Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Pike Certainly Hasn't Forgotten About His Future Fate
This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
In its sophomore season, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" has become a true ensemble series, drawing the focus away from charismatic Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and towards his crew of intrepid space explorers. The results so far have been pretty great, but underneath every geeky adventure or joke about Gilbert and Sullivan musicals thrums the knowledge the show confirmed last season: that Pike won't be an able-bodied Starfleet captain for long.
Captain Pike's fate was actually sealed a half-century ago in "Star Trek: The Original Series," when the episode "The Menagerie" revealed that the former Enterprise captain ended up badly injured after delta radiation exposure during a training mission. In Gene Roddenberry's original "Star Trek" run, we meet Pike when he's deeply disabled, unable to speak or move and only capable of sending simple responses to yes or no questions through a system of blinking lights. In the original series, Pike eventually gets to a planet called Talos IV, where he's able to escape his damaged body by immersing himself in vivid illusions of a world in which he's not critically disabled.
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" touched on this tragic fate last season, as Pike was initially plagued by visions of his future before ultimately playing out an alternate version of events. In a future timeline, Pike discovered and seemingly accepted that he needs to be injured in order for Spock (Ethan Peck) to live — and in order to avert an all-out war between the Federation and the Romulans.
Pike is 'brave in a different way'
Needless to say, this is a lot for the Starfleet captain (and audiences) to process, yet the character has remained mum on the subject this season, even when faced with life-or-death scenarios like those in the latest episode, "Among The Lotus Eaters." Actor Anson Mount spoke about the new season's decision to sideline Pike's existential crisis at a roundtable discussion ahead of season 2, which /Film's Vanessa Armstrong attended.
"You don't want to entirely forget [that Pike knows he's going to be gravely injured in a few years] because then you're leaving behind a very important aspect of the character," Mount explained, "which I think makes him brave in a different way than we've seen every other captain." That bravery comes from knowing his grim future, yet continuing to act with dedication for his team. Still, Mount says, "You want to get the navel-gazing out of the way."
It's a fair point: "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is both the most outright entertaining modern Trek series and the least serialized, and to dwell too much on Pike's future would threaten both aspects of the series. It's more fun to see the crew deal with alien beings that force them to cosplay or planets that need to be sung to in order to live than it is to see Pike look sadly at pictures of his loved ones. Mount adds:
"We did that [in season 1], and then it's always been an aspect of the character that his challenge continues to be – I want it to continue to be for a while – reminding himself that the journey is the destination, right, and not the other way around."
His relationship with Captain Batel is a chance to live in the present
That journey, so far, involves a budding romance with Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano) and a whole lot of positive mentorship for his crew. Pike's sense of his own mortality only really makes itself known in his attempts to make the most of his time this season, including in his relationship with Captain Batel — even if they only get to see each other for 30-minute increments. "I think that the introduction of a relationship with Captain Batel has been a very important part of that [journey]," Mount says. This week's episode saw the pair get a bit more serious, as they initially broke up over their lack of downtime (we've seen this terrible TV mistake before) but Pike decided they should give it another go after her talisman helped guide him when he lost his memories.
While some might complain that Pike not acknowledging his future is akin to a plot hole, I actually think it makes sense. Many of us will be faced with the prospect of disability at some point in our lives, and to respond with constant fear over the idea of that future does nothing but make the present soar by quicker than we wish it would. Pike doesn't need to have another crisis about his fate, because he's exactly where he would be if he could be anywhere — with the Enterprise and its loyal, clever, loving crew.
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" streams new episodes on Thursdays on Paramount+.