Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 2 on Paramount+, Where The Crew Of The USS Enterprise Keep On Seeking The Great Unknown

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns to Paramount+ with its prime directive in place, which is to explore the adventures and trials of the USS Enterprise and crew in the years immediately preceding the events of the original Trek. After debuting as a spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery, SNW enters its sophomore season Emmy-nominated and fully established, and returns the strong ensemble that brought humor, gravity, and familiar Trek universe pathos to the 23rd century, minus an open position at chief engineer, which is quickly addressed in the season two premiere. So, who’s up for a few more rounds of that volatile and savory Klingon bloodwine?    

STAR TREK – STRANGE NEW WORLDS SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: As shuttlecraft dart to and fro around a series of massive circular platforms in space, we hear the voice of Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). “Captain’s log, stardate 2369.2. The Enterprise is in spacedock at Starbase 1.” It’s also shore leave for half of the crew, as inspections and systems checks continue under the sharp eye of chief lead inspector, Commander Pelia (Carol Kane).   

The Gist: With his starship currently in stasis, Pike figures he’s got time to try and influence the case against Number One (Rebecca Romijn), Una Chin-Riley, who at the end of Strange New Worlds season one was arrested for concealing her Illyrian heritage from Starfleet. So Pike takes some personal time, leaving Spock (Ethan Peck) in charge, and of course that’s when trouble immediately pops off. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) was on a leave of absence from her duties as Enterprise’s security chief to help the young refugee of a Gorn attack locate her people. (It’s personal; La’an’s own family was murdered by the reptilian Starfleet foes.) Now, La’an has transmitted a distress signal to the Enterprise. She’s on a remote dilithium mining planet, caught up in an extremist conflict that threatens to reignite the Starfleet-Klingon war, and she needs an assist. No problem – all Spock’s gotta do is steal the Enterprise from spacedock. And this he readily does with the help of Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) at the helm, newly promoted ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) on comms and linguistics, Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), chief medical officer Dr. Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), and an unlikely new ally: Pelia, the Starfleet inspector, who appoints herself chief engineer of the Enterprise. It’s a vacant position, after the tragic loss of Hemmer (Bruce Horak) in season one.

In that first go-round, Strange New Worlds quickly established a knack for contained, episodic storytelling, a conscious hew away from dramatic season-long arcs. It was a singular approach that brought it closer to the format of Star Trek: The Original Series — with every new episode, a new challenge to confront, not to mention a different tone — and those similarities are even more key now that SNW is flirting with what’s become finite: Trek franchise lore has the action in this series occurring just a few years before the classic Enterprise voyages of James T. Kirk and Co, so the two Trek franchises are on a narrative collision course.

For Spock and his shipmates on their unsanctioned mission, locating La’an is the easy part. And while they’re able to offer help toward her cause, they’re also inserted into a few sticky situations with some rogue Klingons, whose unruly demeanor (pretty typical) and hoarding of Starfleet tech and materiel (decidedly not typical) triggers post-traumatic stress in M’Benga and Chapel – plus their fighting spirit – and pushes Spock into a life-or-death decision as he faces down a Klingon bird-of-prey from the captain’s chair of the Enterprise.   

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, and Ethan Peck began playing Captain Pike, Number One, and Spock on Star Trek: Discovery before Strange New Worlds debuted its first season in spinoff form. But with its success amongst fans and critics alike, it’s clear that SNW can now stand officially on its own, so much so that there’s an exciting crossover planned for season two, with live-action versions of the characters from the animated Star Trek series Lower Decks.  

Our Take: It’s quite a choice, and a very conscious one, to have the top-billed star and chief of the Enterprise, otherwise known as Anson Mount and his terrific take on Captain Christopher Pike, peace out five minutes into the season two premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. But it’s not a spoiler to say that Pike never joins Spock and the core crew of the Enterprise on their impulsive mission to help their shipmate on a fringe planet, because we never even miss him. That’s just how capable the ensemble is on SNW. Any one of them, from Babs Olusanmokun and Jess Bush’s Dr. M’Benga and Nurse Chapel in sickbay, to Melissa Navia and Celia Rose Gooding’s Erica Ortegas and Nyota Uhura on the bridge, are able to carry a storyline. And it’s this collective strength in casting and characters that helps SNW expand on how it approaches tone, plotting, and the greater subtleties at work in the Star Trek universe. Pike, when he is around, usually leads the away team. But just like the character’s leadership style, the manner of this is never one dimensional. In the space – and, er, space – of one season’s adventures, Strange New Worlds has established a new set of compelling, instantly memorable characters who are at ease with one another, and which allow the actors playing them the ability to explore. Season two, already off to a great start, will undoubtedly offer even more depth to these personalities we’ve come to know.   

Sex and Skin: Last season, after he faked an affair with Nurse Chapel to get the Enterprise out of its latest dangerous jam, Spock reaffirmed his bond with T’Pring (Gia Sandhu), his Vulcan betrothed, and he and Chapel declared themselves to be just friends. And yet there remains a powerful bond between them. Could Chapel’s mention here of an upcoming academic fellowship on Vulcan eventually play into her relationship with Spock? Only a mind meld would tell.

Parting Shot: Before he lit off to help Number One, Pike mentioned in his captain’s log a whiff of something unclear beneath the buttoned-up veneer of the Starfleet brass, a tension undefined. There’s some clarity in that department by episode’s end, and as the higher-ups say, it could be an all hands on deck situation. 

Sleeper Star: “This is an antimatter detonation switch. You better hope I don’t let go, unless you’re keen on losing the bottom half of your body.” Since she joined the Enterprise as its security chief, La’an Noonien-Singh has proven to be steely, strong, resourceful, and resilient, all qualities Christina Chong continues to wonderfully impart to the character in season two of SNW.

Most Pilot-y Line: When he’s presented with a half-human, half-Vulcan suddenly suffering the physical effects of stress, Dr. M’Benga has a sense of what’s happening. “When you released your anger to combat the Gorn,” he tells Spock, the cognitive blocks Vulcans employ to constrict emotion were removed. And while this will be an ongoing evolution for Spock – M’Benga gifts him a space lute to help relieve his stress – it might also set an important precedent for encounters with the Gorn going forward.  

Our Call: STREAM IT. No longer just a spinoff, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds goes boldly into its second season with terrific crew chemistry, more far-flung adventures on tap, and even more depth added to characters who already feel like classics. 

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges