After I finished watching the fourth season premiere of Strange New Worlds, I will admit that I got nervous. This is how they’re opening the penultimate season of the show? And after a third season that was more miss than hit, it didn’t bode well for what was to come. After all, we still had the puppet episode headed our way and I certainly didn’t have high hopes for that one (despite Strange New Worlds showing that sometimes, when they take a swing – like the musical episode – they can hit it out of the park). But I hunkered down and kept going through the six episodes provided and I’m happy to say that things got better. In fact, out the six episodes, there were two I found to be top notch outings, two that were pretty solid for what they were trying to do, and two that were, well, misses.
So, not exactly a ringing endorsement of the season (so far), but definitely a better situation than what happened with the very messy, strangely disconnected, and way too focused on romantic entanglements third season. Yes, the series still falls into some bad habits – namely, focusing on only a couple of characters – this time, it’s Spock and La’an that get the lion’s share of screen time in the first half of the season – and Kirk (who remains a recurring character despite never seeming to actually be on his actual ship) at the expense of the show’s deep main cast. We get a lot more Scotty this season – which is a good thing, at least when he’s given some interesting character beats and not being used as comic relief or a punching bag. And there’s a lot less emphasis on romance this time around, which is a welcome relief.
As is the case with all Star Trek, the series is at its best when the writing is asking the very capable cast of characters to confront and solve problems that arise around them, whether that is how to save the ship and the crew before disaster strikes or how to navigate through a complex first contact. And, in the best episode of those I’ve seen, sometimes the show takes a big swing with a genre episode and connects in a major way. I won’t spoil which one I’m talking about, but there’s an episode coming that I would put in the all-timers club for the series.
When the show remembers that it has a main cast of nine – and uses them – the show really shines. I love a standalone episode that lets one or two characters that center stage while taking the time to develop the character in ways one can’t with a ship-wide story. And there are a couple of good moments like this over the course of the early season. But all too often, the writers forget that character should drive the story, not the other way around, which leads to cool concepts and set pieces (as in the season premiere) that fumble the big climax because the cost or lesson doesn’t impact any of the characters on a meaningful level. And since this season is much more episodic in nature than past seasons – although there are a couple of character-specific arcs that flow across multiple episodes – it’s even more important to make sure that a one-off story has some impact on a character.
That being said, I found myself having more fun this time out than I ever had watching season three. Sure, I wish some of the less prominent characters got more screen time. And I wish we were able to see some more growth in characters outside of schlocky stories such as “Character A is annoying Character B and vice versa – what happens when they’re forced to work together? I bet they learn they aren’t so different after all, right?” As we approach the final season of Strange New Worlds, and the last chance to see some of these characters (if not all) for the foreseeable future, what we really want is to spend time with them. To see them grow and learn. And to find out where those characters who won’t be continuing on Enterprise once Kirk takes the helm end up. Season four isn’t great, but it’s a marked improvement over season three. And that’s saying something.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ fourth season premieres on July 23 on Paramount+. Six of the ten episodes were provided for review.
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