Warning! The Following Contains SPOILERS from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 6, “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.”
James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) bravely stares down the old adage, “Be careful what you wish for,” in one of the best episodes of the critically maligned third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Kirk is forced to sit in the captain’s chair when the USS Farfagut’s commander is injured. Plus, the pressure mounts even more. In addition to saving the lives of his own crew, Kirk must rescue the USS Enterprise after its encounter with a group of human scavengers who've turned into what was feared to be Asaasllich, Destroyer of Worlds, among other ominous names, before the truth was revealed at the end of the episode.
Episode 6 is a huge shift in the third season of Strange New Worlds, particularly where the story arc of not only Kirk is concerned but also Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). Valerie Weiss was tasked with helming the must-see episode, and she spoke about her approach during an interview via TrekMovie.com. The director said:
“One of the first things I did was say to the writers, 'Could we make sure that Pike’s journey mirrors Kirk’s similarly?' Just like Kirk is at the beginning of his career, maybe Pike is faltering. He’s questioning. And so that moment where he says, ‘Turn the phasers to kill’ was what we came up with to show that Pike is maybe having, for the first time, some questionable judgment as a captain.”
Weiss, who also directed the Strange New Worlds season 2 episode “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” continued by saying in the same sit-down:
“So, that was fantastic in terms of really showing they’re both going through something. And I feel like that was important for us to really care which ship we were on and be able to delineate the different ships. And then when they finally come together, intercutting those scenes of discovering that these life forms were human was something that I decided directorially I wanted to do, was to intercut those to really tie Kirk to Pike and show two sides of the same coin, the veteran captain and a newbie.”
Trekkies already know the fate of Captain Christopher Pike and James T. Kirk. Strange New Worlds has significantly leaned into the mythos by even letting Pike see his fate ahead of time, which creates a tremendous amount of tension. Now, do you think that SNW will be faithful to Pike’s fate? Kirks? Or will SNW rewrite the history books, which could mean Pike escapes the unthinkable? Share your thoughts and comments on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!