Star Trek: Strange New Worlds co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman has described the prequel series, which takes place just before the original ‘60s Star Trek, as a show focused on “serialized character stories.” The emotional arcs of the crew of the USS Enterprise provide the connective tissue, allowing each episode to jump between various genres, tones, and plotlines. At least, that was the idea. Season 3 started off strong, with the early episodes setting up storylines focused on PTSD, bodily autonomy, and mentorship. But those character arcs failed to pay off as Goldman and co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers spent too much time trying to replicate classic Star Trek episodes rather than building something new.
[Ed. note: This article contains major spoilers for Strange New Worlds season 3]
Pike’s not the only one with a tragic destiny
Cultivating tension is always tricky in prequels, but Strange New Worlds subverts the problem by making Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) just as aware of his dark fate as the show’s audience. Pike’s maintained a strong sense of optimism even as every day brings him closer to the tragic accident that will put Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) in charge of the Enterprise, and season 3 tests him further by endangering his girlfriend, Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano).
Batel was infected with Gorn eggs in the cliffhanger finale of season 2. While the season 3 premiere “Hegemony, Part II” provided some grotesque visuals as the parasitic young nearly burst from Batel’s body, her predicament seemed to be solved with an infusion of augmented Illyrian blood from first officer Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn). But the problem resurfaced in episode 3, “Shuttle to Kenfori,” requiring a radical treatment that turned Batel into a human-Gorn hybrid.
This plot had so much potential. Batel keeps the nature of her treatment secret from Pike because she knows that, as an optimist, he wouldn’t accept that such a dangerous idea is her only hope, resulting in an argument about how much his input matters as her romantic partner. But with one dramatic exception, Batel shows few mental or physical effects from splicing her DNA until the season finale.
The show’s writers had a clear opportunity to test Pike by messing with his relationship. Batel could have been so changed by her near-death-experience and experimental procedure that she decided to break up with him. Instead, who Batel is and what she wants barely registers. Pike has a great and tragic destiny, so his girlfriend gets one too, which is tied to the biggest recurring threat of the season.
Batel steals M’Benga’s big moment
The Vezda, an ancient species of extradimensional beings, are accidentally unleashed by an archaeological expedition in episode 5. When one possesses Enterprise ensign Dana Gamble (Chris Myers), Batel reacts unexpectedly violently, speaking with him in a shared language and demonstrating the hybridization has given her greatly enhanced strength by throwing him around the room.
I thought that this fight was hinting at an ancient connection between the Vezda and the Gorn that might make the Enterprise regret sending the Gorn into a long hibernation in the season 3 premiere. If the Gorn had a role to play in the galaxy besides just being violent predators, it could also have added depth to the species. That does turn out to be part of the reason for Batel’s reaction to Gamble, but the real cause is far weirder.
Apparently, causality has gotten out of whack and the strange statue dubbed the Beholder seen in the Vezda prison is actually Batel. Somehow the infusion of DNA from two different species has made her into an avatar of good who will have to stand eternal vigil to contain their threat. She uses her newfound power to give Pike a vision of a full and happy life with her in what Myers has called a tribute to the seminal Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Inner Light.” Then, she battles Vezda Gamble with energy bolts that feel like they belong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not Star Trek, before turning into the Beholder statue.
Batel’s fate isn’t just a disservice to her character, but to Dr. Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), who served as a mentor to Gamble. The Vezda is at his most chilling when using M’Benga’s affection for Gamble against him, whether pleading for his life in the ensign’s voice or goading the doctor by bringing up his darkest moments.
The season 3 finale “New Life and New Civilizations” also ties M’Benga and Gamble together, making M’Benga need to open the doorway to the prison again due to weird causality mismatches. When M’Benga realizes the Vezda can only escape if he’s alive to open the door again, I assumed he’d make the sacrifice. But he doesn’t get the chance because Batel learns that the life-saving medical treatments she received make her capable of keeping the Vezda in check. In fact because of the causality weirdness, she has always been their eternal jailer. M’Benga’s overall arc has focused on trying to move beyond his violent past. Atoning for his crimes (and how he failed Gamble) would have been a poetic end for the character. In contrast, Batel’s insistence that her whole journey has led up to this moment feels entirely arbitrary.
Even the Gorn deserved better
Instead of robbing M’Benga of his catharsis, Batel’s hybridization could have added an extra wrinkle to another season-long arc. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) was nearly killed by a Gorn in the season 3 premiere, and that new strain added to the unresolved baggage she was carrying as a veteran of the Klingon Wars. Her fears made her want to take an aggressive tact towards potential threats, leading to her disobeying orders and forcing a confrontation with the Klingons that put the Enterprise crew at risk.
PTSD has provided fertile ground for Star Trek stories, especially in Star Trek: Deep Space 9, but season 3 shifts focus so much that Ortegas’ arc winds up feeling shallow. Beyond spending some time showing how annoyed Ortegas is being prodded by questions about Starfleet’s military engagements in the gimmicky documentary episode “What Is Starfleet?”, the season mostly resolves Ortegas’ plot by stranding her on a moon with a Gorn that she has to work with to survive.
“Terrarium,” is a tribute to the 1967 Star Trek episode “Arena,” where a highly advanced alien species puts Captain Kirk in conflict with the Gorn as a sort of test. In similar conditions, Ortegas bonds with a Gorn pilot over food and games, and offers to bring them back to the Enterprise. But the alien is killed by the ship’s rescue party, who assume it’s hostile.
If the Gorn had actually made it off the rock, she might have been able to find kinship with Batel and served a function similar to Star Trek: Voyager’s Seven of Nine, providing a new perspective on a species initially viewed as purely aggressive. It’s baffling that “Terrarium” is treated as a cathartic experience for Ortegas rather than scarring her with fresh trauma, considering she watches one of crewmates casually kill the Gorn Ortegas had come to view as a friend.
Speed running a friendship
While these plots are the most egregious examples of season 3’s failings, there are lots of little ways the writers let their characters down. After the excellent episode “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” began laying the groundwork for the bond between Kirk and his future best friend Spock (Ethan Peck), the season finale takes a big shortcut by having the two mind meld. Una had fraught chemistry with her friend and lawyer in the season courtroom drama “Ad Astra per Aspera” but her season 3 romantic plot is purely played for laughs and stunt casting as she pines for a Vulcan named Doug played by Patton Oswalt. Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) also had very little to do this season beyond a dull romance with Ortegas’ brother.
Goldsman admitted that his team “struggled a lot on season 3” due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strikes and said that “everybody is firing on all cylinders” in season 4. Hopefully that’s the case, because the series currently seems to be heading in the wrong direction.
