“The Broken Circle” is a classic, enjoyable start Strange New Worlds’ second season — with peace in our time at risk, this episode features a classic blend of action, character exploration and (questionably) camp nonsense that we’ve come to expect from the show. It’s not a perfect episode — there are some plot ideas and character decisions that feel contrived — but not so much that I didn’t enjoy the episode.
Also? The Klingons are back!
The series picks up a few months after “A Quality of Mercy,” with first officer Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) under arrest and awaiting trial for concealing her Illyrian heritage. Captain Pike (Anson Mount) is doing his best to help her, which involves a three-day hop across the quadrant — save any complaints about travel times for the end, please! He seems okay to leave the ship in the hands of the Enterprise’s next-in-line, Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck).
What’s the worst that can happen? The ship is being inspected by Starfleet’s Operational Support Services, who immediately mark themselves out as being a collection of officious, bureaucratic assholes in the highest Trek tradition.
Spock has other issues, however. He released all of his emotions to combat the Gorn in last season’s “All Those Who Wander,” leaving him vulnerable to stress; a very un-Vulcan ailment. Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) prescribes the lyre, which is a nice way to introduce Spock’s love of music. What is less enjoyable to me is the re-introduction of Spock and Nurse Chapel’s (Jess Bush)… arrangement.
Now, listen, I understand why this plot is here. Bush and Peck sell it well! The writing is good! But the whole relationship is a little endemic in the plotlines of both characters. We get some hints of later concerns — the question of Spock as a field commander, Chapel’s decision to go for a two-month internship on Vulcan under Dr. Roger Korby (from the Original Series episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”) — but they’re very secondary to their interpersonal relationships in a way that I think undermines each characters’ individuality. We’ll see how it goes.
As the OSS engineers turn noses on the bridge, a belligerent Ensign Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) — who is clearly reveling in her official posting to Enterprise after the (annoying unseen) graduation from the Academy — turns away an overbearing officer to receive a signal… from La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) on planet Kajtar IV.
Kajitar is a dilithium mining settlement on the Klingon border, with production split between the UFP and the Klingon Empire in a power-sharing agreement so contrived that I’m fairly sure Tony Blair dreamed it up. La’an’s distress signal implies that something serious is happening, and Spock wants to take Enterprise to investigate.
Admiral April (Adrian Holmes), hesitant to upset the tenuous peace with the Empire, denies Spock’s request, advising him that Starfleet will visit during the Federation’s period of control. Is this a very thin plot thread? Yes. But only about as thin as every other power-sharing agreement in history, so I can live with it. The crew are obviously displeased with April’s decision, so Spock resorts to the traditional choice of every Enterprise commander in history: ignore your orders and go anyway.
So, we’re stealing the Enterprise. Which, is cool. Very cool. Not as cool as when they did it in Search for Spock, but still definitely cool. Certainly it fits with the TOS vibe of pushing past bureaucracy to save the day… except, of course, it goes a bit wrong. Commander Pelia (Carol Kane), overseeing the OSS team, immediately figures out what’s going on, and Spock can’t lie to save his life. This is, of course, fine — because Pelia wants to come for the ride, and is perfectly happy to show the crew how to properly fake a disaster in Spacedock and get the Enterprise on its way.
Kajitar IV is interesting to visit. Our introduction to La’an on the planet — where she beats a Klingon in a drinking contest before arranging a meeting with a contact — is a very nice way to bring in everyone’s favourite warrior race for 2023. La’an seems surprised but relieved to see everyone before she details what she knows about the “Broken Circle,” a syndicate of ex-Federation and Klingon soldiers who are scheming to fill their coffers with dilithium money by re-igniting the war between Empire and Federation.
Cold War tensions? In my Star Trek??? It’s more likely than you’d think.
The gang splits up, with La’an, Spock and Uhura going to an arms sale, while M’Benga and Chapel reunite with Oriana (Emma Ho) — the little girl rescued in “All Those Who Wander” — and her parents, who are suffering from ion radiation sickness due to exposure to photonic weaponry. The fact that the scenery-chewing Klingon La’an sells weapons too (under threat of antimatter explosion) is after Federation weaponry is equally suspicious. Not as suspicious, of course, as the massive Starfleet-esque ship in the dilithium cavern M’Benga and Chapel are taken to after the Klingon-Human syndicate kidnaps them.
Okay, listen: I like Chapel, and I love M’Benga. They’re great individual characters, wonderful as a pair, and add a lot dynamism to the show’s ensemble cast. But do I need to watch them kick ass after dosing themselves up with some kind of weird Starfleet super serum? I don’t think so.
The fight scenes are well-shot and well-acted, but I’m not entirely sure how I feel about two doctors — who have spent the previous scenes talking about how they abhor violence and are still traumatised by the deaths of the Klingon War — kicking ass on space methamphetamines like they’re about to storm across northern France or something. I understand why, from the writer’s perspective, watching unlikely characters kick ass is attractive, but it doesn’t really fit with either character’s MO to fight their way out of that situation.
Either way, they pair make their way to a transponder, send the signal and then to an airlock (having bowled over every prosthetic wearing stunt double in Toronto on the way), only to discover that the ship is airborne; and active.
As the Klingon D7 arrives in orbit, watched by Enterprise, the crew watch in horror as the kit-bashed ship –- which Lieutenant Mitchell (Rong Fu) identifies as a Crossfield-class, at least in hull arrangement — enters orbit. (The ship looks nothing like the Crossfield-class USS Discovery, of course, but we’re moving on.)
