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Mon: Hello and welcome to another episode of Stereo Geeks. Today, we’re reviewing the final five episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3. I’m Mon. 

Ron: And I’m Ron. Since the third season is already out, this episode will have spoilers for the entire season.

Mon: Before we start our episode, we would like to acknowledge that the land we are recording on is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. It is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit.

Ron: While we are making this land acknowledgement, we understand that this is not enough and that positive action is required by the people of Canada to make substantive change for the Indigenous nations and communities whose lands we now reside on.

[Music]

Mon: The last five episodes of the season were:

Ron: If you haven’t heard it yet, check out our review of the first five episodes. The link is in our show notes. We’ll do things a bit different this time, since everyone’s seen the season already. We’ll take each episode and discuss them. First up:

Ron: I loved this episode. It was so Star Trek. And, you know what, despite my reservations way back in the first season, Paul Wesley’s Captain Kirk has grown on me. I feel actual joy when I see his name in the cast list. Which is surprising, because the Kelvin timeline characters never sparked joy. Aside from the late Anton Yelchin’s Chekov, who was adorable. Wesley’s Kirk is cocky, yet charming, and I absolutely love watching him.

Mon: Yeah, I gotta admit, I really enjoy watching Wesley’s Kirk. He’s not trying to be William Shatner, and he’s not an agro-macho character either. I like him a lot, and this episode gave us sides to Kirk we hadn’t seen before. 

Ron: Yes, this episode is a showcase for Kirk. Its entire purpose is to set up the dynamic between him and the TOS characters we know he’s going to spend time with–Spock, Uhura, Scotty, and Chappell. The chemistry is there. The relationships are already being set. I’ve heard talk about a possible Strange New Worlds spin-off with Kirk in the lead, I believe that came out in 1966, but I may be wrong.

Mon: Hahahahahaha! You’re hilarious. I loved the dynamic of Kirk and the Enterprise crew. The episode was just so darn clever at getting these five future crewmates together. 

Ron: What I loved about ‘Sehlat’, aside from how quintessentially Star Trek it was, was that we got to see a different side to Kirk. He’s not sure of himself. He actively wants to be Captain but he makes the wrong decisions when he gets the chance. He doesn’t listen. He’s belligerent. Basically, he’s everything we wouldn’t want in a Starfleet captain. And it’s only when Kirk listens to his crew, when he leans in to what makes them so good at their jobs, that he wins the day. Impeccable episode.

Mon: Yeah, there was a little bit of Voyager’s ‘Nightingale’ episode here. Strange New Worlds’s writers have so much to play with regarding Kirk, so why not show him out of his depth? He’s smart, an out-of-box thinker, a risk-taker; but what makes him the captain we all end up admiring? They lay the path in this episode. And they make it fun!

Ron: And with great character moments.

Mon: As the episode was coming to a close, I kept wondering what the clincher was. The bad guys are defeated pretty quickly. Nothing untoward happens. And I was like, ‘is that it?’ Never ask that question in Strange New Worlds, ‘cause you won’t like the answer. To put an end to the Devourer of Worlds, Spock and Kirk hatch a plan to destroy it. They don’t realize the destruction will cost 7000 lives. Worse, they don’t realize it will cost 7000 human lives. They destroyed a multigenerational ship made of humans. 

Ron: I could never have imagined the episode would go in that direction. There were clues, of course, but it’s such a gut punch. This massive victory for our Starfleet heroes, and it turns into the most crushing moral defeat. And the question is, who can you blame? Enterprise was about to be devoured and everyone was going to die. The Farragut was already at death’s door with the crew barely hanging on. Not to mention all the lives on that inhabited planet who were facing annihilation. But to think that it was a human society committing these atrocious crimes. And for them to be annihilated themselves. Wow. This second half started off with a bang.

Mon: Yeah, but should we feel bad for the Devourers? They were, after all, killing millions. They were monsters. Which, you know, most humans are, anyway.

Ron: You’re not wrong. But, bad guys or not, Kirk has to live with his actions.

Mon: Ok, so let’s talk about Episode 7. You and I had a lot of thoughts. Conflicting ones, mostly. 

Ron: In ‘What is Starfleet?’ we watch Umberto Ortegas’ documentary about Starfleet, told through the crew of the Enterprise. It’s in the vein of a lot of TV shows from the early aughts that would send a documentary crew to ask the main characters the tough questions. I remember CSI doing one, maybe Bones? Now we get a Star Trek version. But this is the first time a show has already introduced the documentarian to the audience.

