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Posted in: CBS, Review, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: paramount, Review, Season 1, star trek, strange new worlds
Star Trek: SNW S01 Finale Review: Pike's Attempt to Avert Destiny
Ever since the premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the ongoing narrative is when Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) will have to face that fateful destiny when he'll meet his end, which in the case of The Original Series canon left in a permanently disfigured state given the events of "The Menagerie". Not to sound cryptic, but obviously, his fate isn't the only one in the balance in the season finale episode "A Quality of Mercy". Consider this your minor spoilers warning.
In a recent meeting, Pike meets a younger cadet-to-be, who ties into the inevitable accident he has knowledge of the future. While encouraged by First Officer Una-Chin Riley (Rebecca Romijn), the captain is still convinced maybe he can alter it somehow so that he can save everyone involved in the event… including himself. Appearing before him is his older counterpart, who dons the Star Trek TOS cinematic era film red uniform. In a pseudo It's a Wonderful Life-fashion, alternate Pike allows the Prime universe version to touch similar Klingon green time crystals that revealed his fate to him in Discovery season two to find out what will happen if he tries to change his own fate.
Discombobulated, Pike notices a few dramatic changes that he's been transported to the future, Spock (Ethan Peck) is his new first officer and the Enterprise is quickly discovering how big a threat the Romulans will be. Following the destruction of a Federation outpost on the Neutral Zone, the crew faces uncertain danger given the threat's capability. Luckily, they aren't alone as we see the series debut of Paul Wesley's James T. Kirk, who's the captain of the U.S.S. Farragut entering the fray. The contrast between the two captains is very distinct as Pike balances what he would normally do weighed in his desire to change his own fate, which earlier in the episode confides in Spock about his predicament. Both decide Pike should act as he normally would, which at certain points in the episode, you kind of had to second-guess the character's motivation, with much of this episode evoking the TOS episode "Balance of Terror".
Another main focus of the episode was the contrast between Pike and Kirk's styles. Mount and Wesley do a wonderful job complementing each other as the threat of a galactic war might break out. A couple of other dramatic changes occur with Ortegas (Melissa Navia) acting far more impulsively than ever before. The lack of restraint really raised the bar for the actor that demonstrated her talented range. The other change is Christina Chong's La'an serving on Kirk's Farragut, who is a lot more mellow than her usual hard, steely resolve. Another performance of note is that of Carolyn Scott as the Romulan Praetor, who reminded me of Star Trek franchise vet Carolyn Seymour from Next Generation, playing Romulan Sub-Commander Taris and Commander Toreth. She turned in a cerebral performance to contrast Mount's stoicism. Just as worthy in the discussion are Mathieu Bourassa and Matthew MacFadzean, who were the Romulan commanding officers operating the vicious Bird of Prey. The real lesson and narrative derived by writers Henry Alonso Myers & Akiva Goldsman & director Chris Fisher are how expertly they navigate the potential consequences of altering the timeline.
Coincidentally, Hulu's The Orville: New Horizons also tackled time travel in the episode "Twice in a Lifetime" dealing with another set of unrelated consequences and happened to release on the same day. The fact both can churn out such quality time travel-themed episodes at the same time serves as a reminder that we're well within another golden age of sci-fi. Not only did Myers, Goldsman, and Fisher knock this episode out of the park, but Mount, Peck, Wesley, and Navia turned it up to 11 in this season finale.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Finale: "A Quality of Mercy"
9.5/10
Hard to find anything not to like about Paramount+'s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 finale "A Quality of Mercy". The episode fires on all cylinders from start to finish, with brilliant writing from Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman and matching performances from Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Melissa Navia, and guest stars Paul Wesley & Carolyn Scott.
Credits
Director
Chris Fisher
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