It’s attainable to have an excessive amount of of a great factor.
In the case of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” Season 3, reviewing the frothy, effortlessly watchable first 5 episodes brings this reviewer to that inescapable conclusion. That is the present that introduced the enjoyable again to “Star Trek,” that introduced again the astronomical alchemy of Gene Roddenberry’s “Authentic Sequence” and Rick Berman’s ’90s “Trek” collection in a manner most viewers thought they’d by no means see once more. You might maintain up a mirror to our society and have a lighthearted, pop-art-colored romp; you possibly can encourage deep emotion alongside real thrills.
Of that equation, although, the deep emotion is lacking from Season 3 of “Strange New Worlds,” as is the mirror — even regardless of a personality actually saying in a single episode that sci-fi could make us look extra intently at our personal world.
All that’s left is the enjoyable. Hey, who’re we to complain when it’s a present this enjoyable? But “Star Trek” all the time has had the capability to be extra, and so has this present: This very collection has given us extremely complicated episodes discussing our personal social second (going as far as to say that twenty third century historians labeled the U.S. in the 2020s as in a “Second Civil Warfare”), a riveting courtroom drama about private freedom, and, in “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” considered one of the most soulful of all “Trek” episodes, one that really turns Kirk right into a romantic hero for the ages.
As an alternative, in the first half of Season 3, “Strange New Worlds” opts to preserve it surface-level.
The season picks up immediately after the final frames of the Season 2 cliffhanger, with various the Enterprise crew captured by the Gorn and the ship itself being swarmed by Gorn assault craft. The plot unfolds in an undeniably intelligent manner — Season 3 continues to be sensible, but is rarely fairly thought-provoking — with a decision to this story that feels very “Trek” and quite a lot of LED-wall CGI mush that feels sludgy and like some other TV manufacturing nowadays. Various storylines are arrange from these occasions associated to ongoing bodily and psychological trauma on account of the Gorn, for which your interest-level could fluctuate.
The forged is uniformly stellar, as all the time. Anson Mount brings a texture and integrity to his Capt. Pike that places him amongst the finest “Star Trek” collection leads ever. Earlier “Trek” collection did a lot to set up that their leaders have lives past the captain’s chair, have ideas past their captain’s log — Picard’s love of classical music and Dixon Hill detective tales, Sisko’s function as a father and his curiosity in his heritage and in archaeology, Archer’s burning want to watch “Rosemary’s Child” after actually saving Earth, Janeway’s despair and inward flip throughout the “Evening” episode of “Voyager” — and of all the “Trek” collection since the franchise relaunched as a streaming property in 2017, Mount’s Pike is the just one that actually suits of their ranks. He brings a lot extra to the function than simply the supply of dialogue, discovering gestures and expressive nuances that convey far past what might ever be on the web page alone. His romantic relationship with Capt. Batel (Melanie Scrofano) is a very wonderful means to additional discover dimensions of each characters.
Babs Olusanmokun continues to convey dimension and depth, even coiled menace, as Dr. M’Benga, whose outstanding Season 2 episode that resulted in him fairly clearly flat-out murdering a Klingon battle prison is revisited rapidly in Season 3. Jess Bush’s Nurse Chapel is rarely lower than riveting, in some way humorous and earnest in the most good “Trek” manner. Christina Chong’s La’an is considered one of the nice humor-by-way-of-repression characters the franchise has ever given us.
And beneath Ethan Peck’s extraordinary steering of the character, Spock has turn out to be all but a Jane Austen hero, somebody whose inflexible management of their feelings and adherence to the strictest code of conduct corrals a barely-contained sensuality. He’s the “Delight and Prejudice” hand-flex as a full-fledged character. (One can’t even think about Leonard Nimoy doing a greater job delivering the line “I don’t require a Bacchanale.”) A lot of this present is now about his romantic pursuits, or these pursuing him, and it really works.
Spending time with these characters appears like spending time with buddies. What’s missing are actually significant storylines to put them into, culminating in a really dispiriting episode that options zombies. “Star Trek” doesn’t, now or ever, want zombies. An “escape room” archaeological dig episode isn’t vastly higher both.
The one absolute triumph of an episode is the one which goes all-out in simply being a lark: “Trek” ought to in all probability have its “lark” episodes and then extra severe episodes, giving us quite a lot of tones whereas preserving them distinct. This explicit “lark” episode, directed masterfully as all the time by Jonathan Frakes, includes the Enterprise testing out a holodeck (not a spoiler, its distinctive grid sample was seen in the official teaser) through an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit that La’an has to resolve.
Nevertheless it’s not only a Christie-style thriller, it’s one set in Nineteen Sixties Hollywood and a couple of homicide on the set of an area journey present that’s mainly only a redressed “Authentic Sequence,” with “As soon as Upon a Time in Hollywood” model abounding. It’s an absolute blast, and it reminds that via these first 5 episodes we don’t get almost sufficient of Rebecca Romijn as first officer Quantity One or Celia Rose Gooding’s Uhura. This present has all the time been good at spreading the wealth, so it’s possible they’ll get their moments earlier than Season 3 wraps. And wait until you see who Mount is enjoying in that holodeck episode.
That installment is nice, but even nonetheless, hanging over all 5 of those episodes is a whiff of “what is that this present about now?” The relative lack of substance throughout the board can’t assist feeling like a cop out for a present that’s been able to much more. God forbid the avoidance of something topical is one other expression of Paramount trying to keep away from any potential confrontations forward of its proposed merger with Skydance. It might not be that, but it’s beginning to appear like the resolution to wrap the collection after a six-episode fifth season shoots later this yr is an efficient one.
After the 5 episodes we’ve screened of Season 3, there are possible solely 21 episodes left. Let’s hope, with an actual plan, showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers can actually make them rely.
Grade: B-
“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” Season 3 premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Competition. It should stream on Paramount+ beginning July 17, releasing a brand new episode every week.
