Captain Pike departs to seek legal help for his first officer, leaving Spock in command. But routine repairs at spacedock turn into a vital mission when the Enterprise receives a message from La'an, who has uncovered a conspiracy that threatens the tenuous peace between the Federation and the Klingons.
This was a solid episode of Strange New Worlds, and I'm beyond thrilled to have the show back. That said, there were a couple of odd choices about it... and I'll focus there first before turning to unreserved praise.
I know modern Star Treks are more "ensemble cast" affairs than "star vehicles," but it's pretty wild to me to exclude Anson Mount so thoroughly from the season premiere of the show. I suppose this was necessary because they wanted to open the season with more whiz-bang action than a "court episode" about Una Chin-Riley could allow... and it's not like the rest of this cast can't carry an episode without Mount. (Any one of them could on their own; together, they're more than up to it.) Still, I felt the absence of Mount's undeniable charisma in this episode.
Also, that action they wanted to showcase in this first episode? Not all of it felt totally organic to me. After both the physicians, M'Benga and Chapel, had moments highlighting how war has left them haunted, we got a sequence that involved them shooting up with "super soldier serum" to kick much Klingon ass in a prolonged fist fight. Both Babs Olusanmokun and Jess Bush were great in the sequence (and I totally get that you'd want to showcase Olusanmokun's real-world martial arts skills, just as Discovery used Michelle Yeoh in a similar way). Still, it felt like a dissonant note for the two characters.
...amid an episode that otherwise used all the characters (that weren't having off-screen adventures) excellently. What a display of what a great cast they have here on Strange New Worlds. It's not that everyone was getting "Emmy reel" moments here (with one possible exception I'll come back to), but everyone was showing how solidly they know their characters here after just 10 episodes. And the whole highlighted just how well these different instruments in the orchestra played together: the prickly sass of Ortegas, the skilled poise of Uhura, the stoic resolve of La'an, and so on, and so on.
And it was, obviously, a great Spock episode. From his quiet nerves about command to his quickly-hidden concern for Chapel, the character got great moment after great moment. Ethan Peck benefits, of course, from having more consistently better writing than past Spocks received... and Zachary Quinto in particular often had to share the screen with Leonard Nimoy, which certainly limited his ability to truly own the role. But the way Peck delivers time and time again is really something. If Strange New Worlds were to run, say, five or six seasons, even at just 10 episodes each, his time in the role could approach enough episodes to make the unthinkable thinkable: yes, Leonard Nimoy will always be Spock, but could Ethan Peck be an even better Spock?
And while I'm on the cast, let me acknowledge the new addition, Carol Kane in the recurring role of Pelia. Her quirky demeanor and quirkier accent feel like a pretty wild tonal shift, but I think it's within the bounds of what Strange New Worlds can accommodate. Not that I'm going to turn down appearances from the delightful and funny Kane in any case. I'll be particularly interested to see how her character plays off the other characters throughout this season; we got a fun interplay between Pelia and Spock in this episode, and I think that's just the tip of the iceberg.
I'll also add that I'm glad Trek overall has seemingly decided to pull back from Star Trek: Discovery's particularly "monstrous" take on how Klingons look. I was more or less on board with having a changed appearance (Trek has done that before, after all), but I think the dramatic reasons for it in Discovery (to make them more threatening and alien) don't necessarily apply here. This new take (not quite Next Gen era either) feels about right.
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