The Enterprise rescues a Majalan ship under attack, and in doing so saves the most holy figure in the planet's entire society: a young child dubbed the "First Servant." Pike reunites with a local leader he met years ago as a lieutenant, and the two rekindle their relationship -- but the secret of the First Servant lurks beneath. Meanwhile, Dr. M'Benga realizes the Majalan's advanced technology may provide a means of curing the disease that afflicts his daughter. And Uhura begins a rotation in security under the demanding La'an.
This episode has its share of old school trappings that immediately put you in the "original series" mindset. The captain is bedding the fetching-alien-of-the-week. Spock gets a light interaction with a keener intellect than he can always find among his shipmates. But mainly, it's the moral parable at the center that feels most like something the original writers would have put on screen. (To a less dark extent, they kind of did so in "The Empath.")
This episode of Strange New Worlds may have been inspired in particular by the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," by Ursula K. Le Guin. (My well-read friend pointed out the connection immediately; several online reviews have done the same.) In any case, the timing of this take on the message is particularly poignant as we all still processing the school shootings in Uvalde just weeks ago.
Sadly, there's no coincidence of timing required for a science fiction tale to arrive soon in the aftermath of a mass shooting in America. Perhaps it's barely even a coincidence for it to be an especially horrific shooting. Or one in which children in particular are victims. Perhaps that makes the message of this fiction all the more sharp: your society has made the decision that sacrificing children is acceptable. Are you comfortable with the terms? The scope? Is it really for a "greater good?" Are you fully aware that this is the exchange being made?
Did the writers of Strange New Worlds make "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" about gun violence? Probably not directly, and certainly not to the degree that the original Trek writers were thinking about racism when they painted actors' faces half white and half black. But... if the shoe fits.
For those in the audience who might find this part of the story too dark, or not subtle enough (those who, some might say, don't want to look at issue as the alien leader Alora says), there's plenty more to the episode. Indeed, I am becoming more and more impressed by how Strange New Worlds incorporates multiple story lines and characters into each episode. The era of (good) Next Generation through Enterprise was marked by episodes in which a "scenario of the week" would particularly impact one character, making it "their" episode. Strange New Worlds finds ways for several characters to brush up against the story in intriguing ways, a more "ripples in the pond" approach.
This is mainly Pike's episode (and Anson Mount is excellent again). But M'Benga gets a touching furtherance of the ongoing story with his daughter, in a way that's naturally linked to the larger narrative. Uhura and La'an have a fun side story together that ultimately does inform the main plot. And so we keep learning more about all these interesting characters.
I will say, the level of suspense doesn't quite work throughout the episode. We know there's a shoe waiting to drop here for a very long time. The episode itself seems to know that we know, but keeps drawing the reveal out as long as it can. And while the conclusion does still work, it's easy to believe that it could have hit a little harder had the taffy not been stretched quite so far.
Still, "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" is a solid episode. I give it a B+.
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