Complications arise in Batel’s treatment following the Gorn incident and things are beginning to get messy. With a plan in motion to Tuxiv their way out of the situation, M’Benga takes Pike on a road trip to a banished world on an off book mission to find a cure. But as the Enterprise waits, they realise they’re not alone….
Writers: Onitra Johnson & Bill Wolkoff
Director: Dan Liu
So far Strange New Worlds has been at it’s best when delving into the darker parts of it’s characters and their passionately kind chief medical officer has a past that’s just too fascinating not to enjoy. Last season we found out that M’Benga had a bit of a split career during the Klingon War. He ended it as a field doctor, but started in black ops missions. So bringing him along for a dangerous mission is always a nice move to remind us that under the smile he’s a stone cold killer, and here we get to see the fallout of his blatant murder of a defecting Klingon warlord.
Though it plays on the stylised episode of the week, SNW is still a show that focuses on character arcs. Here we have three right away. One is Batel’s ongoing Gorn problem. They essentially melted the Gorn inside her, and now it’s taken hold which has in turn put Pike in a more emotionally compromised state where he’s more than happy to just throw out galactical law for the chance of something that’ll save her. That thing is a chimera plant (or, Tuvix Flower), a rare thing that just happens to be found on a disputed planet in the middle of a no fly zone and of course, time is ticking so it’s a now or never scenario.
Not letting anyone else be responsible, Pike heads out himself to get the flower, taking M’benga with him as he’s a special ops ghost and the only one who knows what he’s looking for. What they don’t know is that Klingons are following them; led by the daughter of the man he slaughtered in combat and she’s not best pleased as she wanted to kill him first. It’s an honour thing. Oh, they also dont know that this highly dangerous flower is kinda reasonable for turning what was left on the planet into zombies turning the entire mission into a Day of the Living Dead In Space.
Pike and M’Benga don’t get a massive amount of screen time together. But it was nice to see them hint more about their past friendship again and work together fairly well. It was also nice to have Pike naturally stand by and not be the hero knowing fightings not his strong suit, and even if it was M’Benga is – let us repeat – a stone cold killer. For the most part, despite the zombie movie dressing, it’s all about M’Benga’s life choices. During the war he butchered Klingons relentlessly, after the war he finally killed the general responsible for an unjust genocide and now that general’s daughter is leading an away mission to kill him back.
It was nice to see some of the TNG-level honour play here, especially with the Klingon tradition of mental gymnastics to honour your way back into society. The down side was that the balance between that and the not-zombies kind of left both feeling a little rushed with everything tied up neatly from M’Benga’s strap match to him and Pike just swiftly dismissing his admission of murdering a high profile political figure.
Through the whole thing we learn M’Benga’s plan to save Batel is also a little messed up. With days to live, M’Benga’s not going to cure her. He’s going to Tuvix her into one big happy hybrid. On board the ship, Spock plays mind meld with her and goes a little batshit as he sucks up the inherent Gorn rage buried in her now so that’s going to be fun.. but it highlighted what this episode was here for; background.
Under the chaos on the ground as well as the tension of the Enterprise hanging around in orbit trying not to get the Klingons attention, everything was just setting something up. Even the B plot, all about Erika Ortegas lashing out and looking for a scrap, was just laying groundwork for whats to come later on which let some of the episode down a bit for me.
Another thing chipping away at me is Batel. She seems to be there for Pike’s own saviour complex as he tries to fight against the inevitable – a nice mirror for his own future – but it leaves her all too often sidelined as a character. Not knowing her motivation to willing go through with the treatment makes sense. We’re supposed to be introduced through Pike figuring it out and follow his shock and surprise. But it would be nice to have something form her perspective for a change as it all being about Pike hasn’t really given us much depth to care about her side of things.
Overall it felt a little middle of the road after a relatively strong first week as it suffered form being a transitional episode in the character journey without giving us enough time to focus on any one thing. That said, even I the sequel to Under the Cloak of War wasn’t as strong an episode, it gave more M’Benga, and that’s never a bad thing as he’s fast becoming one of the more interesting characters on the show.
Highlights
- Loved the quick shot of the Mokai Klingon ship from Discovery in action. A strangely unique design.
- M'Benga being married four/three and a half times was a weirdly fun little addition to the background.
- We need hardass Una to balance out Pike. More of that!
All Connected...
Our short lived Klingon baddie Bytha, daughter of Dak’Rah was chasing honour to restore her house from Discommendation due to her fathers defection to the Federation following the war. The same punishment was handed to Worf in the Next Generation making him an exile and dismantling the Mogh family lands and titles. Unlike Bytha, Worf’s honour was restored upon joining the House of Martok.
