“Once La’An a Time” brings Star Trek: Strange New Worlds back to the Elysian Kingdom, the storybook world introduced in season 1. With La’An Noonien Singh at the center, the playful fairy-tale setting becomes a way to explore the emotions she has spent years keeping buried.
Behind the castles, romance, and magical transformations is a surprisingly personal story. The Elysian Kingdom forces La’An to confront her softer side, her hope for connection, and her desire to belong without constantly having to prove herself.
What begins as a deliberately over-the-top fairy tale ultimately becomes a story about La’An learning that life can be about more than simply surviving.
1. Storytelling: The fantasy has a point
The fantasy elements work best when they turn La’An’s inner struggle into something she can confront. After arriving in the Elysian Kingdom, La’An comes face-to-face with Princess Thalia, her own fairy-tale doppelganger who represents the more vulnerable, softer side of herself that she has spent years pushing away.
Queen Neve’s spell takes that conflict literally, forcing La’An to duel the part of herself she has rejected. Beneath the fairy-tale spectacle, the fight asks whether La’An’s discipline and need for control have also kept her from allowing herself to be vulnerable.
The larger conflict keeps the episode moving without losing that emotional focus. Queen Neve eventually transforms into the fire-breathing dragon threatening the kingdom, while Sir Amand Rauth, Captain Pike’s Elysian counterpart, helps stop her. The dragon becomes more than a typical fairy-tale obstacle, representing the destructive side of fear when it is buried instead of confronted.
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