Star Trek Unusual New Worlds Recap: “The Damaged Circle”

Though time had handed on Star Trek: Discovery earlier than its namesake ship jetted out of the 23rd century and into the remote futures of the thirty first, the sequence largely had different issues to dwell on than the state of paradise within the wake of a devastating warfare with the Klingons. As Strange New Worlds returns, Star Trek has determined now’s the time for that dwelling—and what it finds is fascinatingly imperfect.

“The Damaged Circle” sees the Enterprise group—trimmed down on the bridge, as Captain Pike leaves the ship in Spock’s fingers so he can go assist Quantity One together with her complete “so Starfleet came upon you have been an unlawful genetic increase” deal, and trimmed down even additional whereas the ship is present process repairs at Starbase One—known as upon by (at the moment former) Starfleet officer and Enterprise safety chief La’an. She’s been on a depart of absence to assist a fellow little one survivor of a Gorn assault on the climax of season one, and has found a Federation-threatening motion on the planet Kajitar IV.

What follows are undercover hijinks as Spock—already considerably shaken by his compromised logical management of his feelings, on high of being thrust right into a hell of a troublesome spot in his first momentary command—decides to steal the Enterprise after being instructed to not go assist La’an by a worryingly recalcitrant Admiral April. It is a enjoyable and goofy opening to the episode, particularly as a result of it lets visitor star Carol Kane—taking part in Commander Pelia, an centuries-old Lanthanite with each a questionable profession ethic and accent to match—have an absolute scenery-chewing blast when she determined to affix Spock and pals of their little mutiny. However then issues get decidedly much less like Unusual New Worlds’ now tried-and-tested camp Trek classicism when the group arrives on Kajitar IV and finds La’an. Instead, we get a form of fascinating little bit of world-constructing exploration Discovery by no means fairly had the time to ship.

The world is residence to a significant dilithium mining operation, and as such, was extremely sought-after within the warfare between the Federation and the Klingons seen all through Discovery’s first season. Now ruled by a rotational sharing of the planet’s mining sources between Klingon and Federation management (and at the moment beneath the Klingon’s purview, hampering the Enterprise’s presence), a brand new insurrectionist faction has emerged, uniting Klingon and Federation residents on Kajitar alike. The titular Damaged Circle needs to start out hostilities between the Klingon Empire and Starfleet as soon as once more by buying black market Federation tech, kick beginning a false-flag operation that might result in a second warfare—boosting demand for, and the value connected, to dilithium.

Battle is an idea Star Trek has continually engaged with, even within the surface-level understanding of its utopia. How the idyllic societies of the galaxy grasp with the traditional push and pull of violent battle has pushed Star Trek to defend its peace time and time once more, however it’s rarer for the sequence, on TV at the very least, to sit down and discover the unease that comes after the tip of devastating battle. The Dominion Battle shook the galaxy in DS9 in methods Trek had by no means seen earlier than—however sequence set post-conflict like Picard or Decrease Decks by no means actually sat all the way down to give attention to how uncooked the galaxy was in its wake. It was a lot the identical for Discovery’s Klingon War too, a horrifyingly violent battle that claimed tens of millions of lives in such a short while, one which the Enterprise at giant averted collaborating in, handwaved again in Discovery as as a consequence of a five-year exploratory mission. But it surely’s solely within the right here and now, when the Enterprise group and La’an realize the stakes, and that at the very least a few of them are individuals who served immediately in that battle, that Trek is attending to look deeper into the traumas left behind when paradise is rocked in such a means.

And, for probably the most half, it’s very fascinating. Apart from the intrigue of the false-flag operation—the Damaged Circle has been surreptitiously gathering elements to refit a Starfleet ship it hopes it will probably throw at a hailed Klingon D7, forcing it right into a confrontation that might make it seem like the Federation is attempting to retake Kajitar IV for itself—“The Damaged Circle” drills down particularly on two characters who didn’t get practically sufficient time in season one, Dr. M’Benga and Nurse Chapel. It brings a lot appreciated nuance to the medical group, and it that attracts them collectively; once they’re found by the Circle attempting to offer medical aid to miners poisoned by weapons checks, they’re captured and compelled to deal with the group’s personal accidents, exposing Chapel and M’Benga each to traumas of their very own previous serving in the course of the warfare. Additional nonetheless, when it comes time to flee, you see the duo grapple with the horrors of wartime service—and what they each wanted to do whilst medical practitioners to outlive it.

In a frankly considerably ridiculous and but nonetheless emotionally jarring sequence, the physician and nurse inject themselves with a potent psychoactive drugs that M’Benga had at the very least seemingly used greater than as soon as in the course of the warfare, giving them the momentary energy and resilience to simply barrel by way of hallways of their captors. Doing so fills M’Benga specifically with a genuinely distressing rage. That is partially as a consequence of the drug, but in addition his personal lingering traumas from the warfare; it reminds us that whereas the heroes we see in these exhibits attempt continually to, and sometimes do, dwell as much as the lofty beliefs of Starfleet, they’re additionally nonetheless simply individuals—individuals that may be damage and threatened and traumatized, and survive these experiences, and be modified by that survival whilst they fight to return to the way in which they have been earlier than it. “We’re a most promising species,” James Kirk will go on to inform Spock within the classic Trek episode “Arena,” “so far as predators go,” in an acceptance in his self that there’s each the idealized man he needs to be and a extra primal, impulsive intuition, identical to the one we see M’Benga show right here beating a Klingon to close dying for data. It’s even there exterior of warfare trauma, as we see a nonetheless emotionally compromised Spock wrestle with whether or not or not he may convey himself to fireplace on the false-flag ship, understanding he may kill the captive M’Benga and Chapel within the course of.

That is darker territory for Unusual New Worlds. We spent a lot of season one revealing that even in probably the most dire conditions, our heroes have been the heroes of Starfleet—the ultimate, the evangelized, the usual for all to dwell as much as. Watching an amped-up Chapel and M’Benga simply destroy individuals, petrified at each what they’re doing and their must survive, seeing the uncooked feelings of the Klingon Battle effervescent up by way of them, provides us a potent reminder that these heroes are certainly rightly fallible, and may falter from these lofty highs—and that it may be neccessary and cathartic to make the sacrifice to take action for the higher good.

Whether or not or not Unusual New Worlds will proceed to the touch on these uncooked nerves as season two progresses stays to be seen—by the tip of “The Damaged Circle” the titular group is resoundingly defeated, their ship destroyed by the Enterprise and, with Spock negotiating by way of a barrel of Klingon Bloodwine, Starfleet’s intentions are confirmed diplomatic to the Klingon officer who practically fell sufferer to it. All the pieces is high quality, even again at Starbase One when April lets Spock off for stealing the flagship of the Federation with solely the value of a Bloodwine hangover. The Enterprise even will get a brand new chief engineer out of the deal, when Pelia decides to stay round. Maybe that is all of the wartime trauma that Unusual New Worlds needed to discover, and in its episodic construction, largely all it must earlier than it strikes on to the subsequent huge factor.

However as Admiral April reveals within the episode’s closing moments, one other warfare may very well be on the horizon, this time with the Gorn, as raider ships start encroaching on Federation house—and issues may very well be about to get a lot grimmer for the Federation as soon as once more. And if the psychological warfare wounds of the final battle nonetheless have such a grip on even the heroes of the Enterprise, then what prices can be made if they’re really all on the entrance traces of a brand new one? Unusual New Worlds could be prepared to place simply what its idealized heroes are actually manufactured from to the check.

Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds streams new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.

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