James Osborne reviews the eighth episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds…
Episode 8 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, “The Elysian Kingdom” begins with a strikingly meta line on of dialogue. Captain Pike suggests that he’s completely content with the USS Enterprise, as it’s concluding its survey of a large nebula: “No battles, no chaos, just scanning nebula and focussing on the science. Nice change of pace, wouldn’t you agree?”. And then the chaos begins.
When Dr. M’Benga is called up to the bridge to attend a medical emergency, seemingly induced by the ship’s faltering engines, he finds that he has stepped into an entirely new world. The ship’s crew is dressed in medieval robes, armed with swords and bows. Their personalities are not their own, and they refer to him, not Captain Pike, as their leader. The book which he reads to his daughter seems to have come to life, with his crewmates now embodied by the characters from the fantasy world.
For the rest of the episode, M’Benga does his best to figure out exactly what is going on, and how it relates to his daughter, as he attempts to reverse the changes that have taken hold of the ship. It’s the best chance the audience have had to see the doctor in action, and Babs Olusanmokun anchors the episode very effectively. Anson Mount, clearly, is having a lot of fun in the supporting role, and that makes watching his performance a lot of fun too. The episode also emphasises out of all the show’s actors, it’s Christina Chong who is most underserved by her role as La’an Noonien Singh. The character is, almost always, defined by her cold and serious exterior, and her no-nonsense attitude. But, without showing her to have more emotional complexity than that, that front has begun to wear a bit thin. This was a nice shakeup, and highlighted that Chong can, and should, be given the chance to portray the head of security with more variety and depth, because she can pull out a fantastically entertaining performance.
The episode also wraps up the story that has been established throughout the season for Dr. M’Benga. In several episodes, up to this point, the audience has seen glimpses of him trying to find a cure for his daughter, who he has kept stored in the pattern buffers of the emergency medical transporter to prevent her disease from progressing. “The Elysian Kingdom” seems to conclude that storyline, with his daughter leaving the transporter, the Enterprise, and her father in order to live her life continuously. She reappears to Dr. M’Benga as the chaos aboard the Enterprise is resolved, and is now a fully grown woman, having lived her life with an alien entity.
As the story ends, for all intents and purposes, Dr M’Benga loses his daughter from his life. Maybe she will return in the future, but the episode doesn’t seem to want to grapple with the implications of what has happened either way. It doesn’t seem to fully realise the weight of what it’s showing, and how that should impact its characters. Instead, M’Benga accepts what has happened with almost inhuman tranquillity and calmness.This is becoming something of a theme. In several instances now, the show has come to conclusions without fully assessing how they should impact the story of the characters. Perhaps, the show’s writers would put this down to the limitations of episodic storytelling. But Strange New Worlds has serialized elements, and it should be able to find the space to grapple with what it’s trying to say more thoroughly.
So, what was “The Elysian Kingdom” trying to say? Well, nothing, really. It’s fine to have episodes which are simply spectacles of entertainment – Star Trek’s past is littered with them. But very few of Strange New Worlds’ episodes, a small sample so far admittedly, feel like they’re even trying to say anything at all. “Ghosts of Ilyria” explains that discrimination based on stereotypes is bad. “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” informs us that child sacrifice is bad.
However, great ethical stories ask questions to which the audience might be conflicted on the answer, because that’s where the nuance is, and that’s what’s interesting. If there is no depth to an ethical problem, there’s nothing to explore. Instead, you’re just pointing at an issue. So far, Strange New Worlds has done a lot of pointing, but not much exploring. The series has a great cast, stellar visuals, and the right sense of atmosphere. Now it’s time that it developed a confident voice, too.
James Osborne
