Red alert! This article contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
Who knew that the time-honored Starfleet mission statement to "Boldly go where no one has gone before..." would actually refer to the uncharted waters of the comedy genre? "Star Trek" has traditionally made a meal out of keeping viewers on their toes, never quite allowing anyone to settle into a familiar storytelling rhythm or routine. Not until season 3 of "Strange New Worlds," however, have we seen
a creative team bend the limits of this approach to see if it can actually break. These last few weeks alone, we've seen the spin-off/prequel series attempt a horror-tinged zombie apocalypse, an homage to existentialist movies like "Event Horizon" and "Prometheus," a murder-mystery hour full of Holodeck hijinks, and even a documentary riff that placed a target squarely on the franchise's own foundational ideas.
Little did we know that they were saving the absolute funniest episode for their latest, using another gut-busting storyline from season 2 as a jumping-off point for this (sort of) sequel. Fans will undoubtedly remember the fish-out-of-water shenanigans of "Charades." In that rom-com plot with a sci-fi twist, Spock (Ethan Peck) is anxiously awaiting a reunion with his Vulcan fiancée T'Pring (Gia Sandhu), who's slated to arrive with her parents for a visit of great cultural import. The timing couldn't possibly be worse, naturally, when a freak shuttle incident (and a little misunderstanding by some well-intentioned aliens) transforms our normally half-human, half-Vulcan Science Officer into a version himself sans pointy ears and alien DNA on the eve of their dinner date. Whoops.
Season 3's "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans" returns to this well in full comic force (farce?), reusing the human/Vulcan DNA cure to reverse-engineer a situation where Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and his bridge crew need to go undercover in Vulcan disguise for an away mission. The mission goes spectacularly well, for once, until they realize they're unable to return to their human forms. Cue several awkward moments of relationship drama, an alarmingly trigger-happy La'an (Christina Chong), and even a Patton Oswalt guest appearance as the most seductive Vulcan you'll ever see, all of which adds up to the funniest episode of "Strange New Worlds" yet.
Read more: The 10 Most Powerful Star Trek Ships, Ranked
Strange New Worlds Goes Full Comedy For The First Time In Season 3
Leave it to "Strange New Worlds" to take one of the most storied elements in all of "Star Trek" lore -- the ever-wise and emotionally-regulated Vulcans -- and spend an entire episode lampooning everything inherently goofy about these aliens. There's no denying the vast differences between the pointy-eared people and us imperfect humans, and the writers don't even attempt otherwise. The mission to a nearby planet, host to a population of pre-Warp individuals, goes more smoothly and conflict-free than any we've ever seen in the franchise yet ... to the extent that we don't even need to actually see this for ourselves. Instead, we stick with the perspective of those manning their positions on the Enterprise while the away team beams out and back in the blink of an eye. Yet any "superior" species is just begging to be taken down a peg or two, and "Strange New Worlds" delivers in thoroughly raucous fashion.
For the first time in season 3, the episode devotes itself to being a straightforward comedy. The humor initially comes from Spock's reactions alone, clearly struggling to suppress his discomfort over seeing his closest friends and coworkers experience life through Vulcan eyes. When they're unable to transform back and return to work as "normal," well, we quickly see how much of an impediment it can be to process the world through logic alone. Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano) almost immediately ends up at odds with this blunter and much less empathetic version of the Enterprise Captain, while Spock encounters similar resistance with his ex-lover Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), who abruptly decides to cut off all contact (platonic and romantic) with others in the name of working more efficiently. Even Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) turns into the most manipulative and toxic version of herself, forcing her own crush Beto (Mynor Luken) to essentially rewrite his own programming to serve her Vulcan needs.
All of this is played for barrels of laughs and humor, a tonal high-wire act that pays off substantially when the real star of the show finally arrives: Patton Oswalt's Vulcan named, incredibly enough, Doug.
Patton Oswalt Understands The Assignment As The Vulcan Doug In Strange New Worlds
Just in case anyone thought "Strange New Worlds" was being too subtle with its sense of humor this week, the creative team made sure to recruit the services of literal comedian and world-famous actor (and also "Star Trek" veteran) Patton Oswalt to provide arguably the most hilarious subplot to the episode. While everyone else is trying their best to keep the Enterprise running despite the sudden influx of disruptive Vulcans, Number One Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) comes up with a desperate solution involving a certain figure from her past. That turns out to be a spiritualist and an expert in katras ... who also happens to be Una's ex from a previous (and, from the sound of it, quite torrid) romantic entanglement.
The reveal that this is a Vulcan named Doug and played by Oswalt, of all the potential cameos they could've gone with, only makes this feel all the sillier (complimentary). And while the novelty factor of a short, nerdy guy apparently fueling all this unbridled lust in Una could've easily worn thin, the fact that Oswalt commits to this performance so unabashedly helps keep the laughs rolling. For some, this entire sequence could've come across as the show finally jumping the shark. But for everyone else on this episode's wavelength, spending all this precious screen time on several absurd scenarios -- like Marie flipping out on Captain Pike and the Vulcan admiral in charge of her return to Starfleet service, or Scotty (Martin Quinn) and Kirk (Paul Wesley) conspiring to literally shock the war-mongering La'an into submission, or Spock wryly instructing Doug in the fine art of being a human throughout a prolonged post-credits tag -- only feels like the latest instance of an ambitious room full of talented writers deciding to go for broke.
Season 3 of "Strange New Worlds" continues to operate on the highest level, and you can catch new episodes streaming on Paramount+ every Thursday.
If you're looking for the easiest way to keep up with all the major movie and TV news, why not sign up to our free newsletter?
Read the original article on SlashFilm.
