Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 2 Review!

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▶Chapters:
Introduction - 0:00
Episode 1 - "The Broken Circle" - 01:52
Episode 2 - "Ad Astra per Aspera" - 05:55
Episode 3 - "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" - 09:22
Episode 4 - "Among the Lotus Eaters" - 13:08
Episode 5 - "Charades" - 15:26
Episode 6 - "Lost in Translation" - 18:43
Episode 7 - "Those Old Scientists" - 20:57
Episode 8 - "Under the Cloak of War" - 25:00
Episode 9 - "Subspace Rhapsody" - 28:32
Episode 10 - "Hegemony" - 32:01
Conclusion - 41:13

#startrek #startrekstrangenewworlds #videoessay #review

[dm]

In "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", a small but great moment for me is how Alt. Kirk is against 'fixing' the timeline because he and his reality won't exist anymore. And he maintains that position until La'An accidentally mentions his brother being alive and Kirk is just stunned by this and immediately after that point, he's totally on board with restoring the timeline. Classic Kirk - the thing that flips his decision is he emotional link to his family and friends. He could be very logical in TOS, but he was so loyal to Spock and McCoy, he would often break the rules to save them.

[Kairamek]

Spock engaging in Bloodwine Diplomacy is a nice touch. In the sixth film it was Spock who opened dialog with the Klingons.

[Kleion_RFB]

I'm surprised Steve hasn't mentioned the obvious tie-in to Pike's story in the cliffhanger. "Among the Lotus Eaters" seems specifically positioned in the season to remind us of what happened on Rigel 7. Pike chose to retreat from the attack, leaving behind crew members there, which left him wracked with enough guilt that he considered resigning his commission, and then it also turned out that Zac was alive and irrevocably changed the culture on the planet. Now in Hegemony he's positioned in the same way. He's under an assault he can't hope to win and Starfleet is ordering him to retreat, which would mean abandoning the colonists and his crew who have been abducted by the Gorn. It's a clever parallel and I'm sure we'll see more of it if we can pry the money to pay these people fairly out of the grasping hands of the fucking execs.

[MarcSGA]

The “You could just not look” scene in Those Old Scientists is amazing

[vikrantpulipati]

Regarding Under the Cloak of War:
For me, the near delirious panic in Chapel's voice when she realized the Klingons were massacring children was what sold the hellish reality of that fictional war. The portrayals in that episode were phenomenal.

[Christopher_Culpepper]

I agree with Steve about Paul Wesley. Watching him, I can believe that guy will become the Kirk from the TOS. He's playing a young Kirk that will grow into a captain.

And I also agree on the weird timeline divergence from our own. To paraphrase MST3K: "Just repeat to yourself: 'It's just a show, I should really just relax...' "

[cartoonkelly]

I love when Pike refers to dealing with these particular time travelers as trying to keep a toddler from knocking over the furniture.

[arsarma]

I like how T'pring and Spock's relationship is strained by him living on a starship. He is constantly busy and being affected by anomalies which make their relationship strained.

Also, T'pring's dad really needs to be rescued. He just wants to eat his vulcan chip.

[sheepwshotguns]

im with steve on basically every take except his position on lower decks. that shit's hilarious. even the silly crossover was my favorite episode in this season. i see you trying to both sides it, and i aint have'n it. its beautiful.

[mkang]

The show would have been hard pressed to follow up the "perfect" first season with a second one that was equally strong. To their credit, I think they chose to commit more focus on making the bold choices over the safe ones. That tells me that after the first season, they trusted everyone's capabilities, so, the risks weren't completely doomed from the start.

Both "Those Old Scientists" and "Subspace Rhapsody" have one thing in common that helped them immensely: they hung the lampshade early, proudly, and without hesitation. They made it known what the underlying tone was going to be, and committed to it. It was woven into the fabric of the show without being shoved right in the audience's face.

#UnionStrong #solidarity

[AndrewDRed]

I think, by and large, season two was better than season one. Sure, S1 has Quality Of Mercy and Spock Amok, but S2 has Charades, Those Old Scientists and Subspace Rhapsody.

The average for both is probably about the same. Still impressed at how remarkably consistent the whole thing is. There's, at most, four episodes out of twenty that I'll probably skip on a rewatch.

That is pretty damn good value, if you ask me.

[rainbow_doglover]

I think my only issue with the Spock turns human episode was that the aliens refused to believe Chapel cared about Spock until she basically admitted she had romantic feelings for him. It felt really weird and forced. Like, they basically said that a person wouldn’t do something like that for a friend, which, what? Classic Kirk would totally do that for Spock. Trying to restore someone to their full self is something you’d do for anyone you care about - a best friend, a sibling, etc. Other than that I loved the episode

[aaronring]

"Spock and T'Pring decide to take a break..."

Cue off-screen interaction during "Amok Time:"

Spock: WE WERE ON. A. BREAK!

[allclevernamesgone]

Yup, I agree. I discovered (or reaffirmed) what my secret sauce is for enjoying trek It's variety. I have enjoyed Disco/Picard but I end up overdosing on the characters of Burham/Picard after a while. The variety of characters and creative storytelling keep SNW fresh.

[silversam]

Chapel: get outta here, gimme some money too

Spock: (stoic Depeche Mode rumblings)

Love this season

[finnbaker]

This season had very consistent execution. Even during episodes like Among the Lotus Eaters where I don't like the core concept, the execution of the concept is always done well. Especially by the actors. I love all of these characters and the way the actors bring them to life.
Edit: Spelling of Lotus as Locust, thanks Hudson.

[andrewanastasovski]

I noticed you didn't mention the Klingons in Subspace Rhapsody. I was kind of only half watching, because I was doing something else, and songs can convey plot points without having to listen very closely until the Klingons. I always focus more closely whenever Klingons show up, and their performance got a good laugh of appreciation out of me that time.

[enderjed]

Re: Under the Cloak of War

Morally M'BENGUOUS

Come on, Steve, it was sitting right there!

[st.anselmsfire]

I was telling my oldest about how painful it was to wait for the resolution on the Best of Both Worlds cliffhanger when I was nine. She thought it would suck to have to wait that long on a show you love.
Then came the cliffhanger in the middle of basically all of Hollywood going on strike. Now, she understands the pain I felt in the summer of 1990.

[chrisblake]

I loved 'Under the Cloak of War' because if you want to talk about efficiency in storytelling, the sound design that gave us "incoming transport... incoming transport..." is on the same level as TOS Red Alert klaxon, or the self-destruct sequence of the films. It instantly spiked the tension and when it came back later in the episode, the incipient panic was real as the transporter malfunctioned. Then M'Benga makes the call, the tension is resolved, but the horror remains. Like the characters, you're left numb. The patient in the buffer is dead, the fresh wounded are on the pad, and 'incoming transport...' is still ringing in your years.