Red Alert! This roundtable discussion includes spoilers for the entirety of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, currently available for streaming on Paramount+.
All 10 episodes of Strange New Worlds are now available for streaming on Paramount+! The Beat crew got together to mark the occasion with a spoiler-filled roundtable discussion of the show’s sophomore season. Warp me!
What did you think of Strange New Worlds season 2 overall?
KELAS LLOYD: Overall it was good. I felt like eight of the ten episodes had good, strong character moments and interesting plotting. My exceptions are “Those Old Scientists” (amusing enough and still a fine episode, it just wasn’t strong,) and “Hegemony.”
REBECCA OLIVER KAPLAN: What about “Hegemony”?
KELAS: “Hegemony” is still focused on making the Gorn purely into evil aggressors. I want more depth from Trek.
GEORGE CARMONA 3RD: I felt like it was stronger than the first season, they definitely had ideas about hitting the same beats that work just harder. Agree it wasn’t perfect, also 8 out of 10, but the weakest episodes for me were “Charades” and “Among the Lotus Eaters.”
KELAS: Also I’ve just rewatched and it stands out that a lot of the driving force behind “Hegemony” was men having to save the female love interest.
GEORGE: I think they all wanted to save Chapel, the away team wanted payback, and Ortegas just wanted to fly.
KELAS: They absolutely all wanted Chapel to survive, but Spock did make it about the relationship, and then Pike was very focused on finding Marie and now she’s in more peril. I’m not saying the others didn’t care because they did and do.
GEORGE: Pike was 100% going to save his woman, but Spock seemed very surprised when he saw Chapel float onto the bridge. As a whole, this episode had some very un-Trek moments, like Sam, who was vibing to Klingon K-Pop in the last episode to walking in and talking about killing was weird.
REBECCA OLIVER: Ok, Klingon K-Pop should be a thing. From Star Trek: Lower Decks, we know the Klingons love some pretty weird genres, and they knocked this one out of the park too.
Pike definitely thought with his dick throughout the whole episode.
KELAS: You haven’t heard K-pop until you’ve heard it in the original Klingon.
Did you have a favorite (and/or least favorite) episode this season?
KELAS: I don’t usually like musical episodes, but this one gave a reason for all the ridiculous moments and had actual character moments in it so my favorite episode this season, surprisingly, was “Subspace Rhapsody.” My least favorite would be “Hegemony.” There’s a passing attempt at nuance and depth from Robert April but everything else is aggression and hatred. It’s very real and very realistic but I want more from Trek.
GEORGE: My Top Three of the season would have to be “Under the Cloak of War,” “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” and “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.” All three touched on some of my favorite episodes of Trek, “Cloak” had that dark ambiguous ending, “Tomorrow” was a great nod to “City on the Edge of Forever” and “Ad Astra” is the most deserving of a spinoff: Star Trek: JAG.
“Rhapsody” and “Those Old Scientists” get an honorable mention for the huge swings they took and while not perfect they drove home their runs.
REBECCA OLIVER: I’m not sure if “Subspace Rhapsody” was the best episode this season, but it was my favorite. I can’t get Spock’s silly calculus puns out of my head; it’s a total earworm. Plus, I agree with Kelas that the musical episode wasn’t just a gimmick, but had a strong story, which pulled its weight by changing up the dynamics between many fan-favorite characters.
GEORGE: It isn’t the greatest but it is a really fun episode and gives us this gem of a meme.
Which character(s) did you consider to be this season’s most valuable crewmember?
REBECCA OLIVER: Uhura is this season’s MVP. Using the season 1 advice of Hemmer to guide her, Uhura continues to become more of a badass in season 2. Plus, Celia Rose Gooding, who was in Jagged Little Pill on Broadway, knocked it out of the park in “Subspace Rhapsody.”
KELAS: I agree so much with Rebecca. Uhura was the glue that kept everything going and everyone together this season, grew, found her place, and you can see the confident, competent Uhura of TOS in her.
