⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: If you haven’t watched Season 4, Episode 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds yet, turn back now! This review breaks down the entire episode, plot twists, psychological hallucinations, and major spoilers from start to finish.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds continues to march on. According to TrekMovie, this latest episode, “Human Best Friend,” is described as a “romp.” The official synopsis sets the stage: Shore leave on a pleasure planet turns dangerous when the crew’s promised escape stops behaving like fun.
I always love these episodes where we get to see the characters let their hair down a little bit—and I’m sure the actors enjoy stretching those muscles, too. On a show like Strange New Worlds, where weird is baked into the DNA, it’s just another day at the office.
The Enterprise Meets The Hangover
The episode opens with interspersed log entries of Ortega and Scotty, both lamenting that they are overworked. It’s been clear since “Valles Marineris” that a recurring plot thread this season is the sharp banter between the two. Seeking relief, Pike and Number One order an alpha-shift shore leave on Cessnar Grant—a resort planet with an “intoxicating atmosphere.” (Personally, I’m glad they didn’t roll out Risa again.)
The effects of the planet’s atmosphere kick in almost immediately after landing. Ortegas wakes up to a scenario straight out of The Hangover: her hand is stuck in a cast, and Scotty is wandering around drunk in a Mugatu costume. A resort salesman named Dendru arrives to deliver a message for Pike, noting that the atmosphere’s effects hit tense people a lot harder.
What follows is a delightfully frantic scavenger hunt as Ortegas and Scotty retrace their steps. They find Spock intoxicated and experiencing visions of playing board games with Kirk—which he initially speculates is a remnant of a Vulcan mind meld, though he eventually realizes he’s actually seeing the real James T. Kirk, who was also vacationing on the planet. They track down Uhura (who is blissfully stoned and claiming Pike is on “his own journey”), find Una singing “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in Klingon in a bar, and discover M’Benga tending bar badly and serving drinks that are reassuringly green, harkening back to both TOS and TNG.
Eventually, the crew discovers a ticking time bomb planted in a shuttle. Through a classic game of telephone and some frantic teamwork, Spock, Ortegas, and Scotty manage to avert disaster just as the diplomatic delegation arrives.
My take
OK, so this episode is basically The Enterprise Meets The Hangover. Within a few minutes, it’s clear this is going to be an exercise in piecing together a chaotic night before. It’s undeniably fun to see the actors playing slightly out of character without resorting to the tired “evil mirror universe counterpart” trope.
Just as things start to get a little too screwball, the writers manage to rein it back in. It’s great to see the friction between Ortegas and Scotty resolved, and we get some genuinely insightful character work: Ortegas went to the Academy to become an engineer, couldn’t cut it, and became a pilot, while Scotty crashed multiple shuttles before finding his home in engineering.
However, I do feel like this kind of lightweight fun could’ve been deployed in a more expansive format. Like a lot of fans, I lament the fact that we only get 10-episode seasons nowadays. In a traditional 26-episode season, an outing like “Human Best Friend” is a fantastic palette cleanser. In an abbreviated final stretch, every hour of real estate counts.
On the bright side, seeing contemporary slang like “dude” dropped on Star Trek always lightens the mood. Strange New Worlds continues to prove it can honor lore without taking itself too seriously. And for longtime fans, the further establishment of the legendary friendship between Spock and Kirk is worth the price of admission alone.
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars. A fun, messy romp that leans hard into comedy, anchored by great character beats.
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