Star Trek: Strange New Worlds mixes up its ensemble in a strong season 3 premiere
For one thing, before we get to that shortened six-episode final season, we've got two full 10-episode ones to get through. Seasons three and four were basically shot back-to-back, with production on the final batch of episodes set to begin later this year. That means we're in for a nice steady run of 26 episodes to send out this sunny series on a high note.
For another, more so than any other Trek show, Strange New Worlds has always been building toward a set endpoint. Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) has known his fiery future since he set foot on the Enterprise for his final five-year mission. And ever since the show introduced Paul Wesley's James T. Kirk in its first-season finale, Strange New Worlds has embraced an Avengers-style subplot about seeing the crew of the 1960s original series come together too. Martin Quinn's Montgomery Scott joined at the end of last season, and I wouldn't be surprised if we get a Sulu or even a (slightly timeline bending) Chekov before this one is over. (It feels like Bones has to be last, right?)
Where a lot of Trek shows are about limitless potential, Strange New Worlds has always been a true prequel running on limited time. And, in a way, I think knowing things are ending is only going to make the final run of episodes that much stronger. True, I suspect that if the show knew it would be taking a two-year strike-induced delay between its second and third seasons, it probably wouldn't have ended on a cliffhanger. (It's crazy to think there were only three months between the Locutus of Borg twist and its resolution in Next Gen's 'The Best Of Both Worlds.') But I suspect that's part of the reason we're getting a two-episode premiere this week. Strange New Worlds has a Gorn invasion storyline to wrap up, but it also wants to remind us how much episodic fun it can have too (especially when paying homage to Trek history.)
To that end, 'Hegemony, Part II' opens with the sort of big impressive space battle that has become a hallmark of Alex Kurtzman-era Trek. There's nothing like playing chicken with a Gorn ship to kick off a season. Immediate crisis averted, there are three dangling problems for the intrepid Enterprise crew to work through after their terrifying experience on the mid-century-inspired human colony Parnassus Beta. And each allows the show to embrace a slightly different tone for a different set of Strange New World characters.
On the medical-drama side, Pike's girlfriend Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) has been infected with Gorn eggs that will hatch in less than a day. On the action-movie front, security chief La'An Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), helmsman Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia), and xenoanthropologist Samuel Kirk (Dan Jeannotte) have been taken aboard a Gorn ship to be harvested. And in the political-thriller arena, the Gorn have drawn a line of demarcation that could be the start of an all-out war if the Federation doesn't handle the situation correctly—something Pike, first officer Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), and communications officer Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) tackle while leading the Enterprise on an 'off-the-record' rescue mission into Gorn space.
It's a setup that feels like a statement of purpose about how the show wants to tackle its storytelling moving forward. While Strange New Worlds' second season was filled with high points (I'm still smiling thinking about the Lower Decks crossover episode), it also sometimes felt like a selection of special, high-concept character episodes strung together rather than a true ensemble show. 'Hegemony, Part II,' however, gives everyone a chance to shine by pairing them up in clever ways—from Scotty's funny but also quietly heartbreaking dynamic with his ageless former engineering professor Pelia (Carol Kane) to Spock (Ethan Peck) and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) going full Grey's Anatomy melodrama in the sick bay.
My favorite is actually the La'An/M'Benga/Ortegas/Sam quartet just because it's so unexpected. I feel like there are characters in that group we've barely seen interact before, but thrusting them together into a high-stakes escape mission highlights both what they bring to the table as individuals and how Starfleet's collaborative nature allows any set of the Enterprise crew to work in harmony. La'An and M'Benga provide the badass quotient, while Ortegas and Sam bring the comedic relief. And their dedication to saving the rest of the trapped colonists gives appropriately Star Trek-y stakes to their fight against the first true adult Gorn we've seen in the series. (No rubber masks in sight!) Even in their greatest moments of trauma, the Enterprise crew are still thinking about others—like Ortegas fighting through her life-threatening injuries to fly her friends to safety.
