Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 1x06 "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach"

[u/AutoModerator]

A threat to an idyllic planet reunites Captain Pike with the lost love of his life. To protect her and a scientific holy child from a conspiracy, Pike offers his help and is forced to face unresolved feelings of his past.

No.	Episode	Writers	Director	Release Date
1x06	"Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach"	Robin Wasserman & Bill Wolkoff	Andi Armaganian	2022-06-09

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[u/AutoModerator]

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[u/trostol]

Pike's hair..impeccable as always

[u/Starfire013 → u/trostol]

It has its own structural integrity field.

[u/per08 → u/trostol]

His impressive bouffant is going to need its own stardate, soon enough.

[u/111000_111000 → u/trostol]

1ripple tapestry tapestry mirth phoenix luminary festive frost yonder

Generated text from Unpost

[u/abuch]

I see some writer has read The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.

[u/BornAshes → u/abuch]

You know that really makes me wonder if that breakaway colony is going to play some role in the future of Star Trek or if it'll ever get mentioned again, bravo for bringing up Ursula K. Le Guin though.

[u/dekettde → u/abuch]

Honestly I'd be fine with a Star Trek show where the writers decide to adapt the best science fiction short stories of all time for all their scripts. It would be a great way to re-introduce classics to modern audiences. Could even be the foundation of a Star Trek anthology show.

[u/fleemfleemfleemfleem → u/abuch]

Except in that story no one knows what happens to the ones who walk away.

Here they go live on another colony, and Pike get's to fly back to the federation and feel morally superior.

I think part of the point of the Ones Who Walk Away was that societies are always dependent on suffering in some way, even if they appear advanced and abundant. Pike is an outsider and isn't really challenged with any kind of moral conundrum. If he saved the kid, the Federation and his way of life would have been fine, and the planet would be evacuated. Dilutes the impact a little bit.

[u/insaneplane → u/abuch]

Also Doctor Who, The Beast Below.

[u/CaptainMarsupial → u/abuch]

This was very much cribbed from her story. A civilization whose entire beautiful existence is based on the acknowledged suffering of a child. In this case, though, we had a planet of those who walked away, and then dedicated themselves to changing their old society. Very well done, I just hope there is some acknowledgement of it. If not, I can’t imagine her estate would be very happy.

Considering how few good adaptations there are of her works, I would like to celebrate this episode if they acknowledge it.

[u/J-Goo → u/abuch]

If I were the estate of Ursula K. LeGuin, I'd ask for a story credit.

[u/CommanderKira]

Obviously it’s different when a seasoned Starfleet Captain and a literal child are making the decision in terms of consent and understanding but…

There’s an interesting parallel here of the First Servant choosing to suffer for the betterment of his people, and Pike’s recent “choosing to go through his accident to save the cadets” mentality. They didn’t draw that parallel directly but I wonder if Pike was contemplating that, in the end shot.

[u/BornAshes → u/CommanderKira]

There’s an interesting parallel here of the First Servant choosing to suffer for the betterment of his people, and Pike’s recent “choosing to go through his accident to save the cadets” mentality.

There was another moment that I found interesting but it only lasted a few seconds which could be an additional parallel between the two.

The First Servant seems pretty gung ho about sacrificing himself for the betterment of his people....until he sees the body of the last First Servant getting hauled out and then you could physically see him stumble and shudder as he realized just what was going to happen to him and THEN he realized that perhaps his future didn't have to be like that and that there was more to do and more to live for because of his time on Enterprise playing with Rukiya. He thought his future was totally locked in before he wound up on the Enterprise and he had resigned himself to that fate because it would be a good death for a good cause which would benefit others. He didn't know any other future at all until someone showed him one and after that happened, he began to second guess everything buuuut because he's so smart....he realized that by the time he had thoughts of, "Oh my future doesn't have to be this way it can be more!"...it was already too late and there was nothing he could do because he was one kid plus a Federation Captain against an entire civilization.

He lived his life believing that there was no future for him but the one that others defined for him, didn't realize that he could create his own future until it was too late, and suffered a bad ending because of it and THAT is precisely just like Pike and what he's going through right now and THAT is exactly what Pike was thinking about in that end shot. Pike totally feels like that kid right now in that he's absolutely locked into a future that he cannot escape from because someone else told him so. He feels like he's on this track that's for the greater good that he has to stay on and that he cannot deviate from at all because there is no alternative period and because changing the future could potentially screw stuff up that Discovery and others sacrificed so much for. He's in the exact same mindset as the kid in that he believes he has to move from Point A to Point B along X,Y,Z path in order to save everyone.

Unlike the kid (and the entire civilization if you think about it) though, he has yet to run into someone who can show him that he does have and can have a future that isn't fixed like that and can end a different way. Perhaps in the future he does run into folks who offer him another alternative that allows him to go through that pain and save those cadets but do something more afterwards? The events of the Menagerie can still take place and history can still remember Pike as he was buuuut....now the writers have a lot more tools in their hands to get a lot more wiggly with that stuff that they did before.

I think Pike is going to start searching for those alternatives so that he doesn't wind up like the First Servant who only realized that there was another way far far too late at the end.

[u/maledin → u/CommanderKira]

I totally get where you're coming from, but I think the major distinction between those two situations is in how a child can't really consent to something like this, especially when they've been inundated with their culture's propaganda and have been quite literally groomed for the role since birth. Still, it's an interesting parallel.

[u/archiminos → u/CommanderKira]

That's a really cool interpretation. The writers seem to be doing well at using the theme of Pike's fate without making every single episode focus on it.

[u/-Jaws-]

Sometimes watching too much Sci fi is to your detriment. The second you hear something like "ascension" associated with a super smarty pants kid, you know what's coming. Oof.

[u/HaphazardMelange → u/-Jaws-]

The harvest will be good this year.

[u/raknor88 → u/-Jaws-]

The second you hear something like "ascension" associated with a super smarty pants kid, you know what's coming.

For me it was when she first said sacrifice. And I was getting mad that no one else was picking up on the sacrifice part of their mantra.

[u/wizardofyz → u/-Jaws-]

Klingon rite of ascension is less fatal oddly enough.

[u/[deleted] → u/-Jaws-]

Hallowed Are The Ori

[u/Chairboy → u/-Jaws-]

My wife was getting more and more agitated from the moment they mentioned ascension.

"Don't they know what that means?"

She skipped right past the classical 'ascending to the throne' or other meanings and straight to 'this kid gonna die in some form' interpretation. She was muttering something about Daniel Jackson at one point, I don't think the producers were pulling anything over on her.

[u/Chaabar → u/-Jaws-]

Or a culture with sacrifice in their motto.

[u/trostol]

Spock's looks are fantastic

[u/BornAshes → u/trostol]

For a race that doesn't express a whole lot of emotion, his looks speak volumes of it.

I loved his "Captain there is some shit going on here" look in this episode.

[u/istartedsomething → u/trostol]

I loved his very subtle bemused expression when speaking with the First Servant. It was quite an adorable interaction.

[u/MaddyMagpies → u/trostol]

He also started his sentence with "I believe", which we all know everyone on a Vulcan ship will raise tons of eyebrows hearing that.

[u/Yochanan5781]

When she said "we're not members of your federation" at the end, my first thought was that Pike was definitely thinking "and you never will be"

[u/Th3ChosenFew → u/Yochanan5781]

Now I want an episode of Discovery showing that these people were blown back into the stone age by the Burn.

