Prodigy: Ouroboros, Part I

With Star Trek: Lower Decks about to end (sniff), it struck me that I really ought to wrap up season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy before that happens. So, with just two episodes left there, I turn my focus to "Ouroboros, Part I."

As Asencia unleashes all her forces to attack Voyager and the Protostar, the cadets fight on the planet below to take control of an installation that will allow them to open a wormhole through time. If they can hold off Asencia and Drednok long enough, the Protostar can be sent back in time, restoring the timeline.

In my reviews of late season 2 Prodigy, I've come down on some of the twisted machinations of the plot. I haven't felt like Asencia makes a credible Big Bad (no matter how fun Jameela Jamil is voicing the character). I've felt like the lampshading of Wesley Crusher's "Traveler powers" has been overly convenient. I've seen the danger of the Loom as variably menacing, depending on circumstance. And all of that continues here.

But of course I recognize that the table has been set. This is essentially a one-hour finale, broken in two, and no reasonable consumer of entertainment would expect the story to just completely change course at this point. So... yeah... a fair amount of what's happening here in this episode doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It's kind of so much action and noise. But this is the ending we've been working to, take it or leave it.

Still, there are moments that I found effective. Dal's part in all this is especially strong, as he completes his season-long arc to better learn what it is to be part of a team. He puts himself on the line to help his friends generally, and Gwyn in particular, and I think the emotions behind that really work. Plus, it doesn't hurt that he's basically put in a Back to the Future-style "Doc Brown on the clock tower" situation where he has to connect the power in time to save the day. An homage to the best.

Gwyn gets a re-match of her one-on-one fight against Asencia from earlier in the season, and this time gets help from her own people in a somewhat spiritual union that cements her as a righteous leader. Murf vs. Drednok is the all-out fight I didn't know I was waiting to see. And Janeway gets to bark all sorts of fun captainy dialogue as she guides Voyager in battle.

Yet the real meat of "Ouroboros" comes in Part II -- so much so that I almost feel I should just immediately turn focus to that and talk about it here. But I've devoted a separate post to each Prodigy episode until this point. It feels a little weird to change that up right here at the finish line. So I'll give "Ouroboros, Part I" a C+, and then tease an upcoming post on Part II (which I enjoyed a good deal more).