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Posted in: Paramount+, Review, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: Anson Mount, Babs Olusanmokun, Christina Chong, Ethan Peck, Melissa Navia, Reed Birney, Review, star trek, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S02E04 Review: The Enterprise Identity
In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S02E04 "Among the Lotus Eaters," Pike & the crew are in a race against time to save their memories.
Any time a decision is made, there are risks, as captains Pike (Anson Mount) and Batel (Melanie Scrofano) quickly learn as the two decide to take a break from their relationship. Pike is having regrets about balancing his personal life with a fellow Starfleet captain, but also the same one who tried to prosecute his first officer Cmdr. Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) in a previous episode. While it's water under the bridge for his Number One, Pike decided it was time as they get a report of a planet previously visited in Rigel 7 in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "Among the Lotus Eaters." The following contains minor spoilers.
Strange New Worlds: A Race Against Time & Memories on Two Fronts
The Enterprise comes to the planet after finding the Starfleet delta on the planet's surface, where the previous away team was presumed dead, but as per the Prime Directive, their technology might have affected the non-warp civilization present, so it's time to make things right. Pike travels along with an away team that includes La'an (Christina Chong) and Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun). As the three settle on the planet, a mysterious force overcomes them, affecting their cognitive abilities – mostly the memory side of the brain. Needless to say, that creates some serious problems that lead to them being captured by the ones who know all-too-well how the planet operates.
Meanwhile, the affliction affecting the away team is also making its way to the Enterprise as they try to gather their bearings. Chapel (Jess Bush) is able to get to the heart of the problem that they're facing but hits a wall when it comes to figuring out how to stop systemic neurological degradation. The core cast gets a chance to shine by showing levels of vulnerability that we haven't seen in the past. Serious attention needs to be given to standout performances from Mount, Olusanmokun, Ethan Peck, and Melissa Navia. Credit also goes to Reed Birney, who plays the away team's guide, Luq, and David Huynh, who plays Zac Nguyen, a person of interest on the planet. Both actors blend seamlessly into the overall narrative and help to evolve the crew as distinct individual characters in their own rights.
Directed by Eduardo Sánchez and written by Kristen Beyer & Davy Perez, "Among the Lotus Eaters" plays to each actor's strengths. In particular, the respective abilities to express the range needed to slip between their characters and versions of those characters struggling with losing their sense of self – with Navia's performance standing out in some very big ways. Their struggles to move from their discombobulated states to a sense of self were powerful, demonstrating once again how it's the characters who make "Star Trek" what it is. Things could have easily gone south in a number of ways, given the chaotic nature of the episode, but the writing and performances steered the ship smoothly… as Ortegas was at the wheel. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams Thursdays on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 4 "Among the Lotus Eaters"
8.5/10
Anson Mount, Babs Olusanmokun, Melissa Navia, Christina Chong, and Ethan Peck deliver some powerful front-and-center performances as the crew desperately attempts to recover their fleeting memories in Paramount+'s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S02E04: "Among the Lotus Eaters."
Credits
Director
Eduardo Sánchez
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