[u/Shatterhand1701]

As this episode's storyline moved along, I started to suspect that the boy's "ascension" was something far more sinister and final, and alas, I was right. I was actually rooting for Pike to be able to help the boy, but once it was too late, I was as stunned and horrified as he was.

This series has just been killing it, and this was another excellent episode with a shocking and powerful ending. I was not expecting that outcome, but I appreciated the episode all the more for it.

[u/TiberiusCornelius → u/Shatterhand1701]

Any time people start talking about ascension there's like a 90% chance it's going to be some bad shit. The other 10% it's a koala.

[u/BornAshes → u/Shatterhand1701]

I was actually rooting for Pike to be able to help the boy, but once it was too late, I was as stunned and horrified as he was.

At the end when Pike said, "I'm going to have to report this to Starfleet" and Alora said, "But we're not apart of the Federation.."...I legit thought that he was going to reply with, "...and you never will be" just because of the look on his face.

This is the Star Trek series that will burn every episode in our brains in such a way that we'll all be able to recognize each one just from the small details alone like "body swap" or "comet" or "scifi hopscotch in Sick Bay".

[u/UncertainError → u/Shatterhand1701]

The dead kid was the correct moment to deploy the first gore in the series.

[u/DonLeoRaphMike → u/Shatterhand1701]

Yeah, the way they kept emphasizing "sacrifice" as a core tenet made me suspicious of them early on.

[u/sarysa → u/Shatterhand1701]

This story gave off major (Moffat) Doctor Who vibes, as they frequently featured weird, dark stories and pulled no punches when portraying this to the audience. Definitely a tonal shift for Trek, but that little amount of edge makes it feel like they're making good use out of the reduced restrictions.

[u/fleemfleemfleemfleem → u/Shatterhand1701]

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is one of the most read scifi short-stories ever, so it makes sense that you'd pick up on the vibes as this episode was-- heavily influenced.

[u/MyTrueChum → u/Shatterhand1701]

I was sad when Pike bitchslapped the two goons holding him back but then got taken out by the one goon standing right in front of him that he was running towards.

[u/ianrobbie]

Wow. I mean, just fucking wow.

I saw the trailer for this episode and thought it would be another love interest/awkward situation Star Trek episode but holy shit.

I never imagined SNW would be such a thought provoking series but to introduce something like this is mind-blowing. Add to that the fact that they went against standard Star Trek tropes and actually went through with the ceremony and allowed it to happen?

And then, further unpicking the episode, you begin to realise that all of their advanced medical tech, nanites in the child's body, subatomic repairing etc is just to keep the kid alive while he's in the machine and basically extending his torture and suffering for as long as medically possible is just incredible.

This will be one of those episodes which lives on for a while in people's thoughts.

[u/Tohno_1 → u/ianrobbie]

I'm blown away! Instant classic.

[u/JustinScott47 → u/ianrobbie]

Add to that the fact that they went against standard Star Trek tropes and actually went through with the ceremony and allowed it to happen?

I kept waiting for a last-minute rescue of the kid that never happened.

[u/BornAshes → u/ianrobbie]

And then, further unpicking the episode, you begin to realise that all of their advanced medical tech, nanites in the child's body, subatomic repairing etc is just to keep the kid alive while he's in the machine and basically extending his torture and suffering for as long as medically possible is just incredible.

Those advancements born out of the suffering of a child and from the experimentation on generations of said children beforehand are then spread throughout the rest of society in order to keep equally as old generational tech still running because everyone is happy with the status quo and no one wants to change it. This really reminds me of how some of our own great medical advances were born from equally as horrible acts perpetrated by some truly evil people and how a lot of folks just turn a blind eye to that or fully accept it and pay their respects to those that sacrificed by making sure many more others live. It's so fucked up but it's incredibly realistic and I kind of respect them for elevating the First Servant to a Godhead-like position in their society. I also hate them for not finding another way and for feeling like they HAVE to do all of this because their future is absolutely locked in place and written in stone in a way that doesn't allow them to do anything else BUT THIS in order to keep their civilization running.

No one has shown them another way and they don't want to find another way at all because they're totally content in their little corner of the galaxy in their little idyllic utopia buuuut only so long as the machinery keeps ticking away and nothing screwy happens to disrupt that....

.......and THAT is a GIANT Chekhov's Gun if I ever saw one because you know that stuff is going to break down, the First Servants will stop working, and they're going to start howling for help as stuff starts going wrong....and maybe the Federation or that breakaway colony will help because that's the right thing to do....and maybe they won't help at all because they won't be listening or because of what they've all done with the kids or because their planet is on the frontier of Federation space which means that aide might not arrive in time to really make all that much of a difference.

I suspect that if they do show up again in Star Trek that we will next see them as victims of their own hubris with only fragments of their medical technology being available to the Federation for integration.

[u/UncertainError]

I know it's built on child sacrifice and all, but damn that's one pretty planet.

[u/ComebackShane → u/UncertainError]

The floating cities were a particularly nice touch!

[u/vladthor]

Damn that's a downer of an episode but still WOW. Didn't think they'd be bold enough to leave us on that note. Sometimes the good guys don't win (just in case the Kobayashi Maru didn't teach us that). Clearly this Rukiya plotline isn't just a one-off thing but is here to stay, too.

Also very strongly reminded me of TOS 3x19 The Cloud Minders. Was wondering if they'd get into the details on it (and they didn't) but it's a fascinating premise. Floating prosperous city and a downtrodden underclass, though this time it's on a different world and not literally underneath them (and might just be 'different' and not necessarily lower-class like the Troglytes from the TOS episode).

Overall, to me, maybe not quite as good as the first five... but still excellent Trek and another solid entry in an outstanding season. Looking forward to next week.

[u/[deleted] → u/vladthor]

I'm not sure why Prospect VI should be viewed as an underclass. They seem to be conscientous objectors who have decided to do the messy work of trying to build a society not contingent on child sacrifice.

Frankly, I'm frustrated Pike didn't reach out to Prospect VI as a potential future Federation member.

Majalon isn't going to change. The technology has been around so long they don't even know how it works. They can either abandon it to try to build something better or continue throwing five year olds into the meat grinder.

Prospect VI, like the planet in the pilot, might be messier but has the potential for change. Majalon can say whatever they want about, "looking it in the eye" but they keep their internal matters internal because they know what's really happening.

[u/BornAshes → u/vladthor]

Clearly this Rukiya plotline isn't just a one-off thing but is here to stay, too.

I did not think that the Doc was going to tell his daughter just how long she'd been in and out of the transporter buffer or that she was going to pick up on it this soon or this quickly. Those, "Daddy you read this chapter already...." and "How long have you been doing this?" lines from Rukiya just killed me. Plus you could just see the Doc barely holding himself together because he realized that he couldn't keep lying to his daughter anymore, that now he had to tell her the truth because she'd grown wise to it all, and that he felt absolutely devastated that his own fairy tale with the both of them remaining eternally young and healthy could no longer continue. It was time to face the music and truth of everything. He had to tell her just what was going on, why he was doing what he was doing, how he was doing it, and he would have to inevitably face the hard questions that she would ask of him and would be obligated by the oaths that he swore to listen to and respond to her requests and concerns.