Mon: The dude, totally, has an angle. I mean, it’s obvious from the start that he’s trying to pitch Starfleet as some kind of domineering, fascistic institution. He ain’t even trying to hide it. Now, you watch a lot more documentaries than I do, but even I know that’s not good filmmaking. That’s propaganda. 

Ron: Not strictly true. By dint of being told through a particular lens, there’s always going to be an angle. My reading of it was that Berto thought that people already had a skewed view of Starfleet, that they were only good guys. He was in it to show a different perspective. But then, there’s also the personal angle. His sister, Erica, had been hurt, she’d almost died. What’s the great Starfleet doing to protect her?

Mon: Fair point. In the end, all is well, because Berto is told he did wrong, and Starfleet, or rather Captain Pike, pull through as the good guys they are. Now, why did we not find this the feel-good story it wanted to be?

Ron: I think it needed to be longer. This is one of the shorter episodes this season. We needed to drag out the scenes where Pike and Chin-Riley are debating their options, weighing the pros and cons of going against Starfleet’s orders. We needed to see more of that dramatic tension of doing what’s right even when it means disobeying your orders. It’s all wrapped up a bit too neatly. I also think inserting Berto into the documentary at the end was a mistake. But you have a more philosophical perspective.

Mon: The biggest problem with Star Trek being made today is, there is no hope. Reality is that the world is becoming worse in every way. And the institutions we were all told would be there to help us, and save us, are the biggest culprits. 

Ron: I’ve had some time to mull over this episode and I now feel like this is exactly why Star Trek needs to be made today. Because 10-15 years ago, when there was a plethora of anti-heroes, that was a time when certain sections of the world were in peace and so much prosperity that fascism could be a thinkpiece. As you said, it’s reality now. We can’t think about what fascist organizations can look like because they’re right next door.

Mon: So then, when you have a show talk about an institution, like Starfleet, and act like it really is as great as it’s touted to be… well, that, in turn, reads like propaganda, right? And worse, it reads like the show is trying to brainwash you into believing actual institutions are also good. They’re not. 

Ron: That’s a cynical take but I get what you’re saying. We don’t have an idealistic overarching organization like Starfleet right now. We probably never will. The concept of the world coming together for the greater good is so far-reaching, it seems fantastical.

Mon: It really is. I am frustrated. This episode doesn’t actually deserve the apathetic, annoyed feelings I have towards it. Shouldn’t we, in fact, be happy believing that it’s still possible for a future where something like Starfleet is looking out for us? But I can’t be. 

Ron: That’s probably why this episode needed to have a happy ending. The world’s bleak. Fascism is pervasive. Do we really want our fictional space universe to have the same problems? I don’t think so.

Mon: I agree with you, but this was, and hopefully will remain, the first and only episode of Strange New Worlds that missed the mark. The writers did not read the room. Or perhaps, it truly was propaganda. 

Ron: Moving on to lighter fare. In Four-and-a-Half Vulcans, the Enterprise is called to help a pre-Warp Vulcan planet. But the away team has to be fully Vulcan. So they use the serum from ‘Charades’ to become Vulcan. To hilarious results.

Mon: Ok, so I did not expect to laugh this hard at this episode. This was, just, too good. The characters who got turned into Vulcans, were amazing to watch. Pike, Chappell, La’an, and Uhura reimagined as Vulcans was not on my bingo card. I’m pretty sure the actors had the best time. 

Ron: Hands down, my second-favourite episode this season. Though the next one is a very close third. I have absolutely loved what Strange New Worlds has been doing with Vulcans. Every time we have a Vulcan episode, it is beyond hilarious. We were rolling about with the antics of this episode.

Mon: What I like about how Strange New Worlds has expanded Spock’s history and his relationship with his Vulcan-half, is that the show has tried to explore being an outsider at home and everywhere else. And Spock himself is battling it inside. But they’ve also brought a ton of levity, and understanding, to Spock’s conflict. 

Ron: I see shades of B’Elanna Torres in Spock sometimes. 

Mon: I was just about to say the same. 

Ron: I don’t know if I’m looking for connections to Voyager, but I do feel like I’m seeing them. Like B’Elanna, Spock is mixed race–human and Vulcan–and they are so wildly different from each other. The problem is, like B’Elanna, Spock grew up among Vulcans, and his human mom. He never got to be treated like one of the other Vulcans, just like B’Elanna was never accepted by humans. I can see his story resonating with a lot of mixed-race people, and anybody who struggles to fit in.