Indeed, part of the joy of any Star Trek show is watching how a crew of people with very different skillsets and expertise come together to handle a crisis. That's what happens when Pike realizes that Una and Uhura's research into Gorn hibernation/hunting patterns could be the key to stopping a full-on armada invasion of Federation space. His plan involves Scotty and Pelia turning the ship into an artificial star that will trigger the Gorn to, well, go to sleep instead of going to war (thus leaving the Gorn as a future problem for Kirk to tackle in 'Arena'). It's a perfect example of science, strategy, engineering, and a little hope—plus some modifying of the deflector shields, of course—solving the problem the Starfleet way.
More than anything, 'Hegemony, Part II' is an episode about relying on faith to get you through seemingly impossible odds. ('We'll just turn it off before we blow up,' Pike only half-jokes.) And while you could imagine a different version of this episode that lets at least one thing go wrong (particularly Spock and Chapel's improvisational surgery on Batel), it feels right that a big splashy premiere lets our heroes win on every front. There will presumably be days when the Enterprise can't do it all. But that's not this day. And though the resolution to the Gorn invasion is perhaps a little anticlimactic, especially given how they've been built up over the show's run, the balance of character storylines is really impressive—and I'd argue that matters even more.
It helps that 'Wedding Bell Blues' lightens things up without totally forgetting about the fallout of the Gorn defeat. The episode jumps three months into the future, which gives the Enterprise and its crew a chance to heal up (and get some new hairdos). The time jump also gives Nurse Chapel the chance to return from her archeological medicine fellowship with her new boyfriend Dr. Roger Korby (Cillian O'Sullivan) in tow. And thus begins this season's signature Spock comedy episode—a grand tradition that has so far given us the fiancé body swap in season one and the Spock-becomes-human twist in season two.
As with the premiere, however, there is a real ensemble focus here. It's not just Spock who gets in on the hijinks this week. The crew is abuzz ahead of the Federation Day Centennial and the gala Pike is throwing to celebrate it. La'An ballroom dances! Uhura flirts with Ortegas' filmmaker little brother Beto (Mynor Luken)! The sick bay adds an adorable new nurse (Chris Myers)! Everybody wears fashion-forward civilian clothes! The Enterprise gets a three-armed bartender!
Compared to all that, Spock's arc is downright dramatic at first, as he basically lives through the Joseph Gordon-Levitt plot of (500) Days Of Summer—watching the non-committal woman he thought he could win over instead get serious with someone else. But that all changes when an impish bartender (Rhys Darby styled like Trelane, the all-powerful 19th century fanboy from the original series episode 'The Squire Of Gothos') pours him a drink that seems to port him over to an alternate universe where Spock and Chapel are getting married.
I'll get to the Trek canon of it all in a minute, but the most interesting choice 'Wedding Bell Blues' makes is to turn this into a two-hander for the men in Chapel's life. Though I was expecting Spock to be shocked waking up next to Chapel, at first it's only Korby who realizes this isn't an alternate timeline but a mass delusion cast over all the guests at the gala. Once he's able to snap Spock out of the spell ('Oh no,' Peck deadpans), they're forced to team up—and match raised eyebrows—to get things back to normal.
It's not totally dissimilar from when M'Benga and Hemmer were the only two people who realized something was amiss when the Enterprise turned into a children's fairy tale back in season one. Only here there's a much more compelling reason for Spock and Korby to be paired together. This isn't an episode about Chapel choosing between the two men—she's already made that choice. But it is an episode about Spock coming to understand what Chapel sees in Korby, who's devoted, pragmatic, funny, and relatably exacerbated throughout the whole madcap experience. (As in his brief role on Daredevil: Born Again, O'Sullivan has an insane amount of onscreen charisma.)
With its focus on canapés and bachelor parties, 'Wedding Bell Blues' mostly keeps things in goofy Father Of The Bride comedy mode rather than delving too deep into its character work. But it makes Korby seem like a likable, worthy partner for Chapel—even for the Spock/Chapel 'shippers out there. And it's genuinely heartbreaking to watch Spock break the spell by repeating the Pablo Neruda poetry he knows will remind Chapel of her love for Korby. There's always been a slight note of self-sacrifice to Spock (even before we get his literal self-sacrifice in Wrath Of Khan). And 'Wedding Bell Blues' emphasizes that understated character trait within an over-the-top comedic setting. He comes to understand that Korby has an inner confidence and calmness that lets him serve as a safe harbor for Chapel in a way that Spock just can't be right now.