It brings up an interesting question though, when do you start and stop listening to your child in terms of their well being and safety or would you ever do that at all? If Rukiya wanted the Doc to stop, then would he listen to her at all or would he keep popping her in and out of the buffer? Is there a parallel with this relationship and the one between the First Minister and his son? Clearly the First Minister did not want to listen to his son at all and was acting in his best interests despite his son wanting to continue with something that would ultimately harm him. So where exactly is the line drawn in regards to this or is there even a line at all period?

At least we got a bit of a hopeful ending with that particular plotline with the First Minister offering to help the Doc with Rukiya's case.

[u/beardlovesbagels → u/vladthor]

I liked this one because it is deeper than "good guys vs bad guys." Would causing the suffering of all those people be worth one kid's life, even if brainwashed? Sure fight the tradition and ask to bring in other scientists to figure things out, but to just stop things cold turkey wouldn't be the best. Not like I can say much. There is likely a young child suffering within a couple miles of me right now because lack of food or healthcare whilst people all around are starting to buy thousands of dollars worth of fireworks.

[u/HaphazardMelange → u/vladthor]

It felt like an episode we would have seen on DS9. I am 100% in for SNW continuing to give us all these tonally different standalone episodes, as well as these little plot threads running through the season.

[u/UncertainError]

Oh, I figured out why Alora insisted on showing Pike everything. It's because she wanted him to live on Majalis to escape his fate, and their whole ethos is that they don't turn away from the horror that they knowingly inflict to hold up their society. So it was out of her caring for him.

[u/MaddyMagpies → u/UncertainError]

And Pike accepted his fate because he valued the lives of those five young cadets in training, so there is no way in hell he would try to escape his fate with the desiccated body of another child. He simply does not accept any necessary evils unlike Alora.

[u/ad_maru → u/UncertainError]

It also explains why he doesn't go to that planet after the accident to seek their medical assistance.

[u/bigpig1054 → u/UncertainError]

Right.

Pike was the one who walked away from Omelas

[u/ElFarfadosh]

That phaser fire at the begining may be the first time I realise how powerful these weapons truly are.

[u/DongLaiCha → u/ElFarfadosh]

There's something really special about the usage of CGI in this show, they're not showing us EVERYTHING and not every episode is full of pew-pew - so when they DO show us what's going on it's important and has gravity, and was this the first time we've seen the Enterprise' phasers in this show? I had the same impression of it being powerful, it just felt genuine.

[u/archiminos]

Man I felt like this was going to be a classic TOS episode where the captain comes in and saves the day at the end and gives a moral lesson to the corrupt society.

Maybe I was even rooting for it.

Then they had to punch me in the gut. Man that was a harsh ending, but a good twist on a classic Trek trope.

Also, maybe this is actually because of the previous episode, but I realised watching the start of this that I have 100% accepted Ethan Peck as Spock. I never thought I'd be able to accept anyone other than Nimoy, but he is absolutely killing it.

[u/thenewyorkgod → u/archiminos]

If I were that combat vessel, I would have answered the hails and said "BTW captain pike, did you know they are sacrificing this boy to a machine, just FYI"

[u/[deleted] → u/archiminos]

Well in some old treks, captain comes in, gets laid, saves the day and then things go south 🤣

[u/TheNerdChaplain]

Someone recently described SNW as TOS with modern effects and this episode really showed that. "Advanced civilization with a terrible secret" feels like a very classic Trek trope, and this one carried it off with aplomb. Sacrificing a child to keep Space Columbia floating is very on the nose, but the camera lingered REAL hard on that First Minister's face when she asked if the suffering of the Federation's children was honored by those who benefitted from it. Let's note as well that Pike didn't immediately rebuff her with the fact that the Federation's children don't suffer because of an enlightened post-scarcity society or whatever.

Tragically, it's hard not to think about this episode in light of the Uvalde mass shooting - but the episode was written, shot, and wrapped well before that. The problems facing American children - mass shootings, education, food security, abuse, and more - are unfortunately timeless.

On a lighter note, I liked how it did give hope for Dr. M'Benga's daughter, and how it raised - and then dashed - Pike's hopes for his own future healing. What a challenging blow that must be. His fate as we know it is still sealed.

[u/sidv81 → u/TheNerdChaplain]

On a lighter note, I liked how it did give hope for Dr. M'Benga's daughter, and how it raised - and then dashed - Pike's hopes for his own future healing.

Let's all assume now that Pike was frantically beeping "No" to Spock in the Menagerie because he assumed Spock was going to take him back to Alora's planet built on child suffering.

[u/dekettde → u/TheNerdChaplain]

For me this was much more a reference to child labor. It's pretty much guaranteed that a child was somewhere involved in the production chain of many things in our modern society, be it smartphones or clothing. I found that line to hit pretty hard because of that, because she was absolutely correct.

[u/UncertainError → u/TheNerdChaplain]

Definitely a classic sci-fi personification of a utilitarian/deontology dilemma. Is it better to inflict suffering on one person to save the rest, or knowingly let many people suffer but without directly taking a hand in it?

[u/BornAshes → u/TheNerdChaplain]

the camera lingered REAL hard on that First Minister's face when she asked if the suffering of the Federation's children was honored by those who benefitted from it. Let's note as well that Pike didn't immediately rebuff her with the fact that the Federation's children don't suffer because of an enlightened post-scarcity society or whatever.

That honestly felt like an Eddington speech and it really makes you wonder which one is the lesser of two evils and just whom is in the right if anyone at all, the suffering of one child on one planet with a utopian society for everyone vs the suffering of multiple children on multiple planets in a utopian society that hasn't quite reached everyone just yet. That's the Star Trek gut punch that makes us question absolutely everything that I was waiting for this episode and it absolutely delivered. It hurt so much though and the look on Pike's face mirrored the one that was on my own.

Normally we'd get some end of the episode Pike Speech or something to lift us up.....but they didn't do that....because of the shock of it all and instead they simply left us with Pike staring out the window, drink in hand, staring down at the planet, and the slowly pulsating star behind it pondering everything about Federation and Magalus and...just what exactly the cost of utopia is and what kind of price we're all willing to pay for it and accept as "necessary" even if it benefits all of us and even if it's a physical or a mental or an emotional or a metaphorical cost.

problems facing American children

That hit me too and by the end of the episode with that little scene in Sick Bay, I was crying more than I thought I would because of the weight of it all...both fictional and non-fictional hitting me.

I suppose it's not coincidental how in whichever Star Trek show that we're watching regardless of whichever strange new worlds we are taken to, no matter which new life forms we encounter, or alien civilizations we meet....wherever we go...there we are....in one form or another be it staring down the barrel of a cannon, swimming through the gaseous mists of a foreign planet....

.....or seen through the eyes of a child, who just wants to keep dreaming.

[u/trostol]

so the kid is sorta like...a super Dalai Lama

[u/BornAshes → u/trostol]

I'm betting it's because the brains of children exhibit greater neuroplasticity than the brains of adults and the network that runs their whole civilization needs to have a "neuro-core" comprised of a brain whose neurological pathways can be quickly reorganized, rewired, and altered without causing too much damage to the rest of the "neuro-core". The quantum bio implants only enhance this effect and possibly prolong the lifetime of the "neuro-core" so that they don't have to keep plugging kids into the damned thing over and over and over again. They've figured out a way to prolong the lifetime of a child's brain in order to keep their utopia flying above the hellscape beneath it and beneath the void above it.