Spock, listening to the emergency message, deduces that the ship is a false flag, but hesitates to initially destroy it. A chase through the dilithium field ensues, aided by some pretty good CGI and spectacular flying by Lieutenant Ortegas (Melissa Navia). With time running out, and the Klingons lining up to open fire on the false ship, Spock destroys it, wincing as he fires on Chapel and M’Benga… who just jumped out the airlock into space, risking death before Enterprise beams them to safety. Hooray!
Chapel seems more hurt than M’Benga, with gives us a nice opportunity for Spock to be a little worried for her before she wakes up. The Klingon Captain, typically, is unimpressed. Evoking the domineering attitude of Kor and Kang, he challenges Spock’s explanation, only yielding once Spock proves himself over a barrel of bloodwine. It’s a pretty classic Klingon solution, even if it evokes the Empire of the Next Generation era more than the Original Series.
What IS right out of the Original Series is the description of Pelia’s long-lived species, human-appearing aliens with nearly immortal life spans — and her need to escape immortality’s boredoms. Carol Kane’s performance is simply delightful, and I’m glad we’ll be seeing more of her as the season continues.
All in all, a good day’s work. Even Admiral April seems to accept that Spock has done the right thing with regards to the Klingons. He is, however, concerned about a more serious threat: the looming threat of war… with the Gorn.
THE K FACTOR
The Klingons return! After fan, uh, debate over the warrior race’s appearance in Star Trek: Discovery, the soft reboot of traditional Klingon aesthetics — which started with Worf’s return in Star Trek: Picard — is delightfully followed up by their full appearance here, in ridged glory. It’s nice to see the influences of all different Klingon make-up iterations, with forehead styles from The Motion Picture, Search for Spock, The Next Generation, and beyond all seen in the supporting Klingon characters.
The return of the D7 battlecruiser model from Discovery Season 2 is also a nice piece of continuity, as are the gold breastplates of the Imperial Fleet uniforms.
I have a few personal reservations, though: these Klingons follow the Next Gen mould of rambunctious Vikings, rather than the cold calculation of the Original Series-style villains. We still have a long way to go to until the Empire of “Errand of Mercy” and “A Private Little War,” capable of outwitting and out-manoeuvring Starfleet with plenty of guile and deceit. However, there were certainly hints of that villainy in the actions of “The Broken Circle,” and the Klingon captain had more in common with Kang or Kor than he did with the scenery-chewing of Chancellor Gowron. More of them, please!
CAMP NONSENSE OF THE WEEK
There’s a lot of camp nonsense to choose from this week, between Spock’s blood-wine hangover and Dr. M’Benga’s super-secret space amphetamines. But I think the prize will have to go to Carol Kane’s accent, which seems to be as incomprehensible to the crew of Enterprise as it is to us.
She is a star, though, and I really can’t wait to see what else she gets up to!
OBSERVATION LOUNGE
- Pelia’s species, known as Lanthanites, are a new entry to the Star Trek canon — or are they? The description of the long-lived, human-appearing race is somewhat similar to the immortal Flint, a 6000-year-old ‘human’ whom the original Enterprise crew encountered in “Requiem for Methuselah.”
- Officers assigned to Starfleet’s Operational Support Services wear a variant on the standard delta, one which features an oblong backing plate.
- The Klingon D7 battlecruiser seems to feature disruptor cannons on its warp nacelles.
- Never seen on screen but mentioned in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, could the flag officer discussing the Gorn threat with Admiral April be the famed Nogura? I certainly hope so.
- The mid-23rd century Federation/Klingon war now has a reported casualty count: 100 million dead (on the Federation side), all over a few parsecs of space.
- While Captain Pike and the Enterprise were well away from the front lines during the Klingon war, we learn this week that Lieutenant Ortegas, Dr. M’Benga, and Nurse Chapel all saw combat during the conflict.
- Spock absolutely flops when he tries to summon a go-to-warp catchphrase, yet another variant on the command cliché that Star Trek has been exploring with increasing frequency. Saru crashed and burned trying to find his version in Discovery’s “Sanctuary,” followed by Burnham landing on “Let’s fly!” in “That Hope is You, Part 2”; Captain Freeman workshopped different phrases in Lower Decks‘ “Envoys” before settling on “Warp me!”; Dal took over the Protostar with “Go fast!” in Star Trek: Prodigy; Seven of Nine’s command to the Enterprise-G crew was cheekily left to the viewer’s imagination in “The Last Generation.”
I like “The Broken Circle,” though not as much as I could have enjoyed it. Enterprise going on clandestine missions into the ‘disputed area’ is a great concept, as is Spock’s command skills being tested against warmongering miners and the Imperial Navy. But those aspects were the more interesting bit, to me.
As much as watching Jess Bush and Babs Olusanmokun kick ass is fun, I would have much preferred it if they’d explored the after-effects of war that led to this crisis, or maybe shown us who exactly was leading this “broken circle” and how they justified their actions. I think we’re mature enough now to write a plot discussing how governments leave ex-service personnel behind; Next Gen certainly was, just look at episodes like “The Hunted.”
Exploring Spock’s early experience with command was also a bit of a miss in this episode. His command crisis against the false flag ship, while well done, is far less motivated by Spock’s self-assessed unsuitability for the center seat — as exemplified in “The Tholian Web” — than his feelings for Chapel, which is an annoying waste of a good set-piece.
Apart from that moment, Spock is actually very good at this whole being-in-command thing, which seems a bit off considering this is the first time he’s personally led a mission. Nevertheless, this is a very strong start for Strange New Worlds. The Klingons are back; tensions are heating up in the galaxy (and aboard ship), and Commander Pelia has come out swinging to be a likely fan favourite from the very start.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 continues June 22 with “Ad Astra Per Aspera” on Paramount+ and on CTV Sci Fi Channel and Crave in Canada.
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