La'an is recruited by a dying Temporal Investigations agent for a time traveling mission back to the early 21st century -- and the need is urgent, as La'an's timeline has already changed around her, putting James T. Kirk in command of a non-Starfleet Enterprise. Kirk and La'an accidentally travel back in time together, where they quickly open up to one another during their uncertain mission to figure out just what they've been sent to do.
In discussing Strange New Worlds with a friend shortly before this episode was released, I commented that the cast of the series was incredibly strong, and I suspected that any one of them could really carry their own episode. Then along comes this episode to very specifically test that theory -- a full hour featuring almost nobody but La'an.
Yes, Christina Chong is largely able to carry this episode featuring her character. Of course, it helps that she's essentially in a two-person play with Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk. And the dash of Carol Kane we get as Pelia is great fun. They're all good here, and the story is interesting. But all that said, while I think any actor/character can carry a Strange New Worlds episode, I don't think I actually want to see that often going forward. Up to this point, the series has done an excellent job including meaningful scenes with other characters who aren't the main focus in a given episode. I think this is exactly what has made me grow to like these characters and actors in such a relatively short period of time -- and I find I now miss that a great deal in an episode that doesn't have any of that.
Not that any of that makes me dislike what we do get here. This is an intriguing episode featuring lots of little fan bread crumbs that feel earned to me for how the story is framed. This is a story about La'an being unhappy with her life and having a wish granted (on a cursed monkey's paw) to live a different one. It's such a thorough exploration of her feelings about her own heritage that I feel like it illuminates things in her character that aren't even voiced in dialogue. I found myself wondering at one point: "if she feels like her name is such an albatross around her neck, why doesn't she just change it?" That thought in turn led me to realize this probably increased the sense of betrayal she felt by her mentor Una Chin-Riley; Una did hide who she was, a decision La'an couldn't even comprehend.
But to focus back on the text and not the sub-text, both characters in this two-hander were well-written. While it's funny that in Paul Wesley's second appearance as Kirk, we still have barely gotten any of the "real" Kirk, we certainly have seen enough (this episode especially) to see how these Trek writers handle the character. He still has all the charm, libido, and seat-of-the-pants improvisation of the character Star Trek fans have always known... but they've effectively sanded down some of the more archaic, chauvinist edges of the 1960s incarnation.
Essentially, I thought this episode was good (but not great), and I appreciated the willingness to break with format a bit... and I also kind of don't want another episode like this any time soon, weird as that may sound. I give "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" a B+.
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