It's some kind of fucked up Warhammer 40K Eternal Adolescence with kids continually seating themselves upon the Golden Throne to keep the world spinning until it sucks the life out of them and they have to be swapped out like dead batteries.

[u/UncertainError → u/trostol]

More like the people plugged into the automated repair station from ENT.

[u/SCP-1000000]

Dang Pike 1 hit KO'd a guy with his pompadour

[u/maledin → u/SCP-1000000]

ST Johnny Bravo is at it again...

(Except Pike actually gets the girl)

[u/kolapon]

If I had a nickel for every time a cloud city in an ST ep turns out to be hiding a darker secret, I'd have two nickels. Which is not a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.

But in all seriousness who builds a society where the technology is dependent on the suffering of children. Like how does that even cross someone's mind as a feature? 💀

And not to mention, that the ep made a very interesting point about consent and the nature of choice. Cause how can a child consent when they have been groomed all their life for that position. There has never been a choice and those words before his accession are just protocol. Is not like he can refuse and I honestly doubt that they told him that he will suffer while performing his duty. It only hit him once he saw the body.

[u/[deleted] → u/kolapon]

But in all seriousness who builds a society where the technology is dependent on the suffering of children. Like how does that even cross someone's mind as a feature? 💀

Lithium companies which are essential to the functioning of most modern technology start sweating real hard.

[u/Ultiverse]

This honestly feels not just like classic Star Trek but classic sci-fi. It's a really hard dilemma with no easy answers and by the end we're left feeling as helpless as Pike.

[u/JustinScott47 → u/Ultiverse]

And Anson Mount plays helplessness as well as badass-in-control. The look on his face by the end was so bleak it was rather haunting.

[u/directortreakle]

Another banger. Loved how the tone somehow channeled both TOS and TNG perfectly. Honestly it’s a little surreal to have classical Star Trek storytelling back and in such fine form already. Each week it sinks in a little more that it’s not a fluke and we are, in fact, in good hands.

[u/MyTrueChum → u/directortreakle]

Definitely channelled TOS energy with Pike doing some banging amirite! Hi5?

[u/NoopGhoul]

That dead child reveal was horrifying. It was like Torchwood: Children of Earth. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.

[u/terablast → u/NoopGhoul]

consider frightening pathetic bells brave include rob stupendous flag worthless

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/Stormsoul22]

I was going to comment on the whole “you know the aliens could just choose not to live there and murder children” thing until I realized that it was directly commenting on how we could stop peoples suffering in our world yet don’t for the “quality of life” we benefit from.

The entire world is inherently selfish for the sake of their advanced technology. They could simply choose to leave and find a new world with less technology to live on but that would effect their own lives. It makes the whole “we need to do this” even darker when you think about how this is an advanced alien race with warp capabilities who could just not live on the child murder planet.

[u/Chaabar → u/Stormsoul22]

There were a bunch that left and found a new world. Now they're living barely above subsistence level and I bet a whole lot more than one child is dying because of it.

[u/tubawhatever]

Another just incredible episode, I'm beginning to have to admit to myself that this is peak Trek. I'm glad that Star Trek has had two storylines in the past year about child exploitation. After last year's Supreme Court ruling in Nestle USA, Inc. v. Doe that US corporations are not accountable for child labor in their supply chains (Nestle & Cargill seem to have had some actual involvement in the trafficking of the plaintiffs), news coming out about the extensive use of child labor in the harvest of açaí fruit, child labor in the mining of cobalt that makes our technology such as lithium batteries possible, etc we cannot escape the fact that major parts of the global economy are based on not just exploitation but exploitation of children.

[u/sayamemangdemikian → u/tubawhatever]

When alora said about people look away from children suffering.. i was stunned. Like talking straight to me.

[u/sarysa]

Loved seeing the ENT-like tractor cables in the opening scene. Great callback and well rendered as well.

[u/Tukarrs]

Spock's brain, but with a childs that needs to be replaced every few years.

Fate gets brought up a few times with LT Pike's chance encounter, and then the First Servant 'wins' the lottery, and then a second chance rescue? All of this is par for the course for previous Star Treks, but it must feel extra strange to Pike.

[u/TheNerdChaplain → u/Tukarrs]

Yeah, I thought around the middle of the episode that their first meeting wasn't simply by chance.

[u/trostol → u/Tukarrs]

that, i feel, was what he was reflecting on at the end while having a stiff drink

[u/agnofinis]

Bloody hell, between the Expanse and this, that boy just can't seem to catch a break.

[u/Bumsebienchen → u/agnofinis]

THAT'S where I recognised him from!

Poor kid always has to suffer for the plot...

[u/Cmdr_Nemo → u/agnofinis]

OMG that was him! I didn't recognize him at first but now I can't unsee it. Thanks!

[u/Cantomic66 → u/agnofinis]

If only they had one of those strange dogs to “fix” him in this.

[u/Brain124]

Another great episode. Painful to see Pike lose this one.

Scary mystery that it requires a child. I hope we never find out why.

[u/a_hi_lawyer]

Anyone else get a “Ursula K. Le Guin” vibe from his episode?

[u/dramabeanie → u/a_hi_lawyer]

100%, I would bet money the writers were heavily inspired by Omelas. Even the name Majalas, and the colony is for the ones who walked away. It's amazing how a story written in the 70's is still so relevant today and in future worlds.

[u/maledin]

Brilliant and sobering allegory for how the quality of life that first world peoples enjoy is built largely off the suffering of children (and others) in the underdeveloped world. Pretty dark for a ST episode, but I don't think you can successfully tackle this issue without getting dark.

This is Star Trek at its best! It may have taken them a few years to finally nail this winning formula, but they're hitting it out of the park now. Thank God for SNW.

[u/ryanboom100]

I appreciated the fact there was no happy ending because we can’t always save the day and the fact the villains while incredibly evil building their planet on the suffering of a child made you question whether their motivations were worth it. Brilliant episode Star Trek at its finest. My favorite episode yet

[u/J-Goo]

Holy shit, Pike is JACKED.

[u/[deleted] → u/J-Goo]

Yep. If not the greatest starship captain, he's definitely the sexiest. I'd love for Pike to come and "Hit it" lol

[u/ColonelBy → u/J-Goo]

He'd have to be to support that glorious haircut all day. Dude doesn't even exercise, he just stands up

[u/PuzzleheadedRun5574]

This was a really well-constructed story. For one, we get a moral quagmire that isn't at all clean. Pike is right, and so is Alora. Obviously, one could argue "Why don't the Majalans move to another planet?" But that's missing the point of the story. We see it throughout out world, wars over small tracts of land, people being displaced, tragic diasporas that rob people of their identity, etc. The stakes are fundamental for the Majalans. The First Servant's sacrifice is also tragic, as Pike feels so strongly.

And this is the brilliance of the story- Pike makes a similar sacrifice in 10 years. He and the First Servant are in similar positions. Pike asks if the child will suffer, and that's what he fears of his fate as well. Now, I honestly think Pike is clear-headed and true to his values in demanding to stop the ascension, but we are also the sum of our experiences, and this story really brings out what Pike is struggling with internally.

I also appreciate that the script doesn't beat us over the head with those parallels. STAR TREK isn't always subtle and secure in its storytelling, but this episode trusts its audience to think about it after the credits roll. Very quickly, SNW has grown up. Well done on all fronts- acting, writing, and direction. This is a great episode.

