You know, “Illyria” is not just the name of the planet the Enterprise
visits in this week’s episode — it’s the name of the demon who takes control of
Fred’s body in the fifth season of Angel, as well.
And if memory serves, it’s also the name of a mytho-historical hunter on Shantil III.
Although I might be mixing that one up with something else . . .
This is a review of “Ghosts of Illyria,” the third episode of Star Trek:
Strange New Worlds. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, take heed: spoilers lie ahead.
It’s the outbreak episode! I can’t remember off the top of my head if every Star Trek
show has done an outbreak episode, but it’s been a pretty popular trope throughout the history of the
franchise. Classic Trek has “The Naked Time”; TNG has, well, “The Naked Now,” which is its version
of “The Naked Time,” but it also has “Genesis” where a virus causes everyone to de-evolve;
DS9 has “Fascination,” where Lwaxana Troi’s psychic menopause infects everyone and causes
them to be randomly horny for one another — and I’m sure there are other examples, but you get the
idea. Mysterious illness brought aboard the ship, infects the crew, threatens everyone, and there’s
usually like one person who isn’t affected who is racing to find the cure before it’s too late.
It’s a well-worn premise that would seem to hold few surprises — and there really aren’t
any surprises in “Ghosts of Illyria” — at least not as far as the plot goes.
There are a few revelations regarding characters
on the show, which I’ll get to in due time, but in terms of the outbreak plot, the writers
don’t tinker too much with the established formula, and in this case that’s a good thing.
One of the best qualities of Strange New Worlds so far has been how its creators are
seemingly more interested in nailing the execution than in trying to reinvent the
wheel. There is definitely something to be said for finding an unexpected new spin on an old plot,
and I’m certainly not meaning to endorse every instance of formulaic storytelling,
but there is also something to be said for a solid execution of the fundamentals.
Ozzie Smith wasn’t a good shortstop because he did backflips, know what I’m saying?
You youngsters might need to google “Ozzie Smith,” but I think you can grasp my meaning from context.
So, broadly speaking, this episode will be very familiar to most viewers who have watched a little
bit of Star Trek before. We open with the away team on a planet, investigating a big, spooky,
abandoned colony, wondering what happened to all the colonists. One of the away team
members — some Redshirt Nobody — encounters something strange, but doesn’t seem to notice.
There’s a storm a’comin’, so the team has to beam back up. Everyone beams up except Pike and Spock,
who end up stuck down there for awhile with the storm. And meanwhile, back on the Enterprise, the
contagion picked up by that Redshirt Nobody begins to spread. Left in command in Pike’s absence,
Number One scrambles to keep her crewmates from destroying the ship until a cure can be found.
The episode hits all the expected beats — first infected crewmember starts acting weird,
Number One investigates as the infection spreads, a treatment is devised to buy them
some time — in this case, turning off the lights — but crises continue to pop up until finally,
when all seems nearly lost, the solution is found and the day is saved. But, the episode hits
all of these beats well, at the right times, and with confidence, and that all counts for a lot.
If you’ve seen “The Naked Time,” you pretty much know what’s going
to happen here, but it’s still a pleasure to watch because it’s done so well.
That skillful execution keeps the episode from feeling like a retread — like, for example,
“The Naked Now” — as does the B-plot involving Pike and Spock trapped down on the planet,
which feels lifted from another episode — maybe Sulu’s subplot from “The Enemy Within”
only with a storm providing the threat instead of the cold. And, perhaps most important to helping
this episode set itself apart from other Star Trek outbreak shows, we get some big character reveals.
The biggest one is, of course, the reveal that Number One is secretly an Illyrian — well,
not so secretly anymore, I guess. Illyrians are genetically modified, and genetic modification
is a big no-no in the Federation, what with the whole “genetically engineered
tyrants almost took over the planet Earth a couple centuries ago” thing.