Mon: Oh absolutely! But, B’Elanna’s journey was very serious; full of anger and angst. So Spock’s journey being a laugh riot is a nice change, and differentiates from what’s come before. Again, the Strange New Worlds writers have tons to work with for Spock, and yet they try something different with him every time. 

Ron: True. But beyond Spock, this episode is hilarious in so many ways. Pelia stole the show for me. Carol Kane is having the time of her life in this role. She belongs in Star Trek. I love that whole story about her experiences with LSD. And that she tried it so many times. And don’t even get me started on that moment when she sits up in bed groaning about the 42-minute shifts killing her. I fell off the bed laughing.

Mon: Oh my word, Pelia was amazing. We need so much more of her. She’s so funny! But you know who gets the scene-stealing moment in this episode? It’s Captain Batel! Oh, I loved it when she lost her temper at the Vice-Admiral and Captain Pike. Truly spectacular. I loved it so much. 

Ron: Batel losing her inhibitions because that’s what the Vulcans are doing and just giving it to the evil Vice-Admiral. I could not. It’s so good. A stellar episode in every sense. One for the history books.

Mon: Now to the penultimate episode of the season. ‘Terrarium’ finally, finally, gives us what we’ve been craving from Episode 1–a spotlight episode for Erica Ortegas. Why has it taken this long? Just why?

Ron: So, in this episode, Ortegas gets the greenlight to fly a solo mission to get some readings. Everything’s going well, when boom, a wormhole appears out of nowhere and swallows her shuttle. Suddenly Ortegas is stranded on a barren planet, with no way to contact her ship. 

Mon: But stuff is about to get worse. There are giant killer worms running about, and the only thing standing between the worms and Ortegas is… a Gorn?

Ron: Worms is a kind way of describing them. They looked more like giant centipedes. Eww. But yes, what’s worse than being killed by ravenous monsters? Having to face the being that gives you nightmares. In the opening episode of this season, Ortegas bravely faced down a Gorn, and she lost. She got impaled and then she bled out on the shuttle console as she flew her crew to safety. Ortegas hung on till the very end and she kept a shiny, happy demeanour after. But on her own, in her quarters, that Gorn never left her.

Mon: Melissa Navia has looked like she’s been bursting to get more screentime. And when she gets it, she freaking kills it. Ortegas spends the majority of this episode talking to herself, and she makes it work. The dialogue delivery, the lines. Amazing. 

Ron: I’ve adored Ortegas from the moment she came on screen. We’ve been more and more curious about her with each passing episode. This season, in particular, has been dropping clues about her life and backstory. It’s not a good one. Which is a stark contrast to Erica’s enthusiastic personality. This episode manages to marry the darkness of Ortegas’ arc with her jollity. It’s gripping and heartening.

Mon: This episode was kind of a switcheroo with TOS’s ‘Arena’, which is where the Gorn were introduced. In ‘Arena’, Kirk was immediately pitted against the Gorn. 

Ron: Yes, I did wonder about ‘Arena’ as we were watching this. But I was so taken by the fact that the episode could be so cruel. I know the writers know what they’re doing. But at every turn, Erica is shot down. She’s finally ready to fly solo. And then bam, she’s stranded. She’s optimistic about her chances. Bam, her only neighbour is Gorn. All that happens for a reason. We think it’s for Erica to get a chance to see a different side of the Gorn. But there’s more to it than that. Fate has nothing to do with this.

Mon: In this episode, Ortegas ends up working with the Gorn. What we find out is that this whole thing was a trap set by the Metrons – again, another throwback to ‘Arena’. 

Ron: Exactly. Who could have expected that!

Mon: I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and endings can really make or break an experience. I wondered how this episode would end, especially when I figured out that La’an was being sent down to rescue Ortegas. How would La’an react to a Gorn? Not well, apparently. Melissa Navia’s reaction to La’an shooting her Gorn friend, and her immediate anger towards La’an, it was so raw. I can’t believe we haven’t seen more of this from her in the show. Why are they hiding her?

Ron: I agree. I was wondering how they’d end the episode. Because, in a way, it is a bit predictable. Two people stranded and looking for escape. Of course they’re going to work together and become friends. We’ve seen this. This is so very Star Trek. The gravitas comes from the fact that the Gorn are Strange New Worlds’s primary antagonist, and because of what they did to Ortegas in Episode 1. But the way they ended it. That immediate reaction from La’an and the security team. You understand it but for Ortegas, that’s so heart-wrenching. Especially when you learn that the Metron are just experimenting here. They’re going to lean into violence in Kirk’s time because of La’an’s actions. That’s unfortunate.

