Back to the ‘slightly late season wrap-ups trend’. Spoilers
Strange New Worlds continues to deliver on its promise of episodic Trek without too much in the way of an overarching plot. The Gorn only really got a couple of mentions through the bulk of the season, giving plenty of space to go, frankly, TOS Season 3 bonkers in terms of log lines?
I mean, we have ‘time travel and alternate universe’, ‘animated TV show crossover’, ‘musical episode’ and ‘Spock becomes fully Human’. Alongside ‘trial’, ‘war’, ‘amnesia’ and ‘crippling medical condition’ it makes for a season that would make for tonal whiplash if you watched it back to back.
If there’s a main character this season it’s Uhura, who gets a lot of framing stories, a lead episode, and a key role in resolving some of the others. Pike doesn’t get much character development outside of some relationship drama, and Una gets almost nothing other than her big trial episode.
That leaves the other couple of relationship plots, Spock/Chapel and La’an/Kirk. Both are done reasonably well, but also without a lot of opportunity for depth. We never really get to enjoy Spock/Chapel – it flips from ‘on’ to ‘in trouble’ in no time at all.
Overall it’s a strong season – not quite the revelation of Season 1, but still overall one of the very best seasons of Trek ever. Overall I’d rather rewatch the Picard seasons, so it’ll slot in just below Picard Season 1.
The very best of Trek:
- SNW Season 1
- PIC Season 3
- PIC Season 1
- SNW Season 2
- TNG Season 6
- DS9 Season 2
- PIC Season 2
Strong performers:
- PRO Season 1
- LD Season 1
- DS9 Season 5
- TNG Season 3
- TNG Season 5
- TOS Season 2
- DIS Season 2
- ENT Season 3
- TNG Season 4
- VOY Season 4
Mixed bag:
- TOS Season 1
- DS9 Season 4
- LD Season 3
- LD Season 2
- DIS Season 1
- ST Season 2
- DS9 Season 1
- ENT Season 4
- DIS Season 3
- ST Season 1
- VOY Season 5
- ENT Season 1
- VOY Season 1
- TNG Season 7
Not good:
- DS9 Season 3
- DS9 Season 6
- DIS Season 4
- VOY Season 6
- VOY Season 3
- TNG Season 2
- ENT Season 2
- TAS Season 1
Really just awful:
- VOY Season 7
- VOY Season 2
- DS9 Season 7
- TOS Season 3
- TAS Season 2
- TNG Season 1
Now on to Lower Decks Season 4. Oh, how the Trek flies!