by Matt Sernaker, Managing Editor
Everything is about to get really intense for the next hour or so, as we have reached the end of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The Season Two finale, “Hegemony”, is written by Henry Alonso Myers and directed by Maja Vrvilo. The Gorn have finally arrived…and that means a lot of challenges ahead for the crew of the Enterprise.
Spoilers after the jump!
Picking up a few weeks after the last installment, Pike and team are still recovering from their musical episode. While the Captain catches up with Batel via a Space-Zoom, we learn that the USS Cuyahoga has been deployed to a small colony on Parnassus Beta, which was designed to look like a small town on Earth. We also learn that Nurse Chapel has already left the Enterprise to start her new adventure, hitching a ride with the Cuyahoga to her final destination. The call is abruptly interrupted, and the sky begins to fall around the Captain and the colonists. A crashed Starfleet shuttle is only the tip of the iceberg, as a Gorn invasion ship descends on the planet. The Enterprise receives Batel’s distress call, and all hands race to the rescue. Can anyone survive a Gorn attack of this calibre? What has happened to the crew of the demolished Cuyahoga? And who was flying the Starfleet shuttle? All this (and more) will be answered in this surprising chapter of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds!
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds stars Anson Mount as Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley, Ethan Peck as Spock, Jess Bush as Christine Chapel, Christina Chong as La’An Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura, Melissa Navia as Erica Ortegas and Babs Olusanmokun as Joseph M’Benga. The episode features the return of Carol Kane as Pella and Melanie Scrofano as Captain Batel. I meant what I said earlier…this episode was intense. From the initial attack to seeing the devastated remains of the Cuyahoga, the creative team really went for a sci-fi thriller vibe for the season finale.
The best sequence of the episode featured Peck and Bush, who reunite in a surprising way to fight off a Gorn attacker…in space (I absolutely loved the Gorn space suit design). I also loved the callback to Spock’s space adventures in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (he is the ONLY ONE who can do this task after all). I also appreciated the Pike/Batel developments, despite some telegraphing in earlier episodes. The biggest surprise of the finale was the fact that we were treated to the introduction of Martin Quinn as Scotty! The young Lieutenant makes a big first impression, offering a potentially life-saving technology to help the survivors escape from the Gorn armada. Quinn’s take on the fan-favorite character was enjoyable to say the least, and can’t wait to see how he interacts with the crew in future stories.
Overall, I really enjoyed how this episode was structured, and I felt like it was a big note to end on for a very strong sophomore season. It’s been a while since we’ve had a TO BE CONTINUED of this calibre, and I look forward to seeing what happens to our heroes upon their return for Season Three!
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season 2 – “Hegemony” – 5 out of 5 saves from Scotty!
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