"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Friday, July 14, 2023

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2.5: Chapel and Spock


Last week's Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2.4 was about forgetting, and it's not that I forgot to review it, I was just a little too busy, and I just saw 2.5, and that was so good, so special, that I'll say definitely see 2.4, it's excellent and you'll like it, but I'll get right to my review of 2.5.  It was outstanding.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Chapel and Spock were already my favorite couple -- they've been that since the first episode of this second season -- and it was great to see their relationship start to flourish in 2.5.  The vehicle for that was a clever piece of science fiction, with a rich human payoff -- Chapel and Spock are in a shuttle accident in which Chapel is not hurt but Spock is, and an advanced alien species "repairs" him, but mistakenly makes him completely human.  Chapel finds out that Spock deliberately diverted the damage from her to him, because she was more vulnerable, and of course that makes her love Spock more.

Spock starts this episode still betrothed to T'Pring -- I thought they broke up last season -- and in addition to the humor of Spock pretending to be at least half-Vulcan to placate T'Pring's mother, I was glad to see  T'Pring tell Spock near the end of the episode that they should take some time off.  This set up the kiss between Chapel and  Spock at the end perfectly.

About that kiss: good to see and, although their story ultimately will be limited by what we saw of the characters in their future and our past in Star Trek: TOS, I'm hoping for as much of that as possible in Strange New Worlds, including, who knows, maybe even a kid or two who could pop up in some new Star Trek series in years to come.

See also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2.1: Nurse Chapel ... 2.2: Racism and Sexism in the Courtroom ... 2.3: Time Travel and Alternate Universes

And see also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1.1-1.2: Great Characters, Actors, Stories ... 1.3: "Instead of terraforming planets, we modify ourselves ..." ... 1.4: The Gorn and the Wub ... 1.5 Going to the Chapel ... 1.6: Two Stories ... 1.7: The Kiss ... 1.8: Ends of the Continuum ... 1.9: Momentous! ... 1.10: Everything!

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