It's been some time since the end of last season and, in his Captain's Log, Captain Christopher Pike reveals that the Enterprise has returned to Starbase One for updates and to give the crew some much needed downtime. However, Pike has more pressing concerns - Una Chin-Riley, his Number One, is still in prison for breaking the No Transhumanism Allowed rule. Una seems willing to suffer for her failure, but Pike is not willing to let his precious second-in-command rot in jail. He has a plan, but he has to go on a brief shore leave himself to find that help and hope they are willing to assist him! In that case, he decides to leave Spock as acting captain of the Enterprise. Spock is worried — half the crew is on leave, they haven't replaced poor Hemmer, La'an's still off on her personal mission, and we already explained what happened to Una. Pike is sure Spock can handle this, but Spock can't help but utter "Famous Last Words". Pike reassures him one last time before declaring he'll be back in three days.
Unfortunately, Spock is very stressed and it hasn't been that long. Dr. M'Benga notes that Spock unleashing his emotions while on the Peregrine has put them on the forefront and maybe he should live with it, something Spock doesn't want. Instead, M'Benga gives him an instrument, a Vulcan lyre, to play to calm him down, which works ... until Nurse Chapel arrives, which ramps up his blood pressure again. As Spock leaves, Chapel gives M'Benga news of her own — she's thinking of joining a special training program on Vulcan, but it's only two months, so he won't have to replace her. On the bridge, the upgrade team is fighting with the bridge crew — Ortegas has modified the control scheme on the helm to be inverted while Uhura doesn't want the comms to go down just in case something comes up. And, to her surprise, it does! Uhura goes to Spock with what she revealed — with Spock revealing that Uhura's now an ensign — and it's grim, as it's from the missing La'an.
Admiral April denies Spock's request, despite the message requiring the Enterprise at Cajitar 4 to stop anti-Federation tactics. April reminds Spock that since the war with the Klingons, Cajitar IV is governed by a painstakingly negotiated treaty, as it's a highly valuable dilithium mining colony and it's on the edge of Klingon space. But right now, it's the Klingons' turn to run the joint, and they'll just have to wait for next month. Spock gathers the bridge crew and others to discuss what they know. However, Spock is not willing to let La'an go without aid: they're going to steal the Enterprise.
The bridge crew simulate a coolant leak to get people to evacuate. However, Commander Pelia, who was part of the crew doing inspections and upgrades, smells a rat and goes up to the bridge. There, she needles Spock and the others at their poor attempt to steal the ship and gets Ortegas to vent plasma from the nacelles. This works, allowing the ship to leave Starbase One. Thanks to her clues, Uhura susses out that Pelia is a Lanthanite as they head for Cajitar IV.
On Cajitar IV, La’an has drunk a Klingon under the table and convinces a female Klingon on a meeting with another before she spots M’Benga. Reunited with her old crew, she gives them the lowdown: her search for Oriana’s parents led them to Cajitar IV, which saw a massive economic boom due to the Federation-Klingon War. However, with the war over, money’s down. Thus, the Broken Circle, a cabal of ex-Federation and Klingon soldiers, are seeking to reignite the war to line their pockets. Oriana’s parents were caught in this mess as one of the mines exploded and they were affected with ion radiation — more common with photon torpedoes than dilithium. Spock splits the group up; M’Benga and Chapel help the injured while he, La’an and Uhura meet up with La’an’s contact.
Chapel and M'Benga are reunited with Oriana, who is a lot happier than she was back when she was on the Peregrine. As the two tend to her parents, they're approached by a Klingon and a group of armed humans, who press gang the two doctors. Elsewhere, La'an meets with her contact, who wishes to buy a bunch of Federation phaser weapons, but La'an doesn't have the number he wants. She demands double payment for it, but when the Klingon balks, she threatens to blow them all up with an anti-matter detonator. The Klingon is impressed and agrees. With the proof they need, Spock wants to return to the Enterprise to discuss their next plan of attack, but Chief Jay (Jay? Where's Kyle?) says he can't find them. Spock requests La'an stay on the planet and keep searching while he and Uhura return.
