Star Trek: Strange New Worlds just concluded its second season with the show’s first-ever “to be continued” episode. How rude! Luckily for fans, SNW co-showrunner, co-creator, and executive producer Akiva Goldsman already confirmed that the series is returning and that the cast and crew’s work on the show’s third season began months before the onset of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes—although as Trekkies, we must support the Star Trek writers and actors’ attempts to use collective action for better pay, as I’m still appalled that Mica Burton doesn’t make enough from her acting to qualify for health insurance.
In the meantime, here are the 10 best episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds so far, ranked from good to great.
10. “A Quality of Mercy” (season 1, episode 10)
Logline: “In the season 1 finale, just as Captain Pike thinks he’s figured out how to escape his fate, he’s visited by his future self, who shows him the consequences of his actions.”
Why you should watch it: In this episode, written by Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman and directed by Chris Fisher, Pike (Anson Mount) learns to accept his fate. My fellow disabled critics have rightfully criticized the depiction of Pike’s journey with his disability, but in “A Quality of Mercy,” the character finally starts to find acceptance. Is the reason we didn’t hear about his wheelchair during the second season because he has embraced his fate?
9. “All Those Who Wander” (season 1, episode 9)
Logline: “The U.S.S. Enterprise crew comes face-to-face with internal and external demons—and scary monsters too—when their landing party is stranded on a barren planet with a ravenous enemy.”
Why you should watch it: Directed by Christopher J. Byrne and written by Davy Perez, the episode title—”All Those Who Wander”—refers to the second line of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Riddler of the Strider” in The Fellowship of the Ring: “Not all those who wander are lost.” The poem appears in its original context as a means of identifying Aragorn. Why do I mention this? Because the brilliance of this episode can be seen in the title alone, which refers to both the A and B plots. It can be interpreted as referring to Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), who has been trying to find her place in the universe but is actually at home in Starfleet. It can also apply to La’an (Christina Chong), who is helping the main crew identify the Gorn.
8. “Strange New Worlds” (season 1, episode 1)
Logline: “Series premiere. When one of Pike’s officers goes missing while on a secret mission for Starfleet, Pike has to come out of self-imposed exile. He must navigate how to rescue his officer, while struggling with what to do with the vision of the future he’s been given.”
Why you should watch it: Based on a story by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet from a Goldsman-penned teleplay, “Strange New Worlds” is an homage to the science fiction classic film The Day the Earth Stood Still. At the climax of the episode, Pike goes full Klaatu and delivers a planet-saving speech to the people of Kiley 279.
7. “Under the Cloak of War” (season 2, episode 8)
Logline: “Captain Pike and his crew welcome a Klingon defector aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, but his presence triggers the revelation of some shocking secrets.”
Why you should watch it: Like many great episodes before it (see also: The Original Series season 1, episode 23, “A Taste of Armageddon,” and Enterprise season 1, episode 24, “Desert Crossing”), “Under the Cloak of War,” written by Davy Perez and directed by Jeff Byrd, explores the impact of war on those who served as first-hand witnesses to the atrocities. As Dr. Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) deals with post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, major information about the character’s history is revealed through flashbacks.
6. “The Serene Squall” (season 1, episode 7)
Logline: “While on a dangerous humanitarian mission, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise stumbles into a harrowing game of leverage with the quadrant’s deadliest space pirate.”
Why you should watch it: Written by Beau DeMayo and Sarah Tarkoff and directed by Sydney Freeland, “The Serene Squall” (re-)introduces SNW fans to Spock’s half-brother Sybok, a Vulcan who has rejected his logical upbringing. Also introduced in the episode is Sybok’s nonbinary lover Cpt. Angel, played by transgender actress Jesse James Keitel. But what would a pirate captain need with a starship …?
5. “Subspace Rhapsody” (season 2, episode 9)
Logline: “An accident with an experimental quantum probability field causes everyone on the U.S.S. Enterprise to break uncontrollably into song, but the real danger is that the field is expanding and beginning to impact other ships—allies and enemies alike.”
Why you should watch it: In “Subspace Rhapsody,” written by Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff and directed by Dermott Downs, the SNW cast has the opportunity to show off their Broadway chops. While all the actors do a stellar job, the MVP is Gooding as Uhura.
4. “The Elysian Kingdom” (season 1, episode 8)
Logline: “The U.S.S. Enterprise becomes stuck in a nebula that is home to an alien consciousness that traps the crew in a fairy tale.”
Why you should watch it: Written by Akela Cooper and Onitra Johnson and directed by Amanda Row, “The Elysian Kingdom” features costumes reminiscent of William Ware Theiss’s best work. More importantly, the episode is a metaphor for M’Benga making peace with the death of his daughter and, by extension, his wife. Through the magic of genre, Dr. M’Benga and Rukiya, who has a terminal illness, get a storybook ending that isn’t possible in the nonfiction world.
3. “Spock Amok” (season 1, episode 5)
Logline: “It’s a comedy of manners when Spock has a personal visit in the middle of Spock and Captain Pike’s crucial negotiations with an unusual alien species.”
Why you should watch it: In “Spock Amok,” written by Henry Alonso Myers and Robin Wasserman and directed by Rachel Leiterman, Spock (Ethan Peck) and T’Pring (Gia Sandhu) accidentally switch bodies, leading to lots of hijinks. Who doesn’t love hijinks? Even Vulcans seem to love hijinks, not that they will ever admit it.
2. “Ad Astra per Aspera” (season 2, episode 2)
Logline: “Commander Una faces court-martial along with possible imprisonment and dishonorable dismissal from Starfleet, and her defense is in the hands of a lawyer who’s also a childhood friend with whom she had a terrible falling out.”
Why you should watch it: Written by Dana Horgan and directed by Valerie Weiss, “Ad Astra per Aspera” is a powerful episode that explores the concept of passing (see also: Nella Larson’s novel Passing). Originally used in reference to racial passing, when a member of one racial group passes as another, other communities have adopted the term to describe when someone is perceived as passing as something different than they were assigned at birth.
1. “Those Old Scientists” (season 2, episode 207)
Logline: “An accident while investigating a time portal sends Ensign Brad Boimler through time from the twenty-fourth century, and Captain Pike and his crew must get him back where he belongs before he can somehow alter the timeline.”
Why you should watch it: Written by Kathryn Lyn and Bill Wolkoff and directed by Jonathan Frakes, “Those Old Scientists” put some respect in the Cali Class.
(featured image: Paramount+)
