WHY WE LIKE IT: First meetings.
WHY WE DON'T: That old Stephen King feeling.
REVIEW: This is all about the real Kirk walking around on the Enterprise, because I'm sorry Uhura, but your spotlight episode is something Trek has done before. Every so often, the show throws some hallucinations at one or more characters, which turn out to be alien signals. This is in fact closest to TNG's Night Terrors, but Phantasms and Voyager's Persistence of Vision also come to mind. I've never liked this brand of horror, which I associate with Stephen King, where people just have random gory/frightening/disturbing visions sent by a monster/entity. At least here they are all tied to the feelings the extra-dimensional aliens want Uhura to piece together, but I remain deeply ambivalent. There is the vision of her family's fatal accident, but she's already described that to us (and does again), so it's not as important as it could have been. What DOES work is the notion that young Uhura isn't just working herself to the bone because she's an ensign on the flagship, but because it's a way to run from her grief. Her family left a deep wound that Hemmer's death last season reopened. It's a small arc that nimbly continues into the next episode. Speaking of Hemmer, it allows him one last save - as a YouTube how to video, but still - though I question Pike letting Uhura call the shots herself on the bridge at the end. All her orders are obvious and should have come out of his mouth, especially since he takes full responsibility for blowing up Starfleet's new gas station. The A-plot also gives us nacelle interiors (which I love) and another hallucinating officer whose final shot is one of those hack icing-up-in-space moments (which I don't).
But where that plot intersects the new friendship between Kirk and Uhura, ahhh, well that's where the rewatchability lies. He's adamant he's not hitting on her, though Sam seems to have created a reputation for him aboard ship already, and that wouldn't be proper (though he nevertheless gets into her room pretty quick). La'an really has his number (she has an unfair temporal advantage) when she calls him out as someone who would help a stranger (though there's a twinge of jealousy from her when she discovers their connection), and we dig a bit deeper, finding out George Kirk Sr. (where's Chris Hemsworth when we need him to cameo?) was an absentee dad because he cared more for strangers than his loved ones, and this is how young Jim resolved the issue - by agreeing. (Maybe that's why he chose the path he did with David.) Young Jim also has a speech not unlike the crucial "I NEED my pain!" scene in Star Trek V, instructing Uhura on her repression of her own grief. A lovely call back without actually calling OUT to it.
So there's the new friendship with Uhura, the slight awkwardness with La'an and Pike (as both have met him in another life and are a little spooked by it), but it doesn't stop there. Another strong element is Sam's reaction to his younger brother having now made youngest First Officer ever (beating dear old dad's record). There's a surprising jealousy there and Sam appears to be estranged from his father. To his credit, Jim doesn't seem to think that should impact his relationship with his brother (he's right), but it stings that he doesn't really care about all this science stuff just like his dad, and doesn't see it (he's wrong). The scenes are played for pathos and for laughs, and work on both levels. Sam doesn't use his father's name for a reason. Looking at the Kirk brothers, I'm reminded of the path alt-Picard took in Tapestry, following science where promotions go to stall. It's also Sam's messiness that attracts Spock to their table at the end (a subtle call back from the previous episode) and in the final moments, we get a first meeting between Trek's most famous best friends. Nothing momentous, which I respect for its realism. There's a lovely jazz track playing as we dolly away from the three future TOS crew members' table. When I realized it was "Till There Was You", I got a lump in my throat. Strange New Worlds is at its best when it doesn't hammer things home too pointedly. Beautifully done moment.
A couple other twosomes need to be addressed before we wrap this review... Chapel and Spock discuss their relationship as a Shrödinger's cat, with Chapel in particular not wanting other people to know lest it change the nature of the relationship - not too surprising from young Chapel who has been shown to be almost pathologically noncommittal - a conversation cleverly playing out as a chess game ("Your move", indeed!). Less amicable are Una and Pelia, the former irritated by the latter's methods and, let's be frank, insolence. Since XOs are in charge of personnel, it makes some amount of sense that she resents Pelia because she didn't select her (and she's an old Academy instructor who didn't really acknowledge her potential back in the day too), but they ultimately play it as if Pelia just reminds her of Hemmer. That's Uhura's thing (and indeed, is addressed that way), and makes little sense for a veteran Starfleet officer, especially one that controls her emotions like Una. So this is the weakest part of the episode for me, and feels like a scene orphaned from a previous draft and reassigned to give Number One something to do.
SECONDARY WATCHING: No episodes actually discuss the first meetings between Kirk and Spock, or Kirk and Uhura. Since the George Kirk and the USS Kelvin are mentioned, one might want to look at the 2009 Star Trek film again, or rather its version of young Kirk meeting Uhura and Pike, as this episode does a number of call backs to those moments.
LESSON: Keep the volume down if you want the neighbors to listen to you.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: The plot is old hat, but lots of nice character moments lift up the material.
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