Starfleet Academy Episode 8 Cements SAM As Star Trek's New Data

As a byproduct of Data wholeheartedly embracing the human condition, he often had the ability to see beauty in the mundane. Data could appreciate the small moments other crew members took for granted, and his quest for human understanding quickly became a two-way street. Data always wanted to be more human, but sometimes the humans needed to be more like Data.

Data would spend hours just watching his cat, and learned to fully appreciate basic emotions like happiness and wonder. Data was almost childlike at times, appreciating the things organics had simply stopped noticing.

In Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode 8, Sam follows the same path. She finds joy in a toothbrush, she marvels at every human interaction, and she uses the play Our Town to help fellow cadets see through those same optimistic eyes, valuing individual moments in spite of the universe's infinite vastness. SAM becomes Star Trek's new Data by being the mindful voice of wise naivety. Let's just hope she doesn't have an evil twin lurking somewhere out in space...