A review of this week's Starfleet Academy episode, "Vox in Excelso" — with spoilers — coming up just as soon as I refuse to eat anything that did not die in a fair fight...
Alan Sepinwall
When the Klingons were introduced in the Sixties, they were schemers modeled on Cold War stereotypes of Soviet agents (with unfortunate makeup choices). Even the physical redesign of them for the Shatner films didn't change their basic essence; Commander Kruge in Search for Spock was just as sneaky as any Klingon commander from the TV show. The Next Generation changed them into a pure warrior race, modeled on samurai culture. This led to a lot of great material for Worf(*) on that show and Deep Space Nine. But every now and then, when Worf or Martok or another Klingon talked about the culture of their people, I would wonder how such a society functions if everyone is bred to be a warrior. Surely, the Klingons require doctors, teachers, engineers, tailors(**), etc. Are these people all treated as lower caste? Are their lives an unending stream of resentment and humiliation? Or, to quote Rebecca Bunch, is the situation a lot more nuanced than that?
(*) Like Spock, Worf was presented as an outsider to his own people (because he was raised by humans), who as a result tried to be an even more hardcore version of them to fit in.
(**) Actual tailors. Not plain and simple tailors like Garak.