The sixth episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was easily its darkest yet. The main focus was on Chancellor Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) needing help when a group of cadets was taken captive by the murderous Furies. That forced her to accept aid from pirate Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti). Speaking to Collider, the two actors discussed the strange dynamic they share, which puts a new spin on love-hate relationships. Giamatti said:
"I kept being surprised at how much I wanted to get close to her, kind of get right up on her, and I kept thinking, 'Why am I doing this? Why am I getting so strangely like…?' And at that point, there were certain shots that we did, I don't think it's in it, where I was almost kind of resting my head on her, and it was like, 'What am I doing?' It was interesting because I thought, 'What does he really want out of this?' It was odd."
Hunter added:
"Well, I always thought that maybe I was going to kiss him. I thought there might be a kiss, and I thought, 'I cannot betray my crew.' Because it was so bizarre! It was so bizarre. It came out of nowhere."
This dynamic has been present since the Starfleet Academy pilot, and it only intensified in this episode. Giamitti noted, “There was an odd kind of attraction,” with Hunter saying, “I was like, 'Wow, why didn't I obey that? I wish I had.' That would have been really horrible to obey it. Giamatti responded with one word: “Interesting.”
Sadly, Ake learned the hard way that dealing with the Devil never ends well. It turned out Nus had orchestrated this entire situation to draw attention away from a Starfleet base so he could raid it for hidden technology. The episode ended with him delivering a dark threat to Ake, promising more blood to come.
Hunter acknowledged again how charged things were between the pair, and she said, “I had terrible conflicts.” Giamatti summarized it by saying, "Very strange. There was a lot of that stuff. The physical thing where I kept wanting to get on her was weird. I was like, 'Why am I doing this?' It was interesting."
It’s not the first time things have gotten so tight between heroes and villains on Star Trek: note the intriguing Gul Dukat/Kira Nerys dynamic on Deep Space Nine. Obviously, there’s no way Ake would ever get with this psychotic murderer, but this strange twist on their animosity only charges Starfleet Academy’s clashes.
What do you think of Nus and Nahla's "odd kind of attraction?" Do you agree with Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti's assessment? Share your thoughts and comments with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages. And Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is streaming on Paramount+.