Rob Reviews Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 4.8 Orders of Magnitude

Here is the official trailer for this week’s episode kind of courtesy of the Star Trek Instagram account:

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It sounds like Captain Pike is away in this episode, and James T. Kirk is somehow, inexplicably, left in charge of the Enterprise. Kirk goes aboard to see La’An, while Pike leads a landing party down into a cave system where their communicators are completely blocked.

Meanwhile, a shuttle carrying Admiral Reeger comes aboard. La’An is starstruck by him, and it’s clear he is something of a living legend in Starfleet. Reeger has arrived to take command of the Enterprise in order to pursue an undetectable alien craft. Because the energy trail is dissipating fast, time is of the essence, which is why he refuses to wait for Pike and the landing party to return.

Kirk meets with Reeger and learns there is a complicated history between their families; Kirk’s father, George, once served as first officer on the U.S.S. Constitution under Reeger. According to Reeger, George was fireman-like and diplomatic, but “wasn’t much of a soldier” and “never got out of his own way.” Kirk is visibly stunned by this harsh assessment.

In the Cave and On the Bridge

Back in the cave, the landing party encounters weapons and communication arrays from various species. Pike realizes it’s a trap, but before they can escape, they are ambushed by Andorians. (As an aside: I really don’t love how the franchise has treated Vulcans over the last 20 years, consistently writing them as condescending pricks. A’Sha is unfortunately no exception here.)

Up on the Enterprise, Jim checks in with his brother, Sam. Sam carries a lot of resentment toward their father for always being away during their childhood. However, Sam notes that being a coward or afraid of battle never sounded like their dad, suggesting that M’Benga also served on the Constitution alongside George.

Reeger orders a “silent torpedo” fired at the invisible ship. When the bridge crew hesitates and argues over the order, they lose the ship’s trail. Enraged, Reeger invokes General Order 24, stating he will destroy the entire inhabited surface of the planet below. When Jim protests, he is summarily dismissed from the bridge.

Escalating Tensions

Kirk learns that Reeger had a wife and two daughters who were killed on a planet attacked by this exact type of invisible ship—giving the whole situation heavy shades of The Next Generation episode “The Wounded.” Jim meets with M’Benga to explore the possibility of removing Reeger from command and asks about his father’s record. M’Benga notes that some whisper Reeger was promoted to Admiral simply to get him off a starship, advising Jim to proceed with caution.

Down in the cave, Pike attempts to negotiate with the Andorian leader, only to have the Andorian stab A’Sha.

Back on the bridge, Reeger prepares to fire on the planet, demanding that auxiliary power be routed through the warp engines to make the weapons more powerful. Kirk volunteers to handle the modifications himself, clearly intending to sabotage them. Meanwhile, in the cave, a wounded A’Sha is in bad shape. Disobeying orders, Uhura offers to help the Andorians modify their communications equipment in exchange for medical help for A’Sha.

Mutiny and Bluffing

Reeger catches Kirk attempting to send a distress signal to Starfleet Command asking for permission to relieve him of command. When Kirk confronts Reeger, pointing out that his mission is a personal vendetta born from grief, it starts to feel a lot like the climax of the 2009 Star Trek reboot. Reeger sends Kirk to the brig and promotes Spock to first officer.

On the way down, Kirk makes his position clear to La’An. While she expresses reservations, she acknowledges that orders are orders. Kirk manages to disarm her and stuns her.

Pike pleads his case to the Andorian leader, who gives his word that once his people are off the planet, he won’t hurt the landing party. With sensors disabled, Sam and Jim confer so Jim can sneak to engineering and disable the phasers. Sam reveals that letters from their father indicated George was actually the acting captain of the Constitution. Something doesn’t add up.

M’Benga finds Jim and drops another bombshell: Reeger was recovering from surgery during the famous battle of the Klingon ships, yet somehow still claimed command credit.

The Climax

In the cave, the Andorian captain reveals to Uhura that he was formerly Starfleet before being kicked out for insubordination. He activates a sonic noise device that temporarily incapacitates the Andorians, allowing Uhura to grab a phaser rifle.

Kirk attempts to disable the phasers in engineering, gets injured, is recaptured by a recovering La’An, and is brought back to Reeger. Meanwhile, Uhura fights her way through the caves and ultimately kills the Andorian leader, securing the safety of the landing party.

Back on the bridge, the crew is second-guessing the Admiral as Kirk reveals that be rigged the ship so firing the phasers could potentially destroy the Enterprise itself. When Kirk refuses to give Reeger the firing codes, Reeger attacks him physically. Spock tries to intervene, warning that “violence will only galvanize his resolve.”

At gunpoint, Jim drops the hammer: his father commanded the Constitution against the Klingon starships, and it was Reeger’s medical absence and insecurity that ruined George’s career. Reeger barks a Jack Nicholson-esque “You’re damn right!” reminiscent of A Few Good Men.

M’Benga steps in as Chief Medical Officer to officially declare Reeger unfit for command. When Reeger lunges for tactical, La’An stuns him cold.

Aftermath

With the crisis averted, Jim casually admits to Spock that he was bluffing about destroying the ship the whole time. In Pike’s ready room, M’Benga takes the official fall, claiming he drugged Reeger. But in sickbay, Kirk admits to M’Benga that he was the one who spiked the coffee. M’Benga explains that George Kirk himself asked that the truth about the Constitution never come out to protect others. Christine Chapel is furious that M’Benga is so willing to sacrifice his career.

As Sam and Jim walk the corridors of the Enterprise together, they share some great brotherly banter, noting that their father never had a bad word to say about Starfleet despite how it treated him. To cap it all off, Captain Pike officially promotes Uhura to Lieutenant Junior Grade.

Final Thoughts

This is another banger of an episode from Strange New Worlds. My only real complaint is that it felt a bit too derivative of earlier franchise elements and A Few Good Men. But I suppose that’s just an occupational hazard of getting older and having watched too many TV shows and movies.

It is amazing how much story these writers can pack into one hour of television when they really try. Several episodes of this series feel more like mini-movies, and this was no exception. Highly recommended—easily among the top two episodes of the season.

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