It turns out the two are in the mines, where a Federation-looking starship is in the distance. They’re brought to the ship’s sickbay to tend to the Klingons burned by the ion radiation. M’Benga notes that their redundancies are allowing them to recover faster as he tends to them. The doctor reveals that he participated in the war as well and Chapel notes that he is really not feeling well as his PTSD hits. He’s not, but he’ll face it head on, they have to warn Spock and the others. Using hyposprays loaded with a special "juice", the two are given a boost to fight through the Klingons. Though Chapel has to stop M’Benga from nearly killing him, a Klingon reveals that the Broken Circle is aiming to use this ship and various Federation and Klingon weapons to restart the war as well as where the ship’s transponder is. Chapel holds off the attackers so M’Benga can rewire the transponder to send Morse code before they can escape. The serum starts to wear off, leading to Chapel getting pummeled, but M’Benga makes the save and Chapel locks the airlock doors behind them. However, they are too late: the ship is taking off.
As the doctors try to figure out how to escape, La’an still can’t find them… until the ship busts out of the ground and rockets towards space. At the same time, a Klingon D-7 arrives over the planet as the Enterprise hides in the planet’s ice crystal rings. Then, they detect the new ship. Navigator Mitchell tentatively notes it’s a Crossfield-class… as well as a coded message: "Enterprise, destroy this ship". As the Enterprise chases the other ship, the doctors find pieces of EV suits and plan to launch out in hopes their friends can pick them up. As they are Thrown Out the Airlock, Spock reluctantly orders the ship destroyed. Fearing his friends dead at his hands, he’s relieved they are found and orders them beamed up.
However, the harshness of space isn’t kind and Spock must perform CPR on Chapel, which further muddles his human emotions. Even worse, the Klingon Captain is hailing them and wants answers. He doesn’t believe that Spock and the others stopped another war and the Vulcan decides to meet him face to face over bloodwine. The parlay works and the two bond over Klingon booze. Pelia talks to Spock and reveals she knows a few things about his mother and that she has decided to transfer to the ship - it’s certainly not a boring place to be. Oriana and La’an meet one more time and, with her personal mission done, La’an decides to return as well.
Later, Admiral April is very upset that Spock broke direct orders, despite saving the peace. However, he realizes Spock is nursing a wicked hangover and lets that be his punishment and next time - and there better not be - it’s his commission. Spock visits Chapel in sickbay, confused by his emotions despite M’Benga reassuring him. In Starbase One, Commodore Tafune tells April that he treated Spock lightly. He agrees, but points out Spock prevented a potential war on two fronts and they need good men like him as his viewscreen alerts him to an incoming Gorn attack ship…
The episode ends with a dedication to the late Nichelle Nichols.
Tropes:
- Art Evolution: Klingon make-up is modified once more, leaning towards the design of the Next Generation era with less alterations on the face but with a more bulbous and bizarre forehead and hair designs that feel like a blend of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek Into Darkness.
- Bash Brothers: In a rare example of the medics doing the bashing, M'Benga and Chapel give themselves injections that allow them to go toe-to-toe with Klingons in hand-to-hand fighting.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: M'Benga says "Fascinating" when Spock's heart rate rises in response to Chapel entering the room. She lampshades his use of it.
- Call-Forward:
- M'Benga gives Spock the Vulcan lyre that he would occasionally play in The Original Series as a means of stress relief.
- We see Spock's heart rate kick up when Chapel walks in the room, along with his reactions when he thinks she has died/has been resuscitated, hinting at the affection he shows her later in Amok Time while under the effects of the pon farr.
- Spock expresses discomfort with command, as he would frequently note to Kirk and McCoy during their time on the Enterprise.
- This wouldn't be the last time the Enterprise crew disobeyed orders, stole the ship and flew into a potential confrontation with the Klingons in order to save one of their own. Nor would it be the last time a conspiracy of rogue Klingon and Federation citizens worked together to try and reignite the war between the two powers.
- Admiral April asks Spock not to steal the Enterprise again. Spock of course does just that in "The Menagerie", again for the sake of a member of this crew.