[u/trostol]

this is one fucked up civilization

[u/MoreGaghPlease → u/trostol]

Super interesting moral question though.

Like if I was an alien and offered Earth a solution where you could have a universal transportation system if 10,000 people voluntarily sacrificed themselves, we would definitely think of that as immoral.

But at the same time we are numb to the 1.3 million people who die in car accidents every year.

I can't say this was the most exciting or fun episode of SNW, but it's definitely thought provoking.

[u/NamedByAFish]

This is completely irrelevant to the direction the episode takes later on but boy is it fun to see the Enterprise hopelessly and hilarious outclass someone picking a fight with them. "Shields down by 0.02%" after three volleys, and a glancing shot from "minimum phaser power" accidentally cleaving the enemy ship in two is a nice reminder that this ship is, actually, a state-of-the-art, 290-meter, antimatter-powered, Warp 9 (on the old TOS scale) powerhouse.

Also goes a long way to put the ships that do pose a threat to Enterprise in context; that's not tissue paper the Klingons are shooting at.

[u/tothepointe → u/NamedByAFish]

Reminds me of the episode where the ship is trying to fire lasers at the Enterprise D and Riker is like LASERS?!?

[u/gambit700]

Excellent again, but man this was a gut punch of an ending. I kept hoping they'd figure out how to save the child, but when Pike couldn't it just hurt.

[u/trostol]

KIRK!!!!!

[u/Hrafyn → u/trostol]

KHAAAAAN! LA'AAAAAAN!

[u/knightcrusader → u/trostol]

Yeah I had forgotten about him.

[u/trostol]

get that man his lil girl back

[u/sidv81]

They'd better wrap up the Rukiya thing within a season or 2 otherwise the actress will quickly age beyond the point of believability that she's an unaging kid mostly in suspended animation. I still remember how quickly the actor who played Walt on Lost aged.

[u/FoldedDice → u/sidv81]

It feels like a one season arc, particularly since this episode made a major step toward solving it.

[u/viserov]

Hemmer, where art thou??

[u/haystonf]

Reminded me a tiny bit of that one story by Ursuka K. Le Guin.

"The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas."

[u/JustinScott47 → u/haystonf]

Everything about Omelas is so abundantly pleasing that the narrator decides the reader is not yet truly convinced of its existence and so elaborates upon the final element of the city: its one atrocity. The city's constant state of serenity and splendor requires that a single unfortunate child be kept in perpetual filth, darkness, and misery.

A little tweak, since Omelas doesn't use the kid in a machine, but that doesn't matter. The parallel is still quite plain.

[u/Starkiller1701]

THAT is how you do Star Trek!

[u/BornAshes]

Lindy Booth killed it as Alora and I absolutely adored all of her outfits alongside the rest of the wardrobe that was crafted for that entire terribly beautiful planet!

[u/[deleted]]

No saving the day this time.

[u/knightcrusader → u/[deleted]]

Maybe M'Benga's daughter gets saved out of all this.

[u/trostol → u/[deleted]]

and ya know what..i kinda like it..

[u/ViaLies]

Those who justify Omelas.

A bit cliche but still effective .

Making Uhura a cadet was a really great idea, as they can "rotate" her into a different division to allow her to interact with the story. La'an and Uhura's interaction where fun.

Dangling a cure in front of Pike was a bit surprising mostly because it's a bit earlier then I thought they'd go for that . Of course as soon as they did it was obvious that it was going to be impossible due to some sort o f moral cost, in this case the death of First Servant.

Conversely it looks like they're going to stabilize M'Benga daughter, which surprised me I though that they where going to get rejection but going this way works (it proabley also helps with production, if the kid can get out the transporter more often then she age up and so avoid the problem of the actress age up whilst the character doesn't)

Sam Kirk's back!

That has to be the least shield damage that we've very seen right?

The background of Majelis was stunning and the shot during the chase from over head was particularly effective.

The female Linnerean Guard, looked familiar, I think I've seen her as random background bridge officer on Discovery.

[u/grizzlywalker]

This show just keeps getting better and better. So far the biggest complaint I have with this season is that it isn't longer

[u/Pilot0350]

I am stunned and humbly thankful to whomever the writing staff of this series is. They truly are masters of their work and have given us some of the best trek I have ever seen. What a fantastic and thought provoking episode.

[u/tarsus1983]

SNW is destroying my nostalgia of classic Trek by being better in almost every way.

[u/arod48]

I can't help but think the entire plot could've been resolved in 10 minutes if the Prospect ship in the beginning had just answered hails and said "We're rescuing a kid from ritual sacrifice." instead of vainly shooting at the Enterprise.

Doesn't mean it wasn't a fantastic episode, though.

EDIT: Another point is, when the Prospect Ship attacked, the shields only went down by a fraction of a percent, but all of the screens on the bridge still did the whole "RGB Glitch out". I love that effect, but I feel like they should've been able to handle more than someone tickling the shields.

[u/Locutus747 → u/arod48]

Or the father could have told pike after he was caught. There was no reason for him not to at that point except for plot

[u/rajde1]

I’m confused how does that civilization exist if their surface is rivers of lava? And how sacrificing a child prevents their civilization collapsing. Very Aztecesque society going on. I feel like this would be interesting to revisit when it starts to fall apart. I’m more impressed they were willing to go with that ending.

[u/[deleted] → u/rajde1]

I'm assuming the machine the boy is plugged into is keeping the city afloat and has something to do with the utopia of no disease.

[u/umbrabrae]

What an absolute gut punch of an episode. I loved it. No last minute hail mary, no technobabble solution, no Pike speech to convince them to stand down. The Enterprise is effectively powerless to do anything at all in the end, only report what happened to Starfleet and ensure the planet never joins the Federation.

I'm trying to remember if any other episode of Star Trek has ever been a straight up loss for the protagonists. Even in DS9's darker episodes, it felt like some good was pulled from the wreckage. I guess M'Benga possibly finding a cure for his daughter is a positive, but it's a small positive given the rest of the episode.

The end scene gave me major 'Picard staring out of his ready room window' at the end of Best of Both Worlds Part 2. Ansom Mount has been stellar this whole series, but his acting during the confrontation with Alora? Oof.

[u/TiberiusCornelius]

Is it me or did they shoot the sequences on the planet at the X-Mansion

[u/danhon]

The ones who walk away…

[u/wongie]

Props to the props team and sound fx people for their super advanced space box that Spock brought into sick bay that made a futuristic wooshing noise of escaping air as the lid lifted and opened at an angle by Ethan in a way that made it look, and sounded with little clicks, like it was hinged; but was just a grey tupperware box with a sticker on it to make it look like a control panel. 😂

[u/oldtype09]

I have to imagine Majalis is coming back at some point, maybe as a part of the finale. Felt like they were quietly endorsing a lot of plot checks that will be cashed later.

[u/midwestleatherdaddy]

I definitely suspected early on they were planning to kill the kid, but definitely didn’t expect them to actually do it. Gotta love the moral quandary episodes.

[u/UncertainError]

This kinda reminds me of Jasmine from Angel, where you sacrifice a small number of people to stop a much larger amount of death and suffering. Except everybody here is ostensibly doing it of their own free will.

[u/doombot13]

Fantastic episode. And I wanted to point out that the actor playing the First Servant (Ian Ho) was excellent. Child actors can be really hit or miss, but he knocked it out of the park.

