What’s up, my know-it-alls? It’s Thursday, and that means it’s the season finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, episode 10, “A Quality of Mercy.” I’m so excited about this one that I had to bring Mrs. Know-It-All in to help me talk about it, because it’s the season finale and it’s actually pretty darn awesome.
And Kirk comes into play in this episode. We’ve been calling it all season. I was positive we were going to get Kirk in the last episode, and a lot of people were like, “I don’t think so.” You were all wrong. I was right. No, I’m kidding. Everyone loves a know-it-all. But to me it just felt like the right move to have Kirk eventually come into this, and you get to see him.
Understand that this episode does a lot of things really quickly.
The Letter, and the Man in the Red Uniform
The episode starts with a brief exchange between Pike and his girlfriend, his sometime partner, his associate, whatever you want to call it, Captain Batel. She comes back into play toward the end. Pike gets to meet the head of a starbase. I want to say it’s Starbase 4, and I could be wrong, which is one of the Neutral Zone outposts. The commander’s son is one of the kids who’s going to grow up to become a cadet that Pike ends up saving. Spock is at that table too. Kirk hasn’t come in yet.
So it starts to really get to Pike, to the point that even Una’s asking if he’s okay. He decides he’s going to send the kid a letter, and he’s trying to figure out how you explain to somebody that the future is going to be this, so avoid that. He goes back to his quarters to write it, and he gets visited by future Pike.
Future Pike is wearing an awesome version of the red uniform. I literally had to stand up, because we watch in bed in the morning, and I’m standing there explaining the red uniform. Mrs. Know-It-All says I’m being very mild when I describe it that way, and that I stood up several times in this episode. Totally. That red uniform is one of the longest running uniforms we’ve ever seen, and they did a little bit of tweaking, which I liked. They added the same sort of stylized shoulders that go into the arms. The opening is a little bit lower than normal, because the strap that clips over it is really long, and I was used to seeing that a little higher and a little shorter. Doesn’t matter. Just a little stupid nonsense for me. At the end of the day I loved it. I thought it was gorgeous.
Future Pike is there to explain that things break because of what they choose to do. He’s old, and he’s brought a Klingon time crystal with him. Pike touches it once more and is taken into the future, a future where he survives.
Seven Years Out, and the Timeline Is Set
He’s taken seven years into the future, which by the way now officially sets a timeline for us. We’ve been waiting to figure out where all this lives in Star Trek lore, and we finally get that information.
There’s an original series episode called “Balance of Terror.” We talked about it briefly earlier this season. It wasn’t “Children of the Comet.” It was one of the earlier episodes, the one we called a submarine episode, and it mirrored “Balance of Terror.” This episode takes us into “Balance of Terror” itself, in a universe where Pike is the captain instead of Kirk.
You get Kirk as captain of the Farragut, who’s nearby and shows up, and they’re all investigating the same thing. It’s Romulans. This is actually our second time doing this review, by the way, because I forgot to turn the mic on. Again.
So Pike and Kirk are on their separate ships chasing this thing. They know for a fact it’s Romulans. They know the Romulans have a cloaking device, and they know the Romulans destroyed outpost 4. They do the same thing the original episode does, following the shadow of the ship, and they try to ambush it on the other side of a comet tail that’s about to cross in front of them. There’s a big encounter. The Romulans manage to destroy the Farragut, but not before the Enterprise can get everybody over to their ship. So now Kirk is officially aboard the Enterprise with them.
There’s a tug-of-war, a back and forth, and what ends up happening is we go to war with the Romulans. A whole lot happens in the process, but that’s what it boils down to. That did not happen in the normal timeline, and it’s bad, but that’s not the major issue.
What It Costs Spock
The major issue is that during the attack, when the Romulan armada decides to engage, Spock is injured. Nurse Chapel, who is officially in medical blue, tells Pike he has severe injuries, and that even if he survives them he won’t be the same person. Lost a leg, radiation burns, the whole bit. This is a very bad scenario.
Pike comes back to his own time, and Pike from the future tells him that in every version where they survive, Spock dies or Spock is injured. Spock cannot complete his life’s work.
You’ve got to remember what that work is. I’m not even talking about the motion picture stuff, The Voyage Home and all of that. I’m talking about Next Generation, “Unification.” In the future he’s the one who really helps solidify a peace with the Romulans. It actually starts with Vulcan and the Romulans, and then eventually Starfleet and the Romulans. That’s a major pivotal part of the Kelvin universe development and everything else. A lot of stuff happens on Spock’s watch that doesn’t happen if he dies, or if he’s injured to the point that he can’t become who he’s supposed to be.
That’s ultimately what future Pike is there to tell young Pike. You’ve got to go forward with how this works. There’s no way things last if we keep this up. And Pike says okay.
It’s like a fixed point in time. Very Doctor Who, a fixed point in time.
I like how it ends. You do see that in the future Una’s in jail, for the genetic modification stuff, for breaking Starfleet’s genetic modification directive. And who comes to arrest her in the present? Captain Batel. It’s not a cliffhanger, but we go into next season with it in our heads. And it solidifies the timeline, because they said flat out it was seven years ago, and sure enough, seven years ago is when she gets arrested, because that’s now. It’s pretty awesome. I’m excited for it.
The Shot They Remade
They keep finding reasons for us to watch old episodes. Mrs. Know-It-All has “Balance of Terror” on her to-do list now, and here’s what I loved about that.
In the original “Balance of Terror,” the Enterprise does exactly what it does in this episode. They get the signal from the Romulan ship and they activate it so they can see onto the ship. It’s like spying. This is the first time they’ve ever seen a Romulan. And sure enough, you get to see the Romulans, and the camera turns, and it’s just like in TOS. The director did an amazing job mirroring it. The camera pushes right up. It’s a very moving camera, because back in the ’60s you had maybe one camera that could do all kinds of stuff, so they were like, all right, we’ve got to move this thing and turn and go. They do that here, and it lands right on Spock, and I’m like, right on.