About the author
Resistance Is Optional: Sunday 8th February
We've trialled, we've tested and we're ready for nonsense! This weekend we're inviting the fleet to come together and just enjoy talking Trek, general life, throw questions at Admin and generally misbehave in our Discord server while we run a live first run on the server. For those who've never used Discord before, we're migrating what we can from our social platforms to the Discord server in the coming weeks and months due to it's versatility as a desktop app, web-based client or mobile app; having multiple methods of communication from voice chats, to hosted events, to simple forum and live forum style discussions and of course – aside from them occasionally promoting their Nitro features – it’s ad and payment free with privacy controls to suit you. Also it lets us run video and voice chat - both of […]
“There is no greater enemy than one’s own fears”; ‘Vox In Exelso’, Starfleet Academy S1E4
When an existential crisis threatens to wipe out a beloved but infamous Star Trek species, a cadet is forced to confront his past and strained relationship with his family. As he pursues an unexpected method of coping, Nahla races against time to save this species from extinction.... Writers: Gaia Violo & Eric Anthony Glover Director: Doug Aarniokoski Ever since Discovery took the jump to the future, there were questions that were left unanswered. A few hundred yeas of changing cultures and political landscapes combined with the galaxy-devastating effect of the Burn gave us a familiar surrounding that had undergone massive change. We found out what happened to the Federation. We found out the Orions took advantage of the power vacuum. We even got to meet an isolationist Earth and see the reunification of Vulcan and Romulus. But for a […]
Revenge Of The Nerds; ‘Vitus Reflux’, Starfleet Academy S1E3
Proving yourself at Starfleet Academy always seemed to come down to competitive rivalry. Whether it was Sisko failing to win over Solok, Finnegan's constant pranks on Kirk, or Georgiou drinking everyone under the table, even the most professional stand up Captains have spent their youth in a knife fight with a Nausican. Vitrus Reflux get it all out the way as cadets Lythe and Raymi get locked into a battle of the ego's while the War College next door pops up to assert their dominance! Writers: Alex Taub & Kiley RossetterDirector: Doug Aarniokoski As the more militaristic war college use their current standing as the primary source of Starfleet for the past hundred-plys years to prove the revival of the Academy is a failed experiment, tensions begin to bubble over through mixed physical training leading to conflicts, a war of words and […]
[Q2&A] Positively Positive.
Last week Starfleet Academy debuted and something odd happened. If you're a regular to any Trek news or discussion site, you noticed a spike. Even our usually sleepy Facebook profile went from a handful of likes to over 2,000, am good chunk of which got deleted. It wasn't a normal spike, certainly not normal for a debut show, not normal to be everywhere and – to be frank – not normal in terms of comments. It was a mix of disturbing and sad. Disturbing for the high amount of bigoted and sexist memes and commentary that seemed to mock murdered US citizens. For a subculture of fandom that grew up praising – to the point of gloating – that Star Trek was about intellectualism and inclusion, it certainly showed that as a fandom, and a united international culture, we've taken more […]
[Retro Review] Where No Man Has Gone Before….
During a search and rescue mission that takes the Enterprise through the Galactic Barrier, ships captain James 'R' Kirk has another problem. During the trip through the barrier, Kirks crewmate and long time friend Gary Mitchell takes a blast of weird energy that slowly transforms him into everyone's best friend, to a telekinetic megalomaniac proving that old parable about absolute power.... By this point, everyone knows the story of Star Trek's two pilots. The Cage was filmed, rejected and the show got a rare second chance. That second chance as Where No Man Has Gone Before. Same ship, different Captain and crew aside from a green blooded alien... This year marks the 60th anniversary of Star Trek, so it seems only fitting we should start, where the show began on screen with the pilot that saw the idea become a […]
Everything Whale Be Alright; ‘Beta Test’, Starfleet Academy S1E2 Review
Rebuilding after being torn down by 'The Burn', Starfleet and the Federation are getting back on mission, rekindling old alliances, developing new technologies and now ready to re-open Starfleet Academy to raise the next generation of explorers... Writers: Noga Landau & Jane Maggs Director: Alex Kurtzman Whether it's seeing hios potential, or just sheer guilt, Captain Ake is bending over backwards to integrate Caleb into the Academy. Trouble is, he's not putting in the same effort. Fighting against his own inflated ego and distracted with his quest to find his mother coming to a dead end. Spiralling following an argument with instructor Jet Reno, Caleb tries to run, but instead he runs into Tarima; a visiting Betazoid who can see right through his bravado. Following the Burn, Betazed isolated itself from the Federation and now their president has an […]