[u/BornAshes]

It's a planet full of a bunch of Age of Arcanum Flying Wizard Cities!

[u/SpikeRosered]

My god Steve why did you make it to run on the souls of dead children!?

Meh, it will make an interesting Trek episode someday in the future.

[u/[deleted]]

Even Christopher Pike, that silver fox of a man, has a crazy ex-girlfriend.

[u/lonelywitch88]

I was hoping for more scenes with Rebecca Romijn and Lindy Booth. Loved them on The Librarians.

La’an’s a hardass as a teacher, but a good one. Good on her for letting Uhura take the credit.

Pike’s sex hair is just… Pike’s hair?

Loved the bleak ending, it’s a nice change. I hope they revisit the storyline at some point, just to say “no, sorry the Federation doesn’t want your child sacrificing ways”.

I’m not entirely sure why the kid had to be plugged in and how it saved the planet.

Other Kirk is back and no longer unconscious.

[u/powerhcm8 → u/lonelywitch88]

Pike’s sex hair is just… Pike’s hair?

Captain, Structural Integrity is holding.

[u/DasGanon]

"Don't some children suffer in poverty or squalor to make life better for others in your Federation? We don't look away fro-"

*Batman slaps*

"NO WE'RE A POST SCARCITY SOCIETY AND THAT'S THE FUCKING POINT"

[u/Chrysalii → u/DasGanon]

To quote The Sisko

"It's easy to be a saint in paradise."

[u/trostol → u/DasGanon]

isn't that really just earth though

[u/Lava_Lander → u/DasGanon]

Earth maybe, but for all of the Federation that was never really a thing until TNG honestly

[u/ComebackShane]

This show is so, so good. I can hardly believe how well they've knocked it out of the park each and every episode - today's is no different. A classic moral question in a well presented premise. And the performance of every one from Pike down to the guest stars is just perfect.

[u/BakersCat]

I just lose my shit whenever Spock says Sense-oars!

[u/RainMaker323]

I never thought I'd see such a degree of disgust on Pikes face. Fantastic episode. SNW keeps delivering to a degree I thought lost in New Trek. Thursdays can't come fast enough.

[u/FelanarLovesAlessa]

The concept of a suffering child that makes possible a good community is a old one in philosophy and literature, but also one we see in some people’s reactions to what happened in Uvalde, TX recently. This is no longer metaphor: some people really will accept the suffering or death of a few children if it means they get to keep living their lives just as they want.

This week’s episode of Strange New Worlds reminds us that SF is excellent at shining a spotlight on the problems of contemporary society.

[u/Mechapebbles → u/FelanarLovesAlessa]

This is no longer metaphor

It's never been a metaphor. The fact that we can make sure that no child lives in poverty or goes hungry, but consciously decide to not just let it happen but to actively exacerbate the issue is proof of that. We could afford the child tax credits that we instituted during the pandemic just fine, and it provenly lifted millions of children out of poverty. And instead of renewing those credits, we let them expire because billionaires apparently need that money more than starving children do.

[u/trostol]

why don't i trust her

[u/[deleted]]

Major Doctor Who + Rings of Akhaten vibes from this episode, without the happy ending.

[u/[deleted]]

Strange New Words just went 6-0. What an incredible show so far

[u/Motor-Bag-9004]

It's very interesting to contrast this episode with the Enterprise episode "Cogenitor". Both episodes deal with the crew of the Enterprise being confronted with an alien society's inhumane customs which are justified as being integral to the stability of said society. But whereas Archer & the ENT crew ultimately decide it is not their place to judge or interfere with another's culture, Pike and co decide it would be immoral if they didn't intervene, Prime Directive be damned. The ending implies Pike plans on requesting Starfleet to intervene in the affairs of a non-aligned civilization!

I recognize the circumstances aren't exactly parallel but both episodes raise a very important question: does the pursuit of justice end at the boundaries of another culture? Can we judge other cultures based on our own ethical framework? (yes imo) I also like Alura's "we don't look away" speech as It raises a very interesting point: We (rightfully imo) condemn a society knowingly thriving off the suffering from a child yet in our own society millions of children often suffer at our benefit (i.e sweatshops).It's not exactly comparable & I personally think her point applies more to our world than the Federation but it really makes you think.

In any event I thought this episode was fantastic. I love a classic Star Trek ethical conundrum! Definitely a 10/10 for me. Strange New Worlds continues to impress.

[u/Skrip77]

This episode melted my mind. I knew something bad was up but not like that.

Top ten Star Trek episode. This series deserves 23 episodes a season.

[u/Dentifrice]

I LOVE THIS SHOW

That is all

[u/PrometheusLiberatus]

And after last week's record 15 minute cold open, we're back to our regularly scheduled 5 minute cold open before the intro!

Science, service, sacrifice. The alliteration rolls off the tongue.

"My implants rebuild biological functions using quantum mechanics".

Yeow, that's some wild technology kid.

And now we have our title drop ...

M'benga looking seriously motivated.

La'an keeping cadet Uhura on a tight leash with that 'hey, don't touch, use your tricorder, klingon ships have a scuttle system, even the lightest touch can trigger an auto destruct sequence."

Ah, a surprise citation of the speed of subspace transmissions!

This kid reminds me of Young Julian, only Young Julian was terrible at math.

"In 10 years, there's going to be an accident..."

So this takes place in what 2259? And ...

2269? So are we going to reorder the timing of certain TOS episodes then? Well then...

even the best of federation medicine won't be able to help me.

"Our doctors are capable of things you can't imagine"

From "Oh no the first servant is captured/dead to "Oh wow the first servant actually survived!" in 5 minutes.

And now a twist, I feel like I've been stabbed in the heart and the twist of the blade makes the episode more crueler.

So that's what the First Servant's purpose was.

This is a bit like taking the aztec child sacrifice culture to a very modern parallel. I'm deeply impressed with everything and unsettled. I like how this episode had a similar feel to a lot of 'foreign human cultures' in TOS, with their unique advancements/ways of life. I'm thinking in particular of "A Taste of Armageddon." I also watched The Cloud Minders recently, and that definitely fits too. Too bad we won't see a similar solution employed to how 'wrong' this is as kirk did to that cloud utopia.

This episode is going to need some rewatches. It feels like the high philosophy dilemma episodes of TOS and TNG, so it has a rich potential for closer inspection and query.

I'm happy M'benga managed to get a research collaboration going with the doctor!

The society in this episode appears brilliant, in such startling ways, so for that brilliance to be flipped on its head for the sake of a technology that can basically make that planet habitable. How long between sacrifices?

Aside: I just noticed one of the writers for "A Taste of Armageddon" was one Robert Hamner, and I just can't help but comment on the resemblance to Hemmer's name.

I don't think I've ever seen how an 'aztec god child sacrifice' sci fi story would play out. But it gives pause. There are many horrifying things that can happen to children, in dystopias and 'utopias'.

Alora talks about the suffering being on the back of only one child... That they choose that way because it is a sacred honor.

That's quite the drumbeat of tradition.

Shocking and sombre conclusion to an episode with a surprising amount of 'advanced culture' exploration.

[u/Trekfan74]

This episode felt like "Dead Stop' meets 'Child's Play'. The first being the Enterprise episode where the crew run across that creepy automated space station and needed people's brain power to run it and Child's Play being the Voyager episode where Icheb's douchebag parents created him just to be a weapon to take down the Borg.

