Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 4 Reaction: Episode 6

Star Trek Strange New Worlds

Season 4 Reaction: Episode 6

Off Hour

In a new twist for trek, the episode takes place in real time, complete with a chronometer count down on the screen.  Also a reference to Dr. Boyce.  Interesting.  We see the crew getting ready for some downtime aboard ship.  The ship gets pulled into a slipstream wormhole.  Everything get's electrified until Pike manages to get the shields up.  The ship is damaged, Scotty is stuck in the turbolift, engineering has to evacuate, Pike an co are trapped on the bridge, M'Benga and Chapel are stuck in sickbay.  Una, La'an and Spock are down in the port galley.  The split screens are an interesting choice.  The Vulcan cadet is featured in this episode, this time working with Scotty.  M'Benga is pinned against the wall by a lab table, his back injured.  If the lab table is moved he will die.  Stakes.  TNG/DS9/VOY alum Brian Markinson plays Dr. Boyce, the CMO from the TOS pilot The Cage.  Another legacy character, Lt. Rahda from TOS "That Which Survives" appears to take the conn during night shift.  Despite their situation and being separated the crew have to work together to solve their predicament.  Some poignant scenes between Chapel and M'Benga confirm both character's resolve.  The crew come up with a plan involving the ion pod (from TOS "Court-Martial").  The neutrinos affecting the ship also become the key to heal M'Benga and fuel the ship.  Spock space-walks to the ion pod.  The pod become irradiated and must be jettisoned.  Scotty gets pep-talked and calmed by Pelia, Pelia tells Scotty that serving on a starship means sometimes having to be a miracle worker.  Chapel goes over her plan to save M'Benga.  Spacewalking La'an finds Spock unconscious in the ion pod housing and gets the scan data that he collected.  Chapel begins her plan by opening the door to sickbay to vent the heat and freeze M'Benga to death-temporarily to safely treat him.  After bringing Spock aboard and realizing that the data chip is damaged La'an mind melds with Spock to get the data.  As the ship crosses the warp threshold Scotty uses the bussard collectors to collect the neutrinos.  The neutrinos fuel the ship and restore full power.  Ortegas breaks the ship back into normal space.  In sickbay Chapel requests permanent duty on the Enterprise, her assignment to this point only being temporary.  This was a pretty good, very trek episode, with echoes of TNG's "Disaster" and DS9 "Starship Down" and the "ticking chronometer" being not just a gimmick but a major component of the plot.  Lots of good character stuff in this one, Chapel and M'Benga, Scotty, and cadet A'sha.  I daresay one of the best episodes of the season so far, possibly the best since the season premier "Valles Marineris".