Season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds definitely lived up to its title. This is the season in which the franchise truly started taking chances: a musical episode, a crossover with an animated series, and more Vulcan zaniness when T’Pring’s family visits the Enterprise. Of course, the show still stuck the landing with some good old-fashioned Trek storytelling, including a gripping 23rd-century courtroom drama.
The biggest criticism SNW—and all streaming Trek—gets is that the seasons are simply too short. You just can’t get the same depth of character development in 10 episodes that you used to get in 26, or even 30 like TOS had back in the day. The one-year wait between seasons feels heavy when you burn through a ten-episode block in a flash, though SNW does a commendable job of balancing standalone episodic stories with continuing plot threads across the board.
Without further, here are my rankings, last to best, of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season 2:
10. Among the Lotus Eaters – I could have done without the heavy-handed Odyssey references, but this episode did build upon some Pike backstory dating all the way back to the original Trek pilot, “The Cage.”
9. Lost in Translation – For the life of me, I just don’t remember much of this episode. Non-memorable equals bad.
8. The Broken Circle – The Season 2 premiere, which brings La’An back into the fold. By no means is this a bad episode; it just doesn’t stack up well against some of the others.
7. Charades – More Vulcan comedy and family dynamics when T’Pring visits the Enterprise. This has already become a bit of an SNW trope, for better or worse.
6. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – It’s hard to go wrong with time travel in Star Trek, but this episode just misses the mark for me. That said, it features major character development for La’An and introduces the fascinating idea of “anchor moments” in the timeline.
5. Under the Cloak of War – An encounter with a Klingon defector brings profound new insight to Dr. M’Benga’s backstory and wartime trauma.
4. Ad Astra per Aspera – Number One’s Starfleet career is at stake in a phenomenal, classic Star Trek courtroom drama.
3. Subspace Rhapsody – SNW’s biggest risk to date. A space anomaly forces the Enterprise crew to break into full-blown musical numbers.
2. Hegemony – The Enterprise faces the Gorn once again in a tense season finale. I know it’s good storytelling when an old Trek fan like myself can still watch and say, “How on earth are they going to get out of this?”
1. Those Old Scientists – easily the most fun Star Trek episode since DS9’s “Trials and Tribble-ations.” Lower Decks is already a love letter to the franchise, so seeing Boimler and Mariner experience genuine hero worship toward Pike’s Enterprise—while Pike’s crew shows reverence for Archer’s NX-01 crew—was incredible. But the absolute best part? Boimler’s quick, blink-and-you-miss-it ad-libbed “Riker!” cry when he straddles the horse saddle in Pike’s quarters. Pure perfection.
A lot of fans rejected “Subspace Rhapsody” for being a bridge too far, but if a franchise like Star Trek can’t take a chance after 60 years, when can they? In hindsight, Season 2 might just be the strongest run for SNW yet, right alongside Season 1
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