It's also a really nice touch to bring everything back to Spock and La'An—both because it returns to their newfound ballroom dancing partnership and because we know she experienced a similar kind of heartbreak in the musical episode, when Kirk revealed he's dating a pregnant Carol Marcus. Spock and La'An know what it's like to feel a connection that doesn't work out because of bad timing. ('It's no one's fault,' as Chapel puts it.) And their burgeoning friendship is another lovely example of Strange New Worlds mixing up its ensemble in unexpected new ways this season.
As for the cause of all that wedding chaos? It seems like Strange New Worlds might be tying two of its iconic all-powerful imps together. Like 'The Squire Of Gothos,' this episode ends with a glowing parental orb showing up to chastise a peevish child. Only this one is voiced by John de Lancie, who's always said his performance as the all-powerful Next Gen antagonist Q was inspired by William Campbell's work as the similarly puckish Trelane. Q actually also had a son on Voyager, who popped up in petulant-teen form in the episode 'Q2.' So this episode could be saying that Darby is literally Trelane who's also literally Q Junior. (He does get to deliver Trelane's iconic catchphrases 'Tallyho!' and 'Greetings and felicitations.') Or maybe it's just operating as a fun homage. Nobody gets named, and Darby disguises himself to the crew so there's plausible deniability on all fronts. But, honestly, with all the Godlike Beings who popped up in the original series, why couldn't one of them have been a Q?
Regardless, Darby has an absolute blast chewing the scenery, and the de Lancie voice cameo is a lovely celebration of the franchise's long, winding history. In their own ways, 'Hegemony, Part II' and 'Wedding Bell Blues' are both optimistic episodes that serve as a welcome reminder of what Strange New Worlds does best. (And by that I mean having the whole cast dance to 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,' of course.) The final shot emphasizing Ortegas' Gorn-related PTSD suggests this season won't just be warm and fuzzy. In fact, anybody who remembers Roger Korby's role in the original-series episode 'What Are Little Girls Made Of?' already knows that. But, for now, Strange New Worlds is here to remind us just how much fun it is to spend time with this crew. That's a great way to kick off this second half of the show's run. As Pike might say—hit it.
Stray observations
• Welcome to weekly coverage of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds! I couldn't be more thrilled to be here. I'm a lifelong Star Trek fan who was raised on TNG, Voyager, DS9, and TOS and once even made myself watch Enterprise all the way through too. But this is my first time actually covering a Trek show weekly, and I apologize in advance for any references I miss. I've been revisiting a bunch of Trek ahead of this premiere, but, as you all know, there's a lot of it out there!
• Keeping Pike in his militarized space suit for 'Hegemony, Part II' is a nice way to differentiate between the harrowing wrap-up to season two and the true fresh start to season three.
• I know Kirk says as much in 'Arena,' but it feels crazy that the Gorn invented warp drives, right? They're literally lizards! Do they have schools? Captain training programs? Pilot licenses?
• The second season of Discovery introduced the idea that Pike's dad was a science teacher who also taught comparative religion, which is why he delivers the little 'okay dad, you win' before starting to pray for Batel.
• The final shot of Pike and Batel's heads transitioning into the binary stars was a lovely way to end the premiere.
• Spock gets a swanky new science lab! Personally, I would've put a couple chairs in there, but I guess that's not the Vulcan way.
• One day Scotty will be able to drink aliens under a table, but, for now, he's not much of a drinker.
• In case there aren't enough in-jokes here: Korby quips that the wedding planner might wish them into a cornfield, which is a reference to the classic Twilight Zone episode 'It's A Good Life.' (Spock must have missed that one.)
• I thought Pike was going to turn Spock/Chapel's abandoned wedding into an impromptu ceremony for him and Batel. Instead, he just gives a speech about how first contact can sometimes be a little awkward. Hilarious.
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