I admit to giving less-than-glowing reviews of Strange New Worlds season 3 so far. Believe it or not, though, I sit down to watch each episode actively hoping to love it. This week, my hopes were finally realized with a tight, compelling drama in “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail.”
This episode follows Acting Captain James T. Kirk after the USS Farragut is severely damaged by a mysterious and implacable scavenger ship. The Enterprise comes to the Farragut’s aid, but amid preparations to evacuate the damaged ship (including Captain V’Rel), the Enterprise is captured and “devoured” by the scavenger ship.
At this point, Kirk is left in command of the Farragut, with an away team from the Enterprise there to help him. That away team, of course, consists of members of Kirk’s future crew—Spock, Uhura, Scotty, and Chapel. What follows is a riveting story about Kirk finding the confidence to lead in his own way and ultimately rescuing the Enterprise.
The episode ends with a “win” of sorts, but it is bittersweet. They discover the massive scavenger ship was crewed by the descendants of a Human space mission from pre-warp Earth. We are left to ponder, then, how people could become so vicious, and what it means that we were so quick to root for an enemy’s defeat.
Overall, this episode felt like a breath of fresh air. It felt like Star Trek, not because of callbacks (though there were many), but because of the story and how it was told through character interactions. The twist at the end also offered a conundrum to sit with, like many great Star Treks of the past.
From “The City on the Edge of Forever” to “In the Pale Moonlight” to even “Tuvix,” uneasy endings are a Star Trek staple. I wouldn’t say that “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” offers quite as deep a moral quandary as those episodes, but it definitely adds extra weight to an episode that could have just been thrilling as a “first mission” for Kirk and his future crew.
Speaking of which, I doubt Uhura or Scotty would have Kirk’s back at this point the way they do in the original Star Trek or its subsequent movies, but here we see the spark of Kirk’s ingenuity and commitment that will ultimately engender that loyalty down the line. We also got Spock and Kirk’s first heart-to-heart scene, which is so thematically vital to the original Star Trek.
Prequels are tough, especially when there are as many pre-existing characters as Strange New Worlds has. Many times, the temptation is to just make cute references and set-ups that can feel extremely hokey. (SNW gives in to this temptation a lot.) At its best, though, a prequel can show the inception of themes and ideas that will flourish in the “future” story.
Thankfully, “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” falls into this second category of prequel. Even though Paul Wesley and Ethan Peck have never really felt like Kirk and Spock for me, this episode did a lot to make me believe that they could one day become that duo. I genuinely got goosebumps during their “pep talk” in the Farragut conference room.
Strange New Worlds needs to make more episodes like this. Double down on the ethical quandaries. Have studies of characters that go beyond their love lives. Realize that drama and adventure do not need to equate to horror and gore. This episode has done it, and I believe it can be done again.
(As a complete aside, there was also a pre-warp planet that Kirk & Co. saved from the scavengers in this episode, named “Sullivan’s Planet.” For entirely self-centered reasons, I just thought that was a really good name for a planet!)