- Spock invites the Klingon Commander to a round of blood wine to ease tensions. This was a similar, if slightly less successful, tactic used in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country with Romulan Ale.
- Character Catchphrase: The bridge crew needle Spock about a "go to warp" phrase. His initial offering is ... less than impressive.Spock: I would like the ship to go. Now.
- Connected All Along: Pelia mentions that she knows Spock's mother, though she decides to share how that's the case another time.
- Costume Evolution: Klingon armor resembles metal and leather outfits from the Next Generation era but with a more bronze tint and fabric baldrics that they had in the Original Series. The more gothic and medieval designs from Discovery are largely gone with only the metallic color being any indication of continuity.
- CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: Spock is forced to do this to revive Chapel when she and M'Benga return from being Thrown Out the Airlock. In a subversion, Spock doesn't do mouth-to-mouth, and when she comes to, she complains about how strong he was and she's put into Sickbay soon after with wraps around her chest, implying that he damaged her ribs in the process.
- Deadly Doctor: Dr. M'Benga apparently always carries around a serum that allows him to boost his and Chapel's strength, stamina, and speed so far as to allow them to beat the stuffing out of numerous Klingons.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: The music that Spock plays on his new lyre sounds like the BGM from the premiere episode's first scene on Vulcan.
- Disobeyed Orders, Not Punished: Yes, Spock steals the Enterprise, but he also prevents the Klingon War from reigniting. Admiral April decides that the Klingon-sized hangover Spock comes back with is punishment enough. Commodore Tafune lampshades that he let Spock off easy, but since he averted a two-front war, April is willing to cut him some slack.
- Do Wrong, Right: Commander Pelia's only criticism of the attempt to steal the Enterprise is that it's too transparent, so she tells the conspirators to simply vent the warp nacelles' plasma charge to more quickly prompt Starbase 1 to tell them to evacuate the dockyard. By the time Starbase 1 command would start asking questions, the Enterprise would already be escaping at warp.
- Drinking Contest: La'an successfully drinks a Klingon under the table. Keep in mind that, in DS9, bloodwine is so potent that Sisko and company had to be given injections so they wouldn't be immediately floored by the stuff. Later on, the Klingon captain is willing to forget the Federation's treaty violation because he is intrigued by a Vulcan willing to drink bloodwine.
- Everyone Knows Morse: M'Benga modified the transponder on the stolen ship to send out a signal in Morse code, knowing Uhura will recognize the pattern when Enterprise reads the transponder code.
- Evolving Credits: The opening sequence includes new exterior visuals of Enterprise, including her Deflector Shields repelling a bombardment of small asteroids.
- False Flag Operation: The Broken Circle have managed to gather enough Federation tech to build their own Federation ship — an ersatz Crossfield-class starship, to be precise — from the ground up, which they plan to use to attack the Klingons to reignite the war.
- A Father to His Men: Despite Una insisting Pike just leave the issue of her imprisonment be, he refuses to give up on her and takes leave to find the only defense counsel he thinks would be willing to fight for her.
- Franken-vehicle: Implied. The ship used in the False Flag Operation against the Klingon battlecruiser is identified based on its transponder as a Crossfield-class starship (e.g. USS Discovery) and has a Crossfield-style dual-ring saucer section, but also a ventrally mounted bridge like a Walker-class (USS Shenzhou) and a twin-boom after section and nacelles resembling an inverted NX-class, suggesting that the conspirators built it from several different salvaged wrecks. An enforced example, as the ship originally was going to be an NX-class, but budget constraints forced the reuse of sets from Star Trek: Discovery.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: The plot revolves around a dilithium mine shared between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, guarded by ex-Federation and -Klingon soldiers that have effectively become an organized crime gang, whose share of the profits has been significantly reduced by the reduction in tensions three years on from the war's end. They attempt to launch a false flag attack on a Klingon battlecruiser with a salvaged Starfleet ship in hopes of restarting the war. The Enterprise foils the attack and is able to convince the Klingons that the Federation wasn't involved.
