Shields up! This text incorporates spoilers for the “Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds” Season 4 premiere.
Apologies for quoting a really completely different space-set franchise, however I’ve received a foul feeling about this. Extra so than another sequence within the franchise, “Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds” has all the time come loaded with an inherent dread of types. As Trekkies are all too conscious, Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike is doomed to a grisly future that he cannot escape … and, in a canon-altering twist, he is aware of it. However, with “Unusual New Worls” being a “Star Trek: The Authentic Sequence” prequel, we’re additionally aware about bits of data that the present’s characters should not. The Season 4 trailer makes use of this to its benefit, ending with a wink and a nod to Spock (Ethan Peck) and James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) finally changing into greatest buds. Nevertheless it’s not all enjoyable and video games, because the Season 4 premiere reminds us.
Probably the greatest authentic additions to “Unusual New Worlds” must be Christina Chong’s portrayal of La’an Noonien-Singh, the chief safety officer on board the USS Enterprise and, most notably, a determine who would not seem in “The Authentic Sequence.” That reality can not help however inform how we have watched her burgeoning will-they/gained’t-they relationship with Spock, which now seems to be totally established as an off-the-cuff fling. Since one thing should occur to clarify her absence down the road, that would appear to place a countdown timer on any bond (romantic and in any other case) the 2 characters presently share.
Might that clarification be one thing way more tragic than a easy ship switch or breakup? One ominous second late within the Season 4 premiere hints at La’an present process a physiological change. Learn in a sure approach, it could actually’t assist however really feel just like the setup to her potential loss of life.
The Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds Season 4 premiere teases some large adjustments for La’an Noonien-Singh
All of it begins to go haywire when La’an Noonien-Singh punches a velociraptor within the face along with her naked knuckles and would not even blink a watch. Okay, what? Let’s again up first. The Season 4 premiere of “Unusual New Worlds,” titled “Valles Marineris,” places our Enterprise crew on unusual footing certainly when an interstellar squall (truthfully, “Star Trek” lingo stays undefeated) sends the starship careening to a distant portion of the galaxy — and a distinct time altogether. 65 million years previously, to be exact. Sure, that is the excuse that the present’s writing crew makes use of to have our characters face off towards dinosaurs on historical Earth, and it is freakin’ superior.
As soon as La’an, Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), and Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) land on the planet to get well some valuable iridium, that is when issues start to go sideways. The episode builds as much as the dinosaur reveal completely, however what comes subsequent guarantees to have severe ramifications for our chief of safety. Underneath strict orders to not kill the native wildlife, lest they inadvertently change the course of the long run, La’an has no alternative however to resort to some old school fisticuffs when some nosy velociraptors come sniffing round. The visible of punching a raptor is as enjoyable because it will get, nevertheless it’s La’an’s momentary confusion afterwards that raises questions.
In a while, we discover out the rationale why. After returning to the Enterprise, La’an pays a go to to sickbay to get her injured hand checked out. Noting her full lack of ache, she factors to her augmented DNA, itself the results of La’an being descended from the villainous increase Khan Noonien-Singh, and admits she’s “felt completely different for some time now.” So, what’s occurring?
La’an Noonien Singh’s days on Unusual New Worlds could also be numbered — a technique or one other
Say it with me, of us: Uh oh. When La’an expresses concern that her recessive genes may be activating someway, because of every part she and the crew have been by over their final a number of missions in deep area, it appears like there is not any approach this ends nicely. Granted, she’s all the time harbored difficult feelings about her augmented ancestors and the function that Khan performed in Earth’s Eugenics Warfare centuries previously. “Unusual New Worlds” has beforehand used this backstory to discover the thematic concept that characters are greater than the place they arrive from, a thread that Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) picks up on when she assures La’an that these “enhanced warrior genes” do not outline who she is.
However the disturbing feeling stays. Physician M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) bluntly asks if these adjustments she feels in her physique (which already options enhanced power and reflexes) means she’s going to comply with in Khan’s footsteps and attempt to take over the galaxy. Her unsure response that she is not certain would not precisely quell these considerations. In mild of that, followers connected to the character could also be greatest served by planning for the worst. It is alarmingly simple to think about a future storyline the place La’an realizes the risk her now-activated genes pose to the remainder of the galaxy and decides to take away herself from the image fully — maybe exiling herself or worse. Or perhaps we’re overreacting and “Unusual New Worlds” will maintain her round by to the tip of the road in Season 5. Both approach, it is value savoring each remaining second we’ve with these fan-favorites. They will be gone earlier than we all know it.
New episodes of “Unusual New Worlds” stream on Paramount+ each Thursday.
