Review: ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Finale Has One Choice Changing Everything
The inaugural season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is in the books!
It’s never easy for a finale to cap off a season as stellar as this has been. Leaving your audiences satisfied yet still yearning for more isn’t easy. If this finale had been less than appetizing, most would exit still feeling rather warmly about the show, but with a bitter taste. The finale for season one was anything but bitter. It had every bit as much life, nuance, and exemplary storytelling the previous nine episodes have displayed.
The future is now in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds finale. Longtime fans of Star Trek may have felt as if they were treated to a weird blast from the past however as timelines collided. As expected, Captain Pike (Anson Mount) takes center stage. Mount has been brilliant as Pike since the first time he sat in the captain’s chair, and he certainly lived up to the expectations surrounding this episode. He put all of his acting chops on display in this one. His performance in this episode ranged from being a charmer to a haunted man. Being the captain and lead of a Star Trek show requires much of you, and he has shown why he is already cemented into Star Trek history as an all-time great.
The episode begins with Pike coming face to face with his haunting future. Up to this point, he has made no attempt to alter his impending doom he discovered on Boreth. In fact, he has relentlessly argued with Commander Una (Rebecca Romijn) throughout the season that he cannot and will not alter his fate. This is, until he meets a young kid who will grow up to be one of the cadets, he is unable to save in the accident that leaves him paralyzed. The kid simply wants to grow up and serve in Starfleet, and is thrilled to be meeting the famous Captain Pike of the starship Enterprise. This throws Pike into a tailspin and launches us into the meat of the episode. As I said before, up until this point Pike hasn’t attempted to change fate, but when it comes to the life of this child he jumps into action. He begins drafting a letter to warn him. At this point steps in a familiar face… just one from the future. Future Pike has entered the fray.
Anson Mount as Pike
Time travel has always been a Trek staple. Managing the proper flow of time and the consequences of tampering with it have been existent in every form of Star Trek storytelling. It once again rears its head in this one. Future Pike explains to present Pike how his quest to figure out how to save the cadets and himself ultimately works. The consequences of such an action, however, breed terrible, cataclysmic results. This one event, while seemingly a good thing, brings forth a future that launches the quadrant into chaos bringing with it the death of millions. Future Pike was gifted with a time stone from the monks on Boreth to show present Pike this future he is about to create.
He is launched into the future where he has escaped the future he has dreaded and is still in command of the Enterprise. The timeline jumps around one year into what would have been Kirk’s reign of the Enterprise, hence why Uhura (Celia Rose-Gooding) is now a Lieutenant and why Spock (Ethan Peck) is First Officer. We don’t see him, but we get to hear Scotty briefly during a call to engineering. The Enterprise is witness to the destruction of an outpost that Pike learns is yet one in a string of attacks supposedly by the Romulans.
Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura
It’s important to remember no one in this timeline has seen a Romulan. The fact they are distant cousins to the Vulcans is largely unknown. It comes as a nasty shock to everyone when, after some clever work from Spock, they are able to peek inside the enemy Romulan ship.
This episode also brought us our first look at Star Trek’s flagship captain. Captain Kirk (Paul Wesley) gets his debut on the show. During this timeline, he is supposed to be Captain of the Enterprise, but with Pike having survived, he is in command of the Farragut. I was nervous about Kirk not only entering this finale, but heavily entering Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I thought Kirk’s presence for this episode would feel as if his brazen attitude paired with the calm and cool nature of Pike would clash. Not that they can’t coexist, but I worried the show would favor one over the other, and we would be left having to choose between the two. The show also doesn’t inherently need Kirk in order to succeed. It stands on its own two feet just fine, and the big name boost of Kirk could hurt more than help. However, the writers did a wonderful job contrasting these two captains and giving each of them their moments to shine without making us choose between them.
Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. Photo Cr: Marni Grossman/Paramount+
It’s important Pike acts exactly as he normally would for him to see exactly how this alternative future plays out. When Pike and Kirk team up to destroy the Romulan ship, things go south quickly. The Farragut is destroyed, and Pike’s one second of hesitancy to open fire allows the Romulan ship the time it needs to damage the Enterprise enough to begin to make its escape. It’s this one second of delay, this moment of mercy that makes Pike such a great captain. It’s also what sends the timeline into complete disarray. The chain of events that follows are catastrophic.
When the surviving crew of the Farragut are beamed aboard, Pike and Kirk have it out. The different styles are brought into the open as Kirk is furious at Pike for not immediately destroying the Romulan vessel. The two contact the enemy vessel and have agreed to a two hour cease fire so they can begin to repair the ships. While the Commander of the Romulan ship gains a respect for Pike and clearly wants to pursue peace, his younger subordinate contacts the Empire and summons the entire fleet to the edge of Federation space. The attack to come is merciless.
Pike’s negotiations failed. Had Kirk been in command of the Enterprise, the Romulan ship would have been destroyed before able to contact the fleet, and war would have been averted. The Romulans would have seen this as a sign the Federation was strong and engaging in open war to be a bad idea. Instead, the Romulans launch their attack immediately. The Enterprise barely gets away, but not without casualties. In what is the most gut churching emotional moment of the show, Pike is walking through sickbay haunted by what he is seeing. Crewmembers dead or near death, but one hits home more than the others…
A dismembered and severely burned Spock lies still. Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) tells Pike even if he were to physically recover from this, he would never be the same. The fate Pike himself avoided has been passed down to someone he cares deeply about. War has begun, and Future Pike tells present Pike that millions have already died, and there appears to be no end in sight. The death of Spock meant catastrophic consequences for the galaxy given all he was supposed to accomplish in life; one accomplishment being the beginning of Romulan and Vulcan reunification. All of that and more is lost due to what began as a merciful act.
Having been returned to the present, Pike finds a new inner peace about his future. It’s not going to be something he will ever find easy to live with. But the resolve he now has knowing his sacrifice will be a galactic altering event and save the lives of those he loves most fulfills him. He and Spock share a touching moment that brought a tear or two to my eye. Following this came a stroll around the bridge in a “take it all in” moment for the captain. It was what I thought would be the final moment of the show, but we had one last surprise in store.
Anson Mount as Pike, Melanie Scrofano as Captain Batel, and Rebecca Romijn as Una
Captain Batel, Pike’s now-and-then girlfriend, beams aboard. With her are two security officers who immediately apprehend Una. She is under arrest for hiding the truth about being an Illyrian. Having knowingly violated the Federation’s laws against genetic modification, Una knew this was always a possibility. This should set the stage for the beginning of season two as Pike will be determined to get Number One back. This brought back the moment earlier in the season where Una asked, “When will it be enough to simply be an Illyrian?”. It’s a black mark on a Federation that considers itself to be inclusive and celebratory of diversity and individuality.
This episode certainly felt more like a one-off than a traditional season finale. You focused on one character, and most of it took place during a time that doesn’t even exist by the episode’s end. Last week’s penultimate episode made more sense, however. With a greater amount of the cast being a part of the story — and having the emotional climax at the end — it certainly felt more like a traditional finale.
Season one of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is nearly perfect. It perfectly blended a retro Trek feeling with a modern sense of newness. This season held just the perfect amount of fan service and fed the nostalgia appetite in an appropriate way. It did all this while being entirely its own show. While there are certainly callbacks to much that has come before I would absolutely say this show is a perfect way to fall back in love with Star Trek or even introduce someone new into the magical franchise. I can’t wait for season two.
Tyler Bradshaw is a Florida social services coordinator with a passion for movies and filmmaking. While The Empire Strikes Back is his favorite movie all time some other favorites include Seven Samurai, Little Women (2019) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He has an always growing list of movies he needs to see with David Lynch being his current favorite director. He loves to engage in thought-provoking conversations about his favorite movies.
