Pike awakens in Sickbay to find the ship's entire crew acting in an unusually heightened manner. When Uhura tells him she's his long lost daughter, Pike suspects what's really happening: interference from the unusual godlike alien Enterprise encountered a year earlier. Indeed -- he's back, and running a social experiment on the ant-like humans to impress his elders: turning Enterprise into a soap opera. Spock needs a "living heart transplant" from his twin brother Sybok. Dr. M'Benga must confront his "space madness." And Pike must deal not only with Uhura, but uncover the reason why only he seems aware that he's living in a daytime drama.
I really have just one qualm about this episode: I don't like that they went back to the Trelane well. As fun as Rhys Darby was in the character's previous Strange New Worlds appearance, I'm not at all eager for Strange New Worlds to overuse him in the way that past Star Trek overused the character of Q.
But... if you're going to use Trelane (a Q by any other name, as his last episode established), then you can get away with a lot. He's a dose of fantasy and magic in a fundamentally science fiction show, for all the good and ill that represents. So if you want to do a soap opera episode, you can just do it. No bending over backwards for a sci-fi explanation about why the crew is singing, or turned into Vulcans, or having a "Hangover."
So, having dispensed with the justification? I pretty much give the rest of the episode a 10 out of 10, no notes. The commitment to the bit was complete at every level. The camera work was spot on, from gauzy filters (which even Pike notices) to subtle handheld drift to abrupt crash zooms. The musical score (which again, Pike commented on) absolutely captured the soap opera vibe. The script not only featured over-the-top dialogue, it made sure to repeat that dialogue whenever coming back from a commercial break or intercut scene.
As for the actors? They got it. Genre science fiction is already closer to a soap opera than many fans might like to admit, and it took only the tiniest push for the acting to cross the line. (I think lifting so much Sybok dialogue directly from Star Trek V only underscores the point.) Some of the techniques were hilariously direct, like taking strange pauses and staring off into nowhere (again, commented on by Pike). Some were delightfully subtle, like Uhura's pouty walk as she stormed out. Shaky hands from M'Benga, an eyebrow from Ortegas... all straight from the soap opera playbook. (And let's not overlook the guest star turn from Days of Our Lives stalwart Deidre Hall.)
But the even greater acting accomplishment came in the moments that weren't over-the-top. When Pike finally gets to talk to his "real daughter," I was actually moved -- that quickly, at the climax of a relentlessly comedic episode. Pike's breakdown at the end (opposite Deidre Hall!) was equally powerful. And in perhaps the greatest tightrope act a Star Trek actor has ever walked, Celia Rose Gooding crushed the scene where she talks about the death of her family when she was a teenager: she pulled things back just enough for it to not be silly, but was still emotional enough for it to read as a soap opera performance. (Someone give her a Daytime Emmy.)
Thankfully, they didn't try to pull "it never happened" on us for the second time this season. (Even though "it was all a dream" would have been a tonally perfect soap opera choice.) Letting the characters carry these feelings into the future may pay off in later episodes -- much as this episode paid off for Pike's experiences in previous ones. Once again, Strange New Worlds blends the one-off stories with ongoing story arcs in master fashion.
I give "Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass" an A-. It's my favorite episode of the season so far. (Right down to the post-credits gag! Don't touch that "back" button!)
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