From the moment it premiered, I have been hopelessly in love with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
The Original Series is my favorite Trek time period and my favorite group of characters. I was immediately drawn in by the way Strange New Worlds paid homage to the Original Series but also found a way to tell its own unique story.
Strange New Worlds quickly became one of my all-time favorite shows, ranking right up there with Downton Abbey, Doctor Who, and Game of Thrones. Captain Pike has become my favorite Star Trek captain (and certainly the one with the best hair). The show has stabbed me in the heart with some emotionally gut-wrenching episodes, and also made me laugh out loud. I will continue to argue that the musical episode was, in fact, a masterpiece.
This show has meant a lot to me as a fan, and so it genuinely pains me to confess that I am not really vibing with the current season. While I did adore the soap opera themed episode (more on that later), I feel that this season has been too reliant on gimmicks and just seems to be floundering its way through lackluster character arcs. And that breaks my heart, because I love these characters so much and want so much more for them (especially since season five, the final season, will be even shorter).
Let’s start with some positives about what I’ve enjoyed in season four:
- Carol Kane as Pelia continues to be a delight (even puppet Pelia was still wonderful, although I didn’t enjoy that particular episode overall).
- The soap opera themed episode “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” was absolutely hilarious, and I laughed so hard I nearly cried. My husband actually stepped out of his office to come check on me. The abrupt camera zoom-ins and the appearance of Spock’s half-brother were very well done. And then, while you’re in the middle of laughing, the show pivots and takes Captain Pike through a painful but necessary reflection on grief. In the end, it felt like a well-rounded episode and will probably be one of my enduring favorites from this series.
- Captain Kirk has not been over-used. I was a little worried about this after the last season, but it hasn’t been the case so far.
However, here’s why the season isn’t working for me overall. Star Trek is no stranger to high concept/humorous episodes. Two of my favorite Original Series stories are “The Trouble with Tribbles” and “A Piece of the Action,” a.k.a. the 1920s gangster one.
Unfortunately, Strange New Worlds season 4 relies too much on gimmicks, in my opinion. There is a dinosaur episode; a horror themed episode; a Hangover spoof episode; a noir themed episode; a puppet themed episode; and a soap opera themed episode. That is a LOT of episodes out of a relatively brief 10 episode season. Even concepts I enjoyed, like the horror theme and the noir theme, didn’t get a chance to breathe because they’ve been sandwiched in the middle of so much else.
And perhaps this makes me a terrible person, but I actually kind of hated the puppet episode. I adore the Muppets and would have loved a separate, one-off Muppet themed episode. But trying to make a regular season episode involving puppets just took me completely out of the narrative, and I could not get into the story the episode was trying to tell.
I’m not really sure what this season is building towards, and I’m a little worried it might be La’An dying or leaving the Enterprise. She’s my favorite character, and if this is going to be her character’s send off, I will be disappointed in how it was handled.
I feel like this season would have been much stronger with a clearer focus, and more breathing room between the high concept/humorous episodes. Maybe the next three episodes will be phenomenal, and this will all make more sense. Or maybe I’m just being too grumpy and need to allow Star Trek to have a little more fun. 😉
