WHY WE LIKE IT: Pike's true self is a badass.
WHY WE DON'T: Missed the bus on interesting Pelia subplot.
REVIEW: Strange New Worlds revisits the trauma that almost made Pike leave the service at the start of The Cage. Rigel VII, home to the Kalarans (throwing all these Rigel planets' nomenclature to even more doubt), is the site of a disastrous mission 5 years prior, in which Pike lost three people, including his yeoman. It still haunts him. And now that Starfleet delta has been spotted in castle gardens on the planet, the Enterprise is sent to clean up its mess and see how far the contamination goes. Pike is for a rough few days, as this is also in the wake of his breaking up "on the run" with Captain Batel who has just lost a promotion for her bungling the Una trial (legit) and Pike feels guilty about it. Pike can throw himself a pity party if he wants, but it's Batel who's having the worst day. Besides, Pike soon gets to forget his trauma...
A meteor once hit Rigel VII and its exotic radiation makes people forget who they are every day (which will also prove true in orbit). Effects like this are always quite wonky, with characters succumbing more or less as the plot requires, usually with the captain succumbing last. There's no physiological reason why La'an starts feeling it almost upon landing, a good 6-8 hours before Pike and M'Benga, or for Uhura to get hit long before everyone else on the bridge. Or why the locals center themselves every morning by reading glyphs on their bodies (Memento-style) and totems, but Spock can't read his own file prepared for just such an occurrence. These things are wonky at best. We take them as presented, because it's not really about that. Pike says it himself, the Forgetting reveals who you truly are. Without memory except muscle memory and intuitive gut feelings, Pike's true self is a man who 1) stages an escape attempt and revolution rather than accept servile captivity, 2) is observant and clever, and 3) would go to the extreme to save a member of his crew (in this case, an injured La'an). Oh, and 4) is in love with Batel, exposing the mistake he just made pushing her away for her own good.
He's also a hell of a badass in this. Though an amnesiac, he rushes the palace, taking the fight to High Lord Zac (his old yeoman who has somehow survived to severely break the Prime Directive and now take revenge on the man who left him behind), making phaser blasts bounce off serving platters like they're nothing! But regardless of Zac's feelings and actions, Pike is relieved to see him, and after the shielded palace walls (again, not consistently blocking the radiation) allow his neural pathways to work again, he tells Zak he was mourned. Thought dead, but not abandoned, at least in Pike's thoughts. Even old Luq, who helps them achieve their "moment", has to admit it's better to know where your feelings come from than forget the specific burdens they represent. Pike may have wished, at some point, to forget the losses of Rigel VII, but that WOULD be abandoning the crew he lost there. He's just not capable of it (which is how we know he'll "do the right thing" when he has his disabling accident in 10 years). This is his "I need my pain" moment. By the end, Pike will liberate the whole society from the radiation problem using a Prime Directive loophole of the type often employed by Kirk in TOS.
I'm less convinced by what's happening on the ship, largely because we must suffer through all the same beats - symptoms, pandemic, someone clutching to a feeling/identity to save the day - but the focus on Ortegas is a fun one. In an enthusiastic log, she admits to feeling trapped at her station, and is excited for the change of pace when she's assigned to the landing party. Except the debris field means she can't go, and she feels deflated. Indeed, Pike AND Number One both tell her they can do her job in the first Act. So Erica needs to feel a bit more valued. Her and Spock make a nice double act, of course, but it's when she loses her memories that, with the accidental help of the computer, she discovers her identity as ship's pilot and makes it her mantra, reconnects to her identity (which she previously felt was limiting) and saves the ship. (They go a bit far in terms of maneuvers, but fine.) A second log triumphantly accepts the identity ("I am Erica Ortegas and I fly the ship!") and I'm almost sorry we need a Pike/Batel epilogue (they're back together) that steps all over what was the superior final moment.
Speaking of superior moments, while I like the Ortegas subplot, and I know Carol Kane isn't contracted for the full 10 episodes, I think it would have been much more interesting if Pelia had the subplot. A long-lived character like her, with a memory that extends well beyond ours... how much of a relief would it be to suddenly be free of it? Maybe she has a sense of its weight, maybe the shield harmonics are her thing instead of Spock's, maybe she doesn't want the memories back, and maybe she's wounded by their return. A contrast to what's happening on the planet and a deeper delve into this mysterious character. That she isn't mentioned at all is actually pretty odd in the context of the ship's problems. Not that I begrudge Ortegas her spotlight, because she's been the least-served regular to date.
SECONDARY WATCHING: The Cage, obviously. That episode occurs immediately after (two weeks) the original incident at Rigel VII. Notably, Pike says he spent his time there running around a castle, which we find out is probably why he was protected from the brain-leeching radiation. When we see the palace in a Talosian vision, it's similar though the setting is less wintry (other planets have a right to seasons) and the hats more fantastical. He also mentions having lost three crew members, including his yeoman, though Zak is not referenced by name. It makes sense for said yeoman to be male given original Pike's comments about his new female yeoman. So the Rigel VII stuff tracks even if The Cage's gender dynamics no longer fit continuity. Notably, when one watches The Cage, one might notice Number One also gets left on the bridge and seems disappointed - could be the inspiration for the Ortegas subplot. I also noticed an Asian transporter chief (with no lines) in the original pilot and thought to myself, is this the Mr. Kyle (unrelated to the TOS Kyle) from the first season?
LESSON: Memory is the mind killer.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: I like the meta-text of having Pike admit it's his "moment" (i.e. his spotlight episode) and Erica confronting her role on the series, but this one's too easy to nitpick to rise to the title of classic. But even a mid-level SNW episode probably trends higher than most other series'.
Comments
I don't have a logical explanation as to why La'an was affected almost immediately, other than a sexist one - that she's a woman, and the other two characters are male, and that the previous visit to Rigel VII was also an all-male landing party. I hate that line of reasoning though, so I'm choosing to ignore that. I think Pike said something about being planet-side for less than 4 hours duriing the initial encounter, so it would track that he didn't experience any negative effects from the meteor at that time.
I am aching for Ortegas to get a full on, proper spotlight episode, on the same level as all of the rest of the regulars. This serverd her, and I continue to love her character more and more every episode, but I'd love to see her have a real spotlight.