Number One concealed her Illyrian heritage in order to join Starfleet, but now she has to
reveal it because it holds the key to finding a cure for the disease that is afflicting the ship.
She also uses her superstrength to lug Chief Engineer Hemmer
away from the transporter pad when he, suffering the effects of the disease, attempts to beam a
super-hot chunk of the planetary mantle aboard the Enterprise. But that’ll incinerate ya, you goon!
To her surprise, despite the general prejudice against genetically engineered people, Number One
finds that her crewmates don’t really care. Dr. M’Benga tells her that he’s a physician, all he
cares about is helping people. Number One tries to resign her commission to Captain Pike, but
Pike just waves it off — why should she resign? She’s the best first officer in the fleet! Oh,
lying on your entrance form is against Starfleet regulations? That’s dumb — forget about it!
The only one who has a problem with Number One being Illyrian, and genetically modified,
is La’an, who, as a descendant of Khan Noonien-Singh, endured the taunts of bullies
who accused her of being an augment as a child. Her negative reaction to Number One’s revelation
seems mostly rooted in her own pain than in any actual mistrust of her friend and comrade.
And, in true Star Trek fashion, Number One takes that trust and understanding
she receives from her shipmates and pays it forward, to Dr. M’Benga, who, it turns out,
has a sick daughter who he’s been secretly keeping in the pattern buffer of sickbay’s
medical transporter. This revelation is the weakest part of the episode, because
it raises certain technical questions, such as why did M’Benga feel the need to keep this a secret?
And, why did M’Benga’s daughter being in the pattern buffer prevent the medical
transporter from being upgraded — that lack of an upgrade eventually being identified as
the way in which the virus was able to evade the biofilter and get aboard the ship? Like,
I know he said his daughter’s disease progresses very quickly, but how long does it take to upgrade
a transporter? He couldn’t re-materialize her for a few minutes? He re-materializes her for
storytime on a regular basis, it seems like — they couldn’t upgrade the transporter during storytime?
Anyway, the point is, Number One could reveal what M’Benga is doing, end his career and doom
his daughter to death, but instead she offers to provide an extra power supply
to the sickbay transporter so this sort of thing won’t happen again
and he can continue to search for a cure. That’s the important bit, and that bit works.
I like the character stuff we get with Number One and M’Benga. I like that we get a little
bit more time with Hemmer — I dig his vibe, he’s an arrogant genius, but kinda laid back about it?
We get a little bit of time with Pike and Spock as a duo, and I really like their dynamic.
I also like how their story on the planet ties in with the story on the ship — the
fire demons they see in the storm, which they initially assume to be a threat,
are actually trying to help them — and may, Spock speculates, actually be
the vanished colonists in altered forms. Just as Number One defies the negative stereotypes
about genetically modified people aboard the Enterprise, Pike and Spock’s negative assumptions
about the fire people also prove to be incorrect. Again, not exactly new ground, but well done.
The episode is paced well. This is the shortest episode of the season so far, clocking in at 45
minutes in total. But, it doesn’t feel rushed at all. In fact, the plot is resolved with about
ten minutes to spare, leaving plenty of time for Number One to have scenes with La’an, and Pike,
and M’Benga, and for M’Benga to have a scene with his daughter. It gives the episode a chance to
breathe, and for the meaning and the impact of what we just watched to settle in a bit. Plus,
there’s a really lovely transition in the last scene, as we track sideways out of
Number One’s quarters, seemingly directly into sickbay with M’Benga and his daughter.
Congratulations to whoever came up with that transition — simple,
but beautiful, and a fine example of why this current generation of Star Trek shows are the best
looking shows the franchise has ever produced, and so far, from the sets to
the special effects to the camera work, Strange New Worlds is the most visually impressive yet.
It’s the most impressive show of the current lot in many ways, actually.
Those are my thoughts. Please share your thoughts with me in
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Thanks so much for watching, and I’ll see you next week for a review of episode four!