GEORGE: Agree, Uhura is an automatic winner for MVP, but I would also like folks to consider Dr. M’Benga because Babs Olusanmokun was putting in work, theatrically and physically.
REBECCA OLIVER: I want more of Babs vocal stylings. Although there are several sound story reasons that he didn’t belt a tune, he wouldn’t want to let slip the Butcher of J’Gal secret. I also thought the actor did a great job representing PTSD in “Under the Cloak of War.”
Did you feel that any specific character needed to be further utilized?
KELAS: Erica Ortegas. She flies the ship, she’s awesome, and she’s the quiet backbone holding up a lot of her friends but we don’t know much about what she’s dealing with or going through because she’s always supporting them. I feel like everyone except her and Pelia had great opportunities for growth this season.
GEORGE: Yeah, Ortegas needs more time and a sword, I really love this running theme of Helmsmen swinging swords. I’d also like more of Sam, they missed a great opportunity in the musical, there should have had a “dueling” song with him and Jim.
REBECCA OLIVER: I’m shocked Pelia didn’t get a musical number, as Kane is a Broadway alumna. Was she sick that week? Is it too hard to sing in the Pelia accent? I want to know!
What’s your biggest question at the conclusion of Strange New Worlds season 2?
AVERY: Akiva Goldsman actually answered this in the DVD commentary for “Strange New Worlds”: the actor who plays him got another gig, creating a scheduling conflict that prevented him from appearing.
REBECCA OLIVER: Now, we have a nonbinary engineer, and they definitely could use more screen time next season.
KELAS: Will this show ever deal with Pike’s upcoming disability in a thoughtful, non-ableist way?
What do you hope to see in the future for the series and the Franchise as a whole?
KELAS: The episodic format is really working for Strange New Worlds, and I want to see that continue. What I really want in the future though is 1. more gender and sexual minority representation, because everything is very, very cishet up in here and 2. more/better disability representation. I want that for the whole franchise. I feel like full-season arcs could still work for other series, provided the seasons aren’t focused on end-of-the-universe peril every time. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine found a very strong balance 30 years ago; this franchise sorely needs to learn some lessons from the series it seems to ignore the most.
GEORGE: What I hope not to see in Strange New Worlds are more core characters, so far they’ve danced the line introducing TOS characters, hopefully, they pump the breaks. The Trek Franchise could do with some spacing between shows and maybe adding 2 or 3 more episodes per season.
REBECCA OLIVER: Hear, hear George! Give me more episodes per season!
AVERY: I’m hoping to see more of the storyline with Sybok and Captain Angel explored. And on a related note, I’d like to see more trans rep, especially among the regular casts. Finally, I am a huge fan of the exploration and development of the Orion through Tendi on Lower Decks and in “Those Old Scientists,” and I hope to see that continued. Maybe Tendi can headline the next Lower Decks/Strange New Worlds crossover.
REBECCA OLIVER: Kelas and Avery, I agree the series needs more trans characters. In “The Serene Squall,” trans actress Jesse James Keitel is fabulous as the nonbinary space pirate Angel, making the episode one of the highlights of the first season. I was hoping to see more of her in season 2, along with the return of Sybock. Luckily, given Spock’s emotional journey in the sophomore season, it seems like Strange New Worlds is setting up return the characters’ returns, as Spock will need a fraternal foil to complete his series arc. I think that series did a better job with the disability rep in the first season. Billed as Star Trek’s first blind actor, Bruce Horak apparently had a lot of say in how Hemmer’s blindness was portrayed onscreen. I agree that it would have been nice to see a new disabled Starfleet officer join the crew, filling the disability rep void left by Hemmer’s death. That being said, Star Trek also has an ageism problem, so I love seeing the 71-year-old Kane as Chief Engineer Pelia. I don’t know why we haven’t seen many Starfleet officers in their 70s. I know some pretty spry people who are in their 70s, and they don’t even have the advantages of 23rd-century medicine. Plus, I can’t wait to see her dynamics with Scotty in season 3.
How do you feel this season compares to Strange New Worlds season 1 and the other current (or classic) Star Trek shows?
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