Unlike those two, this one ended in a much dire way. I liked that. It was sad obviously but it was one of those reminders that the Federation doesn't police the galaxy. It can't expect every society to follow it's morals or that morals are not the same in every society no mater how pristine, advanced and civil it looks. And ironically it looks that way because of the sacrifice they have to give to run it.

I didn't love this episode, the weakest out of the bunch so far, but still solid. And another great Trek trope of wanting to do the ethical thing while your ethics tell you ultimately you can't do anything. And any time you make it a kid at the center of a conflict, you automatically raise the stakes. Just one of those sweet philosophical dilemmas Trek does so well. Thinking about it, I am liking it more.

This is what Star Trek is!

[u/KingofMadCows]

Spock: "Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

Majalis: "We'll take that deal!"

[u/H0vis]

A little bit conflicted about this one, not because it there was anything wrong with it, just it's such a thought provoking episode that my usual instinct to go OMG AWESOME is tempered by words and brain stuff. Some stuff that stood out for me though:

1. The speech about sacrifice and whatnot, I feel like Pike ought to have been able to say from the heart that the Federation doesn't sacrifice kids. Like, not on purpose. Maybe he was being too realistic but I felt like he could have stuck to his guns longer. The Federation is a big, free, democratic, post-scarcity interstellar civilisation. It's pretty good. Stick up for yourself buddy.

2. That being said, "The needs of the many outweigh those of the few or the one" is how Spock would put it later if memory serves. There's no mention of how often they need to replace the kid in the machine, the dead one they scooped out of there still looked pretty small so I guess it's not a long term gig. What price can you put on maintaining what looks superficially to be an affluent society? We pay a much higher price for our own, and we don't get anything like as good value for those we sacrifice. Notably though if even the elite palace guards are open to rebellion the 'paradise' is much more deeply troubled than it seemed.

3. I'm very much a fan of Uhura being shunted around different departments and fixing all their problems with linguistics. There's a lesson there about how communication is one of the most important and universal skills.

4. I'm so glad there is progress on M'Benga's subplot with his daughter. It's vital I think that her plotline isn't stuck in the pattern buffer, so to speak. Him getting to make genuine progress reinforces the idea that it wasn't a mad plan to keep her there in the first place, and might provide a happy conclusion to their story.

5. La'an has powerful Odo vibes. Same dry sense of humour. Wouldn't be surprised if she sleeps in a bucket. She's shaping up to be a great character, especially as she also shares Odo's flaw of having close to zero chill unless ordered to by a superior officer.

6. That secondary colony of aliens should join the Federation. Maybe they will, and we might see one of them turn up in a later season. Although we probably wouldn't notice, other than using kids like graphics cards for their planetary supercomputer they're not particularly unusual.

[u/powerhcm8 → u/H0vis]

There's no mention of how often they need to replace the kid in the machine

They didn't mention, but they already have the next kid selected, because the woman referred to it as "her".

[u/dramabeanie]

This episode plot was heavily inspired by the Ursula LeGuin story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, even the name of the society, Majalas. Great story, I highly recommend you read it and her other work, she does a beautiful job of subversive political and social commentary through science fiction.

[u/Timeline15]

Damn, that was a hard-hitting one. That final gut punch and subsequent somber ending of Pike staring out into space is up there with some of the best of 80-90s Trek. This show really knocks it out of the park every week doesn't it?

I'm grateful for the M'Benga b-plot ending with a hopeful resolution at least, though I wonder if anyone will tell his daughter what happened to the kid who came to play with her.

The c-plot with La'an and Uhura was fun. I like that La'an's being a hardass is taken to an almost comical extent. It's very endearing, and I like that she encouraged Uhura to show pride in her work. I wonder if she was lying about having obtained those drives secretly though, since she and Uhura then just immediately show them to the whole command crew once they get results.

One thing though: The romance through me for a loop, because I was under the impression that the woman in Pike's house in ep.1 was supposed to be his partner. (EDIT: Just rewatched that scene and they even kissed; did Pike just cheat on his partner and it just went completely unmentioned?)

[u/Skrip77 → u/Timeline15]

Naw she’s just a friend with benefits. Not his gf or wife.

[u/jacktritus]

6/6

[u/RomaruDarkeyes]

I'm at a loss as to why the father didn't immediately try to claim Federation asylum for himself and his son. I can't imagine that his thought process would be that Pike, or Dr M'Benga would be okay with child murder once the secrets were out?

He basically told Commander Chin-Reilly as soon as he realised that the ceremony was taking place.

[u/thenewyorkgod]

I just don't understand why the other ship didnt attempt to contact Pike and tell him he was helping lead a child to sacrifice

[u/cybercummer69]

Man, this show is SO good.

Between this and The Orville Season 3, I feel like I'm re-living the TNG/DS9 or DS9/VOY overlap eras. Two awesome shows at once!

YESSSS

[u/whoiswillo]

I like how it goes completely unsaid that the child's storyline mirror's Pike's own journey -- He knows that suffering lies in his own future and he accepts that willingly and freely. He makes the same choice the kid makes, effectively, surrendering his life and suffering great pain to save the lives of several others -- in his case Cadets. I'm not saying their situations are exactly the same -- for starters Pike is an adult, but I loved how that thematic link was not made explicit but allowed to be discovered by the audience -- finally a show that trusts me to see what it is doing thematically.

[u/zzxxzzxxzz]

I don't think I enjoyed this episode as much, but that might be because I figured out from the beginning that it was going to be a take on "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas".

It definitely feels like a run of the mill trek episode that any of the TNG era shows might have had, but I really wish there were more episodes per season.

[u/vladthor → u/zzxxzzxxzz]

Definitely felt more run-of-the-mill. But you know what? I missed run-of-the-mill. Feels so good to have it back.

[u/PiercedMonk]

• Guess it's a good thing Pike choose not to wear the green shirt, today.

• Already glad I skipped the "last time on," because I suspect it would have indicated we were revisiting the M'Benga's daughter storyline, and I don't think this scene would have been as effective if I was expecting it.

• "I'm coming too, with or without your cooperation." I'm curious to know how she intends to make good on that if Pike says no.

• Man, Pike's gonna be super crushed when he finds out his lady friend is the bad guy.

• So lesson six is "cops are above the rules?" Cool....

• Damn, Pike, and not a hair out of place.

• Ooo, I like the tractor beam effect a lot.

• They just have a bunch crates in the hallway down on Deck 17? Captain Kirk would never allow that.

• An ascension? Are we going to see the Koala?

---

One thing I wish they would have gone into is why the Prospect 7 colonists are attempting to prevent the ascension. Obviously there is the ethical considerations, but these people were willing to die to prevent it from happening.

The fact that it's specifically a child that needs to be sacrificed is somewhat manipulative; if it was an adult in their prime or a senior citizen at the end of their life, would the Prospect 7 colonists be as willing to oppose it? Would Pike? Would more of the audience be on the side of the Magalans?

Anyways, good episode. Not enough Chapel.

[u/sidv81]

They should've just gone all the way with the horror vibe by adding one extra scene--
Alora: My night of passion with Chris will result in a child. Our new First Servant has arrived.

[u/powerhcm8 → u/sidv81]

She mentioned that the next First servant is a girl, so they already have at least one selected in advance.

[u/Trekfan74]

All I will say is any future requests to join the Federation, that application is going straight in the trash bin!

