History Heartwarming / StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds

** Throughout the final conversation the Orion Captain slowly lets his walls down. First when he hears that in the future Orions are not seen as just pirates, with his brow no longer furrowed. Then he gets a bit disbelieving that there is an Orion in starfleet... until Mariner reveals Tendi's Orion title, something no one in Star Fleet would know. When they known her great grandmother's name he becomes utterly shocked. And finally Pike telling him that he will go down as an Orion Scientist who discovered the array... as stated above he is nearly tearing up.

* After finding her purpose a orchestrating the grand finale song, Uhura is the happiest that she's been seen so far in the series.

** When the finale hits the line "Cause we work better all together", Jim Kirk points to Sam, who smiles back. For all their quarreling, they're still brothers.

** On La'an's side, as her chat with Una in the lounge at the end shows, while she was hurt by being turned down by Kirk, he is still glad to have taken that chance and is not opposed to taking chances again, that despite this time not turning out the way she would have liked, it is not putting her off putting herself emotionally at risk like that again. The heart of her song was about being uncertain of taking that risk, and here she is, saying that despite it not working out like she'd wanted, the risk was worth it and would be again.

* For about a quarter of the episode, Una has thought that Boimler has a pin-up poster of her in his bunk. Before they depart the ''Enterprise'', revealed that it's a recruitment poster, bearing the phrase "Ad astra per aspera"; Una tears up as she realizes that, despite Starfleet trying to jail her months earlier, both she and that phrase become iconic enough to inspire Boimler, and countless others, to join Starfleet.

** On a meta note, the ship's computer voice sounds more than a little bit like Majel Barrett, who voiced many of the ships' computers throughout the Berman-era Trek shows.

!!Meta
* For fans of the older Treks, seeing the title sequence of the ''Enterprise'' flying through space as it explores the galaxy with the "Coming the Season" promo promising it to be the "different adventure per episode" format. It really invokes Creator/GeneRoddenberry's idea of the original series about the beauty and endless possibilities of space travel.
* The reveal that Lt. ''Samuel'' Kirk, James T. Kirk's brother, has joined the ''Enterprise'' as a Science Officer, especially when it's revealed that his brother will be joining the cast in season 2.
* At ''Star Trek Celebration'' at Las Vegas, Creator/ZacharyQuinto talked about his experiences playing Spock in the Kelvin Timeline films before he was unexpectedly joined on stage by Creator/EthanPeck, the current Spock. Quinto spoke nothing but high praise for Peck's take on the iconic Vulcan.

* After finding her purpose a orchestrating the grand finale song, Uhura is the happiest that she's been seen so far in the series.

* When the finale hits the line "Cause we work better all together", Jim Kirk points to Sam, who smiles back. For all their quarreling, they're still brothers.

* After La'an brings Neena a copy of the Starfleet Uniform Code of Justice, Neena susses out that La'an is not only afraid that a personal log of hers is what exposed Una, but that La'an is also afraid that her own heritage of genetic engineering (as well as her ancestor being a vile dictator) might make her potentially dangerous. Neena then takes a moment to gently reassure La'an that neither of these things are true, which makes the ordinarily stoic La'an visibly emotional.
--> '''Neena''': There is nothing wrong with you, Lieutenant. No hidden monster inside.

--> '''Neena''': But I do. It's how they make us feel: they look down at us for so long that we begin to look down at ourselves. Genetics is not destiny, despite what you may have been taught. The fear you have of yourself, it's not your own. It was drilled into you. You're not born a monster: you were just born with a capacity for actions, good or ill. Just like the rest of us. In any case, it takes six months at a minimum after a request from a ''boatload'' of admirals to subpoena a personal log. They haven't had nearly that long. I guarantee you are not the person who leaked Una's true identity to Starfleet.

* ''TOS'' fans get an unexpected treat when the ''Enterprise'' crew is looking for survivors, and instead get caught in an elaborate trap meant for the Gorn. Said trap was set by none other than '''Montgomery Scott''' himself, and despite the perils he faces, is nothing but helpful to the crew and ends up on the ''Enterprise''--the same ship he's destined to take care of in a few years. And the same ship that in less in a decade Scotty will [[BeserkButton throw hands over]] any time she is insulted, as a group of Klingons will [[Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles learn]].

* ''TOS'' fans get an unexpected treat when the ''Enterprise'' crew is looking for survivors, and instead get caught in an elaborate trap meant for the Gorn. Said trap was set by none other than '''Montgomery Scott''' himself, and despite the perils he faces, is nothing but helpful to the crew and ends up on the ''Enterprise''--the same ship he's destined to take care of in a few years.

* Ransom inadvertently reveals to Boimler than Mariner had volunteered and pestered to go on the mission to the portal rather than it just being chance and a pain as she'd been telling him until then.

[[folder:Hegemony]]