- Hangover Sensitivity: After drinking too much bloodwine, Spock is visibly hung over, asking April to dress him down more quietly. Admiral April picks up on this, and admonishes Spock that the hangover is his penance for his disobedient antics... this time.
- Heroic BSoD: M’Benga is shown to suffer from PTSD from his time in the Federation-Klingon War.
- Hidden Depths: A Vulcan who's willing to indulge in bloodwine? The Klingon captain lampshades it in a toast."To the Vulcan who acts nothing like a Vulcan!"
- Hour of Power: M'Benga and Chapel inject themselves with a serum that briefly lets them overpower Klingons hand-to-hand.
- In Vino Veritas: The captain of the D-7 isn't willing to trust Spock until they share some bloodwine.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: While jacked up on the Super Serum, M'Benga beats up a Klingon to make him talk. Chapel has to verbally restrain him from killing the Klingon, which gets the Klingon talking.
- Jumped at the Call: Pelia is more than happy to join the Enterprise crew, because being Really 700 Years Old is boring and she wants adventure.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Una is willing to take a plea deal to resign her commission, citing the belief that you shouldn't pick a fight you don't think you can win. Pike counters that it was Starfleet that picked the fight by arresting her in the first place, so he's obligated to fight for her as hard as he can.
- Leitmotif: When the mystery ship on April's viewscreen is identified as a Gorn attack ship, their theme from last season plays.
- A Million Is a Statistic: We learn that the Federation death toll from the Klingon War seen in Star Trek: Discovery was 100 million people. The strongest impact we see is M'Benga's own trauma, unseen until this episode.
- My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: The biobed monitor indicates that Spock's heart rate increases when Chapel enters the room. M'Benga points this out to Chapel, who doesn't want to discuss it.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Spock holds off on firing on the stolen ship until the very last second, even risking war with the Klingons, because he isn't willing to doom Chapel and M'Benga until there's no other choice.
- Off-the-Shelf FX: In-Universe, the Broken Circle appeared to have found a derelict Starfleet ship and rebuilt it with other parts just enough to fly and armed with photon torpedoes as part of a False Flag Operation. Basically a large-scale Kit Bash. It can put on a good show with weapons fire but was otherwise quite fragile since it needed to serve a single purpose.
- Out of Focus: Despite ostensibly being the lead actor of the show, Pike (Anson Mount) barely appears. Same with Number One (Rebecca Romijn) and her "And Starring" credit.
- Previously on…: As with Star Trek: Discovery, the season opener is prefaced with "Last season on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds...". It also includes clips from season 2 of Discovery.
- Rank Up: Uhura has been promoted from cadet (in the first season) to ensign.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: At the time this episode was being shot, Anson Mount's wife had just had a baby, necessitating him spending a lot of time away from the set. As this was anticipated well in advance, the script was written with this in mind; Pike is absent for most of the episode, only appearing in a couple of scenes early on.
- Really 700 Years Old: Pelia is a Lanthanite, a species of long-lived Human Aliens who apparently lived on Earth among humans incognito until the 22nd century.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite Spock disobeying orders not to take the Enterprise out of Spacedock during the inspection, April lets him off the hook because he recognizes the Vulcan is one of the best officers in Starfleet. And with an impending war with the Gorn on the horizon, they need all the best officers they can get.
- Saved by Canon: It is a foregone conclusion that M'Benga and Chapel will survive being Thrown Out the Airlock, since they later appear in Star Trek: The Original Series.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: April forbids Spock from taking Enterprise to the Cajitar System. He does so anyway, figuring that the situation is dire enough to justify doing so.
- Space Is Cold: Chapel and M'Benga are half-frozen when they're beamed aboard Enterprise.
- Spotting the Thread: Pelia easily sees through the fake coolant leak and deduces that Spock is trying to steal the Enterprise.
- Stunned Silence: Spock is shocked speechless when Pelia cottons on to The Plan to steal the Enterprise.
- Super Serum: M'Benga carries vials of something that lets him and Chapel fight an entire ship's worth of Klingons, unarmed.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- The Enterprise crew simulates a fake coolant leak in their attempt to steal the ship, but Pelia figures out what's going on right away. If she hadn't decided to join them, the plan would have been a dismal failure.
