Strange New Worlds – What is Starfleet? Review

The risk you take, from a showrunning perspective, in setting up a standalone episode from the point of view of a recurring guest star who has only tangentially touched the story up until this point in the season is that whatever emotional pivot the episode requires from him will only work if we know him well enough to understand that change of heart. Considering I’ve written in past reviews about how incredibly annoying and unnecessary I’ve found Umberto Ortegas in his two appearances so far this season, well, I think you can guess whether or not I thought the turn of Umberto from hit piece director to Starfleet promotional videographer worked. I absolutely did not. It also didn’t help matters that the crisis of the week was also pretty darn weak.

Here’s what the series needed to do in order to make this episode work the way it wanted it to. We needed to know from the jump that Umberto was wary of Starfleet – sure, start him out with innocent jokes and questions like the writers did back in episode two (which was probably not the best episode to introduce the character, since the focus in that episode was on how everyone lost their memories of reality and not in introducing Umberto as our central figure that week). We needed to see that he was super concerned about what happened to Erica with the Gorn – that he was worried about her safety way back then. And, then we he comes back to record – and generally get in the way – in episode five, we need to see some hostility toward Starfleet. Maybe some commentary on how no one seems to be helping Erica, how they let him (a civilian) end up in a dangerous alien trap and almost die – something to tip us off that something isn’t right here. We needed to understand that he’s not a fan of Starfleet and that it stems from what has happened to his sister, which was then compounded by his own experiences.

Then, we would understand a bit more about the hit piece he was making. And while that wouldn’t quite explain how completely disjointed his documentary would feel, going from dark, anti-Starfleet propaganda into a glowing list of how Starfleet saved this crew from themselves by giving them a sense of purpose and a family*, we’d at least understand a bit more about Umberto and his motivations. Instead, leaving him a mostly blank slate until a heart-to-heart with Uhura about Erica, served to make that character change seem shallow and from left field. After all, this was a guy who thought nothing of asking truly offensive questions without a speck of empathy (asking what it’s like to see someone die is just awful, even for an investigative journalist and it’s clear this kid is more of a wannabe tabloid reporter at best) – I don’t believe a single chat was enough to change his opinion on the organization that almost got his sister killed, even if she tells him she loves being a part of it.

*I truly get that this series is big on leaning into the found family motif of the Starfleet crew much more than some past series have been, but even I rolled my eyes a tad at having each character spell out their personal character journeys in such clear and obvious ways in that final series of talking heads. As a firm believer in show, don’t tell storytelling, that was a bit too much of the telling side of things. Oh – and don’t think I didn’t clock more love triangle set-up happening with the various shots of Spock and La’an along with Chapel’s worry about her ex.

Speaking of Erica, the best part of the episode in my book was that it finally allowed her to address her PTSD from not only her time in the Klingon War but through her capture by the Gorn. While this wasn’t necessarily the Erica-focused episode I continue to hope for, it was great to hear her stress that yes, she was scared in the past. And yes, she is now terrified at times once more because she can’t control everything the way she thought she could. What a brilliant statement, what a great character beat, and what a smart way to address that even if the series isn’t directly addressing that PTSD, Erica knows it’s there and continues to work through it. That’s the kind of smart, character-focused writing the series can do so darn well. And what those final talking heads really missed the plot on. Oh, and is Erica building some sort of motorbike? In the middle of her quarters? Really? That can’t be safe when the ship is under attack.

While I was disappointed in the disjointed story structure this week (I did get a kick out of some of the truly atrocious camera angles Umberto was using – just another sign that this kid should not have been given the green light to make this documentary), it certainly felt a little bit closer to a normal Strange New Worlds episode than what we’ve gotten the past two weeks. I was also a bit intrigued to see the show going back to the Spock linking mentally with someone else well – which seemed to be a clear reminder about his links with Captain Batel (who appeared in that final montage, out of uniform still), a plot point that I suspect will return come the close of the season. But, I have to say, I’ve been pretty disappointed with the last three weeks of episode from the series. This show can do better – and I hope as we approach the end of the season things will even out a bit.