Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 review: Gimmicks over character development

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiered in 2022 as a spin-off of Star Trek: Discovery offering a throwback approach to the franchise that focused on episodic storytelling and serialized character growth, rather than the season-long plotlines that had defined the franchise’s Paramount Plus era. But while showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers have delivered some hilarious and poignant stories over the course of the show’s run, they’ve also focused too much on gimmick episodes while letting some of their core cast stagnate. As season 3 made some progress on the main arc leading up to Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) taking command of the U.S.S. Enterprise from Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), it rushed some of its character-driven stories in favor of turning everyone into Vulcans, doing a holodeck murder mystery, and having omnipotent aliens put enemies in a terrarium. Unfortunately, that scattered approach continues to be a problem in season 4.

One of season 4’s biggest swings is a noir-inspired, black-and-white episode, “A Case of Chiaroscuro.” Goldsman and Myers attempt to build on the tradition of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s first holodeck episode, “The Big Goodbye,” but without the excuse of customized entertainment, writer Robbie Thompson introduces the bizarre idea that the universe is full of doppelgängers to make first officer Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) the star of the story. The plot makes no sense, and adds almost nothing to Una’s character that wasn’t already revealed in the far better season 2 episode “Ad Astra per Aspera.”

Una’s not the only Enterprise officer getting short shrift. Communications specialist Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) had almost nothing to do last season aside from a terrible romance arc, and her main plot in season 4 is mentoring a disdainful Vulcan cadet, who just further pulls the focus off Uhura. Security officer La’An Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) showed some character growth last season as she put some of her childhood trauma behind her and started a casual fling with Spock (Ethan Peck), but she’s back to brooding this season as she worries she might follow in the footsteps of her nefarious ancestor, Khan. “You may be carrying enhanced warrior genes, but it’s not who you are,” Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) reassures La’An in a truly groan-inducing scene.

Myers and Goldsman have persistently struggled with giving helmsman Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) any definition beyond her job, and that continues to be true in season 4. Her arc is defined by annoying Enterprise engineer Montomgery Scott (Martin Quinn) by pushing the ship too far. At least Quinn sells his character’s neurosis, especially in his interactions with his immortal boss Pelia (Carol Kane) — though her Doctor Who references feel very forced. But a mashup of Dude, Where’s My Car? and The Hangover that centers on Ortegas and Scotty fails to develop them outside their career paths. Uhura and Doctor Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) stand out more as the stoner comedy episode gives them the opportunity to show off different sides of their personalities in smaller scenes.

Strange New Worlds can be extremely satisfying and entertaining when the character arcs actually align with the gimmick of the week. A highly tense real-time episode, “Off-Hour,” uses its relentless pacing to build to some well-earned emotional catharsis for Chapel and M’Benga. “The Griffin Incident,” which leans surprisingly heavy into body horror, makes excellent use of the classic plot device of developing characters by having them face their worst fears. Sam Kirk (Dan Jeannotte) and his brother James particularly shine as they wrangle with the dilemma of how to balance family and their high-pressure jobs. It might have been an even better episode if Myers and Goldsman didn’t seem to be trying to use it to set up a possible spin-off positioned as a Star Trek version of The X-Files.

Sometimes the showrunners actually do knock it out of the park, as the most ridiculous of the season’s first six episodes is also its best. “Level-Five Transporter Accident,” which has the entire Enterprise crew except Spock transformed into puppets made by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, is part of the show’s long tradition of devoting one episode each season to making Spock absolutely miserable. But it’s also the best version Myers and Goldsman have done, using an utterly absurd situation to expose Spock’s inner turmoil.

Season 4 of Strange New Worlds embodies the best and the worst parts of the series. It can be funny, scary, and moving as it explores topics that have long been core to Star Trek like identity, duty, and ethics. But the showrunners never figured out what to do with some of the characters, a problem that combines with the genre-hopping episodes to make the series sometimes feel like a pastiche of tropes rather than a satisfying sci-fi story. With both Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy ending next year, the franchise’s future is uncertain. Wherever it goes next, hopefully they’ll learn from Strange New Worlds’ triumphs and its failures.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 premieres on Paramount Plus on July 23. New episodes will release weekly on Thursdays through Sept. 24.