Strange New Worlds: Four-and-a-Half Vulcans

Although Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has already served up a couple of comedic episodes in season three, neither approached the zaniness of "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans."

A special undercover mission requires members of the crew not only to appear Vulcan, but to actually become Vulcan in a complete physical transformation. Pike, Uhura, La'an, and Chapel are all successful in their mission with Spock. But in the aftermath, all of them remain as Vulcans -- at first involuntarily, and then by choice. The crew must find a way to get through to them as their extreme demeanor causes all kinds of disruptions.

There's no denying this episode is fun... or that Strange New Worlds has taken bold comedy swings before that I've loved without reservation. But I found myself having some reservations this time. The "Vulcan" behavior of the four transformed characters is just so over-the-top that it's paradoxical. Is it logical to behave like this? Each of them is acting more like a computer with a buggy program than a living, thinking person. (And Pelia is almost the strangest of all -- as though her behavior has to be extra wacky to rise above in an episode this wacky.)

Still, assuming you do reach the point where you settle in and accept that this is the tone, there are laughs to be had. Everyone seems to be having fun, from the new "Space... the final frontier..." monologue from Vulcan Pike to the choreographed fight/dance between Spock and La'an that rides the line between comedy and drama and represents getting through to her. Along the way, Scotty and Kirk have an adventure together, and Number One swoons for an old Vulcan flame.

And, as Strange New Worlds so often excels, most of the particulars of this episode work in support of ongoing story lines for the characters involved. Yes, seeing Pike's hair reach Johnny Bravo-esque heights is reason enough to pick him as a character to be... Vulcanized? But it also feeds into his relationship drama with Batel. Same goes for Uhura and Beto, Chapel and Korby, and La'an and Spock.

Then there's the cherry on top of this sundae: getting Patton Oswalt in a Star Trek episode. He is delightfully deadpan as Doug, and is great playing off of Rebecca Romijn and Ethan Peck. "Post-credit scenes" are wearing awfully thin in general these days, but not the ones we get here: several straight minutes of riffing between Oswalt and Peck that playfully pokes at human oddities, Vulcan cliches, and more. And Peck's break at the very end hints at just how much this episode must have been to make.

I give "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans" a B+. It's not my favorite of the lighter Strange New World episodes, but it's still a good time.