I was kinda surprised to see I hadn't given my thoughts on the first season of Strange New Worlds, but better late than never, I guess. Of course there are spoilers here, for both seasons, so if you've watched them come check it out after the jump:
I've been pretty clear about my love for Lower Decks, which is still probably the best New Trek out there (and I've already held forth on that crossover episode). I've also talked about Picard's unevenness, and way back I excoriated the second season of Discovery. With Prodigy apparently consigned to the farthest reaches of the Delta Quadrant, that leaves SNW for me to talk about. In that post about Those Old Scientists I talked a little about the season as a whole, but now that I've seen all ten episodes I can discuss its merits more fairly.
I'll admit I don't remember much about the first season. There was La'an's history with the Gorn, and Hemmer's death as he stopped a Gorn infestation on the Enterprise. We got a fair amount of backstory for Uhura, which was nice when you consider the nonexistent backstory the character got in TOS, but sometimes the efforts to encourage her felt redundant - that's one of the first character moments from her in the 1960s, and when there's too much of it I get flashbacks to Discovery and all the bad things that happen to anybody who's ever mean to Tilly.
Other threads are Spock's incipient relationship with Nurse Chapel, which goes from subtext to text in the latest season, and Pike's grappling with his fate, which formed the backbone of season 1 but doesn't come up much in season 2.
It feels like a long time since I watched those episodes, and none of them seems to have stuck with me like the ones this season. Some of the subplots evolved nicely, like La'an's past trauma with the Gorn turning into a quest to escape her famous last name, as well as a romance subplot with future Captain Kirk (and also alternate future Captain Kirk, in the past, because Star Trek). The Spock-Chapel romance subplot was generally fun, but I was torn between wanting to keep it as subtext, like in TOS, and wanting it to go on.
That fidelity to TOS is probably the thorniest part of this season for me, so it's worth unpacking here. Back when season 1 came out I saw a meme showing the levels of plot armor for each character, with the established TOS crew (Spock, Uhura, etc) having the most and new characters like M'Benga having the least. It was cute, but it points to a weakness in this type of prequel, namely the lack of suspense because we're seeing the early lives of some characters who are big later.
The finale of season 2 revolves around what happened to Chapel, because she was beaming to Captain Batel's ship when the Gorn attacked, but we know she's going to get through it, because she's there in TOS to have Spock throw soup at her in a Pon Farr induced rage. Batel, on the other hand... let's just say I assumed she was toast the minute I saw her walking around that beautiful colony in the cold open. We'll see what happens in season 3, whenever that comes along, but it doesn't look promising to me.
Another issue with this episode is the appearance of Scotty. Now, I use the word "issue" advisedly, because I'm delighted to see Scotty appear, although it's funny to me that this version is introduced in pretty much the same way as Simon Pegg's Kelvin version, i.e. as a castaway who joins the crew while on an adventure, rather than being assigned to the Enterprise like a normal officer. But he's another character lacking suspense, because we know he'll be there in a few years.
Nostalgia, or even fan service, isn't only a thing on SNW (Picard, especially season 3, is dripping with it), nor is it only a thing on Star Trek. It sometimes feels like everything is a reference to something else, and I've found myself checking IMDB for stunt casting and Wikipedia for references whenever I'm watching something now. Sometimes an actor is just an actor, and wasn't cast just because he or she was something in a Batman movie thirty years ago.
When I say that the fidelity/nostalgia is the thorniest part of SNW for me, that's because I like it. The TOS episode was a delight, because it was made with such love for all three shows (TOS, SNW and Lower Decks) that I couldn't help but enjoy it. At the same time, it can come off as manipulative: how can I fail to respond when the show shovels all these signifiers of my childhood and decades of continuity at me?
I also think we're at a point where referencing every little thing from decades of continuity is seen as the only way to keep viewers' interest. This has to come from the fact that every show or movie is based on some existing IP (for lack of a better word), and has done for decades. When you run out of books and movies and games to exploit, you have to start referencing every little plot point you can to keep viewers excited. You don't even need decades: The Last of Us was full of little Easter eggs and fun casting decisions, like all the voice actors from the game who played characters (or even the same characters) in the show.
To what extent is this a problem? Well, to the extent that you're distracting the viewer from what's happening onscreen because they need to see if that actor was actually in an obscure, but relevant, episode from years back. Looking for Easter eggs is fun, but what's on the screen at that moment should be pulling you in: if you dive for your phone and Wikipedia every couple of scenes, the show isn't doing its job.
So, to what extent is this a problem for SNW, specifically season 2? Not that much, I'm happy to report, because the writing is otherwise so good. Tonally the season goes from comedy to tragedy every week, but the writing team and actors are so good that they're able to pull these disparate themes and approaches together.
Contrast that with earlier shows, like TNG or Voyager: there are some funny parts of episodes of either series, but few that can commit so fully to a premise like Spock having to pretend he hasn't been turned human for dinner with his fiancée's parents, or a musical episode. And because those earlier writing teams were usually quite similar, what they found comedic could seem cringey (like when Voyager's Doctor starts fantasizing about all the female crew members fighting over him).
If I had to wish for any improvement in SNW for future seasons, it would be that the writers trust in the strength of their existing characters and plot lines, rather than obsessively tying everything in to TOS or later shows. That would mean further developing the characters we have, who are great, instead of constantly bringing in someone who'll be on the bridge when TOS comes around.
After all, Pike has a few years before the accident that leaves him wheelchair-bound. The more we see of him before then, rather than foreshadowing Kirk, the harder the moment of his accident will hit us.
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