Prodigy: Supernova, Part 2

Finally, I've reached the season finale of Star Trek: Prodigy! (Pay no mind that it was released nearly five weeks ago.)

The Protostar crew takes desperate action to try to stop the destruction of the Starfleet armada. Not everyone may survive. And even if they do, a reckoning awaits for them at Starfleet Command.

This was a largely satisfying end to the season-long story arc of Prodigy, and it charted a different path doing it than other current Trek series doing these kinds of arcs. Where Picard and Discovery really aim to tie things off fully, reintroducing a new arc for the next season, Prodigy kept plenty in play. So while part of me is a little annoyed that we spent so much time on Admiral Janeway's quest to find Chakotay, more of me is glad that that story element will inform next season (which won't have to start with some new galactic jeopardy).

It's also interesting that our heroes never caught up with Asencia (nor even mentioned her at all). But then, Gwyn has a quest mapped out for next season that can certainly bring her back into that villain's orbit. And speaking of villains, I do like the time travel twistiness of the idea that Gwyn can now go reconcile with another version of her father -- a version who, unlike the child-enslaving nemesis of season one, I believe can be redeemed. Plus, John Noble can stay on the show.

Another actor who will stay on the show, of course, is Kate Mulgrew -- despite the noble sacrifice of Holographic Janeway. Because a form of "the character" will still be around, I didn't find the death to be a full-on tear-jerker. Still, it was effective and moving. The real Janeway, of course, would sacrifice herself for her crew without thinking twice. Holo Janeway is that person in this key sense, and the Protostar kids have become her crew over the course of a season. So I found it a lovely element of this finale.

All that said, the pacing did feel a little odd to me for this episode. Supernova really should be taken as a single one-hour episode rather than two parts, two half-hours -- because that leaves this installment wrapping up the crisis weirdly early to make way for a lot of mop-up afterward. There were a few things that didn't really make sense to me. The kids survived in a stripped-down shuttle for a whole month? (I guess it couldn't have been that stripped-down. It didn't have seats, but must have had a replicator.) Admiral Janeway never got a chance to confront Admiral Jellico, after he was built up as a bit of an adversary for her?

But overall, this finale -- and indeed, this season of Star Trek: Prodigy -- did a lot within a format that is fundamentally meant to be a kids' show. I give "Supernova, Part 2" a B+. While I won't be looking forward to the next season of Prodigy in the way I await seasons of the other new Trek series, I expect I'll keep on watching when it does arrive.