Strange New Worlds – Four-And-a-Half Vulcans Review

Now that? That was more like it. Was it a bit overstuffed in terms of trying to get every character – and several supporting characters – their moment in the sun? Sure. Could I have done without the influx of romantic subplots (outside of the continual great partnership between Pike and Batel)? Yeah. But, you know what? I’ll happily take all of it for an episode that starts with a relatively common Star Trek arc (members of the crew need to become an alien race for reasons) and takes it in an entirely new and fun direction. Plus, it’s always a good time when Patton Oswalt gets to join in on the fun – even if his take on a Vulcan didn’t really feel completely like a Vulcan.

One of the best parts of this foray into the different ways a human can change when presented with the incredible influx of emotions and logic one has as a Vulcan was getting to watch Scotty and Kirk team up to stop La’an from trying to start an intergalactic war. Did I love that the resolution to La’an’s augment DNA warping her Vulcan DNA involved her embracing her vulnerability within her mind and then promptly forgetting all about it once she was back to “normal”? Not really – undoing that piece of growth does a disservice to the character. But watching Scotty outsmart both La’an and Kirk – impressing the latter in a way that I suspect will come in handy for future installments of the series – was fun. Martin Quinn’s Scotty continues to be a truly great addition to the series.

I will say that I appreciated that the show appears to have finally put the Chapel-Spock relationship officially to bed with this episode. Which is a brilliant choice. The last thing the show needs is any sort of love triangle rearing its ugly head at an inopportune time, potentially turning the series more into a soap opera than it’s already veering into. It’s one thing to delve into various romances in a comedic episode. It’s much less effective when something dire is happening and people are trying to sort out their personal lives amidst the fighting.

As for the continued use of Umberto as a love interest for Uhura, I’m just not seeing it. Again, unlike with other supporting characters – like Batel, Pelia, even Korby – we just don’t get to spend enough time with this kid to get a real feel for who he is. Sure, last week’s episode tried to give us a look into what makes him tick – that he loves his sister and is angry enough about what happened to her with the Gorn that he was ready and willing to tear down Starfleet as a result – but again, why are we spending all this time with him if all he’s going to become is a bland, much less interesting version of Ortegas (on a show that doesn’t seem to want to give Erica nearly as much screen time as it will give Umberto)? I just don’t see the appeal of the character.

But it was fun to watch four of the show’s most diametrically opposed characters get to act very out of character for an episode. It was nice to see Batel get a chance to get back to work – which both makes me happy for the character and strangely worried that we might end up with some 11^th hour crisis that means she won’t achieve heading Starfleet’s legal division. It was also nice to see La’an augmented genes matter after much was made of them in season two and then dropped. A logical Uhura manipulating another – something normal Uhura would never dream of doing – was properly scary and sad. And Chapel, the social butterfly of the series, swearing off all attachments to work was also rough to see – but her realization of just what she did and the amends she made in the end was exactly what the character needed.

In a lightly serialized series like Strange New Worlds, one of its greatest strengths is that it can give us a relatively standalone episode like this one – I doubt we’re going to see Patton Oswalt back in the future, for instance – while also taking the time to show growth within our characters. That growth has either been missing or didn’t feel at all organic in recent outing of the series. Here, it worked. And it was pretty darn fun – and funny – along the way.