Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2
SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.
301: Hegemony, Part II 2025 July 17
(First watched 2025-07-17) I thought last episode was after Chapel's 3 months away, but this episode indicates it hasn't started yet. I guess she was on her way out when she got caught up with the Gorn.
I don't fully understand what they eventually did to save Batel. OK, so they changed tactics from focusing on her health to the infant Gorn. By feeding them, their drive to burst out would be negated. OK buuuut doesn't that just leave growing Gorn in her body? They talked about them being reabsorbed, but... why would that happen?
I thought Ortegas was going out for a bit. With a prequel show like this you really look at different characters different ways. Like, I know M'benga and Sam Kirk are going to survive this situation. But Ortegas's future (or lack thereof) is still shrouded in mystery so she's always in danger. And for all of these new-to-SNW characters, dying is the easiest way to explain why they never interacted with TOS characters on-screen in later days.
Telling the Gorn to hibernate of course reminds us of how the Borg were dealt with in The Best of Both Worlds. I'm surprised the Gorn are so... easily fooled, though. They all see a pseudo-star emitting a certain type of light for a few seconds and are like "Forget that invasion, time to go sleep!" Anyway, if they're hibernating for a fairly long time... is that the last of the Gorn we'll be seeing here on SNW?
Uhura's head looked a bit funny in this episode. I've seen pictures from this season where she has bigger hair; I'm supposing this oddity is the result of them tamping it down to try to match the look from the end of last season?
302: Wedding Bell Blues 2025 July 17
(First watched 2025-07-17) Interesting premise and forced pairing for people to solve the problem... but the whole thing just felt so cruel to Spock that it was hard to properly enjoy the goofiness. His relationship with Chapel has gone down fast, a magic weirdness makes them a couple again, and then he's forced to be the responsible one trying to tell everyone that no, that's not really the case.
So was that Trelane? Sure looked similar and played out very similarly. That the crew of the Enterprise only saw him in other forms would preserve them not recognizing him when meeting him years down the road. But it makes the ending with the parents all too repetitive. Also, interesting casting for John de Lancie as one of the parents. Whether it's just a fun casting trick or meant to be more meaningful in tying Q and Trelane together.