One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a Star Trek fan is catching Easter eggs, or intentional inside jokes, while watching your favorite series. These winks usually have fans pointing at the TV like Leonardo DiCaprio in that Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood meme, and Starfleet Academy actor Paul Giamatti paid homage to his Sideways performance during season 1 of SFA, so let's check it out.
The official Star Trek Instagram posted the following clip from SFA's sixth episode, "Come, Let's Away," where renegade and Starfleet antagonist Nus Braka, the Klingon/Tellarite hybrid (Giamatti), tries a variety of Federation wines and proceeds to act like the universe's snobbiest sommelier!
This is clearly a nod to the "Are you chewing gum?" scene from Sideways (2004) between best friends Miles (Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church). Unfortunately, the glass is too small for Nus to get his nose in there, like Miles did.
Nus describes the taste of each that Charles Vance, Fleet Admiral, offers him during negotiations for his assistance after the Furies, aggressive human-alien hybrids, take some of the cadets hostage. The account captioned this clip, "This tasting is going sideways."
Fans of Sideways must have been giggling and kicking their feet, as this affectionate nod to the classic film played out, in which Giamatti's character, Miles, gives his friend Jack a wine-tasting lesson. The expert tone in both clips is identical, with Giamatti adding more than a dollop of self-aware sarcasm to Nus Braka's scene. Ake's resting "I trust this man not one iota" face only elevates the scene, with Holly Hunter giving another stellar performance in this episode.
Nus Braka and Miles are obviously nothing alike, apart from they're both secure in what they know about wine. My favorite moment between Braka, Vance, and a highly suspicious Nahla Ake is when Vance tells Braka that he's slurped up all the wine that their replicators can handle. Vance keeps his cool because of the hostage situation, but you can almost sense his frustration as he paces around while Braka purposely stalls the proceedings because he knows the ball is in his court.
For me, Giamatti's out-of-pocket performance in "Come, Let's Away" is an example of the Easter egg outperforming its original source, and "creamy flatworm" sounds exactly like what a Klingon/Tellarite hybrid would enjoy!
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