Mon: My question though, is this. Did Ortegas and La’an patch up? Ortegas was struggling with what La’an did at the end of the episode. And we don’t see them interact, or be near one another in the next episode. I want the show to directly address this incident between them. 

Ron: I think they will. It was purposeful not to show them together. On another sad note, I knew they would have to conclude the Vezda storyline this season but I was still not ready. This plot line punctuates the two halves of the season and it’s just plain sad. When we last left the Vezda, in the beautifully titled “Through the Lens of Time”, Ensign Dana Gamble, played by Chris Myers, had been possessed by the Vezda. The poor, sweet lad, had been turned into a creature of malice. In ‘New Life and New Civilizations’, the Vezda are back with a diabolical plan to take over the universe.

Mon: The crew discover that Gamble was resequenced, and he’s appeared on a planet called Skygowan. This planet is on the ley lines that the Vezda traverse.

Ron: Or, as Scotty and Pelia call it, the bus line.

Mon: Ah, some much-needed levity. Anyway, Gamble/the Vezda has hatched a plan to get the crew to Skygowan, and find him a way to return to the Vezda prison in Vadia IX. How can the crew defeat the literal concept of evil? 

Ron: I did not expect this to be an episode about Batel. But I guess the signs were there. She’d been through the wringer this season. And the problem is, we know she’s not with Pike in his horrible future. So where could she be? Turns out, she’s guarding an evil species from before time itself. And she’s doing that for all eternity. I’m heartbroken for Batel and Pike.

Mon: I’ve been wondering what would become of Batel. Melanie Scrofano does have another show going on.

Ron: I do want to say that I am a bit upset we didn’t get more of M’Benga and Gamble. He really loved that lad, and we loved him too. We barely had Gamble for a couple of episodes but he was such a sweet, happy lad. I wanted some closure for M’Benga for his loss.

Mon: I agree. M’Benga’s closure got sidelined for the bigger, more romantic, and sadder story of Pike and Batel. A two-parter could have ensured we got both. 

Ron: That is not a bad thing. Here’s that thing about endings again. I expected a big showdown. A fight between Batel and Vezda. But nope, we bypass that whole thing and the episode instead gives us the love story that could have been. The fight itself never happens. Batel wins and transforms. And we’re left with the crushing realization that while Pike has known his destiny for a while, he could never have imagined losing Batel. What a way to end the season!

Mon: Dude, you’re making me all sad again. It’s so tragic. Like, Pike has no hope. His destiny won’t change, and now he doesn’t even have Batel by his side. But, question to you – in the Talosian illusion Pike eventually ends up in, he gets to be with Vina, not Batel. Guess we know who his true love is? Or has canon well and truly gone with Strange New Worlds? 

Ron: Oh, no no no. The Talosians gave Pike the dream they thought he wanted to live. They believed his relationship with Vina was what he wanted to remember forever. They obviously didn’t know Pike completely, so they didn’t know about Batel. Either way, after the horrors Pike has to go through, he gets some ounce of happiness.

Mon: That makes sense. 

Mon: This season was an emotional rollercoaster. This is the darkest Strange New Worlds has been, and yet, also the funniest. They’ve figured out ways to play with genre and structure, and I hope the creative team keeps innovating for the final two seasons. 

Ron: Every season, I think to myself that this was the best one yet. I feel that way again. The creativity here is wonderful to see. The writers are stretching their wings and trying new concepts while keeping those Easter Eggs to past Trek.

Mon: But, and there are a few buts. I don’t think this was the most accomplished season of the series. The episodes could all have used a little bit more punch. The romances were a disaster. La’an and Spock still don’t work, especially after Kirk and Spock have the cutest and hottest bromantic banter in the season finale. Them working in unison was amazing. La’an and Spock? Not so amazing. Also, still no queer characters. Please make Erica gay. 

And Una too!

Ron: How is La’an and Spock a thing when La’an and Jim are right there? Their chemistry was insane! 

Mon: Ok, everyone can’t be with Jim!

Ron: Yes, but La’an should be. Also, you’re 100% right that Erica and Una have to be gay. For each other. The chemistry is ridiculous.

Mon: Yaas. Give us our space lesbians. Come on!

Ron: That's the Stereo Geeks signing off Season Six. See you next time.