Star Trek: Strange New Worlds journeys into zombieland

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What does a zombie represent? Unlike werewolves, vampires, or Frankensteins, zombie stories are usually more about the humans living through them than the monsters themselves. Your classic zombie fable generally settles on the idea that it's the living who are the real monsters, not the living dead. But this week's episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds finds a slightly different metaphor to play around with. Here, the 'moss zombies' of the abandoned planet Kenfori serve as a metaphor for the past (literally) coming back to haunt the crew of the Enterprise. Even when our heroes think they've put something behind them, it turns out it can still roar back to life.
That's especially true for Dr. M'Benga. Last season introduced the idea that the kindly doctor was also a brutal mercenary in the Klingon War—a history he was forced to confront when self-aggrandizing Klingon defector Ambassador Dak'Rah stopped by the Enterprise for an official visit in 'Under The Cloak Of War.' That episode ended with M'Benga killing Dak'Rah, an act he'd hoped would bring closure to his wartime experience. This week, however, Dak'Rah's daughter B'itha (Christine Horn) shows up demanding justice. (She's not mad her turncoat dad is dead, just disgraced because she didn't get to kill him herself.) Sometimes there are experiences that won't stay buried, no matter how hard we try.
In that way, zombies are a fitting metaphor for M'Benga—and for Ortegas and Captain Batel, who are also grappling with their own haunting experiences that refuse to die. But, metaphors aside, do zombies feel like they have a place in the Star Trek universe? I'm not so sure. Though it's delightful to have Captain Pike openly call them 'the z-word' rather than dodge the term like The Walking Dead and 28 Days Later have done, falling back on such a classic monster feels a little cheap for a show about strange new worlds. I can't exactly explain why zombies don't feel Star Trek-y to me while godlike imps, Alien-homages, and even musical episodes do. But that is my gut reaction.
Still, the upside of using familiar monsters like zombies is that there's more room for other stuff because you don't have to explain the rules of the villain-of-the-week. And though I'd say 'Shuttle To Kenfori' is more about revisiting the beats of 'Under The Cloak Of War' than adding something new to the conversation, it does so with a sense of style and conviction that helps paper over the weak spots. Or maybe it's just that it's so fun to spend time with these characters and this cast that even when I can see an episode's flaws, I usually still have an enjoyable time watching it.
The best thing about 'Shuttle To Kenfori' is that it continues the ensemble vibes of the two-episode premiere. That starts in sickbay, where Batel is taken after collapsing in Pike's quarters. Though she'd been planning to take up a new Starfleet commission, it turns out her Gorn-related illness is back with a vengeance. M'Benga, Spock, and Chapel quickly get creative with their treatment plan. Her best chance is a special Chimera flower known for its 'biological uniqueness' (LOL) and ability to 'move invasive molecules through cell membranes.' The trouble is, the flower only grows on the planet Kenfori, which just happens to be in a restricted no-fly zone right on the border of disputed Klingon territory. To take a trip there would violate multiple treaties—so Pike decides that he and M'Benga will take a shuttle on an off-the-books mission that will hopefully go unnoticed by the Klingons. (Naturally, it doesn't.)
While Pike and M'Benga get the bulk of the screen time this week, 'Shuttle To Kenfori' makes a point to keep checking back in on the Enterprise and the characters there too. Little moments like our new nurse (does he have a name yet?) giving Batel pain meds or La'An worrying about Ortegas ensure those characters still feel active even if they don't actually have much to do. Spock, meanwhile, gets woven into Batel's story after he mind melds to help alleviate her pain and accidentally spots a monstrous vision that briefly turns him violent. And Scotty provides some classic comic relief as an artificial-gravity mishap sends the crew floating.
Ortegas and Una are the only bridge crew with actual arcs here. Ortegas' willingness to defy orders and provoke a Klingon battle cruiser earns her a two-week suspension from Number One. But the way this episode ensures we get at least a little face time with all of the main players is a great example of how Strange New Worlds is carrying on the ensemble legacy of the '90s Trek shows in a way Discovery and, honestly, even Enterprise never really did. There's nothing like a ready room debate to evoke The Next Generation in the best way.
