Unusual New Worlds Season 3 Resolves Season 2’s Big Cliffhanger

Spoilers for “Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds” comply with.

After we final left the crew of the Starship Enterprise in “Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds” season 2 finale, “Hegemony,” issues weren’t going too nicely. The vicious alien Gorn had kidnapped half of the bridge crew. Struggle between Starfleet and the Gorn risked going scorching. Captain Pike’s (Anson Mount) lover Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) was contaminated with Gorn hatchlings. Pike himself was paralyzed by indecision because the Gorn ships bore down on the Enterprise; Admiral April (Adrian Holmes) known as the Enterprise again to the fleet, not leaving them time to rescue their shipmates. The ship’s second in command, Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), known as for orders from the helm, however Pike did not give them.

As chilling a spot as that was to depart “Unusual New Worlds” season 2, we must always’ve identified the Enterprise crew would rise to the job. Pike’s silent freeze up was only a pause, not a breakdown. Pike pulls a traditional Starfleet trick: Obey orders, however to not the letter. Since April did not organize them again instantly, the Enterprise stays lengthy sufficient to plant a monitoring beacon on the Gorn ship (disguised with a dud torpedo) and then flies off. From there, the episode’s a number of threads tie collectively into a fairly clear victory for the nice guys.

Newcomer Scotty (Martin Quinn) and his previous engineering professor Pelia (Carol Kane) whip up a pseudo-cloaking system to make the Enterprise seem as a Gorn vessel on the Gorn’s personal sensors, permitting Pike and firm to pursue the Gorn ship they tagged.

Una and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) monitor information of Gorn exercise and conclude that they’ve aggression/hibernation habits patterns respondent to photo voltaic flare exercise. So the Enterprise flies between two binary stars that mark the trail to the Gorn homeworld. With the engineering magic, they induce a selected radiation flare to induce the Gorn fleet to return dwelling and hibernate. This trick does the job simply earlier than the radiation would’ve seared the Enterprise and her crew past restore.

On mentioned Gorn ship, La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) breaks free and leads the opposite lead character captives — Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), Ortegas (Melissa Navia), and Sam Kirk (Dan Jeannotte) — to flee. Even wounded, Ortegas manages to pilot a Gorn fighter. They arrive on the Enterprise simply because the photo voltaic flare gambit has paid off and get transported again to the ship.

Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) and Spock (Ethan Peck) put apart their relationship drama to are inclined to Batel. Their remedy choices are restricted and on a decent deadline, as a result of she’s (in)conveniently allergic to cryosleep treatment. They finally decide on a remedy that basically methods the Gorn hatchlings to not emerge, Xenomorph chestburster in “Alien”-style; that is an echo of the bigger technique of sending the Gorn fleet to sleep.

The cliffhanger ending of “Unusual New Worlds” season 2 was a homage to one of the crucial essential “Trek” episodes ever: “The Better of Each Worlds,” the season 3 finale/season 4 premiere of “Star Trek: The Subsequent Technology.” That episode ends with Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) being assimilated by the alien hive thoughts, the Borg. As “Locutus,” Picard will act to assist facilitate the assimilation of the Federation into the Borg.

Command of the Enterprise-D falls to Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes), who should rescue Picard and forestall the unstoppable Borg from overrunning the Federation. They succeed; android crew member Information (Brent Spiner) interfaces with Locutus (permitting Picard to beat the reprogramming) and thus the entire Borg Collective. Picard offers Information the reply: “Sleep,” which Information understands means to induce the Borg to energy down. Their dice ship self-destructs in orbit of Earth and catastrophe is narrowly averted. 

“The Better of Each Worlds” is a wonderful episode, however a part of what made it so memorable was how followers needed to wait months to see the story resolved. You possibly can’t repeat that have now, however “Star Trek” has repeatedly tried. Each subsequent “Subsequent Technology” finale ended on a cliffhanger that might be resolved within the following season premiere. Future “Star Trek” exhibits “Voyager” and “Enterprise” additionally largely structured their season finales and premieres on this means. 

I perceive “Hegemony” was leaning exhausting on “Better of Each Worlds,” however in “Half II,” it looks like it might have leaned too exhausting. The decision is precisely the identical as “Better of Each Worlds,” i.e. the Enterprise sending the enemy to sleep. “Trek” canon means a Gorn struggle could not escape, however this tidy ending solely proves that 35 years on, “Star Trek” continues to be attempting to recapture the magic of “The Better of Each Worlds.”

“Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds” streams on Paramount+. New episodes of season 3 launch on Thursdays.