, he distracts Genesis by mentioning her father, a Dar-Sha Starfleet Admiral’s connection with her, and uses the opportunity to win the round and become the captain of the team. Genesis is disgusted by Darem’s betrayal and retreats without getting engaged in a nonsensical fight. In the meantime, Caleb, who was previously shocked upon learning that Tarima has joined War College, manages to meet her and ask why she chose the company of strict, disciplined, self-serious War College cadets instead of being with the free, liberal Academy cadets. Caleb sensed a connection between himself and Tarima and wondered whether he weirded her out during their past interaction and made her choose War College. Tarima remains quite vague about her reasoning, and it feels like she doesn’t want Caleb to get any wrong idea about their connection. 

War College cadets continue their pesky pranks by leaking the training footage on USS Athena’s main display to ridicule Starfleet Academy cadets who had a hard time during Calico tryouts. Having had enough of this, Darem plans to challenge War College cadets in a Calico game at night in the atrium. Chancellor Nahla meets with Commander Kelrec and accuses him of helping his students to get their hands on surveillance footage to humiliate academy cadets. Nahla is a caring leader; she wants the students, many of whom have suffered much in life, to feel a safe space inside the academy. She didn’t want to interfere with the ongoing feud between two organizations of UFP, and she requested Kelrec not to condone the troubling actions of his students any further unless he wants to settle things in the presence of the oversight committee.  But as Kelrec belittles Starfleet Academy and its recruits by mentioning War College to be superior compared to them, and being aware of his stance in all this, Nahla storms out. 

Despite being unwilling to join Darem’s revenge plan, Genesis participates in the Calico game against War College cadets. Darem fails to lead his team, but things change when Genesis takes charge of the game and turns it in favor of the academy cadets. Darem realizes his ego might have prompted him to wrestle the position of captain from Genesis, but she is a bona fide leader in the truest sense. Thok and Reno stop the secret Calico match and send the cadets to their respective quarters. Darem relinquishes his position as captain of the Calico team after a conversation with Captain Reno—he realizes how wrongly he treated Genesis and acknowledges his mistake to her. Darem also confesses his lifelong struggle to impress his parents, something which is highlighted in the episode as viewers learn about the negligent behavior of Darem’s parents, who don’t even want to learn about his life at the academy. 

Following the secret Calico game, Academy cadets are summoned to Chancellor Nahla’s office, where she pretends to be furious with them as she dismisses the students after a stern lecture session, but in reality she drops key hints for them to orchestrate a decisive, elaborate prank to put an end to the infighting with War College. Inspired by her ideas, Genesis, Caleb, and the rest of the cadets manage to gain security clearance to War College by cloning Kelrec’s eye and plant the rapidly growing Empathy Plants inside the quarters of the WR College cadets. While returning from War College, wearing his mascot disguise, Caleb is easily recognized by Tarima, who reveals the true reason as to why she joined War College. Tarima feels more emotionally motivated when Caleb is around her, and having strong psychic powers, which she was taught to harness using an inhibitor chip from a young age, she fears for the worst if she goes out of control. As a result, she has chosen the discipline-oriented routine of War College to keep her abilities in check, even if the decision is not what she wanted to choose in the first place. Tarima also shares her realization that Caleb is somewhat angry with her for not choosing the Academy, as, contrary to his devil-may-care attitude, at present he is glad to have found a place to belong in the Academy. 

Caleb returns to his quarters as, despite having the opportunity to catch him, Tarima allows him the chance to escape. The Empathy Plant prank turns out to be a huge success, as War College cadets are forced to leave their quarters with gigantic talking fungus growing rapidly inside their room and face utter humiliation. Kelrec stops his students from escalating the situation any further and admits defeat to Nahla. Later, while speaking with Nahla at her office, Caleb rightly deduces that it was she who pulled the prank on War College cadets all those years ago. Nahla delineates the difference between the two organizations of UNP quite beautifully. War College is there to fight battles, so they have to adopt the kind of approach that might appear dirty and crude. Starfleet Academy, which aims to redefine the Starfleet with virtues of patience and empathy, strives to end wars by strategizing wisely and showing empathy to adversaries instead of letting negative emotions or the tendency to instill fear get over them. Caleb asks advice from Nahla regarding Tarima, though without mentioning her name. Nahla’s wisdom about letting things take their course without trying to control everything might prove useful for Tarima in the long run. 

Caleb is gradually fitting in among his friends in Starfleet Academy, which is showcased in the final moments of the episode as he dons the Calico team uniform handed over to him by Captain Genesis. The final scene of the episode is a tribute to late costume designer Carla Mingiardi, which is a thoughtful, loving gesture by the cast and crew of “Starfleet Academy.”