• The episode title is a play on the title of the 1590 George Peele poem, “A Farewell to Arms”, which Ernest Hemmingway also referenced with his 1929 novel of the same name.
• It’s Ma’ah! From Star Trek. Ma’ah first appeared in season three’s “wej’Duj”, and is voiced by Jon Curry.
• Ma’ah’s brother, Malor, is voiced by Sam Witwer, as is the character of Sig Legnog. Witwer previously played an unnamed Xindi-Arboreal in “The Shipment”, and voiced the character of Tenavik in STO, after Kenneth Mitchell personally choose Witwer to replace him.
• In this episode we learn that bloodwine is made from worms that have been stomped similar to grapes. Bloodwine was first mentioned in TNG’s “A Matter of Honor”.
• The sequence of Ma’ah going through the process of producing bloodwine may have been intended as a callback to the scene in “The Star Gazer” where we see Château Picard being prepared. As opposed to Picard’s longing glances at Laris though, we see Ma’ah annoyed with Mariner attempting to call him.
• This is the second episode to not use the standard LDS title sequence featuring the USS Cerritos’s misadventures, the first being “A Mathematically Perfect Redemption”
• Bahgol is a Klingon beverage previously seen in “Blood Oath”.
• K’Elarra is voiced by Mary Chiefo who played L’Rell in seasons one and two of DIS.
• K’Elarra is…physically aggressive with Ma’ah as an act of courtship. In “The Dauphin” Worf described Klingon women mating behaviour to Wesley as, “Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects. And claw at you.”
• ”Don’t count on that. Ma’ah killed Bargh’s brother,” Malor tattles by relating the events of “wej’Duj”.
• Boimler’s facial hair has grown in enough to see that his moustache is purple as well. According to his own log in “Grounded”, Boimler dyes his hair, and no one knows what his real hair colour is.
• ”Doctor Migleemo, I’ve never seen you this nervous before, not even when I made you fight that giant Orion,” Tendi relates the events of “Old Friends, New Planets”.
• ”We Klowahkans invented warp travel in the hopes of discovering strange new meals.” Migleemo reveals that his preoccupation with food is something of a species trait, as opposed to unique to himself.
• This is the first time we’ve heard the name of Migleemo’s species. Coincidentally, the name for this species of birdlike people sounds very similar to the excretory vent birds, as well as reptiles and amphibians, have.
• The Ketha Lowlands are part of the Ketha province, where Martok’s family is from, as per “Once More Unto the Breach”.
• ”Hey, look, you really helped me back on Serbal V, all right?” Mariner and Ma’ah fought in “The Inner Fight” until she experienced a breakthrough coping with Sito Jaxa’s death.
• ”Weren’t you just afraid of skiing?” Boimler attempted to go down the Coward’s Gulch path aboard the Cosmic Duchess, before having to follow a person he was tailing down the Expert’s Demise slope.
• Madame Gonald is voiced by Gillian Vigman, who regularly portrays Doctor T’Ana.
• ”Experience bij!” A Klingon hover biker hollers a line from the 1993 interactive VCR board game, “Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Klingon Challenge”.
• It’s K’orin! From Star Trek. General K’orin was introduced in the episode “Envoys”. He’s voiced by Jess Harnell.
• ”Yeah, we violated some treaties back in the day.” In “Envoys” Mariner told Boimler that she and K’orin were involved in ”off the books, grey ops stuff.”
• The Oversight Council chambers feature sets of Klingon honour guard uniforms from STO.
• Bargh is voiced by Colton Dunn, who previously portrayed Dorg, Bargh’s brother, in “wej’Duj”.
• We learn that Doctor Migleemo’s first name is Gabers.
• The Rite of Unending Pain appears to be superficially similar to the Rite of Ascension seen in “The Icarus Factor”. Those undergoing the rite walk through a path lined by raised platforms with warriors wielding painstiks to either side.
• ”Once Kahless made it across the field, he tore the thorns from his legs and he used them to kill Fek’lhr.” As per “Devil’s Advocate”, Fek’lhr is a demonic figure, and the Guardian of Grethor.
• Darsek’s a Klingon currency first mentioned in “Fristborn”.
• Migleemo claims the hogfish galantine is ”as plorpful as the ones served on Enara Prime.” Enara Prime was featured in the third season VOY episode “Remember”, and is in the Delta Quadrant. This raises the question of how Migleemo would know about their cuisine.
• ”Look, a while back, I was transferred to one of the coolest ships in Starfleet.” Boimler was transferred to the USS Titan at the end of “No Small Parts”, and transferred back to the Cerritos in “Kayshon, His Eyes Open”. Though he didn’t so much choose to return to the Cerritos as he wasn’t able to serve on the same ship as his transporter duplicate.
• We learn that Mariner was in on Qo’noS for more than just returning an artifact and to help Ma’ah regain his rank; another quantum fissure has appeared in Klingon space, making this the third episode of the season where the fissures have been a factor.
• The scanning indicates that the dimensional rifts are not a natural occurrence.
• Cap’n Freeman, Rutherford, and Tendi swapped out the Klowahakan’s amuse bouche with replicated manure. In “There Is A Tide” Admiral Vance informs Osyraa the replicators use recycled waste to create food. ”It tastes pretty good for shit.”
• “A Klowahakan without a sense of taste is no Klowahakan at all.” Doctor Migleemo’s adage echoes Rule of Acquisition 18: “A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all.” And, according to Kor in “The Sword of Kahless”, ”A Klingon who denies himself the Rite of Vengeance is no Klingon at all.”
• ”Martok started on a ship like this.” Martok claimed in “Once More Unto the Breach” that he started as a labourer cleaning the officer’s mess aboard General ShiVang’s flagship.
• ”I can see Kahless! The first one, the original one!” Kahless’s clone was discovered by Worf on Boreth in “Rightful Heir”.
• ”The one that did impressions!” It was revealed in “The Savage Curtain” that Kahless was skilled at mimicking the cries of his foes to lure their allies into traps. Honourably. He also would do a tight five minutes at open mic nights.
I love that “bij” is canon after all these years
