REVIEW: ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Embraces The Chaos In Season 4

Does all of Starfleet know that the Enterprise has a reputation for being a “ship of chaos” and “hijinks,” as T’Pring (Gia Sandhu) puts it in an episode of Strange New Worlds‘ fourth season? Maybe so, but as Paramount’s stellar Star Trek prequel proves over and over, they’re proud of that.

The series stars Anson Mount as Christopher Pike, the captain of the USS Enterprise before James Tiberius Kirk (Paul Wesley in this prequel) takes over. Joining him are characters familiar to the Trek universe like Mr. Spock (Ethan Peck), Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), Number One (Rebecca Romijn), and most recently Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn). There are also new-to-Trek characters filling out the ensemble like Melissa Navia as helmsman Erica Ortegas and Christina Chong as La’An Noonien-Singh… yes, you read that surname right. The first three seasons delivered character-driven stories with kaleidoscopic circumstances that felt like the best of Trek. Season 4 continues to balance the silly and the serious to great effect.

Last summer, per Deadline, we learned that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds had been renewed for a shortened fifth and final season that will likely air in 2027. The silver lining to that sad news is that season 4 has just begun, and it’s really really good. As the saying goes: don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it’s still happening for (probably) the next two years.

Strange New Worlds does what Star Trek does best in season 4

Star Trek is television. It should always be episodic. There should be as many, if not more, silly capers and away team vacation episodes as serious plot-driven political, well, plots. Couples need to get together, break up, and get back together as often as possible. (There are a multiple break-ups in the first half of season 4, which has me very interested in what they have planned romantically for the remainder of the season and series. All hail the polycule that is the Starship Enterprise.)

Put it another way: this show should easily pass the “Friends test,” meaning that you can sum up every episode with “the one with ___.” And the fourth season of Strange New Worlds passes almost immediately. In the six episodes sent to press, there’s “the one with dinosaurs,” “the one in black and white,” “the one on the ghost ship” and “the one where they’re puppets” to name a few.

A particularly giggly “one crazy night” episode titled “Human Best Friend” is an immediate standout. Strange New Worlds does not take itself too seriously, which makes it all the more effective as a television dramedy, an entertaining science fiction adventure, and even as a tool for social and political commentary.

With one season to go, Strange New Worlds has a ticking clock

The penultimate season underlines something that the show has been engaging with thematically all along. What makes an Enterprise officer? Kirk, the only cadet in Starfleet to “beat” the academy’s infamously unbeatable Kobayashi Maru training exercise, is not the only one on this particular ship who refuses to accept a no-win scenario. To put it bluntly: they’re all that crazy and impulsive. It’s what makes them a good hang.

The downside to that, or elephant in the room if you’d prefer, is that we know that some characters aren’t going to be on the ship at the end of the series. Since the circumstances of their departures are largely unknown that ups the stakes staring now.

Fans have some idea when and how Pike and his number one, Una Chin-Riley, will exit the ship of chaos. But by the time Strange New Worlds passes the chronological torch to Star Trek: TOS, Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy will partially replace Dr. Joseph M’Benga (though he is on TOS); Pavel Chekhov will partially replace La’An Noonien-Singh, and Hikaru Sulu will totally replace Erica Ortegas. Thomas Jane and Kai Murakami have been cast as Bones and Sulu, respectively, but will likely not show up until Strange New Worlds season 5.

What’s going to happen to La’an and Erica?! Maybe their impulsivity will get them killed. Maybe they’ll grow out of hijinks and transfer. We just don’t know! For that reason, Strange New Worlds season 4 does feel a little bit like a bucket list. It’s a good thing that bucket lists tend to be a whole lotta fun.

(featured image: Jan Thijs/Paramount+)

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