Oh god, what did the actors and/or showrunners do? Once again I find myself out of the drama loop (except on the recent H-Bomb, I suppose. Speaking of insider jargon.) And that is legitimately true about the usage of references to other stuff for actual themes and motifs instead of, say, the Friedbeg and Seltzer school of reference comedy which isn't actually funny because references are not fucking humor. A lot of critics do seem to confuse the two and just act like ST being a reference-heavy show just makes it de facto lazy and unoriginal which I feel like could maybe be seen of a byproduct of being burned by the Seltzerberg Method, but maybe I'm giving them too much credit there.

Also, for the record I feel like I can trace a direct line of your development from your love of Wrongfully Accused to this post.