Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Cast (Mostly) Agree On The Best Episode Of Season 2
On June 15, 2023, the second season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" debuted on Paramount+, and it's already impressive. "Strange New Worlds," unusually for "Star Trek," got off to a good start, presenting a light tone, interesting stories, and fun characters right off the bat. It somehow avoided the "getting your sea legs" seasons that Trek is typically prone to. Although "Strange New Worlds" is technically a spinoff from "Star Trek: Discovery," a notoriously weak program, so perhaps that series gave "Worlds" its leg up.
The upcoming season will be ten episodes long, and it is already known that at least one episode will feature a crossover with characters from "Star Trek: Lower Decks." The season will also feature time travel, a spontaneous species swap, several explored romances, a notable legal battle, and some crackerjack starship piloting. No work yes, however, as to whether or not the amazing villain Captain Angel (Jesse James Keitel) will return. So far, the sophomore year's Treks are just as solid as the freshman year.
Naturally, the cast has their preferences as to what their favorite episode of the 10 might be. Like most of the Trek shows from the 1990s, each episode of "Strange New Worlds" focuses largely on a single character's plight, with the rest of the ensemble stepping back to support them. One might imagine each actor would have a preference for the episodes that allowed them to stretch and have the most screen time. According to a recent Collider interview with Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn — who play Captain Pike and Commande Una Chin-Riley respectively — the cast mostly agrees on which episode is the best one. All they were able to offer, however, was that it was episode #9.
Revolution #9
Of course, as the season only just debuted, viewers are going to have to wait nine weeks to know what they're talking about. But Mount and Romijn were asked directly what their favorites were, and both said that it was number nine. To maintain secrecy, neither actor revealed any plot details or even the episode's title, but Romijn was able to hint that episode nine will deal with genre-bending in a way Trek doesn't typically do. She said:
"Obviously, we can't discuss, but I think they'll probably be announcing something about it soon, possibly? Anyway, we obviously can't say anything about it. We took some big swings genre-wise this season, and we really got to play hard this season. It's like season one but bigger and better, and we're pretty excited about it, to share it with everybody."
Trek is versatile and can occupy many subgenres throughout its run. There are comedy episodes, horror episodes, episodes about heady discussions and philosophy, and episodes about mayhem and action. Many genres have already been explored on Trek, so speculation may now commence as to what new subgenre Romijn refers to. Could it be ... a musical? Mount implied that, whatever the episode might be about, it was exhausting to make. He said:
"When we were doing ... episode nine, obviously that was towards the end of the season's shoot when everybody is tired. Because when you do the final episode, everybody is like, 'Oh, okay, we're almost done!' But a penultimate episode can be tough to get through. But because of the nature of the episode and what we were doing, we had to rehearse on weekends, and when people were coming in, everyone was genuinely excited to be there."
Gooding and Navia chime in
To my ear it sounds like a lot of dancing might be involved. You heard it here first, dear readers. It will be a musical episode. The Collider interviewer, Tamera Jones, had a different idea; they suggested that episode nine might have been filmed using a single, hour-long tracking shot. Sadly, because of the secrecy, neither Mount nor Romijn could confirm or deny that.
Jones also talked to Melissa Navia and Celia Rose Gooding, who play Lieutenant Ortegas and Ensign Uhura on "Strange New Worlds," in a separate Collider interview. It seems that only one of them agrees with Mount and Romijn. Gooding prefers episode nine. Navia, however, prefers episode four (which, to glance ahead a little bit, more intimately involves Ortegas). Navia said:
"I will say, Episode 4 definitely has a very special place in my heart because it deals with a moment when characters, and specifically my character, feels like they are not up to the challenge and that they can't possibly do what is being asked of them, and they need to find a way to do what is being asked of them because nobody else can do it. And I feel like that's something that is gonna resonate with a lot of people, and that definitely resonated a lot with me in the moment shooting it, within my own life."
Gooding, although liking number nine, cops to also being fond of an upcoming episode that highlights Uhura's skills. They said:
"I would say nine is my favorite if I'm remembering correctly. Nine is my favorite and I cannot tell you why. I can say [episode six] is also a favorite just because I'm really proud of the storytelling."
Final postulation: episode nine is the "Lower Decks" crossover.