- When doing CPR to revive Chapel, Spock inevitably ends up hurting her and it's implied that he broke or at least cracked some of her ribs; this usually happens in real life with a normal human performing the technique, let alone if someone with enhanced strength did so.
- Tastes Like Friendship: To prove his good intentions with the Klingon commander skeptical of his claims, Spock joins him for blood wine on the planet. It works but he is suffering one hell of a hangover later on.
- Tempting Fate:
- Pike assures Spock that he'll be fine as captain for three days because Enterprise will never leave Spacedock. Spock comes in with the lampshade:Spock: What is the human expression? "Famous last words."
- Admiral April warns Spock not to steal the Enterprise again. Yeah, about that, Admiral ...
- Pike assures Spock that he'll be fine as captain for three days because Enterprise will never leave Spacedock. Spock comes in with the lampshade:
- Thrown Out the Airlock: Invoked by M'Benga and Chapel, who have no choice but to do it to themselves so Spock won't blow up the Broken Circle's pseudo-Crossfield-class ship with them on it. It also doubles as a Sadistic Choice, since either option will likely result in both of them dying anyway; jumping into space without an EVA suit is the more likely chance they get out alive.
- Torture Always Works: On a Klingon, no less.
- Truce Trickery: A group of renegade ex-Klingon and -Federation soldiers fly a salvaged Federation starship in a false flag attack on a Klingon D7 battlecruiser. This is supposed to look like a breach of the ceasefire between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, meant to restart the war and increase profits from the dilithium mine the renegades are guarding. The Enterprise destroys the ship before it can do any damage and Spock is able to convince the Klingon captain that the Federation wasn't involved.
- War for Fun and Profit: The Broken Circle are a criminal dilithium-mining syndicate formed by former members of both Starfleet and the Klingon military, who intend to restart the war so that they can drive up the need for dilithium and make a fortune from selling it to both sides.
- War Is Hell: M'Benga fought in the last war with the Klingons, and witnessed a fair amount of slaughter during that time. It's left him fairly traumatized, but he's damned sure not going to let another one break out on his watch.
- Wham Shot: The final scene has Admiral April explaining that Spock prevented the Federation from fighting a war on two fronts. The sensor display then shows a contact crossing the Federation border: a Gorn attack ship.
- What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: M'Benga laments that the Klingon-Federation War cost millions of lives for what was effectively a couple of parsecs of actual territory changing hands.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: In-Universe, Uhura has initial trouble placing Pelia's accent until she recognizes her as a Lanthanite.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Commander Pelia lampshades this when she points out that while anyone who lives long enough and has normal human empathy will experience grief when people they love die, her immortality makes it easy for her to get bored, and this is the real worst part of being effectively immortal.Pelia: You want to know the worst thing about living almost forever?
Spock: The loss of those you love.
Pelia: Oh, you sweet un-Vulcan Vulcan. No. That's a pain shared by all those who live with even a half-open heart. No. It's boredom. And on that ship of yours, there seems to be a shortage of that. I like it. Hm. I might even try and stick around. - You Don't Look Like You:
- An interesting variant as, discounting Worf in Star Trek: Picard season 3, this is the first time we see the Klingons in live action since the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 2, though they resemble the Klingons seen since Star Trek: The Motion Picture and not the more alien-esque ones from Discovery or the flat-browed ones from Star Trek: The Original Series.
- The Broken Circle's self-built Starfleet vessel, identified on scanners as NCC-1279
, is identified as a Crossfield-class like Discovery, but though it has the same type of double-ringed saucer section, it looks much more like the Walker-class USS Shenzhou than like Discovery or her sister ship Glenn: it lacks the Crossfield's chevron-shaped secondary hull, instead appearing to have an inverted version of the twin-boom aft end from the NX-class, and appears to have the bridge mounted on the underside of the saucer. It's implied to be a Franken-ship assembled from salvaged wrecks: the transponder and saucer may simply have come from a Crossfield-class rather than the ship itself actually being built as one.
