Pink alert! This text accommodates spoilers for the newest episode of “Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds.”
Who knew that the time-honored Starfleet mission assertion to “Boldly go the place nobody has gone earlier than…” would truly seek advice from the uncharted waters of the comedy style? “Star Trek” has historically made a meal out of maintaining viewers on their toes, by no means fairly permitting anybody to settle into a well-recognized storytelling rhythm or routine. Not till season 3 of “Unusual New Worlds,” nevertheless, have we seen a inventive workforce bend the bounds of this strategy to see if it will probably truly break. These previous couple of weeks alone, we have seen the spin-off/prequel sequence try a horror-tinged zombie apocalypse, an homage to existentialist films like “Occasion Horizon” and “Prometheus,” a murder-mystery hour stuffed with Holodeck hijinks, and even a documentary riff that positioned a goal squarely on the franchise’s personal foundational concepts.
Little did we all know that they have been saving absolutely the funniest episode for his or her newest, utilizing one other gut-busting storyline from season 2 as a jumping-off level for this (kind of) sequel. Followers will undoubtedly keep in mind the fish-out-of-water shenanigans of “Charades.” In that rom-com plot with a sci-fi twist, Spock (Ethan Peck) is anxiously awaiting a reunion along with his Vulcan fiancée T’Pring (Gia Sandhu), who’s slated to reach together with her mother and father for a go to of nice cultural import. The timing could not presumably be worse, naturally, when a freak shuttle incident (and slightly misunderstanding by some well-intentioned aliens) transforms our usually half-human, half-Vulcan Science Officer right into a model himself sans pointy ears and alien DNA on the eve of their dinner date. Whoops.
Season 3’s “4-and-a-Half Vulcans” returns to this effectively in full comedian pressure (farce?), reusing the human/Vulcan DNA treatment to reverse-engineer a state of affairs the place Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and his bridge crew have to go undercover in Vulcan disguise for an away mission. The mission goes spectacularly effectively, for as soon as, till they understand they’re unable to return to their human varieties. Cue a number of awkward moments of relationship drama, an alarmingly trigger-happy La’an (Christina Chong), and even a Patton Oswalt visitor look as essentially the most seductive Vulcan you may ever see, all of which provides as much as the funniest episode of “Unusual New Worlds” but.
Unusual New Worlds goes full comedy for the primary time in season 3
Depart it to “Unusual New Worlds” to take one of the vital storied components in all of “Star Trek” lore — the ever-wise and emotionally-regulated Vulcans — and spend a complete episode lampooning every thing inherently goofy about these aliens. There isn’t any denying the huge variations between the pointy-eared folks and us imperfect people, and the writers do not even try in any other case. The mission to a close-by planet, host to a inhabitants of pre-Warp people, goes extra easily and conflict-free than any we have ever seen within the franchise but … to the extent that we do not even want to really see this for ourselves. As an alternative, we follow the angle of these manning their positions on the Enterprise whereas the away workforce beams out and again within the blink of a watch. But any “superior” species is simply begging to be taken down a peg or two, and “Unusual New Worlds” delivers in totally raucous vogue.
For the primary time in season 3, the episode devotes itself to being an easy comedy. The humor initially comes from Spock’s reactions alone, clearly struggling to suppress his discomfort over seeing his closest buddies and coworkers expertise life by Vulcan eyes. After they’re unable to rework again and return to work as “regular,” effectively, we shortly see how a lot of an obstacle it may be to course of the world by logic alone. Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) nearly instantly finally ends up at odds with this blunter and far much less empathetic model of the Enterprise Captain, whereas Spock encounters comparable resistance along with his ex-lover Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), who abruptly decides to chop off all contact (platonic and romantic) with others within the identify of working extra effectively. Even Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) turns into essentially the most manipulative and poisonous model of herself, forcing her personal crush Beto (Mynor Luken) to basically rewrite his personal programming to serve her Vulcan wants.
All of that is performed for barrels of guffaws and humor, a tonal high-wire act that pays off considerably when the actual star of the present lastly arrives: Patton Oswalt’s Vulcan named, extremely sufficient, Doug.
Patton Oswalt understands the project because the Vulcan Doug in Unusual New Worlds
Simply in case anybody thought “Unusual New Worlds” was being too refined with its humorousness this week, the inventive workforce made certain to recruit the providers of literal comic and world-famous actor (and likewise “Star Trek” veteran) Patton Oswalt to offer arguably essentially the most hilarious subplot to the episode. Whereas everybody else is making an attempt their greatest to maintain the Enterprise operating regardless of the sudden inflow of disruptive Vulcans, Quantity One Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) comes up with a determined answer involving a sure determine from her previous. That seems to be a spiritualist and an knowledgeable in katras … who additionally occurs to be Una’s ex from a earlier (and, from the sound of it, fairly torrid) romantic entanglement.
The reveal that it is a Vulcan named Doug and performed by Oswalt, of all of the potential cameos they might’ve gone with, solely makes this really feel all of the sillier (complimentary). And whereas the novelty issue of a brief, nerdy man apparently fueling all this unbridled lust in Una may’ve simply worn skinny, the truth that Oswalt commits to this efficiency so unabashedly helps maintain the laughs rolling. For some, this complete sequence may’ve come throughout because the present lastly leaping the shark. However for everybody else on this episode’s wavelength, spending all this treasured display time on a number of absurd situations — like Marie flipping out on Captain Pike and the Vulcan admiral accountable for her return to Starfleet service, or Scotty (Martin Quinn) and Kirk (Paul Wesley) conspiring to actually shock the war-mongering La’an into submission, or Spock wryly instructing Doug within the fantastic artwork of being a human all through a protracted post-credits tag — solely seems like the newest occasion of an bold room stuffed with proficient writers deciding to go for broke.
Season 3 of “Unusual New Worlds” continues to function on the best stage, and you may catch new episodes streaming on Paramount+ each Thursday.
