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Warning: Spoilers For “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” Season 1, Episode 6
So far, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” is showing signs of steady improvement, even as the episode titles seem to be getting longer. This week it’s “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” and you’re trying to squeeze that into a two-piece headline. Even a title that’s too long can’t save this episode from sadly being season 1’s weakest yet, but one of them had to be.
Hopefully this is where the new one minimum standard will be set and this extremely promising new show will not fall into disappointing plots and lazy writing like the other live action shows in this particular sci-fi franchise on Paramount Plus (opens in new tab)†
Apparently last week’s episode is based on an unused “The Original Series” script by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. according to IMDb (opens in new tab)it also bears a strong resemblance to the 1973 short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, as both depict a seemingly utopian society whose prosperity is based on the suffering of a single child.
Regardless of its origin, it is the first time that Captain Pike (Anson Mount) has been dragged into an ethical crisis of this particular nature. After the recap – which we’ll get to shortly – we’re treated to a classic-style opening sequence, with a bit of personal attachment, a dash of spicy fun, spiced with light humor and served with a generous dollop of drama.
Frankly, anything could have happened after that: the crew could have had all the salt sucked out of their bodies, forced to amuse a demigod, or simply encounter a creature from between dimensions. Roll those gorgeous opening credits.
While on a routine [cartographic survey] until [the Majalan system] the USS Enterprise receives a distress call from a non-federated shuttle being attacked by a small battle cruiser, also without a Federation ID. During the ensuing battle, the cruiser is accidentally destroyed and all on board are killed. The shuttle’s passengers barely survive and are beamed to the Starfleet spaceship.
It turns out that on a previous mission to this sector of space 10 years ago, then-Lieutenant Pike was involved in a rescue mission to evacuate civilians from a dying pulsar and he’s already met Alora (Lindy Booth), one of the newest recruits on the planet. the Enterprise passenger list. The other two are a young boy known as the First Servant (Ian Ho) and his apparent biological father, Elder Gamal (Husein Madhavji).
The primary plot takes up practically all of the airtime this week, but there are a few interesting sub-stories taped to the side, including Cadet Nyota Uhura’s (Celia Rose Gooding) training in security matters by Lt. Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong). It seems that her classes are almost legendary in the Enterprise community. We have to understand that there are seven golden rules of safety, but we are only told five:
#1 A Rigelian tiger pounces without warning;
#2 There are no breaks in security because threats never take breaks;
#3 Let your tricorder do the research;
#6 Know when to bend the rules;
#7 Leave no stone unturned.
Unfortunately, now that everyone on the small battle cruiser has been killed, Pike et al are only hearing one side of the story. That old chestnut. But their story seems credible. In addition, Pike appears to be his partner, Capt. Batel (Melanie Scrofano) – whom we met in the premiere episode “Strange New Worlds” – and he’s more than happy to get under the sheets and get busy with Alora.
in tonight Captain Pike Bingoto be Triple Points Night!
☑Takes off his shirt
☑ Get buff!
☑ X-rated extracurricular activity with an alien
☐ Hand in hand fighting to the death
☐Use the double fist punch
☐ Journey to the Mirror Universe
☐ Find yourself on a planet that looks like a lot such as the Vazquez Rocks Natural Park
☐ Outsmart a superior alien intelligence
☐ Meet the magnificent, mischievous Harcourt Fenton Mudd
☑ Save the galaxy (season 2 of “Discovery”)
Remember when we mentioned that summary? On the second viewing of this episode, you’ll notice a slight slope in the synopsis as it briefly focuses on Pike’s future – it might-it-threatened/maybe-it-isn’t an accident when a baffle plate ruptures on an old Class J starship , exposing many helpless trainees and themselves to deadly delta particle radiation. In particular, the voice of Lt. cmdr. Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) as she says, “Don’t throw your life away, Chris. I made a choice. I accepted my fate. What if you’re wrong? What if your fate is what you make it?”
And it’s clear that Pike isn’t throwing his life away, he’s embracing it, every facet of it. And good for him. Unfortunately, Alora has a somewhat unorthodox culture, but we’ll get to that in a moment. The Majalan people have incredibly advanced medical technology; tissue can be altered, repaired or replaced on a “quantum mechanical level”. It offers both Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) hopes that he can heal his daughter Rukiya (Sage Arrindell) and Pike, as it can heal him of his future wounds.
As the story unfolds, it slowly becomes apparent that Elder Gamal is aware of the fate that awaits his poor son, the First Servant; he was however not part of the original plan to rescue him that resulted in the destruction of the small battle cruiser. Instead, he plans his own effort to protect the child from the Majalan people. And for a short time it seems to have worked. That is until a rough distress signal is detected by Spock (Ethan Peck) and the young, incredibly gifted child is recovered and sent back to the Majalan people.
Related: ‘Strange New Worlds’ Episode 5 Uses Some Classic Trek Tropes
This, combined with rather damning evidence uncovered by Uhura and Noonien-Singh, leads Pike to the surface where he witnesses but cannot prevent the “ascension” of the First Servant, fulfilling his somewhat ephemeral destiny. The boy is essentially hooked up to the machine that, as we must understand, needs a child’s neural network to function. “Our founders designed it that way. We don’t know why,” Alora tries to explain to Pike.
And with that sadly ends the chance that the people of Majalan can join the Federation, at least for now. But all is not lost when Gamal offers to help M’Benga in his search for a cure for his daughter. Although it is not well explained how these people have such an advanced knowledge of medicine and yet have not evolved beyond the need to sacrifice an innocent child every generation or so.
You know what would be really interesting is an episode sometime in the future from someone’s perspective stored in a transporter cartridge buffer, because everything around you can change in an instant, or the blink of a transport beam, every time you had to back inside.
Related: ‘Strange New Worlds’ Episode 4 Embraces Submarine Style Combat
The plot seems to have a few more holes than usual and the dialogue – especially between Alora and Pike, towards the end – isn’t very convincing. As we mentioned before, this is the weakest episode yet, but as we also called, if this is as weak as they get, then we’re doing it right. It’s nicely layered, nuanced, and the interest is maintained throughout. It just feels like it stumbles a few times with the base.
Finally, in other “Star Trek” news, the sixth season of “Discovery” has kicked off with major Toronto photography as star Doug Jones comically tweeted (opens in new tab) this week. Will a strange anomaly threaten the entire galaxy? Billions can be killed. Will Starfleet unite as everyone has to dig deep, face their own mortality and risk their lives for the greater good? Again??
Rating: 6/10
The first six episodes of “Strange New Worlds” are now available to watch on Paramount Plus (opens in new tab) just like the entire second season of ‘Star Trek: Picard’. Season 4 of “Star Trek: Discovery” is also available on the Paramount streaming service in the US and CTV Sci-Fi or Crave TV in Canada. Countries outside of North America can watch on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel.
Paramount has confirmed that its streaming platform will launch on June 22 in the UK and Ireland, available both as a standalone service and as part of the Sky Cinema subscription for the UK cable provider. However, only the first three episodes (opens in new tab) of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” will be available on the streamer on that region’s launch date, as the show will continue on a weekly Wednesday release schedule until the end of Season 1’s 10 episodes.
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