It is possible to have too much of a good thing.
In the case of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” Season 3, reviewing the frothy, effortlessly watchable first five episodes brings this reviewer to that inescapable conclusion. This is the show that brought the fun back to “Star Trek,” that brought back the astronomical alchemy of Gene Roddenberry’s “Original Series” and Rick Berman’s ’90s “Trek” series in a way most viewers thought they’d never see again. You could hold up a mirror to our society and have a lighthearted, pop-art-colored romp; you could inspire deep emotion alongside genuine thrills.
Of that equation, though, the deep emotion is missing from Season 3 of “Strange New Worlds,” as is the mirror — even despite a character literally saying in one episode that sci-fi can make us look more closely at our own world.
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All that’s left is the fun. Hey, who are we to complain when it’s a show this fun? But “Star Trek” always has had the capacity to be more, and so has this show: This very series has given us incredibly complex episodes discussing our own social moment (going so far as to say that 23rd century historians labeled the U.S. in the 2020s as in a “Second Civil War”), a riveting courtroom drama about personal freedom, and, in “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” one of the most soulful of all “Trek” episodes, one that truly turns Kirk into a romantic hero for the ages.
Instead, in the first half of Season 3, “Strange New Worlds” opts to keep it surface-level.
The season picks up instantly after the last frames of the Season 2 cliffhanger, with a number of the Enterprise crew captured by the Gorn and the ship itself being swarmed by Gorn attack craft. The plot unfolds in an undeniably clever way — Season 3 continues to be smart, but is never quite thought-provoking — with a resolution to this story that feels very “Trek” and a lot of LED-wall CGI mush that feels sludgy and like any other TV production these days. A number of storylines are set up from these events related to ongoing physical and psychological trauma on account of the Gorn, for which your interest-level may vary.
The cast is uniformly stellar, as always. Anson Mount brings a texture and integrity to his Capt. Pike that puts him among the best “Star Trek” series leads ever. Previous “Trek” series did so much to establish that their leaders have lives beyond the captain’s chair, have thoughts beyond their captain’s log — Picard’s love of classical music and Dixon Hill detective stories, Sisko’s role as a father and his interest in his heritage and in archaeology, Archer’s burning desire to watch “Rosemary’s Baby” after literally saving Earth, Janeway’s depression and inward turn during the “Night” episode of “Voyager” — and of all the “Trek” series since the franchise relaunched as a streaming property in 2017, Mount’s Pike is the only one that really fits in their ranks. He brings so much more to the role than just the delivery of dialogue, finding gestures and expressive nuances that convey far beyond what could ever be on the page alone. His romantic relationship with Capt. Batel (Melanie Scrofano) is a particularly great way to further explore dimensions of both characters.
Babs Olusanmokun continues to bring dimension and depth, even coiled menace, as Dr. M’Benga, whose remarkable Season 2 episode that resulted in him pretty obviously flat-out murdering a Klingon war criminal is revisited quickly in Season 3. Jess Bush’s Nurse Chapel is never less than riveting, somehow funny and earnest in the most perfect “Trek” way. Christina Chong’s La’an is one of the great humor-by-way-of-repression characters the franchise has ever given us.
And under Ethan Peck’s extraordinary steering of the character, Spock has become all but a Jane Austen hero, someone whose rigid control of their emotions and adherence to the strictest code of conduct corrals a barely-contained sensuality. He’s the “Pride and Prejudice” hand-flex as a full-fledged character. (One can’t even imagine Leonard Nimoy doing a better job delivering the line “I do not require a Bacchanale.”) So much of this show is now about his romantic pursuits, or those pursuing him, and it works.
Spending time with these characters feels like spending time with friends. What’s lacking are really meaningful storylines to put them into, culminating in a very dispiriting episode that features zombies. “Star Trek” does not, now or ever, need zombies. An “escape room” archaeological dig episode isn’t vastly better either.
The one absolute triumph of an episode is the one that goes all-out in just being a lark: “Trek” should probably have its “lark” episodes and then more serious episodes, giving us a variety of tones while keeping them distinct. This particular “lark” episode, directed masterfully as always by Jonathan Frakes, involves the Enterprise testing out a holodeck (not a spoiler, its distinctive grid pattern was seen in the official teaser) via an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit that La’an has to solve.
But it’s not just a Christie-style mystery, it’s one set in 1960s Hollywood and about a murder on the set of a space adventure show that’s basically just a redressed “Original Series,” with “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” style abounding. It’s an absolute blast, and it reminds that through these first five episodes we don’t get nearly enough of Rebecca Romijn as first officer Number One or Celia Rose Gooding’s Uhura. This show has always been good at spreading the wealth, so it’s likely they’ll get their moments before Season 3 wraps. And wait till you see who Mount is playing in that holodeck episode.
That installment is great, but even still, hanging over all five of these episodes is a whiff of “what is this show about now?” The relative lack of substance across the board can’t help feeling like a cop out for a show that’s been capable of a lot more. God forbid the avoidance of anything topical is another expression of Paramount looking to avoid any potential confrontations ahead of its proposed merger with Skydance. It may not be that, but it’s starting to look like the decision to wrap the series after a six-episode fifth season shoots later this year is a good one.
After the five episodes we’ve screened of Season 3, there are likely only 21 episodes left. Let’s hope, with a real plan, showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers can truly make them count.
Grade: B-
“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” Season 3 premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Festival. It will stream on Paramount+ starting July 17, releasing a new episode each week.
