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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S01E07 Review: Hijacking High Jinks

Everything seems to be firing on all cylinders in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds whether it's on a grand scale or confined to smaller spaces as in the episode "The Serene Squall". The episode begins as the Vulcan T'Pring (Gia Sandhu) tries to tap into Spock's (Ethan Peck) human half by embracing more… intimate… ways to communicate, much to his embarrassment and subsequent awkwardness. A counselor with previous Federation ties, Dr. Aspen (Jesse James Keitel) visits the Enterprise and takes an active interest in Spock after speaking with Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) as he's still trying to make sense of himself and his dual nature as a Vulcan-human. Consider this your minor spoilers warning moving forward.

Star Trek
Ethan Peck as Spock and Jesse James Keitel as Dr. Aspen of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+ ©2022 ViacomCBS. All Rights Reserved.

When the Enterprise discovers a few decimated ships, Pike (Anson Mount) leads an away team to discover what happened as slavery is often in these parts of space outside of Federation space. As the episode progresses, we get some additional exposition on Vulcan culture, T'Pring's responsibilities, and the trap the Enterprise ultimately falls under. With much of the episode taking place on the ship, we see a band of pirates take over by catching the remaining crew by surprise while the away team finds a similar surprise. The episode, for the most part, goes predictably as planned though there are some interesting twists thrown in here and there along the way to keep it fresh.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S01E07 Review: Hijacking High Jinks
Anson Mount as Pike and Christina Chong as La'an of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+ ©2022 ViacomCBS. All Rights Reserved.

Directed by Sydney Freeland and written by Beau DeMayo & Sarah Tarkoff, "The Serene Squall" plays it pretty straight as far as more action-oriented episodes go, allowing Mount, Peck, Sandhu, Bush, Melissa Navia, and Keitel moments to own their scenes and shine. But our guest star shines the brightest in every which way possible, hitting all of the right notes and anchoring the episode. It won't be surprising if they become a recurring character in future episodes given how it ends, and the series would definitely be welcome for it. New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds stream Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 7 "The Serene Squall"

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S01E07 Review: Hijacking High Jinks
Review by Tom Chang

8/10
Directed by Sydney Freeland and written by Beau DeMayo & Sarah Tarkoff, “The Serene Squall” plays it pretty straight as far as more action-oriented episodes go, allowing Mount, Peck, Sandhu, Bush, Melissa Navia, and Keitel moments to own their scenes and shine. But our guest star shines the brightest in every which way possible, hitting all of the right notes and anchoring the episode. It won’t be surprising if they become a recurring character in future episodes given how it ends, and the series would definitely be welcome for it.
Credits

Director
Sydney Freeland

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Tom ChangAbout Tom Chang

I'm a follower of pop culture from gaming, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, film, and TV for over 30 years. I grew up reading magazines like Starlog, Mad, and Fangoria. As a writer for over 10 years, Star Wars was the first sci-fi franchise I fell in love with. I'm a nerd-of-all-trades.
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