It’s been a season of big ideas so far with mixed results. But as we hit the Bon Jovi marker and get half way there, the season seems to hit a high note just by dialling it all down a touch with a story that could be boiled down to a simple puzzle.
Roger Korby joins the crew again, leaning on them to help lead an expedition to some ancient and mysterious artefacts. Suspiciously similar to the final discovery he’d make as a human in the original series, he’s found what’s possibly a fountain of youth – a scientific idea telegraphed in it’s fantasy with it’s ritualistic sacrifice, or ‘blood magic’ – a sample of your blood – to enter. Once inside the expanded landing party realise they’re not the first to find this ancient building as previous treasure hunters have died trying to unlock is secrets. And soon enough, they’re trapped to repeat the same fate….
Writers: Onitra Johnson & Davy Perez
Director:Andi Armaganian
There’s a nice mix of adventure and horror throughout the episode that kind of starts with a sense of Indiana Jones in Space as Korby leads them to uncover an ancient alien temple that you can enter with ‘blood magic’, filled with death, mystery and a puzzle to solve in order to esacape. It quiockly splits into the A and B story from there – the B story following new recruit Gamble on his first away mission who, when La’an tells him not to touch anything, he touches a thing; a small globe that blows up in his face like a flashbomb and blows out his eyes.
After Gamble’s on the ship, the rest of the away team end up trapped, their local guide disintegrated when trying to leave, and follow an open door which see’s them conveniently paired up in three different rooms. The pairings themselves were quite nicely done. Before entering the temple everyone is conveniently coupled up – Korby and Chapel, Spock and La’an, Uhura and Beto filming his documentary – but following on from La’an shutting down Chapel’s attempt to pull everyone into an episode of Gilmore Girls before the mission, everyone gets isolated in mostly different pairings.
Spock and Korby being put together is part of the fun. Both of them are over their previous Chapel drama and just act as the opposite end of science, logic versus belief, which comes across nicely. The puzzle isn’t a new sci fi idea, nor is the solution. And the escape was a clear nod to one of the best Indiana Jones films. But the atmosphere and more Stargate Escape Room vibe worked well for how simple and straight forward it was.
Breaking that up is Gamble. On board the Enterprise under M’Benga’s care and gone completely loopy as he swaps between scared ensign and possessed demon. The flashbomb wasn’t just a flashbomb, it was a prison and while the crew on the ground figure that out, on the ship we follow M’Benga’s attempts to save Gamble before realising he was never there to save. Which again works with it just being simple, condensed horror themes to balance out the quiet sciences on the ground.
Another bonus is that after forgetting the ticking clock that it Batel, she’s back for he medicine just in time to see the possessed Gamble and the alien presence trigger something deep in the Gorn DNA she’s been Tuxived with which is just a reminder for us all that this was a horrible idea destined to go wrong and signposting to the future.
There were one or two oddities. Scotty keeping the ‘demon’ alien in the transport buffer which seems a bit weird even if it fits M’Benga’s medical ideas and Scotty’s own future innovation, but we can let that slide as they gave a hint to some future plot points. Gamble’s opening monologue also gave the game away that he wasn’t surviving this one for anyone who’s seen TV before. But on the whole, it was a fairly enjoyable episode that stood alone, didn’t overdo any of it’s ideas and let everyone show off their stuff for an episode.
Highlights
- Red Alert automatically hitting as soon as Gamble walked through the security forcefield and escaping the brig. Finally, someone realised that's a good idea!
- La'an's 'don't be that woman' line felt oddly connected with Ortega mocking Chapel's life decisions in season one, just with less patience.
- Pelia playing up to the camera's during Beto's documentary seemed very... Pelia.
All Connected...
While a throwaway line, the idea that Scotty would trap something in the transporter’s pattern buffer was an interesting one. In TNG episode Realm of Fear, it’s noted that patterns can be stored for 90 seconds before beginning to degrade. Though Scotty would survive for over eighty years by storing his pattern in a diagnostic loop.
Though any tech in the Star Trek world changes, and previously there was even hint of storing Klingons n the transporter out of spite.
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