But I could sympathize with the accusation that it's a cheat to only take on sexual orientation when it's framed in sci-fi terms
I see what you mean, but I really don't think the story is "taking on" sexual orientation in that sense. Precisely because it doesn't say anything in particular about orientation, it manages to say quite a lot. "Rejoined" is a love story that happens to be about two women, and the fact that it's two women is presented as completely ordinary--not a matter for comment, not an issue at all. It posits a world in which same-sex relationships are no big deal, and I think that's actually a very bold thing. Yes, the story is specifically set up so that the relationship won't continue, and maybe it dodges the question of sexual orientation a bit by saying that the characters were once in a heterosexual marriage--but it also shows them as strongly attracted to each other in the present.
As I said in my post, I don't think that makes up for the show not including any other same-sex relationships or any characters who explicitly identify as LGBT. But given when it was made and the audience it was made for (general broadcast TV in the US, and with Trek's reputation as "family entertainment"), it would have been difficult for the producers to have done much better. And the episode was far from being the brimming vat of fail that I'd been led to expect.
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I see what you mean, but I really don't think the story is "taking on" sexual orientation in that sense. Precisely because it doesn't say anything in particular about orientation, it manages to say quite a lot. "Rejoined" is a love story that happens to be about two women, and the fact that it's two women is presented as completely ordinary--not a matter for comment, not an issue at all. It posits a world in which same-sex relationships are no big deal, and I think that's actually a very bold thing. Yes, the story is specifically set up so that the relationship won't continue, and maybe it dodges the question of sexual orientation a bit by saying that the characters were once in a heterosexual marriage--but it also shows them as strongly attracted to each other in the present.
As I said in my post, I don't think that makes up for the show not including any other same-sex relationships or any characters who explicitly identify as LGBT. But given when it was made and the audience it was made for (general broadcast TV in the US, and with Trek's reputation as "family entertainment"), it would have been difficult for the producers to have done much better. And the episode was far from being the brimming vat of fail that I'd been led to expect.