This is the Daystrom Institute Episode Analysis thread for Strange New Worlds 2x01 The Broken Circle.
Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the content of the latest episode, this thread is a place to dig a little deeper.
I am whelmed. I liked everything about it except for what was ostensibly the “main event.”
Putting Spock in command? Interesting choice, I continue to enjoy Peck’s portrayal as younger, less confident Spock. Love Pelia. Can’t wait to see more of her. Love that we’re back to a more traditional Klingon appearance. Love the updated D-7. Good use of La’an, interesting to see a planet which is firmly stuck in the wake of the Klingon war.
But then we get to the main event: Chapel and M’Benga are in a jam. And so they just… take drugs and fistfight Klingons. Yawn. This is the head doctor and the head nurse we’re talking about here, and you’re telling me there wasn’t a more scientific or medically oriented solution? I mean sure, I guess doing some stims counts as vaguely “medical,” but that’s not really what I mean. It would have been interesting to see them exploit Klingon biology or Federation medical tech in a more thoughtful fashion, rather than just go bonk heads.
But, eh, that’s a minor blemish on what was otherwise a solid hour of Trek. I do think it’s interesting that they’ve managed to draw out Una’s trial arc into three episodes now… hopefully it’s just three? There are Strange New Worlds out there to visit.
I think the premise is interesting. Klingons are interesting. Spock in command is interesting. M’benga and Chapel fist fighting Klingons? God save us all. And then to face no consequence. It’s a shame such an interesting premise is muddied with all of the nonsense.
From what I understand based on what they said in BTS stuff, the fight was partly inspired by the fact that Babs Olusanmokun is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Why they had to have him be juiced-up fighting Klingons, I don’t know. Lord knows he could have been fighting humans without steroids.
I think the reason was simply that klingons (like vulcans) are usually depicted as significantly stronger than humans on a baseline, which is why we usually deal with them with weapons rather than fist fights. That being said, I think it was an answer looking for a question, and agree it wasn’t entirely necessary for the plot.
Why would they face consequences?
Given the history of dangerous substances radically changing a person’s physiology in Star Trek, they’ll be fine. People turn into completely different species and then return to normal without any scarring, or indeed even a hair out of place.
I wish there was some time given to recovery from such extreme bodily trauma, but the precedent has been long established that you just spend a minute in sickbay, maybe get a hypospray, and you’re back on duty in no time.
I mean, the way it was portrayed, it seems like M’Benga has done this before, and that it’s dangerous and/or has long-term effects. I assume this will be picked up again later in the season.
That was my thought exactly.
Chapel’s question to M’Benga whether he wanted to do that to himself again clearly implied there is a physiological or psychological cost to using the substance, perhaps even an addiction that he’s already struggled with.
Do we know what this substance is?
Not yet - Memory Alpha is referring to it as “a stimulant.”
Yeah I think there are probabllllyy consequences to taking that substance, maybe the show won’t deliver on them but I would be a bit surprised if it didn’t. I don’t feel like they are just not going to mention that again.
I was disappointed in the season opener. The story was silly and incoherent, and to be honest it reminds me of the worst elements of Discovery.
I don’t begrudge them deferring dealing with the Una situation as that is likely (hopefully) going to be strongly character driven episode.
But the Embenga/Chapel subplot was by far the worst part of the whole episode. Exploring the trauma of the Klingon War is actually an intriguing idea, and even the idea of Starfleet medical being weaponised is intriguing but instead we got Embenga and Chapel injecting up and becoming rediculous super soldiers which has zero link to anything we’ve ever had from their backstories. Then we had 10 minutes of tedious kung fu fighting which is a common trope of Discovery; it’s lazy writing and just fills screen time with pointless violence. It is exactly the opposite of what makes SNW so refreshing. I hope to god this stupidity is a one off. If you are going to shoehorn in a pointless action sequence, why on earth would you pick Embenga and Chapel for that? And then the crazy space walk? It was ludicrous.
Other elements were ok but the overall episode felt out of place with what SNW did in series 1. I really hope they have not decided the show needs more “action” because they will be making the same mistakes as Discovery if they do that. SNW series 1 was extremely well recieved because it was character and plot driven; each episode was stand alone but the characters plots extended across the season.
I’d give this episode 5/10 to be honest.
*M’benga.
