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Strange New Worlds‘ Memory Hole Mystery Can’t Quite Plug All the Gaps

"Among the Lotus Eaters" gets weird in ways only the original Star Trek could, but in doing so doesn't best serve some of its most interesting characters.

Strange New Worlds has made a name for itself over the course of its first season, and now the first half of its sophomore, in taking the vibes of the original Star Trekā€”and sometimes literal episodesā€”and translating them to a modern television show, and the expectations that come with them. But what happens when the vibes canā€™t quite make it?

You get ā€œAmong the Lotus Eaters,ā€ this weekā€™s episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which feels like it has a lot in common with one of the rare bold swings that didnā€™t quite work out in the showā€™s debut season, the similarly wordily titled ā€œLift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach.ā€ Like that episode, ā€œLotus Eatersā€ is equal parts heady and challenging in its ideas, presenting a nuanced, darker tone than Strange New Worlds is usually accustomed to taking. But also like that episode, itā€™s one where the potential of those challenging ideas falls apart when you think about it just a bit more than the runtime of the episodeā€”except more so that unfortunate line of thinking also means facing a disappointing ponderance for what couldā€™ve been, when it comes to the series exploring the potential of its entirely new characters.

Image: Paramount
Image: Paramount

ā€œAmong the Lotus Eatersā€ revolves around perhaps the most specifically weird hook between Strange New Worlds and the original Star Trek the show could possibly imagine, which is saying something for a series thatā€™s already set an episode during an alternate retelling of ā€œBalance of Terror,ā€ or even done its own riffs on episodes like ā€œCity on the Edge of Forever.ā€ After a mission alongside the USS Cayugaā€”the ship of Pikeā€™s paramour, Captain Batel, whose relationship has become strained in the wake of Batelā€™s involvement in prosecuting Number One a few weeks agoā€”the Enterprise finds itself returning to the planet Rigel VII, six years after a disastrous away mission there first mentioned in the original Star Trek pilot, ā€œThe Cage.ā€ Then, several members of the Enterpriseā€™s landing party were killed in a skirmish with local natives, including Pikeā€™s own yeoman. Now, Starfleet has discovered evidence of a violation of the Prime Directiveā€”in a literal Starfleet emblem carved into the gardens of a palace on the surface of the world, and Pike has to confront that past failure, while navigating his present frustrations and regrets in his relationship with Captain Batel.

It is, as we said, a fascinating premise, and a spotlight on Anson Mountā€™s captain that heā€™s yet to really get this season. But as things on Rigel VII get more and more peculiarā€”the new landing party of Pike, Laā€™an, and Dr. Mā€™Benga find themselves facing debilitating memory loss the longer they spend time on the world, an affliction that begins to plague the Enterprise crew in orbitā€”the episode dwells more and more on the mystery box of the memory loss and its affects than some of its most important characters. Pike at least gets a good deal of focus, as he is confronted with the revelation that his Yeoman, Zac, actually survived the last mission and is now a bitter, vengeful leader of a tribe of locals, and the one behind outfitting them with Federation technology. As he, Laā€™an, and Mā€™Benga struggle with the loss of their memories and their identities as Starfleet officers, Mount plays the trauma and determination to remember who he is and what he stands for with aplomb, and thereā€™s good cathartic release in his arc here when the episode culminates with a touching reunion between himself and Batel. The experience on Rigel of losing who he was, even for a moment, forces him to confront the mistake of pushing the people he loves away from himā€”an especially touching epilogue to Pikeā€™s own acceptance of his future fate last season.

Image: Paramount
Image: Paramount

But the problem is that Captain Pike has already had a lot of the focus of Strange New Worldsā€™ character work so far. Yes, heā€™s the captain, and therefore the seriesā€™ main character. But when so much of this episode feels like an epilogue to an arc already well explored for him, combining it with the layers of mystery on Rigel being drawn out across the episode, it feels like ā€œAmong the Lotus Eatersā€ is playing for time that couldā€™ve been used more effectivelyā€”even if the vibes are immaculately classically Trek, right down to location sets that give off ā€˜60s budget alien world vibes.

This especially feels like the case with one part of the episode in particular: Lieutenant Erica Ortegasā€™ subplot. Melissa Naviaā€™s helmsman is arguably one of the last remaining members of Strange New Worldsā€™ ensemble cast to recieve a moment in the spotlight, an exploration left all the more tempting even as several characters around her have gotten multiple episodes of focus. ā€œAmong the Lotus Eatersā€ almost begins playing with this metatextual acknowledgement when Erica, eager to be a part of Pikeā€™s landing party to investigate Rigel VII, suddenly finds herself pulled out of field duty in order to keep her at the Enterprise helm. When Rigel VIIā€™s mystery memory loss affliction comes for the Enterpriseā€”caused in part by radiation from an orbiting asteroid, hence its affect on the ship as well as the crew belowā€”Ortegas and Spock are left as some of the last crew unaffected, until they too succumb to it. And while below on the planet Pikeā€™s grappling with losing his identity comes with a moment of emotional catharsis, Ortegasā€™ comes with her… remembering that she pilots the Enterprise. And thatā€™s it. Not who she is or what she stands for, but what her job is, the job that in part was frustrating her earlier in the episode when it restricted her from being part of the away team. Yes, it means she remembers what she does in time to save the day and save the crew, but itā€™s not exactly a profoundly emotional character exploration, especially for a character who has yet to receive much of a spotlight on the show so far.

Image: Paramount
Image: Paramount

Thatā€™s what arguably stings the most about ā€œAmong the Lotus Eatersā€ and its potentialā€”itā€™s not a bad episode of Strange New Worlds, but it couldā€™ve been a much better one than it was. In trying to be a bit more fascinated with a few too many ideas, the series stalled instead of soared when it came to the chance to explore one of its more intriguing new characters. But just like ā€œLift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach,ā€ thatā€™s not necessarily a fatal misstep for a show like this. Thereā€™s always next week, and the week after that, and the week after that, when the show will try again with a new ideaā€”and maybe one that will, eventually, do some justice to some of its most underserved characters.


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