It’s a shot-for-shot remake of that moment. The only difference is that instead of Kirk being the one to turn his head and look toward Spock, it’s Pike who does it. Very, very cool. I loved that whole thing.
We also talked about how the season started with Pike and ended with Pike, dealing with the same thing. His baggage. His luggage. I thought that was pretty cool.
Examining That Future
What I really liked, honestly, was just examining that whole future. Future Ortegas is a little bit on the snippy side. She’s got a lot of questions. Spock is Number One now, and it looks and feels like he’s gone through Kolinahr or some form of it, because he seems a little more, quote unquote, logical. He seems more like the Spock we’re eventually going to know, who’s a lot more stoic than the Spock we currently know. Chapel, like I said, is in the blue.
And then we get this really cool thing that’s sort of a cameo, even though nobody’s been cast. There’s somebody with a Scottish accent working in engineering, helping Spock. They don’t call him that. They never refer to him by name. But it’s clearly a Scotty. I should probably check the credits and see who they got. It’d be cool if it was James Doohan’s son. James Doohan, obviously, was the original Scotty, and his son’s very active in the current Star Trek stuff.
They messed with time again, too, which we just saw as the whole premise of Picard season two. They’re not afraid to play with that.
And Pike keeps the hair in the future. Good job, sir.
Member Berries, and a Show With Legs
I think it’s disrespectful to say this season has been just member berries. None of it, in my opinion, has been member berries for the sake of member berries. There was a lot of that, I thought, in Discovery. There’s been a bunch of it in Picard, obviously. I feel like this show did it in a way that says, hey fans, we’re going to come with you. We’re going to walk you into this new thing. It’s going to be okay. And then they carried us with them. Here’s this new thing, and it reminds you of the old show. Doesn’t that remind you of the old show? And you settle comfortably into it.
But I’m telling you right now, the show stands on its own merit. I could sit down right this second and start watching episode one again with no issue. It doesn’t feel heavy. I’d have to work to watch Picard season two again. Picard season one I’ve loved and rewatched many times. Season two would feel a little clunky. Discovery, same thing. I enjoy Discovery while I’m watching it, and I have yet to go back and randomly, for shucks and giggles, watch it again.
I could totally see myself watching this again, the same way I’ve watched the original series, the same way I’ve watched Next Gen, the same way I’ve watched Voyager or Deep Space Nine. To me, that’s the sign of a good Star Trek show. If it’s got legs, I’m down.
I’m ready for next season, and I’m ready for them to start carrying their own weight a little more. A little less member berries, a little more hey, these are the adventures Pike went on before Kirk and them. And none of it has to be a primer for those adventures.
Mrs. Know-It-All made the point better than I did. She watched both seasons of Picard, but this was her first real Star Trek series. And she said that even without all the information I’ve shown her and taught her along the way, she still would have enjoyed it. Agreed. It stands on its own as a thing.
I think I said this to her right after we finished it today. Star Trek for me is really about the exploration of the people, and the adventures, and I feel like they’re doing a really good job being their own series of adventures. This is an onboarding show. This is the show you show somebody to get them into Star Trek.
And the great thing is that she got curious about the original series episodes they keep pointing at. When they reference something, I go, oh, that’s from the original series, and we turn around and watch it. “Spock Amok,” we watched “Amok Time.” This one, we’re going to watch “Balance of Terror.” When they talk about tribbles, I want to show her those episodes, especially the ones where Next Gen and Deep Space Nine went back to the TOS era and did some cool green screen jiggery-pokery to put themselves into those episodes.
The Verdict
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “A Quality of Mercy” gets a 10 on the Know-It-All Index from me.
To me a 10 is anything I can’t find an objection with. Last episode I had no objections, I loved it, and if I thought about it long and hard I couldn’t have improved it, so it got a 10. This episode also gets a 10. That’s just me. Your mileage may vary. I’m sure the comment section will be full of people, and I’m sure Matthew Stroughmore is sitting there making his real-time list. God love you, sir. I actually kind of enjoy your lists, so please don’t stop.
Mrs. Know-It-All went with a nine for the episode. Her 10 this season was the storybook one. She liked everything about it, and I get that completely, because aside from the fantasy aspect it was the most uniquely Strange New Worlds thing they did. It was its own thing. The episode with the Gorn was hard on her because of Hemmer. She was standing behind the chair going, “What?” She was not happy at all. She’d give that one a nine as well.
For the season, she’d give it a nine. She knows it sounds like nine across the board, but she can’t be real critical about it yet, not the way I can.
I’m going with a nine too, as an average for the entire season. There were so many good episodes and so few bad things. I genuinely enjoyed the season.
The season has ended, but we’re not going anywhere. It’ll probably end up being Trek Talk Tuesday and Thursday, so I’m keeping this time slot. We’re probably going to do some series reviews. Baby Know-It-All would like to do one for Lower Decks, which is the show that really brought her in. I enjoyed watching Prodigy on my own, so I’ll probably do a series review of that. Mrs. Know-It-All watched a few episodes of Prodigy with me, and that’s how she learned about Voyager. They’re doing a really good job making all their shows touch each other. You watch Prodigy and go, who’s Janeway, where’d she come from? Oh, Voyager. Awesome. You keep seeing these Easter eggs from other series that make you want to go watch those series.
I’m looking forward to the future of Star Trek. Never forget: everyone loves a know-it-all.
Drop a comment on the video above with your own Know-It-All Index for “A Quality of Mercy” and for season one as a whole. And if you’re keeping a real-time list, bring it. The conversation lives in the comments.
