Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 4, Ep. 3: Tonight the Crew Parties Like It's 2299
As Star Trek: Strange New Worlds enters its second last season, Original-Cin genre writer John Kirk will preview new episodes weekly.
By John Kirk
Rating: B+
One of my favourite Kirk & Co. TOS episodes is S1E17 “Shore Leave.” It becomes an adventure but begins as a chance for an exhausted crew to enjoy the sun on a green planet. While “Human Best Friend” doesn’t reach that bar, it damn well tries.
I mean, when you hear power ballads sung in the original Klingon … well, you’ll see what I mean. It’s clear the writer, Kathryn Lyn, had some fun with this episode.
Straitlaced Number One (Rebecca Romijn) is just about ready for some Klingon Power Ballads.
The story:
The exhausted Alpha Shift of the Enterprise go for some R&R at the resort Seznar Grand! Located on a planet that has a literally intoxicating atmosphere, every guest receives a cdustomized “trip” designed to address their particular stressors and relieve them. It’s the ultimate R&R location.
But the exhausted crew quickly turns into the intoxicated crew and if they’re not partying, getting facial tattoos or hallucinating imaginary best friends, then they’re trying to desperately come to grips with reality before duty calls.
As goofy as this episode is, it’s actually quite a lot of fun.
The spirit here is playful and while the naysayers of Kurtzman era Star Trek may not find the joy in this one, I think it’s going to raise a few smiles.
There are inside jokes, particularly with Scotty (Martin Quinn). I like Quinn’s portrayal of Scotty. While he’s taking his time becoming the confident miracle worker we know Engineer Scott to be, there is an optimism in his performance that speaks to the future. And as we all know, this is where Season Four is taking us. You’ll recognize the jokes when you see them.
Ortegas (Melissa Navia) and Scotty also have to repair their relationship. While this is admittedly an area that isn’t really critical to Season Four’s purpose (at least in my opinion), it’s clearly something in the here and now for the show’s writers’ room.
Each character gets a chance to showcase their own special trips. Pike (Anson Mount) loosens up in the most typical way one can imagine and Uhura (Celia Rose-Gooding) reveals herself to be the free-est of free spirits. Of course, Number One (Rebecca Romijn) showcases her talents with her choice of 15 Klingon power ballads. Do yourself a favour and slow down the screen to freeze to take in the list on the wall.
But there’s definitely a shared conflict that reveals itself about 20 minutes into the search for Pike. It’s revealed that the entire crew needs to cut short its R&R immediately and return to the ship within two hours. Of course, with the entire alpha shift all high as a kite, the episode is definitely a comedy of errors.
A great surprise is to see “Kids in the Hall” alumnus, Dave Foley as the ringmaster behind the entire circus. As the facility’s director, he’s not only your bestest friend but will certainly remove your “stressiest of stresses”!
While the overall point of this episode is to obviously allow the cast a chance to have some fun, it also helps to showcase the relationship between Spock and Kirk.
The growth of this relationship is key. We need to see how Kirk and Spock build their friendship and though the canon of Star Trek novels have indicated that there was little to no relationship between the two prior to the assignment of Kirk to the command of the Enterprise, it’s clear that CBS is taking liberties with the canon.
Why? The obvious speculation is the rumoured “Star Trek: Year One” series that would come after this series. Though Paramount is claiming that there are no planned Trek shows in development after SNW, I find that hard to believe with all of the development of the major TOS characters in this season.
“Human Best Friend” is a laugh of an episode that shows this season’s commitment to the same sort of storytelling in TOS. It’s wacky, weird and funny as hell. It’s a break for the cast from serious storytelling.
But its brief few minutes of focus on Spock’s need for a friend like Kirk is the highlight of the episode. That reminder of the friendship between favourite Trek characters is enough of a rest for me.
Season Four – Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Episode 403: “Human Best Friend.” Directed by Yana Gorskaya. Cast: Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Babs Olusanmokum, Celia Rose-Gooding, Melissa Navia, Rebecca Romijn, Martin Quinn, Carol Kane, Dave Foley, Paul Wesley. Debuts August 6 on Paramount Plus and CTV’s Sci-Fi Channel.