Speaking of character work, this episode's biggest new addition doesn't have anything to do with the Klingons or the Gorn or even the zombies. It's the (slight) retconning of Pike and M'Benga's relationship. During their away mission, the two banter about past missions and joke about his three(!!) ex-wives (and one annulment) in a way that takes them beyond just longtime colleagues and into true old-friends territory. It's a chummy connection that Anson Mount and Babs Olusanmokun sell really well. Where the first season of Strange New Worlds sometimes lazily fell back on making Pike and Spock the heart of the show à la Kirk and Spock in the original series, I like how these past two seasons have consciously tried to mix it up and find new dynamics too.
When Pike accepted M'Benga's story about Dak'Rah last season, it felt like a captain dealing with a crewmember. Here he gets to reassure him as a friend. In fact, this whole episode is a chance to square M'Benga the Healer with M'Benga the Killer. As he puts it when B'itha demands the truth, 'A mass murderer gave me the opportunity to kill him and I did, willingly… Was that dishonorable? I don't know. But there was justice.' It's an explicit confirmation of what happened during the purposefully veiled scene in 'Under The Cloak Of War.' But as Pike reminds him, being a flawed man isn't the same thing as being a monster.
Of course, you could also argue that this episode retcons in the Pike/M'Benga friendship specifically, so it doesn't have to grapple with how a Starfleet captain should deal with the reveal that their doctor committed an extrajudicial execution of a political ambassador—which feels like it would be a big deal for the honor-bond Federation. If Discovery was sometimes too obsessed with the rules and regulations of Starfleet, Strange New Worlds can be a little too quick to dodge an interesting moral debate in favor of a 'power of friendship' ending.
Indeed, having both Pike and, to some degree, B'itha absolve M'Benga of his guilt over killing Dak'Rah risks cheapening the intentional emotional ambiguity of 'Under The Cloak Of War.' The more interesting wrinkle is how M'Benga's time in the Klingon War has given him an understanding of Klingon culture in a way that someone like Pike doesn't have in this era of Trek history. M'Benga agrees to B'itha's ritual combat (even if he ultimately decides not to kill her) and he understands what it means for her to sacrifice herself in order to earn a noble death worthy of Sto'Vo'Kor. That's an interesting perspective for a Starfleet officer to have in an era where Klingons are still very much 'the bad guys.'
The other big swing 'Shuttle To Kenfori' takes is to give even more dramatic weight to Pike and Batel's relationship—a romance that always feels kind of grafted onto the series even though, to be fair, the pilot did open on their pairing. Here it turns out she's been hiding the swiftness of her impending death and her plan to turn herself into a human-Gorn hybrid because she thought Pike would make it all about himself. And she's right: That's exactly what he does—at least before taking her into his arms as they both admit they're scared.
It's a bit of an odd scene to end on, mostly because this episode starts with Batel, then pivots to M'Benga, and then pivots back to Marie without really drawing any thematic parallels between the two. I guess you could say they're both afraid of becoming monsters or they both have to learn to trust Pike with their dark secrets in order to find peace. But I'm not sure 'Shuttle To Kenfori' totally weaves its disparate ideas together in the end.
Still, I'm interested to see what will happen when Batel goes half-Gorn (or whatever that flower is going to do) and how the season will pick up on the Ortegas thread too. After last week's strong two-episode premiere, 'Shuttle To Kenfori' occasionally feels like a bit of a detour. But it keeps this season alive—and sometimes alive is all you need in a zombie story.
Stray observations
• I was trying to figure out if this episode's title is a play on something. Maybe the famed South Korean zombie movie Train To Busan?
• I started rewatching Discovery after revisiting the first two seasons of Strange New Worlds and I'm so glad this show returned to the '90s Klingon look we know and love rather than the truly terrible revamp of Voq & co.
• I also love the depiction of the Klingon shuttle, which is even more bird-like than their famed birds of prey.
• I'm not sure the hair department has ever quite nailed the right look for Rebecca Romijn. And while it doesn't this week either (the braids look too much like a hat), I'm glad to see it continue to experiment!
• It turns out B'itha was able to plant a tracker on M'Benga after he ate the olive on a drink a R'ongovian offered him. What a scheme.
• Also, apologies if I'm getting the spelling of B'itha's name wrong. My screeners don't come with subtitles so I'm taking my best stab at Klingon there!
• In case you need more of me writing about plant-related zombies, I recapped this most recent season of The Last Of Us too.
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