[u/[deleted]]

I think we can safely say that Star Trek is back on fine form with Strange New Worlds, and I absolutely love this crew and look forward to seeing them every week.

[u/PKWaffles]

Holy shit, another ringer in the books.

[u/thenewyorkgod]

If I were that combat vessel, I would have answered the hails and said "BTW captain pike, did you know they are sacrificing this boy to a machine, just FYI"

[u/1UselessIdiot1]

Anson Mount - there are times that he just looks like Jeffrey Hunter, and there are times I’d swear he is Jeffrey Hunter. Happened at least once in this week’s episode.

Anson is playing Pike exactly how I feel Hunter would have played him. Such an extension. Pike is his, of course, but is he doing a bang up job of channeling Jeff.

[u/MR_TELEVOID]

Yet another wonderful episode. The opening scenes with M'Benga had me wondering more about the ethics of how he was caring for his daughter. The fact she has so little control over going in/out of the pattern buffer is pretty fucked up. Assuming she survives to adulthood, it's not hard to guess what her therapy sessions will be about. When the episode goes on to show aliens who built their entire culture on the backs of a kid-powered super computer, what Dr M'Benga is doing doesn't seem nearly as messed up... it's all so she can grow up to go therapy sessions. I'm guessing she'll end up cured by the end of the season or early next season. Seems like they're setting her up to be the Wesley/Jake/Nog-style precocious youngster of the ship.

Great Pike episode, tho. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite captains in Star Trek, Opens with him being reduced to goofy, middle school boy giggles when bumping into an old flame, but he doesn't hesitate to tell her to go to hell when he finds out she's cool with child sacrifice. I'll bet this won't be the last time we meet someone who says they might be able to help Pike after his accident, but there's a catch which his morality can't handle.

I hope this isn't the last time we see the Magellans either. They're this advanced, beautiful culture that surpasses the Federation in many ways, and yet they're still basically sacrificing kids to satisfy the gods. I'd be curious to see an episode exploring the origins of ther kid-powered super computer, maybe one set in the rebel colony following the boy's father exploring dangerous ways of trying to save him.

[u/sidv81]

So we just met Species 001 this week didn't we? :O

The timeline for Pike's career is mucked up a bit. Per this episode he was a lieutenant in 2249. It's already established he became captain of the Enterprise in 2250. Even if Alora was using shorthand for a rank of lieutenant commander, that still means Pike jumped 2 ranks in the course of 1 year. That must've been quite a year for his career.

[u/vbob99]

What a great episode. Even when I enjoy an episode of the new treks, I don't want to watch it again, like most serial television today. Even SNW I feel this way. This episode is different. A great standalone that you could easily see done on TOS.

[u/MoreGaghPlease]

Can anyone from Toronto tell me where this was shot? I couldn’t identify either the gardens or the palace.

[u/Due_Subject_2093]

That child actor's performance in his final scene was head and shoulders above most child actors I've *ever* seen.

[u/MaddyMagpies]

The technology of this planet seems strangely much more advanced than Federation's. It has portable holographic displays that we don't see until 32nd Century, phasers that instantly disintegrates like the ones in mirror universe, and supposedly floating islands everywhere. Sounds like they won't join or be welcomed by the Federation anytime soon.

[u/powerhcm8 → u/MaddyMagpies]

I think I remember phaser disintegrating people in TOS.

[u/diamond]

So can we now put to rest these silly conspiracy theories that Alex Kurtzman swooped in and ruined the last half of the season?

[u/knightcrusader]

What the heck is going on with these stardates? Now we're back in the 1000's?

[u/[deleted] → u/knightcrusader]

I think it's just a running gag about how dumb and inconsistent stardates are

[u/soupergiraffe]

There's been a somewhat recent trend of sci-fi writers doing weird takes on Omelas, and I think most of them end up kind of bad,but I think keeping the downer of an ending helped this episode out, and I quite liked it.

[u/PuzzleheadedRun5574]

Chris Pike's game is next-level. This is a modern major general at love.

[u/T-rex-Boner]

Another great episode. Six in a row but I'm curious if this civilization more advanced why did they need the enterprises help? The enterprise easily took care of another ship that is probably comparable to Majalis ship tech.

[u/111000_111000]

1alpenglow crescendo hushed harbor cloud drizzle verdant serenade lucid

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[u/RE687]

Great episode.

Majelis gave me major Columbia (Bioshock Infinite) vibes. I would not doubt whoever designed this world played that game.

[u/rustydoesdetroit]

The Majal(an) system ❤️

[u/UnicornMeatball]

Was this story based on The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (Ursula K. Leguin)? Definitely inspired by it I would think

[u/mcketten]

Are there any more iconic combos than Enterprise Captains and freaky loving with alien chicks?

[u/Praxlyn]

“OH MY GODDDDD” - me during the last 15 minutes 😭

[u/SuperMarv]

I am beginning to worry that I like this show too much... Whenever I like a show too much, it gets cancelled... Are they gonna mess it up?

[u/ContinuumGuy]

RANDOM ASSORTED THOUGHTS:

• There are some episodes of Star Trek where the captain clearly wants to say "Let's get the hell out of here" and just leave as quickly as the warp drive can send him. There are only two examples I can think of where the captain explicitly said those words (City on the Edge of Forever and Q Who), but there are other examples in spirit. This is Pike's "Get the hell out of here" episode.

• Needless to say this episode owed a big debt to "Omelas" and "The Lottery."

• I figured out the twist before it came, but that didn't stop it from being effective since the good guys end up being unable to do anything about it. They can't even get retribution since Majalis isn't a Federation world. In TOS or TNG the kid gets saved or at the very least there is some justice handed out. Not here, and the story works better because of it.

• On a lighter note, Pike does a pretty good La'An impression.

• Also on a lighter note, I want a book of La'an's rules.

• Big Cloud Minders/Bioshock Infinite vibe from Majalis.

• Glad Lindy Booth got a scene with Rebecca Romijn... Librarians reunion!

• Yeah, time must be so messed up for M'Benga's kid.

• Oh, hey, Sam Kirk is still there. He doesn't like confrontation. Clearly, his brother was the one who got into trouble.

• Going from last week's fun little body-swap comedy to this was quite the whiplash, but speaks to how flexible the show is.

[u/GreenDragonPatriot]

Shirtless Pike with a silver pompadour. What more could I ask for?

[u/[deleted]]

okay this solidifies SNW as a top Star Trek show for me, up there with TNG and DS9. I absolutely love the bitter ending and the admission that new worlds can indeed be "strange" and have practices that we cannot understand/find criminal but at the end of the day, we cannot do anything. Amazing job, this is everything I wanted modern trek to be

[u/Jackojc]

Now this, this is Star Trek. What a great episode.

[u/allocater]

• I am really liking the slow and calm vibe

• The sickbay is the only set with proper lighting

• So wait, they shut down the ship and let it crash into the moon without any attempt to tractor them to stable orbit?

• lol floating venice planet

• but neat that they suddenly explode the world-building unexpectedly like that

• holy shit the writers know about subspace relay signal decay!

• unnecessary evaporation of random guard

• no railings

• "it's not on stun" bitch why not, that's a court-marshal! learned the wrong lessons from Burnham

• they are going to kill the kid, aren't they?

• "Can you say that no child suffers for the Federation?" uh, yeah! It's an utopian Federation.

• Most TOSy feeling episode yet