Related
New Cast Welcomes Aboard for Season 5 of Strange New Worlds
As the media hype is starting to ramp up for Academy's debut, Strange New Worlds is adding the finishing touches and along with cast such as Anson Mount saying goodbye to their Enterprise, we have some new names announced to have joined for the final season. Acting as a prequel to the original series, Strange New Worlds has helped to expand legacy characters having brought over Ethan Peck's younger and less refined version of Spock, the first career steps of Nyota Uhura, a completely revamped Christine Chapel and smaller parts – such as Dr M'BEnga, Samuel Kirk and T'Pring among others – being revived for the new era. Since then we've also spent some time with a young Jim Kirk, even seeing his first time in command last season, and Scotty's joined the lower decks of Engineering. As the show […]
All You Need Is Love; New Life and New Civilisations. Strange New Worlds S3E9 Review
Following from Through the Lens of Time, Dr Korby is following the trail of the Vezda all the way to Skygowan; a world that worships the evil aliens found buried in a hidden temple. But the Vezda Scotty captured in the transporter buffer after possessing Ensign Gamble survived, escaped and is now fully reconstructed leading the planet and about to unleash hell throughout the galaxy. And of course, it's up to the Enterprise to find out how, why and chase down the demon to save the day. Writers:Dana Horgan & Davy Perez Director:Marja Vrvilo There's something quite nice about the idea of this episode. Strange New Worlds has leaned on retelling the 23rd century era for a lot of it's main hooks, whether that be revisiting the Gorn, Vulcan romance or going to the length of an alternate history […]
Girls Gorn Wild; Terrarium. Strange New Worlds S3E9 Review
There's weird stuff going on in an uncharted region of space, and the Enterprise needs a closer look. To figure out why gravity waves are being especially weird, the crew strip down a shuttle to make it light as possible, and keep the crew levels down to one pilot: Erica Ortegas. But all their caution isn't enough as a wormhole appears out of nowhere and sucks the the shuttle into a dangerous, far sway hellscape from which there is no escape. Writers: Alan B McElroyDirector: Andrew Coutts Erica Ortegas is one of the most under utilised characters in Strange New Worlds. Giving the sarcasm and being the annoying one who argues – a point they hammered home is a family trait earlier this season – she's often laid out as a star pilot and war hero, but the most focuses […]
Highly Illogical; Four And A Half Vulcans. Strange New Worlds S3E8 Review
When a local planet is in trouble, it's Enterprise to the rescue. Or usually would be, but it's a pre-warp civilisation and the no contact rule applies. But there's a loophole. The planet Tezarr runs on an energy system gifted by Vulcan explorers way before the Federation existed and now it's breaking down. Starfleet can't help, but Vulcan's barged their way onto the planet before those rules were made. They just need a few Vulcans to help... Writers: Dana Horgon & Henry Alonzo Myers Director: Jordan Canning One of the earliest released details for Season 3 was 'The Vulcan Episode' that would introduce the crew to Vulcan Logic the hard way. The set up for all of this is a little shaky. The pre-warp Tezzar planet has high levels of tech outside warp drive and with no Vulcans on […]
War. What is is good for?; What Is Starfleet?. Strange New Worlds S3E7 Review
Since the second episode of the season, Beto Ortegas has teased his documentary on Starfleet as a bit of an excuse to cosy up to Uhura and had previously invited himself onto an away mission where his camera's came in relatively handy. Having permission to film the inner workings of a top secret mission, Beto follows Pike and the crew through a questionable and dangerous adventure as he asks, What Is Starfleet? Writers: Kathryn Lyn & Alan B McElroy Director: Sharon Lewis Strange New Worlds hasn't been shy in playing around with different formats with mixed results. From fantasy adventures with the crew in different roles, to classic warfare drama's to modern(ish) day time travel and even a musical. There's been a lot of classic formats used and this time it's all from Beto's perspective through his camera feeds […]
Chasing Cars; The Sehlat Who Are Its Tail. Strange New Worlds S3E6 Review
Restless in the monotony of real space exploration, James Kirk is getting impatient for his chance to take the big chair and lead without the overt caution of his Captain during a routine survey mission. Until the monotonous mission suddenly falls into chaos when the planet comes under attack from a devastating weapon that tears the ship apart, leaving Commander Kirk without a captain and without a clue as the USS Farragut is torn to shreds. Writers: David Reed, Bill WolkoffDirector: Valarie Weiss Paul Wesley's interpretation of a young James Kirk has had it's moments despite technically not having that much screen time. His first two episodes were alternate realities and even in season three we've only had a transporter pattern used to test a holodeck instead of the real deal. So when we do get a look at a […]
