History Recap / StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS2E10Hegemony

Gorn ships charge the ''Enterprise'', guns blazing. Uhura reports that Starfleet has ordered them to withdraw. Una, at the helm, asks Pike for orders.

Pike's team infiltrate the colony, dodging Gorn and eventually narrowing down on a human lifesign. It's a trap laid by a wily engineer, Lt. JG Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn) of the ''Stardiver'', which likewise was attacked by the Gorn; Scott, the SoleSurvivor, jury-rigged a Gorn IFF to sneak out. Based on Scott's description of events, the away team comes to believe that coronal mass ejections the ''Stardiver'' was investigating somehow sent the Gorn into a berserk state, resulting in the inexplicable attacks. Lt. Scott leads them to the nearest human survivors, including Capt. Batel. She's furious that Pike has come; his one shuttle won't be able to get all the survivors out even if it could take off without the Gorn noticing, and she doesn't like her boyfriend having thrown himself into danger just for her sake. Nonetheless, the two hatch a plan to take Mr. Scott back to his shuttle and liberate the Gorn IFF. While there, the three are menaced by a Gorn hatchling, but it turns away when confronted by Batel. She reveals she's been infected with ChestBurster eggs, and insists on making a HeroicSacrifice by flying the shuttle (under cover of IFF) into the jamming tower.

Pike's team infiltrate the colony, dodging Gorn and eventually narrowing down on a human lifesign. It's a trap laid by a wily engineer, Lt. JG Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn) of the ''Stardiver'', which likewise was attacked by the Gorn; Scott, the SoleSurvivor, jury-rigged a Gorn IFF to sneak out. Lt. Scott leads them to the nearest human survivors, including Capt. Batel. She's furious that Pike has come; his one shuttle won't be able to get all the survivors out even if it could take off without the Gorn noticing, and she doesn't like her boyfriend having thrown himself into danger just for her sake. Nonetheless, the two hatch a plan to take Mr. Scott back to his shuttle and liberate the Gorn IFF. While there, the three are menaced by a Gorn hatchling, but it turns away when confronted by Batel. She reveals she's been infected with ChestBurster eggs, and insists on making a HeroicSacrifice by flying the shuttle (under cover of IFF) into the jamming tower.

* ToBeContinued: The episode ends on a To Be Continued card as Pike frets over whether to obey Starfleet or attempt to rescue his crew and the colonists from the Gorn. This is the first usage of it in the franchise for a season finale since season 3 of ''Enterprise''.

----->
'''Uhura''': Admiral April is ordering our immediate withdrawal. Sir, do I respond?\\

* WhamEpisode: After two seasons of minor skirmishes and encounters, the Gorn begin to make their move in proper force, the growing territorial disputes now carrying threats of all-out warfare against the Federation.

* SceneryGorn: In a more literal sense than most; the ''Enterprise'' arrives at Parnassus Beta only to be greeted by the [[KilledOffForReal shattered wreckage of]] the ''Cayuga'', Captain Batel's starship, which has fallen victim to the Gorn forces now claiming much of the star system.

* CaptainObvious: When Scotty sees that Pike and his party walked into the trap he set for the Gorn.

* NoNonsenseNemesis: Continuing what has been seen and implied from previous episodes, the Gorn don't offer any warning and violence is swift. There is a very hard distinction made with a pristine, idyllic colony before they arrive and how badly it gets smashed up and blood staining the walls when the away team sneak in. The Cayuga is absolutely shredded by weapons fire with no signs of trying to capture it.

* TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: When they get the Cayuga distress signal Pike orders them to warp immediately while he makes contact with Admiral April. After a two-minute conversation with April they arrive in orbit. Maximum warp or not, that would put them close enough to have detected the Gorn ship entering the system themselves.

* WhamShot: The ''Enterprise'' crew gets caught in a trap that leaves them behind a force field. The man who set the trap walks out, revealing himself to be a young man in a red shirt. Then he opens his mouth, revealing a familiar Scottish accent as the crew learns their would-be-captor is one Montgomery Scott.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: {{Zigzagged}}. Martin Quinn's accent as Scotty is not precisely what people remember from Creator/JamesDoohan or Creator/SimonPegg. This is because Quinn ''is actually Scottish'', the first person of that nationality to take the role. (Doohan was Canadian and Pegg is English.)

* ForWantOfANail: It's debatable if Batel would still have been commanding the ''Cayuga'', or if she'd even been sent on this mission at all, had her promotion to commodore not been blocked by Admiral Pasalk out of vindictive spite for failing to prosecute Una back in "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS2E02AdAstraPerAspera Ad Astra Per Aspera]]".

* MomentKiller: Pike and Batel are having a pleasant conversation during TheTeaser when comms fail...and then a wayward shuttle crashes, followed by the Gorn.

* MomentKiller: Pike and Batel are having a heart-to-heart conversation about Batel's plan to sacrifice herself when Scotty interrupts to warn them to hold on to something. A few seconds later, the saucer of the ''Cayuga'' comes crashing down.

* TookALevelInBadass: Mild-mannered xenobiologist Sam Kirk goes with the away team to study the Gorn and learn more efficient ways to kill them.

* DiabolusExMachina: They were right on the edge of success, after destroying the jamming device the away team and remaining colonists are beamed aboard Enterprise and have a clear shot at a HyperspeedEscape. Unfortunately, the image of the colonists and the accompanying away team being beamed up was not the Enterprise, but a Gorn ship. Pike, Batel, Chapel and Spock make it back but it took too long before they realized the others hadn't joined them. Starfleet gives them orders to disengage, while Pike is faced with a SadisticChoice in leaving the others behind.

* ShoutOut: It might be unintentional, but a young Gorn menacing Captain Batel before leaving her alone because she's carrying Gorn eggs bears a ''lot'' of similarity to a Xenomorph leaving Ellen Ripley alone in ''Film/Alien3'' because she was incubating a Queen [[ChestBurster chestburster]].

* FaceYourFears: Scotty admits that he's terrified of the Gorn (perfectly understandable), but he owes it to the ''Stardiver'' and her crew to help Pike and Batel fight back.